Ask the Author: Cynthia Fletcher Rothstein
Answered Questions (6)
Cynthia Fletcher Rothstein
I travel--for months at a time. There's something about living in a different culture--exploring a place when your time feels unlimited--that allows me to look at things in a different way. I get so excited about what I'm experiencing that I can't wait to tell someone.
Cynthia Fletcher Rothstein
Don't try to write like someone else or about something you don't know or feel. Whenever I start to feel out of my element, I back off and think about what it is I'm really trying to say. Then I start over focusing on saying it in the truest way I can.
Cynthia Fletcher Rothstein
I walk away from the computer and do something that uses a completely different part of my brain. My favorites for switching gears: knitting, playing the piano, and working out. It's amazing the ideas that will come to you out of nowhere when you stop working at it.
Cynthia Fletcher Rothstein
Ever since I read Heidi as a young girl, I've wanted to climb to the grazing pastures with Heidi and Peter and eat cheese and bread wrapped in cheesecloth while tending the goats.
Cynthia Fletcher Rothstein
Hi, Lois. When I traveled to Portugal seven years ago, I had very little notice and a difficult time finding good books on the subject. I had much more time to plan for my 2015 trip to Spain, however, and found several excellent books. If you only read one, make it James Michener's Iberia. (Although Portugal is also on the Iberian peninsula, this book is only about Spain.) I don't know if you've read Michener before. His books are long, but entertaining and fascinating, so stick with it. (Skim over the slow parts, if you want.) You'll learn a boatload about the country. I also enjoyed A Traveller's History of Spain by Juan La Laguna. It is a history book, but it's very readable. I liked the timeline format. It helps put their history in perspective.
Two outstanding fiction books are For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, for a good understanding of the Spanish Civil War, and Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom--a more personal account of living in Spain during the Civil War. Enjoy!
Two outstanding fiction books are For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, for a good understanding of the Spanish Civil War, and Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom--a more personal account of living in Spain during the Civil War. Enjoy!
Cynthia Fletcher Rothstein
My husband and I decided to take a three-month vacation to the United Kingdom. Although I had been to London several times, I had never seen anything outside the city - and I'm a huge Brit Lit fan! I dreamed of seeing Thomas Hardy's Wessex, Jane Austen's Hampshire and Somerset, Robert Louis Stevenson's Scottish Highlands, Charles Dickens' Kent, Beatrix Potter's Lakes District... I could go on and on! When I compiled a list of everything I wanted to see, it was way too long to tackle in a few weeks - up to then, the longest I had ever traveled for pleasure.
Then I read an article by Lynne Martin about selling your house and traveling the world one rented house at a time. What a wonderful concept! By renting a home in foreign countries, I'd really be able to explore. I didn't sell my home (I'm a homebody at heart!), but I did figure out a way to live economically in other people's homes while keeping my own. We tried to stay a week in each home we rented in the UK, and found we loved getting to know the neighborhoods, the shops, the pubs, and the people.
I was so blown away by the experience that I started blogging about it on my website: www.spinningcompass.net. I got great feedback from friends and family - and a publisher in Edinburgh! He asked me to write a book he would publish.
When I came home and started polishing up my blogs for the ebook, I realized I had a lot more to say than the little bit I had time to blog while on the road. So we separated the experience into two books: Scotland at the speed of life was published in August 2014, and England and Wales at the speed of life will be published in the Spring of 2015. Both books have a final "how-to" chapter on planning your own extended vacation. Anyone can do this!
Then I read an article by Lynne Martin about selling your house and traveling the world one rented house at a time. What a wonderful concept! By renting a home in foreign countries, I'd really be able to explore. I didn't sell my home (I'm a homebody at heart!), but I did figure out a way to live economically in other people's homes while keeping my own. We tried to stay a week in each home we rented in the UK, and found we loved getting to know the neighborhoods, the shops, the pubs, and the people.
I was so blown away by the experience that I started blogging about it on my website: www.spinningcompass.net. I got great feedback from friends and family - and a publisher in Edinburgh! He asked me to write a book he would publish.
When I came home and started polishing up my blogs for the ebook, I realized I had a lot more to say than the little bit I had time to blog while on the road. So we separated the experience into two books: Scotland at the speed of life was published in August 2014, and England and Wales at the speed of life will be published in the Spring of 2015. Both books have a final "how-to" chapter on planning your own extended vacation. Anyone can do this!
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