A Zigzag Road

I couldn't possibly comment

2012-01-23T05:20:00.000-08:00

Usually I try to reply to comments as they arrive, but Blogger is not letting me add comments on my own blog right now! Thanks to everyone who has commented on yesterday's post. Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon.

When more is less

2012-01-22T05:38:00.000-08:00

After an intense month of writing I am just coming up for air. Every year I tell myself I must send out more work than I did the previous year. But why do I let myself be tyrannized by numbers? With the demands of the day job it's not realistic to keep increasing my output - or at least, not without sacrificing other things.

I am not a very accomplished pianist. To be honest, I am not even a competent one. I had lessons for a short while, until it became too much of an expense. Since then I've been noodling around on my own. Except, I haven't. Last year I hardly touched the piano because I was trying to meet my self-imposed writing targets. Now I realise how much I've missed the relaxation of tinkling away to myself. I'm also cross that I've become so out of practice and can't manage tunes I could play a year ago.

Of course it's fantastic to have stories published. And being paid for them still seems nothing less than a miracle. But I notice that in my case, increased output doesn't necessarily lead to more acceptances. And if I am focusing too much on numbers, then I lose some of the enjoyment of writing. So although it's nearly the last week of January I am adding some new resolutions.

1. I will be happy if I only submit one story a month as long as the stories I do send out are absolutely my best work.

2. Concentrate on the markets where I tend to do well, rather than waste time trying to fit my writing to magazines that don't suit my style.

3. Write what I enjoy instead of always thinking of what is commercial.

4. Don't lose touch with other life enhancing things, e.g music, friends, and spending time in the great outdoors.

How is your January going so far? Any resolutions made, broken or revised?

New Year News

2012-01-01T02:40:00.000-08:00

Merry New Year from Harvey and me.

I always begin January full of beans, writing and submitting in a frenzy of good intentions. But it's oh so hard to keep that up once spring comes and the weather improves. My challenge for 2012 is to hang onto my New Year momentum beyond crocus time.

To do this I am going to have to be much stricter about using any spare minutes constructively. So, I, Joanne Fox, hereby declare I shall only visit Facebook every other day. I am also resisting the urge to rearrange my study yet again. There's an irritating chap called General Clutter in there, and all my attempts to evict him have been in vain. Therefore I hereby recognise that rearranging the study is another displacement activity, rather than a way of achieving anything. Shut that door!

Now I can share some positive news to kick off the year. As a result of entering the Earlyworks Press short story competition in 2011, I will have my story included in their competition anthology. I know I shall be in some good company, and congratulations to the overall winner.

Here's to less faffing about in 2012!

Happy Christmas

2011-12-23T03:58:00.000-08:00

In case I don't have another chance to say it, I'd like to wish you all a very happy Christmas. May 2012 bring us lots of good stories to tell. Take care and I will catch up with everyone soon. xxx

The Great Book for Girls

2011-12-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

Loving all things 30s, I could not resist this book in the local Oxfam shop. Yes it's old. Yes it leaves my fingers dusty each time I open the heavy pages. Yes it smells musty. But to me all these things are good!

Published in 1931, The Great Book for Girls is mainly short stories, with a few poems here and there. The black and white drawings have been lovingly coloured in with pencils by a previous owner. And I must say they've done a very neat job.

As for the stories - well, what ripping yarns, as one of the characters might say! They have titles like 'Dimsie Wins Through' and 'The Fourth Form Entertainment'. The girls in the stories are all so busy and active, they almost wear me out. They go sailing, camping, trekking and have lots of adventures in the jolly-hockeysticks type of fashion. Several of the stories are set in boarding schools. I used to adore boarding school stories when I was young, though I don't know why as I would probably have hated it if I had ever had to go.

And yes, the writing style is a little dated, or 'politically incorrect' to our modern ears. I mean, we wouldn't refer to someone as a 'village idiot', for instance, would we. We most likely wouldn't call somebody 'a brick' either, even in a nice way. But for traditional stories, with a beginning, middle and end, this eighty year old book has given me a lot of entertainment this past week. I shall be looking out for more!

Winter sunrise

2011-11-23T10:34:00.001-08:00

Don't you think it's a miracle how that sun keeps coming up every day?

Acrostics

2011-11-05T04:51:00.001-07:00

One of the recent tasks in our writers' group was to write an acrostic in three minutes. What's an acrostic? Well, what you do is choose a word and write it vertically down the page. Then from each letter you write a word or line horizontally, with the aim of describing the vertical word. So if I wrote a very basic acrostic for Harvey I could say something like this:

Highly

Adored
Retriever,
Velvet
Eyes
Yearning.

Here you can read more about acrostics, their use in mnemonics, poetry and coded messages. The thing is, once you start playing with acrostics they soon become addictive! Try it. It's fun!

Chasing rainbows

2011-10-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Picture of a double rainbow we saw here a few weeks ago. Squint closely. There are two rainbows there, honestly, although the second is quite faint above the brighter one. I think this is supposed to bring luck!

We were not so lucky when the new next door neighbour ran into our car on Sunday. Is this judgement on me for laughing when a neighbour down the road reversed into THEIR neighbour's car?

Monday brought an email from People's Friend, accepting a story, so I am in forgiving mood. This story has been a long time in the telling. I began writing it a whole two years ago. Something was wrong with it - but what? I didn't know. Into the drawer it went. This summer I took it out again. Straight away I saw that one of the main characters wasn't really a very nice person. Not only was he making the story too complex, he also had a snide air about him which was totally wrong for a People's Friend story. Once I'd written him out, all my characters were much happier and able to get on with their lives.

Maybe a bit of the rainbow's luck did fall on Zigzag Road after all. Just as well, since I had a shoe splurge at the weekend!

Wishing you rainbows - especially double ones.

Poetry, please

2011-09-18T03:35:00.000-07:00

I recently joined a lovely local writers' group and am really enjoying it. One of the tasks on the programme for our autumn term is to write a brief review of a favourite contemporary poet.

Now, while I dip into poetry now and then, I can't say I have a favourite poet - ancient or modern! Following ideas from my blogfriends in relation to pasta free lasagne, now I am asking for suggestions on poets. Which contemporary poets are worth further attention? I have 3 weeks before this task is due, so there's no mad rush, but as this area is unfamiliar to me I'd like to start reading around soon. If anyone can throw in some names as a starting point I'd be eternally grateful. It's good to have the challenge of learning about something new. That's always one of the exciting things about autumn isn't it.

Quote of the day

2011-09-14T00:14:00.001-07:00

"I do like lasagne. Just as long as there's no pasta in it."

(If anyone can suggest how to make lasagne without pasta please do tell me!)

Will there be unicorns?

2011-09-05T07:41:00.001-07:00

I read a story the other day. It was written with a beautiful, light touch, full of magic and sparkle. For several pages I was swept along in this fairytale world. The writer could have introduced giants and unicorns, and I would have believed every word because the story was written with such sincerity of emotion.

But then, in the last paragraph, it became clear that there was in fact a rational explanation for how all the 'magic' happened. I was devastated. It was like finding out Santa Claus doesn't exist, or that it wasn't the Tooth Fairy who left a sixpence beneath your pillow. Or, it was like one of those escapades where the main character wakes up and realises 'it was all a dream'. This wasn't a magazine story, so there was no fiction editor in the background insisting the events had a plausible cause. Maybe the writer felt they were straining credibility too much by pursuing the magical theme right to the end. Or perhaps they lost confidence in their original idea. Either way, it was a shame.

Firstly this made me think that maybe everyone wants to believe in magic. Even someone like me, who hardly ever reads fantasy. But if a story grabs me then it doesn't matter what genre it's in. If it's well written and I connect with it then I will read on. If the story features magic, I want it to stay magical right until that final full stop. I somehow feel cheated when reality snatches away this wonderful, mystical world the writer has persuaded me exists.

The second thing I thought was how we have to keep pushing our ideas further to see where they can go. If some of our ideas are a bit 'off the wall' sometimes it's tempting to dismiss them as too fanciful. Yet the most interesting things seem to happen when we follow those ideas and see where they take us, instead of playing safe.

So, this week I'll be playing with my latest off the wall, fanciful, daft idea. It's quite exciting. There might be unicorns!

Fungus season

2011-08-28T05:53:00.000-07:00

I never used to believe in allowing dogs on furniture. But then...

Harvey came! Now we can't get rid of the old armchair which doesn't match the new sofa and chair. Nor can I put a small bookcase into that spot by the window, as I had planned to do. And how he can be comfy crammed into that little space is beyond me. But if Harvey's happy, we're happy. Mostly.

If you were passing by last August you may recall Harvey found a humongous fungus in the garden. August must be puffball season as there is another one sprouting up.

It's quite a bit bigger than our windfall apples, as you can see. I hoped it would continue getting bigger and bigger, until we could climb inside and sail away like James and the Giant Peach. But things are nibbling at it. Whether Harvey is one of those nibblers I don't know. He's not saying.

A silverfish in the gravy and other strange events

2011-08-19T05:15:00.000-07:00

I've officially done my back in. The doctor has prescribed a week off work, plus co-codamol and 'gentle pottering'. No-one would choose to be ill or in pain, but when you've been on the go for a while it's quite a relief to have somebody order you to stop. For the first time in ages I sat in the garden today, without feeling obliged to get up and deal with weeds, untidy lawn edges or holes dug by Harvey. Oh, and from the funny rash on my hands I think I've also developed primula allergy which is another good reason to leave the garden to its own devices for bit.

A few days ago I watched a neighbour reverse off their drive, slap bang into their other neighbour's car! Of course I wouldn't have been so amused if they'd reversed into my car, but happily Mr F. Focus was safely tucked up in the drive.

The following night I opened the gravy granules to find a silverfish running round inside. How did the silverfish get in the gravy? It sounds like a joke, but I'm rubbish at punchlines so maybe someone else can suggest one. I threw the gravy out, by the way, as it was nearly gone anyhow.

Yesterday I managed to write about three lines of a story. They're good lines, I think, so that's OK. If I do another three later my story might be finished by Christmas. Speaking of which I've actually seen some 2012 calendars in the shops! No wonder we feel we're constantly racing against the clock, with retailers so keen to rush us into next year already!

Well, excuse me for dashing off again but my back won't let me sit at the computer for long. Must be time for some more of that gentle pottering.

Guest post by Sue Johnson

2011-07-31T04:56:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will see the launch of 'Fable's Fortune', the first published novel by writer and tutor Sue Johnson.

I have been lucky enough to attend two of Sue's writing workshops, and was delighted to hear of her latest success.

I asked Sue if she could tell us about the process of writing 'Fable's Fortune', about her own favourite authors, and if she could give any advice to newer writers. So now it's over to Sue...

'Fable's Fortune' is a modern romance built on a fairytale structure. The back cover blurb reads:

"Fable Mitchell is born under a roof of stars in a Kentish plum orchard, and her early childhood is spent in a house called Starlight where she lives with her mother Jasmine and Gangan the Wise Woman.

However, her life is not destined to remain like a fairytale.

When she is ten, she is abducted by her estranged father Derek, now a vicar, and taken to live in his austere vicarage at Isbourne on the banks of the River Avon. Fable is unable to escape.

When she is sixteen, she falls in love with Tobias Latimer but he dies in mysterious circumstances and Fable's happiness is once again snatched away from her.

She tries to rebuild her life and marries Tony Lucas because she thinks the omens are right. Fable soon realises he is abusive and controlling, but is trapped because she fears losing contact with her daughter.

Nearing her 40th birthday, Fable hears Gangan the Wise Woman's voice telling her to 'be ready - magic happens'.

That is certainly true, but does Fable have the necessary courage to finally seize her chance of lasting happiness?"

The story (originally called 'Star Dragon') began life in 1998 following my own marriage break-up and divorce. I didn't do any planning and completed 85,000 words in less than two months. It was extremely therapeutic and helped me get through a stressful time without needing tranquilisers or taking to drink!

Having finished what was a very scrappy first draft (I didn't really know what I was doing!) I put it on one side for several years while I went back to University to do a creative writing course. During that time I wrote a lot of poetry and short stories - many of which were published in women's magazines. I was taken on by the agency Midland Exposure who sold short fiction to women's magazines.

When I eventually went back to the novel (in about 2002) my ideas about the story and characters had moved on. The story had never left me in all the time I'd been away from it - bits kept playing like a film inside my head. Helped by a severe attack of vertigo, I reworked the story (now called 'Cloak of Stars'.)

By 2005, having written three more novels and failed to find a publisher, I joined the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme. I submitted 'Cloak of Stars' for a critique and was advised to take out the fairytale element.

I felt a bit despondent - but decided to have one more re-write. It was at that stage that my heroine, originally called Rose, decided that she didn't like her name! I searched through all the children's name books I could find, plus various Internet sites, but found nothing.

In the end, I put my jacket on and walked into town, deciding to stop for a coffee at the first cafe I came to and the first woman's name that I heard would be the one I went for. Two women wearing fur coats and carrying wicker baskets came in. As they took their coats off one of them said, "Of course, my daughter Fable..." I paid my bill and hurried back to my computer.

One thing I learned in the process of writing this book was that I needed to be persistent and ignore the negative things some people said. I wish I'd concentrated on finding a publisher rather than wasting my time trying to get an agent - especially after one admitted, when I contacted her after a long time of being fobbed off by her assistant, that she'd 'buried my manuscript under a pile of other stuff and forgotten about it'. The first publisher that I sent the manuscript to after that episode was Ronnie Goodyer at Indigo Dreams Publishing - and he said yes!

I think it must be true that success breeds success as I've now got a non-fiction book on novel writing coming out in October this year. ('Creative Alchemy: 12 Steps from Inspiration to Finished Novel', published by HotHive Books.) I'm also keeping my fingers crossed for two further novel manuscripts that I've submitted.

My favourite authors are Joanne Harris, Clare Jay, Helen Dunmore and Michele Roberts.

My advice to new writers is:

1. Write every day even if you only manage five minutes.
2. Get as much work in circulation as possible.
3. Create a writing C.V. - a publisher or agent may ask for one.
4. Reward yourself for the effort you put in.
5. Don't stop until you've achieved your writing ambitions.

Sue's website can be found here. The book will be available from Indigo Dreams here, Amazon, and all good bookshops, as they say. Thank you Sue for taking the time to tell us about 'Fable's Fortune'. It sounds a wonderful read and I hope it does really well for you.

Chainsaws at dawn

2011-07-25T02:56:00.000-07:00

Well, O.K., not exactly at dawn, since dawn breaks early in July. But with builders renovating the house next door we're having a noisy summer here. The cement mixer churns and there's a brickie effing and blinding his way through building a wall at the front. At the back someone insistently taps paving slabs with a hammer to get the new patio laid flat. Through an open upstairs window comes the sound of the plasterer singing along to Adele songs. Sand arrives and skips are collected. Half the county's building trade seems involved in the house next door.

It's put a temporary blot on pottering about in my dressing gown, watering my plants and enjoying my first coffee of the day. In fact, after six weeks it's all getting wearysome, especially as escaping anywhere in the car involves navigating through the white vans parked beside our kerb.

