In Honour of Rosemary Goodacre

Francesca and Elaine, along with other friends of author Rosemary Goodacre, are running a competition in her name and the proceeds will be going to her favourite charity Spade Work. Meanwhile, we take a trip down memory lane…

With the Rosemary Goodacre Memorial Short Story Competition well on its way, we thought we’d share some photographs of her with us and our fellow friends running the competition: Elaine Everest, Natalie Kleinman, Ann West and Catherine Burrows. They also include our judge Vivien Brown and a lot of Rosemary’s other writing friends from over the years.

There are details of the competition at the end of the post.

Sarah Stephenson, Rosemary and Elaine Roberts at a Romantic Novelists Association Winter Party in 2016

At a daytime writing workshop in 2012. Francesca’s daughter is on Rosemary’s left with Catherine Burrows on her right.

This photo was taken in Oxford prior to the Romantic Novelist’s Association’s Joan Hessayon Award evening in 2018. Rosemary is on the left, then Francesca, Elaine R, Sarah, Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman. We had a lovely time and lots of wine was drunk by all.

Fun and larks at the Write Place creative writing class Christmas party in 2012.

The Romantic Novel Awards in 2016 with Natalie, Sarah, Elaine E, Rosemary and Elaine R.

Caerleon Writers’ Holiday 2013: Rosemary, Angela Johnson, Elaine E, Ann West, Natalie and Linda Barrett.

This was taken at the Romantic Novel of the Year Awards evening in 2015. A lovely evening with Rosemary, Vivien Brown, Francesca and Elaine.

The Romantic Novel Awards 2014: Rosemary, Sarah, Elaine R, Natalie, Elaine E, Catherine, Vivien, Francesca and Karen Aldous.

Having a good chat in our kitchen at the Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference in 2019.

Rosemary and Elaine R having a glass of wine, which seems to be a theme in most of our photos!

Rosemary with Elaine E and Francesca at the Romantic Novelist’s Association Conference in Telford 2016. Have you noticed the wine? Who says romantic novelists don’t know how to have a good time.

Dinner at the RNA’s Conference in 2019: Vivien, Rosemary, Sarah, Catherine, Elaine E

RNA Winter Party 2014: Elaine R and Rosemary

In 2018 Rosemary, Viv, Elaine E and Natalie were travelling First Class to Leeds for the RNA conference.

Rosemary and Natalie travelling back from the conference in Leeds. We were all so much quieter coming back and shattered.

This was the gang attending an interesting talk by Tracy Chevalier in London.

IT’S BEEN LOVELY, IF SAD, SHARING GOOD TIMES WITH A GOOD FRIEND WITH OUR READERS

THE ROSEMARY GOODACRE MEMORIAL SHORT STORY COMPETITION

To commemorate the life of saga author Rosemary Goodacre her friends are organising a short story competition with all profits going to her favourite charity Spadework.  

JUDGE: Vivien Brown

About the competition:

1500 words maximum
Theme: Friendship
Each entry costs £7.50

Prizes:

1st £150.00
2nd £100.00
3rd £50.00 

Entries open 1st November 2021
Entries close midnight 31st March 2022

FOR MORE DETAILS OF THE COMPETITION RULES, AND INFORMATION ABOUT SPADEWORK, HEAD OVER TO THE COMPETITION PAGE

Into The Wild Blue Yonder…

_{Francesca and Elaine are thrilled to welcome Mick Arnold for a chat about the things that interest him, as his latest novel, Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2), is out in the world.}

• 

If you were stuck on a desert island with one person/record/book who or what would it be and why?

I’ve always wanted to be on Desert Island Discs!

Music plays a huge part in my life. I even have to have music on whilst I’m editing. Sorry, weird, but there’s nothing I can do about that, it’s too late for me. Ever since I first heard the songs of the Beach Boys back in 1978 whilst driving across France and Spain to Morocco – I hasten to add, I wasn’t driving as I was way too young – I’ve been in love with their music, but especially that of their main songwriter, Brian Wilson.

So the question is, would I prefer the company of Brian or his masterpiece, the album, Pet Sounds? It’s quite a difficult question as Brian is a genius songwriter, it’s often been said, he’s an amateur human. I’ve met him twice and would have to agree with that assessment. So, Pet Sounds it is.

