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To me, reading through old letters and journals is like treasure hunting. Somewhere in those faded, handwritten lines there is a story that has been packed away in a dusty old box for years.
Sara Sheridan -
Those who have not been stung will hardly fear a bee the same as those who have.
Sara Sheridan
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I had never really understood what an adventure life could be, if you followed your heart and did what you really wanted to do, which is what we must all do in the end.
Sara Sheridan -
It is through our extended family that we first learn to compromise and come to an understanding that even if we don't always agree about things we can still love and look out for each other.
Sara Sheridan -
If we don't value the people who inspire us (and money is one mark of that) then what kind of culture are we building?
Sara Sheridan -
Sometimes I create a character from a scrap - a mere mention that has been left behind.
Sara Sheridan -
It may take a village to raise a baby, but hell! it takes an army to produce a book.
Sara Sheridan -
A book is a story, even if it's non-fiction, and once I've read it, I have the story with me inside my head always.
Sara Sheridan
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I'm not sure how much easier it is for a mother to balance her life now - have we simply swapped one set of restrictions for another?
Sara Sheridan -
While I'm frustrated at the amount I'm expected to take on in the present, the 1950s woman was frustrated by being excluded - not being allowed to take things on at all.
Sara Sheridan -
Scotland just isn't terribly Tory.
Sara Sheridan -
I've always had a keen sense of history. My father was an antiques dealer and he used to bring home boxes full of treasures, and each item always had a tale attached.
Sara Sheridan -
Writers are a product of where we come from but by looking at alternatives to the culture in which we live, we can find ways to change and hopefully improve it.
Sara Sheridan -
Grabbing readers by the imagination is a writer's job.
Sara Sheridan
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It is one of the benchmarks of a culture I always think – the page at which it operates. A good way to measure it is to order a taxi and see how irate local people get if it is late.
Sara Sheridan -
We can learn so much looking outside our core field of expertise.
Sara Sheridan -
As an historical novelist - there are few jobs more retrospective.
Sara Sheridan -
For a novelist, the gaps in a story are as intriguing as material that still exists.
Sara Sheridan -
Something I notice speaking to writers from south of Hadrians Wall is that the culture is different. At base, I think Scotland values its creative industries differently from England.
Sara Sheridan -
A word out of place or an interesting choice of vocabulary can spawn a whole character.
Sara Sheridan
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She wishes her grandmother had not been so protective, and that she understood better what passes between a man and woman. As it is, she simply enjoys the feelings and wonders if they are what lightning is made of, for everything comes back to the weather. Tears like rain. Smiles like the sun. Hair as dry as sand and fear like the dark ocean.
Sara Sheridan -
At length, when I considered it, I realized that the best of my actions were small things. Picking flowers and cooking food for my mother when she had been unwell, spending an afternoon with the children, sending money to my sister or kissing Henry's tiny head as he slept in the nursery before I left. I thought of every detail and afterwards I felt better. Hellfire and brimstone have never appealed to me and I admit I become easily confused thinking of right and wrong. But I do understand kindness.
Sara Sheridan -
I didn't expect to love being online as much as I do. I've met some wonderful people and discovered that however arcane some of my interests that there are people out there who are interested too.
Sara Sheridan -
The sky was a sparkling succession of black diamonds on black velvet made crystal clear by the blackout.
Sara Sheridan