I wish more than anything that I’d written a journal when I was younger, but each time I started one it fizzled out. I’ve always loved writing, both the physical process of scribbling my thoughts on to a page as well as the creative aspect, but it was creating characters and fictional stories far removed from my own life that I was passionate about.
I do have a couple of diaries from my teens that are wonderful snapshots into who I was and what I was doing, although I wrote in them sporadically. What I have managed to do as an adult is keep a travel journal, detailing memorable holidays to the Maldives, Porto, Tanzania and Amsterdam as well as our crazy wedding in Greece.
Aunt Joy’s journal in One Scottish Summer is pivotal to the story and she’s a character who has great influence even though she only appears at the beginning of the book. Inspired by nature and the beauty of the Isle of Mull, her journal details her love story with her late husband and offers heartfelt advice to Tilly.
The location has always been an important part of my novels and I treat place as a character. I do wonder if those travel journals have something to do with that, becoming the inspiration and a starting point for a story. Either way, I’m grateful that I took the time to write about the places I’ve visited over the years.
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