Back in the UK (for the summer)

Wow, back in the UK after a  trip back through Spain which was uneventful except that at the Picos de Europa I drove directly into a cloud, visibility nil, 2 minutes from the invisible top I lost my nerve, nearly panicked but managed to turn the car round and get back down. Phew. Then it rained and Misty crashed the insect net door of the tent so we shared a joyous night in the company of buzzing mosquitos.

In Santander we had to take the dog to another vet because the Torre vet had misclaculated the departure time by 2 hours, 30 euros please bla bla so we could make the boat - typical!

Well, then came the drive through hell: The M6 was totally traffic jammed what with it being friday, bank holiday, roadworks, accidents etc. 

 

It took 12, yes twelve hours to get to Edinburgh.

 

Today we actually have sunshine hurray and I have just watched my grandson dancing flamenco with his schoolmates. Oh joy, lots of parents taking pictures of their little darlings dancing in a circle...

 

My son, Luke, tells me he can record me, (for an audio book version) so that's cool. 

 

What I have done? Well started to do, is scraping polystyrene tiles (do you remember them from the seventies?) off the bathroom ceiling. It's a pig of a job and everything gets covered in the little white bubbles. Meantime the dog has a daily roll in badger s**** by the river and then sneaks into the house to attract hundreds of flies. Ah, life in the country! 

 

But soon back to writing.............more to follow.

PS The first print run has sold out, 2nd reprint (without errors) happening as we speak............

Another Review

This from Nik Morton, published author

"In May 2006, 53-year-old grandmother Heínke decides to follow in reverse the route taken by her hero poet Laurie Lee through Spain. She’s short of funds, sex-starved and accompanied by her clever dog Misty Blue and the inestimable Messrs Whyte & Mackay. Touring via campsites, she encounters nature in the raw, gets lost more than once, weathers rain and mist, and subsists on tea, bread, tomatoes – lots of tomatoes! – and sardines.

Heínke Pauly has a great turn of phrase, a wonderful sense of humour and a keen observant – and sometimes surreal – eye.

Ignore the few publisher’s typos and the occasional glitch in paragraph justification and enjoy a truly original travel book."

Thanks Nik, and I promise to get the publishers typos sorted out in the next print run.

Better then Easter Eggs!

Had this from a member of Torrevieja Writers Circle:

"I have six copies of Heinke's book and have given three instead of easter eggs to friends.  One of my friends has a finca near Caravaca and is really thrilled with the book.  The other one is MS who did not have the cash on her to buy it and is over the moon and the third is a journalist friend of mine who is also German and is really enjoying itl  I have sent a copy to my daughter who loves it and have enjoyed reading it myself.  I can really hear her talking through the book. cheers, Ann B."

Thanks Ann - healthier than chocolate!

Wordplay Ezine

I am a member of the Wordplay writers group who produce a monthly Ezine - and I was included in this months edition:

http://www.wordplaywriters.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/wordplayezineapr2010.pdf

Camping With Wolves - another review

Review of Heinke´s book CAMPING WITH WOLVES (Written by Joy Lennick)

CAMPING WITH WOLVES is a “smiley” book, to enjoy while curled up on a couch, or while lounging on a sun-kissed beach.  It soon becomes plain that author, Heinke Pauly,

is not your average German Frau!   On reading ´As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning´ by Laurie Lee,´ Heinke immediately fell in love with the dead poet, and decided to follow in  some of his footsteps, backwards.  (You have to read it!)  Suffering a spartan diet of mostly tomatoes and sardines, our author travels in her ´red rust bucket´ accompanied by her faithful blue merle border collie, through ever changing scenery.

Heinke meets interesting, sometimes odd strangers, stays in camp sites – their only stars above her head!  She has fun with her Spanish: Pero estoy muy embarazada de mi cara (But I am very pregnant of my face) referring to a cold sore on her face like a small tortoise… Name places such as Archivel, Los Odres, Caravaca , and Calasparra et al march across the pages, as do her many adventures. Spanish history and fiestas feature, and of course Don Quixote appears.  The “free spirit” which embodies Heinke Pauly  is imprinted on each page.

