UK Style - Presenting Natalie Standiford

Hey guys, today I have another treat for you, this time in the form of a lovely guest post by the awesome Natalie Standiford.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did :-)

Five Reasons Why I'd Love to Live in the U.K., given the chance, by Natalie Standiford:

1. British accents--I know everybody says that but it's worth repeating: yum!

2. British literature: I would love being surrounded by literary history, seeing towns and houses and streets mentioned in books by Jane Austen or Evelyn Waugh or Graham Greene . . .

3. British humor and wit are the best.

4. Damp weather is good for my skin.

5. I hear you have a beautiful, real spring there (unlike here in New York, where spring consists of frigid sogginess followed by a heat wave). To spring!

6. London!  I love big cities and London is one of the greats.

7. Music! I love British pop and rock.

8. Family history: like most Americans I'm a bit of a mutt, ethnically, but many of my ancestors came from England and Ireland.

9. If I lived in the U.K. for a good while I could get to know it well enough to set a story there--just like Jane Austen and Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene!

Okay, nine reasons. Obviously I could go on forever.

I am a big fan of books and stories (and movies) with a strong sense of place, and my favorite tip for writers these days is to use setting--a strong sense of place--to enrich your work. If you want to learn about Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where I grew up, read my book HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT--you'll get a glimpse of the real, oddball Baltimore. My next novel, CONFESSIONS OF THE SULLIVAN SISTERS (coming out in October 2010), is set in Baltimore too. Baltimore is so much fun to write about I'm thinking of setting all my books there from now on (unless I get the chance to move to the U.K.!). There are also some pictures of Baltimore on the "Mystery Page" on my web site,www.nataliestandiford.com/disc.htm.

You can follow Natalie on Twitter right here

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THANK YOU NATALIE :-)