#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow About #LizaGrantham

/ Marcia Meara

Good Morning, Folks! It’s time for our first #TenThings post of 2023, and here to get this series off to a great start is author Liza Grantham. Liza, take it away!

Thanks for having me today, Marcia!

  1. I can’t swim, ride a bicycle or drive a car.
    It was my dream to stand in the front of the whole school in assembly and collect my red swimming stripe; alas, it never happened. Years later, with the help of a friend, I learned to flounder a strange kind of breaststroke. I must be lopsided because I could only manage a circle and not a straight line. As for bicycles, well – forget it! I have no sense of balance and it’s a foregone conclusion I’ll end up on the floor. My driving instructor told me I was dangerous, and I can’t argue with that; it took me four attempts to pass my test and that was almost thirty years ago. I’ve never driven since! 
  1. I flew on an aeroplane for the first time when I was forty years old.
    It’s true. Even when I lived in France for a year, I  travelled backwards and forwards on the ferry. I had no choice but to fly when I had an interview for a teaching post in Gran Canaria. As it turned out, I didn’t mind flying one bit and was offered the job.
  1. I typed the last third of my first book one handed due to a broken wrist and subsequent surgery.
    I’m so clumsy! Despite my petite build, I hurtle from place to place with the grace of a baby elephant. I managed to trip over a branch whilst walking my dog and went down like a domino. I waited a day before going to the hospital. Even though my arm was purple and had doubled in size I insisted it was only a sprain! 
  1. I am a BIG fan of William Shakespeare.
    Since I first discovered the Bard at the tender age of fifteen I’ve been smitten. I’ve read the complete plays back to back three times and have studied each one in depth. I’ve reduced all thirty-nine of the plays into rhyming couplets that can be read in under five minutes and I’ve published them as a book. 
  1. I have tattoos.
    I love tattoos. I wanted one ever since my teens but being an inherently sensible sort of person I decided to be patient and wait until I was twenty one. Since then I’ve had another seven, including a ring on my wedding finger and a rather delightful quill and inkpot on my arm.
  1. I cook amazing authentic Indian curries.
    I lived and worked in Indian and Pakistani communities for over twenty years, so I’ve gained a lot of insider experience. My speciality dishes are prawn pathia and saag paneer.
  1. I always want to spell tranquillity with one ‘l’.
    I’ve been an excellent speller since childhood yet to me this one word just seems so wrong with a double ‘l’. It’s ironic really because tranquillity is something that’s enormously important to me so you’d think I’d be able to get it right!
  1. I’ve been sprayed on by a tiger.
    Honestly. I’m a totally besotted ailurophile and cats seem to love me as much as I love them. My husband and I were driving through a safari park and slowed to a halt by the tiger enclosure so that I could make eye contact with a beautiful Bengal male. I lowered and raised my eyelids repeatedly and made crooning noises. He turned a hundred and eighty degrees and sprayed so hard that it landed on us inside the car.
  1. I won my first poetry competition when I was ten.
    I’ve always loved poetry and it comes so naturally to me. My primary teachers recognised this and entered one of my poems in the music festival in my hometown of Burton-on-Trent. I was the youngest entrant and had to read it to a room of very scary people, including the mayor.
  1. I like sleeping outdoors.
    I have no idea why. I love camping and, when I lived at home with my parents, in summer I always slept out on the back lawn. When my hubby and I moved to Galicia I was determined to sleep in the woods one night. When he flatly refused to join me there was nothing for it but to do it alone.

Liza’s Books

Mad Cows and Englishmen: at large in Galicia

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NTMF38M/
www.amazon.com/dp/B08NTMF38M/   

Mad Cows and Englishmen is the story of an English couple who trade the sun, sea and sands of Gran Canaria for a home in Galicia, one of the coldest, wettest parts of Spain. Living in an old stone house in a remote hamlet surrounded by fields and forests sounds idyllic, but as Liza Grantham and her husband, Gary, soon discover, their new lifestyle isn’t quite as tranquil as they’d hoped. Menacing cheeses, reports of hyenas, cows running amok, a bloodthirsty cockerel and a morning when the sun doesn’t rise are amongst the many surprises that rural life has in store.

Mad Cows and Englishmen: at large in Galicia by Liza Grantham | Goodreads

How Now, Mad Cow? The Second Year in Rural Galicia   

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09NSTK6GT/
www.amazon.com/dp/B09NSTK6GT/

A mystery killer is at large and Anxo becomes a suspect, and when an imposter arrives in the village, Liza begins to think she’s losing her mind. Down in the chicken run the blood-thirsty cockerel’s life hangs in the balance, but Liza’s determined to bring more livestock into the fold. Gary’s busy tending the veg plot, but self-sufficiency turns out to be tougher than he’d bargained for; how long will they have to survive on a diet of eggs and kale?

