Springtime!

-

Although spring doesn't officially start until 21st March, it really felt like it had arrived early and in all its glory today in north west Wales.  The sun shone warmly and the sky was clear blue so, lucky enough to have the day off work, I went for a long walk up in the hills. The beauty of nature at this time of year is truly amazing.  Hedgerows and trees were showing blossom, daffodils were everywhere and other springtime flowers were making an appearance too.




The trees were alive with birds, all of them flitting around looking for mates or, having already paired up, busily gathering material for their nests.  I got a good look at a couple of male Bullfinches showing off before a female, who seemed to be playing hard to get!  Seeing these lovely colourful birds is a real treat as, sadly, they are not as common as they once were in the UK.  Bees too were in abundance and I even saw a butterfly, the first I've seen this year.  So, it may be raining tomorrow but today was definitely one to be out and about and enjoying the lovely world we live in.




Comments

  1. Sarah Snowdon28 March 2017 at 05:55

    Hi Melissa. These are lovely photos. You've really captured the essence of Spring. Here's to many more days like that! Looking forward to catching up soon. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lissa Morgan28 March 2017 at 07:11

    I'm afraid I can't take credit for the photos, Sarah, as I always forget to take my camera with me when I go for a walk! But Google images is a wonderful thing ;) See you soon xx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nadolig Llawen - Merry Christmas!

-
Image
It's an unusual December for me this year, as I'm taking a little break from writing until January. My latest novel - The Warrior's Forbidden Maiden (sneak preview of the cover at the end of this post!) - was accepted by my editor at Harlequin Mills and Boon at the beginning of November, and since then I've been sitting back and mulling over the next project.  It's been a few years since I took such a long break from writing, and for someone who writes every day, it's been very strange. However, it has had exciting results. Before I started writing, I was always a voracious reader of historical fiction, and particularly the medieval period. Among my favourite books are those by Rosemary Hawley Jarman, set against the  Wars of the Roses - We Speak No Treason, The King's Grey Mare and The Courts of Illusion , the latter, to my mind, her best work.  I've had a desire to write about the Wars of the Roses for a while now, and after re-reading these wonderfu
Read more

Dipyn o Gymraeg ~ A bit of Welsh

-
Image
Readers and reviewers often comment that, while they enjoy the Welshness of my books, they sometimes struggle to get their tongues around some of the characters' names and other words I use to add flavour to my stories.  Some have said they wish they could speak Welsh in order to 'hear' the words on the page, and others have suggested a glossary might be useful.  Due to word count restrictions, it's not really possible to include a glossary in the books themselves, but here is a quick guide to some of the names and frequently-used Welsh words in my books, and also a useful link to a fuller pronunciation guide to be found online, courtesy of Aberystwyth University. Basically, all letters in Welsh are sounded purely, none are silent, and consonants are the same as in English but are usually hard, not soft. Vowels are often very different to the English and we have two extra ones - w and y - and also diphthongs, which are two vowels run together that have their own unique
Read more

A variety of book covers

-
Image
One of the nicest and most exciting things about being a writer who is published with a traditional publisher - in my case Harlequin Mills & Boon - is the thrill of seeing what sort of cover the design team create for each book.   I have loved all my covers to date, from my debut The Welsh Lord's Convenient Bride in May 2022, to my latest book, The Warrior's Reluctant Wife , out this month - today, 16th August, in Australia, 22nd in USA and 31st in the UK.  There are very subtle differences between the covers for each of these regions, and I've made a little montage below to show what they are.  Which do you like best?     I think I just lean towards the UK cover but I'm delighted with them all.  These are home market covers, ie published in the English language, but as my books reach markets further afield and go into translation, sometimes a totally different cover appears, like the one below for the Italian edition of The Welsh Lord's Convenient Bride .    
Read more