Month: April 2010
Illustrations
So, yesterday I mentioned that there are illustrations in Not So Perfect. And there are, there’s one for every story. So, today, I thought it might be a nice idea to share a couple here.
There are more on my Facebook fan page.
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And do pop back tomorrow when I’ll be hosting the first leg of the brilliant Nicola Morgan’s Wasted blog tour.
Sneak Peek
And it is available to pre-order from any good book retailer, including The Big Green Bookshop, The Book Depository and Amazon.
Talking music
Yesterday it was all about Talking: Books on here, and today it’s all about music. I’m over at the always brilliant 3 :AM magazine taking about Emmy the Great, Polly Scattergood, Suede, Mariee Sioux and David Bowie. Pop across. Have a nosy.
So, what are the last five songs you listened to?
Talking: Books
Over these past few weeks I, along with Caroline Smailes and Jon Mayhew, have been forming a plan.
Join authors Jon Mayhew, Nik Perring and Caroline Smailes for an evening exploring the world of writing and publishing. A children’s author, a short story writer and a novelist, these three published authors will take you on their journey from beginning to book, answering your questions along the way.
Date: Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Where: Chester Library
Time: 7-9pm
Cost: £3 library members / £4 non members (including refreshments)
People should book tickets in advance, from the Information Desk at Chester Library, or reserve a place by telephoning 01244 977380.
A Week Of Broken Things
Well, it’s certainly been one of those weeks.
Photo
So, as I said before, on Tuesday my writing group, along with photographer Katherine Elizabeth Lewis, handed over a cheque for the £200 we’d raised through sales of our 20 Photos 20 Stories book to Jo from the Alzheimer’s Society.
And here’s what it looked like:
From left to right: Jenny Martin, Sandy Milsom, Karen Crook, Jo Hawkins, photographer Katherine Elizabeth Lewis and me.
Katherine Elizabeth Lewis was also kind enough to donate one of the framed prints from the book (the cheque’s the smaller one she’s handing over!).
Mining Memories
Now, this is cool.
One of the people I teach at my writing group, the lovely and talented Jenny Martin, has put together a collection of poems, Mining Memories, for the benefit of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
And last night she was able to show us the finished product. It’s been printed and whatnot by Silverwood Books, and I must say they’ve done a really splendid job. The book looks gorgeous (and I know that the poems inside are great as well – they’re all very moving).
It’s published on May 11th and to celebrate Jenny is launching it at The Beacon in Whitehaven, on May 11th, 1pm – 3pm.
You can pre-order from Amazon here.
My New Favourite Song
It’s just gorgeous. And the words. Wowsers.
I’ve bought Emmy The Great‘s record and shall be giving it a listen very soon.
Big Moments
I’ll tell you what this post was going to be about.
It was going to be about the presentation of the cheque for £200 my writing group, and authors and poets, and Katherine Elizabeth Lewis had raised for The Alzheimer’s Society.
And it was going to be about my Doctor Who suit.
You see, I bought it four years ago (without, I must say, any notion it was like the one the last Doctor wore). It was going to be the suit I’d wear when promoting my first book. And wear it I did. I had the most brilliant and rewarding time working in schools, reading my work, signing books, running workshops. It was a brilliant, brilliant chapter in my life. But what followed was a whole load of rubbishness. A lot of pain, a lot of being let down and being bent out of shape. Realisations that I’d been doing things in the wrong way and, in a few instances, for the wrong people (seriously, the things you compromise for certain people defies belief at times).
So tonight was going to be the last time I wore it. It was going to be a funny kind of celebration of all the good bits from the last few years but, probably more importantly, it was going to be me shutting the door on the bad bits. It was going to be an important moment And it was.
That was what this post was going to be about. But.
I was talking to the very lovely Jo who works for the Alzheimer’s Society. She’d come down to my writing group so we could give her money. She was saying how pleased she was with how much money we’d managed to raise, and she was talking about what great ideas it’d given them for fund raising in the future.
And then she told us how useful the book (which contains flash fictions and poems written to photographs) had been. She told us how people who hadn’t spoken to their carers (wives, husbands, sons, daughters) in weeks or months have often sat down with the book and engaged with it. AND SAID SOMETHING! The book I’d help put together, with all the brilliant contributors, had actually made a difference. I’m still proud and really moved.
Jo said that the faces of the carers, when that happens, are quite something.
I’ll bet they are.
Now, isn’t that a big moment?
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And the contributors, who deserve another big thank you, are:
Sue Heathcote, Caroline Smailes, Vanessa Gebbie, Joy Winkler, Lorrie Porter, Jenn Ashworth, Tania Hershman, Lynda Iverson, Jo Bell, Steve Howe, John Lindley, Barbara Challenger, Betty Challender, Jenny Martin, Katherine Elizabeth Lewis, Karen Crook, Sandy Milsom, Anne Brooke and Gay Horton.
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Jo’s also agreed to write something for the blog on exactly how the staff at The Alzheimer’s Society have used the book – I’m really looking forward to reading that.