Category Archives: Lizzie’s Scribbles
From the sublime to the Gor blimey (!)
What jobs have you had?
When I was old enough to have a Saturday job, I started off in Woolworths. I worked on the counter selling Batman toys. I worked my way up to clearing the tables in the cafe. I’ve worked in shoe shops and then along summer holidays in offices as a temp. 35 years as a teacher and now 12 as an indie author,
From Caravan to AirBnB: A Scottish Adventure
This is Dave standing by our home on wheels. Its has everything we need for five week away. When we were students we used to pack a fishing tent, a blow up mattress and sleeping bags and then head for Italy or Greece. Now we pack the caravan and head north to the land of my fathers. This year our travels will take us along NC500 and over to Orkney. We’ve even bought T-shirts with runic writing on them. Don’t judge us, okay. 🙂
Our biggest problem when being away from home is the garden. Luckily, we have a wonderful neighbour who waters the plants and feeds the birds for us. The day will come when we won’t be able to travel this way due to age and so we’re making the most of it. When that day dawns we’ll sell the van and stay in AirBNBs instead. Which leads me to our next photo . . .
It’s a wee bit mad but . . . we’ll leave our van for a week in a site near Oban and cross over to Mull to stay in this AirBnB. It was the inspiration behind the Airstream featured in my Dark Sky Trilogy – Beag air Bheag – little by little. The hero in my novels is suffering from PTSD as a result injured when serving in Afghanistan. He’s retired to his parents Highland estate to recover and there he meets my heroine, Halley Dunbar, an astrophysicist. I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to actually stay somewhere I’d only seen in photos on the web. This year, we’re staying there for a whole week. People ask us if we’re bothered by the midges, the answer is no. In the garden there ia a midge exterminator which emits carbon dioxide which, in turn, attracts the midges and then exterminates them. We cover ourselves in Avon’s Skin So Soft. Works for the SAS and us (!)
I don’t want to make this a long post as I’m experimenting with using Jetpack on my MacBook to post. I gave up blogging because I was fed up using WordPress on my desktop and nothing seeming to work. It remains to be seen if I stick with this method. So far, so good. I’m not doing anything fancy, just writing it like a newsletter.
Well, I didn’t think that would work !! But it did. This is an image I made using the free “Grok” app and it shows the heroine and hero from my Dark Sky trilogy. Tor is an Afghan war veteran and Halley is an astrophysicist. They meet when Halley returns to Scotland to organise her great-uncle’s funeral and bumps in to Tor, quite literally, on a moonlit beach and knocks him out cold. They are perfect for each other but they don’t know that in the beginning but – as we find out – their love really was written in the stars.
I’ll finish this blog post by sharing my six Scottish romances. I hope you will take a chance on me and download one of them, here – viewAuthor.at/LizzieLamb
Are you a good judge of character?
Pretty good. My only failure was that wolf wearing red Ridinghood’s cape. Lol.
2025 Christmas Newsletter: Highlights and Upcoming Novels
Hi everyone and welcome to my Christmas Newsletter. Some of you may have received a shortened version of this letter with your Christmas card but here is the extended version should you wish to read it.
I spent most of the first quarter of 2025 publicising my latest novel Winter Star in the Scottish Highlands because, as an indie author, if I don’t get word of my books out there, who will? Winter Star is the sequel to Dark Highland Skies . I am currently writing the last in the series (title to be announced) for publication in 2026. If you want to know how Halley and Tor’s love story pans out, subscribe to my blog and keep in touch.
I’m also updating the last of my novel covers: Take Me I’m Yours. A proof copy is on pre-order but won’t arrive until after Christmas so I don’t have anything to show you. But you can download a copy (with the old cover) on Amazon for 99p or read FREE via Kindle Unlimited. .
