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| The view form my window |
I will say straight away, though, that we were very well looked after. It felt as if our right to write was honoured. Okay, so yes, we have to pay for the visit, but the price was extremely reasonable for what we got.
I’d intended to try to do about four hours a day and then do some other things – like marketing. In the end, though I did do much more writing: about seven hours a day. I even managed about four hours each way on the journey there and back. And there was time too to socialise over meals and the six-o-clock glass of wine. There was even time for a few walks in the pretty
surrounding countryside.
Normally, I slow right down after the first couple of hours. This time, though, I managed to go at full strength. I wonder whether it was because I knew four other people were also writing?
Books and short stories
I’ve now completed the ninth edit of Girl in a Smart Uniform and have just started the tenth. This means that the very important but relatively easy dialogue edit has been completed. This really helps the novel to come along. It’s beginning to become solid. I’m now culling quite a bit of the description.I’m steaming ahead with the chapter on war in my book on children’s literature. Naturally I’ve included Lines in the Sand. Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman feature a lot in this chapter as one might imagine. I’ll also be writng about Elizabeth Laird and Beverly Naidoo who both set stories in troubled part soft the world. In writing this chapter I’ve become more aware that there are some children for whom war is a part of normal life. They have never known life without war.
I’m very pleased to have got two more stories accepted on the Cut a Long Story site – Access Denied and Extra Dimensions. This happened the same week as I was sent the proofs of The Best of CafeLit 4 in which I have a short story and a piece of flash memoir.
I’m still I’m getting a lot of visits to my Spooking Facebook page. I still wonder why. Is it affecting sales?
Bridge House
We’ve almost finished editing the stories for the Snowflakes. I’m busy now putting a book trailer together. This is always good fun. We’ve started looking at covers.Don’t forget we’re already planning the celebration in London. Note for your diary: 5 December. Those writers in the anthology will be given first refusal on tickets. The CafeLit4 people will follow, then other Bridge House and CafeLit writers and finally anyone. We’re hoping to get between 50 and 100 people there. We’re making the event free this time but there will be a cash bar. There will be books on sale, too – Snowflakes and The Best of CafeLit 4. There will also be a few other Bridge House titles on sale.
CafeLit
Remember, we’re always open to submissions. Find out how here. We’ve now put together The Best of CafeLit 4. This is currently being proof read. It will be a slightly slimmer volume than usual; this time we have more pieces of flash fiction. Our 100-worders are in fact very popular.Creative Café
We’re always looking for new cafés. I’ve now added some resources for café owners. We’re also continuing to look for reviews of existing cafés. If you visit one of the cafés in the project and would lie to write a review of between 250 and 350 – nice, too to have a couple of pictures – query via the contact form.School Visits
As I said last month, I am now limiting my school visit to these associated with The House on Schellberg Street project. I’m still offering visits on this for a donation towards the project. I’ve devised a whole interactive workshop for this. It would be a real asset for any school teaching the Holocaust at Key Stage 3. Even if a school can’t afford a donation, I’d be happy to run the project.Query for a school visit via the contact form.
The Red Telephone
I’m just finishing what I hope are the final edits on Kathy Dunn’s The Demon Magician. We’ve now set a release date for 31 October. We’re currently looking at covers.There will be a new call for submissions once this has gone to print which shouldn’t be too long now.
I’d like to remind you of our new enterprise - something between a mentoring system and an online course. Though publication is not guaranteed, we will at least look at your full book if you’ve attended one of the courses. We’re offering it for free to a few people at first. We’ll refine as we go along based on feedback from our clients. We’ll then continue to offer it at a discount for a while before going to full price when we’re completely happy with it. We’re not sure what full price will be. Again, we’ll be guided by our current clients. Find out more here.
Looking Forward
I’ve now booked for the NAWE conference in November, where I’ll be delivering a session on Build a Book in An Hour and a Quarter. This is based on the school workshop that I do on Build a Book in a Day. The emphasis here though will be on kick-starting inspiration for adult writers, coupled with a knowledge that the work will get out there.Then the following week I’m off the SCBWI –BI conference in Winchester. This will be a little like going home. I did my MA in Writing for Children there. At this conference I’ll just sit back and listen though I shall be looking for copy for Network News in Words and Pictures.
There’s another conference in November as well. Three weekends running ….! Gulp. Booking hotels and trains is actually quite stressful at times but I’m more and more reluctant to drive these days. I find train journeys good for getting work done.
SCBWI North West has plenty of activity, too. We’re at the Imperial War Museum next Saturday and as well as critiquing, we’ll be looking at self-publishing. Then we have a visit form the Skylark agency at the end of the month.
Being a writer certainly does not mean being lonely.
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