tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34813874297188835272024-03-05T23:51:59.388-08:00Vivien Hampshire THIS BLOG IS NO LONGER ACTIVE.
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Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-64319169438295404472017-06-05T05:18:00.000-07:002017-06-05T05:18:21.225-07:00The busy life of a writer...
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<span style="font-size: large;">The last few weeks have brought plenty of excitement… <o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Firstly, the RNA’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Joan
Hessayon Awards</b>. What a lovely evening that was! In front of a room full of
romantic novelists, enjoying wine and nibbles, my fellow nominees and I had our
photos taken, our books praised, and then, having waited in line like a group
of naughty schoolgirls outside the Head’s office, we all received a certificate
and cheque as we were loudly cheered and made to feel very special. No, I didn’t
win, but huge congratulations to Kate Field, who did. And it was great to meet
so many writers, and to see my editors there enjoying the moment too.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan Hessayon Award contenders with me 4th at the back</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And then, a week later, after an early meal with friends in
Shaftesbury Avenue, it was on to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Romance
in The Court</b>, a very warm, relaxed and enjoyable evening at (and outside)
Goldsboro Books near Leicester Square, mixing with authors, editors and
readers. Another event involving free wine (what a shame I don’t drink the
stuff!), with the added bonus of being able to buy newly published books and
have them signed there and then by their authors. I couldn’t resist coming home
with the new Jean Fullerton novel, which even she was surprised to see on the shelves
so far ahead of its official publication day! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next stop: The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SWWJ’s
Summer Gathering</b>. After the annual general meeting, at which I hope to be
re-elected to the Council, we will all be enjoying afternoon tea and an
interesting speech from the ALCS, that wonderful organisation that hands out
money to grateful writers without any of us really understanding exactly where
it comes from! Maybe after this event we will know a little more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And so it’s now back to the proper work of a novelist: writing
and promoting, in roughly equal measure. With <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How To Win Back Your Husband</i>’s five minutes of fame at the awards
evening now behind me, it’s all systems go for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lily Alone</b>, due to be e-published in just eleven days’ time. I have
been busy designing some eye-catching ads and promoting the book on facebook
and twitter, and it is already available to reviewers and book bloggers, so I
am hoping to see some early reviews for it very soon. I also had an unexpected
email from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The People’s Friend</i>
magazine who are planning to feature the book, and me, in their October ‘Special’
issue alongside a specially commissioned short story. As <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My Weekly</i> are already planning something similar, I will be getting
lots of much-needed coverage just as the paperback edition hits the shops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">By the time of my next post, Lily will be out there in the
world and being read by thousands… I hope!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-70859615646247077992017-05-05T08:53:00.001-07:002017-05-05T08:53:30.711-07:00Spring has sprung!
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<span style="font-size: large;">Spring is here at last, and May seems to be all about celebrations!</span></div>
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First of all, the publication of my friend Elaine Everest’s
new novel The Butlins Girls, and the wonderful ‘launch day’ afternoon tea party
I attended with other writer friends on Thursday 4<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>, at The Twig
and Spoon restaurant, a hidden gem, tucked away behind the Woodlands Garden Centre,
in Ash, Kent. A great time was had by all, with food, chat, a bubbly prosecco
toast, bunting and gifts for all. I wish Elaine every success with this book,
which I am confident will do just as well as her previous bestseller, The Woolworths
Girls. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Here are two lovely pictures showing some of the fantastic goodies on offer... </span></div>
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<o:p>... and Elaine Everest (right) celebrating with friends and fellow RNA and SWWJ members, Francesca Capaldi Burgess and Elaine Roberts.</o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dgHCM2bmpJ43lYrc49u83xAK_rW41Cut6w-kEZ0ej7nQBw-pEo0Bp-1QGspBTSUCrZaelRovBZ5Wi7x8ZT8uC9yVrPe6U1SwyXuSzcB_2cfu6ZA7rmL2QCGlO8vhmVRfz2OTZ0iryEw/s1600/Elaines+do+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dgHCM2bmpJ43lYrc49u83xAK_rW41Cut6w-kEZ0ej7nQBw-pEo0Bp-1QGspBTSUCrZaelRovBZ5Wi7x8ZT8uC9yVrPe6U1SwyXuSzcB_2cfu6ZA7rmL2QCGlO8vhmVRfz2OTZ0iryEw/s320/Elaines+do+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbPjI4elI4DE6TM_3Vsr9xY-HfG4XADk-XBFJFGhIU8tKRdW1HJfJLaPZLlOma8uA_KweYHNMVBEdVYdv8R4CiSUWb654G6DP8Cm3ZDKvFQmWpI5wA-1GaIUZCJ1Obn16zO70DK0pBgI/s1600/Woman+Writer+spring+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbPjI4elI4DE6TM_3Vsr9xY-HfG4XADk-XBFJFGhIU8tKRdW1HJfJLaPZLlOma8uA_KweYHNMVBEdVYdv8R4CiSUWb654G6DP8Cm3ZDKvFQmWpI5wA-1GaIUZCJ1Obn16zO70DK0pBgI/s200/Woman+Writer+spring+17.jpg" width="200" /></a>Next week, SWWJ members should be receiving the Spring issue
of The Woman Writer magazine, and tucked inside it a lovely souvenir supplement
celebrating all the competition winners and runners up from the Society’s 2016
and early 2017 competitions. I have really enjoyed overseeing the
administration of these competitions, especially notifying the winners of their
success and then meeting them at the awards ceremony and hearing them read
their entries a few weeks ago. We have lots more competitions coming up over the
coming year, and I can’t wait to do it all again!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gAvms_6Jskil7Tqh6FUdNrNhyphenhyphenJvsEd2oehD12Wf0eVsM6l-LYVbsHw_ZF9VmQl4FHYFsXY_QFQkY1ebB5zEKmeMAKp-seFIMgHzpZOVFR3nT6ZTazTzqNIpcQ9kCeTDlITwF42phE0c/s1600/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gAvms_6Jskil7Tqh6FUdNrNhyphenhyphenJvsEd2oehD12Wf0eVsM6l-LYVbsHw_ZF9VmQl4FHYFsXY_QFQkY1ebB5zEKmeMAKp-seFIMgHzpZOVFR3nT6ZTazTzqNIpcQ9kCeTDlITwF42phE0c/s200/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" width="125" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Next
up will be the Romantic Novelists Association’s annual Joan Hessayon Awards,
where all those aspiring novelists (including me!) who took the journey through
the RNA’s New Writers Scheme and made it to publication over the last year or
so are going to be celebrated, with one of us receiving the coveted award,
along with the generous cheque and all the kudos that goes with it. The
ceremony is in London on 18<sup>th</sup> May, when we will all be in our best
dresses and new shoes, and having our photos taken for the RNA’s Romance
Matters magazine. Here's my baby... sorry, I mean book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">May the best woman (yes, we are all female) win! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Enjoy the sunny weather - if it ever arrives!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Viv</span>Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-55135194999882075212017-03-20T08:18:00.000-07:002017-03-20T08:18:05.433-07:00MY NEW BOOK IS ANNOUNCED<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, my split personality is now complete!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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While I continue to write romantic comedies and magazine
short stories as Vivien Hampshire, the brand new ‘other me’ is now writing too…
and as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vivien Brown</b> my books will
tackle more serious themes and in a much more tense and gripping way.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgctuhTG98V06rFv3V28KrKqv05SohX4Owii4OMfyMDKcI1H8mzihV0kl6G2b8B35zAKookFXDA6u1-yYwF8F1CV_HOEg5SRDNBmOyGVAT_7T8H5-ZLvf-72bXFUH4MHUtUkJ13i8PUEXo/s1600/pen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgctuhTG98V06rFv3V28KrKqv05SohX4Owii4OMfyMDKcI1H8mzihV0kl6G2b8B35zAKookFXDA6u1-yYwF8F1CV_HOEg5SRDNBmOyGVAT_7T8H5-ZLvf-72bXFUH4MHUtUkJ13i8PUEXo/s200/pen.jpg" width="200" /></a>First of all, an update on <strong>‘How To Win Back Your Husband’</strong> by
<strong>Vivien Hampshire</strong>. My first rom-com novel was published as an ebook in January
and I held a great online launch party on Facebook. Friends, readers and
complete strangers dropped by and joined in the fun, helping me to celebrate
and taking part in some light-hearted games and competitions. I had pens specially made, with the book’s cover printed along the side, and these made lovely prizes, as well as promotional tools. The book sold well in the first few days, but sales are dropping off now, so while it’s still only 99pence, a few more buyers, and reviews, would be very much appreciated. You can view it, and buy it, from Amazon by clicking right <a href="http://amzn.to/2cOjPIn"><span style="color: blue;">here.</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgei2mi2Lc9EJYxHDLDCXtbdn_fiZ4BUQQIgErqW6MKv596JPXXe0HGopK3doDH67QoYsV_cLIytBcpOJ9KtRqVs4f3C7sA19ozcEyA5sDugcQKO9q534dy-WDXf2JnU6bZnt_ptwTFcyc/s1600/party.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgei2mi2Lc9EJYxHDLDCXtbdn_fiZ4BUQQIgErqW6MKv596JPXXe0HGopK3doDH67QoYsV_cLIytBcpOJ9KtRqVs4f3C7sA19ozcEyA5sDugcQKO9q534dy-WDXf2JnU6bZnt_ptwTFcyc/s320/party.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
On the<strong> short story</strong> front, my output has dropped quite
considerably while I have been concentrating on novels, but ‘The Sky Blanket’ was
published in The Peoples Friend Special in January. This one was inspired by a
fantastic knitting project that my friend Sally told me about last summer while
we were both enjoying our Writers Holiday in Fishguard, Wales. You simply knit
one or two rows every day, matching your wool to the colour of the sky. Result:
a unique striped blanket in all manner of blues, whites, greys, pinks, etc. No
two ever the same!<o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
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My story ‘Star’, giving a young girl’s view of the loss of
her dad and her mum’s remarriage appeared in Woman’s Weekly on 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
January, and I then sold them a twist-ending story about an old lady enjoying the
tennis at Wimbledon, fully expecting them not to use it until June, but no… it
appeared in the March issue of their Fiction Special. They have since bought
another of my stories, all about the importance and meaning of names, but I am
still waiting to find out when it will be published.<o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC4pz4R7vapCJd3FA06Sfp1ScRksqticeteGGn8Cji4X8FTQ0gS1m9DTsPIqxawh_UIfwe2HML9QucydM-1Zsevwawqexil4Ugg7T29Dmfx3rpue9JH1l8yBesTjUx9bxWfY-QXglBE1Y/s1600/170315+Vivien+and+Sylvia.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC4pz4R7vapCJd3FA06Sfp1ScRksqticeteGGn8Cji4X8FTQ0gS1m9DTsPIqxawh_UIfwe2HML9QucydM-1Zsevwawqexil4Ugg7T29Dmfx3rpue9JH1l8yBesTjUx9bxWfY-QXglBE1Y/s200/170315+Vivien+and+Sylvia.JPG" width="185" /></a>A fun story about all the superstitions tied up with
weddings was my first sale to My Weekly in a long while, and that one will
appear in the magazine on 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> May. <br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>In other news</strong>... On 15th March I put on my 'competitions co-ordinator' hat and attended the <strong>SWWJ</strong> Spring tea, where all the Society's prize winners received their trophies and cheques from the fantastic judges. Here's me with Sylvia Kent who took all the lovely photos on the day. Find out more on the SWWJ facebook page or take a look at their website <a href="http://swwj.co.uk/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So, moving on to the biggest news of all…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
I am now very proud to announce that ‘<strong>Lily Alone’</strong> by <strong>Vivien Brown</strong> will
be published, first as an ebook on 15<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> June, and then as a
paperback on 5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> October. You can read all about it and pre-order a
copy by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N80JAXF/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_t2_xwgSybW0BQFJX"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>.
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43ShUFIqI0pVQ4G2tZHda0SXYJDXEWaaG6O4eS-BJuW0a6vwXqNDbNBPHfPlTdc02pqScHZoU0MU5LFCtWDvWDr-iKupvpRlZiDL-pwhuRikrM5Ryq8m7Y2cPnKgowkyhm4u-zqzofao/s1600/LILY+ALONE+final+cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43ShUFIqI0pVQ4G2tZHda0SXYJDXEWaaG6O4eS-BJuW0a6vwXqNDbNBPHfPlTdc02pqScHZoU0MU5LFCtWDvWDr-iKupvpRlZiDL-pwhuRikrM5Ryq8m7Y2cPnKgowkyhm4u-zqzofao/s320/LILY+ALONE+final+cover.png" width="208" /></a><br />
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</div>
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I am absolutely thrilled with the wonderful cover that Harper
Collins have commissioned for this book. To me, it captures perfectly all the
poignancy and heartbreak of a tiny child who finds herself left alone with only
her teddy for company. If that cover doesn’t draw readers in I don’t know what
will!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
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Re-connecting with the fiction editor at My Weekly has turned
out to be a very timely and rewarding experience as she has booked me to write
a short story for the magazine to tie in with the publication of the paperback
in October. It will be my first ever short story written as Vivien Brown, and in
that one I intend to use a couple of the characters from the book and reveal a
little of their past as a taster of the main event. I’m not sure what will
happen in that story yet, but I can’t wait to find out!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd3t6C9qFGyN8j3MggigAA0TCBzY4WIuO9SPKmVwU-jDC8IF-WHz7spooMkc4J3Xbn3FqFBaakkK1_FPDkjeiBivBNmXkoCAN9lSDR0HDJRfyU5dxZhyphenhyphenVL_T67-McDmTsfywytPNTTECg/s1600/romance+book+banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd3t6C9qFGyN8j3MggigAA0TCBzY4WIuO9SPKmVwU-jDC8IF-WHz7spooMkc4J3Xbn3FqFBaakkK1_FPDkjeiBivBNmXkoCAN9lSDR0HDJRfyU5dxZhyphenhyphenVL_T67-McDmTsfywytPNTTECg/s320/romance+book+banner.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-5387849906949672312017-01-15T07:32:00.001-08:002017-01-15T07:32:23.850-08:00PUBLISHED AT LAST!