The highlight of 2025 was the five weeks we spent in Scotland in August when we had the most am-az-ing weather. We made it over to Tobermory on Mull for the best fish in chips in the world and, to top it off, saw white-tailed sea eagles soaring over moorland/pine forests. It was so hot when we reached Arisaig I bought Factor 30 suncream from the local Spa and came home with a tan (not rusted up as usual).
We spent three nights in Drimnin in ‘Airship2’ which features in Winter Star in the Scottish Highlands as Tor and Halley’s hideaway – Beag air Bheag (little by little). When we saw it through the trees it took our breath away, it was like a film set. As for midges, the garden came complete with an anti-midge machine (the Terminator) which zapped the little blighters before they could get us. We have booked to stay there in June 2026 including the Longest Day when it never gets dark. So romantic.
I’m always looking for authentic touches to add to my novels. When we were in Mallaig we came across the Vintage Horsebox Deli which served delicious cake and coffee. I filed it away for future reference. I envisage a scene in #9 where it could be used to good effect. We also came across the Jac-o-bite cafe but that was too cheesy, even for me.
Upon checking the map I saw that we were very close to the village of Pennan and twisted Dave’s arm to drive us there. Pennan is where the movie Local Hero was filmed and we couldn’t resist standing by the iconic phone box. I love that movie so much that we downloaded a copy to re-watch in the caravan before we we visited there !!
After Pennan we headed south, and managed a quick visit to see Maggie in Lenzie before spending the day in Edinburgh and heading home. I’ll be updating the blog with more of our Scottish adventures after Christmas, so if you don’t already subscribe, please consider doing so.
In case you are unaware, my sister Phyllis King is a very talented artist and these are the covers of some of the Christmas cards she’s created. I used the stag’s head to make labels for my cards this year and it looked fantastic. Coincidentally, I found a stag’s head garland in the local Age UK, added new ribbon and batteries and it now hangs on our door in pride of place. Well, to be honest, Dave added the ribbon etc but I did order it off Amazon! Cute, or what?
Looking ahead . . . In 2026 we will be celebrating 53 years of marriage, 30 years in our current home, 20 years of retirement and Dave’s mum’s 98th birthday and, hopefully, a new novel(!). We’ll be heading out with the caravan in March to celebrate my birthday and I can’t wait. (I won’t say which one) 😊Remember, you are always welcome at Chez Lamb for coffee, cake and a chance to sit by the wood burning stove and share the craic. I promise to turn the telly off . . .
Much love and warmest wishes from Lizzie and Dave
Hallowe’en or Samhain ?
I used to love Hallowe’en, decorating the outside of the house with cobwebs, lanterns etc and getting the sweets and treats ready for the children who rang the bell shouting: trick or treat. That custom fell out of favour during Covid as I didn’t open the door to any unexpected guests. Yesterday, I was searching through a carved pine settle in the hall and discovered a tin of ‘filling puller’ sweets I’d stowed away in 2019 – the last time I handed out sweets to the neighbourhood kids. In those days we embraced the tradition wholeheartedly until, usually around about seven o’clock, the children of primary school age (accompanied by their parents or older siblings) stopped calling. At that point, deciding enough was enough, we drew the curtains and stopped answering the doorbell. Let’s face it, no one wants a group of teenagers standing on your doorstep on a dark autumn night demanding sweets with menaces, Right?
Hallowe’en was not invented in America, the tradition goes back much further. Many believe that emigrating Scots and Irish took the tradition to America with them. There it was adapted and changed into ‘trick or treat’, shipped back to the UK and merged with local traditions to create the Hallowe’en festival we know today. What I’d like to do is tell you about some of the Hallowe’en traditions I remember growing up in Scotland . . . who knows, you might recognise some of them.
Traditionally, Scottish children would go “guising” around their local neighbourhood wearing scary or outrageous costumes. Pretending to be evil spirits, they would disguise themselves and remain undetected by other wandering spirits they believed would cause them harm. Guisers would perform tricks or songs, and so were given gifts to help ward off evil. The origin of trick or treating, perhaps?
