Good Stuff

Lots of nice (me) stuff to point you towards today.

First up, the terrific Short Review have reviewed Not So Perfect, which, unsurprisingly, made me very happy. You can read that here.

There’s also an interview they did with me a little while ago, which is here.

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There’s another lovely review of Not So Perfect here, this time by the lovely Cathy.

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I was thrilled to have my first piece of public reaction to the work I’ve been doing over at The Story Corrective. That can be read here.

Sallie says Not only did I get a fantastically comprehensive critique, I also got a wonderfully speedy turn around and some very positive and encouraging feedback worth its weight in gold from a writer of considerable talent.  which, again, makes me happy. It’s good that it works!

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There’s what’s sure to be a really, really useful course on creativity over at The Creative Identity here. There’ll be a podcast of me talking to the course creator, the lovely Steph (who knows her onions) as part of the course.

In a nutshell, this is what it’s all about:

The Creative Identity Online course is an eight-week long study of the eight constituents of our writing identity, from the creative yearning to the creative abilities, from the creative loss, to the creative DNA and more. It investigates the products and the reasons of our creative endeavours. This is a reading-and-writing intensive course that will delve into the creative process at large and into the writing one in particular. The Creative Identity map provides an overview of, as well as the basis for, this investigation into validation, scepticism, excuses, fear of expression, abilities and expectations in relation to creativity and the way in which we address it, with a view to reveal why we write what we write and to plan our development by embracing, and not fighting, who we are.

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And to celebrate the lovely Story Corrective feedback I’ve decided to be all generous again and offer the full critique, report and edit for £25 (instead of the usual £40) so long as I get the work in before the end of this week. Just quote ‘lemur’ when you send it.

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And, as I’ve been talking about reviews – if anyone’s read (and liked, hopefully!) Not So Perfect it would be wonderfully helpful if they took a couple of minutes to rate it or review it over at Amazon or somewhere similar. This word of mouth thing really does help.

And that’s all for now.

Beautiful

Firstly…

This came in the post today. It is very beautiful. And someone from the publishers has written my name on the inside so it’s clear who the copy belongs to. And while I’m talking about the publishers (Madras Press), you might want to check them out; individually bound short stories and novellas; proceeds going to author nominated charities, exceptionally beautiful books. Aimee Bender…
I should also say that I was alerted to the existence of the book by the wonderful Short Review.

, Th

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Secondly.

I was reminded recently how much I liked the movie, Big Fish, and last night I sat down and watched bits of it (it was late so I didn’t have time to watch it the whole way through).

I love it. Definitely. And I wonder just how much of an influence it’s been on my writing – without me even noticing. Wonderful film. If you’ve not seen it – do.

This might be one of my favourite scenes from it. I love the imagery. And I think I secretly might want my life to be like that.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

First things first. Before things get self-indulgent.
Look what the postman brought me earlier…

Yep. A (signed!!!) copy of Girl Aloud by Emily Gale. Really looking forward to reading this. Oh yes. (And you can see me interviewing the delightful Emily here.)
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And I think I’m going to write a list at some point, a list of things to do and to change over the course of 2010.
Things like getting out more, and doing more exercise will be on there, as will, perhaps, getting a life and worrying/complaining less.
And I’m thinking about maybe leaving an online writing community I’ve been a member of for a few years.
And on the subject of change…
after I had my hair cut last week I was very bold and I trimmed my beard very, very short. I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to go the whole hog and actually shave but, I don’t know, I quite like being relatively un-bearded for the first time in three years.
Look: for the moment I’m not scruffy…

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And finally, before I sign off get back to work, the latest edition of the wonderful Short Review’s just gone live. Do have a look.

Which Books Do You Love?

I’m a writer, so books are important to me. I know, that’s pretty darned obvious. But where I find out about ones I might like to read is something I’ve been thinking about of late.