Then again, every cloud of brick dust has a silver lining. I've submitted four stories during July. It's unusual for me to submit much in the summer as I'm normally in the garden more. I have no excuse not to complete my tax form too, while I am stuck indoors anyway. Gosh I hate having to do a tax form for my small writing income. I'm a bit rubbish with numbers. It always takes at least three phone calls to the tax office to check which figure goes where. But then I know I am lucky to have any writing income, with paying markets seeming to grow ever more competitive.

Well, that's my little moan over. Next weekend I have a guest blogging here at Zigzag Road. Watch this space, and I hope you all have a peaceful week.

Reaping what we sow

2011-07-18T07:23:00.001-07:00

In spring I pushed sweet peas into the damp earth and fed them with bright adjectives. I layered a stem of nouns to root among the mints, dotting an odd gerund below the lavender. Rain spattered them with pronouns. Squirrels buried verbs. There were some adverbs from last year's cuttings, but magpies stole them, stealthily.

Now I dig for stories, as the dog sniffs out windfalls. Our garden feeds us, always.

Redwings Horse Sanctuary

2011-07-01T03:12:00.000-07:00

I may not have had my writing head on much lately, but I've had some lovely trips out and about. I can always justify a day out on the grounds that it's research for a story I haven't decided to write yet.

Yesterday I took a friend to visit the Warwickshire branch of Redwings, a charity which does fantastic work in rescuing and rehoming horses that have been abandoned, neglected or abused. It was wonderful to see so many horses contentedly grazing...

and chomping... and while some clearly think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it's obvious that Redwings is a great place to be.

You could just cry when you think of how much ill treatment horses have suffered at the hands of humans, but it's really heartening to see that even horses who have suffered can go on to enjoy happier lives with the right care and attention.

I think we'll visit again, and hopefully not get quite as lost as we did on the way home!

Don't panic!

2011-06-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

Don't panic if the blog is a different colour next time you see it. I am just tinkering about with the colour scheme!

Chelsea

2011-05-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

For years I've wanted to visit the Chelsea Flower Show. When I was in my twenties I lived right across the river from the Royal Hospital, where it takes place, but I was as poor as a church mouse and could never afford to go. Well, finally I've achieved an ambition and been to the show in person instead of sitting at home, watching it on television.
If you've seen any coverage this year you'll know the garden everyone's been talking about is Diarmuid Gavin's Irish Sky Garden. When I first arrived at the show, the garden was flying high from its crane, but I noticed later when the weather turned blowy they had to bring it back down to earth. No-one can say Diarmuid is unoriginal, and he does have a really good eye for plants.
If you're restricted to visiting Chelsea in the middle part of the day you have to resign yourself to a slow shuffle past the show gardens. However a helpful shower of rain sent many people indoors, leaving us drowned but eager souls to enjoy a better look outside. I really loved the Royal Bank of Canada's New Wild Garden, designed by Nigel Dunnett. Look at the combination of textures and colours in the walls. Often I find I spend the longest time studying the smallest details. Around the show gardens there were some stunning sculptures including a light-catching sphere by David Harber, and a pair of boxing hares in the Skyshade Garden, and you can peer through the gates of the Royal Hospital where the Chelsea Pensioners live. It's a beautiful building.Inside the RHS Pavilion there are stunning displays of the exotic and the everyday, but all of it grown and presented to such a high standard.I know when I've seen enough because I stop looking at my surroundings and start to watch the people. I saw Alan Titchmarsh and Chris Beardshaw filming for the BBC. Then I spent a while listening to the brass band play, and looking for stories in the crowd. Finally I had a walk along the river. When I lived near the Battersea Power Station I don't think I took much notice of it, but looking at it again with fresh eyes I realised how magnificent it is.
It's funny going back to places where you've lived during a very different time in your life. I loved being in London when I was younger. Nowadays the traffic, people and pace of London soon overwhelm me. I'm glad I finally made it to Chelsea at last, but gladder still for the relative peace and quiet of home.

Rosalie's signing and my latest.

2011-05-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Firstly, if you are in the Coventry area this Saturday (May 21st) Rosalie Warren would love you to pop into her signing session for 'Coping with Chloe'. Rosalie was a guest on this blog in March. Between 10.30a.m. and 12.30p.m. on Saturday she will be in Waterstones, Smithford Way, Lower Precinct, Coventry.

Secondly, '100 Stories for Queensland' is now available to order in print form through Amazon. Please click the image on the right sidebar for further details.

Thirdly, I have a story 'Her Pride and Joy' in the new issue of The Weekly News. That's the one with a cover date of May 21st. I only heard on Tuesday that they wanted to use the story, and today I bought it from the newsagent's. That's a quick turnaround! It's the first story I've had in there, but I've been familiar with this particular publication since childhood. My grandparents used to buy The Weekly News and pass their copy on to us. I wish I could tell them I finally made it into the short story pages. I think they'd be glad.

Some books

2011-05-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Q. Where's that Joanne Fox gone? Has she deserted her blog again?

A. No! I've been reading and writing lots, yesterday attended a hundredth birthday party (not mine, obviously) and today a writing workshop with Sue Johnson, who always fills me with inspiration.

I've read so many good books this spring that I wanted to mention a few of my favourites. Firstly 'The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secrets' by Sophie Hannah. This is a collection of short stories, opening with 'The Octopus Nest' which won the Daphne du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition in 2004. Although I'd read 'The Octopus Nest' before, I still admired the way Sophie Hannah drew me in and led me down a path I thought I knew, until she hit me with the ending. Every story in this collection focuses on a character who is obsessed with something. And though they may behave bizarrely, I like that I always understand why.

For some reason I'd put off reading Rose Tremain's 'The Road Home' because I thought I wouldn't enjoy it. This was despite already being seriously impressed by her previous novels, and her wonderful short story collection 'The Darkness of Wallis Simpson'. But at long last I borrowed 'The Road Home' from the library and absolutely loved it.

As you may be sick of hearing, I am a big fan of Helen Dunmore. However I'd put off reading one of her books too - 'Mourning Ruby'. It centres on the death of a child and I thought it would be too depressing. But d'you know what? When I finally read it I loved this one as well!

Another book I borrowed from the library recently (thank God libraries still exist because I couldn't afford to buy all these) was 'Dead Ernest' by fellow blogger Frances Garrood. I could really identify with all three of the main characters and so wanted them to have a happy ending, especially the central one, Annie. As the truth about Annie's life with her late husband (Ernest) is revealed, there are many reminders that in the not-too-distant past both men and women were more constrained by social attitudes than they are in the present day, and often shockingly ignorant about sex besides. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it made me very glad to be living in the here and now. Modern life may not be perfect but generally we do benefit from freedoms and opportunities that previous generations did not have. I look forward to reading more of Frances's work.

Finally (and to prove I do read books by male authors) I must mention Patrick Gale's 'Notes from an Exhibition'. I read this book a couple of years ago, but I knew it was one that deserved a second reading. I don't always take to books that have unusual structures. Sometimes the structure dominates the story rather than complementing it. However I do love this one, in which each chapter begins with notes on an object that might appear in a posthumous exhibition from the life of the central character. This character was an artist, so many of the notes describe pieces of her work. There are also notes about her fisherman's smock, her nightdress and a hair clasp. The story unfolds around these objects, not chronologically, but in a way that makes me feel I am delving through layers of a family, learning a bit here, a bit there. I find this book really interesting on the subject of the relationship between art and mental health. I learnt a lot about the Quakers too.

So that's my round-up. Now I have to get back to reading, writing, and catching up with everyone else's blogs.

Read any good books lately?

Spilling Ink

2011-04-17T00:47:00.000-07:00

Extra treats for Harvey this week, as I heard I'd won second prize in the Spilling Ink flash fiction competition.

Until last year I had something of a blind spot where flash fiction was concerned. I'd never tried writing it, because I couldn't imagine being able to develop characters in the way I wanted within a word count of perhaps only 500 or less. For me, characters and relationships are the things I really like to explore in stories, way ahead of plots or themes.

But then for some reason I went through a bit of a sea-change. I started experimenting with flash fiction, and found I enjoyed the challenge. I realised that if the main character was clear enough in my mind, it was possible to pin them down on paper. It was just a matter of working hard within the tight focus of the story, and not getting distracted by rambling sub-plots as I am inclined to do. That may sound obvious, but I am a great believer in the principle that we only really learn by doing.

So the moral of this particular tale is that even if you think you can't, have a bash anyway. You may find that you can!

Quote of the day

2011-04-09T05:10:00.001-07:00

Recorded advert played over Morrisons' tannoy: "Start saving for an easy Christmas!"

An heirloom!

2011-04-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

My parents are in a constant state of clearing out their house. This means my visits usually yield at least one item of family memorabilia that I didn't know I needed.

Most recently it was this Home Safe from the long defunct Derby Savings Bank. This little safe belonged to my grandmother. It's metal, and even empty it weighs almost a pound (that's around 450 grams if you're reading this in metric). One side has a slot for coins and the other has a round hole for notes.

When I went round Birmingham's Back-to-Back houses, there was a similar safe on the mantelpiece of the 1930s themed house, so I'm guessing my grandmother's safe is from the same era. I am told that the bank kept the key to the safe to prevent savings being raided for the gas meter. You would have to take your safe along to the bank for them to open it and pay the contents into your account. Unfortunately I don't have the savings book that would have accompanied the safe so I don't know how much my grandmother managed to squirrel away in there. I'd love to know what she was saving for.

Apparently safes were manufactured for lots of banks across the country, and also for the Post Office. Do let me know if you've got one like it.

Rosalie Warren on 'Coping with Chloe'

2011-03-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Maybe some of you remember author Rosalie Warren kindly appearing as an interviewee on this blog last year. At the time she spoke about how Phoenix Yard Books had accepted her novel for girls aged eleven upwards.

That novel is to be released next Monday, March 21st. How exciting!

I am pleased to welcome Rosalie back today to celebrate the publication of her latest book.

So, Rosalie, without giving away too much of the plot, would you like to tell us a little about 'Coping with Chloe'?

'Coping with Chloe' is about a twelve year old girl called Anna who has an unusual relationship with her twin sister, Chloe. So unusual, in fact, that she believes Chloe now lives inside her (Anna's) head and shares her body. Why? Well, the reason will emerge as you read the book. At the beginning, Anna is happy with the arrangement, in spite of the reaction of her family and friends. Then a good-looking new boy called Joe arrives in Anna's class and seems to want to be friends with both Anna and Chloe. Anna is pleased at first, because Joe is just about the only person who is aware of Chloe's presence. But when he can't make up his mind which twin he likes best, trouble starts to brew. It's not helped by Lisa, the class bully, who has designs on Joe of her own. And when Chloe turns on Anna and starts to threaten her, things get very nasty indeed.

This is a story about sibling bereavement, as well as some other deep issues like bullying, parental separation and physical abuse. But it's written, I hope, with a light touch and lots of humour. Anna wins through in the end, with a new understanding of what has happened to her and Chloe, and better relationships with her family and friends.

Where did the inspiration for the book come from?

I wish I knew! Anna appeared inside my head one day and started talking. In fact, I sometimes wonder whether this book is partly about what it's like to be a writer, though perhaps that's pushing things a bit too far. But Anna demanded to tell her story, so I wrote it down, and it was one of those times when writing is a bit like reading - you have no idea what's going to happen next.

How long did it take you to write it?

The first draft took about six weeks. That may not sound long, but in that state it was pretty unreadable by anyone, including me. It took another couple of years to get it into its final shape. Part of that process involved getting an excellent appraisal from Cornerstones, who helped me see where it was going wrong and make it fit for publication.

How does writing for younger readers compare with writing for adults?

It's not really so very different, I find. I'm not aware of writing in a different way for younger people, though I suppose the language is more of a challenge and you have to be aware of what's acceptable and what's not. Like many children's authors, I struggle with the dialogue, trying to give it an up-to-date flavour without including expressions that would quickly date.

Among authors who write for the 11+ age group, who do you really admire?

That's a great question. Jacqueline Wilson is one of my favourites and I wish she'd been writing when I was young. I recently discovered Jenny Valentine, who wrote 'Broken Soup' and 'The Ant Colony' - both brilliant books. And I love Jenny Downham's 'Before I Die'. You'll see I'm more into realism than fantasy, though I enjoy fantasy novels for younger children. Tove Jansson (creator of the Moomins) is my favourite author of all time and I still regularly read her books.

Now that your third book is about to be published, are there any valuable lessons you've learnt along the way?

Never give up on trying to get published, while at the same time writing new things and recognising that some books may be 'learning experiences' that will never see the light of day. Don't be too critical when writing your first draft - in fact don't be critical at all - let your imagination go. You can reshape, rewrite and edit later, when you've got something to work with.

Last time you visited the blog, you mentioned several other projects you were working on. How are you progressing with those?

My novella for adults, currently called 'Mondays with Marguerite', is finished and looking for a home. It's written from the point of view of a woman with Alzheimer's and is also the story of her 11 year old great grand-daughter, who has troubles of her own. The two of them make friends and their stories intertwine. It could be difficult to find a publisher, as it's only 40,000 words. We'll see. I may decide to release it as an eBook on my own.

I've also finished a teen novel and am working on a sequel to 'Chloe'. And for adults, I'm writing a novel with a rather experimental structure. It will have to be an eBook because of the way it's designed to be read. See my blog if you are interested - comments welcome. The sequel to 'Charity's Child' is currently simmering on the back boiler - not sure why. And I have a series in mind for younger children, aged seven to nine. It will be set in about 2030 and have robots in it, but so far I don't know much more than that.

Thank you Rosalie. I am looking forward to reading 'Coping with Chloe', and hope it does really well for you.

'Coping with Chloe' is published by Phoenix Yard Books and is available from Amazon. Rosalie also has a website here.

Stylish Blogging!

2011-03-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to fellow blogger Pen and Paints for passing the Stylish Blogger award on to me.

Unaccustomed though I am to being called stylish, I am now obliged to tell you seven things about myself.

1. I'd love to meet the Queen.

2. When I was a child my grandparents often took me to Twycross Zoo. I grew very fond of the ring-tailed lemurs.

3. I've been bargain hunting in charity shops since I was sixteen. My first ever purchase was a red cotton dress with a pattern of small grey squares. Thirty years on I continue to get the same thrill when I find something I really want for just a few pounds.

4. I stopped eating red meat when I was eighteen. I still eat fish occasionally, but I have spells of giving that up too. Like after I went to the Sea Life Centre and saw how delicate and pretty the baby plaice were.

5. My number one favourite book is Great Expectations.

6. In my lifetime I've had seven cats, four dogs, assorted rabbits, guinea pigs and fish. This does not seem nearly enough animals and I wish I had a house with a bit of land so I could take in a few homeless donkeys.

7. I'd like to see Venice but canals make me nervous. Their sides are so steep that if I tripped and stumbled I would have nothing to grab onto and so would probably take a nose dive into the drink. And I cannot swim!

Walnut, anybody?

2011-03-03T06:42:00.000-08:00

In the belief that it's good to be open to new experiences, yesterday I ate a pickled walnut. Foul! No wonder my manager was trying to get rid of them. My tongue felt all shrivelled and wrinkly from the vinegar - like your fingers when you've soaked in the bath too long. Is anyone a fan of pickled walnuts? If so, please enlighten me about the attractions of these bloated, black, mushy blobs. Don't we do some strange things with food?

