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Friday 15 March 2024

Writing and walking holiday and more

Up and running in my hotel room!


 I am writing this blog post on my very old laptop which still runs on Windows 7, is painfully slow and some of the letters have rubbed off on the keyboard. The other day it spent ages updating. The touchpad no longer works, but thankfully my hubby had a spare mouse. I'm only using this laptop to update my blogs because I can load up my photos on it. I've been without my 'proper' laptop for two weeks now, and guess what? They can't find the fault! Having spoken to a couple of people, it seems they too have had similar problems with their screens and they just switch off and on again. Oh, well, time will tell, I guess.

So, I've been back from my writing and walking holiday for a week now. Our group consisted of eight women and one man. One of the ladies was also our walk leader. We met every morning at 9.30am and worked until 11am. Each day we covered a different subject - Ideas & Inspiration, Character Building Structure & Plot, Setting and Dialogue. Our tutor, Lizzie Enfield, explained each section and set us timed exercises. We would then read out what we'd written and she'd feedback on it. Lizzie offered great encouragement and advice. Some in the group had never written creatively before, but you wouldn't know it from what they wrote.

All of us had one-to-ones to either talk about our writing or for Lizzie to give feedback on a piece of work we had submitted before the holiday. My one-to-one went well and the feedback was positive on the opening of a short story I had written. She made several suggestions and I will be looking at those again.

In my free time I found inspiration for writing a poem and brainstorming other things. I was in the zone!

Brainstorming session which led to the piece I read out.



Afternoons were either a guided walk or free time. We had a complete day off on the Wednesday. The walks were a chance to get to know each other better and to talk about writing or other things. Lizzie came out with us too. In fact, she is a qualified walk leader, but decided that running the class was enough, as walks have to be checked and there wouldn't be enough time. This was even more important last week as the rain had made everywhere wet and muddy. Some fields were waterlogged. Gill, our walk leader, went to check how bad things were, and there was one day when we were clinging to a fence in order to walk round the worst of the mud. You could feel the mud sucking at your walking shoes/boots. There were some hairy moments, but no one slipped. We all helped one another. Very bonding! 

Mud! Lizzie (right)

More mud - three formed a chain to get me across

Boat race


I opted out of the first walk, due to the weather, but a later walk covered some of that ground (but less muddy), so I didn't feel I'd missed out at all. There were three walks planned, but our leader slipped another in. We always set off from the hotel in Bourton-on-the-Water and walked locally. If you want to know more about the walks I have been slowly writing about them on my travel (blog https://pieceoftheattraction.blogspot.com/2024/03/birdland-model-village-and-other-views.html)

Two evenings we met after dinner when Lizzie read from articles and short stories she had written, or from her books. These sessions was opened up to others staying at the hotel. HF Holidays own most of their properties in the UK, so other residents are on guided walks, self-guided walks, special interest holidays or walking & sightseeing. On our last evening we were all invited to read something we had written during our week there. I was using my old Android Tablet and I had saved my piece twice, yet when I came to look at it again and to edit, I couldn't find it. The other copy told me that part of it was locked. How had I locked it, and how did I unlock it? I had no idea. So, I wrote it all by hand (500 words) and tried to remember the last edits I'd done on the missing copy. But then I began editing the written version until it was a complete mess. When I had some spare time, I typed it up again. This time I also saved it my portable external hard drive and took a photo of it on my mobile! When I went back to it later, I found it! Joy! 

Everyone was nervous reading, but it was only our group. We didn't have to read it to others in the hotel (which we all thought we did!). It was a lovely evening and afterwards Lizzie gave us all inspirational sticks with different sayings on them (see photo). No one wanted to leave. The group had gelled well and we now have an email group so we can all keep in touch.

Inspirational sticks


I'm the winner at skittles!


