My Eighth Publication Day!

Well, it was actually yesterday (the 12th), but today a box of books arrived on my doorstep, so it feels like today!

You can now purchase the third story in the Chronicles of Issraya series from any good physical or digital bookshop, or contact me if you'd like a signed copy. 

Oh...and of course every newly published author coordinates their clothes to their book cover, don't they...? 

No? 

Just me, then? 

OK... *winky face*

Good News for Super Stories!

 Squeeeee!

I am one very excited Squidge, because Squidge's Guide to Super Stories and Becoming a Better Writer has been longlisted in the Lunchtime Book Club!

The Lunchtime Book Club is a Children's Book Prize founded just this year, with the aim to increase literary engagement among young children in Luton, UK.  The prize winner is selected by the children who participate in fortnightly lunchtime book club sessions to discuss the entries. 

I thought it was a bit of a long shot, because there's a tendency to focus on fiction when thinking about how to engage children with books. But I gave it a go, and it's now one of just eight longlisted books up for the prize. 

Super Stories is in good company: the other longlisted books are being announced on Twitter today, and already I've seen Lauren St John and Frank Cotterill Boyce among them. Eeeek! If you want to twitter about it too and spread the word, then here's the link to Lunchtime Book Club.

It'll be a while before we find out which books have been shortlisted, and the Prize Ceremony won't be until February 2022, but keep your fingers crossed for me, won't you?. 

Book Launch Competition!

I'm working towards a date for a Zoomy or Facebook-livey kind of Book Launch Party, (which I'll post as soon as it's fixed) but thought I'd give you advance notice that THERE WILL BE A COMPETITION!

To enter, all you have to do is describe or draw a gemstone - but it has to be a completely imaginary one! I had great fun making up gems and their names; some ended up similar to real names, some described a gem's appearance, and others were completely made up from people's names...

My absolute favourite imaginary gem will win a copy of the book - signed and supplemented with hand-drawn (by me) illustrations, plus a small treasure box containing a few (glimmer-sized!) real-life gemstones AND some larger pieces of 'tomasite', 'jennisine' and 'black ruby'. The two runners-up will each receive a signed copy of the book.

So get that imagination working and please share this competition with anyone else - especially little people - who you think might like to enter.

I've also taken delivery of some 'proper' Tilda 2's now, with the right title on the spine. If you'd like a signed copy of either a 'proper' book or a 'duff title' version (remember, the latter might be worth a fortune in years to come!) then please drop me a message to arrange it.

Look out for the date of the launch event - coming soon!

Once a writer, always a writer?

I've recently joined a facebook group for students who went to my primary school in the 70s and 80s.

There are some amazing memories being posted - strange how names and events come back to you when you see the photos of old schoolmates. I found a few photos of my own, and although I recognise many faces, I don't often remember the names that should go with them... It's still something I struggle with, if I'm honest. I can remember you and things I know about you, but not your name. (In fact I can forget a name within moments of being told it...)

Anyway, in reminiscing and looking for the photos I found my old junior school reports, which cover Years 3 to 6 in modern schooling. What became apparent in reading them was that, from early on, I was writing stories, reading lots, and generally being creative rather than mathsy or sporty.

It was especially interesting to read about my writing...

Y3: Katherine thoroughly enjoys reading. Her creative writing is imaginative and carefully expressed with colourful descriptions and good vocabulary. She has learned to join her writing, but now tends to be rather untidy occasionally.

Y4: Katherine reads very well and seems to enjoy reading both to herself and aloud. She puts her spelling and vocabulary to good use in her creative writing, which is always lively and interesting, and sustained at length.

Y5: Creative English has been outstanding. She is able to express feelings and details and shows a sympathy for her characters. She writes lengthy stories and her punctuation, grammar and spelling can be so accurate that they hardly need correcting. She has an extensive vocabulary and her work is most enjoyable to read.

Y6: In her creative English work, Katherine is highly imaginative. She produces lively, spontaneous poetry full of descriptive phrases. Her stories are lengthy and follow a well developed plot. The excitement generated by the dialogue and the action shows that Katherine derives much pleasure from writing her stories. Punctuation, sentence structure and use of paragraphs are excellent. Her extensive vocabulary reflects her love of words and the depth of her reading.

Reading them actually made me a bit sad.

While the reports indicate that I've always loved reading and writing, and that I used to write decent stories even as a child, the reports make me realise how much of that joy and ability I lost over the years that came after.

When I think of how many years I've spent, re-learning the art of writing stories after a decade in a microbiology laboratory and another ten as a stay at home mum, there's a little bit of me that can't help wondering whether I should've tried harder to become an author earlier in my life. Especially now that my current ambition is to have published all five of Tilda's stories by the time I'm 60!

Mind, having said that, I'm also a believer that things happen at the right time; I know that if I'd not changed focus to science and worked as a trainer in microbiological awareness, and if I hadn't spent so many years training as a guider, then I wouldn't have developed my presentation, workshop and  and speaking skills which have been so vital to my school visits and talks. If the physical act of writing stories had all come too easily, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to seek out help, and as a result, make such wonderful writing friends. If I'd never offered to help listen to reluctant readers at my children's school, I'd never have even thought about writing stories for other people to read.

Maybe, sometimes, you need to let a talent rest, so that you can rediscover it later? But not just rediscover it - rediscover it and combine it with a few other skills you've learnt, so that it develops into something even bigger and better?

I wonder what 11 yr old me would have said, if you'd told her back then that one day those creative writing stories would mean she'd one day be published and passing on her love of writing to children her own age?