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixys0kMD0OqQJ4IL_LzINLL6pvLeFyA4JhZbcs5GNp3qVA7jDLBE28BiFgG3DNVXXBdUh70gdTd2F854dyewvYffDIauO3Q9ZggN-lpdNbg7DrMS6G-M67BKUjSWTh3wQQXP9P3Hamps0/s1600/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixys0kMD0OqQJ4IL_LzINLL6pvLeFyA4JhZbcs5GNp3qVA7jDLBE28BiFgG3DNVXXBdUh70gdTd2F854dyewvYffDIauO3Q9ZggN-lpdNbg7DrMS6G-M67BKUjSWTh3wQQXP9P3Hamps0/s1600/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixys0kMD0OqQJ4IL_LzINLL6pvLeFyA4JhZbcs5GNp3qVA7jDLBE28BiFgG3DNVXXBdUh70gdTd2F854dyewvYffDIauO3Q9ZggN-lpdNbg7DrMS6G-M67BKUjSWTh3wQQXP9P3Hamps0/s320/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" width="200" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixys0kMD0OqQJ4IL_LzINLL6pvLeFyA4JhZbcs5GNp3qVA7jDLBE28BiFgG3DNVXXBdUh70gdTd2F854dyewvYffDIauO3Q9ZggN-lpdNbg7DrMS6G-M67BKUjSWTh3wQQXP9P3Hamps0/s1600/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixys0kMD0OqQJ4IL_LzINLL6pvLeFyA4JhZbcs5GNp3qVA7jDLBE28BiFgG3DNVXXBdUh70gdTd2F854dyewvYffDIauO3Q9ZggN-lpdNbg7DrMS6G-M67BKUjSWTh3wQQXP9P3Hamps0/s1600/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><br />
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It’s been a long old journey from first short story sale
twenty years ago to first commercially published novel, but I’ve finally done
it!<o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
How to Win Back Your Husband hits the Amazon kindle store on
Wednesday, and I will be celebrating with a little online launch party on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VivienHampshireAuthor/"><span style="color: blue;">Vivien Hampshire Author</span></a>
facebook page for most of the day. Updates on its progress through the rankings,
reviews and reader comments, some virtual cake and bubbles, and a few prizes
along the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
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And, as soon as the fun dies down, I will be head-down
working on the edits for my next book, due out in the Summer under my ‘other’
name of Vivien Brown. Details of the title and a sneak peek at the cover coming
soon!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
</div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-37450164436053488902016-10-09T13:49:00.002-07:002016-10-09T13:49:50.748-07:00In which I win an award!<br />
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Tonight I had a very nice surprise. I <strong>WON</strong> the community writing
competition at the Hillingdon Literary Festival! And Benjamin Zephaniah, no
less, was one of the judges.<o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Paul and I were invited along to a celebratory reception and
prize-giving ceremony in the Antonin Artaud Building at Brunel University this
evening, the final event of a packed weekend programme which included
masterclass workshops, author interviews and all manner of other bookish talks
and panel discussions, as well as outdoor food and market stalls, which included
the intriguingly named Poetry Takeaway! Sadly, by the time we arrived, a lot of
the outdoor activity was coming to a close but we made ourselves comfy in the
lobby area, met the Festival producer Seb Jenner and were given a free drink as
we waited to be seated in the auditorium.<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
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I had been asked, along with five others, to come along and
read my entry to a room full of festival-goers and dignitaries (the mayor was there!) – a poem I dedicated to the wonderful nurses who work for the NHS
and don’t always get the recognition they so richly deserve. This had to mean
that one of us six was soon to be proclaimed the overall winner, but nobody was
giving away any secrets at this stage! Having listened to the others read some
thought-provoking (and generally long!) stories and poems, most of which seemed
to touch in some way on political, refugee or humanitarian themes, my turn
finally came. My poem was by far the shortest of the readings but got a
fantastic audience reaction, and I was then - quite unexpectedly - announced as the winner!! </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Here’s me
receiving my prize (a goodie bag of books and a very generous cheque) from
local Councillor Markham, an active champion and supporter of arts and culture in
Hillingdon.</div>
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<o:p></o:p> </div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MRkG05XSKa3g8BxP6kKTqRiUrTwYSL_0SlUgjk4OMk9tehGV8a_AEpo2jaYILmHhosqdHKNnxPlgoEUfPohTPgqCSDdKKQR6mQUDGXME8IXAh2cyR_v4JpmP5c_Vs1PgRuZNqTmqjVs/s1600/DSC00430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MRkG05XSKa3g8BxP6kKTqRiUrTwYSL_0SlUgjk4OMk9tehGV8a_AEpo2jaYILmHhosqdHKNnxPlgoEUfPohTPgqCSDdKKQR6mQUDGXME8IXAh2cyR_v4JpmP5c_Vs1PgRuZNqTmqjVs/s320/DSC00430.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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The competition (titled ‘Writing Local, Thinking Global’) attracted
over a hundred entries from people living and/or working in the borough, which
included quite a few Brunel students, with entries covering a wide range of
genres and themes. Because it was a competition for local residents I entered
under my ‘real’ married name of Vivien Brown, rather than as Vivien Hampshire,
author, but several of the other entrants were already writers of some kind too,
belonging to local writers' groups, as I do, or having taken a creative writing course. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Thirty five of the entries had been chosen to be published in a lovely
paperback anthology, copies of which were given away free to festival attendees
and should also be available in local libraries etc for a short time.
Naturally, I managed to get hold of a few copies to share with family and
friends! Here’s a sneak preview of how it looks. I shall be reading it from
cover to cover over the next few days!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51OeJ-Q6tpVNvFw-W4ZoA_0TkNW5lH_GPGU-aZFCBJmVo4SBlPunzD2BNkeRDEzyQnGNuU9IlmWbLJaoUIN8wkhdpHWFz4ES4T6o8PstRRv1HUjSSPnSjbQatcC_13URsgfNXehmflew/s1600/DSC00433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51OeJ-Q6tpVNvFw-W4ZoA_0TkNW5lH_GPGU-aZFCBJmVo4SBlPunzD2BNkeRDEzyQnGNuU9IlmWbLJaoUIN8wkhdpHWFz4ES4T6o8PstRRv1HUjSSPnSjbQatcC_13URsgfNXehmflew/s320/DSC00433.JPG" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My goodie bag</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02RVb8rVrxd1oX_7BfoDdMhkI5GKcMkyf2yYVm9BX0IDyWsxSW0eXRMRc3EYGiZNyf_pOQDogesDC7AEjkp-1rXg2bVnOYf8AwT6HqSkYerQG2ADtQcarc8-Mlbj7Dv0t_b6vxX6mEv0/s1600/DSC00432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02RVb8rVrxd1oX_7BfoDdMhkI5GKcMkyf2yYVm9BX0IDyWsxSW0eXRMRc3EYGiZNyf_pOQDogesDC7AEjkp-1rXg2bVnOYf8AwT6HqSkYerQG2ADtQcarc8-Mlbj7Dv0t_b6vxX6mEv0/s320/DSC00432.JPG" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The anthology</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p> </o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi09iWDDDuAyANvF-x6WpgBEpWYLXuQ9VXPUpbNXjip8GfX-3oW_NRasHwrTBjEULKAtJ0MmKzHOibdF4VH3yRMe9PxaVBoc3V4dZvp98zoX_D5SOagWyyv9YwkMseM43Xqn_0cyhlvaY/s1600/DSC00435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi09iWDDDuAyANvF-x6WpgBEpWYLXuQ9VXPUpbNXjip8GfX-3oW_NRasHwrTBjEULKAtJ0MmKzHOibdF4VH3yRMe9PxaVBoc3V4dZvp98zoX_D5SOagWyyv9YwkMseM43Xqn_0cyhlvaY/s320/DSC00435.JPG" width="179" /></a></div>
<br />
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No sooner was I back home than the Festival organisers had
announced me as the winner on twitter. Social media works so quickly these
days!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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My poem ‘Lovesick’ may have been much more light-hearted than the other entries being performed, yet it raised a few laughs and seemed to mean
something to so many of those who heard it – and that to me is just as
gratifying as winning the prize. People came up to talk to me at the end, to
say how much they enjoyed it and to ask about my own NHS connections (well, I
do have a daughter who happens to fit the bill, being a hardworking paediatric
nurse at UCLH!) Two midwives even asked if they could use the poem at the local
hospital in some kind of pro-nursing publicity. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, I still own the copyright to the poem - but it’s
out there now in the public domain, printed in an anthology, and as a
competition winner I won’t be able to enter it elsewhere, so here it is. Read
it, quote it, stick it on your hospital wall, if you like. Just please credit
me as its author and don’t try to pass it off as your own! <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Thank you<o:p></o:p><br />
Viv<br />
9 October 2016<o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<h1 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Lovesick<o:p></o:p></span></b></h1>
<br />
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By Vivien Brown<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I think I'm in love with the nurse in dark blue,<br />
<br />
with her glasses, her stockings and sensible shoes.<br />
<o:p><br />
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From my own little cubicle in the end bay,<o:p></o:p></div>
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and with not much to do, I could watch her all day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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Consoling, cajoling, controlling the ward,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
so no patient gets hungry or angry or bored,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
she swishes the curtains and smoothes out the sheets,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
always charming, alarming, determined, discreet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
<h1 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1>
Infections, injections and incinerations,<br />
<br />
pus-covered plasters and last week's carnations.<br />
<br />
Dealing and healing, doing what she does best,<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
while bouncing an upside-down watch from her chest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Dishing and dosing out dinners and pills,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
marking up specimens, mopping up spills.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
She passes the bedpans and empties the wee,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
then pinches a chocolate to have with her tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Taking sprains and strains and all manner of pains<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
in her stride, her pride in her calling remains.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Yes, my thoughts may be private, but I have to confess<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
that I’m so glad I opted to go NHS. <o:p></o:p></div>
</o:p> </div>
<br />
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<br />
<o:p>
<br />
<h1 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</h1>
</o:p><h1 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</h1>
</div>
<h1 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</h1>
</div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-5023635029204271142016-09-28T04:24:00.000-07:002016-09-28T04:24:54.102-07:00MY NEW ROMCOM !!<span style="font-size: large;">I've been pretty quiet on the blog lately. That's because I have been working hard on my new novel, details of which are out TODAY!!</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6DQ5GX5kZFcx-XJ6PlDEL9e4EeNDLx_xcvIJLTrkaMlVI9EgI35EcCU1AdpTUBkfRKsJBXEao7gH-m_bjdSx2FsORARE9JtWGMktlI9r_82GzeMa2lWFxoAqar67MnnftHQ35vO-tbM/s1600/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6DQ5GX5kZFcx-XJ6PlDEL9e4EeNDLx_xcvIJLTrkaMlVI9EgI35EcCU1AdpTUBkfRKsJBXEao7gH-m_bjdSx2FsORARE9JtWGMktlI9r_82GzeMa2lWFxoAqar67MnnftHQ35vO-tbM/s320/How+to+win+back+your+husband+COVER.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
'How To Win Back Your Husband' is being published by Harlequin HQ and will be available in January but it's already up on Amazon to pre-order. Here's the link: <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Win-Back-Your-Husband-ebook/dp/B01LYNH9J7/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1475051616&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+win+back+your+husband">https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Win-Back-Your-Husband-ebook/dp/B01LYNH9J7/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1475051616&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+win+back+your+husband</a>Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-44936389265945267262016-05-02T07:18:00.000-07:002016-05-02T07:18:31.398-07:00When I said my stories can be quite moving...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQApP2W3NKxez9CN99CMxL3t-ipg06yZm9QSItGGfUGqcXuyU_Fp9sm8sXFnbaG9e6cYuyAvW6qC5d5tuHjWT9_h5YrvkYwc6SBYJYmmmvSqESLF9EBq_A7idOibTw-Yr3GW3GgIarJc/s1600/DSC00154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQApP2W3NKxez9CN99CMxL3t-ipg06yZm9QSItGGfUGqcXuyU_Fp9sm8sXFnbaG9e6cYuyAvW6qC5d5tuHjWT9_h5YrvkYwc6SBYJYmmmvSqESLF9EBq_A7idOibTw-Yr3GW3GgIarJc/s200/DSC00154.JPG" width="111" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Having finally moved house, unpacked and set up my writing
room, I am glad to say I’m back in the land of regular writing again. It’s
taken a while to get back into the swing, and I am certainly not producing as
many words as I should, but I’m getting there.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Moving is a time-consuming and stressful experience. From ‘What
if it all falls through?’ to ‘Will the cats settle ok?’ to ‘Which room does
this box go in?’ to ‘Where did I put the torch?’ it’s great to know it’s all
behind us now and things can start getting back to normal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">But one of the oddest things is realising just how much the
subject of moving house seems to have crept, quite subconsciously, into my
stories in recent months, even when they are supposed to be about something
else – bereavement, childhood, friendship, romance. So, when I tell you my
stories can sometimes be quite moving, moving house wasn’t exactly what I meant
- although it looks like that’s what you’re going to get!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDADH1Va-xpoH_oftjjXfBhSJCVlg8IMZiXzZVVeyzqJbXVD7rbOcNIkxZVRMyIHrEFupLLi7bitnlavutke7UpP__rGtSFWbAozOtsscBSb0bkW5tpSCWDeGSA1Hf2HvOn1m08io_3pE/s1600/DSC00150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDADH1Va-xpoH_oftjjXfBhSJCVlg8IMZiXzZVVeyzqJbXVD7rbOcNIkxZVRMyIHrEFupLLi7bitnlavutke7UpP__rGtSFWbAozOtsscBSb0bkW5tpSCWDeGSA1Hf2HvOn1m08io_3pE/s320/DSC00150.JPG" width="179" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">First there was ‘Pictures of Yesterday’, written just as we
were putting our own place on the market back in November, and which appeared
in The People’s Friend on 26 March. Janet is staying at her gran’s house for
the weekend, getting it ready for sale after the old lady’s death. Of course, she
is curious to know who will buy it and what changes they will make, although she
knows she doesn’t want to witness any of it, preferring to remember things just
as they always were. Enter a young and dishy estate agent (mine didn’t quite
fit the bill, but this is fiction!) who has come to photograph the rooms. He loves
the original features of the old house almost as much as she does and, because
this story is more about moving on and accepting change than it is about the
sadness of moving out… cue romance!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The next issue of Woman’s Weekly, dated 10 May, will include
another of my stories, ‘Fitting’, this time about a woman remembering a
childhood friend as she clears out clothes and photos before handing over the
keys to her mother’s home to the estate agent. Not so much about the moving
process itself this time - but all that packing up, sorting things for
keeping/throwing away/charity shops, and coming across keepsakes you haven’t
seen for years (and the memories they evoke) certainly rings true.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coming very soon, in the next People’s Friend Special, number
123, will be another story of mine, at the moment called ‘The Right Move’, but
the editor may well change the title before it’s published, as she often does.