Other evening entertainment included a skittles night, which I won (bottle of plonk). I was amazed! There was also a quiz night. Good fun, but my group came joint last. The questions were very random and hard. They seem to get harder each year (I've done quite a few over the years). The house in Bourton always runs a boat race too. Many people made boats out of paper, sticks, plastic and all sorts of stuff. I didn't make one, but a lady in our group won best presented boat and another from our group won the race and had to wear the Commodore's hat during dinner! I went down to the river to watch the boats launch (from one of the little bridges) and followed them down to the end. Walk leaders fished them out with nets, though a few got away and they had to race to the next bridge! 

I came home exhausted, but it was a lovely holiday with such contrasting things going on. I even bought a sketch pad and coloured pencils and drew (very badly). 

Writing in bed!


Away from the holiday, I've been trying to cope with the online writing course. I missed week 5 because there was just too much to cope with and also the lesson was to write in the style of another writer. It's taken me long enough to find my own voice. I couldn't see the point. I've just submitted my piece for week 7 with just two more weeks to go.

A few weeks ago I met up with some of the people doing the same online course in order to form a London support group. We met in a cafe in Tottenham Court Road and discussed the course, what we were writing etc. I think there was about eight of us. Tomorrow Indie Novella is running a writers and book fair in Islington Library which I and some others from the group will be attending. There are some free talks on offer, plus agents and books. I'll tell you about that next time.

Finally, last night I attended a poetry talk and readings at Southwark Cathedral. Padriag O Tuama read a few poems from the book Poetry Unbound His talk was interesting and he spoke also with the Dean of Southwark, Mark Oakley, who does a bit of writing himself. Of course I bought the book.

Southwark Cathedral










Sunday 25 February 2024

Is there ever a good time for your laptop to go away for repairs?

Tablet & Bluetooth keyboard.

 In answer to my own question in the title of this post. NO! But particualrly now when I am mid-way through a writing course and about to go on a writing and walking holiday. 

The screen on my laptop has, over a period of time, been blanking out intermittently for a few seconds. Sometimes it will goes days without this happening, and other times it will happen twice in one day. This doesn't affect what I am doing. I continue typing and the words are there when the screen returns, and my playlists keep playing. But last week when I switched on my laptop, nothing. The lights on the keyboard lit up, the fan started, but nothing on the screen. I then was unable to switch it off because I couldn't see what was happening. I did try several times to sort it, leaving it alone for a while and then trying to take it by surprise! My default mode is to panic. My son knows this so when I texted him, he said 'Don't panic!' He also told me that 100% my files could be saved.

My son looked at it in the evening and at first he couldn't get any joy. He then linked my laptop to a TV screen, though it was a fiddle trying to find the right HDMI slot. Suddenly my laptop sprang into life, only to die again. Eventually, the screen worked! I transferred the files I felt I needed to an external hard drive, but what was I going to transfer them to while my laptop was sent away for repairs? My hubby has Chrome Book, but it doesn't have Word. My son has a very old laptop, also without Word. I am still using Windows 10, and if my son put Windows on the old laptop it would come with Windows 11. I didn't want to have to get to grips with a new application on my holiday. Ah! what about my old Tablet? That has Word, albeit a basic version.

So I spent the evening charging the Tablet and having to upgrade various applications. Of course it wasn't as simple as that. The Tablet is a bit dodgy. It often re-boots itself a few times when I turn it on, and it's slow. I also soon realised that the external hard drive wouldn't plug in. We were now in the second day of this. So, while my screen was working (it's been fine since that day, but it could go at any time) I transferred the same files directly to the Tablet. That evening my son found a convertor and adaptor so the external hard drive works with the Tablet. I also found the mini Bluetooth Keyboard I used to use with it and had to re-learn how to 'pair it' to the Tablet.