I've been working extra days lately, and am really looking forward to having next week off. There are two almost finished stories which I need to polish up and submit. I'm also in the process of shredding my notes from when I did my mental health training and it will be so nice to see the back of all that dusty old paperwork. And then of course there's the garden, which I'm desperate to start on again. It's cold today, but maybe next week will warm up. In the meantime, here are some snowdrops in the park behind our house.

Two anthologies

2011-02-22T03:24:00.001-08:00

Last week we had a few Internet problems, meaning I couldn't tell you the previous week's writing news. Since September, apart from a couple of shortlistings, I had only rejections. And sometimes you know, you do reach a point when you wonder if you will ever be published again. But then a fortnight ago the unthinkable happened and I heard good news about two short stories in one day. The first of these is due to be published on March the 8th, in 100 Stories for Queensland. This is a charity anthology to raise money for people affected by the massive floods which hit the state in January. Later in 2011 I will also have a story in a Leaf Books anthology. I entered Leaf's micro-fiction competition last year, for stories under 300 words. While I didn't win, I am very happy to be one of the commended entrants whose stories will be included in the book. Both these things have put a smile on my face, as have my new bedroom curtains! It's not just the lovely primrose yellow colour, making me think of spring and sunshine. The instructions for hanging the curtains mention the need to "train your pleats". The idea of training my pleats amuses me every time I think of it. I wish I could train my pleats to type up my longhand scrawl, do the less interesting bits of research, and keep me stocked up with stamps.

Flash 500

2011-02-05T05:07:00.000-08:00

I notice I've gained a few followers in the last couple of weeks. Welcome! At the same time I know I've been a bit remiss in the blogging department. I've been rather despondent. Working hard, without achieving much. Negativity can be infectious, so I've stayed away until I have more positive news to share. It's a small piece of news at that, but this week I found I was longlisted in the Flash 500 competition for the last quarter of 2010. I didn't progress to the shortlist, but at least I know that in this particular story there must have been something I did right. The next Flash 500 closes at the end of March, with a top prize of £250. Worth entering if you like writing very short fiction. I should have gone out to stock up the kitchen today, but it's blowing a gale here and I've not yet ventured through the front door. The weather has reminded me of a story I heard years ago when I used to work in Dudley. Dudley is in a part of the West Midlands known as the Black Country on account of its long industrial heritage. There is a place called the Black Country Museum, where restored buildings and staff in period costume recreate aspects of this history. Anyway, parents of a colleague had travelled from Dudley to some seaside resort - most probably Weston-super-Mare. They had dreadful weather and when they saw a local coach firm offering mystery day trips, they signed up. After two hours sitting on a coach they found themselves - yes, you've guessed it - at the Black Country Museum, just a mile from home. This is exactly the kind of little incident I try to use in short stories now and then, only for fiction editors to comment that it's too far fetched. I have to restrain myself from phoning them up to scream "But it's true!". Have a lovely week, and I hope all your co-incidences are happy ones.

Bath time

2011-01-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

What is it about baths? Often I get in feeling so depleted of ideas that I wonder if I'll ever write another story as long as I live. When I get out again some little notion has floated into my brain on a sea of soap bubbles.

It makes me think that if I ever tried to write full-time I would need a constant supply of hot water and fluffy towels. Is bath foam tax deductible? Anyway, despite last week bringing my first rejection of 2011, I also wrote a new bath-inspired story.

Do you want to win an iPad? Every year classical music station Classic FM holds a vote to find the UK's top 300 pieces of classical music. It's called the Hall of Fame. If you vote you automatically get entered into a prize draw, and this year you can win an iPad or £100 of high street vouchers. Admittedly I've never won a bean, although I've voted several years running. But this year you (or I!) may be lucky. Enter at Classic FM's Hall of Fame page. Sorry if you are an international visitor, but this is only open to UK residents.

Thirdly I must just say I'm really loving 'The Lollipop Shoes' by Joanne Harris. I've read a couple of her other novels, but I think this is the best so far. Chocolate, mystery and magic. Scrummy!

Progress (and a dilemma)

2011-01-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

After a slow December I've sprinted into January by submitting five stories in a week. Only one is a totally new story, but as I mentioned in a previous post, that unfinished and rejected drawer had been lying dormant for some time. Now I'm in a fit of sorting, sending and shredding, and it feels good. I am never optimistic when I send off a story. I just reach a point when I know I've given it my best shot and further rewriting will only bring stagnation rather than improvement.

It's heartening to hear that even writers who are well established in their field still have doubts about their work. I found lots I could relate to in Teresa Ashby's recent post 'What Do I Do? The Uncertainty of Being a Writer'. I particularly like the bit where Teresa talks about every piece of writing being a new beginning. Certainly every time I start a story, I have no idea of how I'm going to tell it. Often I don't know what will happen or how it will end. The only way I find out is by continuing to put one sentence after another until the story becomes clear to me. I think curiosity is an important factor when I'm writing. After all, if I am not curious about what happens to my characters, then why should anyone else be?

On a different note, I have a balloon dilemma. We all know that it's unlucky to leave our Christmas decorations up later than the sixth of January, don't we. This is not an unfounded superstition. I noticed last Friday (January the seventh) that several households in Coronation Street and Eastenders still had their Christmas trees up - and see how much bad luck they get.

This Christmas I bought one of those foil ballons, which the party shop inflated for me. The lady behind the counter assured me that if I let the balloon down carefully by putting a drinking straw into the valve, I could have the balloon re-inflated next December. Well, last Wednesday I stuck a straw in as she told me. I expected the balloon would go flat fairly quickly. Five days later it's still on the ceiling. Now I know some of you will probably tell me to stab it with a pin. But that seems somehow... cruel. So if anyone has a tip for letting my balloon down gently, then I'd love to hear from you.

Hope 2011 is being kind to you so far.

Quote of the Day

2011-01-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

Overheard in the supermarket:

"Dogs have ears, you know."

And a Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T02:49:00.000-08:00

Suddenly it's 2011! How did that happen? December went by in a flash and I confess I only managed to submit ONE story the entire month.

I hope you all enjoyed Christmas and received some nice prezzies. My best present was an email from an old friend I hadn't heard from in 30 years. I guess if we'd had an award at school for the girl least likely to get a tattoo, she and I would have pretty near the top of the shortlist. How funny that we have both ended up with one!

Now it's New Year's Day, and I've recharged my writing batteries. The drawer marked unfinished and rejected is about to get a serious makeover as I make up for my lack of submissions prior to Christmas. I'm not big on making resolutions, but I'd like to spend less time faffing about during the next few months.

Wishing you lots of loveliness, sunshine, wellbeing, and success this year. xxx

Merry Christmas

2010-12-19T03:08:00.000-08:00

Unless I win a massive publishing deal or a major competition I probably shan't blog again this side of Christmas.

There's a story urging me to write it today, then I'm at work until Friday and have to fit in some Christmas shopping, weather permitting. So, whether you're reading this in snowy England, or sunny Australia, I hope you all have a lovely Christmas. xxx

Jo interviews David Howarth

2010-12-12T02:45:00.000-08:00

Today I am delighted to welcome David Howarth to the blog.

From Park Publications in the Cotswolds, David produces three small press magazines. Scribble and Debut focus on fiction, while Countryside Tales also includes articles and poetry on a rural theme. All three magazines offer opportunities for writers to have their work published, and there are prizes to be won in a range of competitions throughout the year.

David has kindly agreed to answer a few questions, and I began by asking...

What inspired you to set up Park Publications?

I had been writing short stories for many years and, despite some fairly good financial rewards, I got fed up with writing for the women's magazines and started to look for outlets that accepted general fiction. Good quality short story magazines seemed fairly thin on the ground; most of the small press publications were special interest such as horror or sci-fi, etc. I began to think that there must be other writers in the same position. So I launched Scribble. This really took off after a few months and I was soon getting more material than I could hope to use. The first issues were only 48 pages but this has increased to its current 60 pages. Interest has continued to grow and it is still our most popular magazine.

What are the things you most enjoy about running a small press?

The satisfaction of seeing the finished magazines and knowing that I am going to make some writer's day by including their work in one of the magazines. It is particularly satisfying when we publish someone's work for the first time. I also get a real buzz from reading all the submissions we receive and the letters I get from writers saying how much the magazines have inspired them. The hard part is rejecting a writer's work when it is obvious that they have spent many hours on it. One of the reasons I started Debut was to give newer writers a bit more of a chance and also to enable me to offer critiques on unsuitable material. Sometimes a story only needs a small tweak to get it to publishable standard, but unless an editor is prepared to offer advice a writer may go on making the same mistakes.

Roughly how many submissions a year do you receive across the three magazines?

For general magazine submissions the following is a rough guide. This is in addition to the open competitions.

Short stories: Approx. 600 a year. We keep about 180.
Articles: Approx. 250 a year. We keep about 60.
Poems: Approx. 200 - 250 a year. We keep about 60.

In the years since you founded Park Publication, have you noticed any particular trends in the quality, style or subject matter of material submitted?

The quality has definitely improved over the years; this is possibly because writers are continually discovering the magazines. Styles and subject matters are always changing with the times: for instance we get more stories featuring gay/lesbian plot lines than when we first started. We get a lot more contemporary stories with a romantic theme nowadays and there seems to be a shortage of crime fiction (oops, perhaps I shouldn't have said that!). Perhaps that is because there seems to be a much larger proportion of submissions from women writers now?

Whether it is a short story, a poem or an article, what makes a submission stand out for you?

With short stories, I look for something different; something that stands out from the crowd. I like a crisp beginning that takes me straight into the story without too much waffle. I look for interesting characters that I can believe in and want to do well; and I like a satisfying (not necessarily happy) conclusion. Articles should entertain with interesting topics and personal thoughts; I don't like too many boring statistics unless they emphasise a point. I don't mind whether poems rhyme or not but they should 'flow' and sound good when read aloud.

Which authors do you like to read and why?

I like Thomas Hardy and George Eliot for their authenticity - they were actually seeing an England that has vanished. I like Stephen King for his quirky characters and Ian Rankin for his gripping story lines. I have also recently discovered Tess Gerritsen - a brilliant American crime novelist. I also like to read about the English countryside in bygone days - particularly books by the early naturalists such as Gilbert White and Richard Jefferies.

With three regular magazines in production, do you have any plans to expand further?

I think three is enough for now!

Thank you David for giving us this insight into your work. I am one of those writers whose first ever published story appeared in a Park Publications magazine (Countryside Tales, winter 2004). I can honestly say that it marked a turning point in my life, therefore I really appreciate the value of small press magazines such as these.

For full details of how to submit to Scribble, Countryside Tales, and Debut please see the Park Publications website.

Words With Jam

2010-12-05T07:41:00.001-08:00

A small "hurray" from me this week. The latest issue of 'Words With Jam' came out and I discovered I made it to the shortlist in their first annual short story competition. I was particularly pleased with this because the story I entered was one of those that arrived in my head out of nowhere. Even now I could not tell you what inspired it. Often I seem to do better with those types of stories than ones where the idea has been a long, slow struggle to figure out. Well done to the winners of the competition, whose stories are published in December's magazine (or I should say e-zine, as it is only available electronically).

If you haven't seen 'Words With Jam', subscription is free. All you have to do is go to the website and complete a short form, then you will receive an email with a link to the current issue. You can either read it online, or download it as a PDF. And in December's issue you have the chance to win a four day writing retreat in Cornwall. I love Cornwall! That's another one for my personal competitions calendar.

Have you heard? It's in the stars!

2010-11-29T07:18:00.000-08:00

Are you a financially flexible Gemini, or a cash conscious Cancerian?

This week, my 20p bargain from the library's sale shelf was 'Money Signs: A Beginner's Guide', by Christeen Skinner. This little book examines each of the astrological signs in relation to how they handle money. I've had an entertaining couple of evenings reading through it, trying to identify traits of my friends and family.

I tend to be sceptical about astrology - until I read something that is so uncannily accurate that I think 'wow'. And I have to say that reading the chapter about my own star sign of Aries made me laugh.

Apparently we Aries folk travel between extremes of having plenty of money, and having none. Yes, my lifestyle does tend to lurch between famine and feast. And Christeen Skinner says that as a result of these fluctuations in our finances, people born under Aries develop a laissez-faire attitude to money. Yes, I have to agree with that too. In fact there are so many things in the Aries chapter that I recognise in myself that I am unable to quote them all for fear of infringing copyright!

At the end of each chapter are some suggestions for how people of each star sign can improve their ability to handle money. Again, more cause for laughter from me. One of the things I am advised to do is to save one type of coin in a jar. I did this for quite a while with twenty pence pieces. Once I even saved £10 and put it in my building society. But I've never managed to repeat my great achievement, because these days I have to keep raiding the jar to pay my tea money at work. See? Hopeless! Must try harder.

Now where did I put that piggy bank?

Jo interviews Rosie Edser

2010-11-21T03:18:00.000-08:00

Today I have to say a big thank you to Rosie Edser for answering a few questions about herself and her writing.

Rosie regularly has short stories published in women's magazines, including Take a Break and Woman's Weekly. Welcome to Zigzag Road, Rosie, and let me begin by asking you....

How did you get the writing bug?

At school, if we are going back to the sixties and seventies. I definitely preferred words to numbers. I grew up on the classics, and also devoured comics full of tragic heroines. Many school hours were wasted dreaming up dreadful alliterative titles for my English homework. Happily I've forgotten them all now, so can't be tempted to resurrect one!

If I'd known how wonderful it is to write and create characters I would have started years ago. What actually got me started was akin to the phrase 'necessity is the mother of invention'. I used to do respite foster care for two children. During a visit to my uncle, I took them up on the Malvern Hills in the hope of doing a really long walk. The children soon got bored, so I made up a story about a dragon who was asleep under the hills. They kept going, probably as I spun out the tale till we'd reached my halfway point! We later used it as a project and wrote in characters based on ourselves. I'm sure it will sell one of these days.

Of all the characters you have created in your stories, which is your favourite and why?

There is a composite boy, about nine years old, who appears in a few stories. I used him aged four to thirty in a story once. It was about that moment you realise your parents or grandparents are fallible, and just human after all. He's actually in one I am rewriting now (or should be instead of blogging!). It centres on a woman who is recently widowed. The story is told from the boy's point of view. He's dealing with his own feelings and telling us about his mum's.

For some reason I find it easy to assume this character. I like exploring the viewpoint where life is not that complicated on the face of it, though events are usually out of the character's control. Lots of women are in situations where they have to deal with issues on behalf of others, so not by choice. This makes my nine year old boy easy to identify with - I hope!

What writing related Christmas present would you like to receive?

Practically speaking, a new printer. Especially if it is one that never jams, needs ink at the wrong moment, or makes a lot of noise while I'm thinking!

Let's imagine you're on Desert Island Discs. Which book would you take and why?

Can I take four? I have read a book by Antoinette Kelsall Bird many times over the years. 'The Daughters of Megwyn' deals with relationships between mother, daughter and grandmother. It starts in the mid-fifteenth century, and is set in the Cotswolds. Annoyingly the author has not written anything else, so if anyone knows this lady please ask her to!

I loved 'The Book Thief' by Marcus Zusak, and 'The Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold. Both cleverly use a character with universal viewpoint to tell everyone's story.