                                                                                                                        Joy Lennick

Thanks Joy - great to get a review from another published author!

One of the Reviews

BOOK REVIEW

CAMPING WITH WOLVES - Heinke Pauly

Heinke Pauly, born in Germany, has led a colourful and somewhat surreal life which is reflected in her humorous writings. After stints living in Manchester, the Hebrides and Edinburgh, she found herself in Spain a few years ago and has been writing ever since. Her book is based on a travelling and camping adventure across Spain retracing the footsteps of a dead poet that she had fallen madly in love with. The poet was Laurie Lee and the seminal work that turned her head to mush was ‘As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning’. What follows is an hilarious escapade of her adventures and misadventures along the route. She has a wonderful way of drawing the reader into her odd, offbeat world. From cultivating a tortoise on her upper lip and having semi-lucid conversations with her dog Misty Blue, (pictured above) to spending her nights with Messrs. Whyte and Mackay, peeing up trees and sitting in toilet blocks in empty campsites playing her electric organ and singing at the top of her voice, she lives the free life of a funky-monkey grandmother on the run. Ignore the printing errors (publisher‘s fault not the author’s) and you have a rollercoaster journey through the strange and colourful kaleidoscopic domain of Ms Pauly. 

Written by TJ Miles

Further reviews here

How to get a copy of the book

As regular blog readers will know I have experienced some printing problems but I now have a supply of my book - albeit with some minor printing errors (I might run a competition to see who can spot them all!)

However friends who have read the book say these do not detract too much from the story and so if you want a (slightly misprinted) copy please let me have your details and I can arrange shipment for 6€ plus P&P.

Or go to AMAZON here

Camping with Wolves - the book!

I am delighted to announce that my book - Camping with Wolves has now been printed. There are however some errors but I have distributed some copies to reviewers and I hope to post their reviews shortly.

Details of book launch, where you can buy your copy and all sorts of other exciting literary stuff will appear on this blog ASAP in the meantime...................here is the cover

Laurie Lee - Features in The Oldie competiton

A rather eccentric publication 'The Oldie' magazine recently ran a poetry competiton - all lines had to rhyme with 'Slad'

Philip Brown was amongst the winners with this:

Laurie Lee, who came from Slad
Set out one morning, when a lad,
With violin (though not a Strad)
Some silver to the coins he had

The village life was strictly Trad.
He wrote about his absent Dad,
The festivals that made them glad,
Cider with Rosie (just a fad),
And poor Miss Flynn, so nearly mad,
Who told his mother, 'I've been had,
Mrs Er... Things made me sad'
The milkman found her where, unclad,
She'd drowned beneath a lily pad.

Just goes to show you can't keep a good author down.

Local Street Art

Really can be interesting stuff.........I will share more thoughts on this with you soon.

Happy New Year Everyone

Whilst I track down my publisher to ascertain the progress on my (long awaited) book, I thought I would update you on my Christmas festivities and some other random thoughts:

After singing weird carols, badly I ended up with a troubled conscience. Was I losing my religion? Was my hippy idolism of Jesus the original preacher of love falling apart? All that long hair and sandals and walking on water - was I turning into a Judas when the blasted carols seriously got on my nerves or when I agreed with Muslim flatmate that all world religions are based on the same thing like fear? What a mix up in my mind! Maybe this is why I am so pathologically superstitious?

But over to Richard Dawkins who says 'The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic homophobic, racist, infanticide, genocide, filicidal, pestilential, megalomania cal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.'

Bjork says, 'The Buddhists say we come back as animals and they refer to them as lesser beings. Well, animals aren't lesser beings, they're just like us. So I say f*** the Buddhists.'

Frank Zappa says, 'To hand all this desperate sociology on the idea of The Cloud Guy who has The Big Book, who knows if you've been bad or good - and care about any of it - is the chimpanzee part of the brain working.'

