I’ve started winding down now.

When I close my eyes… I can hear the hypnotic sound of Atlantic Ocean waves lapping over the hot, ochre-coloured sands at Praia do Trafal.

I can smell the fresh, tangy scent of the umbrella pine trees.

I can hear the sound of cicadas in the still of the balmy nights.

I can feel the magnetic pull of Temperus Beach Bar and Marissa asking me, ‘are you ready to order?’

I have loved the beach and the sea ever since I can remember.

‘How I’ve learned to love the sea, it’s certain beauty captured me.’  Tessa Barrie waxing lyrical during a poetic  phase, aged 14

As I start packing for my 2019 beach escape, my Mac breathes a sigh of relief as, for the first time in four years, it will be left at home.  No more editing for two weeks as I hit the beach, sprawled out on my beach towel or lounging on a lounger soaking up the sun and doing some serious reading.

My ‘reading list’ is a stacked-up, teetering tower of books crying out to be read.  Not forgetting what’s on my Kindle, which includes The Blue Hour a collection of short stories by fellow writers group member, Dreena Collins and  The Poppy Field by another Jersey author, Deborah Carr.  And, there are those ‘Dulcie Domum’ books by Sue Limb I really want to re-read… so, will two weeks be long enough?  I will give it my best shot.

On Friday the Jet Stream and Easy Jet will fly me south to the sandy shores I have grown to love over many years.  It feels like a second home and I chose Praia do Trafal, out of many glorious Algarvian beaches, as the setting for the finale of my first proper foray into fiction.

‘A warm, gusty south-westerly was blowing off the sea at Praia do Trafal as Fergus linked his arm with his daughter’s as they walked barefoot across the expanse of sand towards the sea.’  From Just Say It by Tessa Barrie

I can’t wait to be soaking up the sun and the words of wisdom of others, without a cloud in the sky or a manuscript in sight.