It is now the weekend, I've been laid low with a cold and not able to tackle the packing up of my laptop. And then I thought about the things I might still need off it. I've no idea how long the repair will take. I've run off something new I'm writing which I may share with the group on holiday. I also needed a printed copy of an email for tickets to a concert I'm going to with a friend. I've been unable to access the O2 Arena App even though I've set up a password. 'Don't match' it says. Tried to change the password, but no luck. I had to email them direct and they've suggested uninstalling the App and reinstalling it. If that fails I can take my proof to the booking office on the day of the concert and they print out the tickets. As it is the tickets aren't issued until a week before. Am I panicking?  So, I've found the email and printed off the proof with my seat numbers etc. I'm not sure if my Tablet with work with my printer. I've never tried it and the concert is next month. 

I've had my laptop over four years now. The warranty has run out, but the company who built it (it's not an off-the-shelf laptop) have said they will look at it for me. Today is the day when I box it up, so I am madly doing things I feel I might not be able to do on the Tablet. I have access to most stuff on my mobile, but will need the Tablet for my course (which I will still be doing on my holiday) and for the holiday itself. However, for the holiday I am taking various notebooks and am happy to write by hand if necessary. It sounds quite laid back, just what I need right now!

That's been my week. Despite my cold, I managed to get to Southwark Cathedral on Thursday night in the heavy rain and wind to an author talk about London Bridge and Southwark. It was very interesting and happened to coincide with the chapter I was currently reading in a book called Watling Street. I bought myself a copy of the book, but I didn't hang around to get it signed. I just wanted to get home. Thankfully, it had stopped raining by then. Friday was my worst day, and I gave in and stayed on the sofa in my PJ's, a fleece and hot water bottle. I was often joined by Rue, our dog.

New book, left. What I'm currently reading, right.

A lady on my writing course had arranged a meet-up for those in London on Saturday. I wasn't sure I would make it as I felt so rough on Friday. God must have looked down on me and decided enough is enough. I'll give that girl a break. I felt so much better in the morning and even walked Rue. After an early lunch, I headed to Tottenham Court Road and Caffe Nero where we were meeting. It was a lovely afternoon. There were eight of us (a few couldn't make it), all ladies. Of the three groups on the course, all but two were from group two and me and one other from group one. We talked about the course, what we were writing, jobs, writing events and what we wanted to do in our meet-ups in the future. We think we will stick to a once a month meet. We were a diverse group. I was the oldest! It was so nice to talk to other writers with all those dreams of being published.

I much prefer to engaging with people face to face. Some of us are hoping to meet up next month at a Writers/Book festival in Islington, especially as Indie Author (who are running the course we are all on) will be there offering talks on one of the days.

This could be what I've been looking for. In the back end of last year, I'd thought I might form my own local group for budding writers, as I was missing the contact with other writers. But I'm not really a leader. I'm more a follower. I'm happy to suggest things, but leading a group is a responsibility, and I don't feel that at the moment I have the time.

So this week has been a bag of mixed blessings. I'm hoping I can still blog using the Tablet. I've done in the far distant past, though I had to google 'how to block text to copy when you don't have a mouse or touch pad.' I'm going old school! A re-learning curve. I've not got my head round uploading photos to it yet. But if you don't hear from me for a while you'll know just what I'm doing....panicking!

Wednesday 14 February 2024

Writing Course


Notebooks and prompts

 I am a third of the way through the writing course I signed up to through Indie Novella. Maybe you want to know how it's going?

Apart from the overwhelming notifications I get in my Inbox, the course has made me re-think the novella I am currently editing. It seems everyone is submitting work already written or in the process of being written, so I'm not alone. The first week we submitted the opening of our work. This made me look at mine again after the tutorial to make sure I had covered the basics - introducing the main character, their setting, voice, while jumping into the action/conflict. I re-worked my opening and posted it to the forum. There are thirty people in my group, and I can't possibly read and comment on everything, but I do try to do as many as I feel able. I had good feedback on my opening, which pleased me. Every week (this is a nine week course), a tutor picks two people from each group (there are three), and gives feedback on their work. I think this way she hopes to cover everyone once over the nine weeks. 