This one is about a married but childless couple searching for a more suitable
home now they are living with two very large dogs. All my own worries about
whether to start looking for a new house before or after your own home is sold,
and whether you could lose your new ‘dream’ home because nobody wants to buy the
old one, come rushing to the surface here, but luckily all ends well, just as
it did for us – and our pets! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, lastly, a story called ‘A Chessboard Garden’ that I
wrote right in the middle of the unpacking process and submitted just three
weeks after moving in. Once the boxes have been dealt with, and a screwdriver
and bit of paint have been put to good use inside, there is often a tangled
mess of neglected garden and unmown grass waiting for attention, and some new
neighbours to get to know too. The two come together in this story, a
particular favourite of mine, which hasn’t even been accepted (yet!)… but I do have
high hopes for it!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last night I re-read and re-wrote an old but as-yet-unpublished
story, ready to send it off to a magazine. Although largely a romance, it does involve
re-marriage, a teenaged daughter and a house not quite large enough to
accommodate them all, so when I tell you its title is ‘Room For Three’ you
might just get an idea what theme has managed to creep in, yet again!!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeGoFsLqwYhfwgKhOU0FtbDx7Gl0vfvJWDcFBkGaVNIgZ86JPTsQf1Ls0QKYSEQuo0GO45Kfo2j0iq5top95BrW4hk0auzTa9OReu8XciJs4wfibpUW8mUK43JQ224Hd2RJX1gqBt0D8Y/s1600/DSC00152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeGoFsLqwYhfwgKhOU0FtbDx7Gl0vfvJWDcFBkGaVNIgZ86JPTsQf1Ls0QKYSEQuo0GO45Kfo2j0iq5top95BrW4hk0auzTa9OReu8XciJs4wfibpUW8mUK43JQ224Hd2RJX1gqBt0D8Y/s320/DSC00152.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NO PLANS TO MOVE AGAIN.... EVER!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-80494272082691453352016-02-13T15:28:00.000-08:002016-02-14T14:18:45.054-08:00A STORY TOLD, A STORY SOLD<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;">What a difference that first story
sale can make</span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </h3>
<h3 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBisbkkKar9JO5a_m5rknmq8B7VBlWWnFNYB5P0MwYQhM_3jrIgFJ3Lx_P5bAHDbM55Q8iucMzgWeg0fdNirJkZoPqVLDoeQbfeW_TzM93omYWgtdxas2ERaHNvNoiUQObsEQjUIWNPs/s1600/SL277339.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBisbkkKar9JO5a_m5rknmq8B7VBlWWnFNYB5P0MwYQhM_3jrIgFJ3Lx_P5bAHDbM55Q8iucMzgWeg0fdNirJkZoPqVLDoeQbfeW_TzM93omYWgtdxas2ERaHNvNoiUQObsEQjUIWNPs/s320/SL277339.JPG" width="320" /></a></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are lots of us out here in ‘womag’
land (that’s women’s magazines, for those who don’t know), who are regularly
sending off our short stories, with varying degrees of success. After spending
many hours, days, sometimes weeks, working on a story, all we really want is to
see our work in print and to know that others are reading and enjoying it, but
that means finding an editor who likes our story enough to buy it. It’s the only
true indicator that we have been recognised as professional writers whose work
is worthy of publication - and payment. And what a magic moment achieving that first
sale is!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;">I can still remember how I felt when
I received my very first acceptance letter. It was way back in 1997 and the
story was called ‘The Real Father Christmas’, about a family feud and how a
young boy’s belief in Santa helped to heal it. It was bought by Woman’s Weekly
and, along with a lovely little illustration by someone called Katrina Lewis,
who I had never met, it filled just one page, yet I was paid the grand sum of
£230 for it. For me, this was the turning point in my fledgling writing career.
I had won first prize in a national writing competition three years before, and
had sent two previous stories to Woman’s Weekly, neither of which was quite
right for them, so to get a yes at only the third attempt was pretty exciting.
There would be no stopping me now!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;">In fact, many rejections followed,
but the occasional successes kept me going, and after three more (longer)
stories in Woman’s Weekly, I managed to break through into other magazines too,
with stories appearing in My Weekly, The Weekly News and The People’s Friend,
who all paid less but gave me a home for those stories I knew weren’t quite written
to Woman’s Weekly’s style. In all, I have now sold more than 120 short stories
to UK women’s magazines, and it’s still a thrill to open up a copy and find out
how each illustrator has tackled my story and characters, who often look
nothing like the way I have imagined them! I’ve even had a couple of ‘fan’
letters from readers who have found something in my stories that’s resonated
with what’s going on in their own lives – a great compliment to any author.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;">In recent years, my writing
ambitions have spread and grown, largely down to the confidence and experience my
short story successes have given me. Even getting used to the inevitable
rejections and deciding not to be put off by them is a valuable lesson in the
life of any writer. I have now written hundreds of articles and book reviews, a
non-fiction book about solving cryptic crosswords, and several
as-yet-unpublished novels, but short stories remains my first love and I can’t
imagine a time when I will ever stop writing them. </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkY5OrLufqL6t_NNojlO3jrEQ3HSirXsd4N5Rj4ZnZvLxPL79YiCp17IIhF6qpOXqVPeT0ukGwvz_PWWQVhETFRSDo6hCENlxyzCo5F-YuP65IkhQJV8iX0khyuKyw6dxD_Kz2TRN9ek/s1600/pen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkY5OrLufqL6t_NNojlO3jrEQ3HSirXsd4N5Rj4ZnZvLxPL79YiCp17IIhF6qpOXqVPeT0ukGwvz_PWWQVhETFRSDo6hCENlxyzCo5F-YuP65IkhQJV8iX0khyuKyw6dxD_Kz2TRN9ek/s200/pen.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, how do other womag writers look
back on their first short story success? Was it a pivotal moment for them too,
and what has happened since? I asked some of the UK’s most prolific and popular
short story writers to tell me the story of their first womag sale. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;">Here’s what romantic novelist <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Natalie Kleinman</b> has to say: </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielaQ_pldt0SBrNRInNhyphenhyphen6_LXYYCk2EEn_Vo75sb9YMQM-HB_y0AwFYILdhE28GVUhkFQoEYWu2PYY4nnNj1IZ9vJkeifBJAOcD3e1cjIBGFA0AnLG1g7i25BG8bdRR6ZknDhmrCd9K7c/s1600/Natalie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielaQ_pldt0SBrNRInNhyphenhyphen6_LXYYCk2EEn_Vo75sb9YMQM-HB_y0AwFYILdhE28GVUhkFQoEYWu2PYY4nnNj1IZ9vJkeifBJAOcD3e1cjIBGFA0AnLG1g7i25BG8bdRR6ZknDhmrCd9K7c/s200/Natalie.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">In
May 2012 I sold my first short story to Hjemmet, in Norway, some sixteen months
after I first began submitting. I hadn’t appreciated until then what the time
frame was, but I was obviously determined to succeed. I had in the meantime
been shortlisted in competitions but this was my first sale and I can still
remember how good it felt. That, and the £220 they paid me for it. The story
was about a play on names where, should the hero and heroine marry (as of
course they did) she would have a first name and surname that were in complete
contrast to each other. Sounds weird, I know, but it worked and they do say
love conquers all. </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">My
next sale, in October of the same year, was to The People’s Friend, and brought
me the princely sum of £75, though I did go on to sell several stories to them,
and the fee does rise with the number of sales. All in all I sold thirty
stories to magazines as well as having two published in anthologies. It was an
amazing confidence builder and led me ultimately to</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trying my hand at novels and, although I do
submit short stories from time to time, my focus is now on my books. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;">Next comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leonora Francis</b>, one of very few black writers regularly
contributing fiction to women’s magazines, and certainly the most successful:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwaBSxGIoujPIaw4G8btR8uB4WQxyNs06c6j8CeLMMcwwT1U-KWISebGTgT_2RVJ8V_qBmKwwCiKF2MknDyAbQ5uWxVIGnbLVjl1TQhXDkKEJRkzaB_NgUj7AqF6PEM7OuMqE-F50Y6SM/s1600/Edwina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwaBSxGIoujPIaw4G8btR8uB4WQxyNs06c6j8CeLMMcwwT1U-KWISebGTgT_2RVJ8V_qBmKwwCiKF2MknDyAbQ5uWxVIGnbLVjl1TQhXDkKEJRkzaB_NgUj7AqF6PEM7OuMqE-F50Y6SM/s200/Edwina.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: large;">My first story was published in The People's Friend
in 2011. It was a comical story about a granddaughter encouraging her granddad
to give up smoking in exchange for her removing her </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: large;">navel ring. Whilst I
thought I had 'made it', my second story with them wasn't published until 2012.
Since then I've had over 120 stories published in women's magazines. At first
my rejection rate was painfully high, but I can't complain because I learnt
something new from each rejection. I still have some of those stories sitting
on my hard drive and they make me cringe! </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></i> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: large;">The best lesson I learnt during the
entire writing process, for me at least, is to write what you want to write,
instead of what you think the magazines want. It's the best way to find your
natural voice. Once you've found your voice it makes writing specifically for
magazines easier. I receive far fewer rejections than I used to - but I still
get them! <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: large;">I now concentrate more on serial writing and have written 6 serials for
Woman's Weekly. I am currently writing one for The People's Friend. I believe
the short story form is a good way of learning how to write. Many short story
writers have gone on to write very successful novels. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s still quite rare to see a man
writing for the womag market, but here’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Simon
Whaley</b>, who has had huge success with his non-fiction articles and books,
talking about his own early ventures into the world of the short story:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq8Ef8bDAY1ee6SOMs57Y6OkhQzAWq_T1P3wevBxTc9mtZZKylAFbrhyphenhyphen9IVAcSlz-otbaZE89g5JogclDiBcwdsyetNuHgcAA7zY-Bs7hkD1tpIab2yt2l1Ld9zjGtGTguWRGsoY46vdc/s1600/Simon+Whaley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq8Ef8bDAY1ee6SOMs57Y6OkhQzAWq_T1P3wevBxTc9mtZZKylAFbrhyphenhyphen9IVAcSlz-otbaZE89g5JogclDiBcwdsyetNuHgcAA7zY-Bs7hkD1tpIab2yt2l1Ld9zjGtGTguWRGsoY46vdc/s200/Simon+Whaley.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq8Ef8bDAY1ee6SOMs57Y6OkhQzAWq_T1P3wevBxTc9mtZZKylAFbrhyphenhyphen9IVAcSlz-otbaZE89g5JogclDiBcwdsyetNuHgcAA7zY-Bs7hkD1tpIab2yt2l1Ld9zjGtGTguWRGsoY46vdc/s1600/Simon+Whaley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;">My first womag story was published on 5th February 2004. I called it ‘Jungle
Jane’, and it appeared in the weekly edition of Take A Break, for which I was
paid £300 (they paid £400 for each subsequent story they bought from me for the
weekly mag).The story was inspired by my sister who’d been on a girlie weekend
with her friends, living it rough on a survival course. It reminded me of those
team building exercises you have to do when employers feel staff aren’t getting
on with one another. There’s always one person who thinks they’re in charge at
these events, and so this story was partly my revenge on those</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">people.<br />
<br />
Publication gave me the confidence to continue targeting the womag market, and ‘Jungle
Jane’ was also my first success in the Australian mag, That’s Life. Since then,
I’ve successfully sold stories to The People’s Friend, Ireland’s Own, Yours,
The Weekly News and … eventually, Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special (although that
one did take me nine years to crack). <br />
</i>
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKmu3E088SBnB-2h3AFaYSyXiz7s8QcuvqqbXKvb_0ZhiJMralng3ZOWd5IaZW3Fi_y27PNG5xhSoDkq5Nm6kIA-ByZEkS0xKKK7Jme6sEJcJxO9sFBFvtaDJ8hUikzFHkyaVmTSIyVA/s1600/Rob+Nisbet+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKmu3E088SBnB-2h3AFaYSyXiz7s8QcuvqqbXKvb_0ZhiJMralng3ZOWd5IaZW3Fi_y27PNG5xhSoDkq5Nm6kIA-ByZEkS0xKKK7Jme6sEJcJxO9sFBFvtaDJ8hUikzFHkyaVmTSIyVA/s200/Rob+Nisbet+2.jpg" width="156" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Not all men are quite
so open about their gender when they first pop a toe into the womag water. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rob Nisbet</b> was a student in one of my
own creative writing classes (and very keen to make sure he met what he
perceived to be the magazine’s requirements) when he made his first attempt.