In Scotland, turnip heads would be carved into scary faces to make lanterns and lit to keep ghosts at bay. That tradition faded away, replaced by pumpkins which are more readily available these days and much easier to carve. There are many PYO pumpkin farms around where I live and it provides a popular weekend activity for families.
The ancient Celts were a blood thirsty lot and liked nothing more than decapitating their enemies and displaying their heads as trophies. The tradition of ‘apple dooking’ where children grab an apple out of a basin of water using their teeth is thought to hark back to this bloodthirsty tradition. Nowadays you are more likely to be given a toffee apple as a trophy.
Just to prove that you’re never too old to have fun, here are some photos from a Hallowe’en party hosted by friend and fellow author Adrienne Vaughan a few years ago. Some very dodgy characters turned out that night including Dracula. Although I don’t look too worried about being bitten on the neck. The other ‘weird sister’ in the fourth photo is June Kearns who writes fabulous books.
I know that Hallowe’en is all about fun and trying to pronouce Samain correctly – however, I’d like to share my own spooky story which happened many years ago when I was a teenager. Recently I reminded my sister Phyllis about it and she remembers it exactly as I do – here’s the link the post.
And . . . finally. My novel Girl in the Castle which features a haunted castle on a Scottish loch, family tragedy and a lost Jacobite treasure will be available to download over the weekend for 99p – so catch it while you can.
You can read the first few chapters FREE by following this link
I would love to hear your Hallowe’en experiences, spooky or otherwise so please leave a comment below. I always respond 🙂
The Ultimate Itinerary for a Scottish Road Trip
Our five week research trip to Scotland
Part One – Leicester – Strathclyde
In the past, when we travelled to Scotland with the caravan, we left Leicester at 4 AM to pass through the M6 Toll Road and take advantage of the preferential rate negotiated by the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Sadly, those days have gone, and it now costs sixteen pounds to travel on the toll road. The toll is now fully automated, so with a quick flick of the debit card, we were on to our first stop – Tebay Services, Westmorland. We were eager to hit the road because Storm Floris was waiting for us over the border.
We love stopping at Tebay services (if only for farmshop, cafe and restaurant). It’s rather strange when you first arrive, because the caravan site is almost deserted. However, as evening approaches, it quickly fills up. It reminded us of the time we travelled to Greece (with only a fishing tent to sleep in!) when campers belted through the former Yugoslavia (avoiding Albania) to reach Greece as quickly as possible. In those days there were queues at the bakery and bread and other supplies quickly ran out. It gave us a taste of what life would be like under a communist regime and it wasn’t very appealing. So, next morning, fuelled by a Cumberland sausage cob (!) and a cappoucino we set off to go head-to-head with Storm Floris.
We crossed the border without incident and, as usual, my heart was full as I remembered everything my family (mum, dad, granny, uncle, four kids and an alsatian) left behind when my father moved south in search of work in the sixties. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it because as soon as we were on the M74, Storm Floris made her presence known. Here, the land flattens out and the wind whips across from the west even on a good day. Soon the caravan was being buffeted by gale force winds and Dave slipped into four wheel drive as spray rose from the road making driving difficult.
At this point in the journey I usually recite Young Lochinvar (one of my fav poems) coming “out of the west”, but the driving conditions were so scary I held my wheesht. I’m sure Dave was grateful for that. In fact, the weather was so apalling, that the CAMH warden at Hamilton rang us to ask if we were still intent on camping there. We were told to come straight in and not to wait until 1pm, as was usual. I was grateful to arrive in one piece and told Dave (not for the first time) that he was a hero, even though his cape was packed in an overhead locker along with the spare towels.
The weather eventually calmed down and the caravan was no longer in any danger of aquaplaning across the motorway. We left the ‘bra’ [which protects the large front window from damage] in place as we were moving on the next day and wanted a quick getaway.
