Today I'm starting to write a book.

I’ve been a closet writer for around two years now.  Typing away at secret projects that quite magically have resulted in a contract due from the States today for me to sign. And hopefully transform my life.

The contract isn’t for a book, but within the contract is provision for a book. A book of my life in bellydance. Of my lovely girls and of the adventures we’ve had along the way.

A writer friend told me that the best time to write is first thing in the morning, before the brain starts worrying away at the mundane tasks of the day. I’m not an early riser by nature, but I discovered he was right. As a result, for large chunks of the past two years I’ve woken and got straight out of bed and to the computer. Not stopping to shower, not stopping to dress. All I do is grab a coffee and power up the Mac.

I don’t understand why, but I love writing. I don’t know what it is about it, why it makes me so happy. After all, isn’t  it reminiscent of school? Isn’t it terribly solitary? Aren’t there an awful lot of grammatical rocks to stumble over? But for some reason writing gives me enormous pleasure and I’ve never faced the thing writers fear most of all – a blank mind when faced with a blank page. I just get stuck in. 

And what could possibly be more wonderful than what I’m doing right now? Sitting in my sun dress, at a shady table in my beautiful garden in Kent. The early morning sun is shining, a bumble bee is foraging in the flowers at my feet and the birds are singing their hearts out.

One of the best times I wrote was on holiday in Turkey last summer. I had taken it upon myself to write something that was really important to me and I decided I needed a clear head to do it. We had a holiday booked and it seemed the perfect opportunity – away from the demands of running a school and an annual festival. 

So, every morning I would leave Paul snoozing in bed and walk through the gardens of our tiny hotel and down to the beach. There I would settle into a large beachside lounger and, with a pot of Turkish coffee by my side and my computer on my lap, I would write the morning away. 

It was a protected beach - loggerhead turtles were laying their eggs there that very week. So it was quiet and peaceful. No music, no beach hawkers, no motorboats. Just the sound of the waves and the chirping of the newly hatched chicks that roamed the hotel grounds with their mothers.

Maybe it was all that new life – the baby turtles, the golden chicks – or maybe there was just an air of magic in the place.  But the piece I wrote there took on a life of its own and, within a month of that holiday, a handsome young man walked across a dance floor and spoke the words that were to change my life.

But that’s a story for another day…

Back to the blog!!

I've been away from blogging for eighteen months and I'm so pleased to be back!

I stopped because I was working on a very big writing project that took up an enormous amount of time. I was also organising the first Shimmy in the City international bellydance festival with Khaled Mahmoud, as well as running Hipsinc, my bellydance school.

I knew something had to give! And the blog drew the short straw.

But now the writing project is finished and delivered. Shimmy in the City was a great success and the second one is comfortably underway. And I have a brilliant team around me at Hipsinc, including the very best PA I have ever employed in thirty years - Louise Sullivan, Wonderwoman!

But most of all I'm involved in such wonderful, exciting, remarkable things at the moment that I knew I just had to start writing again.

Right now I don't want to go into details about the biggest thing I'm involved in, because I'm in the middle of contract negotiations. But you can be sure that as soon as everything is signed and sealed and I've been given the go ahead, you'll hear about it here first! And believe me, this particular project will be the biggest and most exciting thing the bellydance world has ever seen, with the potential to bring bellydance international worldwide fame!

But for today, I'm really excited to be launching my new, personal website at charlottedesorgher.com! I've been working on it for what seems like forever, but it's finally all up and tested and checked and I think it's looking good!

The original Hipsinc website is, of course, here to stay! But I've been feeling for a time that I needed a personal website to highlight the things I'm doing and to give me some space for a bit more self-promotion!! A lot of the information on my  new site is also on the Hipsinc website, but there are lots of extra areas, such as an online store, videos, photographs and yes, this blog!

So, please do check out my new site at www.charlottedesorgher.com  and tell me what you think!! Is there anything else you would like to see on there? Any links not working or (shock horror!) any spelling errors?!!!

And what about this blog. Is there anything you would like me to write about? I love writing and I'll gladly cover anything that you are particularly interested in. Do leave me some feedback or comments - I'd love to hear from you!