How Now, Mad Cow?: The Second Year in Rural Galicia by Liza Grantham | Goodreads

’Til Mad Cow Comes Home: The Third Year in Rural Galicia

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B5VYWSX3/
www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5VYWSX3/ 

As Liza and Gary travel further along the road to self-sufficiency the future looks rosy. The chances of a good harvest are high and Liza’s aim to breed meat for the freezer looks like being a roaring success. In Galicia it never rains but it pours and when the couple’s luck changes, it hammers down blow after blow. Just when it seems that things couldn’t get any tougher Fate deals them their cruellest card yet. Liza is plunged into the depths of despair and her typical optimism is suddenly found lacking. As she digs deep to overcome the heartache it’s the magic of a Galician legend that finally pulls her through.

‘Til Mad Cow Comes Home: The Third Year in Rural Galicia by Liza Grantham | Goodreads

Author Liza Grantham

Liza Grantham was born in 1965 in the East Midlands brewery town of Burton-on-Trent. After gaining a BA (Hons) in Linguistics, French and Hindi from the University of York and a PGCE from Derbyshire College of Higher Education she returned to her hometown where she taught at Anglesey Primary School for sixteen years. In 1997 she was awarded an MBA with distinction in Educational Management from the University of Nottingham. After meeting her now husband Gary she moved to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to teach in a British school. In 2011 the couple moved to a remote hamlet in rural Galicia where they raise chickens, grow vegetables and expect the unexpected in their idyllic yet highly unpredictable rural life.

The peace and beauty of the natural surroundings provides the perfect backdrop for stimulation and creativity, and Liza has plenty of opportunity for writing in a range of genres. She has published three books in the ‘Mad Cow in Galicia’ memoir series: ‘Mad Cows and Englishmen’, ‘How Now, Mad Cow?’ and ”Til Mad Cow Comes Home’. She is also the author of ‘A Play by Any Other Name…’ in which the complete Shakespeare plays are summarised in everyday verse. Her prize-winning poetry has been published in several editions of ‘The Good Life in Galicia’ anthology series (ed. S Bush).

You can reach Liza on Social Media here:

Mad Cows and Englishmen by Liza Grantham | Facebook
Liza Grantham, Author | Books | Series | Interview | Deals | Newsletter | Contact | Site | AllAuthor
Liza Grantham (Author of Mad Cows and Englishmen) | Goodreads

 

112 thoughts on “#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow About #LizaGrantham”

    • I’m glad it’s not just me! The thing is, I’m so ‘wooden’ in the water, and if somebody says ‘relax’ then I go completely rigid and sink. I could simply shrug my shoulders and say, ‘Hey, I’m a land mammal’, but I’m a liability just ambling around too! : )

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  6. I can’t swim either and didn’t fly on a plane until I was 57. I love this pic of you Liza! You look like a fun and interesting person willing to try different things in your life. Your books sounds like a great read. I will have to give them a try.

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  7. What an awesome list, Liza! For the record, in America, tranquility is spelled with one ‘l’, so feel free to do so! 😉 That spraying tiger moment completely cracked me up. He made sure to claim you as his, despite the fact that your husband was right next to you. Quite bold! Lol! I love camping and completely understand your love for sleeping outdoors! It was great meeting you! Thanks for sharing Liza’s list with us, Marcia! 🙂

    Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
    http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com

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    • It was my pleasure to share Liza’s list today, Yvette, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. (My husband and I spent years hiking and camping, before I finally reached a point where sleeping on the ground was getting painful. Those were some good times! And I forgot that I was going to look up tranquility, too, as I never knew there were two spellings. Oh, the things you learn from guest posters! (One of the reasons I love having them).

      Thanks so much for stopping by this morning, and sharing your thoughts with us!
      😀 ❤

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    • Thank you so much, Yvette. I feel the veil of tranquility descending even as I type (even though my laptop has just stuck a big red line underneath it!) Yes, it seems I’ve mastered the feline language even to the point of courtship, I wonder if he was planning on treating me to carpaccio for a first date! : )

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  8. What a great list. I laughed at the spraying tiger. He certainly was taken with you. I have to agree about sleeping outdoors, it is so peaceful. My only worry with that is mountain lions.

    Thank you for introducing Liza’s list, Marcia.

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  9. Lol, I’m another one laughing at the tiger spraying – that has to be one of the all time best ’10 things’!
    And the lifestyle and books sound fab, especially to somone who grows as much of our own food as I can in the sometimes inhospitable clmate of the Scottish Highlands.