Rob explains:</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">I sent the story to People’s Friend, complete with Scottish names and a mention of a tartan blanket, thinking that might help - and I received my first rejection! I wasn’t disappointed though. I’d had a rejection letter - from a real magazine!</span></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">I reprinted the story and sent it to Woman’s Weekly and to my delight they accepted it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In October 2006 I was paid £100 and ‘Jean’s Bread Pudding’ took up two pages in a national magazine. I bought several copies, and still have one nearly ten years later. I remember leaving one in the tea-room at work and being encouraged by the post-it-note comments that grew on the cover as it was read again and again.</span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;">I chose to submit this story under my wife’s name, with some vague idea that a woman</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">author might be more acceptable to the intended readership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether this helped or not I couldn’t say; I have used my own name in womags many times since then, purely to see my real name in print, but I still resort to becoming ‘Trixie’ if I feel a story is strongly from a woman’s point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">I wrote as a hobby, but that first sale gave me a confidence boost and a focus. Magazines paid for stories that I would have written for fun! There have been many sales since that memorable first story. I’ve won a couple of national competitions, read in art galleries and fringe festivals, and recently had three audio stories recorded by Big Finish for their Doctor Who range. I’m still trying to get agents interested in a novel I’ve written for teens. I’ve had a few encouraging comments but all rejections so far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I know that just one acceptance can change everything!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
</div>
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, last but not least, let’s hear from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wendy Clarke</b>, one of The People’s
Friend’s most popular fiction writers. Just wait until you read how many she
has written and sold in only four years – a true success story if ever I heard
one!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9pQ-KYdn7Iq9MT0nV78vLK3-nCw5q87oXCVTUBZ6gTTrRcjLr4a4xF8js93vF7uSokMfEwiglKCoD8Y4V9bnJB4GMTEnMv2npFd_TEospSyCx9oKG4X_BI0kybWwSaxj49zyR20Rq94/s1600/WENDY+CLARKE+image.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9pQ-KYdn7Iq9MT0nV78vLK3-nCw5q87oXCVTUBZ6gTTrRcjLr4a4xF8js93vF7uSokMfEwiglKCoD8Y4V9bnJB4GMTEnMv2npFd_TEospSyCx9oKG4X_BI0kybWwSaxj49zyR20Rq94/s200/WENDY+CLARKE+image.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: large;">I started sending stories out to magazines at the
beginning of 2012 – just a few at first to test the water. After nine story
rejections, I had my first sale in July of that year. It was to Take a Break
Fiction Feast and I was, of course, over the moon. The story was called ‘Try
Saying Yes’ and was the story of a girl whose friend gave her the challenge of
going through a whole day without saying no to anything. It was published in
November 2012.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: large;">My next sale was to The People’s Friend in September
of the same year. It was called ‘Dancing Queen’ and was the story of what
happened when a ballroom dance class was double booked with a Zumba class (this
was me writing about what I know as I’m a keen dancer). There followed several
more sales to both of these magazines before I had my first sale to Woman’s
Weekly in October 2012 – a story called ‘Too Much to Lose’ about a woman whose
attempt to lose weight alienated her from her husband.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: large;">Totting up sales and rejections is difficult to do as
a rejection to one magazine doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the road for a
story. It might take several submissions before a sale. I’ve written around two
hundred stories for magazines and, not counting those still ‘out there’, have
around twenty that I haven’t sold (and probably never will as they were early
ones and not very good!) At the time of writing I’ve sold 160 stories.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Although I still write for the other magazines, I now
mainly write for The People’s Friend and have also written two serials for
them. They don’t pay as well as the other magazines but I have a great
relationship with them and know that they will take most of what I write. A
huge plus is that when you start writing regularly for them you are assigned an
editor to work with – I love working with mine.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Writing for magazines has been hugely beneficial to
me. It’s been a way of learning my craft and without the short stories I would
probably never have written my debut novel which I finished last year.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfC6_NLj0wi9Fl0X3ZlmFOTG8LPW6wlZASw69s-HNrefb8XsMkdDqEuZB95FEl69gX_W3QEHBeZAfYjvpHsold6GTWEL-6RQKK5H8udTNu9al0Vi6GUXbBNLTkzw4e8yX-CVclKkYp3o/s1600/typing.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfC6_NLj0wi9Fl0X3ZlmFOTG8LPW6wlZASw69s-HNrefb8XsMkdDqEuZB95FEl69gX_W3QEHBeZAfYjvpHsold6GTWEL-6RQKK5H8udTNu9al0Vi6GUXbBNLTkzw4e8yX-CVclKkYp3o/s200/typing.png" width="160" /></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: large;">My
thanks to all who agreed to share their ‘first sale’ stories with me. There are
nowhere near as many women’s magazines publishing fiction these days as there
were when I started out, but the ones that do are always in need of good
stories, and most will welcome submissions from new unpublished writers. So, if
you are still struggling to make your first sale, please don’t give up. Amongst
all the hard work and perseverance, there’s still a lot of luck involved too. We
all struck lucky… and so can you!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span> </div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri regular" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: large;">Viv<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-89538735442064105262016-01-29T14:07:00.002-08:002016-01-30T10:09:00.986-08:00The January Sales<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjulzf3gmgVfQ2RuWFXT5SmrMJ4PZww6rfjMnmq2qKsbkFKFybDzopVr-1lbt8CVvJXXbE4sJ8tNvLk6xZ-IAkHZi8UYCUFk7LH_2cGYo7MgnnaG1r1WBpv6U2vq0AFa_pM2YwlyXlafrE/s1600/SL276610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjulzf3gmgVfQ2RuWFXT5SmrMJ4PZww6rfjMnmq2qKsbkFKFybDzopVr-1lbt8CVvJXXbE4sJ8tNvLk6xZ-IAkHZi8UYCUFk7LH_2cGYo7MgnnaG1r1WBpv6U2vq0AFa_pM2YwlyXlafrE/s320/SL276610.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's sooooo cold outside!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Christmas
is long behind us, it’s dark and cold outside, and life’s feeling a bit flat. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just the time of year when we all need a bit
of a boost; something to cheer us up. And that’s where, for many of us, the
January sales come in! Seeking out a bargain, sprucing up our wardrobes, doing
something that’s fun and makes us feel good about ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">But,
for me, January sales mean something entirely different. To any writer of
magazine stories, sales mean only one thing – an editor has read one of the
stories we’ve sent in, liked it, and said YES! We have sold a story and are
going to get paid for it. And that is just as exciting as finding a new winter
coat at half price, I can tell you!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">I
am very pleased to have made THREE story sales during January, each one of them
penned months ago and pushed out of mind ever since. Believe me, it’s
absolutely no use sitting around worrying about whether a story has yet reached
the editor’s desk and if she’s going to like it. The work’s been done and the end
result is out of our hands. All we can do is get on and write some more.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Here are the stories of my January sales, what inspired them and
how they came to be written, although I’m not going to reveal which magazine
has bought them or what they are currently called (Editors often change the
title anyway!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Last
November, Paul and I had been heavily into house hunting. Estate agents were
ringing up every day, and we were already on first name terms with a few of
them. At the same time, we realised we would have to think about inheritance and
make the necessary changes to our wills once we owned our first home together.
Combine those two elements and what did I get? A young woman having to sell a
house after the death of her grandmother. It gave me plenty of scope to introduce
emotion, with the house <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fFFTPoeDe-JKcy1ZYO8oV04MzvfL1x-9cu-ogQHY8HDityb3Doc0_AZPwuOeYqoXbz6Usdr-iF5II0YAaruAvxROWAhdo2ZuvKCTC-RXJ70HM1doFmoMZcFuh79qOjtzUjVfm-Lc_Hc/s1600/016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fFFTPoeDe-JKcy1ZYO8oV04MzvfL1x-9cu-ogQHY8HDityb3Doc0_AZPwuOeYqoXbz6Usdr-iF5II0YAaruAvxROWAhdo2ZuvKCTC-RXJ70HM1doFmoMZcFuh79qOjtzUjVfm-Lc_Hc/s200/016.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saying goodbye to the house</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
evoking treasured childhood memories, and my heroine having
to say goodbye, not only to her Gran but to the house too. I knew from the
start where this story would fit and wrote it very much with that specific
magazine in mind. Luckily, the editor agreed, buying the story just two months
after it was submitted. Although magazines contain many stories about family
homes and country cottages being inherited by grandchildren, the new owner usually
decides to relocate and move in. My ‘twist’, whereby she does not follow the
conventional route but lets the house go, accepts the inevitability of change
and moves on with her own life, is what the editor says made this story rise
above the rest. And the hint of romance with the friendly estate agent, lifting
the mood at the end, didn’t do any harm either!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">The
second story was a strange one. I started to write it in the New Year, with no
idea of what it was about or how it would end. Sometimes that just happens,
with an opening line or a random image leading me off into the unknown. By the
time it was finished, it was too long for the magazine slot I had decided to
aim for, so I had to do some serious cutting – not a bad thing when a story has
rambled onto the page with so very little forward planning. By 9th January I
had a 2000 word story about… well, so many things. Childhood memories (again),
being a twin, having to wear second hand clothes, losing a friend and, years
later, deciding to try to find her again. There were all kinds of influences from
my own life mixed up in this story – a heroine of my own age, having twin
daughters, remembering school life and friendships decades later (a friend’s
ruby wedding party had helped with that one), and having to clear out cupboards
but not always wanting to throw everything away. I liked this one. It had a
feel-good factor by the end, and it was bought by the first editor to see it,
just five days after it was submitted, which is pretty rare! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmDF6kzUQZsUA6svbADKemwpU6-QKLIcSVs6HfXHgV8OK5IRD9J81bnHCtok6QxGLRg-rK4ZgSqpsExF5_DtpLVYpw4twl1eRiz1670ymuKZGB88yQEHdz0Yw88hXYUev7T4KA4DxySQ/s1600/biscuits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmDF6kzUQZsUA6svbADKemwpU6-QKLIcSVs6HfXHgV8OK5IRD9J81bnHCtok6QxGLRg-rK4ZgSqpsExF5_DtpLVYpw4twl1eRiz1670ymuKZGB88yQEHdz0Yw88hXYUev7T4KA4DxySQ/s1600/biscuits.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So many to choose from!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">The
third story was written purely for fun, way back in June. I like a bit of
gentle humour, and this one was based on a family game. You know the kind of
thing we all play with our kids – Can you name a fruit or vegetable whose name
starts with each letter of the alphabet in turn? What would you be called if
you could have chosen your own name? If you were a car, what car would you be,
and why? For the game in my story, I chose biscuits. If you could be a biscuit…
Well, I love a good choc chip cookie, and I’m quite partial to fig rolls too,
which I know are not everyone’s cup of tea. So, we have a group of young boys
gathered for a birthday celebration, a harassed single mum and a gran helping
out, all sitting together and playing the game, with some interesting results.
But humour is a very subjective thing. It’s not always to everybody’s taste.
The first magazine didn’t like it at all. ‘Sweet, but with no surprises’ was
the verdict after a four month wait for a response. Yet, editor number two
loved it – ‘a smashing idea’ she said, ‘and I loved the ending’. So this one
has been seven months in the making, and it will probably be another couple
before it is published. Patience really is the name of the game… unless it’s one
about biscuits, of course!<o:p></o:p></span></span>Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-20220294629100394082015-12-21T07:30:00.000-08:002015-12-21T07:30:34.359-08:00A Year in the Life of a Writer<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>So, here are my highs and lows from 2015. It’s been a mixed
year!</strong> <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaXT7-_D0jA_NoBcV13FikUqTvLf_2U03GCssK5tJ-07LMnT8gCcVuu3s5XnZsF7ds5YbArAqUVL1tfWGEfi_WLVmM2scdvTNCx4hp0nPZ6rDk2qPm_PsMn-XaDR027TR0HT1hOC0luJc/s1600/SL270247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaXT7-_D0jA_NoBcV13FikUqTvLf_2U03GCssK5tJ-07LMnT8gCcVuu3s5XnZsF7ds5YbArAqUVL1tfWGEfi_WLVmM2scdvTNCx4hp0nPZ6rDk2qPm_PsMn-XaDR027TR0HT1hOC0luJc/s320/SL270247.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">With Sir Tim Rice and Wendy Clarke</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">In January, I joined the Council of the</span><a href="http://swwj.co.uk/"><span style="font-size: large;"> SWWJ</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> and agreed
to re-vamp their Manuscript Appraisal service, and I have now taken on the role
of competitions co-ordinator too! As a long-term member, I have always enjoyed
attending SWWJ events, and being on Council now gives me more input in the
planning and something to actually do (apart from chatting and eating) while I
am there! During 2015, thanks to my new role, I have had drinks on the House of
Commons terrace, attended a wonderful lunch party at the National Liberal Club,
and had tea with Sir Tim Rice. Lovely!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">As a member of the Romantic Novelists Association’s New
Writers Scheme, I have enjoyed some lively social events and interesting talks too,
and in the Autumn I received my best ever ‘reader’s report’ for my most
recently completed novel, which was described as already reading just like a
published book. Shame that the first publisher I then sent it to didn’t seem to
agree! Still, it’s early days and that novel has already been submitted
elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Short story successes have continued to come in, with stories
appearing in The People’s Friend and Woman’s Weekly, and my first appearance in
a My Weekly annual (2016 edition, but published a few months ago). And I still
write regularly for Practical Pre-School magazine on my specialist subject of
working and reading with young children, with at least one, and often two or
three, articles in each monthly issue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl_Qr6TqiE8yHzAac79hwso50LV0jMwd0JW8zT1ZrO0oZPOJ2-5ZA9yvkik3r2lQvBFKdSGsgkU7UdduNPARzUvGcKQ58OWzmYDnlY3lKqir3M5AR-pRVWIE9dJcIZVyvS6RDCxRWwpPA/s1600/Ian+crossword.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl_Qr6TqiE8yHzAac79hwso50LV0jMwd0JW8zT1ZrO0oZPOJ2-5ZA9yvkik3r2lQvBFKdSGsgkU7UdduNPARzUvGcKQ58OWzmYDnlY3lKqir3M5AR-pRVWIE9dJcIZVyvS6RDCxRWwpPA/s200/Ian+crossword.jpg" width="150" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">personalised crossword</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I also started my new crossword venture this year. Having loved
doing cryptic crosswords for many years and seeing </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Crack-Cryptic-Crosswords-Answers/dp/1845285085/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450710970&sr=8-1&keywords=vivien+hampshire"><span style="font-size: large;">my book</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> selling so
well (despite a problem with lost royalties which the publisher still hasn’t
managed to sort out after many months of trying), I thought it was time I
started compiling some of my own. Since making that decision, I have seen my
writing themed crosswords in print in the SWWJ in-house magazine and online at
Kishboo magazine, and have compiled several personalised crosswords for clients
as birthday and Christmas gifts for their friends and family. I intend to do a
lot more of that in 2016. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have continued to make new writer and reader friends
throughout 2015, both in person at writerly events, and through facebook and
twitter, and this year I launched my own facebook </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/VivienHampshireAuthor/?ref=hl"><span style="font-size: large;">author page</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> to try to
separate the writing stuff from the personal. It gained over 100 likes in only
four days, which I was very happy about, and I will continue to update the page
whenever I have writing news.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The highlight of the year though, in writing terms at least,
was when literary agent Hannah Ferguson offered to represent me and my novel 'After I Leave Her', and the
excitement of seeing the novel being sent out to, and talked about by, lots of the
top publishing houses in the UK. We had a great meeting with an editor who
showed every sign of being about to ‘take me on’, until her finance and
marketing colleagues decided not to go ahead. That has to rank as the greatest
disappointment of the year… from high to absolute low in one easy step! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">On a more personal note, 2015 saw one daughter graduate with
a merit in her Masters degree (lovely ceremony at Westminster Hall), while the
other started a new nursing job and a Masters degree of her own. My oldest
schoolfriend celebrated her ruby wedding anniversary, although the celebrations
were marred by the unexpected death of her aunt who was travelling from America
for the party and died en-route. And Paul and I, more than a year after our
wedding, finally found a house we both liked enough to rush to the estate
agents and start the ball rolling for a house move early in 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">But the best thing that happened this year, or in just about
any year, was the birth of my first grandchild – the adorable Penny. Watching
her grow and develop, and listening to her little giggle is a real joy, and spending
time with her is the only thing I will willingly leave the laptop for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzi-1enV8j_yonL_VYB1NaIEX7gS7KIEn7P_MljKzTmHcInLuDkzR32u2vXPA2v9kRwqYnAyZ5OS3-1-8UM_GW7A92rkQkbnJ9wqBNAj1vhOVQu4s4yqY9RbndEoLAG7THgMbMendwEXk/s1600/Santa+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzi-1enV8j_yonL_VYB1NaIEX7gS7KIEn7P_MljKzTmHcInLuDkzR32u2vXPA2v9kRwqYnAyZ5OS3-1-8UM_GW7A92rkQkbnJ9wqBNAj1vhOVQu4s4yqY9RbndEoLAG7THgMbMendwEXk/s320/Santa+2015.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Penny meets Santa!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wishing everybody - writers, readers, family and friends - a
very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Viv x<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-42096979187868325682015-11-21T15:37:00.002-08:002015-11-21T15:37:10.252-08:00Learning to live with a split personality!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYxpRMdPhWg9G8ddvdlWKDOzHm1bs79SuBP8_U827UHHig2u05kVCeIaRAem0Iu4ngPc7iSN99r7hfPdpYOvGN1corRQzdCHMNIUI7_E14FxnToOsZItXj6maAiAEQWXAMd1EAmIPefTQ/s1600/name.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYxpRMdPhWg9G8ddvdlWKDOzHm1bs79SuBP8_U827UHHig2u05kVCeIaRAem0Iu4ngPc7iSN99r7hfPdpYOvGN1corRQzdCHMNIUI7_E14FxnToOsZItXj6maAiAEQWXAMd1EAmIPefTQ/s200/name.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since getting married last year I find I am constantly
juggling two names. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have been called <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vivien
Hampshire</b> for a very long time, and certainly for my whole writing life. Although
I’m far from famous, I am known by that name, both in women’s magazine fiction
and pre-school magazine circles, and I’m reluctant to change it. Yet, in my
personal life, it’s expected that I take my new husband’s name and become <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vivien Brown</b>, and I am more than happy
to do that, despite the hassle it causes. Passport, driving licence, household
bills, bank accounts, library card, doctor and dentist records, you name it…
they all have to be changed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, because there are two very distinct and separate areas
of my life, each pleading a strong case for the use of one of my two names, I
have decided there is only one answer. I will live with both names side by side
- not just during the immediate change-over period, but forever! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">But how do I manage that without tying myself up in knots
and confusing everybody else? If you are about to get married, especially you
writer ladies out there, believe me, there is a LOT to think about… <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Firstly, I have no real choice but to continue to write as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vivien Hampshire</b>. Using my new married
name would have felt like starting all over again, with regular readers not
recognising the new name at all. When it comes to those professional childcare
and early education staff who read my articles about working with young
children, it would also worry me that they’d have no faith in an apparent new
writer and I would lose all the benefits (a wealth of knowledge, experience and
credibility) that I have built up behind the old one. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, I have opened a new facebook ‘author’ page where I will
forever be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vivien Hampshire (Author)</b>
- it’s very easy to do – and that’s where my readers and writing friends will
be able to find me and where I will talk only about my books, stories, and
other writerly stuff. You can take a look at it <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/VivienHampshireAuthor/?ref=hl">here</a> . </span></b>This blog will also
continue under the name of Vivien Hampshire, as will my Amazon author page – to
ensure it matches the name on my books – and my membership of writing
organisations like the SWWJ and RNA. As for twitter, I am Vivien Hampshire
there too, and intend to stay that way, as most of my tweets are of the
writerly kind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">For my general daily chat, friends and family, likes and
shares, photos of my cats and granddaughter, etc. I am retaining my personal
facebook page, where I have already made the switch to calling myself <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Viv Brown</b> – with the old name retained
on my profile page in brackets for those who are either curious or confused!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Email: Well, what can I say? The thought of the number of
people I would have to tell if I changed my email address scares the hell out
of me. And plenty of people use obscure email addresses that don’t include
their name at all, so in that area Vivien Hampshire it is, and will (probably
always) remain, no matter who I am communicating with. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">As for the important finances… I’ve changed my name at the
bank, but I’ve also kept just one small rarely-used savings account open at
another bank in the old name, so I have somewhere to pay in the odd stray
cheque that sneaks through the net bearing the Hampshire name. I was amazed at
how soon my regular bank started refusing to accept cheques in that name, even
though their records must show that I’ve been called by it for well over 30
years! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Of course, when magazines or publishers pay me fees or
royalties, they need to know my ‘official’ name too – the one that matches my
bank details, but they are more than happy to publish me under the old name, so
I suppose Vivien Hampshire has now become my ‘pen name’. Lots of writers use
pen names; it’s just that mine is my ‘ex-name’ and not a made-up glamorous one as
many others are! Of course, I’ve had to tell PLR, ALCS, and DACS of the name
change too, but they all have facilities within their systems to cope with
authors' pen names (multiple ones if necessary). And when it comes to the tax
man, he now knows me as Vivien Brown, with a ‘trading name’ of Vivien Hampshire.