Pet Sounds is full of fantastic songs. It first came out in 1966 and contains, for instance, God Only Knows, Sloop John B and Wouldn’t It Be Nice (you’ve all heard it on the adverts). Famous for their harmonies, The Beach Boys never sounded as good as on this album. The music and orchestrations are sumptuous and you only have to listen to it once and you’re hooked; or I believe you will be.

This is an album, which I never tire of hearing, and still sounds as fresh to me as when I first tracked it down in 1980. Yes, I remember the date I first obtained this record. At last count, I think I have it on four or five different versions of cd, dvd and blueray, plus an original 1966, which I bought for lp!

Paul McCartney, you may have heard of him, as he used to belong to some British rock group (I forget their name), once said that ‘God Only Knows’ is the greatest song ever written and that Pet Sounds inspired them to come up with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Pet Sounds stands up to anything, at any time and listening to it always puts me in a mellow mood. Simply put, I will never tire of listening to this album and so long as there’s a way for me to listen to it, I’ll be very happy having this with me on my desert island.

How do you select the names of your characters?

You’re going to love this! Usually by looking around where I happen to be writing and seeing if any books (there are usually some around everywhere in the house) have interesting names on their covers. Sometimes though, the names simply come to me as I’m writing. I do have the usual baby name and surname books, but they never seen to be around when I need them.

Do you have a favourite writing place?

Strange as it may seem, just sitting on the sofa, with my laptop on my…um, lap. I’ve tried sitting at a desk and/or table, but it doesn’t seem to work for me. I can’t seem to write if it’s totally quiet either so I’m quite happy with either a good movie on or some music in the background.

Other than writing what else do you love to do?

Listening to music and watching films are two of my favourite things to do, if I’m not writing. I also love just watching my two Romanian Werecats play. Mind you, I’m not quite sure if they aren’t actually just testing out plans for taking over the world!

Thank you so much for chatting to us, it’s clear that you not only have a love of writing but the Beach Boys as well.

About Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2)

Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Doris Winter is accused of stealing a valuable item from a famous Hollywood movie star, now a Captain in the US Army Air Corps, after a dance at the air base in England where he’s stationed. Gathering her close friends together, she’s determined to clear her name.

Ruth’s POW son suffers a life-changing injury just as her own cottage takes damage in an air raid and Penny’s estranged little sister unexpectedly turns up, having run away from school. Together with the ongoing thefts of items of clothing and surprise personal revelations, these all threaten to hamper their investigation.

In spite of the worsening war situation, they must band together to rise above their troubles and prove love and friendship is worth fighting for.

Buy links:

Amazon UK – Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2)

Aamzon US – Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2)

Amazon AU – Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2)

Amazon CA – Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2)

iBooks         – Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2)

Nook           – Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2)

Kobo          – Wild Blue Yonder (Broken Wings Book 2)

A word about the author…

Mick is a hopeless romantic who was born in England and spent fifteen years roaming around the world in the pay of HM Queen Elizabeth II in the Royal Air Force before putting down roots and realizing how much he missed the travel. He’s replaced it somewhat with his writing, including reviewing books and supporting fellow saga and romance authors in promoting their novels.

He’s the proud keeper of two cats bent on world domination, is mad on the music of the Beach Boys, and enjoys the theatre and humoring his Manchester United-supporting wife. Finally, and most importantly, Mick is a full member of the Romantic Novelists Association. Wild Blue Yonder is the second novel in his Broken Wings series and he is very proud to be a part of the Vintage Rose Garden at The Wild Rose Press.

Contact/Social media links –

FaceBook:            https://www.facebook.com/MWArnoldAuthor

Twitter:                @mick859

Instagram:           mick859

YouTube channel: M A Arnold

Café Life and Ice Cream

Francesca looks at how growing up in cafés between the Fifties and Seventies has influenced her novels, as she continues the series inspired by The Great British Bake Off. And there’s ice cream!

After a day working at the cafe as a teen

All writers are bound to be influenced by their own upbringings, and it’s certainly true of me. The first novel I ever wrote was a YA called Sea Angel. The main character in it was fourteen-year-old Morwen. Although her fortunes and failures weren’t mine, and I didn’t have to live over the place like she did, we naturally had much in common. That included youthful resentment at having to work in the business in our spare time.