There’s The Short Review, which is always excellent (the new issue’s out now).
There’s word of mouth and recommendations from friends. I bought Elephants in Our Bedroom on the Twitter recommendation of Dave Clapper (ed of the utterly brilliant Smokelong Quarterly) and recommended, by response, Etgar Keret’s work. (I’ll review Elephants in our Bedroom later – it is an incredibly good book.)
Scott Pack’s recommendations are usually spot on. It’s thanks to him that I’ve read and loved Thirteen by Sebastian Beaumont, Lizard by L Shick (interview with her here) and a few others.
There was the terrific Black Boxes widget which made me aware of Caroline Smailes.
There’s the Goodreads website, which I check if I’m not sure which book by a certain author I should try first.
They’re the ones that come to mind straight away. I’m sure there are others.
So, last night, I was thinking about this and wondering how I could get people to share the boosk they love and would recommend to others.
As an experiment, I Twittered it, with the hash-tag #ilovethisbook
There is quite a list there now. So if you’re on Twitter and you’d like to share your favourite books, or see if you can find something you’d like to read, you know what to do.
And if you want to follow me, my Twitter username thingy is @nikperring.
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I must say that I was rather surprised when I checked the blog’s stats earlier. I’ve had about 500 visitors more than usual, all of whom have found their way here by googling ‘Landseer Newfoundland’. It’s a dog. A big breed of a dog. I helped a lost one out once and mentioned it on here. Anyway, I had a bit of a google myself and the reason for the sudden increased interest was clear. That is a Very Big Dog.
So, to all of you coming here expecting to find out about Landseers and finding a writer waffling, I’m sorry.

London Lists: A Brief Post

Received the handouts from last Friday’s Tales of the Decongested yesterday (thanks Martin), which contained my story, Lists (which originally appeared in Dogmatika) and that made me happy. Apologies for the poor quality (the iPhone’s camera isn’t its best feature) and apologies for the top one being on its end (Blogger knows best, doesn’t it).

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And talking of short fiction, the July issue of The Short Review’s up – it’s a good un.

Big World


Wowsers but it’s hot and humid up here in the the north. And it aint something I’m used to. There’s a storm coming soon, I’ve been told, and I’m looking forward to it.

Well, what a week. I’ve barely stopped (and yes, I am much closer to being up to date now, thank goodness). Writing’s been done as has editing and reading. 
And what reading. I’ve been dipping into, and really enjoying, Niki Aguire’s 29 Ways to Drown, which is well worth a look. But mostly I’ve been reading Big World by Mary Miller and, well, it’s gone straight onto my Incredibles list (for those reasonably new to the blog that just means books I think are incredibly good). I’m not going to review it because a) I’ve not finished it (and don’t want to!) and b) I’m not very good at them but I will point you to what Tania Hershman said about it on The Short Review, which was what encouraged me to buy it in the first place.
It’s a wonderful collection of affecting, realist short stories that are brilliantly written and work perfectly.
Thank you Mary Miller and thank you The Short Review.

Sharing a Story

I’ve just been critting a short story on an online forum and it reminded me (in a non nicked way of course!) of one of the stories that’s stuck with me ever since I read it, which was years ago. Some great ones are like that.

It’s Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, and I just love it for its cleverness and wit.
And while I’m talking about short stories, the new edition of omni-excellent The Short Review’s live. Go see.

Great stories forget about the rules of physics

Love that line. It rings true with me. You can see more like this over at Kelly Spitzer’s blog, as she plays word association with Tania Hershman. 

And while I’m talking of Tania, the new issue of The Short Review’s out.
I noticed WomenRuleWriter picked up on the same quote as I did. It’s this:
“I think that a “story” has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. There has to be a situation, and characters, and the characters have to DO things — things that have an effect on the situation and the other characters — and the characters must be changed by the effects of those things. A lot of modern fiction is just vignettes, not stories — the difference is that the characters don’t take any action, or there isn’t an end” – David D Levine
And I’m not sure that not having an ‘end’ is a bad thing. I like it when I know the characters carry on after the story’s finished, and I like vignettes; being shown a situation can be every bit as affecting and big as being taken on the journey of a story. I’m not disagreeing with him totally, he has a point. I quite like the sound of his collection too…
What do you think?



Happy Birthday/Rejections/Acceptance

Happy birthday to the terrific, the insightful, the wondrous place that is The Short Review. It’s a great site. It really is. It’s where I discovered Aimee Bender, and believe me, that’d be enough to make me love it on its own.

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And this writing lark’s a funny thing at times. Yesterday (or was it the day before?) I got three rejections in a row. Splat, splat, splat in my inbox. Bit disappointing because they were all from Good Places, but they’d come back quickly, they were polite and they were helpful (one even had readers’ comments – brilliant). Still, you can’t help but feel a bit miffed with three in a row. And then I got an acceptance, from another Good Place; it was the sort of email that’d brighten up anyone’s day. The editor said she cheered when she got to the end because she liked it so much. It made me happy. Of course, I shall let you know when it’s up.

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And that video of me reading might be up soon too. Watch this space.

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And I’m still working on that story (the one I was working on yesterday). Wrestling words is hard work at times.