The next day, August the 5th, would have been my mother’s 97th birthday and we decided to make a pilgrimage to Craigneuk via Motherwell to visit the house where I was born. Last time we visited, an elderly lady came out and asked if she could help. She brought me up to date on some of the families I’d grown up with. Sadly, she didn’t appear this time, so we took as many photos as we could and returned to the van.
It was quite emotional standing before my old home and remembering growing up in that cul-de-sac. Back in the fifties, children played without adult supervision and pavements were marked with chalk drawings and peever beds. Although the road was now empty I could recall the children who lived there: Wallaces, Smileys, Bunces, Parkes and my many cousins. Along with the other girls I would sit on the back doorstep and write little tales and poems to read back to each other.
Then, one Christmas I was given a Petite typewriter and my writing career began . . .
It seems strange to think that the Ravenscraig Steel works was – quite literally – in our back garden. We never paid it much heed, concentrating instead on renacting the movies we saw in Saturday cinema in each other’s back gardens: The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Rob Roy and my particular favourite The Ghost Goes West. The works were demolished in 1996 and a new town – Ravenscraig, built there instead. On the last evening we visited it, but there were no ghosts waiting for me, nor a sense of what had been.
One of the eponymous Ravenscraig boilers, me as a “wean”and with grannie. Looking down Meadowhead Road and remembering . . .
I hope you’ve enjoyed the first instalment in our five week trip around Scotland; we covered two thousand miles researching #3 in the Dark Skies Trilogy. I daren’t look at the petrol receipts bcause towing a twenty-five foot caravan guzzles up the gas.
Next time, we travel onwards through the Trossachs to Barcaldine near Oban where we stayed in a romantic campsite situated in a Victorian walled garden.
In the meantime, do check out the first two books in the series and my other novels which are FREE to download on kindle unlimited. You can also read them on your kindle or purchase a paperback. Signed copies of the paperbacks are also available; please leave a message in the “comments” and I’ll get back to you.
….and remember – if you’ve enjoyed this post please like/share/reblog and leave a comment
Boot Camp Bride – love, romance and danger on the Norfolk marshes
Boot Camp Bride: A sassy, workplace/enemies-to-lovers rom com guaranteed to make you smile
Hi everyone, I hope your summer is going well and that the sun is shining on you. I’ve been living a mole-like existence in the semi-dark of my study getting on with my writing. By which I mean the last novel in my Dark Skies Trilogy which I hope to bring out next spring. Then, as yu do, I decided that updating the cover of Boot Camp Bride was a good idea – so here it is. Reading the novel again I remembered how much fun I’d had writing it and creating the two main characters: sassy, up-for-anything Charlee Montague and brooding hero Rafa Ffinch.
Read the blurb and, if sounds like your kind of thing, why not download a copy . . .
Take an up-for-anything rookie reporter. Add a world-weary photojournalist. Put them together . . . light the blue touch paper and stand well back!
Posing as a bride-to-be, Charlee Montague goes undercover at a boot camp for brides on the Norfolk coast to photograph supermodel Anastasia Markova. At Charlee’s side and posing as her fiancé, is Rafael Ffinch award winning photographer and survivor of a kidnap attempt in Columbia. He’s in no mood to cut inexperienced Charlee any slack and has made it plain that once the investigation is over, their partnership – and fake engagement – will be terminated, too. Soon Charlee has more questions than answers. What’s the real reason behind Ffinch’s interest in the boot camp? How is it connected to his kidnap in Columbia? In setting out to uncover the truth, Charlee puts herself in danger …
And, as the investigation draws to a close, she wonders if she’ll be able to hand back the family engagement ring and walk away from Rafa Ffinch without a backward glance.
It seems I wasn’t the only who enjoyed Charlee and Rafa’ adventures!
