Dreaming Big

Several years ago I bought a house which was in a really bad state of repair. I knew it would be a tonne of work. But I had no idea of the nightmares that would arise in what appeared to be an idyllic spot. 

Follow the journey with me in posts coming soon. 

 

             

Moats and drawbridges.

I was talking the other day about infinity pools and how my ideal one would blaze a trail all the way around my house [not the present one, but my planned future one, of course] in a complete circle, when my partner said to me, "You mean you want a moat?"

And when I thought about it, he was absolutely right. Moats have always fascinated me, although I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe I just like the implied isolation of it...



Anyway, it was only a little strange when I found myself in The Drawbridge Inn in Shirley soon after, enjoying a birthday meal with my family.

I don't tend to eat out a lot with the children as their tastes are very different to mine but this particular pub has something to suit everyone and at a very reasonable price, including a whopping gut-busting 'Defeat The Meat!' section. And unlike many other establishments, the staff went out of their way to assist us.

But did the place have a moat? Sadly not, although there was water nearby and I think we drove over a sort of drawbridge in the dark!

I guess the idea of me swimming in a moat stems back from the very peculiar childhood I had, when my idea of luxury was going swimming in the local canal [I kid you not!] alongside rusty bikes and shopping trolleys.

Since I don't plan on doing that again anytime soon, I guess my dream of a moat will stay exactly that for now, a dream.

Until then, happy reading.

Is anyone there?

Apparently William Peter Blatty's house is up for sale, just in time for Halloween. You may know Blatty better, as the author of The Exorcist. So my question is, would you buy a house if you knew for a fact that it was haunted?

I wonder if that would get more or less viewers to a property. Would you buy a haunted house? #amreading #horror #thriller #books #wednesday https://t.co/FJMqHVL7h5

— carmen capuano (@carmencapuano) October 4, 2017

No doubt some people would. Certainly the more ghoulish and the lovers of the macabre amongst us would...

The reality is that when you buy any house, you inherit a list of horrors that the previous owner kept hidden from you. But a ghost in the airing cupboard isn't one I've come across before, I admit.

And of course not all of us are believers in things that go bump in the night, anyway. But when I saw this tweet, I just had to ask myself what sort of person I really am. Am I the type who would take the opportunity to experience something otherworldly, or not?

What do you think?

Now that I've piqued your interest, click on the link to your right and view my books on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Happy reading!

Business as usual

If you have ever been to one of my talks, you will know how I write books - its an almost unconscious streaming of words and ideas - therefore plots can often take me by surprise.

That's exactly what's happening with this current book. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the main character's situation, but now she has completely taken me by surprise. In a good way, of course.

Then again that is exactly how real life is, isn't it? We amble along, thinking we know where we're going until something happens and we realise that we were deluded in thinking that we were in control in the first place...

Speaking of which, I have been working some more on my wayward house. I swear this house has a personality all of its own and that it is trying to confound my attempts to do it up. Just when I thought things were improving, we have developed a leak in the outside tap, another in a radiator and the patio has begun to disintegrate.

But I have managed to create a more homely feel, by applying paint ever more liberally to the walls, the dogs, myself and even in some cases, the furniture, as well as hanging pictures. One day it might resemble a finished project. Until then, dear readers,

Happy Reading!

Update

To answer all your questions, yes The Owners Volumes V, VI and VII are written. I have been holding them back for a little while. I'm sorry that this has made some of you fret that they are not coming. Trust me, they are!

I have just been so busy with Split Decision and then writing another few books [and of course moving home] that I haven't had a chance to do anything about The Owners. That's about to change.

Here's where I was at in 2013:-

The Owners Volume V

As I am almost finished editing the Owners Volume IV, I am aware that my thoughts are shifting towards Volume V.

Changes are afoot - they ar...e the noises carried by the wind, the strange and unusual scents pervading the air everywhere I go and the sights which fill my inner vision with wonder and excitement.

I can't wait to introduce you all to the characters, some known and familiar, others new and unknown...who are waiting to fill your minds and hearts with their stories.
Come on a voyage of discovery with me - I promise you will never look at things in quite the same way, ever again.

The Owners Volume IV : A New Epoch.

Happy reading! x

Happy New You.

How has 2016 been treating you so far? Hmm, I thought so!

We expect so much of a new year, a sweeping away of old anxieties and problems, a laying-out of destiny's store, allowing us to cherry-pick the brightest moments to hook our hope onto, as if with the coming of a new calendar, we can instantly become different people living different lives. Or is that just me?

I love New Year and really do see it as a chance for change. I admit that this is lunacy. After all if I haven't managed a change for a duration of the entire previous year, how do I expect to do it in the course of one evening, from one split-second to another, as the clock strikes midnight? And yet I do.

So this year I did something completely different to what I would normally do at midnight. Did it affect a change - well it's a little early to tell, but the initial signs aren't bad, although they are somewhat far from actually being good... Suffice it to say that I'm still working on that!

If you are a reader of this blog, you will know that I purposely moved house just before Christmas so that I could be here for New Year. I also bought myself a new bed and new things to go with it. Psychologically it was a great thing to do as well as being so much better than the old bed.

I am still clearing things out of my old house and into my new one but soon even that too will be ended and a new era will have fully begun. Change happens whether we want it to or not in life and for so long I have been desperate for change, even whilst I was the very one preventing it. So some deep self-analysis has been required. If this sounds maudlin, be reassured, it is the very opposite!