The last book I read (and want to read again) was 'The King of Sunlight' by Adam Macqueen, former editor of 'The Big Issue'. In his own words, Mr Macqueen describes his work as 'a sort of biography', but it is so much more. William Lever founded the company that later became Unilever. The author makes him come to life as a wonderfully caring, yet dedicated and obsessive person. My favourite snippet was that Mr Lever referred to his wife as 'his better three-quarters'. What a lovely man! 'The King of Sunlight' is partly the story of Sunlight Soap, Lever's infamous product. It is also about Port Sunlight Village which he built for his workers, but more about a gentleman with very high expectations and values.

When thinking about a new story, writers often begin with a setting, a character, a situation, or maybe a memory. Do you have any particular starting point for your stories?

Usually it is something that sparks an emotion in me, or insight into another person's emotion.

While writing a story about adoption I heard the phrase 'we chose you' was often voiced to children. It occurred to me that however well meant, this could be a good or a trite phrase to hear. 'We chose you' in context of 'that's all you need to know' was not good for my character, given her desperation to fill the void of knowledge about her birth mother.

I find it easy to explore a starting point while doing something mundane like washing up. Often the setting arrives unconsciously, maybe drawn from a place I already know.

And finally, in the hope of picking up some useful tips, I always like to ask my guests whether they have any advice for newer writers.

Never delete or throw anything away, no matter how many times it is rejected. With the benefit of more practice you can edit and sell any story that has that spark of emotional hit. Magazine requirements change also, so something that is too long, too short, too controversial may be absolutely fine in a few years.

Allow plenty of time to write at each sitting. If you can write in bits, you are lucky! I find it is much the same as getting stuck into a good book, you need a clear stretch of time to do it justice.

Go to a writing class, or start one. When you read to each other, agree to be fair and honest in feedback. There is no point being too nice to be any help, although being too blunt is just demoralising.

Never ask your family or friends for feedback on a manuscript unless they are qualified to advise. My sister is not a writer, but she compiles reports and wrote a dissertation, so she does help me. I asked a friend to read something once, and I was desperate for her comments. She apologised for not getting back to me, and admitted to taking a phone call halfway through and not picking up my manuscript again! (I did sell the story later, which restored my battered ego!)

Read 'how to write' books when not actually writing. The following are very good and I recommend reading the whole book in each instance. It will be worth the time spent.

Stephen King - 'On Writing'
Della Galton - 'How to Write and Sell Short Stories'
Iain Pattison - 'Cracking the Short Story Market'
Sol Stein - 'Solutions for Writers'

Finally, seeing your story in print is the most amazing feeling. There is nothing like it. You will want to tell everyone you meet and find your success slides into conversation several times a day. This is healthy and should be embraced. Buy copies of your magazine from every shop it is sold in, the elation outweighs a new pair of shoes every time.

Thanks again Rosie for such an interesting interview. I have forwarded your request for a new printer to the North Pole.

And so to bread

2010-11-07T06:13:00.000-08:00

I'm not wild about cookery programmes on TV. Most of the recipes are too complex, too meaty, or just plain weird. However I'm really enjoying Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new series, River Cottage Everyday. Look what I made this morning.

Now I know it's not the prettiest loaf, but believe me it was the easiest bread I ever baked. It's soda bread. That means no yeast and hardly any kneading. See here for the recipe. Admittedly Hugh's recipe did not say to dust the dog with flour, but I'm a messy cook in a small kitchen.

While the bread was in the oven I made my back-of-the-pantry soup, which means using whatever vegetables are lying around. Lovely to have hunks of warm fresh bread to dip in! The bread tasted slightly sweeter than most breads, and the texture was more cakey inside the crisp crust.

Last week I made another recipe from Hugh's programme, Butternut and Nut Butter Soup. I'd made butternut squash soup before, but the addition of peanut butter, fresh ginger and coriander gave the recipe a lot more flavour. Sorry Hugh, but I did omit the lime. I took a batch of this soup to work and my colleagues enjoyed it too.

Although I miss being in the garden once autumn comes, it's nice to be in the kitchen a bit more doing the kind of cooking I don't tend to do in the summer. Now I have to go and do a pile of washing up, so I'll leave you with a picture of sunset over suburbia.

50 Stories for Pakistan - out now!

2010-10-31T06:25:00.001-07:00

50 Stories for Pakistan is now available to order from Blurb. Profits go to the Red Cross to help victims of the recent floods.

Well done to Greg McQueen for co-ordinating another brilliant fundraising project.

Things I'm noticing this autumn...

2010-10-23T03:13:00.000-07:00

The low sun making dark shadows and warped reflections. This is a shadow of the honesty I picked from the garden, and some of my blue glass bottles. I love coloured glass. And it doesn't have to be expensive glass. A Bristol Cream sherry bottle is beautiful when seen against the light!

For fifty weeks of the year the Virginia Creeper is a complete pain in the wotsit. It doesn't creep, it rampages, smothering the lilac tree and threatening the border beneath. But for a fortnight in autumn the crimson leaves are just stunning.

Firethorn berries. I'm told birds eat red berries first, then orange and lastly yellow. This seems true in my garden as the wood pigeons have stripped all the red berries from the cotoneaster next to this bush, but so far they haven't touched the Firethorn at all. The blackbirds always go for the Firethorn, but so far they must be finding something more appetising.

Dewy cobwebs. Isn't nature amazing? All the spider wants to do is catch its food. And look what it creates in the process.

Skeletal seedheads.

I didn't think the trees looked as heavy with apples this year. Once we started picking I realised how wrong I was. I took three boxes from the lower branches, then our neighbours came with their ladders and picked a further fourteen boxes! On the side of our house is what my mother would call a lobby, but people down here seem to call a utility room. For several days it smelt like a cider factory while I found homes for all the apples.

'Sweet Friends' award

2010-10-18T06:12:00.000-07:00

Oh look, Ellie Garratt gave me a 'Sweet Friends' blog award! Thank you Ellie, I am highly honoured!

There are lots of people I have come to think of as friends since I started this blogging lark. In a moment I'll have to identify six of them to pass the award onto.

But first, as a condition of accepting this award, I have to tell you six things about my writing:

1. I could give up writing more easily than I could give up gardening.

2. When I'm writing I drink too much tea, but there are worse vices in life.

3. I have three different kinds of thesaurus and use them all.

4. I can only write first drafts in longhand, not on computer.

5. If I'm cold I can't concentrate. Other than that I can write almost anywhere.

6. I don't plan much, but I often cut out pictures from magazines that relate to the story that's in my mind.

And so (drum roll...) I now have to spread the lurve and give the 'Sweet Friends' award to another six people. If they would like to share six things about their writing, their blogging, their Olympic ambitions or whatever then please feel free to do so. If not... oh hell, just have the award!

1. Margo Berendsen at Writing at High Altitude

2. Laraine at Larainy Days

3. Karen at Get on with It

4. Bazza at To Discover Ice

5. Joanna Campbell at Brightwriter60

6. Teresa Ashby at A Likely Story

Afternoon Tea with Robert Goddard

2010-10-16T02:38:00.000-07:00

Recently friends and I enjoyed 'Afternoon Tea with Robert Goddard' - an event held as part of the Warwick Words literary festival.

Robert Goddard's first novel, 'Past Caring', appeared in 1986. He followed this with a further twenty books, many with historical settings, blending mystery and adventure into complex plots. His latest novel is 'Long Time Coming'.

Robert spoke for around an hour to a packed hall. He began by telling us how he used to imagine that being a writer would be a glamorous life. Experience has since taught him that it is more a life of hard work and invention. I am always amazed at how novelists consistently come up with new ideas over a period of so many years. So where does Robert find those ideas? News stories can be a source of inspiration, he suggested, particularly those where ordinary people become involved in crime. Murder seems especially fascinating to readers. Robert asked whether this is because we can imagine circumstances where we might be tempted to commit it ourselves. History, which Robert studied at Cambridge, also has endless possibilities for plot ideas.

In response to questions from the audience, Robert talked about his process of plotting a novel. He said that while he does continue to plot in some detail before starting to write, often the story can change as the characters evolve. I liked his tip for finding names for his characters - study the gravestones in cemeteries! Robert revealed that one of his own favourite novelists is crime author Michael Dibdin. And a final thought for writers: imagination needs to be trained and exercised through regular use. The more you do this, the easier the writing will come.

Following the talk my friends and I had some fabulous cake, and agreed that Robert Goddard had been a very funny and entertaining speaker. I would definitely recommend seeing him in person if you have the opportunity. Thank you Robert for such an enjoyable afternoon.

For more about Robert Goddard, his website is here.

Jo interviews Angela Pickering

2010-10-02T02:41:00.000-07:00

Today I am delighted that short story writer Angela Pickering has agreed to answer a few questions about herself and her writing.

Angela lives in Essex, and her stories regularly appear in such magazines as Take a Break's Fiction Feast, My Weekly, Woman's Weekly, Yours, The Weekly News, That's Life (Australia), People's Friend, and in the small press. Her competition successes include winning the Annual Ghost Story Competition run by Writers' News in 2006, and also two of their monthly competitions.

So, Angela, welcome to Zigzag Road and can you tell us how long you've been writing?

I have written on and off since I was a child. I used to take episodes of a rambling tale set in Russia to school on a weekly basis and make my friends read them. I also wrote a few ghost stories and then there was that little hand written, hand illustrated magazine called 'Quest' that survived for two issues.

Then life got in the way and I didn't take up the pen again until 2000 when someone I met at work mentioned a writing group she'd joined. "I always wanted to be a writer," I said and she took me at my word. Everything spiralled from there. I shall always be grateful to the writer, Carol Purves, who dragged me along to my first meeting.

Are you someone who plans out stories before beginning to write, or do you like to plunge straight in and see what develops?

Both, actually. Mostly I simply start writing from a title, a character or just a vague idea and see where it leads me. Sometimes the beginning and the end are already set in my head when I start. It's rare that I have a whole story before I begin, but it does happen.

A lot of your stories feature ghosts and hauntings. How do you come up with so many spooky ideas?

I've always been a fan of the strange and spooky tale. My family thought me a strange child, especially when I announced that I'd seen fairies in my bedroom. So it's a question of writing what one loves. My best ideas seem to arrive in that strange time between waking and sleeping. I try to write them down in the notepad beside my bed, but sometimes I think they're so brilliant that I'm sure I'll remember them, and then I don't.

How do you fit writing into your schedule alongside the demands of work and family life?

This is the difficult one. I'm lucky in that I only work part-time, but trying to keep on top of the house and garden in between work shifts means I live my life in a state of perpetual confusion. I call it 'spinning like a top'. I expect everyone calls it something different. Writing is what I do to make myself happy so when I've got a good idea, I drop everything else apart from the washing and ironing. A family of five needs a lot of clean clothes. When I'm not writing though, I'm generally thinking about writing. Many's the tale that has been born over the ironing board.

Imagine you can have lunch with any writer, living or dead. Who would it be and what would you ask them?

I can't choose here between my first hero M.R. James and the amazing Stephen King. In either case the question that springs to mind is "Will you marry me?" To be honest though, I expect I'd be so awestruck that the power of speech would be denied me. I might just curtsy instead and then tremble in their presence. I wouldn't be eating the lunch either.

And finally, have you any advice for newer writers?

Yes, it's this. Love to write. If it's not your passion don't do it. Writing is like breathing to some of us; once you start you can't stop. This passion is what will keep you going when the rejections come through the letter box like confetti. This passion is what will one day see your work in print and if you have it don't waste it. Write. (And join a writing group, read a lot and maybe do courses as well.)

Thank you Angela for these words of inspiration! It's been a real pleasure to discover more about you.

50 Stories for Pakistan

2010-09-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

After the success of '100 Stories for Haiti', Greg McQueen is putting together another fundraising anthology. This time it is in response to the floods that devastated the lives of so many people in Pakistan this summer.

My story, 'A Little Bit of Heaven', is one of those accepted for inclusion in the latest book. I feel incredibly lucky to be picked again, and will of course keep you updated with progress on '50 Stories for Pakistan'.

Make 'em laugh!

2010-09-20T04:22:00.000-07:00

I confess I find humour difficult to write. For one thing, it is so subjective. I'm afraid of sounding artificial or strained if I deliberately try to be funny. When I think about what makes me laugh, the humour tends to arise out of a combination of characters, rather than just being a witty one-liner. Take Basil Fawlty, for instance. Always in trouble and frustrated by those around him. However many times I watch Fawlty Towers, it always has me in stitches.

In fiction, there is a moment in one of Anne Tyler's novels where a character accidentally shoots his mother with an arrow. (Non-fatal, I must add!) I read Anne Tyler's books over and over, but every time I come to that particular section, I cry with laughter. It's not only the incident itself, but the way all the characters interact.

I've concluded that the challenge of writing humour is setting up that whole situation by going back to the basics of character building. What do these characters have in common, and how are they different? There you begin to see that potential for humour in how they will bounce off each other.

The reason I'm thinking about humour today is that I've been reading judges' reports on some of the bigger writing competitions in recent years. Several times I've seen judges comment on a general lack of humour in the entries. For example, Tracy Chevalier, after judging the Bridport Prize in 2007, said she wished the entrants had been "jollier about it"!

So why the focus on gloom, doom and death? Ok, we are in a recession and the news is pretty depressing. Maybe we think a funny story will be too lightweight for the judges and won't impress as much as a serious one. But every story needs some light and shade, and just because a story is humorous doesn't mean it cannot also have a serious theme.

If you are blessed with the gift of humour, making judges and editors smile could be a point in your favour. We all need a laugh sometimes, don't we?

An autumn sniffle

2010-09-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you have a few days off work, only to feel yourself going down with a cold the moment your freedom begins? I love September, but my Loved One has generously shared the first of his autumn sniffles with me. Luckily I don't have anything too urgent I have to do. I just about have enough energy to noodle around on Farmville and browse eBay for Shelley plates!

Anyway, I did have a short story published in the September issue of small press magazine Delivered. I just wish I felt up to starting something new. I think I'll go and get a hot water bottle to stuff down my jumper.

Feet and drawers

2010-09-11T04:54:00.001-07:00

When I went to Derby recently I was intrigued by a new shop, where women were sitting with their feet in glass tanks filled with water. I asked my friend what it was. "It's a place where you go to have fish nibble your feet," she told me.

I am such a sad, out-of-touch person that I hadn't heard of this latest craze. A special type of fish cleans up all that horrid dead skin around your tootsies, apparently. When I mentioned this to someone at work, she said her friend had done it and it was £10 for 15 minutes. Or it might have been £15 for 10 minutes. I can't quite remember which, as the very thought made me cringe. If you can bear to watch, a brave BBC reporter tries it out for herself here.

And this week I've heard about another funny fad. A colleague told me about somebody she knows who has refused to get married next year, because 2011 is an odd number. She went on to tell me that a lot of younger people now think all odd numbers are unlucky. Her own daughter will only have the volume on the radio at an even number. Goodness - folk do make life hard for themselves!

I'd love to know how this superstition came about. And also, if anyone has tried the fish thing do let me know what it was like.

Finally, I was rooting in a secondhand shop today, and a chest of drawers made me smile. Not that I wanted to buy it, but I liked the label sellotaped to its top. 'Chester draw'. If you say it out loud, that does sound like chest of drawers, doesn't it.

The future of libraries

2010-08-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

Oh, I have neglected Blogland for the past week. Apologies for not keeping up with you all, but between work and writing, I visited my old hometown of Derby. It's funny how places seem really big when you're small.

This library was the one nearest to where we lived.