Musical mayhem, mid-Corona

The Squidgelings are both rather musical.

Squidgeling J plays violin and recorder very well, but has also dabbled with guitar, mandolin, viola, harp, penny whistle and piano, and is currently teaching herself the melodeon to accompany the Folk Society at their sessions.

Squidgeling T's main instrument is the bass guitar, but he is also pretty proficient on 'normal' guitar, has dabbled in keyboard and played the double bass previously, too.

Being in lockdown - and at home for an Easter holiday that's been indefinitely extended for the foreseeable future - Chateau Squidge has therefore been rather more music-full of late. I've really enjoyed hearing folk tunes from one bedroom and bass lines from another.

However, one unintended consequence of the shutdown and imposed social distancing has been the desire to learn - and manufacture - even more instruments.

Chateau Squidge has been echoing to the sounds of;

1. A homemade low flute, made from a length of pvc pipe using some very detailed instructions.

2. Homemade bagpipes, cobbled together from a bin bag, a straw, the new low flute, a recorder, and plenty of gaffer tape. (If you fancy making some yourself, here are the instructions!)

3. An alto saxophone. Now, Mr Squidge is talented, (he helped make the first two) but not THAT talented. He hired one, as T expressed a desire to learn the sax and this seemed a better way of trying it out than committing to a purchase.

Cat in a (sax) box

By the end of today, J had played recognisable folk tunes on both the low flute AND the bagpipes (the latter was rather short and sweet because there's a knack to keeping the bin bag topped up with air through the straw) and T had managed to work out how to play (a rather ropey version) of 'Happy Birthday' on it - a challenge set by Mr Squidge for T to achieve in time for his birthday at the end of April. (Thank goodness for the garden room - it was definitely easier to listen to the sax from a distance...)

Not sure what tomorrow holds...

Maybe earplugs? 

Me - on film!

Well, that was an experience!

There are lots of people turning to video as a way of keeping in touch, keeping fit (I had my first virtual dance class last night in my garden room!), helping to keep kids educated, etc etc etc.

We're finding it rather useful at church, too, especially now that the UK is virtually in lockdown and all places of worship are closed, even for private prayer. The vicar's already posted her first short video message, and our leadership team have held our first virtual meeting, too.

As part of our attempts to keep in touch, we're trying to encourage folk to get involved, and one of the things we're focusing on is rainbows; It started in Europe, where children stuck rainbows in their windows to cheer each other up, and it has spread.

For me, rainbows are important. One of the earliest posts on the Scribbles said a little bit about it...you can revisit it here. So how could I resist an opportunity to put a rainbow in my window...? Yesterday, one of the highlights of my day was to see a little boy - dressed in a superhero costume, out for a walk with his mum and younger sibling - who stopped outside my fence and yelled "Found one!"

So the two things of course had to be combined; I made a video for our church community, encouraging them to get involved by putting a rainbow in their window too.

Assuming I've done it right, you'll be able to see it below...

So if you feel like joining me, stick a rainbow in your window, too! 

Stay safe, Scribblers!

Finding Inspiration for Your Stories (When your writing needs a retreat - Part 2)

The first of the workshops provided by Isabel Costello as part of my recent retreat was about Inspiration.

As a writer, I'm often asked "Where do you get your ideas from?" My stock answer is usually "Everywhere!" Let me give you a few examples...

i) The time we found a bird carcass in our chimney, which sparked the idea for a horror short about a young chimney sweep who perished.
ii) The transparent acrylic guitar spotted in a music shop window, which gave me a title; The Glass Guitar.
iii) The tradition Sardinians used to have of making a mourning blanket, which became a second-placed-in-a-competition story.

You get the idea.

Well, we (the retreatees) were asked how we would define 'inspiration'. My own definition was - 'the thing, seen or heard, which sparks the idea for a story and makes me ask what if...' There were plenty of other suggestions, but my favourite was 'the intake of breath - the 'oooh!' - moment'.

And apparently that was spot on. The word 'inspire' comes from the Latin inspirare - to breathe in, or to breathe life into.

A more formal definition is 'the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially something creative.' It is, essentially, the moment of creation. The lightbulb moment. The seed with potential to grow.

So where does inspiration come from? As in, where in our brains does it happen? There's a lot of evidence that it arises in the subconscious part of our brain - the limbic system. It involves the subconscious, or dreams, or imagination, and is NOT, strangely enough, related to words - even though the form it eventually takes will be written in an author's case.

You'd think that there would be a finite number of ideas to have, wouldn't you? We've probably all heard there are only seven story types - but there are a darn sight more than only seven stories in the world, aren't there? Writers are inspired to see new connections, new ways of using things that already exist - and it's THAT which brings us the rich variety of fiction available to us.

But ideas don't always make it much beyond the inspiration phase. Every author probably has a number of manuscripts or half-finished stories languishing on the laptop or in a notebook. How do you know which idea to run with? Which has legs of its own and will run in a direction you didn't expect? For me, it's the ones that I have the most questions about - but the answers keep coming. It's the idea that keeps growing, 'getting bigger and brighter' was how Isabel described it, before she gave us our first prompt; a woman is standing in front of a house.

We began to throw a few ideas around - there was something inside she wanted. It was her childhood home. She was stalking someone. Destiny lay beyond the front door... As we talked, we started to build on the basics and the suggestions got more involved. The 'growing bigger and brighter' was happening. Right there. In that moment!