I pictured Morwen’s café to look much like our own, even if I did lift it out of Littlehampton and place it in an imaginary Sussex village called Littlebay. Recently it has featured again in both a 1970s pocket novel I’ve written and in a saga I’ve begun set in 1914, where it remains firmly in Littlehampton.

The Mediterranean in the early 60s, circled.

The business in Littlehampton (incongruously called The Mediterranean), was a seaside restaurant serving (in my humble opinion) some of the best fish and chips I’ve ever tasted. It also sold pork and lamb chops, sausages, ham, eggs, spam and spam fritters (remember those?) in different combinations with chips and a choice of beans or peas. There were also ham or cheese salads and roast beef and two veg. Over the years the menu changed little, being what the day trippers desired during the Sixties and Seventies.

View from the Mediterranean of the River Arun

The fish was delivered fresh every day from a local fishmonger. I recall a long-time chef we employed boning the cod and plaice with great skill. There was certainly nothing frozen. The kitchen housed two large fryers into which were melted huge blocks of lard. In the basement was a peeling machine that removed the skins before the potatoes were chipped. This was originally done by a type of guillotine hand slicer, then later on an electric chipper. They were then part fried and kept in an industrial sized fridge in the basement until needed. Twice fried chips before they were even a thing!

For dessert you could choose between peaches and/or ice cream, chocolate gateau, apple pie and cheesecake. We also served up a very nice frothy coffee (in the days before there were myriad variations) and strawberry, chocolate or pineapple milkshakes, made with ice cream.

The Criterion in the early 70s had a name change

Regrettably, there was never time to bake our own cakes, though we did get them delivered from a nice patisserie.  Further back, when my father had The Criterion café in Worthing, there was a time when he made his own ice cream. I never thought to ask Dad what his recipe was, though I do recall him saying it involved large cans of condensed milk.

Me, circa 1959, outside the Criterion.

This café, where I spent the first three years of my life (especially since we did live over this one), was more a snack based eating establishment. It used to open from nine in the morning till eleven at night, the evenings attracting the café youth culture of the Fifties.

The Criterion featured in a 1950s series I had published in The People’s Friend called Happy Days at the Criterion. It tells of the meeting and romance between Gwen and Renzo, based on how my own parents met and got together.

A busy evening at the Criterion, c1958

Back in the early 90s, I acquired an electric ice cream making machine. I think these days they’re much easier to use, but back then you had to keep adding combinations of salt and ice to the outside layer and the whole process was a real pain. It made me wonder what kind of effort Dad had expended in making it by hand. I persisted with the machine and made many different flavours of ice cream over the decade. One of my favourites has to be brown bread ice cream.

Brown bread ice cream originated in the Georgian era. It seems to have made a bit of a comeback recently, though I first tasted it in a restaurant in Lincoln over thirty years ago. It was this that prompted me to try making my own, once I took possession of my machine.

It’s been many years since I gave up on the contraption, but I still have the recipe for the brown bread ice cream, which I make occasionally now by hand.

Brown Bread Ice Cream

450ml milk
1 vanilla pod or 3 drops of essence
4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
50g dry brown breadcrumbs
150ml double cream

Ice cream dishes and a tablecloth I kept from the Mediterranean

Put the milk and vanilla into a heavy-based saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Remove from the heat, cover and stand for ten minutes. Remove vanilla pod and reheat to simmering.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale yellow. Gradually pour the hot milk into the eggs, stirring continually. Strain into a heavy-based or double saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the custard thickens enough to cover the back of a spoon. Do not boil. Allow the mixture to cool and place in a freezer for one-and-a-half hours, until mushy.

Gently toast the breadcrumbs under a low grill, turning them to ensure they toast evenly. Put aside to cool.

Beat the cream to form soft peaks. Fold the cream and breadcrumbs into the frozen custard and freeze. Beat the mixture after one hour, then seal and freeze.

Enjoy!

 

The Mediterranean was sold in 1981 and for a time became a  burger bar. It eventually returned to being a fish and chip restaurant called Osca’s. It looks very different to when we had it, but I’m pleased to report that their fish and chips, tried recently by Elaine and me, are excellent and I recommend a visit if you’re in Littlehampton.

 

Francesca’s latest novel, Heartbreak in the Valleys, a Great War saga set in Wales, will be published June 10th 2020 and is available for pre-order.

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Danger for Daisy

Food, Glorious Food

Elaine and Francesca on researching food and how they use it in their writing.