Week two was the hard one for me as we had to write a III Act plot/structure. I'm a pantser, not a plotter, but at least this was something I had already written (except I am writing a new ending), so I kept the whole thing brief, whereas some others wrote a lot! Again I had a good response, though someone pointed out that I should maybe move one bit to the next. However, it's in the right order, and that is the main thing. It has made me think more about structure in the future. I could certainly do with help in that regard!

This week we are looking at viewpoint. We have to take our WIP and write the opening from a different viewpoint. Mine is in first person, so I've switched it to third. I don't like it because the impact isn't as great. I feel first person is right for this so the reader feels what the character feels as everything goes on around him. I've also written in the present tense. Third person took me away from the character and what he felt. I know third person sees more, but I couldn't go with it. My heart wasn't in it,  maybe because I'm set on first person now. I won't be changing.

I use different viewpoints in my writing. Sometimes I write third person, sometimes first. Often I write multiple characters in third person. Second person is unusual, and not often used because it is hard to sustain and can get repetitively boring. It's used more for short stories. Iain Banks used second person for one character in one of his books. This person had small sections spread out throughout the novel. This worked really well. I once submitted a flash in second person as an experiment, but the feedback I got was negative towards that viewpoint. I still thought it worked, but I changed it and am still waiting to get that flash published. Once you believe in something it's worth pursuing it, and I've submitted it quite a few times now.

The course thankfully doesn't take up too much time. The link arrives every Tuesday by email, and then there is an article with videos before the writing exercise of the week which has to be submitted by Sunday.

Then yesterday I had a panic as I received an email from the holiday company I'm taking my writing and walking holiday with. If I want feedback from the tutor, I had to submit no more than 1000 words for feedback. I vaguely remember something about this when I booked (way back last year), and now suddenly the holiday is two and half weeks away and the deadline for submission is Monday. So, I dealt with that last night and have sent off just over 800 words for my one-to-one during my holiday.

Finally, last Saturday I spent lunchtime and afternoon at a friend's house and we had writing sessions. This friend writes poetry much different to mine, but she wanted to have a go at some of the word prompts I use for writing. So we ended up writing one minute timed sessions with word prompts, poetry using five random words, one short story and a flash. Some things had no prompts! Wild, eh? I loved my friend's short story. It was full of wonderful description, and I felt I was there with this man she was writing about. I think she surprised herself, and now she is keen to do it all over again.

I am looking forward to my holiday and meeting others who write or want to have a go for the first time. There will be plenty of free time, and I'm looking forward to that too. Time to wander and see things, or if the weather isn't great, I can write or read.

I have added a new link to the side of this blog for all you poets. Robin Houghton has a sign-up for her spreadsheet of publications waiting for your work. She lists when windows are open (if known), links to their websites and any other information that might be available. She also sends a monthly email with windows about to close and those opening. It's well worth signing up to. I use it a lot, and have had successes using it too! Best thing I ever signed up for.


Saturday 27 January 2024

Out-Spoken at Purcell Room, Southbank, London

 The first Out-Spoken of the year took place on Thursday, an evening of poetry and music. I had no idea who would be performing, but there is always something to like, and there are books available to buy during the internal and afterwards.

Compare for the evening was Toby Campion, as award-winning poet, playwright and facilitator. He also read some of his own poetry after the interval, and I'd love to read more of it, but I'd already maxed out on two poetry books on the night!

Tony Campion


First up was Amy Acre, who runs Bad Betty Press. She read from her book Mothersong about growing up and being a mother and being a woman. She was followed by William Letford, whose reading from his dystopian book of poetry and diary entries was both funny and thoughtful. His humour caught me and made me want to know more, so I bought his book. The first music came from Amethyst, a soul/jazz trio, though one member couldn't make the show. While it's not my kind of music, Amethyst herself had a very good voice.

Amy Acre

-
William (Billy) Letford

-
Amethyst



After the interval, and Toby's poems, he introduced Karim Karmal. I'm not sure I have the spelling right as his name wasn't on the sheet we were given when we arrived. He is a composer and I'm sure I've seen him play in a past Out-Spoken event. The piece he played was lovely, very calming and beautiful.