Inspiration can be found in many and varied places and from much of our lived experience, but wherever we find it, we often find an emotional connection and depth. We draw on how we felt, what we saw, the smell of Grandma's baking or the sound of a song playing on the radio which was playing when... Sensory memory plays a huge role in bringing a scene alive - not only to ourselves, but to our readers.

We used a few more prompts to explore inspiration through place and sensory memory; 'two people walk over a bridge' was the first, and picking a couple of objects from the table was the second. For the first, as usual, every one of us came up with something entirely different even though we'd been given the same starter. The second was much more varied, as you'd expect, but even when two people chose the same object the resulting writing was very, very different.

Here's what I chose, and what I had time to write in the session:

Look closely after you've read what I wrote - can you see what's missing from
the photo that I included in my scene?

     The mist swirled around his feet as he approached the gates. He knew this path well, had walked it many times before. It was still there, slightly soft under his boots after the recent rain but well trodden and familiar. Yet he remained on edge, wondering whether his memory of the way would be sufficient to prevent a stumble or a turned ankle now that he couldn't see it.
      The gates were a ghostly grey, the mist muting their usual shade of wrought iron. They stood open, twice the height of a man, their elaborate swirls and curls writhing along their width.
      He hesitated, peering up at the ornate crown topping their span, admiring the craftsmanship of their creator. 
      And then he put his hand into his pocket and drew out the talisman. His thumb played with the simple cuts which made up the face...

What do you do though, when the ideas dry up? When inspiration isn't filling your head with the next perfect scene in your novel or providing the story you hope is going to win you that competition and big prize?

We spent a little time listening to a recording of Liz Gilbert talking about taking fear and creativity on a road trip. Liz is the author of Big Magic - Creative Living Beyond Fear. And Fear, we came to realise, is not only a close friend of Creativity (everyone has doubt demons or imposter syndrome for example) but is also something which closes us down creatively and reduces our ability to find solutions. It goes back to a basic physical reaction - fear exists as part of our natural fight or flight response. How can we think creatively about how to catch an elephant when the darned thing's chasing us across the savannah? (Must point out here - that's my analogy, not something we were told! Just in case I've not hit the nail on the head). Our brain just can't tell the difference between a physical event (I'm being chased by an elephant!) or a mental one (I don't know what to write next!) We have to get past the fear in order to deal with the problem.

There are various things you can do as an author to get the inspiration flowing past or around the block. Stick your character into an unexpected situation and write about how they react. Break away from the new stuff - go back and edit what you've already done. (That's a favourite of mine when I'm stuck.) Take a long walk in the fresh air. Leave what you're struggling with and find a scene you DO want to write about (I do this ALL the time - my first s****y draft is full of notes like 'describe the room' or 'Bleurgh! This isn't working' that I revisit at a later stage). "Make s**t happen", as the lovely Julie Cohen once told me.

I think, by the end of the workshop, I realised that 'inspiration' is a single word, but it covers an awful lot of 'stuff'. The very act of nailing it down seems to make it lose its magic - how can you possibly explain what happens in your head when you have that moment of clarity and the first spark of something utterly amazing? I get inspired all the time - I throw ideas out ten-a-penny when I'm working with children. I dream vividly, and often incorporate bits I remember into my work. (Though quite what I shall do with the image of a golden Landrover with a large transparent-sided canopy on its back, driving down the High Street in town...only to realise once it had passed me that it was a Popemobile and the Pope was standing under the canopy, waving to everyone, I have no idea. Answers on a postcard, please!)

Inspiration is a mystical, fleeting thing. The real magic lies in what we - I - create with it...

How to market your books - and yourself, as a writer

I've been forced recently to question whether I do enough to market my own books; I've had some really disappointing sales figures.

It got me thinking, and I was challenged to take a look at what I already do, marketing-wise, to see whether I can improve things. So...

Blogging.

I blog, and not as often as I used to, I'll admit.

There are two reasons for that. The first is that over the last twelve, possibly eighteen months, I've been in a bit of a funk. Life has felt like a huge effort - my world seems to have shrunk and I've been pretty down at times. I believe I am peri-menopausal (sorry fellas, if you're reading!) which has affected my mood, confidence, concentration, and motivation. Quite frankly on occasions I've just wanted to shut the world out and curl up in a ball until I feel better. Another reason is that the Squidgelings are both at uni now, and I have found it extremely hard to adapt to them not being at home, as well as coping with issues they have had while they're away. Maybe I should've pushed myself to still share my life and writing, but I simply couldn't.

At least the blog's still here, and it's still the first place people come to, to find out about me and what I write. I like writing posts - and I hope you enjoy reading them, even if there haven't been as many of late.

Website.

I do have one. But set up after the Scribbles 'because authors need a website', I never really saw the need for it after establishing a blog - and it's horribly out of date. I used a freebie website thing to set it up, but the problem was that I didn't find it easy to use or make changes to. I was also using it so infrequently, I'd forget how to do things or the templates would have been updated and I didn't have a clue. I've said before I'm a bit of a numpty when it comes to IT - I'd rather not do it than make a mess.

I did look at getting one set up for me, but the cost was prohibitive, especially if I wanted to transfer all my Scribbles over to a new domain/host/whatever it's called. I will work on it in the future, but even with some lovely advice available from BInk, it's literally all double-dutch to me.

Facebook.

I'm on it. As myself, not as 'Author', and I'll admit to being very careful here about posting marketing information. Mainly cos facebook take offence if you sell on an undesignated page, but also because facebook for me is about more than selling. It's friendship and keeping in touch, and I don't want to jeopardise friendships by seeming to ram my books down people's throats. Of course I share when I've got a new book out or a cover reveal, but I don't do it to gain sales - I do it to share my excitement.

