Sunday 12 May 2024

What about this as a novel way of launching a book?

Peter Street launched his book of poems in a fish and chip shop!

All members of society have visited a chip shop. Maybe for a sit-down meal, followed by a cup of tea. Wagon drivers, have visited, while on the go. Even the police in their police cars have relieved stress with a bag of chips (with or without fish). It’s the place where a gentle reading of a newly published book would be appreciated.

Ernest Beck of the ‘Wall Street Journal’ summed me up, in a few sentences.

'A new generation of poets like Mr Street – who hail from working class

backgrounds – are bringing verse back home. For many British Poets like Mr Street pushing poetry is now a mission. Like a wondering medieval minstrel, he’s bringing his art to the people.'

The story about my chip shop project had appeared in the Sunday Times. It was also on BBC North West Radio and TV. This had never been done before. I read my work while standing next to the warm display cabinet of the chippy. I also read at the end of the queue, where those waiting, could relax.

Some customers asked where they could buy my books. Some even talked about their favorite writers: both of poetry and prose. While I was outside on the pavement, children began chalking their own poems or a few lines of a made up story - there and then. It was a community project at its very best. Made so, because everyone knows their chippy and what’s happening there.

Fish and chips have been with the UK since Dickensian times. No-one really knows who the bright spark was, who first added fish to their chips. It has been thought to be a Jewish thing, but no-one is that certain. Fish and chips are devoured by most religious cultures. It is who we are. Fish and Chips are known the world over. The BBC World Service made connections with fish and chip lovers in Saudia Arabia, during the Kaleidoscope program: I was presenting at the time.

Tuesday 7 May 2024

News 7 May 2024

Looking forward to my book event tomorrow, 8 May 2024

I’m launching the fourth of my Peace Child books at the wonderful Time for Tea Café in Prestwich. This is an amazing little café on a busy main road in Prestwich. Yet, the moment you walk through the door you find a haven of peace. There are beautifully laid tables with china cups and saucers as well as delicious cakes and sandwiches.

I’ve had book events there before and you’ll see if you look at the Facebook feed that this really is one of my Creative Cafés. Owner Julie Cornac hosts poetry and musical afternoons.

Look out for details of how it all went into the next newsletter.

Writing news

I’m still working on edits of Peace Child 6. I’m currently in the middle of one about how description should be added in. I’m finding that I’m cutting back quite a few words. That can’t be bad.

Yes, The House of Clementine is out now. Here are the details: https://www.thebridgetowncafebooksshop.co.uk/2024/03/the-house-of-clementine-by-gill-james.html

And here is the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pho20T84UF4 I was very pleased to find an actor that looked exactly as I imagined Meelak.

I’ve also had several pieces published on Talking About My Generation/

There’s my review of A Taste of Honey at the Royal Exchange Theatre. This was an incredibly good production of a classic play, set in Salford. https://talkingaboutmygeneration.co.uk/review-a-taste-of-honey-at-the-royal-exchange-manchester

I have also had one my short stories published there: ‘Warm Spaces’ https://talkingaboutmygeneration.co.uk/warm-spaces-a-short-story-by-gill-james/

Then I spent a marvellous morning with a bunch of guide dogs and a colleague form TamG: https://talkingaboutmygeneration.co.uk/a-day-out-at-the-guide-dogs-tea-party/

On My Blog

I have been busy of the blog. I consider how We Need Fans and Followers, not so much Friends and Family Case in point. I have no family coming to my event tomorrow, and just those friends who are interested in literary events.

I muse on Some Fun Things about Being a Writer

I have an interview with Sally Zigmond who talks about her new short story collection, The Story Weaver.

I’ve had a couple of nasty chest infections recently and so I’ve written about how illness and creativity interact: Illness and Creativity

The Young Person’s Library

Making up for lost time, this month I’ve added three books:

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal, a story for young adults and including vampires.

Wilding by Isabella Tree and Angela Harding is a beautifully illustrated book about rewilding. It’s hard to put an age group on this one and it might well appeal just as much to adults.

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner This is the second book in the Maze Runner series. It is fast paced and shows a dystopian world. Suitable for teens.

Find your copy here

Sample pages

If you like what you’re reading you can click through and find out ways of buying the book. However, I’m still happy to give you a free copy if you’re strapped for cash and / or you’re willing to review. Just contact me.

This month I’m offering Girl in a Smart Uniform

23 March 1932 : food fight?

The doorbell rang. I didn’t want to get up and answer it straight away. I was too absorbed in my history project. Whoever was there rang again and again. Then they kept their finger on the bell. It got louder and louder and started to hurt my ears. All right then. I opened the door, and there was Thomas standing on the step.