By the age of about twelve I had read my way through the children's section, and was motoring on through the adults'. I'm sure we could not have afforded to buy as many books as I borrowed. The local library was really central to nurturing my love of reading, which led to my love of writing.

I realise (now I am big) that our library was actually very small. Seeing in the news this week that library services are threatened with cutbacks, I worry for the future of libraries such as this one. Apparently, visitor numbers are generally falling. But according to the report, over 70% of children continue to use their local libraries, which is a pretty good reason for keeping them open I would say.

Of course we need our health services, our police force, our transport system etc, etc. But we also need our libraries! I am willing to chain myself to a railing should the need arise.

P.S. I must make it clear that the library pictured is NOT the one mentioned in my previous post (before you all go down there requesting books on divination and sharks).

Quote of the day

2010-08-17T01:56:00.000-07:00

Overheard in the library:

Librarian: "Just don't read it when you're over water."

Customer: "What, not even in the bath?"

Blog takeover day : Harvey's humongous fungus

2010-08-11T04:48:00.000-07:00

Mrs Boss says she's never known a Retriever get into as much trouble as me. Unfair! Was it my fault I fell down the stairs last week? I was responding to a crisis - namely, the sound of breaking glass and shouting. And what did I find when I landed with undue haste in the hall?

Mr and Mrs Boss had only gone and cracked the glass panel in the front door while trying to shift the old sofa out of the house. They were having a right old ding dong about who was to blame! Humans - honestly! Didn't they know I was on a mission to make that sofa mine. Yes I know I already have the best armchair, but sometimes a dog needs a little more space, you know?

I think Mrs Boss was still a mite tetchy after I tore through the fence the other week and destroyed two tennis balls belonging to the neighbours' grandchildren. A fortnight before that, I conquered the hedge on the opposite side and gave the other neighbours a scare. Mrs Boss says in ten years at Zigzag Road no Retrievers have ever escaped before. Well, that's hardly a record to boast about is it?

Anyway, on Sunday I tried to make amends to Mrs Boss by bringing her a present. I thought it was a ball. Mrs Boss thought it was a ball too. But when she picked it up she gave a shriek (not unlike the pesky parrot that keeps sitting on my fence). The item in question was bigger and heavier than she expected. "It's a humongous fungus," said Mrs Boss. Though you can see from the picture below that it does look similar to the ball they bought me in honour of the World Cup.

Mrs Boss says it's a good job I hadn't done more than take a nibble from the edge. In the hope of identifying exactly what the humongous fungus was, Mrs Boss cut it up. She thought it might be like the puffballs she used to collect for cooking on country walks. In fact, the fungus was totally solid...

Do let me and Mrs Boss know if you can tell us what it is. It smelt strongly of mushroom, it was quite spongy in a dense kind of way, and there was no stalk.

That's it from me.

With lots of wuff, Harvey. xx

P.S Mrs Boss forgot to tell me to add a link to Sally's blog. Apparently Sally is the one co-ordinating all this blog takeover stuff. I hear that if you shoot on over there you can find links to posts by writers' muses, husbands, and even (shock, horror) other dogs!

The writer's voice (mainly)

2010-08-09T03:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I happened to hear one of my favourite authors, Tracy Chevalier, on BBC Radio 3. She was the guest on a programme called Private Passions, which is a bit similar to Desert Island Discs. A famous person discusses their life, and chooses a selection of music that has been significant to them in some way.

I learnt a lot about Tracy Chevalier during the show. She spoke about her most recent novel, Remarkable Creatures, based on the true story of fossil hunter Mary Anning. Tracy compared the process of hunting for fossils to that of writing - slowing yourself down into the right mental state, until you can pick out the things you are searching for. I also learnt that Tracy played clarinet from the age of eight, back home in Washington where she grew up. For a time she was even a member of the D.C Youth Orchestra. The thing I found most interesting was that she described how, in almost every novel she writes, she has a female character with a "woody, clear, straightforward sound", like a clarinet. This 'clarinet character' is always the one most like Tracy herself - the one whose voice is most akin to her own.

Tracy's musical choices played during the programme included Schubert, Brahms, Bernstein, and Talking Heads. If you want to hear the programme in full, it is available on the BBC iPlayer until next Sunday morning at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t6ttk - there are a few moments of talking before it actually starts, but just let it run and you will find yourself at the correct place. If you are outside the U.K I'm unsure whether this link will work, but I think there is still some process that does allow you to listen. It's well worth investigating!

By coincidence, soon after hearing this programme, I read an excellent blog post called How Writers Found Their Voice: Real Examples, by Margo Berendsen at Writing at High Altitude. I won't try to summarise it, as Margo has already covered the subject so well that you're better off reading it for yourself. There are lots of links to other writers' ideas about what voice is and what we can do to develop it.

My own opinion is that we only find our voice by writing lots. The more we write, the closer we get to arriving at that distinctive feel that makes our work our own. As I commented on Margo's blog, the stories that do well for me are usually the ones that I write totally as myself - not aiming to please or impress. Often they are also the ones most rooted in my own memories, or in my experience of working in mental health. Voice is such an elusive thing, and hard to define, but sometimes I know I am getting near to it even if I am not quite there yet. For me, discovering that voice is one of the joys of writing.

Meg Rosoff and a plethora of parrots

2010-08-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night I finished 'How I Live Now'. I can't tell you what Meg Rosoff did to my mind and my emotions during the course of that book. I felt as if I'd been put through a mangle. It was startling, addictive, and disturbing, and made me wonder how on earth the writer found the initial ideas.

When I was away from the book I found myself thinking wasn't it sad that such and such happened, but then I would remember it was 'just' a story. It was one of those books that became so real to me while I was reading it, that it was almost more real than the world around. I love books that do that to me - totally absorb me and take me to an entirely different place. I'm not going to tell you anything else about it, in case you haven't read it yet. You may love it or you may hate it, but either way I bet you won't forget it.

When I reached the end of 'How I Live Now', I was tempted to go right back to the beginning and start again. But I decided I should let it all settle in my mind, and so I decided to re-read Meg Rosoff's most recent novel 'What I Was'. Another terrific book. I often find I read books too quickly the first time as I want to know what happens, but the second time I slow down and notice the quality of the writing more. I've also been enjoying reading Meg Rosoff's blog here.

Regular visitors to Zigzag Road will know we've had a stray parrot-type bird in the area. It seems stray parrots are like buses, arriving in threes after a lengthy spell with none to speak of at all. Letters to the local newspaper report various sightings of our parrot, with suggestions that it may be a Crimson Rosella as I suspected. A second parrot has been seen a few streets away, but this one is green. And now a third parrot is on the loose. He is allegedly called Dylan and escaped while his owner was staying with friends in the area. My parrot (right) was 99p in a charity shop. He has no name. Perhaps you would like to suggest one.

'How I Live Now'

2010-07-29T01:53:00.001-07:00

One of my Sunday boot sale bargains was Meg Rosoff's first novel 'How I Live Now'. I sped through half of it last night, and woke up this morning just desperate to continue. Unless I'm on holiday, reading is my evening pleasure, so I am holding off until later before I pick up the book again. Much as I'm dying to know the ending, part of me doesn't want to get there! Awesome is not a word I often use but today I'm going to use it. Awesome!

Quote of the day

2010-07-25T06:19:00.001-07:00

Seen embroidered on a cushion:

"The important things in life are not things."

On the shelf

2010-07-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

I'm on the shelf this week. To be exact, in the July 20th Woman's Weekly with a short story called 'Conversations with Jenna'.

Today I've been writing at the museum. I enjoyed it. No-one took any notice of me, or if they did then they probably assumed I was an art student or something. I came home with several pages of scrawled notes, both about the exhibits and the visitors. People watching is endlessly fascinating isn't it.

Another thing I found fascinating was the museum's 'Adopt an Object' scheme to raise funds. Depending how much you want to spend you can adopt a pearl button, an ancient Egyptian funerary mask, a wedding dress from 1891, a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, and several other paintings which would not look out of place on my living room wall. That's my Christmas shopping sorted then!

Word Pool Wednesday

2010-07-13T23:50:00.001-07:00

It's the last Word Pool Wednesday today, as Ellie is going to concentrate on her other writing projects. Good luck Ellie! And thanks also for running the Wednesday challenge. I can honestly say it has prompted some new ideas which wouldn't have come to me otherwise.

Anyway, today's words are kitty, charity, and donation. As ever, it's got to be a mini-story in 33 words. I'm off to work now so I'll be back later to catch up on comments and other entries for today's challenge. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin:

"Stick your charity," squawked Kitty Malone, Cockney sparrow of the music hall. "I ain't put my 'at there for donations!"

"Keep it," replied the gentleman. "They say talking pictures are coming to town."

A competition

2010-07-10T05:14:00.001-07:00

Just popping in to pass on news of a writing competition run by Claire Apps at her website Creative Writing for All. The theme is domestic violence and any profits made will go to Women's Aid. There are short story and poetry categories. Prizes in each category are £70, £35, £20. Closing date November 30th 2010.

Bird!

2010-07-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

It's not a great picture. I had to take it from the kitchen window and I only have an average zoom on my camera. But I had such a beautiful surprise yesterday evening when that mystery bird, which I mentioned in my previous post, appeared again in the garden.

The size is hard to judge in the photo, but it is bigger than a budgie and smaller than most parrots I've seen. Notice the vivid scarlet and blue of its feathers? Last night I looked on the Internet at all sorts of parrot-type birds. I found pictures of some birds called Crimson Rosellas. Their red and blue plumage looks very similar to that of our bird and I am now wondering if that's what it is. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than me will be able to identify it. I hope it's enjoying life on the wild side.

Apologies to Ellie at Diving in the Word Pool as I did not manage the Wednesday challenge this week. I've been working on a new story which is quite different from anything I've written before. Perhaps you know the feeling of having an idea right at the edge of your mind and reaching out to try to catch it (rather like catching a mystery bird!). I'm afraid to let that idea get too far away from me in case I lose the thread. I'll feel better once I've finished the first draft.

Meanwhile, in any idle moment I find myself gazing out of the window, seeking another glimpse of our unusual visitor. Here birdie, birdie...

It's that frog again

2010-07-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

Can you see him? He is right in the centre of the picture. This week we also had a vivid red and blue parakeet type bird in the garden! Sorry I was not quick enough to snap a photo, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for another sighting.

Word Pool Wednesday (3)

2010-06-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday's challenge at Diving in the Word Pool again. 3 words to work into a 33 word mini-story. This week's words were dragon, fly, and knight. Here goes...

Father called the queen a dragon. In his hand she'd fly round the board, crushing knights and bishops. He always won. Until mother died. And then I found no triumph in my victory.

Tennis with subtitles

2010-06-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

When I got home from work yesterday I found our new TV had been delivered, and everything was functioning just fine. Somehow, between then and the start of Andy Murray's match at Wimbledon, we lost the sound. Oh, for the days when we had a volume knob on the TV which you could actually turn up and down without a 32 page manual to tell you how!

Scared to fiddle too much in case we lost the picture as well as the sound, I turned on the subtitles so at least we could see a little of the commentary. I am intrigued to know if the subtitles are done by some kind of voice recognition, because they had the air of predictive text messaging. Words - but not as we know them. For instance we had gems such as:

"A change of brackets."

"Dodging the smashing."

"Played a nervous shock."

The subtitles were refreshingly free in their use of exclamation marks! And did they mind using a question mark and an exclamation mark together?! No! I also noticed some of the commentators' remarks, which might normally have passed me by, were really quite poetic:

"The sun is setting on Simon's challenge."

And I liked how very few words could be used to convey a dramatic situation, which should be a lesson to those of us who like to flirt with flash fiction now and then:

"Umpire: game, set, match, Murray."

"CHEERING AND APPLAUSE!"

"His mum is thrilled."

Yes, I think sport with subtitles could become an interesting feature of my summer. Meanwhile, here is a photo of the prettiest bit of my garden at the moment. I'm calling it tea house corner.

Wednesday's words

2010-06-23T00:31:00.000-07:00

Gosh - where did that week go? It's time to post my entry for this week's microfiction challenge on Diving in the Word Pool. This week's words of inspiration were: countryside, rose, and sunshine. So here is my attempt in the 33 words allowed. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a story but I tried to make it suitably seasonal...

Rose snored in the sunshine.

"Bet she's dreaming of chasing rabbits in the countryside," Amanda said.

Rose, though, was a city dog, dreaming city dreams. What were rabbits compared with postmen? In shorts!

Word Pool Wednesday

2010-06-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yes I know it's now Thursday and I apologise for being a day late with this! Ellie Garratt at her lovely new blog 'Diving in the Word Pool' has had a terrific idea. Each Wednesday she will post 3 words. Our task is to use one, two or even all three of those words to make a story. The story cannot be longer than 33 words in total. See Ellie's blog for fuller details.

Yesterday's words were: seaside, liner, and port.

So below is my attempt in 33 words, with apologies also for rubbishness. I'm sure I will improve at this challenge with more practice.

Max dreaded the morning-after scene in the squalid seaside hotel. But his relief at waking alone was tainted by the message scrawled in eyeliner across the mirror. "Any port in a storm."

I'm going Australian

2010-06-15T02:36:00.000-07:00

It's always exciting to have a story accepted. And extra-specially-exciting when the acceptance is from a magazine which hasn't published anything of mine before. So, as you can imagine, this week I am extra-specially-super-duper-excited that Australian magazine That's Life wants to use one of my stories. Australia - I love you!

I'm also off to a big gardening show on Thursday called BBC Gardeners' World Live, at the N.E.C near Birmingham. That's pretty exciting too.

Quote of the day

2010-06-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

In a letter from the bank this morning:

"We've had a fantastic year, therefore your share of the profits is £2."

Wow!

Warwick Castle

2010-06-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to use one of my photos from this week's trip to Warwick Castle to update my profile picture. This one might be OK when I've cropped it. (I'm on the right.) Warwick bills itself as 'Britain's ultimate castle', which is quite a statement. But there really is loads to see and do. And if you use 2 for 1 vouchers from the Radio Times, as we did, then it's not bad value for a day's entertainment.

Jousting takes place during Whitsun week, and then for the schools' summer holidays. Health and safety rules being stricter than they were in the medieval period, you have to watch the jousting from the opposite bank of the river. But there is plenty of time afterwards to see horses and jousters up close.

If you're feeling energetic you can climb the castle walls to see the views across Warwickshire. The big wooden structure on the left of this picture is a replica of a medieval weapon called a trebuchet. We didn't stay late enough to see it in action, but it's used to hurl flaming missiles through the air!

This morning we had a sparrow in the bedroom and I was in such a panic. The whirring noise of little birds' wings always does that to me. But anything bigger than a parrot and I am fine. At Warwick they have fantastic displays of falconry. I'd have liked to get decent photos of this display but I was too busy gasping at the huge wingspans of the vulture and the American eagle as they swooped in low over our heads.

There are also lots of quiet corners, like the Rose Garden, where you can recover the use of your legs from all the walking.

And see odd things that you wouldn't expect.

And so a good time was had by all!

