LawrenceEz's Blog

Spring Weather And Muggy Heat

lawrenceez — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:37:07 +0000

After a long winter, spring finally came a few weeks ago, but now the skies have turned mostly grey again and the weather has become humid. I haven’t had much time to concentrate on my photos, but yesterday I caught several images in Highgate Wood, North London, while walking a friend’s dog. For a long time, I’ve taken an interest in black and white photography. I worked on yesterday’s images in GIMP (Levels, Color Balance, Saturation and Hue), then turned one of the originals into greyscale and concentrated on the contrast. Heady stuff.

Filed under: Photography Tagged: black and white photography, GIMP, Highgate Wood, North London, spring, weather

EggHead by Lawrence Estrey: Questions And Answers

lawrenceez — Sat, 11 May 2013 08:54:20 +0000

EggHead by Lawrence Estrey – A Review

February 19, 2013 by lawrenceez | Edit

Received this awesome review on my second novel EggHead, a psychological thriller set in the UK. Teen Fiction/Young Adult:

5.0 out of 5 stars suspense in a grim northen landscape 17 Feb 2013

By ***

Format:Paperback

Egghead is a youngster stranded in a grey windswept northern seaside town. He got involved in something horrible three years before and has had to hide here. We get mysterious glimpses of the past in flashbacks. The scenes are vividly painted and the characters are gradually revealed. You’re kept on edge as the story races on. You can’t put it down. The atmosphere is dark and menacing, and you are swept forward to what seems an inevitable grim conclusion

Lawrence Estrey (lawrenceez) is a musician and a writer from the UK. Recently, he published his second novel EggHead, a psychological thriller set in the north of England. Here, he answers some common questions about EggHead and his life in general:

Why did you choose to write teen fiction? Several reasons. First of all, my debut novel Secrets contained several scenes told from the perspective of children and teenagers (in this case, a ten-year-old boy and a sixteen-year-old girl), and I’d enjoyed the experience of writing from these perspectives.

Second, having read a great deal of adult fiction, mostly crime/thriller, I’d observed a type of stalemate situation in the personal lives of the major characters – i.e. they were often disillusioned in some way (especially crime investigators) or recovering from major problems like PTSD. I felt this tendency often created a tired feel, and in many case I would abandon reading a story about half of the way through. In teenage fiction, however, the protagonists generally have far more energy and are prepared to take all sorts of crazy risks. That’s what I like the best…craziness, risk taking - plus, raw emotion.

Anything of yourself in EggHead? Not exactly, though I lived in a coastal resort for a few weeks, and like central character EggHead, I wandered around aimlessly during that time. I also drifted into lots of trouble in my teens, so I can relate to some of EggHead’s experiences. In the story, EggHead is a heavy smoker, just like I was for years and years, but I managed to quit smoking completely while working on the final draft of the novel. Haven’t touched a cigarette since.

Did you find writing a second novel easier? In certain ways. For instance, the novel took just nine months to write while Secrets had taken about six years. In other ways, though, I found the writing far more difficult. I had higher standards. I kept going back through the manuscript and pruning, cutting out sections that I didn’t feel were good enough.

Are you working on anything else? Yes, another psychological thriller about music students set in the north of England. Like the other two novels, this latest involves an element of cross over with some of the scenes written from the perspective of a young adult and other sections from when he first goes to study in a university environment, aged eighteen. I’m also a musician, having trained in classical piano, and so can relate to a lot of what happens in this next novel.

Meanwhile, my debut novel Secrets is available from Amazon in paperback and e-book.

Check out the reviews for Secrets.

Newspaper article on author.

Local musician publishes crime thriller

Filed under: Writing Tagged: EggHead by Lawrence Estrey, psychological thriller, PTSD, Secrets, teen fiction

Spring Weather: Rain And Grey Sky, Again

lawrenceez — Wed, 08 May 2013 08:35:25 +0000

The warm, almost muggy temperatures remain but the weather itself has changed and the rain and grey skies have returned after a couple of weeks of sunshine.

