The Zodiac Files: Marilyn Chapman ~

Astrology ~ a bit of fun, a load of rubbish, or something to take seriously?

I invited around 70 writers/bloggers to write a piece about whether or not they're typical of their sign, and how its traits affect their writing life ~ if at all...

I featured fifty-one writers and bloggers last year ~ if you would like to have a look at the list (with links), they're all HERE

Now please give a big hand for the last Zodiac Files guest ~ Capricorn writer Marilyn Chapman, who I 'met' via the blogging community on Twitter.  I need not introduce her as I have with the others, as Marilyn has kindly given all her information in the last paragraph of her piece, so I've put the links there ~ now I'll hand you straight over to her!

"Did you know that Capricorns usually marry for life? If so, please don’t tell my husband – he thinks he has served a long enough ‘sentence’ already! 

Born on Christmas Eve, on the cusp of Aquarius, I nevertheless do have many of the Capricorn’s goat-like traits.  Stubborn?  Yes. Fatalistic and pessimistic? Yes. Humorous? Oh, yes.  ‘My mummy’s not like yours,’ I heard my then six-year-old daughter tell her friend. ‘She jokes all the time so please don’t take her seriously.’

I’m practical but not always prudent, ambitious but not disciplined, confident and strong-willed but certainly not calm.

The traits that really give me away are a tendency to self-criticism and doubt which can sometimes lead to an onset of the blues. (I don’t like the word depression – it makes me feel well, down.)"

"When my paternal grandmother had her fortune told at a church fair she regarded it as harmless entertainment.  The fortune teller said that her elder son (my father) would ‘make his living with the pen.’  He became a successful journalist. His five-year-old brother, on the other hand seemed to have a very hazy future. He died of meningitis when he was 11 years old.

Hearing this story year later made me conscious of my own random ability to predict the future.  I still prefer to call it intuition.

I was born in the Channel Island of Guernsey and still think of it as home even though I left there when I was a young child.   I have French ancestry which might explain the fact that I hate injustice and have a fiery temper."

"I have always been moved by stories of hardship and heartache suffered by so many innocent people during World War Two.  My debut novel, Baggy Pants and Bootees, follows a young girl’s desperate search for her long lost father. Shortlisted for the Festival of Romance New Talent award in 2013 the book was published in paperback and e-book format in 2014. My second novel, a historical romance set in the Occupation of Guernsey, is complete and I am currently working on the sequel to Baggy Pants and Bootees.

I began my career as a trainee reporter on my local newspaper in Lytham St Annes and later freelanced for national newspapers and magazines. My blog, guernseygirlieblogspot.com takes a weekly look at ‘reading, writing and really amazing things’ and I’m also active on facebook and Twitter. I love doing radio interviews to promote my work but hate having my photo taken. Finally, here is my long-suffering Geminian husband on holiday in Norfolk. And yes, he does snore – just a little…."

 

Having lived in Norfolk for 9 years I know it well!

....and once again all those traits reveal themselves!  Thanks so much for being the final guest on The Zodiac Files, Marilyn, and we wish you well in your writing career, of course!

Last of all, I've searched my file and found that I had only two remaining Capricorn writers (the goat section took a bit of a battering in December!), so here they are!

...short story, poet and children's fiction writer Rudyard Kipling....

 

....and science maestro Isaac Asimov

A huge thank you to everyone who has read, contributed to, commented on, tweeted, retweeted or otherwise made this series a success :)