Karim


Then it was the turn of Nick Laird, and Irish writer who read a personal poem about the death of his father during covid, and all the trauma of not being able to visit the hospital and saying goodbye via video His other poem was about he and his sister clearing the house.



The final performance was from Yaw Evans, a composer, electronic musician and DJ from South London. He played synthesizer. I tried to get a photo, but he was hidden behind his equipment and all I could see was the top of his head. Even at the end, he exited too quickly for me to take a photo.

It was a good evening with a lot of laughter. These events are a good way to keep up to date with what is being written in the poetry world and to hear it read. It's a place to come across poets that are new to me. Very inspiring.
My purchases




Friday 19 January 2024

January update

 


Belated Happy New Year. I cannot believe we are already on the 19th day of January. Christmas seems a long time ago. I'm already reading my fourth book of year, and I've had some good news too. After submitting a piece six months ago to Aayo magazine I received an email on New Year's Day to say they were going to publish it. You can read The Tomorrow Box here.

I have also had another piece of work published with Streetcake ezine. This caused me some problems in formatting and is different to my usual work. Issue 88 can be downloaded for free. My piece, Poetry Sudoku can be read near the end of the magazine.

I had a rejection of a short story with TSS, but I received some very helpful feedback and some lovely comments. They are going to be running some feedback and close reading sessions and I have signed up. I'm sure this will prove helpful.

At the end of the month I will starting a nine week online course with Indie Novella, and speaking of novellas, I've discovered a plot hole in the novella I've currently been editing. Hopefully, I can work that out. I have to say I'm a little stuck on my ending which I am changing from the original. There's still a bit of work to do on this.

I hope to send out more submissions this year as I rather missed doing so much of that last year. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting on replies to my novella submissions last year. I wonder how long one should wait before either querying or trying somewhere else?

My new writing diary is getting some use. and I will try to keep that up.

Until next time, happy reading and writing.

Sunday 31 December 2023

Review of the Year

 

My resources file

New Year's Eve and the sky is blue for once. For how long, I ask? Anyway, it's that time when I look back on my writing year, warts and all. I find this interesting to see how I think year went to what actually happened. Somehow, it's never quite the same. I had to re-check some figures because Rue (the dog) kept wanting to chew my pen, or walked over me and the book I was using to tally submissions made this year. I'd already abandoned the writing room as he just kept standing on the bed behind me and pawing at me. 

So, the year went something like this:

I submitted pieces to 29 different publishers/competitions, which was far more than I thought, bearing in mind I spent a good deal of the year editing my novella. These submissions would have contained between one and three or four pieces. The breakdown of this is as follows:

Poetry: 25 of which 6 were accepted (one of these is still to be published)

Flash:   10 of which 2 were accepted

Short Stories: 3

Novellas:

Poetry Collection: 1

Pending (waiting on their fate!): 3 flash, 1 novella, 2 stories (included in the tally above)

I admit I was surprised, and the end of the year was more successful than the beginning. I'm also surprised by what gets published and I sometimes wonder if I'm the best judge of my own work! I honestly expected a lot less to show for my contribution to the world of writing this year.

It was a sad year for publications as two of my favourites folded. Visual Verse (online) and Popshot (print) departed this year. Both were important in my life. The first time I read Popshot I fell in love with the art work, and the stories and poems seemed to radiate with me. I'd found a magazine that I adored. And after many submissions, finally my dream came true as they published a flash story of mine.

Visual Verse was my go-to place once a month. Their picture prompts stimulated me, and when I wasn't writing anything else, I'd write and submit to them. Over the years I've had around 30 pieces published by them. Mainly I wrote poetry, but there were a few flash stories too.

There are also a number of presses who seem to be in limbo, with nothing published on their websites and no new submission windows advertised. I fear these will also go the way of the others.