Tomorrow I will pick up with my latest book which is only about eight chapters from completion. I can't wait to get stuck back into my writing.

So in the meantime, whilst you are waiting for news of the latest book,  you can always check out my Owners series or Split Decision by clicking on the links to the right of here.

Happy Reading! x

Moving!

Ok so here's where it's at... my back is all healed thank goodness and now in fact I think it was a strange virus as others are telling me they have had the same thing.

The house is getting packed up relatively easily.... and I have been moving some stuff to the new house every day for about a week as I am having to be there for various workmen anyway.

Tomorrow I am moving my high heels in - that's a feat [pun intended] in itself. And on Sunday and Monday we will do the actual move with the movers.

I have the laminate for the lounge and hallway arriving on Tuesday so no Zumba that day unless I can shimmy whilst unpacking [there's a thought!]

There's a workman coming on Wednesday to fit the laminate, decorate the lounge and do lots of other things. Since he isn't Superman he will be there for a few days I guess but the house will be completely done before Christmas.

As you know it had been my intention to do it myself but to be perfectly honest he will do a better job and I will live longer without the stress. I will be bagging up and getting rid of lots of things during this process and actually can't wait.

For the rest of my plans, well you will just have to keep reading this blog, won't you?

 

In  the meantime, treat yourself and buy one of my books.

It's a new day...

Here are my options for the day.

1. Write some more - not really an option with the kids around.
2. Clean the house - what AGAIN?
3. Go and decorate the new house - not in the right frame of mind, besides I worked there yesterday and need a break.
4. Do something exciting with the kids - whether they want to or not.
5. Do all of the above - this is the most likely option knowing me.
6. Do nothing - impossible.
7. Fritter away the day in spontaneous and unplanned fun...now I like the sound of that...

Wakey, wakey!

There are not enough hours in the day for me at the moment, so for the last three weeks I have been going to bed at midnight and getting up at four am in order to get everything done. Before you feel sorry for me, I must point out that this is entirely my own fault. I have stupidly co-ordinated events so that everything has now come to fruition at the same time!


This is not a problem however, as I am currently so filled with nervous energy that I could light up the whole of Bromsgrove if they wired me to the grid. But like an athlete after the competition, or a rock star after a tour, I know that very soon, when the need for all this activity is over, I will slump, exhausted and wiped out, for at least two days.  Right now that seems a small price to pay.

 
So what is the cause of all this hyperactivity? Partly my decision to move home. As you may be aware, I have been longing to do this for some time. So I bought a new house. But not just any old house, oh no, not me! I bought a house where the doors do not actually close in the door frames [to my shame I did not realise this, having actually not tried to close any of the doors], where each and every door lock was broken, where there was no door to the en suite bathroom [I know!], where there was a smallish kitchen but a large utility... and an endless list of other strange things.


Yet I LOVE the new house. It is full of potential and possibilities that have been all but exhausted in my present house. So I set a team of builders to work on it. And they are really cracking on. So much so, that I have been forced to speedily decorate my current house and put it on the market, with a view to possibly moving to the new house once it is completed.


But as we all know, with a new house comes even more running around, setting up things, so between all this, life has been popping up its funny little head, reminding me that I have other commitments too - a family birthday party to organise, a holiday to book, five chapters left in the current book to write, other work commitments and, dare I suggest it, a social life! On top of all that, I have also been informed of details of the book launch for Split Decision, which of course coincides with all of this.


Maybe one of the most difficult things I am doing at this moment though, is wrestling with the moral conumdrums and issues which have presented themselves in The Owners, Volume VII: Hunter's Moon. God help me, I have always been an eye for an eye sort of person. I have striven to rise above this my whole life, for I truly believe that train of thought is detrimental to the soul, but being a female born under the astrological sign of scorpio, of short statue, and raised in Glasgow, it was always going to require a lot of effort to be ambivalent let alone magnanimous when I felt wronged.


And  I see a couple of this book's characters having the same problem. What has happened with the story has shattered their world so completely, that they are finding it difficult to stem the tide of hatred that wants to flow from them. And with every word I write, I feel their pain. They want me to set them loose, to allow them to wreak havoc upon others, as it has been wreaked upon them... so here is the latest snippet:-

There was the bigger picture to think of too though. There was the thought that one day, when she was a grown woman, questions about this night would arise and he would be forced to say that he had stood back and let whatever happened, happen.


I would love to tell you that this book has a happy ending, but I fear I would by lying. All I can say [and I am as much in the dark about the book's conclusion as you are,] is that it is sure to be exciting!


So for now, happy reading and I'll catch up with you soon.


Carmen.

Forget what I said earlier about staying put...I desperately want to move!


You know I can almost see the men amongst you raising your eyebrows at my about-turn but the truth is that the heart wants what it wants...and mine desperately needs to move.


I have seen a house that I have irrevocably fallen in love with. It is a house with soul and a beating heart and it calls my name every time I pass it. You can think me crazy if you wish but this house is calling to me, pulling me in and nurturing me with images of how my life could be if only I could call this particular place home...


And I am listening with heart as well as ears, with a breathless anticipation of what could be if fate and fortune really do favour the brave and the earnest.


The neighbours to this property are lovely and there is a good feeling to the place...its like coming home after a long absence when no-one berates you for how long you have been gone or how distant you have had to be.


It just feels right.


I am a great believer in gut instinct. But even more than that, I believe in listening to my heart.


And my heart is shouting out this house's address.


Wish me luck readers - I hope I am about to embark on a whole new chapter!