Simple!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oYx2O3QoxaXUbHhENCm4-enXx-CwBdCB2B1KJV0bPR_G_fUmdf2u2irNYENZlZSoCS2FC64C2MrOctMa6TP514PIQ1yT4MOyHxB4tJgILd3oJoaLdv2_202VOPCeNTxIfZY7amLIxUI/s1600/name+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oYx2O3QoxaXUbHhENCm4-enXx-CwBdCB2B1KJV0bPR_G_fUmdf2u2irNYENZlZSoCS2FC64C2MrOctMa6TP514PIQ1yT4MOyHxB4tJgILd3oJoaLdv2_202VOPCeNTxIfZY7amLIxUI/s320/name+2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then there’s ID. I still haven’t changed my name on my passport,
mainly because it costs a fortune to do it, so I’m waiting for it to expire,
when I will have to buy a new one anyway. It makes holidays interesting, as I’m
sure the hotels we stay in abroad must assume we are not married – not that
they care these days. Just remind me not to book a double room in Dubai until
it’s been sorted! But I have changed my name on my driving licence (to ensure
it matches the name on my car registration documents and insurance), so by
producing either the passport or the driving licence, both of which carry a photo, I can still legitimately prove my identity
under either name, at least for now. And the marriage certificate comes in very
handy sometimes to prove both who I was and who I now am – like when selling my
house, which was bought when I was a Hampshire but is now being sold as a Brown.
Oh, boy, isn’t it complicated?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">And so all I have to master now is learning to sign my new
signature without thinking about it, and without having to stop mid-flow and
apologise that I’ve started to sign the old one. It still happens occasionally,
after more than a year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, of course, most importantly, I have to remember which
of my two personalities I am supposed to be at any given time - depending on
where I am and who I’m talking to! So, on that note, it’s Goodbye for now –
from both of us!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-66801052313155128742015-10-11T12:47:00.002-07:002015-10-11T12:47:38.511-07:00PROCRASTINATION: A big word, and an even bigger mistake!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8UytEMfYU-OkHLkMvXieve7NjBueAB5iQ680_tTzvjCg1_7Ai_ZhuT_P_YBuo3CZ6mNNIYy0OAkvbJXO8nwiqB63cK2paf5s78_g8RwO4sXkVvfioy8P4v77VHKHn8QxeTs-pCG5260/s1600/swing.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8UytEMfYU-OkHLkMvXieve7NjBueAB5iQ680_tTzvjCg1_7Ai_ZhuT_P_YBuo3CZ6mNNIYy0OAkvbJXO8nwiqB63cK2paf5s78_g8RwO4sXkVvfioy8P4v77VHKHn8QxeTs-pCG5260/s200/swing.png" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I must stop monkeying around!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why is it so hard to get back into the swing of things after
a week away?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Eight days away from my desk. That was all it was supposed
to be. Plus maybe one day before setting off – for packing – and another after
flying home – for unpacking! So, why is it that, a week after arriving back
from my sunshine holiday in Lanzarote, I still haven’t managed to get back in the
swing? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I was still going out to work I would have had no
excuses. Ignore the piles of washing and the half empty case still open on the
bedroom floor and just set off for the office. It might have taken a few
evenings to catch up with the household stuff, but catch up I would, and fairly
quickly too. And my mind and body would have been right back into the day job
as if I’d never been away. Working from home now, and being my own boss with
nobody breathing down my neck, seems to have put paid to all that!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since getting home I have washed my way through several
loads of laundry, changed the bed (well, who wants to get back between the dirty
sheets you left behind more than a week before?), collected the cats from the
kennels, read through pages of emails (many of them of the junk kind), stocked
up at Sainsbury’s, been to visit my elderly mum and helped her to change her
bed and get her supermarket shopping too, done a little light gardening and a
thorough hoovering of the house, and attended a funeral. All of which I would
once have fitted in around work, but now these oh-so-essential tasks seem to
spread themselves out and take over, so when it comes to my writing, I find
myself sitting down each evening and thinking: It’s not worth starting anything
now. It’s late. I’m tired. There’s always tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Writing is supposed to be my job now. My priority. My
passion. So why am I not doing any? To be honest, since arriving home, writing
anything other than the shopping list has been pretty much non-existent. I did
manage to rattle off an article one evening, mainly because it was
commissioned, so there was a deadline – and a welcome fee - involved. But what
I really want to write is fiction, so why am I not doing it? I'm procrastinating; that's why! Making excuses, and finding silly reasons to put it off. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ05rcDGj3HHB_4Nkpud6qa1NSnagzQD-eWHCghBDD5kOfLOTpGQ1blo691a1Jl0RpDeVLkYzT9IGicWXn_EVKtcfCLVjXLlVKGHaxdu8aziGYAexnFSEuw04mBLAFGTsNb3XefruHQsA/s1600/SL270060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ05rcDGj3HHB_4Nkpud6qa1NSnagzQD-eWHCghBDD5kOfLOTpGQ1blo691a1Jl0RpDeVLkYzT9IGicWXn_EVKtcfCLVjXLlVKGHaxdu8aziGYAexnFSEuw04mBLAFGTsNb3XefruHQsA/s200/SL270060.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My latest published story</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The one short story idea that did emerge this week chose late
at night to pop into my head. I was already in bed but the whole first page was
fully formed in my mind before I went to sleep. The trouble was - by the time I
woke up it had disappeared without trace. Yes, I should have got up and made
notes, but it’s hard to get motivated at one a.m., and I would surely remember
at least the </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0VngYJ-PmCPg8IHrheZDwKCUrygDhovzZ_7jXedwxs3J-6PnxdWE9W-PDt5Yhno9iFlZYj5Z_LP4NRtHkJ827FS0-8DkRu92K214Kq2vaCRBts9pLgMa49DM3UIj_zLNSCMGs5VtcH8/s1600/SL270060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">germ of it come morning, wouldn't I? Sadly not. I’ve spent a lot of fruitless hours
trying to recover it, but I already know it’s gone for good. Still, one of my
stories, called The Anniversary Waltz, is in the Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special
that’s just hit the shops (November issue). It’s one I really enjoyed writing
and am very happy to see in print, lovely illustration and all, plus I have
just sold another story to The People’s Friend, so with that
kind of boost, it won’t take me long to find another idea - and to nail it down next time. No excuses!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, as for my novel in progress? Well, let’s just say that
a novel is like another world, one that I have created in my own head, and I need to step back
inside it as soon as I can... but it’s closed its doors to me. Temporarily, I hope. After
just a short time away it’s been very easy to ‘lose the thread’. And there’s
only one way back in - I need to re-read the whole thing right from the
beginning to remember where I was, who’s doing what, where and when, and recapture
what I had planned for them next. Luckily, I’m only a few chapters in, so it
won’t actually take too long. But please, remind me not to go away again until
it’s finished. Or at least to make some proper notes as soon as each new plot idea
strikes, even if it is in the middle of the night. Losing the thread after 7000
words is manageable, but when I’ve got all the way to 70,000? I’m not sure I
could cope with that! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-45107115902196444682015-09-06T11:29:00.000-07:002015-09-06T11:29:20.010-07:00A BLACK BELT IN CROSSWORDS!<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Taking
my writing in a whole new direction...<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It’s
September and I can hardly believe I’ve been married for a whole year already.
Where does the time go? I wouldn’t say there’s never been a cross word between Paul
and me over the last twelve months, because having a bit of an argument from
time to time (or even every day!) is a healthy part of married life… isn’t it?
But ‘cross words’ of a different kind do play a big part in our daily lives – those
of the black and white squared variety. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Crosswords
are great for keeping the old brain cells in good working order, playing around
with words and expanding vocabulary, and for developing patience and
persistence – all essential requirements for any writer – and no day is truly
complete for me without enjoying, and finishing, the crossword in the paper! My
record for the Daily Mail cryptic is now down to around eight minutes on a good
day, but I have to allow a whole lot longer if I decide to have a go at the
Telegraph Toughie!<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxk1qhZSIc6_mordV01J6VFT50kivFDzAZalUio0-Ky-tR65PTxjmEFqBXyGY-cE7QpSm8EJGQaWWQrM3SYZyv4gI4e2WpZ7DAr9mppLz1xaUS1UY7IZe5I04weCHzBe_eU3QgH1yJVs/s1600/black+belt.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxk1qhZSIc6_mordV01J6VFT50kivFDzAZalUio0-Ky-tR65PTxjmEFqBXyGY-cE7QpSm8EJGQaWWQrM3SYZyv4gI4e2WpZ7DAr9mppLz1xaUS1UY7IZe5I04weCHzBe_eU3QgH1yJVs/s200/black+belt.png" width="165" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
often browse through ebay or Amazon looking for ‘crosswordy’ items too. There are
so many – pens, egg cups, mugs, cuff links, ties… My crossword-patterned furry slippers
all the way from America have finally fallen apart after nearly three years of
wear but unfortunately nobody seems to sell them anymore, so I can’t replace
them, but I have just added two great t-shirts to my collection: a black one
with the logo ‘Live Breathe Sleep Solve’, and a grey one with ‘Black Belt in
Crossword Puzzles’ emblazoned right across the chest. A bold claim, maybe, but I have
been solving them for fifty years so it’s one I feel justified in making.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9FDpldksTcH1EVBLw5N5zY2ixqbU9J3fsUuSVlzKmDXx6NXcsYzM48l_zgodZeW3yO56c0tVZ39rOP0Nbgh7zwslygbXbjKiRXtPpIAYkZD3v9CbAg_eLoc_4Y3DswCVYHTAffKWTZQA/s1600/How+to+Crack+Cryptic+Crosswords+cover+-+final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9FDpldksTcH1EVBLw5N5zY2ixqbU9J3fsUuSVlzKmDXx6NXcsYzM48l_zgodZeW3yO56c0tVZ39rOP0Nbgh7zwslygbXbjKiRXtPpIAYkZD3v9CbAg_eLoc_4Y3DswCVYHTAffKWTZQA/s200/How+to+Crack+Cryptic+Crosswords+cover+-+final.jpg" width="128" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Since
writing my book ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Crack Cryptic
Crosswords’</b> (details <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Crack-Cryptic-Crosswords-Answers/dp/1845285085/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441460822&sr=8-1&keywords=Vivien+Hampshire" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>)
I’ve had a real urge to start compiling crosswords of my own, and it’s proving
to be a great success. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
started earlier this year with a crossword to celebrate the impending birth of my
granddaughter Penny, packing it with references to cots, bottles, nappies,
rattles and all things baby – and I loved doing it. I also ran a small competition
here on the blog, offering a personalised crossword as a prize, and the winner,
Wendy Clarke, asked me to compile one especially for her husband Ian’s fiftieth
birthday. What fun that was! Wendy gave me all sorts of information about her
man and I weaved it into the clues – everything from his favourite drinks, cars
and music to the names of family members and pets, holiday destinations, hobbies…
and a whole lot more! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Then
a friend I hadn’t seen for ages happened to spot me talking about the blog competition
on facebook and got in touch to ask if I could make up a similar puzzle as a
birthday surprise for her partner’s mum. My first paying customer! Emails went
backwards and forwards, with more and more obscure facts about the unsuspecting
Barbara changing hands, and again a highly personalised crossword emerged, with
every clue having some connection with the lady’s life, work, friends and
family, even though we have never met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
have also started writing regular cryptic crosswords with a distinctly writerly
theme for inclusion in the quarterly magazine sent out to all members of the <a href="http://www.swwj.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">SWWJ</span></a> (Society of Women Writers and
Journalists), and did another, with the clues all based around writing and
reading, for the competition page of a recent issue of <a href="http://www.kishboo.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Kishboo</span></a>, the e-magazine for fiction lovers.