Reviews for Boot Camp Bride
A touch of Sophie Kinsella, a smidgen of Jilly Cooper, yet totally Lizzie Lamb! Adrienne Vaughan
This book is above the average contemporary romance for me – the reason why? It’s intelligent as well as wildly romantic. India
Entertaining with comedic elements throughout, the pace of this well written tale rattles along at a good rate with sexual tension building from the start. Georgia Rose (Vine Voice)
Boot Camp Bride, however, is no straightforward Rom-Com. Ffinch has a sinister past, and hidden agenda. In cold and dark mid-winter, he drives them in his VW Camper Van into danger and menace at the isolated Boot Camp on the edge of the Norfolk marshes. Mags Cullingford
Undeterred by the alpha male, she managed to fight him with wit and stubbornness. Lizzie Lamb’s characters and style of writing sparkle in Boot Camp Bride. This romantic comedy is classic gold: it is the equivalent of comfort food and a good night out with friends. Lady Bracknell
Boot Camp Bride is a well written and very amusing romance novel which would be ideal for a holiday read or a long winter night in front of the fire. Catherine
As I mentioned at the start of this blog I am currently writing the third book in my Dark Skies Trilogy and where better to write it than Scotland? We’ll be heading north soon and if that doesn’t inspire me to finish the novel, nothing will. In the meantime, why not check out the first two books in the series? All my books are available as paperback which make ideal gifts.
Finally, I hope everyone has a great summer and look forward to touching base with you in September when, hopefully, the word count of my next novel will have increased. And, I’ll have lots of fabulous photos to share with you. In the meantime, do check out my other novels which are all available on Amazon and written with love.
Boot Camp Bride – love, romance and danger on the Norfolk marshes
Boot Camp Bride: A sassy, workplace/enemies-to-lovers rom com guaranteed to make you smile
Hi everyone, I hope your summer is going well and that the sun is shining on you. I’ve been living a mole-like existence in the semi-dark of my study getting on with my writing. By which I mean the last novel in my Dark Skies Trilogy which I hope to bring out next spring. Then, as yu do, I decided that updating the cover of Boot Camp Bride was a good idea – so here it is. Reading the novel again I remembered how much fun I’d had writing it and creating the two main characters: sassy, up-for-anything Charlee Montague and brooding hero Rafa Ffinch.
Read the blurb and, if sounds like your kind of thing, why not download a copy . . .
Take an up-for-anything rookie reporter. Add a world-weary photojournalist. Put them together . . . light the blue touch paper and stand well back!
Posing as a bride-to-be, Charlee Montague goes undercover at a boot camp for brides on the Norfolk coast to photograph supermodel Anastasia Markova. At Charlee’s side and posing as her fiancé, is Rafael Ffinch award winning photographer and survivor of a kidnap attempt in Columbia. He’s in no mood to cut inexperienced Charlee any slack and has made it plain that once the investigation is over, their partnership – and fake engagement – will be terminated, too. Soon Charlee has more questions than answers. What’s the real reason behind Ffinch’s interest in the boot camp? How is it connected to his kidnap in Columbia? In setting out to uncover the truth, Charlee puts herself in danger …
And, as the investigation draws to a close, she wonders if she’ll be able to hand back the family engagement ring and walk away from Rafa Ffinch without a backward glance.
It seems I wasn’t the only who enjoyed Charlee and Rafa’ adventures!
Reviews for Boot Camp Bride
A touch of Sophie Kinsella, a smidgen of Jilly Cooper, yet totally Lizzie Lamb! Adrienne Vaughan
This book is above the average contemporary romance for me – the reason why? It’s intelligent as well as wildly romantic. India
Entertaining with comedic elements throughout, the pace of this well written tale rattles along at a good rate with sexual tension building from the start. Georgia Rose (Vine Voice)
Boot Camp Bride, however, is no straightforward Rom-Com. Ffinch has a sinister past, and hidden agenda. In cold and dark mid-winter, he drives them in his VW Camper Van into danger and menace at the isolated Boot Camp on the edge of the Norfolk marshes. Mags Cullingford
Undeterred by the alpha male, she managed to fight him with wit and stubbornness. Lizzie Lamb’s characters and style of writing sparkle in Boot Camp Bride. This romantic comedy is classic gold: it is the equivalent of comfort food and a good night out with friends. Lady Bracknell
Boot Camp Bride is a well written and very amusing romance novel which would be ideal for a holiday read or a long winter night in front of the fire. Catherine
As I mentioned at the start of this blog I am currently writing the third book in my Dark Skies Trilogy and where better to write it than Scotland? We’ll be heading north soon and if that doesn’t inspire me to finish the novel, nothing will. In the meantime, why not check out the first two books in the series? All my books are available as paperback which make ideal gifts.