Victorian China

Elaine: If we write short stories or novels, historical or modern, regardless of genre, we should always include food and of course plenty of cups of tea. When writing about a character eating, the author is giving the reader information about them. What food they eat could reveal their social standing in society. How they eat it could depict not only their social standing, but also when they last had a meal, and of course their manners. Food is often used in romantic and sex scenes; that was nicely depicted in the Disney film, Lady and The Tramp when they had a spaghetti dinner. What and how we eat has changed over the years and therefore, the meal could indicate the time the novel is set in.

I remember attending the opening of the first McDonalds in Britain, I believe it was 1972. The group I was with were totally shocked that we had to eat with our fingers and we decided there and then that it would never take off. Obviously, we couldn’t have been more wrong. This demonstrates the importance of making sure the food facts are correct because it is easy to get caught out.

Mrs Beaton’s Cookery Book

I am writing a first draft of a Victorian Saga and there is a lot of information about everything on the Internet; sometimes I wonder how authors managed twenty years ago. However, I purchased a Mrs Beaton’s Cookery Book, which is wonderful. It is more than a cook book. There are pages and pages of etiquette of that time, even what to do if the Queen pays you a visit.

@RobertsElaine11

Francesca: Looking through my fiction I find that food features large – quite apart from those endless cups of tea/coffee imbibed in the kitchen!

Competitions often have a food theme to comply with. I have a couple of stories in this category that have enjoyed comp success. Far From Home, set in 1915, features an Italian called Margherita who is in England without many of the ingredients normally available to her. She has to use lard instead of olive oil, for instance. Through research I also discovered that garlic wasn’t often grown and was viewed with suspicion! Food is the means by which she gets to know a handsome Canadian soldier.

A dinner table full of characters: are they ready for romance, a family bust up or a little mischief?

Insatiable included the themes of gluttony, lust and greed (the general theme of the comp was the Seven Deadly Sins, so I thought I’d go for a few!) Cue lots of food metaphors in the lustful parts! More research, this time into 1950s food, was required, bearing in mind there was still some rationing in the early years.

But I don’t seem to need a set theme to employ food in my plots. Goat’s Head Soup is about Miranda who holds a dinner party for her husband’s condescending friends. They get their comeuppance when Miranda serves up something a little unconventional.

Then there is Thinking Outside the Cakebox (about a cupcake shop), Foolproof (where the pensioner next door saves her neighbour’s dinner party) and An Alternative Christmas  (where the local hippies save Christmas for their neighbours after a power cut because they have an Aga!).

The cafe where I was born, in the late ’50s.

Two of the novels I’ve written are set in cafés. Not surprising since I was born in one. They are a great basis for all sorts of shenanigans. In one of these novels, and in a couple of my others, the main protagonists indulge in dinners a deux – not to be underestimated for their romantic potential.

Yes, food is certainly very handy when it comes to time and place setting, for the senses, for a family bust up, a romance or a little mischief. It’s something we can all relate to.

@FCapaldiBurgess

You can read Far From Home  in the anthology 7 Food Stories from Rome

 

Retreating to the Seaside

Francesca reflects on the advantages and fun of writing retreats.

Hastings Old Town would make a good setting for a novel.

Do you ever go on writing retreats? I’ve been going on at least one a year since 2010 and I thoroughly recommend them. They’re an enjoyable way to achieve a good number of words, with no household or family day to day incidents to distract you.

That’s not to say that it’s all work, work, work. There’s got to be a balance. It helps to have an agreed format with those you’re on retreat with. In my experience it goes something along these lines:

• Morning: work till coffee time. Go out for coffee
• After coffee: work
• Lunch: Snack lunch provided and shared by attendees
• Afternoon: Write till around 3.30. Have a cup of tea and a natter.
• Work till dinner time.
• After dinner: Watch TV, a film, natter, feedback.
• Work if you’re a night owl

A lovely old boat in Whitstable which could spark new story ideas

The breaks seem plentiful but are an encouragement. Plenty of mini goals can be set which I always find spurs me on. Having breaks is also an opportunity for feedback.

The proportion of work the participants get done during each period depends on whether they’re a morning, afternoon or evening person. During my retreat in Hastings, my writing buddy, Angela Johnson, achieved more in the mornings, whereas I did more in the afternoons. She also managed to get an early morning walk in most days before even starting! Another writing buddy, Elaine Roberts, is also a morning person, whereas Elaine Everest likes to work later in the day.