Both are worthy causes so I didn’t charge, although I have discovered that
compilers can easily command a fee of around two hundred pounds or more for writing
even a fairly small themed cryptic crossword puzzle for a popular newspaper or
magazine!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So,
to stop me worrying over the latest plot problem in my work-in-progress or
wondering what’s happening with the completed novel that’s currently with my
agent, I’m going to take occasional time out from my fiction and article
writing work and compile (and hopefully sell) a few more specialist crosswords.
Not to try to make my fortune, but because it’s fun to do, I’m getting pretty
good at it and, as hobbies go, it’s a lot quieter than knitting - my husband just
can’t tolerate all that rhythmic needle clacking! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My
aim is not for my puzzles to appear in national newspapers - many more
experienced people than me are already doing that, so the competition (excuse
the pun) is likely to be fierce - but for them to become unusual and highly
personalised keepsakes to be presented as gifts for birthdays, engagements, weddings,
anniversaries, or at leaving parties etc. I might tackle some specialist topics
too if I can get a trade paper or club magazine interested in publishing one
for their members to crack. You name it… any theme, any celebration, any life
story... and I will do my best to produce just the right tailor-made and
totally unique crossword for the occasion. No two will ever be the same!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Rates
start from just £15 per puzzle, depending on the size and level of complexity. Does
that seem a lot? I hope not, as each one can take several hours to put
together. Crosswords will be delivered to you as PDF documents by email, in colour and suitably decorated, all
ready to print - or even to frame! – with the solution provided separately in
case you get stuck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvz0mNmHsYJ-KQGdPbCIQQx_RBPesYYsRHiurh3liSmJzOFLyXNsgo-czs3cnM0Q0YVeXJu74yRjiND_uhLYczniQ0oAIvFsVzZi0zrJfQuUTlsAA_j1MX1TmYQeDlgzN2Hy0Z0zyd9O0/s1600/Ian+crossword.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvz0mNmHsYJ-KQGdPbCIQQx_RBPesYYsRHiurh3liSmJzOFLyXNsgo-czs3cnM0Q0YVeXJu74yRjiND_uhLYczniQ0oAIvFsVzZi0zrJfQuUTlsAA_j1MX1TmYQeDlgzN2Hy0Z0zyd9O0/s200/Ian+crossword.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So,
if you fancy having a special crossword written just for you, or as a gift for
a friend, please get in touch and help me to get this new venture off the
ground. Feel free to email me at <a href="mailto:vivienhampshire@btinternet.com">vivienhampshire@btinternet.com</a>
to find out more, ask for a price list, or place an order. If it takes off, prices
will go up to a more commercial level next year, and I may even get myself a
proper website. Wish me luck!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Viv<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And,
just to show I really can do it, here’s what some of my satisfied customers have
to say so far:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
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<span class="5yl5"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
was wracking my brains trying to find something unusual to give my husband for
his 50th birthday and Viv came to the rescue with the idea of a personalised
crossword. I would say it was his best present! </span></i></span><span class="5yl5"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(Wendy Clarke, winner of my blog competition)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="5yl5"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A
wonderfully unique, personalised gift for anyone who loves cryptic crosswords.
Viv takes the time and effort to find out many details about the recipient
which makes the clues and/or answers particularly meaningful. She is able to
tailor the difficulty to their level. You will even have fun finding out things
you didn't know about your loved one. Highly recommended.</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;">(Sally Alfred)<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Many thanks for
creating a bespoke cyrptic crossword for the summer 2015 issue of KISHBOO
e-magazine. It was a fun, fresh and original addition to our pages. and an
enjoyable challenge for our readers. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(Editor, Kishboo)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></i> </div>
</span> </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-12209629595310740242015-08-14T11:38:00.000-07:002015-08-14T11:38:11.214-07:00Welcome to the Ideas Factory!
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">While I take a rest between novels, I have returned to my
first love – short stories. I find them enjoyable and remarkably easy to write,
and I was lucky enough to see three of them in print in national magazines over
a period of just eight days earlier in August. Here they are, all beautifully
illustrated as usual! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkwfnJQZB8HjfBYqU_zeAD1XoKhbqX7Gi1tqHm7-WgVxDhUvja18CXiarx72NDCzuExY5XDgz5g92WeVbpQqbXLBm_bu7uz_v4u4ZFypYfyU_q3RfzgjOZARIb3bhZIBwbdQcNvmX1EAk/s1600/SL279766.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkwfnJQZB8HjfBYqU_zeAD1XoKhbqX7Gi1tqHm7-WgVxDhUvja18CXiarx72NDCzuExY5XDgz5g92WeVbpQqbXLBm_bu7uz_v4u4ZFypYfyU_q3RfzgjOZARIb3bhZIBwbdQcNvmX1EAk/s320/SL279766.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My August 2015 published stories</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have to confess that I am not a great planner. I don’t
agonise over plots and themes, bury myself in research, or delve around
desperately for some great new idea or angle. I just write contemporary
stories, about ordinary women in ordinary but emotional situations - stories
that I believe the readers will like! So, in this month’s blog I thought I
would take a brief look at that age-old question all writers get asked: Where
do you get your ideas from?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">What inspires me? What gets me rushing to the laptop or
reaching for a pen? It can be a photograph of a person or place, a chance
remark overheard in the street, or a human interest item in the news, but
usually my stories start with nothing more than an opening line or a random
thought that just pops into my head. I rarely know at that point who the story
will be about or what’s going to happen to them. It’s not uncommon for me to
have no idea at all about the ending either, or to set out with one in mind and
then find myself heading off on a totally different route! Somehow, the
emerging characters, and the situation I put them in, seem to draw me along in
the right direction and the ending quite naturally writes itself, often
surprising me almost as much as it does the readers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The first of this month’s stories, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pink or Blue?</i> appeared in The People’s Friend 1<sup>st</sup> August
issue, and its inspiration was a very easy one. I wrote it just after the birth
of my first granddaughter, and I even named the two main characters after my
own daughter and <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfDqfAiZktD5gyC-Cu7h60qM8nNSYSVBj-JHHOpbNThckyECNVoViKjWODYyf3qGmsaNy72isCchkeOjg4Nc3ZLSjjDjluFvo81dsii3F4IfVP_vsB-JGO2sycTn7erPslDRO0aUWLRKc/s1600/SL279768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfDqfAiZktD5gyC-Cu7h60qM8nNSYSVBj-JHHOpbNThckyECNVoViKjWODYyf3qGmsaNy72isCchkeOjg4Nc3ZLSjjDjluFvo81dsii3F4IfVP_vsB-JGO2sycTn7erPslDRO0aUWLRKc/s200/SL279768.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by Mandy Dixon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
son-in-law. Should parents-to-be be expected to tell everyone
the sex of their unborn child? What if they want to keep it as a special secret
until the birth? And how would the prospective grandparents feel about being
kept in the dark? Especially when they are eager to start buying and knitting
baby clothes, but don’t know whether to pick pink or blue! I tried to inject a
little humour into this one as various characters gossiped, guessed and
generally got the wrong end of the stick. In my case, I was let in on the
secret quite early on, so the shopping choices (pink, pink, pink!) presented no
problems at all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Next came <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our Next
House</i> in Woman’s Weekly on 4<sup>th</sup> August. Most of my WW stories pop
up in the monthly Fiction Specials, so it was nice to see one used in the
weekly magazine for a change – particularly as it has a lot more readers! Having
got married last year, the question of whether to move house has been on our
minds lately, and looking at lovely houses online (especially ones we can’t
afford!) has become a regular pastime. Who hasn’t wondered what it might be
like to live somewhere else? In a bigger house, in the country instead of the
city, perhaps close to a beach, or somewhere with a huge garden? Here, my main
character is a single mum on a budget, so the reality of being able to live out
her dreams seems way out of reach, yet we find her and her young son in a
stranger’s house, struggling to figure out how to use the oven, confronted by a
wary cat, packing up and trying to leave not a trace of themselves behind. Are
they squatting? Have they broken in? No, they’ve found the perfect way to spend
the summer, by house and pet sitting in a variety of lovely homes around the
country, and it isn’t costing a penny!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The third story is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Present for Max</i>, and it appeared in The People’s Friend 8<sup>th</sup>
August issue. This one started life as a twist ending story which the magazine
didn’t like at all! But because I had been told which bits they did like, it
was easy enough to rewrite it without the twist and turn it into a nice
straightforward story with, I hope, a real emotional impact. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7NGJoWW80Td4dhN7hAjvpcDdeDaYEMSRWGk-GsWBbTjqAW7Z9TNM70iiFGEXUYNxmPqncU1L8Ee2Rclh0S0bH_M7BjayiXH_YoGpltUv6rWL6wQj7wwup2F2x-4gHd1JkjUVAWoT-sIw/s1600/dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7NGJoWW80Td4dhN7hAjvpcDdeDaYEMSRWGk-GsWBbTjqAW7Z9TNM70iiFGEXUYNxmPqncU1L8Ee2Rclh0S0bH_M7BjayiXH_YoGpltUv6rWL6wQj7wwup2F2x-4gHd1JkjUVAWoT-sIw/s1600/dog.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How I imagined Max!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">When new neighbours Ella and Sam move in next door, retired couple Maureen and Gerald find that,
despite the age difference, they all quickly become friends. The women have
working with young children and a love of books in common (that sounds just
like me!), and the men have their interest in the local football team, but what
really brings them together is their childlessness. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">In Maureen’s day, there was
nothing that could be done, and she and Gerald have learned to accept their
sadness and get on with their lives together, but for the youngsters (and for
me!) it’s a different story. Medicine has moved on and IVF offers a possible
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKsOsVLVl4YW2cT_VSTDTsUrwM842jY66HX3e62MgV7hro37xpORaQZaK2Ck4fySuzYtjoIBzU9JE47NKoKR151P9Dj8QHmsY8B5a1YhKZdn6hnboQATSTLlG3GCseonH_pExLIgltoY/s1600/baby+girlie.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKsOsVLVl4YW2cT_VSTDTsUrwM842jY66HX3e62MgV7hro37xpORaQZaK2Ck4fySuzYtjoIBzU9JE47NKoKR151P9Dj8QHmsY8B5a1YhKZdn6hnboQATSTLlG3GCseonH_pExLIgltoY/s200/baby+girlie.png" width="113" /></a>solution, albeit one with huge emotional and financial implications and no
guarantee of success. For me, twenty seven years ago, my fifth IVF attempt
finally produced twin girls, but for Ella… well, that’s where Max comes in – a
little puppy who brings unexpected joy and love into all their lives. Not
exactly a surrogate baby, but surely the next best thing? For me, cats win over
dogs any day, but this is fiction and the difference a pet can make is just the
same, whatever animal you choose. And, of course, this time I just had to let
art imitate life and give Ella her longed-for real baby by the end of the
story, didn’t I? </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The one thing all these short stories have in common is that
they were sparked by the germ of an idea that came out of my own life and
experience – becoming a granny, drooling over houses I can’t afford, loving a
family pet, and remembering the stress levels that go hand in hand with
infertility treatment, especially when it fails. But the idea is just the starting point,
and what happens next often bears little or no resemblance to my own life. The
people I create, how they think and talk and interact, the way their problems
play out on the page, and the outcomes, whether happy or sad, are all
fictional. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s a great compliment though, that my words sometimes come
across in such a way as to suspend disbelief. I remember reading a poem I had
written, called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Losing the Left</i>, to a
group of delegates at a writers’ holiday a couple of years ago. It was about a
woman who’d had breast cancer and had her left breast removed. I’d had a few
health problems in that area, but nothing so drastic, and I knew that writing
the poem in first person would give it a more authentic, poignant and emotional
feel. What I didn’t expect after walking offstage were the looks of sympathy,
the pats on the arm and the tentative enquiries about how long ago it had happened.