Of course, what is really interesting is that the UK's oldest duck, Edwina, has died at the age of 22.

Have you ever been sacked? Tom Binns, a DJ of BRMB radio interrupted HM's Christmas speech by accidentally switching its feed and putting on a Wham! Song instead, saying, 'From one Queen to another'. He was sacked. Shame. Seems to me he should have got a pay rise.

On 'hidden treasure' - tomorrow’s theme:

Not everyone gets to measure
The full extent of pure pleasure
Some are content
With that heaven-sent
Moment of real hidden treasure

Merry Christmas...

Hemingway - Fellini - Bob Dylan

I prefer Hemingway’s 'Death in the Afternoon' even though the style of writing seems all old-fashioned today. At least it gives some insight into bullfighting - not that I like any of it. There is a scene in Fellini's film 'Spiriti dephi' that explains how the bullfighter creates the illusion with his cape and this magic is the killer of the animal. The Fellini is worth watching just because of the hats...

Zesting ahead relentlessly, here is what happened after Meike looked up Bob Dylan’s agent address. (See earlier posts if confused)

I wrote to them at the 'Creative Artists Agency, Agent for Bob Dylan, 2000 Ave. Of The Stars (no kidding), L.A., Ca 90067, USA', asking for the copy of CWW to be passed on to Bob. A few days later, they phoned me asking for my address. Just hearing the American girl voice pronouncing Yetholm like yeatholme almost brought on a fit of the giggles as I was sitting in the dark little cottage in the Borders. Then the doubts set in: could I already see large plants moving about in the dusky garden? Were secret agents creeping around the undergrowth to figure out if I was a terrorist or some madwoman stalking old superstars? I almost wished I had never started this. Then the postman brought the book back with a letter from the CAA, saying they had 'examined it' but couldn't deal with 'unsolicited submissions'. Pi**sed off, I re-sent the book to them, saying it was not intended as a 'submission for something to someone. It is intended as a personal gift for Bob Dylan. As you have examined the contents (i.e. it does not contain explosives) might you now kindly pass it on to Mr. Bob Dylan?

Well, they replied, I'll bring the letter along on wed, saying 'No' again. Apart from the book, I had put a wee note for our man Bob that runs like this:

Dear Bob,
Just a bit of fan mail, that's all.
Forget about the 'all fictitious characters' bla. No names have been changed 'cos this story is absolutely true.
But over to you. When the young girl cop caught you 'acting suspiciously' last week, what were you really up to?
I'm a crap emailer.
Praps post me a message
on the sole
of a broken shoe

love and respect
to gorgeous old you

PS Fancy meeting in Iceland  (the country, not the shop) sometime?

This went off on 30.08.09 with my mobile number, but of course, he never got it. Bummer! Especially 'cos I'd already run off to buy fab new underwear and even a new leather jacket. Ah well.

When I got another letter, returning the book Again from the CAA - they handily paid for all the postage so that was nice - I felt knocked back to the core, changed the leather for a warm granny cardigan and shot off to Spain.

Somebody told me Bob is on Facebook, but seeing I have yet to figure out how to get into that, let alone the blog of camping, I'll zest back home just now where we've had a major flood in the hallway. Ah, Life!
Ciao for now, H.

Promise more about the book VERY SOON!

Southern Reporter - Headlines

Hey I made the newspaper:

Please click here for more

Cool!!

The Inspiration behind the Book

May 2006.
And we (the readers) are traveling around Spain with a broke, single, and sex-starved grandmother in her prime.

She is in love with a dead poet, Laurie Lee, and decides on a whim, on a mountaintop somewhere in a Spanish sierra, to follow in the guy's footsteps, reliving the route he once walked, seventy years ago.

The apparently nervous wreck of a 'Gran on the run' is soon confronted with the heart of the journey: the poet was only nineteen but she is fifty-three. Is she fit for adventure or caught up in foolhardy fatalism?