Below are some photos I took at the weekend. (Highgate Wood, North London)

Filed under: Photography Tagged: Highgate Wood, North London, rain, spring, weather

Nice And Hot, Spring Weather

lawrenceez — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:29:52 +0000

The warm weather continues with plenty of sunshine and daylight. Again, I took some photos on my way to work yesterday and edited them in GIMP later on in the evening. As usual, I selected one of the images to go into my black and white photography album, as I have a keen interest in black and white photography.

(Near Totteridge and Whetstone Tube Station, North London):

Filed under: Photography Tagged: black and white photography, North London, spring, totteridge, weather

The Joys Of Spring

lawrenceez — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:21:22 +0000

After months of cold and grey skies, the weather has taken a dramatic turn for the better with warm temperatures and lots of sunshine.

Below are some image shots I took on the way to work ( location, Totteridge Village, North London):

Like always, I couldn’t resist attempts at building up my black and white photography collection, and I edited several of the originals in GIMP, working in greyscale, then going on to use Levels and Contrast/Brightness.

Filed under: Photography Tagged: black and white photography, GIMP, spring, Totteridge village, weather

Spring Has Come, Prolific Writing

lawrenceez — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:43:06 +0000

Spring has finally come a bit later than usual, with warm weather and sun. And the difference the weather makes. London streets look cheerful rather than bland and grey.

I’ve been working on my third novel, a psychological thriller called Silent, and churning out pages of work. The novel, set in the Lancashire/Yorkshire borders, follows the story of pianist Gavin as he struggles to come to terms with a tragedy that took place five years earlier during his student days at the stately Harlesden Hall. The Hall had a disturbed past, and during Gavin’s brief stay there as a student, secrets from the past exploded, bringing about a devastating conclusion.

In the following section of the story, Gavin has returned to the area of Harlesden five years on and finds himself stranded and the target in a murder investigation:

I order another pint, then go out to look for him. Empty lanes. Fields and an evening sky with a setting sun, red like a fire. Towering hills in the distant, cairns, gates. Breeze. You can’t see Harlesden Hall from here, but I stare in the direction of the ruins anyway, scanning the horizon – and as I do, a cold feeling passes through me, a sense that madness and tragedy are about to strike yet again on those grounds.

Meanwhile, my other two novels – Secrets by Lawrence Estrey and EggHead - are available from Amazon in paperback and e-book.

Check out the reviews for my debut novel Secrets.

Newspaper article on author.

Local musician publishes crime thriller

Filed under: Writing Tagged: EggHead, local musician publishes crime thriller, psychological thriller, Secrets by Lawrence Estrey, spring, weather

Music Videos by Lawrence Estrey

lawrenceez — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:43:28 +0000

Most of the time, I blog about creative writing or black and white photography, but I’m also a professional musician, a classical pianist. I got my main music degree from Dartington College of Arts in Totnes, Devon, and did piano performance studies in London. As you will probably guess from the link, I prefer romantic composers like Chopin to classical, although I’ve performed the major Beethoven piano sonata.

Check out my videos on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyuuH0a6i8BwC7q8g81hTUg/videos

Filed under: Music Tagged: Chopin, classical pianist, Dartington College of Arts, Lawrence Estrey

April Showers

lawrenceez — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:04:22 +0000

Easter came and went with frost and chills. Now, the weather has got warmer, but the grey skies continue, along with rain and gloom.

Meanwhile, I’ve written 50,000 words of my new novel, Silent, a psychological thriller set on the Yorkshire/Lancashire borders, featuring a group of young pianists who have come together for a week of piano workshops. In Silent, central character Gavin falls for one of the other students on the course, Philippa, a Goth from Kent, but their relationship becomes obsessive and destructive, leading to disaster… As a classically trained pianist myself, I feel particularly qualified to write this story.