One lady even told me how brave she thought I was to share such an experience
with others in a poem. But all I wanted to say was: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">IT ISN’T TRUE!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m a writer, and it’s my job to sweep my readers up in my
stories and poems, entertain them and, where necessary, deliver a liberal dose
of emotion. To do that I often have to use a setting or situation that’s
familiar to me, and tap into my own experiences, memories and feelings. If I can
make my characters and their problems seem real, and can make a reader laugh or
worry or cry alongside them, that can only be a good thing. It’s not my own life
there on the page, but it’s that life that provides me with so many of the
ideas that help me to get it right! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFmfZpvmMX0KNfB95HiP1bVSHgSJ7lEbzq0m7G71Fi3vAgv8UddZ1TW6v5_z52w_TwlH4CgHqXSOEAAJyroQu_cb8D0hJgvrx1UOtwOQeZnbL2x_SzKi9s-DkIZN5b5y1IvfDDMlJ-FhE/s1600/baby+girl+3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFmfZpvmMX0KNfB95HiP1bVSHgSJ7lEbzq0m7G71Fi3vAgv8UddZ1TW6v5_z52w_TwlH4CgHqXSOEAAJyroQu_cb8D0hJgvrx1UOtwOQeZnbL2x_SzKi9s-DkIZN5b5y1IvfDDMlJ-FhE/s320/baby+girl+3.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
</h2>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-66476711204490673732015-07-12T13:52:00.000-07:002015-07-13T09:34:38.253-07:00THE MARMITE WORLD OF WRITING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3l40WupwGVT7TnbgnsKjXNdgJVUTvqqU7Zuog-p2vFlehmH33uKM4OmL6RJMubTtRLcek-C_0_gloWUlvw0U3JCPXnLl7JCdiWYKapToqtHIK3imR4cPA3mTKYl3edbDxtin-LIq36pI/s1600/Marmite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3l40WupwGVT7TnbgnsKjXNdgJVUTvqqU7Zuog-p2vFlehmH33uKM4OmL6RJMubTtRLcek-C_0_gloWUlvw0U3JCPXnLl7JCdiWYKapToqtHIK3imR4cPA3mTKYl3edbDxtin-LIq36pI/s1600/Marmite.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hate Marmite! Nasty smelly brown stuff. But I know full well
that others love it. We all have different tastes when it comes to food, and so
it is with writing. Sometimes I love what I do and others (editors and readers)
love it too, and sometimes not!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUD0ZnlYs8oG621jH9sDQqEc6loILOXZu4wvW9KEydQi4ZLyBk520QDm0lceASmPpiQG5eoCoaCbYvucHtPfU8WQtT4gl09ANlGOspbOEqc30dyOZ4XMw8TGbr6Jf50VYcFcLO7G77SCc/s1600/SL279626.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUD0ZnlYs8oG621jH9sDQqEc6loILOXZu4wvW9KEydQi4ZLyBk520QDm0lceASmPpiQG5eoCoaCbYvucHtPfU8WQtT4gl09ANlGOspbOEqc30dyOZ4XMw8TGbr6Jf50VYcFcLO7G77SCc/s200/SL279626.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My non-fiction articles July 2015</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Take my non-fiction work, for example. This month I have had
two articles published in pre-school professional magazines: The first one, for
Practical Pre-School, was all about eggs, helping very young children to
explore what they are, where they come from and what’s inside them. Now, I can
honestly say that I hate eggs even more than I hate Marmite (Boiled, scrambled,
poached, fried… I haven’t eaten one for well over fifty years), but the editor
wanted 1500 words about them, so that’s what she got. At least I didn’t have to
taste any!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The other article, for Child Care magazine, was about books.
Now, what writer doesn’t want to write about books? This one was all about the
fantastic annual Summer Reading Challenge, encouraging kids to go to their
local library, pick up books and read them all through the long school holidays,
with all sorts of rewards to collect and exciting activities to join in with at
the same time. This year’s theme is record breakers, so there should be plenty
of fun involved. If that article gets just one young family through the library
doors who haven’t been there before, it’s been worth it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXxLd60dzXapboFBFLmElIdUqMPFAML5mIIM-HpefJC9V80YaYzuLoCXr_SkqJDMFQPInwm115fTUej0zBYGb5F7cL3fogDmtO5ptIoOc3SfRhrkIoFgdW26qDOBNPJU7Gtl6T-kfaJE/s1600/SL279625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXxLd60dzXapboFBFLmElIdUqMPFAML5mIIM-HpefJC9V80YaYzuLoCXr_SkqJDMFQPInwm115fTUej0zBYGb5F7cL3fogDmtO5ptIoOc3SfRhrkIoFgdW26qDOBNPJU7Gtl6T-kfaJE/s200/SL279625.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Peoples Friend story</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Something else I love to write about is young romance, and my
latest published short story, in The People’s Friend Special 109, is all about
a girl who falls in love – not only with a young man but also with a house! I’d
had to make a few changes to get this one accepted, and was a bit surprised to
see that a few more had been made to the finished version without my knowledge,
but the illustration fits the story perfectly and nobody but me will ever
realise the story’s been tampered with, so no harm done.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">This month’s ‘Marmite’ moments for me, when things have not gone
quite so well, have been the rejections from editors – several for magazine short
stories that didn’t quite make the grade, and a couple from publishing houses
who had their reasons (each having a different reason, unfortunately) for not
wanting to take on my latest novel. Of course, rejections are par for the
course, and they haven’t stopped me banging out more words in the hope of a
better outcome. Not as many as I had planned, with babysitting duties and lots
of lovely sunny garden weather getting in the way, but any words are better
than none, and the next novel is slowly and surely nearing completion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now to the good stuff: One of the really nice things about
becoming a full-time writer is having the time and opportunity to meet others
in the same boat and to learn more about the writing life, and during the last few weeks there
have been three wonderful occasions for me to do just that. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the London Chapter meeting of the Romantic Novelists Association
on 20<sup>th</sup> June, after a lovely pub lunch, novelist Jean Fullerton gave
a talk about nursing history and daily life in the East End in the 1950s, the
backdrop to her successful Call Nurse Millie series, giving us insight into all
the meticulous research that’s necessary to create an authentic historical
novel, especially when it covers a 20<sup>th</sup> century period which readers
can still remember - and will be sure to moan about if the author gets anything wrong!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUbJz-cpUeltc2S1gz82mNg3j3RiJI6SLFuccfNreCbmzipu3tpfPPK6Yzzc0fhKgBeX3vuAgREkZ3oxvHRvrDK9kYrgkwozTtFMhuzxEOXUdGDOnEb1wS7s543kzL8z_61kJXMiJEVo/s1600/Council+25.6.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUbJz-cpUeltc2S1gz82mNg3j3RiJI6SLFuccfNreCbmzipu3tpfPPK6Yzzc0fhKgBeX3vuAgREkZ3oxvHRvrDK9kYrgkwozTtFMhuzxEOXUdGDOnEb1wS7s543kzL8z_61kJXMiJEVo/s400/Council+25.6.15.jpg" width="396" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Council members at the SWWJ AGM and Summer tea</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Next on the agenda was the summer get-together and AGM of the
SWWJ, held one sunny afternoon at the National Liberal Club in London, where a
fine tea was on offer, along with the prize presentations to the winners of the
Society’s recent poetry competition, and an interesting speech from the Deputy
Editor of the old and much respected magazine Good Housekeeping. So nice to see
so many members from all over the country in their finery, getting together for
a chat and enjoying a very special social occasion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last, but far from least, was a visit to the House of
Commons last week for a drinks reception on the terrace overlooking the Thames.
By invitation of the All Party Parliamentary Writers Group, lots of writers,
famous and not so famous, rubbed shoulders with others involved in and supportive
of the writing life, including agents, MPs, and several Lords! Wine, delicious canapés,
inspiring speeches, glorious river views, and a sneaky nose around Parliament,
from grand hall to gift shop, made for a very enjoyable afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">There would have been a fourth writerly trip, to the annual
RNA Conference, being held in London for the first time in several years, but I
decided not to go in favour of staying at home to celebrate my husband’s
birthday. Well, I can go to London any day of the week, and get there within the
hour, so staying for a whole weekend wasn’t quite the draw it was for others.
Nevertheless, I hear everyone had a fantastic time, and for me there’s always
next year – when the Conference moves to Lancaster, a place I have never
visited before. By then I may even be a fully-fledged published novelist!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-7034187928784883682015-06-14T14:57:00.001-07:002015-06-14T14:57:57.278-07:00The SWWJ: What’s in it for me?<span style="font-size: large;">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">This month I want to dedicate my blog post to a fantastic
organisation for professional writers called the SWWJ. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxjoNCjVo87aUGQN1_HnYrgNTgqro0csxJS4B6DQ3s35JWowGAHOp_vROeKGzcx_oL4zW7Dxkt6QXdMSQxH4990j4rPaUJebTAmpQX8-PT0YB7iw_-YH2N3DTb-LhMgYtCUrFRspYcG28/s1600/SWWJ+anniv+Oct+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxjoNCjVo87aUGQN1_HnYrgNTgqro0csxJS4B6DQ3s35JWowGAHOp_vROeKGzcx_oL4zW7Dxkt6QXdMSQxH4990j4rPaUJebTAmpQX8-PT0YB7iw_-YH2N3DTb-LhMgYtCUrFRspYcG28/s320/SWWJ+anniv+Oct+2014.jpg" width="302" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although its full name is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Society of Women Writers and Journalists,</i> and the vast majority of
members are female, the SWWJ is not just an organisation for women these days.
The doors are now well and truly open to male writers too, with men
co-ordinating the drama section, helping with marketing and promotion, turning
up and enjoying social events as associate members, and winning some of the
regular members-only writing competition prizes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The SWWJ is a long-established society for professional
writers, and is now over 120 years old (This photo was taken at the 120th anniversary celebrations) - which can give the impression that
it’s bound to be a bit old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy. Nothing could be further
from the truth! Yes, quite a few of its members (me included!) are at the
mature end of the spectrum, but that is usually because they joined many years
ago and, having become a member of such a welcoming and supportive society,
have never wanted to leave! That says a lot, doesn’t it?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The SWWJ is well aware that younger members are its future,
and is extremely keen to welcome new writers of all ages. Novelists,
journalists, playwrights, poets, writers of articles and non-fiction books… Society
members come from all areas of the writing world. Geographically too, as quite
a few live in other countries, all around the globe, keeping in touch via the
Society’s regular magazines, e-newsletters and social media links. It doesn’t
matter if you already belong to other writers’ organisations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many – like the Society of Authors, the
Poetry Society, the Romantic Novelists’ Association or the Crime Writers’
Association - are very specialised, and the SWWJ certainly isn’t trying to
compete when it comes to news, training and networking within a specific genre.
But what the SWWJ can offer is the chance to meet writers and make friends from
across all genres, learn and expand your writing knowledge in new areas as well
as your own specialism, and enjoy some lovely social occasions. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">The SWWJ’s new initials-only name and re-designed logo have,
I think, helped to give it a much fresher and more modern feel, as has the new </span><a href="http://www.swwj.co.uk/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">website</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">, re-opened a few weeks ago - a
complete transformation from its former dated look and rather limited content.
There is a </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/SWWJ/288593147853678?fref=ts"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;">facebook
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">page (Please take a look and then
press the Like button!), and the Society is becoming much more active on </span><a href="https://twitter.com/SWWJ"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">twitter</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> too, so there are lots of ways to follow
the SWWJ, find out what’s happening and spread the word about meetings,
competition and market opportunities, members’ news and writing successes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have been a member of the SWWJ for around ten years now,
and this year I joined the Society’s Council, where I am able to contribute to
the planning of events and initiatives that are always so vital in keeping any
society growing and thriving into the future. I have also taken on the specific
roles of competitions co-ordinator and overseeing the manuscript appraisals
service, whereby both established members and aspiring writers/non-members can
access expert help and advice about their latest writing projects, particularly
when trying out something new.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, what’s in it for you, as a writer, if you decide to join
the SWWJ? <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Firstly, and most importantly I believe, you
will become a member of a well-run, friendly and supportive society that offers
regular get-togethers, both social (teas, talks and afternoon parties in lovely
London venues with speakers and cake! plus a range of regional gatherings
organised by members at local level) and instructive (workshops and talks at
various venues), with the opportunity to network, make like-minded friends,
learn, share and have fun! Guests are always welcome at all our events – or
just buy a ticket and come along to see if you like us before you decide to
join!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Every full and associate (male) member gets
their own press card – a prestigious card that proves your credentials as a
’real’ writer, and is so useful as an introduction tool when meeting or interviewing,
and for gaining admittance to press areas at exhibitions etc. Lots of places all
over the UK will let you in for free with a press card, especially if you
intend to write a review or article about the place in question or need to
visit for research purposes. Sometimes it’s worth enquiring before you turn up,
so they are expecting you or can send you a ticket in advance. The card alone
can save you pounds in entrance fees which can easily re-coup your annual
membership fee. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A quarterly colour magazine, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Woman Writer</i>, packed with Society
news, book reviews, market information, photos, articles and poems – much of
which is contributed by the members themselves. And, so members don’t miss out
on anything useful in between magazines, there is now also a new e-newsletter
emailed out to every member who adds their email details to the mailing list.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">More specific support tailored to your own
writing interests and needs – eg. a thriving drama group offering the chance to
read, perform and perfect your plays;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>poetry
meetings; the Manuscript Appraisals service, guiding your first steps into a
new genre or venture (at a very competitive price); Scriptora, the Society’s
assisted publishing service (helping you to produce your own book); workshops
covering a varied range of topics; and lots more.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Regular competitions (poetry, short story and
articles) which only SWWJ members can enter, with cash prizes, beautiful
trophies and prize presentation ceremonies. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, if you’re not a professional writer but want to support
the SWWJ or get involved – perhaps as an avid reader, a book-lover, a
librarian, an industry professional, a beginner or hobby writer – you can join
as a ‘Friend’. The fee is cheaper because you are not eligible for the press
card or to vote at the AGM, but you can still come along and enjoy all our events
and you will receive the magazine. As a beginner or unpublished writer, you’ll
find that mixing with established and successful writers at all stages of their
writing careers can (and will) help you to learn more about the craft, make useful
contacts, and move nearer towards the publication of your work and the chance
to apply for full membership in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Full details of all membership categories, together with current
(and very reasonable) fees can be found </span><a href="http://www.swwj.co.uk/membership.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">here.</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Then just follow the
links to a downloadable membership application form. You don’t pay a penny until
your application has been considered and accepted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope you will consider joining us. I’m sure you won’t
regret it. I never have!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbcmMx5FprkBgojzfya60qNvDXxR-MXJN6aWxJYMo1Z9AvoCtolJamb0qwmka_pRLd2gVdm9mL4lIRBwwOfp9CkhdEi_cIkyHe0VNkD1je3RWrNnGvTwzdQyP3h_R5GdoB0EObgLBD3m8/s1600/Snoopy+-+the+end.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbcmMx5FprkBgojzfya60qNvDXxR-MXJN6aWxJYMo1Z9AvoCtolJamb0qwmka_pRLd2gVdm9mL4lIRBwwOfp9CkhdEi_cIkyHe0VNkD1je3RWrNnGvTwzdQyP3h_R5GdoB0EObgLBD3m8/s320/Snoopy+-+the+end.gif" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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</span>Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-11933003385080018272015-05-14T15:19:00.000-07:002015-05-14T15:19:13.987-07:00Welcome to Camp Cat !