Birmingham Book Festival's 'Spring Thing'

2010-05-30T05:14:00.000-07:00

What a brilliant idea to stage a mini-festival in a day. Birmingham Book Festival's main event takes place in October, but yesterday two friends and I attended their 'Spring Thing' at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

This venue is a short walk from what we know as the 'Floozie in the Jacuzzi' (left). The fountain has been dry for some months, but happily the floozie has now had her water turned back on. Yesterday I noticed how nice it is to hear the water racing down those steps in the city centre. But enough about floozies, and onto subjects more literary.

When we arrived at the Conservatoire we were so disappointed to see a poster about last minute changes to the programme. One of my favourite writers, Helen Dunmore, was sadly unable to appear. Also off the menu was Jenn Ashworth. Best wishes to Helen and Jenn, and I hope I may be able to see them in person at some other writing event.

But a big 'well done' to the organisers, who found fantastic writers to fill the vacant slots. Two of these were Judith Allnatt and Clare Clark, who opened the day with a discussion about their most recent novels.

Judith Allnatt spoke about her book 'The Poet's Wife', and also read a short extract. Judith explained how she found inspiration for this novel from reading letters written by nineteenth century poet John Clare during the years he spent in an asylum. As a consequence of his mental ill health, John Clare suffered a delusion that in addition to being married to his wife he was also married to his childhood sweetheart. Judith used this as the foundation for her novel, telling the story from the viewpoint of the poet's actual wife, Patty. This sounded fascinating, and I immediately wanted to read the book for myself.

Next, Clare Clark talked about her latest novel, 'Savage Lands', and again read an extract. This book is set in eighteenth century Louisiana, and was another intriguing subject. Clare had read how French women were shipped out to Louisiana (then a French colony) to marry men they had never before met. Young French cabin boys were also left behind there to act as spies. Clare told us how these two viewpoints captured her interest and became the basis for her novel.

In discussion, both writers talked about the process of research. Judith said research could throw up some real gems of information, but it could also present problems for the novelist. For example, in preparing to write 'The Poet's Wife' she realized she would have three historical characters significant to the story who shared the name John. She got round this by referring to one by his surname, and another by the nickname of Jack. Clare said she tended to research in a fairly unstructured way, until the story crystallized around her reading. This struck a chord with me, as I like the thought of trusting the story to lead you rather than starting out with too fixed an idea of where it will go.

The second session featured a panel discussion with writers Samantha Harvey, Aifric Campbell, and Amanda Smyth.

Aifric Campbell read from her recent novel 'The Loss Adjustor', and described how this was originally inspired by a sense of loss in a house where she had lived.

Samantha Harvey read from 'The Wilderness', a novel which centres on a man suffering Alzheimer's disease. She told us how she wanted to explore how our memories hold us together, and what happens to us when we begin to lose these.

Amanda Smyth read the opening passage from her first novel 'Black Rock'. I found it particularly interesting to hear her talk about her inspiration for this as I had read the book myself in the last few weeks and it was still fresh in my mind. Amanda has a mixed family background of Irish and Trinidadian. She spoke about a family mystery concerning the murder of her great-grandfather back in Trinidad, which she intended to base this book upon. However as she began to write she found herself also influenced by stories told to her by her relatives in Trinidad and the book took another direction from the one she had intended. (I must also say that Amanda had very nice shoes.)

The three discussed the theme of loss, which is present in different ways in their novels.

Aifric made a very good point about how loss is part of life and can also be part of our growth. She touched on how we live in a therapeutic culture which often views loss as a problem to be treated, rather than as a natural event in human experience.

An excellent question from a member of the audience was whether these three writers had to give themselves permission to write. I'm sure many of us who do write have had mixed reactions from other people, and perhaps found our friends and families see our writing as just a hobby until we are lucky enough to be published. I also see a lot of debate on blogs and message boards about what constitutes a proper writer.

I liked Samantha's reply, that writing is an activity and inspiration comes from doing it rather than from waiting around to be inspired. Aifric's response was refreshingly simple. She said you are a writer when you are holding a pen.

After a lunch break the next guest on stage was writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie. Stuart was a very funny and entertaining speaker, and woke us all up for the afternoon. He spoke about what makes a 'Northerner', and how he tried to discover the answer to this by writing his second book, 'Pies and Prejudice'. More recently he has moved on to trying to define so-called middle England in 'Adventures on the High Teas'. Questions from the audience focused on these issues of identity, and Stuart answered them with humour as well as insight.

At the end of Stuart's session we had a brief introduction by Jo Bell and David Calcutt to a very exciting writing project called Bugged. Do go to the website for more information (after you finish reading this). It's a project we can all take part in, and I am already looking forward to it.

Jo Bell stayed on stage to read some of her wonderful poems. I admit I knew nothing about her as I do not tend to follow poetry as much as fiction. I was so impressed by her work that I now really want to read more.

Interspersed with Jo's poems were readings by Nick Walker from a short story which appeared in an anthology published by Birmingham's Tindal Street Press called 'Roads Ahead'. Nick is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist, and had stepped in to fill the gap in the programme left by Jenn Ashworth. He was fearless and engaging in his delivery of his story, about events in the life of an escapologist working in a booth on a railway platform. Again we were laughing until the seats shook.

For the final session of the day, a silence fell across the room as Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy appeared. She read some poems from her book 'The World's Wife', and told us how she still feels close to this particular collection even though it is now ten years old. She went on to read some more recent poems, including ones about the death of her mother. One of her comments I found interesting was that as a poet you look at something which seems incoherent and through the process of writing you find a clarity. I think that can apply to fiction too.

By the time we left the 'Spring Thing' and walked back out into the rain, I felt we'd had a thoroughly enjoyable and fulfilling day. I had discovered new writers and seen some I already knew about.

My motivation levels for my own writing had certainly been topped up. I can't wait to see the programme for the Birmingham Book Festival's main event in the autumn. I'm sure we'll be booking up for something.

The Festival also runs a short story competition, deadline July 10th (my wedding anniversary!). It is on the theme of loss. Details will be posted on their website in the next week.

Seize the day!

2010-05-27T01:37:00.000-07:00

My Loved One has just informed me there is a Test Match starting today. Oh joy! (For those of you who don't know me, I am being ironic here.) I know I can hardly complain about cricket, when I've been watching T.V. coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show the whole week.

A few days ago a lady was telling about all the places she dreamed of visiting when she was young. The Taj Mahal. The Grand Canyon. The Great Wall of China. In her eighties now, she knows she will never see any of them. "Don't put things off," she said. "Whatever you want to do, get on and do it!" Sound advice. And as a result I have decided to go to Chelsea in person next year, instead of sitting on my sofa, wishing I was there.

Whatever you are up to, seize the day.

What colour was your week?

2010-05-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

A friend I clothes shop with often tells me she needs something in a certain colour. Not 'needs' in the sense of co-ordinating with the rest of her wardrobe. More 'needs' in that she just has to have that colour around her, as though it reflects how she is feeling or how she wants to feel. I know what she means. If I'm going into a situation where I want to be more confident I will wear red. Black is practical for work, but it drags me down. I am not buying anything new in black. For some reason lately I fancy something lilac, though it will clash with almost everything else I own. It's a shame yellow makes me look ill, because this week has definitely had a yellow theme.

This laburnum tree in my garden always has a good year followed by a bad one. Right now its long waterfalls of yellow flowers promise that this year will be spectacular.

My writing goes through good years and bad years too. 2009 was patchy, but 2010 has been pretty successful so far. Last week I was shortlisted in The Yellow Room magazine's spring competition, which was jolly nice. Not quite as nice as winning, but congratulations to those awarded prizes.

Around the garden two other plants have also caught my eye. Or should I say weeds? These splashy yellow poppies (left) come up everywhere.

And I probably shouldn't mention it with the Chelsea Flower Show starting next week, but I also have a healthy crop of dandelions. I do love their delicate seedheads, and can't bring myself to banish them completely from the garden. Beautiful, aren't they?

Blossom blooming beautifully!

2010-05-09T05:33:00.001-07:00

Not much to report this week. Oh yes, there was some voting going on. However at the time of writing, it is still unclear which merry band of pixies, elves, goblins and changelings will end up on the Top Toadstool.

Last night I finished 'A Spell of Winter' by the fabulous Helen Dunmore, whose every sentence is pure magic. I am looking forward to seeing her at the Birmingham Book Festival's 'Spring Thing' later this month.

And hasn't the blossom been wonderful?

Six things I learnt from Sophie King

2010-05-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday two writing friends and I tootled off to Stratford-upon-Avon's annual Literary Festival. Back in the dark days of February we'd booked our tickets for one of the Festival's events: "Writing workshop with Sophie King. How to use your memories to write fiction and non-fiction." At last the date had come around and I was so glad of the opportunity to see what I could learn from such a well published writer.

Sophie King is the author of five novels including The Supper Club and The Wedding Party, plus many short stories. Under her real name of Jane Bidder she has also had a very successful career in journalism and published several non-fiction books.

There were nine of us in the workshop and during the day we covered lots of ground with writing exercises and discussions. Now I've had time to reflect on it and sort out my pages of scrawled notes, here are six things I found particularly relevant to my own writing.

Treasure your memory. Without realizing it, we store away a huge fund of experiences, sensations and details. Tapping into our memories can enrich our writing and help us convey emotion. Asked to recall my first memory, I spoke about having a butterfly land on my foot when I was about three years old. I was so afraid of that butterfly that I screamed and screamed, as if it was the scariest thing to have happened in my young life. Perhaps it was the scariest thing. It certainly made a big impression. But now, as an adult, when I am writing about fear this is the kind of memory I can draw on to help me describe how fear actually feels. I could also use the butterfly incident to make a small scene in a novel, for instance if I wanted to change the mood of a happy, family afternoon into something darker.

Use the senses. We experience life through all five of our senses, but it's easy to concentrate on the visual and neglect the others. Our memories can provide details which bring a scene alive. To use my butterfly incident as an example again, I remember that my shoes were red, the butterfly was white, it was a warm summer's day in our garden at home. If I was using that memory in a piece of fiction I could really build up what it was like to be in that familiar, safe environment with the sounds and scents of the garden around me. Then when danger strikes (an innocent butterfly!) it would be even more of a shock by contrast.

Find the right trigger. Remembering our life's events is often a chain reaction. One memory sparks off another, and during the workshop I found myself thinking about incidents that I hadn't given a thought to in thirty years. Some triggers we discussed included Christmas, old films and music, the first time we did something new, or where we were when a big news story broke. Re-examining some of these memories may inspire a terrific idea, just waiting to be used. Photographs, letters and postcards can be great triggers for our memories too. Now I feel better about the bottom half of my filing cabinet being stuffed with memorabilia. I should put it into some sort of order, though. There are probably dozens of story ideas in there.

Write everything down. You can't always bring the right sort of memory to mind when you need it. And during the workshop, when I was asked to recall a funny event, I had something of a Hamlet moment. It's not as though my life's been empty of funny stories, but when put on the spot I just couldn't think of one. Of course when I got home I could have kicked myself. Why didn't I talk about such and such, and how could I forget about XYZ. It was like one of those occasions when you think of the perfect witty reply to someone's sarcastic comment, hours after it's too late to say it. We touched on how people can write their life stories, maybe organising events chronologically or in a 'Desert Island Discs' type format. But what I've thought since then is that I will try writing down my memories under themes, such as funny, sad, frightening, romantic. I think it would be a useful reference tool for my future writing.

There's more than one way to skin a sausage. Whenever I have an idea, I tend to ask myself how I can make it into a short story. But the workshop really showed me how the same memory can be used in several ways. Develop it one way and it may be a scene from a novel. Developed in another way, it could provide the theme for an article or even a non-fiction book. So how could my butterfly incident be non-fiction? Well, it would probably have taken me a week with an A4 pad of paper to see it, but Sophie King quickly spotted that it could be used to illustrate where phobias come from. One of the big advantages of having such an experienced writer leading the workshop was that she could give us many examples from her own fiction and non-fiction as to how to make best use of ideas. I think I could be much better at seeing alternative uses for my own ideas, particularly in non-fiction which I have not pursued much until now. We can all get into a comfort zone with our writing, as in any other area of life, but I do think it's good for us to try different things.

Write every day. I know we are told this all the time, but I also know how hard it can be. I often take a break from my writing when I am in between projects. But since I've been working on the novel again, I find it difficult to keep track of the threads of the story if I let a couple of days go by without looking at it. Even a quarter of an hour a day would help. It's not so much about what I can add to the word count in that time, but more to do with keeping the story simmering away in my mind. The workshop definitely reinforced that I must use bits of spare time constructively, rather than telling myself it's not worth starting if I only have fifteen minutes.

So, as you can see, I had a very thought provoking day in Stratford. I enjoyed it a lot, and everyone in the group was so generous in sharing their memories and ideas. It really fired up my motivation and I came away keen to put everything I'd learnt from the day into practice.

For more information about Sophie King and her work, please see her website.

A true and steadfast friend

2010-04-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

I often read the births, deaths and marriages column in the local free newspaper. Partly I want to see if I know anyone. Occasionally I do recognise a name. And also, these announcements often contain little snippets of information that can spark off ideas for stories. But recently I read something that really made me stop and think.

Someone had put in an announcement in memory of their 'true and steadfast friend'. I thought, what a wonderful thing to have said about you. I mean, your family are pretty much obliged to call you their beloved this or sadly missed that. But no-one is obliged to call you a true and steadfast friend - unless you've really been that in life.

Here's to true and steadfast friends everywhere. Just so they know they are appreciated.

More tulips

2010-04-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

My tulips in pots are still doing really well. I can say for definite that these ones are 'Red Riding Hood' because I planted them myself last autumn.

My camellias and Monty's roots

2010-04-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

I know I've already shown you a picture of my camellia, but I couldn't resist posting another. It's never been as full of flowers as it has this spring.

A friend gave me this plant for my birthday a few years ago, and what a wonderful present it has proved to be. Sorry I've lost the label and can't tell you exactly what variety it is, but the flowers are double ones as I hope you can see.

For more about camellias, their history and care I just found a good article by Monty Don here. By co-incidence this week I've been reading Monty Don's book 'My Roots'. It came out in 2005 and is a selection of Monty's articles for The Observer newspaper from 1997 onwards. (A previous collection 'Gardening Mad' covered his earlier pieces.)

I've always seen Monty Don as one of those gardeners who has soil in their blood, rather like the late (and still missed) Geoff Hamilton. So, I was surprised to find out from 'My Roots' that originally Monty wanted to be a writer. As a child he wrote stories, plays, poetry and a journal.

Maybe this is why he always communicates his passion for gardening so well. Several of the pieces in 'My Roots' are ones I cut out of The Observer because they were just so interesting or poignant that I knew I'd want to read them again.

One of those moves me every time I read it. It's about Monty's elderly farmer friend. One year he planted daffodil bulbs with his granddaughter, telling her when he was up in heaven she would be reminded of him looking down on her at daffodil time. Tragically the granddaughter died at nineteen, and it was the grandfather left looking at the daffodils, thinking of her up in heaven.

Another really sad piece is about Monty burying his dog. But I don't want you to think it's all doom and gloom as there is so much joy and humour too. Monty's chickens constantly seem to be escaping and ruining precious plants. He describes so beautifully those fleeting moments when everything in the garden is peaceful and right. I get the sense that Monty's wife and children are at the heart of everything he does. His son's sheds, his daughter's sweet peas, and the trampoline they all bounce on are as much part of Monty's garden as his hundreds of tulips or his box topiary.