In all of my social media, I'm genuinely me, and that's something that seems to be really valuable when...

Selling the books.

The vast majority of sales for my novels are direct sales - it's relationships that sell books in my experience. People will buy once they've met me, but if they see my books as being written by an unknown author, they don't tend to take a punt without some knowledge under their belt or a recommendation. That's where catchy blurb/eyecatching cover becomes important too.

In the vast ocean of books on Amazon, my novels are mere amoeba and have to fight extra hard for attention. Especially when it's probably not children - my target market - doing the searching for suitable reading materials, but their parents and grandparents. Ditto on a bookstore shelf; most bookstores have children's titles limited to the big names or popular formula series that children love to read.

My novels have proven to have crossover appeal (instead of middle-grade, they need an 'anyone over 9 years' tag!) but labelling them as children's books can put adults off buying them for themselves.

And the price...I've said it before and I'll say it again - selling children's books is hard. An unknown author, whose books are twice the price of a known author (I know, there's also economy of scale to consider) is unlikely to get chosen. But a lot of the time the price is out of my control...

So relationship is really important for my sales figures.

Reviews.

I do get some lovely comments from readers. I also get some lovely reviews, but not very many. That said, I'm not very good at asking for feedback. All my books are listed on Goodreads and I've done giveaways; I've had one review as a result. One. From several, multiple copy giveaways.

Book reviewers like to have ARC's (Advance Reader Copies), and I'd be happy to send some out - but who do you ask? Children? Adult readers? Book bloggers? (The latter are really hard to get featured by, and I've not seen many for children's books.) The latter tend to focus on big names...

Author events.

I do a fair few of these in schools, for groups, or at fairs. I normally hope to cover my table fee, if nothing else - but schools can be tricky as they may not want you to sell direct. Most of the money I make as an author comes from events where I'm giving a talk or running a creative writing session and charge a fee - any books sold on top are usually a bonus.

Guest blogs.

I don't do this very often, but sometimes I write blogs for other sites. This widens my reach, but doesn't necessarily convert to sales.



Looking at all of that, I think I market myself more than my books - but I market myself in order to sell my books. Does that matter? It gets sales...but maybe I need to backtrack a step.

Why did I start writing books in the first place? To give readers good stories. Did I want to be rich and famous? No - I wanted to encourage children to read. So maybe, just maybe, I need to not be so worried about the marketing? Having said that, I'll ask for more reviews. I'll blog more. I'll take another look at the website and attend more author events if life allows me to. I might even blow my own trumpet a bit more.

Oh, and I'll be sure to hand out some of my new business cards...

How to run a writing workshop - for children

Delighted to be guest blogging over at The Writer's Cookbook today, with my top tips for running a writing workshop for children.

Check it out here: The Writer's Cookbook

Will be interested to see what those of you who also run workshops for children would add to my list... Feel free to comment so we can all learn!

Bits and bobs of news

Been a busy few weeks with family and church 'stuff', so here's a few bits and bobs you might find interesting!

Tilda.

The launch went well - Tina was a fabulous host at the Bookshop, and even got me involved in recording a piece about Tilda for the Merton Talking News October Magazine... I pop up at around 7 minutes into the recording.

I had some lovely surprises in that folk popped into the shop I hadn't expected to see at all, and it was lovely to spend the day chatting to old friends and new about all sorts of things. Course, I sold a few copies as well...

If you read Tilda, do please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads; word of mouth is the best form of recommendation, and there are some banging reviews up already. (Five stars!)

Family.

We've been down to Bristol to fit secondary glazing in Squidgeling J's flat, because the old sash windows were so drafty. My cardmaking skills of days gone by came in useful, especially when we had to peel the backing off the double sided sticky tape. All went well until Mr Squidge fitted some shims to prevent the plastic being ripped off when the windows were opened; when he went to test it, he realised he couldn't.

We'd forgotten that once the plastic was on and shrunk, there was nothing to hold onto to open the window! An emergency visit to Wilkos and three handles later... Voila! Opening windows.

Combined with the new boiler that's been fitted in the flat, Squidgeling J is now toasty in time for the winter.

We also went up to Manchester in the same week to see Squidgeling T - he came home with us for the weekend. As is the way of things, we didn't see too much of him as he caught up with friends at home, but it was good to hear about how his course is going. He's not developed a 'rock star' look yet, but there was passing mention of tattoos and piercings... *gulp*

Word Art.

At NIBS in September, the group worked on an 'I remember' exercise focused around people we had loved and lost, with a view to turning it into an artwork for a community project exhibition at church called 'The Art of Remembrance'. On large sheets of paper, we wrote some of the words and phrases we'd generated, often with a more artistic arrangement, and then the large sheets were chopped up.

Well, this week, I've been helping Jacqui Gallon, the artist who is facilitating the exhibition and associated workshops, to sew the paper onto fabric to create the final artwork.

A DIY MA in Creative Writing.

I've taken the decision to work on a course designed by the amazing Andrew Wille with a group of Denizen friends. It's basically everything that goes into a formal MA course, but you can work through it at your own pace. We've tried to structure it a bit, timewise, and I've attempted a couple of exercises. Only problem is that I don't seem to have much writing time... 

So, to that end, I've just bought myself an academic diary to try to plan my writing a bit better. The 'free' days I had hoped were going to be writing opportunities are getting eaten up fast by lots of different things. And yet developing writing practise is a big part of the MA - it almost feels like I'm failing before I've even started. I've been here before though, when life gets in the way and writing's always - ALWAYS - the first thing to get shoved onto a back burner. I would do NaNoEdMo again, but I'd have to set myself a very, very low word count!!

