Rosie Reay is a well-travelled author as you may have guessed already. She has lived in Africa, England and Spain, apart from her travels in North America,and across Europe. Her first book was inspired by a road trip a few years ago from California, USA to British Columbia, Canada and it has in fact triggered the whole Chimona Chronicle series.
Rosie currently lives in the olive and mandarin countryside between Barcelona and Valencia, Spain above the lovely, meandering Ebro River valley with mountain backdrops of the magnificent Els Ports and old man Mont Caro. Surrounded by her own crowd of pets(aka confidants), she actually does work as a professional U.S. naming consultant! (See www.BrighterNaming.com)
In addition, Rosie helps Spanish / Catalan students perfect their English in conversational classes. Local information, ‘touristy’ things can be found in her Expat blog (www.EbroVoice.com) as well as copywrites articles and marketing materials for the EU community in southern Catalonia, Spain.
Rosie has a regular column “Tales from the Ebro Valley” in the Expats paper “Catalunya Chronicles”. Likewise, she is a popular monthly book reviewer for the paper. Read all the back issues at http://issuu.com/ChronicCat.
Rosie Reay is now a guest writer to an ever evolving site about ‘Catalunya – Life and living here‘: www.ReQuiros.com. She champions the good work of “the Friends of the Ebro” in a recent article.
The Expat writer shares her hilariously surreal passport renewal experience, with a very much tongue in cheek attitude to the colossal mountain of paperwork that becomes offialdom in Spain on: http://inthegarlic.com/2011/06/garlic-moments-lost-in-translation/
Rosie Reay is currently working behind the scene creating her own writers theme blog and pulling together all her writings she does across different genres and as well as her writing for children with her gentle theme of education woven through travel,language, play and reading for critters and children. Is passionate about Expats culture and local cultures intermingling their lives, languages, family and work ‘working together for a Brighter Catalonia – a Brighter Spain.’
Before the year is out her site www.BrighterSpain.com will have had a total overhaul and be very tourism focus with an online store displaying her love of Africa, exquisite jewellery from Southern Africa, curios, souveniers, unusual presents, wire art depiciting the themes and culture of her beloved new country Spain over-flowing with arts and crafts,and there is more…
Rosie Reay is never happier than when she is busy being creative and especially -busy writing. Even when she wanders down onto the veggie terraces of her beloved tranquil finca, you will still find her with a notebook and pen – often seen taking a break under the mandarin trees sat on an up-turned fruit crate writing away totally oblivious to the intended gardening tasks at hand. One never knows when the inspiration will flow, much to the anguish of her husband, when he spotted her paused on a high ladder, supposedly olive picking in the month of October as she fished in her waistcoat pocket for her tiny notebook and pencil. That night she wrote Book Two, but has no recall to how many kilos of olives she picked that day!
Book One in the Chimona Chronicles was mainly penned in hospital corridors, in health clinics and excessively long hours at the bedside of her chronically ill husband, (who by the grace of God, still lives on defying medical science). Once she was home and had settled her dementia riddled mother for evening, all sorts of bits of paper would tumble out of her bag. Notes and characters drafted on the back on envelopes (still unopened from post office collection that day), shopping receipts in the tiniest of handwriting, recycled paper begged from the nursing station and a very full notebook. Steaming black coffee was sipped and she wrote long into the night, dawn was breaking before she realized the time. Too late to sleep, the day chores must begin and mother to get ready for the Day Hospital and siesta was in order that afternoon sprawled uncomfortable on a hospital plastic chair next to his bed – and so the writing cycle continued like that for three months.This cycle has dragged on repeatedly over the last two years.
Author of the Chimona Chronicles series:
All available for OPTIONS (http://www.fodenpress.com/fpcontacts.html )
Book One: How Kelvyn Got His Name | Available now for purchase at Amazon and Foden Press
Book Two: Salquin to the Rescue | Available now for purchase at Amazon and Foden Press
Book Three: Has Anyone Seen Kelvyn? | Coming soon…
Book Four: …nearing completion.
These books are available in print format, Kindle or e-books through Indie books, Amazon or FodenPress.com.
Watch for the next book in The Chimona Chronicles shortly. Meanwhile, send your feedback and comments to Rosie via her contact email below and on LinkedIn, Twitter @RosieReay and the inevitable writers social media networks. A member of SCBWI-society of children’s book writers and illustrators.
Or become her friend via Rosie Reay on Facebook!
rosiereay@fodenpress.com