This year also saw the demise of Writing Forum magazine and a couple of other big name small press magazines. Yesterday I was going through a folder where I keep articles torn from writing magazines. I keep them for research. I took out all those no longer relevant, and this included websites of small presses I had kept. Most of these have also folded since I collected them. It's a sad fact that there are more writers than readers, that small presses are usually operated by volunteers who have other jobs and are trying to write themselves. They also struggle to gather enough subscribers to support their press. I try to subscribe to two publications. One can't do them all, and some are now very expensive. I also try to buy poetry books and fiction from the publisher direct where I can.

I've already commented in a previous post about the rocketing submissions fees of some competitions now. I have pulled out of submitting to places due to the cost (especially of first chapter comps). More presses are charging reading fees, though this is mainly in the US. I have paid these in the past, but no more.

I took part in a few writing courses this year:

Five Day Hybrid Challenge through Arvon (through email prompts) which was most interesting, and made me think. This was about mashing up genres and situations. Unusual!

A day class in London with The Poetry School looking at abandoning usual form (what I call experimental poetry).

Writing ghost and gothic stories with Writing Magazine.

I also enjoyed attending a few poetry readings at the Southbank, London and a day up there mainly for unrepresented writers, which was free and the best thing I'd attended in a long while.

The best part of the year was taken up with editing my novella, Tinsel Street, and submitting it. I haven't yet heard back from either place I've sent it to. These things can take an age, but after I had submitted it, I found it hard to write for a while. I think I was shattered. This has been a long journey so far.

I bought the Mslexia Diary & Planner with good intentions and barely used it. I cannot find just what I need in a writing diary. For this year I have bought a much cheaper diary and planner through a charity I support and will see how that works for me.

Plans for 2024: A lot of editing! I have so many things on file just sitting there. I am already editing two pieces, so I have made a start. I hope to submit a little more next year too. I have booked a week's holiday at the beginning of March with HF Holidays as they are running a writing and walking week in Bourton-on-the-Water. This is a first for them, so I snapped up a place as soon as it it went on sale! I've holidayed with HF many times for walking or special interest holidays. They are an excellent holiday company. The holiday includes writing in the mornings and walks in the afternoons and will also include some free time to either continue writing or do some self-guided walks. There is also some evening entertainment. I have been to their hotel in Bourton before and it is a lovely setting.

Away from writing I have read many books this year. Eighty-three to be exact! The books that have particularly stood out for me and make it to my top three (four in the case of fiction) are as follows:

Fiction:

Metronome by Tom Watson. Set on an island where two convicts (a couple) are coming to the end of their sentence, but the warden doesn't come. Everything begins to fall apart and all they thought they understood isn't as it seemed. This is a tense story as the two turn on one another. I think you might call this dystopian fiction, if I have to put a genre on it. A tense and brilliant book.

Maureen Fry & The Angel of the North by Rachel Joyce. This is the last in the 'Fry' stories. It is a small book compared to the others, but so good. Humour and sadness. Maureen goes off on a journey of her own to see a garden dedicated to Queenie. She goes with a degree of anger, but finds something else. Beautifully written.

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. This was Michelle's first adult book (I have since read another of hers and loved that too). Full of darkness, ghosts and spirals into madness. A group set out on a scientific mission into a cold place near Norway (I think it is). Accidents happen and one man (main character) is left there on his own waiting for rescue. What he experiences almost sends him mad. Tense and compelling.


Forever Home
by Graham Norton. This was my final read of the year. I've love all Graham's books and each time they get better. This one was brilliant. Carol has been living with Declan, whose wife walked out on him and their son and daughter. They become the talk of the village and his children and her mother disapprove. When Declan becomes ill and Carol has an accident, his children take control, having Declan moved to a nursing home and they throw Carol out of the house as they want to sell it. Declan was adamant that he never wanted to sell the house, but the son has a Power of Attorney, and there is nothing Carol can do. Or is there? This story is about dysfunctional family life, secrets and eventually it becomes evident why Declan never wanted the house sold. There are twists (never saw that coming!) and a fair amount of humour. I loved Carol's mother, Moira. I couldn't put this one down. The best yet.

