Writing, hunting Agents, surviving Rejections, reaching Readers

Ruth HartleyBook Launch, Digital Publishing, Self-Publishing, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Writing ProcessLeave a Comment

All that happens before the book launch This post will be published the morning after the book launch of The Tin Heart Gold Mine. I had to write and schedule it before the launch and so can’t report on that event. I’ll do that the following week and then I’ll give all my loyal readers a break and only post […]

See you at The Tin Heart Gold Mine book launch!

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Book Launch, Reading, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Writing ProcessLeave a Comment

Excitement is building for The Tin Heart Gold Mine official book launch, to be held at the Café du Centre, Maubourguet, at 19:00 on 24th March 2017. I’m looking forward to enjoying a glass of wine and some snacks with interested readers and friends. As well as reading some excerpts from the book, I will answer questions about it and […]

Tomorrow Mountain and the writing of Today’s Stories

Ruth HartleyEducation, Politics, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine21 Comments

Tomorrow Mountain today There were debts to be paid. I knew that. I hope that I’ve made a small repayment in The Tin Heart Gold Mine. When I was a girl of 16 I lived with my mother and stepfather one day’s walk from Tomorrow Mountain. It stood out against the sky, a long shape humped at both ends like […]

Paris, Africa and Otto Dix’s war paintings

Ruth HartleyBook Launch, Graphic Novel, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Visual Arts4 Comments

I have just returned from two nights in Paris where I visited a museum exhibition about Africa, saw paintings, and was reminded of Otto Dix’s war paintings — and his paintings of war injuries in particular. We travelled there by train, which gave me many lovely hours of dozily dreaming and reading. It was a foggy, misty day so staring […]

The challenge to write The Tin Heart Gold Mine

Ruth HartleyPolitics, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Writing Process4 Comments

My life in Zambia was a challenge but wonderful. I was lucky to have extraordinary and enriching experiences. It gave me respect and love for its people, its wilderness, wild animals and beauty. There aren’t many stories written about this period so that was an opportunity to write something new. It was a time full of confusion and conflict as […]