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    • Well, Nancy, rural life in Galicia is unbelievably interesting – there’s never a dull moment, even though the population of our village is so small. There were so many shocks and surprises awaiting us and so many challenges to overcome – it was hilarious and exasperating in equal measures and I hope that I’ve managed to convey that experience in my books.

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    • I suspect you’re on the money with that one, Nancy. I’m looking forward to reading them myself. One of these days, I’m going to retire from everything else, and do NOTHING but work on my teetering TBR pile! 😀

      Thanks for stopping by today! 😀

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    • I’m laughing now, Sally – I say the very same thing when people ask me why I didn’t persevere with the driving. My instructor said I was too focused in my own little bubble and seemed blissfully unaware of what was happening on the road or the world beyond. I know she was right, so as a gesture of kindness to that ‘world beyond’ I vowed to remain in the passenger seat for ever more. : )

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    • I’ve been driving for more than 50 years, and I haven’t taken myself off the road (yet) Sally, but I do stay off the interstate highways (where madness rules) and I prefer not to have to drive more than 5 or 6 miles from home. It’s stressful out there these days.😕

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      • I think I only drove for about five years, Marcia – and dinged many a car in that time.

        I was a late starter, getting my licence in my mid-twenties, and I stopped driving in my early thirties. I have always had poor spatial awareness and my (justified) lack of self-confidence made me a dithery driver, which is annoying for everyone.

        After a traumatic road accident in Sri Lanka (I was a bus passenger, not a driver), I became even more jittery in traffic and released myself from any expectation that, as a responsible adult, I SHOULD be driving. It was very liberating and I very seldom miss it at all.

        Actually, I am almost as accident prone on foot (I’m forever walking into doorframes or tripping over nothing at all) but at least I’m not as likely to take anyone else down with me 😉

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        • I don’t blame you for deciding to give up driving, Sally. Sadly, there are a lot of folks out there who SHOULD do the same thing, but don’t. I like to think I’m being cautious, and accepting my limits. (Of course, I LIKE to think I’m not slowing down with age at all, too, but that ain’t so, either.) I do think that for now, my limited driving is still fine, and I haven’t had any close calls or anything. Probably won’t be too many more years before I give it up for good, myself. (Oh, and I lied about how long it’s been since I started driving. It’s actually been 65 years since I got my license! Eeeep. Yeah, my driving days are numbered, for sure. 🤪)

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  15. This was so funny and so well written I’ve gone across to Amazon – and the Shakespeare sets came up first. I looked inside the first one and enjoyed it so much I’ve bought the first two volumes. I’ve a feeling that I’ll be moving on to Mad Cows soon. Many thanks, Marcia. This series is wonderful and I’ve enjoyed every single one of them! ♥♥

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    • Thank you so much, Alex. I can’t begin to tell you how much you’ve made my morning. I’m taking three rescue kittens to be neutered today (I do rescue work with the feral colony in our village) and I always feel a little on edge until they’re home safe and sound so this has shone a positive light on my day.

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      • Interesting about the cats, Liza. All four of our gorgeous INDOOR cats were rescued from feral situations. Two we found in our woodpile, and two were found under a house by my friend (and cover designer) who also rescues ferals in her area. Our oldes brother and sister (Harry & Murphy) turned 12 this month, and our youngest pair (Kell & Rhy) turn 5 in April. I’ve never lived in a house without cats, so I’m with you all the way on your feline adventures … except for the tiger spraying thing. I’ll take a pass on that one! 😂😂😂

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        • Ha ha! Yes… I’ll know better if there’s ever a next time. The royalties from my books are opening up great opportunities to get the colony females spayed, little by little. Today when I took the kittens in, my vet has offered me unlimited use of her trap, so this should speed up the process.

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    • So glad you enjoyed Liza’s post and checked out her books, too, Trish. She’ll be delighted! And I’m also happy that the #TenThings series has been one you’ve enjoyed, in general, too! Thanks so much for stopping by this morning to let us know! 😀 ❤

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        • We writers are an interesting lot, aren’t we? That’s what I love most about doing the series … we find out such fun and often surprising things about each other. So glad you are enjoying it, and I plan to continue the series for as long as I have folks who want to take part! 😀 ❤

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    • Glad you enjoyed Liza’s list, Janet! As for driving, back in “the day,” we could get a learner’s permit at 14 in Florida, so I’ve been driving nearly 55 years now. I do confess, I no longer enjoy it, and avoid interstates like the plague. Surface roads only for me, and preferably to destinations no more than 5 or 6 miles from home. Too stressful out there.

      Thanks for stopping by and taking a moment to comment! 😀 ❤

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    • Tidalscribe, I don’t know about you, but the longer I avoided getting back behind the wheel the more remote the chances became of it ever happening. I seem to have done okay using taxis and public transport though, not to mention plenty of walking, which has to be a good thing!