Non-Fiction:

From Source to Sea by Tom Chesshyre. Tom's account of walking the Thames Path is great. I love his humour and because I am walking the path, I recognise some of the places he stayed or saw. This one is a keeper.

Ice:Tales from a disappearing world by Marco Tedesco & Alberto Flores d'Arcais. I don't know why I'm obsessed with cold places, because I hate the cold! But this book was so good and very descriptive. I'll never forget the way the author described the sound of the ice shifting under him when he was in his tent at night. Makes you realise how vulnerable we are. A wake-up call to climate change and what we a losing.

The Devil You Know: Encounters in Forensic Psychiatry by Dr Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne. These are interviews with patients who have committed crimes. Some of them are referred because they are suicidal, others just difficult. An insight into the mind of others and why they commit violent crime, including murder. When you read the background to some of the patients, it is no wonder they are disturbed. Nothing is ever straightforward. Some of the patients were helped to come to terms with what they had done and were able to move on, others were not. This is a heartbreaking read at times, but also positive things came out of most of the patients mentioned in the book.

Finally, I found a couple of new authors (to me). Mike Gayle writes feel-good books, and I've just found another of his in a charity shop. My book pile is growing again! Anne Booth is another feel-good writer whose second book I must get hold of sometime. Special mention is made to C J Tudor and her book The Drift. This book was pacey and tense with mixed timelines. Cleverly plotted. I think her books are getting darker, but I love them.

And then for Christmas I received Elly Griffiths' Norfolk. Readers may know how big a fan I am of Elly Griffith's books, and this beautiful full colour coffee table books is filled with spectacular photos of places where some scenes from the Ruth Galloway series take place. I love this book and have been eagerly awaiting its release. It was worth it. This is a keeper.



Well, that's me for 2023. Thank you for continuing to read my blog, and welcome to any newcomers. I'd like to read more independently published books next year. If you have any recommendations (your book or someone you've read), please write me a comment. The only genres I don't read are fantasy and hard core horror.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL






Thursday 21 December 2023

It's nearly Christmas!

 This will be my last post until after Christmas, when I shall put together my review of the year. Well, the last Christmas card has been written, posted or hand delivered, and I have just two small presents still to wrap. Today has been taken up with making my easy-peasy no-cook marzipan sweets and a second batch of vegan spice biscuits. Mince pies were made last weekend and my son has asked if we can have a fruit cake this year. I've not made a traditional Christmas cake for many years as no one likes Royal icing. Over the years, I've made a sponge cake topped with water icing (decorated with a Father Christmas, tree etc!), a cranberry cake and a fruit loaf. A last visit to the shops tomorrow morning should hopefully get me everything I need for Christmas. I've got this!




I've indulged in a few Christmas concerts, including one by the choir I used to belong to. I met my friend who proofreads for me there, which was just lovely. Then there was the last concert I took part in with two other choirs. That was a special evening.

So, what have I been writing? Well, actually I've been editing. I went back to the story I wrote recently and did a first edit. It still needs a tweak, but it's almost there. The Island (working title) is another long  story which I actually wrote back in 2018. This is the first time I have been back to it. A good edit was needed and I am re-writing the ending as I changed bits, as you do! I think this might fall into the YA category.

Working hard on editing

My last piece of news for this year is that I am about to have another poem published. There was a squeal of delight when I received the email from Streetcake online journal. They only publish experimental poetry, so this is a first for me. I rarely write it, so I was really pleased to have my poem picked. I'll post a link when it is published.

Well, that's it folks. I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and hope you get lots of books (that's what I'm hoping for!)


Here is a song from Syrinx filmed at the concert I was singing in. This is the only song we could say was Christmassy - a Finnish Reindeer herding song. Enjoy.