Anyway, I'll stop rattling on here, and get down to writing up an overheard dialogue exercise... If only I hadn't been so interested in eavesdropping, I might have written down more of the conversation!

See you later, Scribblers.

One-of-a-kind

For the launch of Tilda of Merjan, I thought I'd run a special competition. Anyone who comes and buys a copy of the book on the day will have a chance to win a unique, one-of-a-kind book.

I'm not a particularly good artist, but...I drew a map of Issraya on one of the front pages. And then I added sketches, mostly at the end of some chapters. Some even got coloured in. 

And then I thought, 'what the heck', and hand wrote a short extract from book 2 on the end papers at the back.

Intrigued? Here are a few pics to satisfy your curiosity.  

But remember, if you want to see all of the sketches and enter the competition, you need to pop into the Old Curiosity Bookshop and Tea Room in Hathern, sometime between 10am and 4pm on Thursday 17th October for the launch...

From bookworm to author

My lovely publisher, Bedazzled Ink, shared this on facebook today:

As I prepare to launch my third novel into the world this Thursday, I realised it's 100% true for me.

I don't remember reading as a child, pre-school. I know we had books, and Mum and Dad must've read to us, but my first memories about books are from my school days. When I started school, aged 5, my teacher called my mum in, to ask whether she'd been teaching me to read at home. When my mum denied it, the teacher told her that I was always going missing - and I'd always be found in the book corner. Somehow, I started reading.

I remember Peter and Jane books, and a whole series related to Roger Red Hat. I remember being so annoyed with the latter, as they brought out a version that was spelled phonetically; I knew how you should spell 'was' - and it wasn't 'woz'.

The primary school library was in three parts; the reference library was triangular, and sat at the junction where the corridor split to go to the infant classrooms to the left, juniors to the right. Just before the corridor split, there were two more library areas either side of the corridor - infants on the left, juniors on the right. I can still remember the giddiness I felt when I was allowed to go into the junior side, even though I was only in 'top' infants. The only book I can remember reading there was 'King of the Copper Mountain', still a favourite of mine. At home, I was devouring Enid Blyton's 'mystery' books, and climbing the Magic Faraway Tree. I also went on adventures with a couple of brothers whose sole task seemed to be capturing rare animals for zoos. Very un-pc nowadays!

At secondary school, I started branching out. I used to get the Bunty comic, but moved onto Jackie. I read James Herbert and scared myself silly with 'The Rats'. The library was mostly under ground level, with windows high up in the walls. I loved 'Sue Barton', a series about a nurse in America, and added another to my collection every year on holiday. I read Barbara Cartland, and anything else that took my fancy from the mobile library that stopped at the end of our road on a Friday evening, just before tea time. We were allowed six books at a time - I was usually back within a week, looking for more.

When we went on holiday, we children were allowed to take three books each. I'd often finished mine and ended up reading my brother's and sister's books AND bought something new at the beach shop in Whistling Sands before the end of a fortnight in Wales.

I read in my teens, but I don't remember what. 'Katherine' is a title that stands out from that time, and I think I must've read widely but without anything making much of an impression. I worked my way through a lot of Reader's Digest condensed books, which introduced me to memoir as well as fiction.

In the end, it doesn't matter what I read, or what I remember reading. The important bit is that every single book I read got me to where I am now, and I hope that, one day, someone who read one of my stories as a girl will go on to write something as a woman.

That's the kind of legacy I'd like to leave the world.

The empty nest

Squidgeling T's about to head off to uni, so Mr Squidge and I are faced with the prospect of being on our own for the first time in 20 years.

It's a weird thing to be thinking about. On the one hand, of course we want the Squidgelings to go off and be independent and follow their chosen paths of study and career choices. It's awesome that they feel confident enough and have the ability to do that.

On the other hand, the Squidgelings have been a big part of our lives for a long time - time during which we've all changed and grown, including Mr Squidge and me.

We need to find out who we are as a couple, now. A couple with grown up kids, who can go on holiday on their own (though I can't stop feeling guilty about that one - I might have to work myself up to a real 'holiday' with weekends away first!), who don't have to worry too much about working around other people's events in the diary, and who can eat a much wider range of foods!

It'll take time. I have a sense of us needing to re-connect with each other, to re-discover what we like to do together and then actually get on and do it. We can put ourselves first without feeling selfish or guilty...

Well, up to a point.

The cat's still living at home.

Birthdays, Guitars, and Cake.

Can't quite believe it, but Squidgeling T is eighteen this weekend. Where did all those years go?

One minute there's a little cheeky chappie toddling along, the next, there's a strapping six footer - a strapping six footer who is the bassist of a local rock band.

One of his guitars (yes, he has multiple - apparently you can never have too many guitars) was made by Mr Squidge. Squidgeling T had been eyeing up Dingwall 5-string basses, but the prices were well out of his league at somewhere around £3K-£5K. Having made a guitar for his GCSE though, T asked his dad to help him make a Dingwall-inspired one. Mr Squidge ended up doing most of the practical stuff, but T had definite ideas about what it would look like and was instrumental (hah! see what I did there?) in the design.

The guitar was finished earlier this year, and it looks amazing. You can't see it on these pics, but the head of the guitar is coloured to match the body in purple and blue.

Now on his ACTUAL birthday, T will be performing, gigging with Rawkus Redz in Leicester - a charity gig in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust - so how else could I have decorated his 18th birthday cake, other than with a guitar.