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  18. Fabulous Liza and you would have to go some to top those ten things…and I was highly entertained, including the besotted tiger. We had 17 years up a Spanish mountain with some interesting encounters in the early days, wild boars and wild bees, but I do miss it even after 7 years. Thanks for hosting another wonderful episode of this series Marcia ♥

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  19. Great post, Liza! Hilarious that you’ve gone so long without driving! I didn’t learn until I was 30, and am still terrible at it. When I had to drive a big pick-up for work, I got it stuck in the McDonalds drive thru… I can’t wait to check out your books 🙂

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    • Liza will be delighted to read your comment, Tony. She’ll love the bit about your driving, as did I, and she’ll be very happy you’re checking out her books, too. 😀 Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a moment to say hello! Have a great weekend! 😀

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    • Thanks, Tony. If the driving surprises you, so might this: I lived without internet access at home for eleven years after moving to Galicia because our location is so remote. Provision across the rural areas improved dramatically after Covid, and I was finally hooked up in May last year! : )

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      • Whaaaaaaaat……..??? Okay, that genuinely terrifies me! Where did you get cat videos? Life without internet… In all seriousness though, that must have been a major hurdle when it came to publishing and marketing your books! Though I guess perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise when it comes to actually writing them… 😉

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        • Absolutely! Tenacity was the name of the game! It involved going into wifi bars to upload, and then to check sales progress occasionally. It also meant that no promotional stuff happened for almost two years! A self-publishing author who lives locally amazed me by telling me over the phone that the first book had been charting for weeks – I’d had no idea! : )

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          • That’s super interesting! I’m a self-published author too, and I seem to spend 18 hours a day on the internet, sending out newsletters, booking promos, fixing blurbs, fixing my website, posting on social media, finding blogs, running ads… it’s exhausting. But I don’t dare stop! Fantastic that your books rode up the charts without you pushing them every inch. That speaks volumes about their quality 🙂

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            • I totally get that, Tony. Now that I do have internet the promotional aspect in itself seems like a full-time job, and at times it’s a struggle to fit in the writing. One of the most rewarding consequences for me was becoming part of a self-publishing author community. I put a lot of energy into promoting the work of fellow authors as well as my own, and my efforts have been reciprocated beyond belief. In addition to giving one another shout-outs we share tips and connections as well as helping one another to solve practical problems too. On balance, the benefits far outweigh the commitment involved.

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              • In general, the writing and blogging community is wonderful about sharing and promoting each other, plus offering tips and how-to posts. I’d never have gotten past my first book without all the connections I’ve made online, so I’m amazed at how much you did without it, Liza! Glad to have you among us now, though.

                And Tony, it’s great to see you here today! I’m excited about YOUR #TenThings list coming up next, on Feb 22! See you then! 😀

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                • Hiya! I thought I should pop in and show my face! Don’t want to be that guy that shows up for half an hour, bangs on about himself the whole time, then legs it as soon as the party cools… 😉
                  I really should make more of an effort to get involved in the online writing community, that’s honestly been on my To Do List for nearly a decade… Why is there not more time in the day? I could easily fill another four or fifteen hours… 😉

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              • Liza, that sounds amazing! Do you mind if I ask what that community is? I’m a member of the ‘We Love Memoirs Authors’ group on Facebook, they’re a really great bunch of indie authors in the memoir genre (in case the name didn’t give it away!) I really need to visit them more often, but as you say, this writing malarkey becomes quite a balancing act after a while… 😉

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  20. Love this, Liza and Marcia. Liza, don’t give up hope on the cycling. I got my first bike in my late thirties (mainly because I couldn’t have a horse!) and fell off numerous times before I got the hang of it. I’ll never be a ‘natural’ but love riding my bike now. I’m impressed by you cat whisperer story 😊, love that you love Shakespeare and, contrary to my usual response to poetry, I am a fan of yours!

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    • So glad you enjoyed LIza’s post, VP, and I know she’ll be tickled, too, when she swings back by to check for new comments. It was a pleasure to have her visit The Write Stuff, and I appreciate your stopping by to let us know you enjoyed her #TenThings list. Thanks so much! 😀

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    • Well, Val, in principle your story means there could be hope fro me yet, but oh my goodness, if you saw the state of the Galician country roads..! I once mooted the idea of a donkey but the hubby was far from impressed! So happy that you’ve enjoyed my poetry so far and hope you find time to check out some more. : )

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  23. Lovely to learn more about you Liza. I also have no sense of balance and can’t ride a bike far for fear of hurting myself. I can drive but it took me ahem… embarrassing statistic… 5 times to pass my test. I still drive and am a careful driver but don’t drive overseas yet as I don’t quite trust myself!

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