Just Reading and Writing!

Hello again

Well, the wedding was a great success!  The Pasha of Taff and I turned up in costume for the medieval banquet accompanied by the Pasha's bodyguard and our serving wench!  The weather in Somerset was glorious which was all the more surprising because the week before had not been very good at all.  The bride, groom and best man wore costume for the ceremony in the Tenants' Hall of Dunster Castle and being champion archers, they exited under an arch of longbows.  Peterkin, the fool, was tremendous.  From balancing an egg on his nose, to stilt-walking and fire-eating, he kept everyone laughing and certainly helped pass the time between meal courses.

We stayed in the pretty little town of Watchet with its harbours and narrow streets.  I took lots of photos and have been trying to find a way to 'stitch' them together into a panoramic view.  When I've got it sussed, I'll post it here.

Back to one of my novels, I was very pleased recently to find 'The Spry', a real Severn 'trow' (rhymes with 'crow' and is a type of flat-bottomed boat) in Blist's Hill which gave me a real sense of size.  A scale model of it was to be found in the British Waterways Museum at Gloucester Docks and that was of even more use as it clearly showed me the interior.  I was having a few problems with the plot because I couldn't clarify the sleeping arrangements on board and so wasn't quite sure where to put my heroine!  I can now get on with the next few chapters which will then go into the Walsall Writers' Circle folio for peer review.  

Well, enjoy the weather!

Best wishes

Alison

Well!  I had two acceptances yesterday - one in the new Barnardos book, 'Things Kids Say' and the second was on Hackwriters.com with a version of 'A Rocky Adventure'.   I must admit I was as chuffed as could be!  It's been a while since I've had an acceptance, and the reason for that is because I haven't sent off much recently so I shouldn't be very surprised, should I?  The thing is, I'm concentrating on a few other things at the moment, one of which is putting together some medieval costumes for my cousin's wedding.  I don't want to let down the side and all that.  However, I did manage to fit in some on -the-ground research for my Regency novel so I will be able to do a re-write on part of that now.  I'll try and get another story or article uploaded to the site in the next few days. 

In the meantime, enjoy the bank holiday!

Alison

If you're new to my website, welcome!  I hope you enjoy reading my stories and articles.  There's not a lot here yet, but they're coming - albeit slowly!

I have finished the photos for Turkey and I can honestly say it was a fabulous place to visit.  It's on my very short list of places to go to for a second time.  Usually if I've been somewhere I'm not particularly fussed in going back but Turkey is so big that I could happily go back several times and still not see everything.

In the meantime, please feel free to post comments about anything that you find here - I'd like to know how you think I can improve.

Enjoy the bank holiday

Alison

As you can see, I have added some more photos, this time from a trip to Turkey.  The slideshow isn't quite finished as there are some more photos to come, but do have a look and let me know what you think.

More stories etc to come later.

Alison

Hi

Well, I sent off my latest short story to its intended market and it was returned by the next post!  I can't make up my mind whether that's good or bad.  When I first sent off stories it used to take ages to get them back so either the publishers have changed their way of rejecting stories or someone recognises my name and thinks I'm getting closer to what they want.  Hmmm.  I know which one I want it to be, but I have a suspicion that the other might be true!  How depressing.  Anyway, I've now put the story into the postal folio for WWC and I'll see what they have to say.   

My projects continue apace.  The latest is a collaboration on a radio script with a friend from WWC - we've spent three weeks on it so far and just about sorted out the plot!  Sadly, it won't get finished before Easter but we're very pleased with what we've achieved so far.

I'll blog again soon so in the meantime, happy writing and have a very happy Easter!

Alison

Hi

I've just added a new short story - well, I say 'new' but actually it's quite an old story but I thought it was worth an airing so it's new to the site.  It's called 'Ed's Big Night Out' - I hope you enjoy it!

Happy New Year - belatedly!

Well, everything went onto hold whilst I had a couple of operations in October 2009.  Recuperation was slow and I had a couple of quite scary moments which, thinking about them now, shouldn't have worried me, but they did.  If only foresight was as clear as hindsight!  However, I am now able to go back to work but because of the snow, I've only managed two days.  The spirit is willing and all that... 

What I found difficult to come to terms with was the fact that I wasn't able to write whilst I was off.  My inspiration was missing or, as I heard someone say on the tv the other day, "my mojo was gone"!   But I've got some some short stories in the pipeline at the moment, the sort that might be suitable for People's Friend or other women's magazines.  It's all good practice in writing to the market and that is what I find very difficult.  The answer is to just keep writing.  It doesn't matter if I'm not a Tolstoy, Binchy or JK Rowling.  No-one else has to read my work until I'm ready and even if it's no good now, there might be a gem there that could stand being re-written at a later date.

Happy writing!

Hello again.

My blog is falling behind a bit, I'm afraid.  The summer was spent in landscaping the back garden and I'm as pleased as punch with it: I'll post a photo when it is all planted up.  I am still writing when I get time.  At the moment, I'm doing a re-write on my novel 'Hannah's House' (working title); I've started a play about Leslie and Ischi and I had quite a positive critique back about the Leslie and Ischi letters which means that the manuscript will need to be updated as soon as I can.  Oh, and I had an idea for another novel which I've just roughed out so that I don't forget it but that will have to join the queue behind the other two novels that are awaiting attention.  I must finish the things I've started first!

Have a fun Halloween and a happy and safe bonfire night!

Hello again

It's been a long time since I posted anything on here, but this going to work lark really gets in the way of writing!  Anyway, I haven't given up - in fact, I've been very brave and sent off the Leslie and Ischi letters to a literary agency who are going to give me a critique.  The Agency seemed quite enthusiastic about the whole idea of these letters, but then I've had publishers express an interest and then lose heart.  However, I wonder if the problems I've been having have been because I haven't presented them correctly.  I've put them together into a book complete with appropriate fonts and illustrations but something that one publisher said has made me wonder if this has put them off.   I'm hoping the Agency will be able to put me right on this score!  Whilst, I'm waiting for their reply to come through, I'll carry on doing bits of writing and posting pieces to share with you.

As you will see, I've posted a paragraph about some letters that were written just after WW2 and I will eventually post some extracts for you to get a flavour.  If you want to know more, however, you'll have to contact me!