And not just any old guitar, but THE guitar...

Happy Birthday, Squidgeling T xx

Writing prompts...what floats YOUR boat?

This week was our monthly NIBS meeting, and it was great. I love being the facilitator for this group, because it gives me a chance to trawl through lots of different writing prompt ideas which challenge us and often produce some excellent pieces of work. Although I do have to be careful not to choose only the prompts which appeal to me...

Autumn hues - got to love conkers!

Whenever you look for a prompt - especially if you're choosing it for a group to work from - there are several things you probably need to take into account.

How well do you know the group you're working with? If you know them well, you can look for something suited to their abilities or preferred genres. If you have only a general idea - like when you go into a school, for example, and know only that there will be a wide range of abilities - you might have to have a mixture of prompts, or a prompt with a few extra pointers for those who need a little more direction or lack a wild imagination.

Three things - taken from a bag of many, the weird and wonderful combos
always get younger children fired up 

Are you working with visual or wordy people? Is a picture going to be better than a written starter sentence? (I've found that children work best with visual prompts for example, because not all of them have the same writing or reading ability, but they do still have damn fine story ideas!) Is it worth trying a tactile prompt, using physical objects to awaken the senses?

Paint charts - as good for the pictures of rooms as for the paint names

As someone with a very vivid and visual imagination, I get rather twitchy when I find something that feels too restrictive to use as a prompt. For example, I found a smashing picture prompt on a website, but my interest waned when I saw that the prompt wasn't actually the picture as such, it was the half-page story starter written to go with it. I didn't want to finish off someone else's story, especially not a detective story. I wanted to write my own. I didn't want what I was being offered - and of course, I don't have to use it as given. You can apply the self-edit mantra of 'Accept, Adapt, Reject' just as easily to writing prompts as to a WIP - but straightaway I felt tied to one direction only with this particular prompt (and many others on the same site). I much prefer more open prompts to give myself, and those I'm helping to write, the best possible chance to come up with something they want to write.

My absolute favourite prompt - paint samples.
Be inspired by the colour or their names

You'll know from past blogs that my previous NIBS prompts have included baskets of autumn leaves and seeds; random objects taken from my shelves; CD playlists; photos; Victorian photographs; paint samples... I think you really are only limited by your imagination as to what you can use as a prompt. But the secret in group working is to keep the prompt as big as possible so it's accessible for pretty much.

This particular month, we had two starter exercises, which created a lot of laughter with some really off the wall scenarios. (Wotsit bikini, anyone? Or a war between Wotsits and Pringles?)

NIBS Task 1.
'Due to the incident on November 14th, Wotsits are no longer allowed in the canteen. Thank you for your consideration.'

We had to describe the incident in question - I envisaged a new starter being told to "Stick those Wotsits in the canteen", and the manager coming in later to find them literally stuck to the walls with mayo and ketchup and brown sauce...!

NIBS Task 2.
'There was a list of things that could have gone wrong that day, but ........... was not on it.'

What went wrong? I had finding a pirahna in the bath. Or Hairy Harold coming in for a back wax. *shudder*

NIBS Task 3 - the main event.
We all had to bring a writing prompt taken from the website of Tomi Adeyemi, author of YA fantasy Children of Blood and Bone. A lot of the prompts were quite dark, and not everyone in the group is used to writing dark, but there were some inspired and unsettling pieces. Most startling was that two people used the same prompt and came up with the similar scenario of a childhood memory replaying in the narrator's head - one based on personal experience - and yet they couldn't have been more different in style and approach. (Which is another good thing to do with a prompt - give everyone the same prompt, and see how many different directions it can go to, or not, as the case may be)

Anyway, I chose this one: 'Every night you visit me. Sometimes in dreams. Sometimes in nightmares.' Here's what I ended up with...I think it's more of a poem than a story?

Every night you visit me.
Sometimes in dreams.
Sometimes in nightmares.
My subconscious sees you, my love,
   sees the light and the dark.

I leave the dreams reluctantly,
the ghost of your arms wrapped around me,
the gentlest of kisses weighing heavy on my lips, 
my heart beating a lover's tattoo.

But the nightmares I fight to escape, 
struggling to reach consciousness.
To lie in the darkness panting 
   as though I have run from you for real,
skin tingling from lines you carved in it,
throat tight from the squeeze of your fingers.

Every night you visit me, sometimes in dreams,
   sometimes in nightmares.
Which is our truth, my love?

What kind of prompts do YOU prefer as a writer? Which do you struggle with? And do you have a favourite you'd like to share? You never know, you might have found something that the NIBSers could use!

A Special Anniversary

Mr Squidge and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary earlier this week - our Silver Wedding.

I wrote about our wedding a little bit three years ago, when I was struck by the passage of time. Somehow, having reached twenty five years, it seems like a Very Significant Point has been reached. Still not a reason to splurge on pressies - though I did buy Mr Squidge some silver infinity cuff links. I have my ring - the one I made in my silversmithing classes - which I asked the curate at church to bless, and I'm now wearing that.

Instead, to mark the day, we decided we'd spend some time together. We visited Calke Abbey, our local National Trust house. It used to be called 'The house that time forgot', and has been kept pretty much as it was found when it was donated to the NT back in the 1980's, to represent the decline of many of the grand country houses. It's unusual in that everything in the property pretty much was there at the handing over - everything from a state bed, given as a wedding present in the 1700's and never used, to a room full of broken chairs and peeling wallpaper.