His footnotes often poke fun at himself, when, with the benefit of hindsight, he disagrees with whatever he said in his articles. "Pure pontification" is how he now sees one point he made, and another is "terribly O.T.T.". At the time Monty was writing for The Observer, garden makeover shows like Ground Force were all the rage. Monty was pretty scathing about those, and quite a few other things. Again his footnotes add perspective, recalling how he upset lots of people including the B.B.C, the National Trust, the R.H.S, garden centres and bat lovers.

I discovered Monty and I share a favourite gardening book, 'Derek Jarman's Garden', and I also learnt some new things, especially about fruit trees.

Monty's slot at The Observer is now occupied by the equally excellent Dan Pearson, but it's great to have so many of Monty's articles gathered together in 'My Roots'.

Ooooh, I'm so looking forward to Gardeners' World Live!

Five questions (well, one of them anyway...)

2010-04-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

A little while ago Suzanne Jones tagged me to answer 'Five Questions' about myself. Well, Suzanne, the weather has been so lovely I've been outside most of the last week rather than sitting at the computer. I've only come in today because that dog everyone thinks is so adorable broke through the hedge and escaped. Yes, I had to retrieve the retriever from next door! Talk about embarrassment.

And apologies again Suzanne, but I have such a lot to say about your first question that I'm not going to attempt the other four now. That question is: "Where were you five years ago?" Thank goodness 2005 was one of my more interesting years. Are you sitting comfortably? Because I just need to explain why my memories of 2005 really begin with 2004.

In summer 2004 I'd started writing again after a break of several years. I was unpublished, except for a handful of readers' letters. Of the things I still wanted to achieve, seeing one of my short stories in print was around the top of the list. When I submitted a story for the annual competition organised by 'Countryside Tales', a small press magazine from Park Publications, I expected another rejection. But I was wrong. Soon I heard that my story had won second prize of £25. To receive actual money for writing a story felt like a small miracle. But more important in the long run was the thrill of seeing my story printed in the magazine in the winter of 2004. I can't tell you what a difference it made to me. At least one person in the world believed my story was good enough to publish. That was all I needed to keep me writing and I will forever be grateful for that bit of encouragement.

So 2005 opened with me submitting more seriously, full of New Year's resolutions to prove my first success wasn't purely beginner's luck. But before the next significant event in my writing life, something completely different happened...

When I was a child my best friend lived round the corner, until emigrating with her family to Canada. For a while we lost touch. But through the wonders of the Internet I managed to contact her again in 2003. After 2 years of frequent emails, she invited me to visit Toronto in June 2005. The catch? I hate flying. It terrifies me. But I knew that if I turned down the opportunity I would regret it forever. So, I made myself get on the plane. I didn't exactly conquer my fear of flying, but I coped with it. And what a terrific holiday I had. Not only was it wonderful to see my friend and catch up on all our news, Canada was a fabulous experience. The C.N. Tower. Niagara Falls. Her dog jumping into Lake Ontario and needing 3 people to fish it out. (There's always a dog getting into trouble somewhere).

Travel broadens the mind, everyone says, and I am sure that it's true. I came home refreshed and with new perspectives. I wrote, wrote, wrote. And in September I had a phone call from Woman's Weekly. They wanted to buy a story. Gosh. If they bought it that meant I had sold it. Sold! I had sold a story! I was on some other planet whose name was Bliss. I know I'd had my readers' letters published, and my Countryside Tales story. But the truth was that I still wondered whether I was deluding myself that I could maybe write a little - you know - on a good day, with the moon in the right phase and a following wind. Wind? Was that the dog again?

Now I was on the shelves in all good newsagents, I needed to get organised. Personally I think that if you have a success with your writing, you should always treat yourself to some small thing to remember it by. Or even a big thing, depending on the size of the cheque. With some of my Woman's Weekly money I treated myself to a Filofax which I still use now. I'd like to say everything is colour coded and filed to within an inch of its life, but you wouldn't believe me anyway would you? But I do keep a list in there of deadlines, especially of competitions to enter and any publishers I've noticed asking for submissions for anthologies. For me, it's good to have deadlines to aim for. They help motivate me to finish stuff.

As for the rest of 2005, well, I was pretty much here. I applied for some jobs, went for some interviews, dug my garden and read loads of books. So all in all, life was good. I did have a different dog though, and I think the last picture should be his. Sam with his favourite Teletubbies ball. Much missed. (Sam, I mean. I still have the ball.)

Beautiful Blogger Awards

2010-04-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

Often it's the small things that make me happiest. Finding a pound coin rattling round at the bottom of my bag. Chatting with the supermarket assistant about how broccoli looks like a tree. And, this week, receiving a Beautiful Blogger Award from Teresa Ashby at A Likely Story. It's on the top right of this page and it's very pretty, thank you.

Teresa has challenged me to pass on the award to ten other blogs. Which is harder than it sounds, actually. I haven't been in blogland as long as some, but I've got to know lots of bloggers who always have interesting things to say. A couple of the blogs I visit regularly have already appeared in Teresa's list of ten, but I just couldn't leave them out. So here in no order of preference are the latest recipients of a Beautiful Blogger Award:

L'Aussie at L'Aussie Writing

Kate at Trees Are Not Lollipops

Womagwriter at Women's Stories: Read, Write, Enjoy!

Old Kitty at Ten Lives and Second Chances

Pippa at The Old Bat

Helen at Fiction Is Stranger Than Fact

Sarah at Mercian Muse

Ruby Red Dog at A Red Dog in the Red Rocks

Joanna at Brightwriter60

Suzanne at Suzanne Jones

If those bloggers would like to spread the happiness around even further, they too can take up the challenge of passing on the award!

P is for poem

2010-04-05T02:11:00.001-07:00

I hope anyone who knows me in person is sitting down as this may come as a shock. Yes, I know I'm always the one who says "I don't do poetry". It's not that I don't like poetry. I love reading it or hearing it spoken aloud. I just have no concept of how to write it. When an idea comes to me, my first thought is how to make it into a story. Not a poem, song, novel or article, but a story. That feels the most natural form for my writing to take.

In my horsey phase, twenty years ago, I confess I wrote a little ditty for the riding school's magazine. But it's been lost in the mists of a steaming pile of horse manure, and I'm sure Carol Ann Duffy is very relieved about that. Any other attempts to write poems have been brief. Two lines long, on average, before I think "Oh, this is too hard" and give up. Until...

Recently I had a rather horrible day. I went to bed with a single thought going round and round in my head. I remember thinking that if I was someone who wrote poetry, this was exactly the kind of thing I could make into a poem. Through continuing to play with the idea on paper the words somehow arranged themselves into what looked like a verse of four lines. I was quite pleased. But where did I go next?

The following day I received Liane Carter's email containing her guest post (below). Her words about throwing the truth onto the page were what I needed to push me onwards. To make progress with my poem I saw I had to go deeper into the idea and explore the emotion behind it. I kept on adding a couple of lines here and there. By last weekend I'd reached four verses. I felt like I had said what I wanted to say. Gosh. I had written a poem. It was a satisfying feeling, and a bit of a surprise.

Perhaps we all have mental blocks about certain things that we think we cannot do. But sometimes it's good just to try. Just to see.

I enjoyed writing my poem. Maybe I'll write another. You know... in twenty years or so.

Quote of the day

2010-04-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

My husband to young assistant in bookshop: "Have you got a Penguin section?"

Assistant: "Have you tried under Pets?"

Guest post by Liane Carter

2010-03-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

My March guest here at Zigzag Road is Liane Carter. Liane's first novel for children, 'The Chronicles of Joya', is proving a real hit. Living between England and Spain, Liane's writing credits also include a regular column for the Costa Blanca News, and articles for Writing Magazine, plus numerous published short stories and poems. On top of all this, Liane writes songs with her husband. She does the words. He does the music. What a lovely combination. I asked Liane to tell me a bit about how the process of writing a song compares with that of writing a story, and this is what she said...

"I began writing poetry at school and had the vague notion that I went to some other place to write it - I thought up on the clouds, dangling my legs.

When I learned the basic chords on guitar I started writing songs. At about seven or eight I wrote my first song, 'Momataro', inspired by the delicious Japanese book about a boy who emerged from a peach. The book, strange like me, taught me something fundamental: I had a problem chip in my brain: impatience.

If I couldn't think of a few key lines for a song, I'd search my brain until I found something - anything - to throw in to have a completed project. If I left the song half-done, I couldn't concentrate on anything else. I'd walk into things, be unable to concentrate and make myself more visible in a world I tried desperately to shrink from.

Years later I still had the problem of the first verse flowing and then the slam on the brakes from my inner genius to block the second verse. I wondered whether my ego had sabotage plans. My husband, who does all the music for the songs, told me I had self-destruction stamped across my skull.

I didn't mean to keep going back and tweaking the melody, changing the words and causing him more work. But that's the penalty for rushing, for having to finish, for impatience.

When I started getting serious with writing short stories and novels, I uncovered the truth: the ideas, my genius, wanted time to grow and take different turns. They wanted to delve on deeper levels. I had to be stripped raw with editing to uncover the gold within. And the sick thing? I loved the pain of it.

I discovered fear blocked me from that second verse: fear of not being able to top the first one; of boring the listener; of giving them less than perfect; of facing emotions within me.

The joy of digging deep and discarding impatience came in one of our songs, 'Damage Done'. Truth is painful to write; this song had me crying the first twelve times I sang it through. Yet when I decided to be editor and warrior on that second verse, to go deeper in truth, I unravelled a superior second verse I fell in love with.

It proved two things for me. Firstly, whether it's a song, a poem, a short story or a novel, expose yourself. Throw the truth out on the page and the treasures will fly not just into your lap. They'll flood your heart. Your writing will breathe and bring life into the people who share it.

Something painful that happened to me went into 'The Chronicles of Joya' and so many people have resonated with it. If I hadn't been brave enough to write the pain, many people would have lost out on the pleasure.

Change names where necessary: you don't want to hurt anyone else. And maybe once you go back to edit, you'll lose that piece altogether. It may just have been a healing process to write your pain on paper.

Secondly, I learned the incredible power of the inner child, who will not come and write her genius if I refuse her demands. She's more stubborn than I am. She's also stronger and wiser. I have a lot to learn from her. I'll play up and push her too hard and whip her to work.

She'll stop mid-step and strike. Sometimes I listen to her and sometimes... I don't. So for those of us who sometimes 'forget' to feed our inner child with play, here's a song I've written which helps me vent some frustration at myself and at her for running off. Happy writing!

Sing to the tune of 'Yellow Submarine' and clap. She likes it.

Inner child wants to play
She doesn't want to write today

I try to drag her by the hair
She runs a mile, leaves me despair

I thump my skull and shake my head
I may as well return to bed

Chorus:
We all live with a bolshie inner child
The genius who's wild
Who likes to run a mile
We all live with a bolshie inner child
The genius who's wild
Whose words we have on file

If I don't feed her with fun
She folds her arms or sucks her thumb

She stamps her feet and turns away
Waits for treats and time for play

But I push for her to write
Ignore her needs for some respite

Chorus:
We all live with a bolshie inner child
The genius who's wild
Who likes to run a mile
We all live with a bolshie inner child
The genius who's wild
Whose words we have on file

So I buy her Plasticine
Watch a film with Mr Bean

Dance around the room and sing
And watch the magic in me begin

Her genius begins to flow
She writes and tells me, "I told you so!"

Chorus:
We all live with a bolshie inner child
The genius who's wild
Who likes to run a mile
We all live with a bolshie inner child
The genius who's wild
Whose words we have on file."

Jo: Gosh - thank you so much, Liane, for taking the time to write this. I will never listen to 'Yellow Submarine' in the same way again!

For more about Liane and her novel 'The Chronicles of Joya' please visit her websites here or here, where you can also listen to samples of her music.

Light your lamps now for the future

2010-03-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

I'm a fast reader and books aren't cheap. Borrowing from libraries or buying from charity shops has many advantages, not least the possibility of a free gift within. A squashed Rice Krispie is stuck to page one of my latest library book. Raisins, crumbs, and strands of hair are pretty common. But by far my best finds are two bookmarks I'm especially attached to. Both seem to carry with them a flavour of the times when they were produced.

The one pictured on the left is from the now defunct London County Council. "Light your lamps now for the future," it says in this advert for evening classes beginning on September 20th 1926. It amazes me that this scrap of card has been doing the rounds for over eighty years. It's become quite creased but is perfectly legible. I'd love to know who first picked up this bookmark, what kind of person they were, and whether they enrolled for any of the classes. On the back some of the subjects available are listed, including "for home workers": millinery, laundrywork, home nursing, infant care, and child welfare. "Travel under cover by tramway."

My second favourite bookmark is pictured on the right. The back of this one has a calendar of flower shows from 1956. "Flowers for your delight." Once again, I am wondering who was the original owner of this. Did they make it to the daffodil show and camellia competition? I imagine a well-to-do lady in a neat little suit with matching gloves. Or maybe an older woman in tweed and pearls.

Do tell me if you've had any interesting finds in your books!

Fish rustling

2010-03-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

I've seen lots of busy bees in the crocuses while I've been gardening this week. The sunshine has really brought them out - both bees and crocuses, both. Unfortunately the spring weather has also brought an unwelcome visitor to local gardens: that secretive predator, the garden thief.

Yes, my outdoor pottering was marred by a neighbour coming to tell me about a string of thefts over the weekend. Tools, plants, and ladders have been taken from gardens along the street, and even the fish from someone's pond. I gather those big Koi Carp can fetch a good price.

Luckily our dog is quite a barker and is quick to let rip at any untoward noises. This is annoying when I'm trying to write, but he does make me feel a lot safer when I'm on my own at home.

The weather is set to change today and it looks like the rainclouds will chase me inside to finish off my current story. I can't believe I began that particular story almost two years ago. For some reason I could not settle myself to write the last couple of pages. Now, I don't know why, but it's just taken shape and I've sorted out in my own mind what it's all about. It will be such a relief not to have it hanging over me any more, and also my 'unfinished' file will be slightly slimmer.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, wherever you are.

Review: 'Noah's Compass' by Anne Tyler

2010-03-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

I've read most of Anne Tyler's novels several times over, so when I found her latest, 'Noah's Compass', in the library I couldn't wait to get started.

Personally I hate to know too much about a plot before I begin reading. What I enjoy is travelling alongside the characters, seeing how events unfold. So, in case you're looking forward to reading this one yourself, all I'm going to say about the plot of 'Noah's Compass' is that former teacher, Liam Pennywell, has a gap in his memory. His frustrations with this problem lead him to become involved in a new relationship and a period of reflecting on what he's achieved in his past sixty years. Will he take this chance of new love? Well, obviously I'm not going to tell you. Meanwhile all around him the women in his life are absorbed with their own day to day issues, from youngest daughter Kitty, to no-nonsense ex-wife Barbara, to bossy sister Julia. Liam is often at odds with himself and with his family - an out of step man, whom his daughters refer to as Mr Magoo.

Liam views one of his three daughters as having 'a low-key nature'. And this novel has a low-key nature too. No complex twists and turns of plot, no big action scenes, but a character driven novel about the quiet stories that make up the substance of most people's lives. This is what Anne Tyler excels at.