“Will you do something for me?”

“What? Why?”

“My mother’s expecting a parcel and I've got to go out.”

“Why can’t you wait for it?”

“Because we’re going on a hike, and we’re going to build a campfire and cook on it.” His eyes were shining.

“Well I hope you don’t mess up your lovely new uniform.” I felt a bit mean as soon as I’d said it.

“You could join the Jungmädel.”

Hmm. Herr Silber kept saying he would buy me the uniform and Kurt thought it would be a good idea. Bear, though, said I would have plenty of time for those sorts of things later. Mutti just smiled and shrugged her shoulders every time the subject came up. Anyway, back then, I wasn’t sure I was thant keen on creepy crawlies and sleeping outside. I wished, though, that I could enjoy things like Thomas did.

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Well, can you take this parcel or not?”

“Yeah, I guess. Just leave a note on the door.”

“Well I hope you don’t get the hook-nose.”

“Hook-nose?”

“He’s a Jew.”

“So?”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Don’t you know anything? You know. Jesus-hater. Home-wrecker. Work-stealer.”

What was he talking about? “Oh, just put a note on the door and tell him to come here.”

Thomas jumped on the spot and clapped his hands. “Thanks.”

I shut the door and returned to my project. What an idiot! Getting so excited about going out into the countryside with a load of other idiots.

Soon I was once again trying to work out who German people were really supposed to be. Herr Lindemann was always going on about how we should be proud to be German and we should look at all the history books to see how great Germans really were. But we’re not. We’re poor and we keep losing wars.

Then I heard Bear coming down the stairs.

“Hey, Giselchen. Are you doing your homework on a nice sunny day like today? You should be out getting some fresh air.”

I smiled to myself. I knew why he was in such a good mood. He’d come back on leave last night and he’d gone for a walk with Helga Brassel. Maybe they’d kissed. I was a bit jealous in a way. Maybe when he came home now he wouldn’t have so much time for me. Never mind, though, I was glad he was happy. He was so nice, my big Bear brother. Especially when he was cheerful. And that always made it nicer for me as well.

He leaned over to see what I was writing. “Oh, oh, oh. The glorious German people. Do you think so, really?”

“It’s what Herr Lindemann says.”

“Well, if it’s what your teacher says, I suppose it must be true. Or at least you’d better pretend to agree just in case.”

As if I’d ever not do what my teacher told me. What was he thinking?

The doorbell rang again. Before I could get up out of my seat Bear had rushed to the front door and opened it. It was the parcel man. I could tell by the conversation.

“That right Giselchen? You’re to take in a parcel for Thomas’s Mutti?”

Did he have to call me that in front of other people? I quite liked it when we were at home together as a family. But I was growing up now and ought to be called by my proper name. “Yes,” I called.

The Schellberg Project

The posts may be helpful for teachers who are familiar with the Schellberg stories or who are teaching about the Holocaust. They may also be interesting for other readers of historical fiction.

I’ve added a couple of posts this month. I’m now looking at many topics that will be useful for the next novel.

I look generally at resistance to Hitler and specifically at assassination attempts.

Some notes about my newsletters and blogs

They do overlap a little but here is a summary of what they all do.

Bridge House Authors For all those published by Bridge House, CaféLit, Chapeltown or The Red Telephone or interested in being published by us. General news about the imprints. News for writers. Links to book performance. Sign up here.

The Bridgetown Café Bookshop where you can buy my books and books published by Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, Chapeltown Books and The Red Telephone. Visit us here.

Chapeltown Books News about our books. Sign up here.

The Creative Café Project News about the project and CaféLit – for the consumer rather than for the producer. Sign up here.

Gill’s News: News about my writing, The Schellberg Project, School Visits and Events. Book recommendations and giveaways. Find it here.

Pushing Boundaries, Flying Higher News about conferences and workshops to do with the young adult novel. (infrequent postings) Sign up here.

Red Telephone Books News about our books and our authors. Sign up here.

A Publisher’s Perspective Here I and some other editors blog as a publisher. Access this here.

The Creative Café Project Listings and reviews of creative cafés. See them here.

CaféLit Stories Find these here

Gill James Writer All about writing and about my books. View this here.

Gill’s Recommended Reads Find information here about books that have taken me out of my editor’s head and a reminder of the ones I’ve highlighted in this newsletter.

Gill’s Sample Fiction Read some of my fiction here.

The House on Schellberg Street All about my Schellberg project. Read it here.

Writing Teacher All about teaching creative writing. Some creative writing exercises. Access this here. I also invite other writers to provide prompts and work for critique.