The grounds are lovely, too - the cow parsley was almost as tall as me, and the lawns were full of buttercups, pink clover, faded cowslips and others I couldn't identify.

Gorgeous wisteria in the kitchen garden

Shame - my sparkly silver shoes don't show up!

The path through the cow parsley

Later we went out for a lovely meal in the evening at the Thai Grand. I don't usually take photos of my food, but the vegetable rose on the mixed platter of starters deserved one!

The only sore point - literally - of the evening was that after rejecting a good half dozen outfits and finally deciding on a dress (as one does, sometimes), I couldn't wear the shoes I usually wear with the dress, because we were walking into town and they had four inch heels. Then I spotted my twenty five year old wedding shoes and tried them on. They'll do, I thought. Still fit, feel fine.

Except by the time we got to the restaurant, I had some very bad torn blisters on my heels. And the very bottom of the shoe heels had dropped off! We assumed the glue had gone brittle with time and somewhere along our route are two little bits of plastic...

But going back to the wedding, it was strange to look through the official photo album again. There are many in those photos who are no longer with us. There are children who have grown up. Heads which have turned a lot greyer - including my own. But equally there are a lot of family and friends still with us - and seeing the joy on their faces as they celebrated with us on our big day made me smile all over again. In fact, I remember my cheeks aching the day after, from smiling so much...

I had a look at the flowers in my bouquet, too - lots of orchids... I remember really wanting lily of the valley, but it was too late in the season.

We started to think about what we've achieved in the last twenty five years. Two kids are probably the biggest thing, though putting up Bob, our windmill, and being published come a close second - they're our other 'babies'! We've enjoyed holidays where we've been skiing, sunbathing, and sailing. (Not all at the same time, I hasten to add!) We've worked on our house and garden to turn them into a home. We've celebrated milestones for ourselves and others.

Wears you out, thinking about it all. I wonder what'll be in store over the next - God-willing - twenty five years?

Getting started on your first book

This week, I received an email from a lad called Josh. It said;

I am a 14-yr-old boy who wants to write his first book. How do I start my first book?

I replied with some advice, but thought that actually, this would make a good blog post. So for any other young folk out there who are thinking of writing a book and wondering where to start, here's my advice. 

(Remember though, it's only advice. What works for me might not work for you. Read the advice of other authors too, and be wary of applying advice as 'rules'.)


1. The best advice I can give is...start writing! A writer writes - simple as. So pick up that pen and start putting words on the page, and see where it takes you. Keep a notebook to jot ideas into; write short stories; write scenes, dialogue, descriptions; play with words. Use prompt sites to give you ideas if you're stuck. The more you write, the better your writing will become. 

One of my notebooks and a story that has yet to be finished...

2. Read. A lot. By reading you get to see how the best authors structure their stories, and equally, how those that aren't so good make mistakes. Don't just get to the end of the book and say 'that was great!' or 'That was awful!' Try and analyse what made it good or bad for you - and then try and use or avoid similar things in your own writing.

3. Be aware of how you approach your writing. Are you a planner? Do you need to know exactly what the story's about before you begin to write it? Or are you a pantser? You get a whiff of an idea and you're off, seeing where it takes you? Are you a mix of the two (I certainly am!) Do you like to write every day, or only when the muse strikes? What works for you won't necessarily be the same for someone else...and it might take you some time to figure out how you work best.  

4. Don't worry if your story isn't perfect to start with. Tell yourself it's the s****y first draft, it's you working it out for yourself. The 'proper' story comes later, when you're writing it for your reader. And don't be surprised if you end up editing it again and again and again...

Tea...my fuel of choice when editing

5. Make sure the writing is as good as you can make it, especially if you reach the point of wanting to submit it anywhere. Check spellings, grammar, punctuation, and presentation etc. Ask for help if you need it - and be prepared to accept it.

6. Don't give up. If you really want to be a writer, then you have to be prepared for some serious knocks - and each time you get knocked, you have to get up again and keep on trying. If you believe there's a story in you which you have to tell, make sure you tell it. Persistence pays off, as long as you are learning and improving.

There's probably a lot more I could add, but I think that will do for starters. Picking up that pen is the first step in capturing the story ideas that are in your head. Once you've done that, well...who knows where you'll end up?

The Book Cover Challenge

Last week, a facebook friend nominated me for a challenge he'd been doing.

Basically, you posted a picture of a book you loved, every day for seven days, with no explanation and no review - just the picture of the cover. Oh, and nominate someone else to do it as well. (Which I didn't - I'd rather you made that choice for yourself...)

I said that at the end of the week, I'd post on here with my chosen books, and tell you a bit about why I loved them so much, so here goes.

Day 1: Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

This was the first ever Discworld novel I read, and like Lady Sybil, I think I fell a little in love with Sam Vimes, the alcoholic guard who was doing his best to be a good copper. I also fell in love with the whole Discworld scenario and Terry's writing style - so much so that I think I possess every Discworld novel he's ever written, and there is a whole shelf in my house dedicated to his writing. The only piece of fan-fic I've ever written was based on Discworld - The Watchbox Project.

Day 2: Katherine by Anya Seton

I was 16 and in the school library when I saw this book for the first time. I only picked it up because it had my name, spelt my way, on the cover; although Katherine was a popular name when I was born, it was usually spelt with a K and an A or Y, or a C with an E. Not a K and an E. I loved the historical richness of the novel, even though the story focused more on character than pushing the historical facts. And I could also imagine myself as the heroine, because we did share a name, after all.