Finally, I hope everyone has a great summer and look forward to touching base with you in September when, hopefully, the word count of my next novel will have increased. And, I’ll have lots of fabulous photos to share with you. In the meantime, do check out my other novels which are all available on Amazon and written with love.
The Santorini Writing Retreat by Eva Glyn
Secrets make the best stories… Three women, one writing retreat, endless possibilities…Bestselling author Jessica Rose needs to escape from a …
The Santorini Writing Retreat by Eva Glyn
Winter Star in the Scottish Highlands – 99p – #kindledeal
Winter Star in the Scottish Highlands is available to download for £0.99 until 31st of May.
After that it reverts to the original price of £2.99. So get it while it’s hot. Winter Star in the Scottish Highlands can be read as a stand alone. Or, you can find out more about Halley and Tor’s relationship and how/when they fell in love by reading Dark Highland Skies . I am currently writing the third book in the series: Summer Solstice in the Highlands of Scotland which I hope to publish late spring 2026.
This isn’t the first time kindle deal I’ve been offered. I was on holiday in Scotland on a freezing cold autumn day at John O Groat’s when my phone pinged and there it was. That deal was for my novel Boot Camp Bride. If you want to know more about Boot Camp Bride you can read an extract here. It is currently available to download for £0.99. Strangely, I was in the Cotswolds on the hottest day of the year this time when Amazon offered me this kindle deal. I accepted straight away as such offers are as rare as hens’ teeth.
Perhaps caravanning brings me luck! Back in 2017 when I was offered my first deal, we were touring Scotland with our first caravan – and Ebay bargain at £300. Since then, after deciding that caravanning is for us, we have upgraded several times and are currently on our fifth – a double axle with ensuite shower room, island bed and full size fridge. Strangely enough, we collected it from Newhaven which is exactly where we spent our honeymoon in great uncle Tommy’s wooden (!) caravan with no running water, fridge or other refinements.
You can read here about how our caravan becomes my writing room when we’re on holiday
Anyway, I digress. Here the books are side by side. I have a lot of affection for the hero/heroine in Boot Camp Bride, Rafa and Charlie – but Tor and Halley (Winter Star) are my and readers’ current favourites.
If you haven’t read ‘Winter Star’, Here’s the blurb – As the harsh Lochaber winter approaches and with Halley expecting a baby, living in the converted Airstream caravan, Beag air Bheag, becomes impractical. Tor’s family home – Eagles Crag – offers shelter, but his mother’s inevitable meddling is holding them back from moving there. Instead, they find refuge in the Dower House and prepare for the arrival of their baby with optimism and hope, embracing the magic of a Highland Christmas, culminating in the Ghillies’ Ball on Hogmanay.
However, an old flame of Tor’s rents the nearby bothy threatening to disrupt their idyllic life . . .
Is their love strong enough to survive the trials of family, winter and a ghost from the past?
. . . and finally. When we were in the Cotwolds we went to Snow’s Hill Manor where I spotted a bassinet in an attic room. It was seeing a similar cot in Drum Castle in Scotland two years ago which inspired me to include the contentious “Strachan Bassinet” in Winter Star.
I’ll sign off for now. Thank you for reading my blog post – I hope it has inspired you to download Winter Star and Dark Highland Skies which are available for £2.98
PS – I would love it if you ticked the FOLLOW box on my Amazon page and susbcribed to my blog
Lizzie Lamb - author 