Fans of Anne Tyler will probably recognise echoes from previous novels. Living alone, Liam has built a lifestyle that needs minimum maintenance, a little like Macon in 'The Accidental Tourist'. Liam has a sense of being slightly absent from his own life, rather like Rebecca in 'Back When We Were Grownups'. But in 'Noah's Compass' there are also new dilemmas to be faced, resulting in a book that has perhaps a sadder tone than some of her others. The trademark humour and wit are still there, and as ever the author has a sharp eye for the idiosyncrasies and faults that make us human. I know her quirky characters are not everyone's cup of tea, but I always feel right at home with them. Certainly they are not the most active or decisive of individuals, and Liam has the air of a bystander in life, propelled forwards only by events outside his own control.

Of Anne Tyler's eighteen novels, I have to say I think 'Breathing Lessons' and 'Ladder of Years' are hard to surpass. But I found 'Noah's Compass' as satisfying as any of her later novels, and when the paperback comes out I will definitely buy it to read again.

Interviews with Anne Tyler are notoriously hard to find, but I came across this one at Writer's Digest.

Will my novel ever be finished?

2010-03-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

Last year, along with 166,700 optimists across the world, I signed up for NaNoWriMo. In case you haven't heard of it, this is a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November. There is no prize as such. Just the satisfaction of seeing your word count rack up day by day.

I did NaNoWriMo on the spur of the moment. So, while some participants already had plans and character studies sketched out, I was making the whole thing up as I went along. It was a very liberating way to write, and I really enjoyed the experience. Funny, encouraging emails kept popping into my inbox from the organisers. My writing buddies and I shared news of our progress, cheering each other along in the race to the magic 50k.

Actually, I reached 36,000 words during November. Below the target, but still more than I'd ever managed to write before in such a short space of time. I felt pleased and exhilarated.

Three months on, despite good intentions, I am disappointed to admit that I've only added another 10,000 words. It's not that I've fallen out of love with my NaNoWriMo novel. I can't even blame lack of time, since I've cut down a lot on my work hours. My main problem is that I just seem addicted to writing short stories. They are so much... well, shorter. And they are also manageable in a way my novel is not. I can't seem to do without the thrill of finishing and submitting a story every couple of weeks. It makes me wonder if there are people who are naturally short story writers and others who are naturally novelists. Sprinters versus marathon runners. Or maybe I just have a very limited attention span.

Meanwhile, my novel keeps returning to the drawer, giving me a resentful glare of neglect whenever I go in there for something else. I do wish I could complete the first draft - but wishing won't do it.

One thing that puts me off resuming work on it is that I have introduced too many characters in Chapter One. Part of me is itching to rewrite that opening, but I know it's better to motor on to the end and sort out such problems in the second draft. I haven't a clue what's going to happen in the last section of the novel, but the only way for me to find that out is just to write and see where it goes.

Anyway, I've written several new stories since Christmas and I feel I am coming to the end of a short story phase. Therefore I hereby make a declaration of intent. April will be novel month. There, I've told you all now, so I have to stick to it.

If you've done NaNoWriMo, I'd love to hear how you got on.

Quote of the day

2010-03-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

Heard during radio commentary on the FA Cup match between Portsmouth and Birmingham City:

"All he did was play for Southampton, and they're treating him like Jack the Ripper."

Jo interviews Rosalie Warren

2010-02-27T05:13:00.000-08:00

Today I am very happy to welcome Coventry based author Rosalie Warren.

Rosalie's novel Charity's Child was published by Circaidy Gregory Press in 2008. She followed this with Low Tide, Lunan Bay, published in 2009 by Robert Hale.

With her next novel, Rosalie aims to attract younger readers...

So, Rosalie, would you like to share your news about the progress of your latest book?

Hello Jo, and thank you very much for inviting me onto your blog. I'm delighted to say that my first book for children, Coping with Chloe, has just been accepted for publication by Phoenix Yard Books, and should appear sometime early in 2011. It's aimed at age 11+ and will probably appeal mostly to girls, though there's no reason boys shouldn't read it too.
Is it possible to describe the feeling of having a novel accepted for publication?

No! Oh, hang on, I'm meant to be a writer, so I'd better try. All I can do is compare it to (a) getting my first swimming award - aged 10, (b) passing my driving test - aged 23, (c) discovering I was pregnant - aged 24. No, it's not quite as good as having a baby. Not quite...

I understand that with all three novels you have dealt directly with publishers rather than through an agent. How have you found that?

I've found it very straightforward. I met my first publisher (Kay Green of Circaidy Gregory Press) through having a short story shortlisted in a competition she ran. So, I already knew and trusted her, and she was wonderful to work with. When my second novel was accepted by Robert Hale I took advice from the Society of Authors regarding my contract. Hale were very good to work with too. And now, with my children's book, I again approached the Society of Authors for help in negotiating my contract. I've every confidence that, once again, I've found a great editor to work with. An agent would be good at some stage, but I'm in no great rush at the moment. I'd rather wait and find one who is exactly right for me, and who understands my need to write lots of different kinds of books.

How much time do you tend to spend working out the plot of a novel before you start the actual writing?

Very little. Usually the main character comes first, with a hint of the situation they are in. I scribble and doodle like mad, trying to get to know and understand them. Other characters emerge and I let them talk to each other, write emails to each other etc. Sometimes my characters even write poems (sadly their poems are not much better than mine!). This gradually merges into starting the story, which is always longhand at this stage. The first draft is my way of finding out what happens. If it's going well, I can't stop - it feels like reading and I can't wait to find out what happens next. It's not always as easy as that, of course. Sometimes I get stuck and it's painful to squeeze out my 1,000 words a day (that's the minimum I set myself to write). When the first draft is done, I rest it for a month or so, then I read it through and try to extract the plot. I write a long synopsis, then base my second draft on that. My books go through at least 4 drafts before they are ready for submission.

Do you dream in colour, and has your writing ever been influenced by a dream?

I think I dream in colour... yes, I do. When I'm working on something new, I try to start writing early in the morning, before I'm properly awake. That way, my dreams are still accessible. The end of my first novel, Charity's Child, was decided by a dream. My editor wasn't keen on the original ending. I could see she was right, but I didn't know how to change it. I struggled for several days, then went to sleep one night, still thinking. The dream I had wasn't exactly about my book - it was predominantly an intense feeling - but as soon as I woke I knew it was the state of mind my character had to have at the end of the book. So I rewrote the end to go with that - and it worked. Or at least, my editor was happy and so was I.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not writing?

I love the sea and spend time beside it (or in it) whenever I can. I like swimming, reading, messing about in the garden, cooking things, eating things... going to the theatre and spending time with my partner and my (grown-up) kids.

If you ever appear on Desert Island Discs, which book will you choose and why?

That's a really difficult one. It would need to be a long book because I read very quickly. And one that would bear reading over and over again. Perhaps an inspiring biography. Or maybe I can have a complete works? I know, I'll read Homer's Iliad - about time I did.

Is there any advice you would give to newer writers?

(a) Don't become a writer unless you absolutely love writing. If you don't, it's a terrible way to live. If you're meant to be a writer, you'll know it - possibly from a very early age. In that case, go with it - you'll be unhappy if you don't. But don't expect anything from it beyond the thrill of making up people and stories (and, if you're lucky, seeing other people enjoy them).

(b) Read lots. Write lots. Rewrite lots. Don't give up. Get used to disappointments - I get the impression they never stop.

(c) Find a way to turn off you inner editor/censor/monitor - whatever you want to call it. While you write your early drafts, that is. You'll need to turn it back on later.

(d) Write what you would most like to read. Ignore trends, unless they coincide with what you want to do.

(e) Find ways to console yourself (for rejections, days when you're stuck, poor sales figures, etc) that don't involve consuming zillions of calories. (If you discover any, please let me know...)

(f) Ignore advice from older writers - unless it clicks and you know it's for you.

What's next in your writing life, Rosalie?

I've just finished a novel for adults. It's short, more of a novella, so finding a publisher may be a challenge. I've no regrets - it was a book I had to write. I've another novel for age 11+, which needs further work. I'm also writing a fantasy/SF novel for slightly older readers. I have ideas for a series for 7-9 year olds, and two further novels for adults, one of which may be a sequel to Charity's Child. I want to write across as many genres and age-groups as I can - the ones that interest me, anyway. Perhaps eventually I'll settle down and stick to books of a certain kind, but in a way I hope not. I'd quite like to have a go at scriptwriting, too.

Well, thank you Rosalie for being my first guest on Zigzag Road. I'd like to wish you every success with Coping with Chloe, and with all your other future projects.

Thank you - I really enjoyed it.

For more about Rosalie and her work, please see her website.

When I grow up I want to be...

2010-02-24T04:36:00.000-08:00

a writer! That was the only concrete idea I had in my head when I was a child. It took me 40-odd years to get published, and some of those years were very odd indeed. Along the way I've had many jobs. Lots were in the N.H.S. or social services, but I've also been a cleaner, nanny, ironing lady, a putter of leaflets through doors, and a voluntary adviser for the Citizens' Advice Bureau. It was all good fun. Well, maybe not being a nanny. Jo Frost I am not. But one day I'll write a story about it and wreak my revenge.

I used to think I'd like to work in a flower shop. I never have, but I did set a story in one. In researching it I made a point of visiting every florist I passed to help me bring the scene alive on paper. The colours and scents of the flowers were wonderful, but I tried to notice other things too. The rustling of the cellophane and ringing of the phone. The cross customer complaining that the lilies were too fresh. In fact writing that story cured me of my desire to work in a flower shop, because I realized they are very chilly. That's Ok in a heatwave, but not this time of year, thanks.

Another place I've always fancied working is a department store. When I'm fed up with my day job I tell my colleagues I'm going to go and work at John Lewis, preferably in the sewing machine department where I would enjoy demonstrating embroidery and buttonholes. So far I haven't done it, but I did use one as the location for another story.

Writing a My Weekly Pocket Novel was total heaven for two reasons. Firstly I set it in the Peak District, one of my favourite areas. Secondly, I played out another of my fantasy jobs - running a small hotel. I loved every minute I spent on that. My little hotel became so real to me that I can still see it now, four years after I finished the story. The hotel in my mind was very much idealized, I'm sure. I had all the fun, without actually having to do the early morning breakfasts, deal with difficult guests, or tremble in fear of the hotel inspectors.

I find other people's jobs are great starting points for stories, especially for the women's magazines. Now, let me see. What shall I be tomorrow?

Snowdrops

2010-02-21T03:39:00.001-08:00

I learnt a new word today: Galanthophile - someone who loves snowdrops.

Some people say it's unlucky to bring snowdrops indoors. Presumably they are not Galanthophiles. Courting danger I may be, but I buy a pot of snowdrops every year for my desk.

We had snow again here over the past couple of days. This winter has chilled me to the bone, and never have I coughed and sneezed so much. But signs of spring are appearing, and are as welcome as the final whistle when your team is one goal ahead in the last minutes of the game.

Snowdrops look wonderful as a big drift under trees, but in my garden they tend to get lost in the undergrowth. Either that, or trampled by a heavyweight Golden Retriever. I'll carry on enjoying snowdrops in the house for their fleeting glory. Every year when my new pot of snowdrops finishes flowering I add it to the cluster in my garden. Will I ever end up with one of those carpets of white that lifts your mood on a dark winter's day? Maybe not, but my desk is always a little bit brighter.

Have you seen my concentration?

2010-02-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

Missing from home: concentration.

It's a small, jumpy creature with wings like an eagle and ears like a bat.

Loves peace and quiet on account of its sensitive hearing. Also fond of Yorkshire Tea, brand new pads of A4 paper, a fresh idea, the colour blue.

Hates barking dogs and dustmen (the two being often connected). Easily disturbed by more than 10 minutes Internet activity, surprises, running out of milk, and having workmen in the house.

Concentration is itself a noiseless creature. Therefore it can easily sneak away unnoticed, leaving only its footprints in the snow.

Should you find my concentration, please return to:

The Rocking Chair,
Bookworm House,
Storytown-on-sea,
United Queendom.

Thanks!

Reader's Digest

2010-02-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

I was shocked to hear that the UK edition of Reader's Digest has gone into administration today. I admit I've never subscribed, but according to the BBC over 500,000 people did. It sounds a lot of subscribers to me, but apparently numbers had dropped hugely in recent years, leaving Reader's Digest with a hole in its pensions pot.

A fanatical reader all my life, I would always read anything rather than nothing. I remember going on holiday as a child to seaside B and Bs where dog-eared copies of Reader's Digest were the only reading matter available. Once I'd run through my stash of books or comics, I'd move onto the Reader's Digests, and became quite familiar with its distinctive mixture: 'Laughter's the Best Medicine', 'Life's Like That', and the odd funny cartoon alongside more serious articles or interviews.

So many famous brands have disappeared lately - Woolworths, Borders, several holiday firms, and one of my own favourite shops, The Pier. I do hope a solution will be found to the Reader's Digest crisis. Wouldn't it be sad to lose it?

The book cover!

2010-02-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

100 Stories for Haiti

2010-02-14T02:56:00.000-08:00

In common with many other people, I felt helpless watching the news reports about the earthquake in Haiti last month. What is it like to lose everything you have - not just home and possessions, but family, friends and neighbours? How do you go from living your normal everyday life one minute, to scratching about for the basic means of survival the next? Most of us probably cannot begin to imagine that. And what can we do, except drop a few coins into a collecting tin if we can afford it? Somehow this just doesn't feel enough.

But faced with any disaster, there are always those who respond using their own talents to raise money. Singers sing. Artists draw. Writers write. And one writer who saw a way to help was Greg McQueen.

In the past few weeks Greg and his fantastic team have put together a book project in aid of the Red Cross relief effort. 100 Stories for Haiti will be published on March 4th, but is now available to pre-order from the website below. A diverse range of writers contributed short stories (myself included). None of the stories is over 1,000 words long, which makes the book ideal reading in our fast paced world. You can read a story on the train. You can read one in your lunchbreak. You can give the book as a gift to someone else. You can tell your friends about it. Whatever you do you will have played your own small part in supporting a truly worthwhile cause.

http://100storiesforhaiti.org/

Some light reading

2010-02-13T05:43:00.000-08:00

If you would like to read my Frome Festival story from 2007, I have uploaded it to the blog. Please click on 'The Power of Purple', under 'pages' on the right hand side.

A zigzag road

2010-02-11T03:34:00.000-08:00

Does anyone travel a straight road through life these days? Not me - and especially not in my career or my writing.

All the changes of direction used to bother me. The roads not taken. The roads that were taken that turned into dead ends, roundabouts or diversions.

But since I've been writing, all this experience has become so useful to me. In many ways, if you want to write then the more you have to draw on the better. Did you make mistakes? Great! Did you feel utterly lost and confused? Terrific! If we'd only known a smooth, untroubled path what would we write about?

I'm coming to appreciate that life is better travelled zigzag.

Will the real me please stand up?

2010-02-10T07:27:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for the Joanne Fox who is:-

a) an Australian water polo player;

b) a triathlete from Vancouver; or

c) a trainer of Arabian horses?

If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", then you are in the wrong place! I never knew there were so many of me in the world. However if I run out of ideas for my new blog then what I might do is contact some of these other Joanne Foxes to see if they would like to make a guest appearance here.

In the meantime I'll be posting my writing news (she says optimistically), plus whatever snippets of life catch my eye.

Do come and visit again. And who knows - I may turn out to be the right Joanne Fox after all!