Books Books Books Weekly offers on our books and news of new books. Find them here.

The Young Person’s Library The children’s book catalogue. Access it here.

Fair Submissions Find it here.

Opportunities for writers are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.

Happy reading and writing.

Thursday 25 April 2024

Illness and creativity

I used to notice when my children were little that after a bout of illness there would be a spurt in their physical growth and perhaps more intriguingly there would be a sudden deeper understanding of something, an increase in their intellectual capacities and better mastery of a skill.

Recently I caught a bug that was going round. This meant a few days of fever, tiredness and coughing. The fever disappeared after three days but the cough and tiredness went on for ten.

I wasn’t ill enough to stay in bed and it was fortunate that it coincided with the Easter break so many of my usual people-facing activities had been suspended for a while.

I did continue with my writing and my routine marketing, editing and book-designing.

But I couldn’t bring myself to organise my book launch, a meeting for the editors I work with or some applications for funding for some projects.

As soon as I felt better I was able to complete those tasks more joyfully and with more inspiration than normal.

Illness seems to give us a useful pause. I wonder whether we become ill because something big is brewing. Or whether illness happens because we have overdone it. Whichever is the truth, and I’m suspecting it’s a mixture of the two, it does seem that after illness we become more proactive and more creative.

Thursday 18 April 2024

Sally Zigmond talks to us about her writing and The Story Weaver.

Tell us about how you came to write these stories.

When my two sons started school, my days were more free so I enrolled in a daytime adult learning course called “ Writing for Publication and Profit.” The ability to make money from writing had never occurred to me before. (Naive or what?) Anyway, I found I enjoyed writing. My first published piece was about the facts, fiction, myth and magic about Dandelions. Then, with my husband's photographs, I wrote about our caravan holidays and did quite well financially. But although fact always pays more than fiction, I soon grew bored and wanted to use my imagination. I was a total ingenue and it took a lot of practise and study for my fiction to be published.

Then I had a stroke of luck – or was it finding myself in the right place at the right time or something to do with stars aligning? Who knows but, in a writing magazine, I saw a small advertisement from someone called Jo Good (now, Jo Derrick), the editor of a small press magazine called QWF: Quality Women's Fiction. I liked the look of it. To cut a very long story short, often happy, but more often sad, Jo and I became firm friends. We still are today on social media but have not seen each other face to face for a very long time.

The Story Weaver is such a lovely title.What was the inspiration behind that?

When I sat my A level in Fashion And Fabric I was struck by how many words and expressions for weaving were used metaphorically in everyday life: that old man in the pub spinning his yarns about his life as a plumber; that man with the pop-star looks and winks who wove a tapestry of lies that entertained all the young girls but made the older women laugh. And what about , "What a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive."? (Sir Walter Scott).

Tell us something about your writing routine.

Like must of us, I have to fit my writing into my daily life. Usually I begin the day with a cup of black coffee checking overnight emails. Then it's the Guardian daily Sudoku, a quick update on Twitter and Facebook, then breakfast. I download my current writing projects and fit them in to the rest of the day.

Do you have a dedicated writing space?

My desk and PC are in the passage/hall between the kitchen/diner. I have a widow but it it is just above my head. I see the sky and tree trunks across the road and but can only see high vehicles such as tractors, dust carts and lorries.

Do you have anything new in the pipeline?

I am currently nearing the end of what I hope will be the final draft of a medieval novel. I have yet to proofread and find all those pesky typos I missed before. Then I will submit it to the many agents I have earmarked. I am not over optimistic but am determined. If all else fails, I will self-publish with help.

Find your copy of The Story Weaver here

Monday 15 April 2024

Some Fun Things about Being a Writer

Only today at breakfast I talked to my husband about how fortunate I was that for the last eleven years of my working life I was in effect paid to do my hobby. I was paid to write, research and talk to other people about writing. I had a job at a university as a lecturer in Creative Writing. I even had a sabbatical in order to just write and research and out of that sabbatical my Schellberg Cycle was born. I shall be starting the seventh and final book soon. Already it is clear there is some fun in writing.

So here is a list of ten things I like about being a writer.

1. Reading , watching TV, going to the cinema or theatre or even gossiping in the pub all add to your understanding of story.

2. Even if you’re reading a book you’re not finding so good you can switch your critical head on and enjoy the analysis.

3. I enjoy going to other writers’ book events. And the festivals and conferences.

4. When you write, you can visit all sorts of worlds you wouldn’t normally know. You can be anyone or anything.

5. If anyone annoys you, you can get revenge by putting them in a novel or sort story.

6. You can get ideas form the most surprising places and at some interesting times: on a bus or at a bus stop, while you’re walking the dog, from some of the “little” stories in your local newspaper.