In the following sample, central character Gavin has started to struggle with his surroundings:

Sitting up in bed, I remembered other stuff from yesterday evening. Shadows and footsteps. A man smoking a cigarette by the fountain behind the practice Cells. Watching in the narrow semi-lit corridor. And then, that awful place by the river with its chilling atmosphere.

Meanwhile, my other two novels – Secrets by Lawrence Estrey and EggHead - are available from Amazon in paperback and e-book.

Check out the reviews for my debut novel Secrets.

Newspaper article on author.

Local musician publishes crime thriller

Filed under: Writing Tagged: EggHead, pianist, psychological thriller, Secrets by Lawrence Estrey, weather

Easter Freeze, A Blast From Siberia

lawrenceez — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:34:09 +0000

Spring came a week and a half ago, and the freezing temperature continues here in the UK, thanks partly to a blast from Siberia. We had snow just before Easter, and elsewhere newborn lambs have been dying from the cold. The forecasters reckon the freezing weather will last throughout the month of April. Most people I know are getting pretty depressed from the constant chill and grey skies.

I’ve spent the last two weeks working on a new novel, Silent, a psychological thriller about a group of piano students brought together for a week of masterclasses in a stately hall in Yorkshire. The hall, owned by the Harlesden family, has a tragic history, and during the week of piano classes, past events come to the surface, presenting danger to the five students. As a trained musician myself with more than ten years experience giving piano recitals, I felt particularly qualified to write the story.

In the following section of the novel, central character Gavin goes to a party and meets a couple of local lads, but senses straightaway that the lads are hostile:

I climbed through the window space again, cutting my finger on the nail. I tiptoed round the back and started making my way up the steep mound behind the line of factories, clawing through hedges and branches on all fours, into a field. I continued up, across the grass, looking for the path, tiptoeing like a girl in order to avoid creating any noise. I found the path and quickened my pace, putting more distance between me and the two lads. Part of the way up the hill, I started running towards the fence. Up and over, and I was on the other side. Safety. Just five more minutes to go, and then Harlesden Hall and a pint of lager. Not long at all. Just concentrate on the job at hand. No dithering, or you’re dead. I ran up hill as fast as I could, but eventually I had to slow down before stopping for half a minute or so to gather my breath. I looked around. Silence, dusk turning to evening. No sign of the two lads. In future, I would stay in at night, avoid the village of Harlesden altogether and give any further parties a miss, unless the parties were at Harlesden Hall.

Reaching a second path that veered left to the lane leading to the driveway, I passed a tree and thought I detected a flicker of movement nearby.

‘Oi, Gavin,’ a voice called. ‘Oi, oi, oi.’

A pair of hands gripped me.

Meanwhile, my other two novels – Secrets by Lawrence Estrey and EggHead - are available from Amazon in paperback and e-book.

Check out the reviews for my debut novel Secrets.

Newspaper article on author.

Local musician publishes crime thriller

Filed under: Writing Tagged: easter, EggHead, freezing weather, piano, psychological thriller, Secrets by Lawrence Estrey, spring

Out of Actions For A Few Days

lawrenceez — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:18:45 +0000

Freeze and snow and sharp winds reminiscent of a supermarket freezer. I have limited access to the internet this week, but basically, I’m working on a third novel, a psychological thriller, about a group of music students bought together in the north of England. In the following excerpt, central character Gavin returns to the scene of a crime five years after he first met the other students:

I stop by the abandoned factories and mills, remembering the night of that party five years ago…how it ended…what it led to…the guilt that has followed me everywhere since then. The crumbling buildings stand in a line, damp-looking and reddish-brown, with boarded up windows. They’re surrounded by broken fences and gravel and rubble and rust.

Meanwhile, my other two novels – Secrets by Lawrence Estrey and EggHead - are available from Amazon in paperback and e-book.

Check out the reviews for my debut novel Secrets.

Newspaper article on author.

Local musician publishes crime thriller

Filed under: Writing Tagged: debut novel, e book, EggHead, psychological thriller, Secrets by Lawrence Estrey