Has she got what it takes or will she shrivel into a lily-livered chicken? After 2.500miles of this roller- coaster ride in grandma's red rust bucket, her (shy) dog Misty Blue tells all.

"We did the trip ' cos we were homeless - the flat in Torre was let because we desperately needed some money, so we took to the road. Yes and she did send a proof copy of CWW to the book review guy of The Big Issue but heard nothing back. Either this is because there was a postal strike at the time or because she never put enough money on the letter/stamp. Same story with Muriel Gray, Jenny Murray of Woman's Hour R4 and some others, which I can't remember at the moment. There is also the story of sending a copy to America," (see earlier blog post)

Bit more about me and how I got this far...

Heinke Pauly was born in Hamburg but ran away from home the day after she left school to live in sin with an Englishman in Moss Side (An "experience, but handy for the hospital"), Manchester.

They moved via Lewis in the Hebrides to a remote Orcadian Island, where the native sheep eat seaweed and can swim. After almost ten years, time for a change of direction and she left those romantic shores, and went to study in Edinburgh.

It was known at the time as Europe's 'Capital of AIDS' and she wrote a film script addressing the issue of HIV+ women, as well as a few short stories. Once her three children had become independent survivors, she went for a short trip to Spain, only to end up living there.

Enthusiastic hill walker and choir singer, she is currently learning the art of sailing.

Next Post: Update on my book!

More things that influence my writing

Favourite poem- The Love song of Alfred J. Prufrock and "Croft"
Aloft,
In the loft,
He Sits croft; He is soft.

Favourite Flowers - Tulip and Cactus

Greatest Fears - Dentists and Hairdressers
Tunnels and Bridges
Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Snakes, Silent spiders, Cockroaches

Favourite Music- Debussy, Manu Chao, 1008, Fleetwood Mac, Verdi, Dvorjak, Seal, Noisettes, Sam Coke, Spencer Davis, Billy Holiday, Marvin Gaye, Jamiroqui, Dusty, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan,Beethoven, Nina Pastori, Chopin, Portishead but not the last album,, Duffy, Massive Attack, Donovan, Louis Armstrong, Otis Redding, John Mayall, Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, The All Saints, Leftfield, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Pink Ffloyd, U2, Rickie Lee Jones, Robert Cray, Temptations, Midnight Cowboys, The Who, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick with Jefferson Airplane, early Stones, and counting....

I hate bullfighting, Pain and Injustice

I admire great graffiti. like the words Tortura no esta cultura sprayed on some rust old bullfighting rink in Torrevieja alst year. Also the fantastic outraged Dali covering an entire wall in the industrial estate.

Torrevieja has loads of brilliant graffiti. It goes to show not everybody here is half asleep with the heat and foreign affluence.

Me and Bob Dylan and the CIA ?

Favourite fanciable men
Seal, Lenny Kravitz, Morgan Freeman, Robert Cray, Lenny Henry with whom I once danced all night, Bob Dylan to whom I cannot send my wee book even though I have dedicated it to him as well as my grandson Peter.

Honestly, I looked up the address of his agent and Google said Ah, Avenida of the stars, LA something or other and I sent it off. Then I got this weird phone call from America asking for my address in Scotland so that they 'could deal with my request'. It never occurred to me to ask the friendly girl lots of witty questions; it was just too hilarious hearing her pronounce Yetholm in American. Once the phone was down, I freaked a bit. Could I see plants moving about outside in the dusky evening, people hiding behind them to spy on me? Is that what happens when you want to speak to Bob The Man? You get checked out by the CIA?
Danny de Vito, Placido Domingo (I got over Laurie Lee!)

About me

My Favourite Films? I give you a few -
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with fabulous Maggie Smith;
Baghdad Cafe';
Torch song Trilogy with cool Ann Bancroft and today is World AIDS Day
Rainman;
Dr Zhivago
Brazil
The Dead Poet Society
101 Reykjavik
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Into The West

I get my writing inspiration from lots of different sources...

My book: CAMPING WITH WOLVES

Will be published very shortly, lots more to follow very soon.