A feature of  some retreats I’ve been on is each person cooking an evening meal, which has provided at least four dinners during the week. The other days, particularly the first and last, we’ve eaten out. How much you do that depends on what people want to spend, so retreats can be tailored to a budget. Sharing a house obviously divides renting costs. If you’re prepared to share bedrooms (I’m afraid we never are), it brings the cost down again.

Littlehampton in the winter sun

All but one of the retreats I’ve been on have taken place by the sea –Whitstable, Littlehampton and Hastings – so there is much to inspire a thalassophiliac* like me. Perhaps mountains or woods are more your thing and you prefer to hide yourself away completely. Personally I feel it helps to have shops nearby. The one retreat we did where we were in the middle of nowhere (if you can call being seven miles from Hastings that!), we couldn’t even pop out for milk.

The final feature of all the retreats I’ve attended has been a day out in the middle to somewhere interesting. It’s another chance to recharge those batteries and could even be a chance for a little research.

If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative and you have close family living at a distance, you could always ask to spend a week at theirs. It’s particularly useful if they’re at work during the day and you can get on, while enjoying their company in the evening. It’s not something I’ve done yet but I have thought about it.

To all those on a retreat soon, happy writing – and don’t get snowed in like we nearly did our first year in Whitstable!

Whitstable beach in the snow, 2010

* A thalassophiliac is someone who loves the sea!

 @FCapaldiBurgess

 

 

 

 

Never Work with… Children?

Francesca wonders whether the WC Fields quote applies in writing also. Is creating young characters troublesome?

The original ‘Cosmo’.

A couple of years ago, I received a critique for a novel that featured three-year-old twins, Elin and Rhys. The feedback was greatly encouraging, though it did call into question whether my toddlers would speak and act the way they did. The critiques are done anonymously, so I didn’t have an opportunity to say yes, they would, because they’re based heavily on my eldest grandson, Luca, himself three at the time. For that reason I felt confident I’d got them more or less right.

It wasn’t the first, or last, piece of writing where the child characters were inspired by my own progeny. Around the same time I wrote a long short story (if you get what I mean) about a cute three-year-old called Cosmo, who loved ‘woowoos’, ie, emergency vehicles. He was also based on Luca. The story was sadly commissioned for an anthology that never saw the light of day – but I’m not bitter!

It’s not only Luca who gets to hog the limelight. The third short story I had published,  A New Beginning, in The Weekly News back in 2009, featured teenager Peter. It’s no coincidence that Peter is the name of my oldest son. Since then each of my four children have appeared in at least one story, though not always under their own names. Using them as models for characters has been useful though.

To date I’ve written eleven short stories and five novels that feature children or teens. My first two novels were, in fact, Young Adult. The second of those (shortlisted for the Wells Festival of Literature Children’s Competition in 2016) featured several sixteen-year-olds. While none of them were based on my children, I did use them as source material on various aspects of young adult life. There’s nothing funnier than hearing your teenage son on the phone go, ‘Yeah man, sweet, sweet. Sick!’

Peter in his ‘Bluestone’ days.

Peter and my younger son Jack have both been involved in the music scene, one as a musician, the other as a club DJ. This has been useful for research. Peter even made me a CD compilation of club music, to play and refer to while writing a party scene. I can tell you it’s weird hearing a sample of Thomas the Tank Engine in the middle of a drum and bass piece!

With or without your own progeny, there are plenty of other ways to research children and teens. Observe them in cafes and on trains. Children’s and youth magazines are useful. What’s in with the little kids these days? What are teens wearing, listening to, watching? Get a TV guide and see what programmes are popular. Watch a bit of BBC 3.

Dear Diary…

It also helps if you have a good memory – and a diary. I’ve long been in possession of a journal written in the summer 1971, by half-a-dozen of us who worked at my dad’s cafe. We were thirteen/fourteen at the time. Yes, it was common for that age group to do seasonal cafe work back then. We were fascinated and frightened by boys in equal measure. The diary reveals us to be crazy, bitchy, moody and inclined to stomp off and cry (the others, not me of course!). I’ve recently used the diary, along with my own memories, for a short story set in 1971 about Sandi and Steve. It was a hoot revisiting those mad days of funfairs and discos. Diaries from one’s youth are handy for recalling what it was like to be young.