7. It’s fabulous when you get a copy of your book in your hand.

8. Great reviews make you feel good. And you learn to shrug the others off.

9. It’s encouraging seeing your sale rank go up on Amazon and when you get your royalties.

10. Other writers can become great friends.

So definitely: being a writer is fun.

Saturday 6 April 2024

We Need Fans and Followers, not so much Friends and Family

I found myself getting quite irritated by a tweet I read decently. Another writer was complaining that at a family dinner no one asked her how her writing was going. I wrote a reply which I then deleted. The writer was already upset; there was no point in my upsetting them more. And I’ve actually got quite a lot to say for which there would not be enough characters even if I had a paid account with X.

Why should we actually expect our friends and family to be interested in our writing? My husband is a football fan and often watches three matches at once via computer and TV screen, and apart form a cursory ”How did they get on?” when I’m really trying to assess his mood, I’m not really interested. He’s also an IT expert and very useful in that capacity at times. I’m glad he continues to be successful but again, I don’t need to know the details.

So why should your family, at a family dinner, ask how your writing is going? More likely they need to know how you are doing. Are you well? Are managing to pay the rent? Are you happy? Is there anything they can help with? Aha! Yes, they could buy one of your books. But don’t expect them to think of that unless you tell them.

I have a lot of writing friends and I’m always interested in how their process is going, including with marketing. We chat as professionals working in the same filed often do. But I’m still not necessarily interested in every detail of those works – many of my writing friends work in a genre that doesn’t light my fire.

And there are some writers I adore. I become a fan and if I remember, a follower: I hit the “Follow” button an Amazon.

We probably think we are more emotionally tied to our creative work than people are to other sorts of work. Are we though?

What about your cousin the nurse who has just had to help a patient who was dying? Or your brother-in-law the plumber who has just had to fit a new boiler in a very old house and the pipe-work wouldn’t play ball? Or your friend at the gym who has just had to give someone the sack because they just weren’t up to the job even though that means that they will no longer be able to pay their rent? Do you ever really want to kwon how it’s going for them? Do you bother to ask? If your answer is no, then you have absolutely no right to expect them to be interested in your writing. If yes, then no doubt you will soon see that they’ll show an interest in what’s most on your mind as well.

Some friends and family may also be or become fans and followers. We need to reach out to our identified reader, make sure we’re visible to them and make it’s easy for them to become followers.

We need to be pragmatic. Sure, there is a deeply emotional side to writing – we probably couldn’t do it well if there wasn’t. But we also have to have our business head on. If people aren’t noticing that we’re writing it may well be our own fault.

Tied up with this is imposter syndrome.

The people closest to us don’t get that we need time to write? And we don’t assert that? Why can’t we be more assertive? The answer is probably because we don’t believe it ourselves. Maybe we need to be clearer:

· Grab your time to write. I now shut my study door if I don’t want to be disturbed. My family are now trained; sometimes I forget to open it again – and get an apologetic knock on the door.

· Be prepared to describe yourself as a writer – even if you have a day job tell people that.

· Tell people about your writing when they ask how you are.

· Be proud of what you’ve achieved and be prepared to tell people about it – as long as you don’t get too swanky.

· Find the people who can become fans and followers. I network a lot with children’s writers because I sometimes write for children. But my fans and followers are more likely to be school children and those involved in education. So, I befriend teachers and school librarians on social media.

· Don’t whinge that you’re not getting noticed. Do something that will get you noticed Whinging will get you the wrong sort of attention. If you have friends that have been more successful than you, look at what they’re doing and see if you can emulate. Only, of course, if you feel comfortable with that. Hint: there are zillions of promotional activities that work. There are bound to be a few with which you can feel comfortable. Go grab them.

Enjoy interacting with your fans and followers.

Monday 1 April 2024

News 1 April 2024

Easter weekend

And April Fools’ Day to boot. And the day we put the clock forward. Two bank holidays in one long weekend. So everything is happening at once. A real boon for people who have demanding day jobs.

I note that hot cross buns have been available since just after Christmas – as have chocolate Easter eggs. For me, this dilutes the season a little. I love both hot cross buns and chocolate Easter eggs – but only at Easter.

Easter is early this year and there has been news about fixing the date. I would welcome that and I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t. Yet neither does it seem all that important. The third Sunday of April has been suggested. That’s fine with me.

Easter anyway is a time of much promise. Indeed our garden is looking pretty and should soon be even more beautiful.