Day 3: Peepo by Janet and Allen Ahlberg

I can still recite this almost off by heart, we read it so many times to the Squidgelings at bedtime. I loved the illustrations, the music in the poetry, the repetitiveness... We even had two copies of it - hardback when they were very little, and paperback when they were older. 'Here's a little baby, 1,2,3, sit sin his cot. What does he see...?'

Day 4: The Message by Eugene Peterson.

It was only relatively recently that I understood the difference between a translation and an interpretation when it came to bibles. The Message is an interpretation, but it speaks to me more clearly than some of the translations I've read. As my faith is an important part of my life, how can I not love the scripture I use to help guide my life as a Christian?

Day 5: Goth Girl by Chris Riddell.

If I'm honest, I've never read this story. I bought the book simply because it was an object of great beauty. The illustrations are wonderful, there are silver foiled skulls along the spine and the edges of the pages are coloured metallic purple. Best of all, it's signed by Chris Riddell himself, from when I went to see him speak at one of his 'Ask the Laureate' events. And there's a teeny tiny book within the book, too...

Day 6: Lookalikes by Joan Steiner

This book (and another in the same series) kept my children quiet on so many car journeys! Every picture is made up of everyday objects, and you can spend ages on just one picture, trying to spot all the components.

Day 7: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J K Rowling

If I'm honest, I wasn't too fussed about the HP series when it first came out. It all passed me by, so that I didn't begin reading until I think the third book was published. By then, Harry Potter was really causing a stir and I thought I ought to see what all the fuss was about. I loved reading all the books for myself - but enjoyed them even more when I read them, aloud, to the Squidgelings. We tended to read them on car journeys, and there were several times when, having reached our destination, we were not allowed to get out of the car until we'd finished the chapter.

So there you go. Why I picked the books I did, although there were so many others I could've chosen... Maybe I'll have another go at the challenge soon, squeeze in a few more favourites?

Christmas 2017

This year at church, we had an Advent Flock which travelled around the Parish. At every home the flock visited, a little lamb was left behind, to be reunited with the flock on Christmas Eve at our Crib Services. Our children were invited to make extra sheep too, so the flock had grown somewhat by 5.30pm after two services. 

This Christmas, if,  like the shepherds and kings and our Advent flock, you are coming to the stable - or you find yourself in a situation you did not expect - remember that God is with you, now, two thousand years after the birth of Jesus. 

In the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, may your Christmas journey lead you closer not just to the heart of Christmas, but to the person of Jesus whose birth we celebrate.

Happy Christmas, everyone. xxx

The School Inspector on tour...

Recently, I went to our town hall to spend an evening with Gervase Phinn.

For those who don't know him, he's an author and educator who writes a lot about his days as a schools inspector in Yorkshire, and about the things children say.

I was interested to go because I think it's always good to hear what other authors have to say, although I admit that my only Gervase Phinn book is 'A Wayne in a Manger' - a collection of very funny moments relating to school Nativity plays and Christmas events.

Mr Phinn himself is a larger than life, colourful character who certainly knows how to engage with an audience; said audience was very much older in the main, and appreciated the double entendres and innuendo a lot more than me and Mr Squidge perhaps did at times!

At times though, we were in stitches.

Like when Gervase told us about the little girl who was going to sing a song for him, called 'Damp Settee'. He then proceeded to sing it... 'Dance then, wherever you may be...I am the Lord of the damp settee...!'

And when he explained how he'd tried to show another little girl how to make sandcastles by adding water from the water tray into the dry sand tray, using his fingers to mix them together.... She still could not be persuaded though, and when Gervase asked why not, she told him that a classmate had just wee'd into the water tray...

You get the gist.

But what also came across is that Gervase is passionate about education, particularly getting children reading, and building society through literacy. He recounted some of his own school experiences, as well as family anecdotes that helped to shape him into the writer he is today.

So we chuckled and chortled, and afterwards, I went to buy a book from his signing table.

I have to say - the children I meet in schools know how to behave better than some of the adults in that signing queue. Not only had the adults uncovered the book table and started helping themselves to copies before Gervase had even appeared, they just sort of crowded round the table and pushed and shoved. There was no queue. And when Gervase finally sat down (having changed from his multicoloured jacket into a Penguin (as in the publisher) T-shirt) a queue did form. At the opposite end to where I'd been waiting patiently since I was the fourth person out.

Miffed, I stepped out of the scrum and stood back until the end, chose a book and waited for a signature. One minute, Gervase was writing in my book and talking to me, the next minute he spots someone else. Introductions were made, plans discussed...and I'm still standing there like a lemon. In the end, he handed me the book I'd bought, (while still talking to the other person) and I was left to sort of slink away...a bit disappointed, if I'm honest.

It made me determined to be more like Chris Riddell, at my own signings... He took time to talk to every single person who wanted a book signing. Admittedly, the event I attended with Chris was an afternoon, not an evening after several other evenings - Gervase was obviously tired by the time he got to me after an hour and three quarters of entertaining, followed by a half hour of signings. So I can sort of make allowances, but it did take a bit of the shine off the evening for me.

I am now looking forward to reading 'Mangled English', which describes all sorts of ways that our rich language is used and abused in comedic ways. And to some more chuckles...

But speaking of author talks and the like - I shall be doing several talks to social groups over the next couple of months, as well as spending a day with Year 3, 4 and 5 children at Outwoods Edge School as part of this year's Loogabarooga Festival. Check out the programme - there are some amazing authors and illustrators coming! Including the current Children's Laureate, Lauren Child!

I shall expect any signing queues to be well behaved... *winks*