As the WC Fields quote goes, Don’t work with animals and children. Animals in writing is a whole other subject I might cover another time, but I’d contest the children part. I’ve enjoyed creating children older and younger, playing out their stories on paper. They’re complex, wonderful, exasperating, worrying and hilarious. What more could you ask of a character? And I’ll let you into a secret. Despite coining that quote, WC Fields secretly admired children greatly. So there you go. Do work with children, on the page in a writer’s case. It’s fun!

@FCapaldiBurgess

 

Back Where We Belong…

Francesca and Elaine are catching up with what’s been going on in the last couple of months.

Elaine: So you first Francesca, what’s your excuse for being absent?

Enjoying the RNA London Chapter Christmas meal in December

Francesca: Well Elaine, I spent the latter part of 2017 editing my historical novel, set in 1915/1916 in South Wales. It has taken me a lot longer than the contemporaries I’ve written, for obvious reasons. The history graduate in me has pushed me to research, re-research, then research a little more. It doesn’t take much to become absorbed by even quite minor subjects and spend longer on it than is necessary.

I’ve found this particularly with the census. I’m fascinated with the minutiae of everyday life as revealed by these documents. It’s all too easy to get carried away, especially when you can sit in the comfort of your own home to study them, rather than in a records office as I did forty years ago, straining my eyes to look at the microfiche.

Okay, Elaine, what’s the excuse for your absence from the blog?

Elaine: Oh you mean apart from spending several weeks in bed with the flu virus that has been going around and obviously excluding Christmas, which is always a hectic time in my house. You know, I can’t believe how long it’s been since we last chatted here. Where have those weeks gone?

Elaine’s New Photo

Gosh, I sound like my mother!

Anyway, my year ended with stunned excitement, if that’s possible. I received an e-mail and phone call from Aria, which is the digital imprint of Head of Zeus Publishers. I have signed a three-book contract with them and, if I’m honest, I still can’t believe it. It all feels very surreal after years of working towards that goal, but watch this space for further news of the cover, title and publishing date. To celebrate, my son took a new photograph of me, so I thought I’d share that with you.

So what’s next Francesca?

Francesca: First of all, congratulations! You deserve the success as I know you’ve worked hard. As for me, I’ve nearly finished editing now and it will then be submission time. With a bit more time back, I’m going to concentrate on other submissions too, particularly the short stories, which have taken a back seat during the current novel. I’m looking forward to writing and submitting some shorter pieces.

And what’s next for you, Elaine?

Elaine: I’m working on book two of my contract, but I don’t want to give too much away at this stage. It was already started, but now I know someone is going to actually read it, I’m revisiting the structure of it. I shall also be working on the edits of book one when they come through.

I have a list of things to do, most of it around social media and promotion, but I also need to start thinking about book three.

It’s scary times ahead.

What have you lot been up to then? We’d love to read your comments.

@RobertsElaine11

@FCapaldiBurgess

You can read Francesca’s January Competition Monthly on the RNA Blog here

 

 

Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail

Elaine Roberts has been thinking about what people do to motivate themselves and carry on when things get too much. She’s had a lot going on in her personal life so, consequently, has been feeling too tired and demotivated to do anything. 

When my children get those same feelings, I always tell them life is all about small steps, which lead to bigger steps that occur naturally.

NaNoWriMo Logo

I came to the conclusion I should practice what I preach, so to speak. As a writer, NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) is a motivation, and the aim is to write fifty thousand words in a month. Straight away, the immediate and automatic reaction was “whoa, I could never do that”. Then I thought, what if I aim for fifty thousand, but not worry if I don’t make it because that way, the daily word count would increase.

 

That’s fine if you’re a writer, but what if you’re not. Here are some of the things that have worked for me, which I would recommend:

• Have an overall plan. My plan is to be published, but my dream is to walk into bookshops and supermarkets and see my books on the shelves.
• Set specific achievable goals that are measureable, with a realistic timescale for you and the life you lead. It doesn’t matter about how small the goal is, because it’s about stacking the building blocks, towards achieving the plan that you have decided upon.
• Celebrate when you reach those goals, even if it’s only with a cup of tea and a happy dance around the front room.
• Put yourself out there, wherever out there is for you. It can be intimidating, but there’s nothing like mixing with people who are aiming for similar things. With the Internet and social media, there are forums and groups you can join.
• Be positive. I always say to my children, if it was easy everyone would be doing it, whatever “it” is. Don’t take on board other people’s negativity; that is their issue, not yours.
• Give yourself time to serve your apprenticeship. Learn your craft properly. I have several written novels that I thought were great at the time. When the rejections came through, I was crushed, but now my knowledge has increased, I’m quite relieved they didn’t get anywhere.
• Write a list. We all love a list. You can’t beat ticking things off a list, to make you feel you’ve achieved something.
• Whatever the plan is, do your research. Look at what others are achieving and how they are doing it. I’ve come to the conclusion there is nothing you can’t find on the Internet.
• Above all else, don’t give up. Whenever I feel like that, I remind myself how some of the best authors have struggled to be published, and I don’t put myself in the same bracket as them.
• Remember it’s all about the journey, not forgetting where you started from and what you can do to encourage others to achieve their goals.

Be Positive

Whatever you want to do, go for it. Make time for yourself and your dreams. The harder you work, the luckier you get.

Good luck xx

@RobertsElaine11

Wintertime Blues: Seasonally Affected Settings?

Francesca considers her wintertime blues and wonders whether this affects the seasons she sets her stories in.

Winter sunset – pretty but too early in the day (Devon)

As a child I don’t think I paid much heed to the clock change of late October that caused daylight to disappear an hour earlier in the afternoons. To me at that time it meant apple bobbing at school, Guy Fawkes Night and ultimately, Christmas. The Yuletide period didn’t appear in the shops so early back then, certainly not in September, and definitely not August when the seasonal catalogues tend to plop through the letterbox these days.

Even now, the earliest I am willing to entertain Christmas is November. I’ve wondered recently whether I’ve picked this random date because the clocks change around the same time and dark afternoons become a reality. After this event I wait eagerly for the first of the Christmas lights to appear in front gardens and windows, as I drive along the road.

One of the summer settings I’ve used (Littlehampton)

Once the festive season is over and the decorations are packed away, I look each evening for signs of later sunsets. I dread the winter months, not because of the cold weather but because of the short days. Possibly this is the reason that five of the six contemporary novels I’ve written are set largely over spring and summer, as is the serial and many of my short stories. Could this be a manifestation of something I shall call Writer’s SAD?

The novel that does have a large winter element ends in July. Two others that begin in late winter likewise end in the summer. The historical I’m currently working on, set in a Welsh mining village in the Valleys in World War I, starts in a November. There is a real life reason for this, but this will also end in July because I want it to.

Maybe you prefer a winter setting (Amsterdam)

Maybe there is something symbolic about beginning a novel in winter and ending it in the summer, for me at least. They start at a ‘dark’ time, ending with sunshine and ‘light’. I could be reading too much into this and it’s probably simply that I like spring and summer so I contrive, albeit subconsciously, to set most of the action then.

Do any of you have a favoured season in which to set your novels, or is it just me?

@FCapaldiBurgess

The End of an Era: Fishguard/Caerleon Summer Writers’ Holiday

Francesca waves a fond farewell to the summer Writers’ Holiday in Fishguard and takes a trip down memory lane

During my stay at the Writers’ Holiday in Fishguard this July, I was very sad to learn that it would be the last such summer event. I’ve attended the summer Writers’ Holiday every year since 2008, when it was still being held in Caerleon. It switched venues in 2014. Here, in no particular order, (apart from vaguely chronological) are some photo memories, some of the venue, some of the area, some of trips during the ‘holiday’ (we all used to work jolly hard, honestly!). Some people seem to be missing from my photos, and some years I can’t locate at all, for which I apologise.  I’m not putting names to anybody, but if you spot yourself in a photo, or you have your own memories of the Writers’ Holiday, feel free to leave a comment. 

Huge thanks, as always, to Anne and Gerry Hobbs for all the hard work and devotion they put into the event over the thirty plus years – for all the courses, after-teas, talks, trips out, pick-ups, choir evenings and everything else they and their family organised. So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, hwyl fawr. Though of course, it’s not entirely the end…

 

 

…No, it’s not the end of Writers’ Holiday altogether, as the February weekend event will still be running. It will now also  feature the wonderful Cwmbach Male Choir, who’ve entertained us all these years at the summer event. More details here.

@FCapaldiBurgess