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whenever I chat with other writers
on facebook or twitter, there’s one topic - apart from writing itself - that
seems to crop up more than any other, and that’s our pets. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRnLmtMu9rn8IYwJ9hsOpGAg44va4JnmBl1fq6nZt9RVTRMfjRgl6YN4NnNjj62d7aEpv1pQyFahqdNG6XzgH2ytNCvviotbjoSLHJG_pIATQc7qYkWlpGazMoMMVDTab_s4gg0xEC-QY/s1600/11+Oct+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRnLmtMu9rn8IYwJ9hsOpGAg44va4JnmBl1fq6nZt9RVTRMfjRgl6YN4NnNjj62d7aEpv1pQyFahqdNG6XzgH2ytNCvviotbjoSLHJG_pIATQc7qYkWlpGazMoMMVDTab_s4gg0xEC-QY/s200/11+Oct+2014.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pixie and Dixie: my babies</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">We all seem to know which of us are
cat people and which are dog people (I am most definitely in Camp Cat), who has
got themselves a new puppy or kitten, and what their names are. We hear about
our animals’ latest antics, their illnesses and, sadly, their deaths. We share
photos of them lying across our desks, our laps, our printers, even our work in
progress. We even share photos and videos of random pets we’ve come across on the
internet – ones we don’t know at all but are just too cute to ignore! Pets, it
would seem, are a vital part of many writers’ daily lives. They make us laugh
and cry, entertain us, help to keep us calm, and provide the much-needed companionship
(and exercise) we so often need after spending hours on end with our bottoms glued
to our chairs, staring at a screen. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm -30.65pt 10pt -1cm; tab-stops: 7.0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our pets don’t keep interrupting us
with phone calls, the way our friends do. They don’t keep knocking on the study
door and asking when dinner’s going to be ready or for help with homework, the
way our kids do. They don’t point at the clock and suggest it’s time we close the
computer down and come to bed, the way our partners do. Yes, of course, our
furry companions need our attention too. They like to have their tummies
tickled and their ears rubbed, a couple of meals a day and a run around outside
every now and then, but somehow we don’t seem to mind that at all. They can be
just as demanding as the humans in our lives but they do it in a different way –
wordlessly, with a look or a lick, a pad or a purr - and we’re suckers for all
of that. At least, I know I am. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm -30.65pt 10pt -1cm; tab-stops: 7.0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">That must be why I include so many
pets in my stories. Looking back, I’ve had stories published about a vet who
brings animals into a classroom with lasting effects on some of the kids, couples
who meet while walking their dogs, a family who take in stray animals and fall
in love with a very special cat, a lonely widower who takes an interest in goldfish,
and even a mynah bird in a cage that helps a young couple get to know each
other on an Italian holiday. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-XVqJkHT_bGmcrMIBvcVgmAMk9SP_e7-m49ARgXBdA2hKJuT5is7m6HbSpH85CoOE-am4NFmSrYF-iYbLyLea32R8jitHUNG8J1UC4qfyTRClQntOwRS6VZU1-zHaItm6Q_-JHp8zSX0/s1600/SL279452.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-XVqJkHT_bGmcrMIBvcVgmAMk9SP_e7-m49ARgXBdA2hKJuT5is7m6HbSpH85CoOE-am4NFmSrYF-iYbLyLea32R8jitHUNG8J1UC4qfyTRClQntOwRS6VZU1-zHaItm6Q_-JHp8zSX0/s200/SL279452.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">People's Friend Special 106</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm -30.65pt 10pt -1cm; tab-stops: 7.0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Take my latest published story – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Under the Apple Tree</i> – in The People’s
Friend Special No. 106, in the shops this week. This one starts with the moment
every pet-owner dreads – having to have an old and sick dog put to sleep, and
burying her in the family garden. Too sad a topic for The People’s Friend, with
its nice cosy image? You’d think so, but no. We all know you can never replace
an animal you’ve loved and lost, but life moves on and there will be other
dogs, and people, to love, as proved in my story when the hunky new vet and his
pregnant dog come onto the scene, sweeping young Josie and her widowed mum off
their feet! Happy endings always help to heal the hurt, and this one certainly
does. It’s that warm uplifting feeling and an air of positivity that readers
love, especially the readers of that particular magazine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm -30.65pt 10pt -1cm; tab-stops: 7.0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">A story I have just finished writing
is about two married couples (one young, one elderly) who live next door to
each other and share not only a blossoming friendship but also a sad secret –
their childlessness. Enter Max, a lovable puppy who brings the sunshine back
into all their lives and, in his own special way, helps to make everything all
right. I haven’t yet sold this story, but I have high hopes for it!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm -30.65pt 10pt -1cm; tab-stops: 7.0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">They say you should write about what
you know. And we writers do know our pets! So, go on. Give a pet a home – in your
fiction! After all, you can’t go far wrong writing about animals, can you? Oh, hang
on a minute - yes, you can. Whatever you choose to write about, your story still
needs to be original, fresh, interesting, surprising, exciting, emotional, or
any combination of these - all the things editors are looking for to please their
readers. So here’s a tip: Never, never, never, write your story from the pet’s
point of view, or commit the even worse crime of writing a ‘surprise’ ending where
your character turns out to have been a dog all along. Believe me, it’s NOT a
surprise, it’s been done to death, and your story will slide across that editor’s
desk and right off the other side in five seconds flat. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm -30.65pt 10pt -1cm; tab-stops: 7.0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Treat your fictional animals the
same way you treat your real-life ones. When you put them on the page, give
them a purpose that makes them integral to the story. Give them plotlines that
reflect all the fun and laughter, worry and pain that a real pet brings. Make
them the heroes and heroines, the lifesavers, the sleuths, the comforters and the
heartbreakers they are in real life, and together you will deliver all the conflict,
warmth and emotion that readers crave. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm -30.65pt 10pt -1cm; tab-stops: 7.0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now, you will have to excuse me. One
of my kittens is scratching at the outside of my study door desperately trying
to get in and confront the goldfish, and the other is busy wrecking a house
plant. If one of my human family was doing that, there’d be big trouble. But
kittens… well, you just have to love them, don’t you?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-56576409670385470012015-04-11T10:19:00.001-07:002015-04-11T11:13:59.650-07:00Thrills and Spills!<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve just finished watching the Grand National and, as
usual, there were lots of thrills, spills and surprises. The whole thing is
always so unpredictable – favourites fall, outsiders come from nowhere, some
start off well but then seem to give up, and they all spend the whole race
jumping over enormous fences, often with no clear view of what’s on the other
side, and jostling and tripping over each other in their desperation to win.
Sounds just like the writing world! <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The books are, of course, the horses – lots of them all
launched at once, with one or two destined to become bestsellers but the
majority likely to have their short moment of fame before falling flat on their
face or sinking without trace - and the writers are the jockeys trying to hang
on and steer them to victory. It can be a very bumpy ride!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">My entry into the novel-writing arena started twenty years
ago when I won a ‘best opening to a novel’ competition and, as a result, soon
found myself with a finished manuscript and an agent. I felt that I must be on
my way to fame and fortune. After all, I had moved up from being an apprentice rider
to proper Grade 1 jockey status, and the race had begun! What could possibly go
wrong? But, as in any race, I soon discovered that plenty can. Some publishers
just weren’t interested, one liked it enough to put it through four readings
before saying no, and some said ‘Not this book, but let us see the next.’ Maybe
I had become the right jockey at last, but I was still riding the wrong horse!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Taking a fall at that stage hurt. I jumped off the horse, put
my novelist’s hard hat away, and became a successful short story writer instead,
swapping the long hard unpredictable ride of the steeplechase for the more
comfortable world of women’s magazines – a series of fairly easy short sprints
with far fewer hurdles to overcome. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">But, over the last couple of years, my mind has turned again
to my real love – novels. Like veteran jockey A P McCoy, riding his last National
today before hanging up his saddle for good, I may be getting older but I still
want my moment of glory. I want to see my book traditionally published, sitting
on the bookshop shelves, and selling well. And then to go on and do it again,
and again. I want to be a winner. And this time, it just might happen!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">My newly completed novel passed through the Romantic
Novelists Association’s New Writers Scheme last year, not entirely unscathed, and
after a bit of ‘grooming’ the hunt began for just the right trainer (agent!) to
get it in tip-top condition and ready to find a permanent stable. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">And now… I am happy to announce that I have just signed with
an agent! The lovely Hannah Ferguson from the Hardman Swainson Literary Agency is
exactly the right agent for me. We get on well, she likes my story and, with a
bit of luck, the winning post could again be in sight!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, today, I really do believe in luck. My baby
granddaughter, just 5 weeks old, grunted at just the right moment when her
mummy read out the list of runners, and her choice, ‘Many Clouds’, just won the
Grand National, putting an amazing £500 into her savings account! Who says a
beginner can’t, just occasionally, get ahead of the field and take the prize?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKynK3idqu1FdW-RshuKXviJQ6vc67OQH4VwUblm34Pqu-8nVZ65FbbUafnBDntdBJLu_qUgg3Y6QN5QWqvdh2xeeSmGrPMr9NBtmvXKqnd3DJgB5ezqXxAmUiZCBrkA062mJ8ndeMAjY/s1600/horse.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKynK3idqu1FdW-RshuKXviJQ6vc67OQH4VwUblm34Pqu-8nVZ65FbbUafnBDntdBJLu_qUgg3Y6QN5QWqvdh2xeeSmGrPMr9NBtmvXKqnd3DJgB5ezqXxAmUiZCBrkA062mJ8ndeMAjY/s1600/horse.gif" /></span></a></div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-25289613628710863982015-03-11T13:25:00.000-07:002015-03-11T13:25:58.825-07:00Marching On!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDxH9wlaPrZ8-fPuyXpncdspDdI-ssZMRii_knE8niPYH3v4EN4BZfcT0uvQpQOjCPjgpE1xSdqStrzlCTbNcaJ1d4M3I3xW7B2OFFgAV6y1XfXzdl0CBSd7wi88cxgorVB92jn2e6I9M/s1600/SL279185.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDxH9wlaPrZ8-fPuyXpncdspDdI-ssZMRii_knE8niPYH3v4EN4BZfcT0uvQpQOjCPjgpE1xSdqStrzlCTbNcaJ1d4M3I3xW7B2OFFgAV6y1XfXzdl0CBSd7wi88cxgorVB92jn2e6I9M/s1600/SL279185.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><strong>It's March already, but what a very exciting March it is!</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
Firstly, and most importantly, the birth of my first grandchild, Penelope Vincent. Here she is with me, and even at just one day old she is looking absolutely beautiful.<br />
<br />
<br />
Grandmothers have always been prominent characters in my short stories, and I'm sure they will feature even more frequently now that I am one myself!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But, back to the writing: March has again seen my work published in four of my favourite magazines: <br />
<br />
<br />
In <u>Nursery World</u>, 23 Feb-8 March issue, I visit a wonderful bug hotel at a Children's Centre in Uxbridge. Don't know what a bug hotel is? Well, it's a fantastic structure made from wooden pallets, straw, twigs, flowerpots, dry leaves, sawdust... anything that will make little hidey holes and warm crevices for insects to find a temporary and safe home during the cold of winter. A great project that gets kids, parents and school or nursery staff working together in the garden and thinking about wildlife, recycling and the environment. The magazine used lots of my own photos too.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOImCgW-Neik6f70NnL3TUdURLTW5P9xDFYeH6PKslb8NhuyzETIGTelhrgDJVw3eV5g_lvgoOWPRuHbtaOXbJGMsuqX-cEmluvFNyYlGmRRL_e_O3fwV6OH9BicTHFlWBaA-9vfKs9jc/s1600/March+2015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOImCgW-Neik6f70NnL3TUdURLTW5P9xDFYeH6PKslb8NhuyzETIGTelhrgDJVw3eV5g_lvgoOWPRuHbtaOXbJGMsuqX-cEmluvFNyYlGmRRL_e_O3fwV6OH9BicTHFlWBaA-9vfKs9jc/s1600/March+2015.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a>In March's <u>Practical Pre-School</u> I suggest ways that young children can learn by listening. Taking a walk and noticing all the sounds they encounter outside, maybe even taking a tape recorder with them so they can be listened to again and again, brings the weather, birds, leaves, machinery, planes, and lots more vividly to life.<br />
<br />
But I've been busy with my fiction too, with two stories in <u>The People's Friend</u> this month, both tagged by the editor as 'inspiring'. <br />
<br />
In the Spring Special (number 103), a single mum takes a faulty blender back to the shop and unexpectedly meets up with an old flame, stirring up memories, not all of them good! How different might her life have been? But how lucky is she to have the wonderful life she found after he was gone?<br />
<br />
The second People's Friend story, 'Rambling Rose', is in the weekly magazine dated 14 March. Rose loves flowers and the outdoor early morning life. She doesn't enjoy late-night clubbing like her friends, who despair of her - However will she meet a man if she doesn't go out to the 'right' places? But, of course, she does meet a man - while walking at the top of the cliffs and looking out over the sea, enjoying what she loves doing best. <br />
<br />
And, still to look forward to - the <u>Romantic Novelists' Association</u> Awards night on 16th March at the beautiful Gladstone Library at the National Liberal Club, with chandeliers, white flower-bedecked tablecloths, nibbles and drinks, wonderful views over the Thames at night - and the presentation of the awards, in several genre categories, for the very best romantic novels of the year. I had expected to miss out on being there this year as my daughter was due to have her baby the very next day, so thank you Vicky for doing it ten days early, so I can go after all! Hoping to see some of you there.<br />
<br />
Best wishes and happy writing<br />
<br />
Viv<br />
<br />
<strong></strong>Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-86069546955664720562015-02-06T13:36:00.000-08:002015-02-06T13:36:17.896-08:00And the winner is...<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s been another winning month for me! Since my last post just three weeks ago, I have
been lucky enough to see my work published in four national magazines (see
photo). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">My short story <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Motherly
Love</i> in the People’s Friend Special number 101 (in the shops now) tells of
two soon-to-be grandmas who don’t seem able to agree on anything, right down to
the sex of the baby! Obviously one of them is going to be proved wrong, but
which one? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And once the baby arrives, does
it really matter anyway? With a lovely illustration by Mandy Murray, this story
is very close to home for me as I await the birth of my first granddaughter,
due in March.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bigger</i>, which
appears in Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special (March issue) is another story that
came, at least partially, out of my own experience. It follows the very
different but intertwined lives of twin sisters Susan and Linda, from childhood
to their sixtieth birthday party. Growing up in the same time period myself (1950s
and 60s) and having twin daughters of my own (one of whom has always loved to
dance, just as Linda does) helped to make so much of this story very easy to
write! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Good Judge of
Character</i> is my first story to appear in Ireland’s Own magazine (13 Feb
issue). And I can honestly say that, in this case, the overbearing and snobby
mother who tries to rule her daughter’s life and control her choice of
boyfriend is in no way based on me! Just a small line drawing for this one, but
I am very pleased to have found my way into a magazine I had not written for
before and to reach a brand new audience for my fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Putting fiction aside, I also have two separate articles in
February’s Practical Pre-School magazine – one about playing snakes and ladders
and the other exploring some creative ways for children to use plastic drink
bottles to make music, play games, and in art projects. This magazine is sold
on subscription only and is read by nursery staff, childminders and nannies all
over the UK, giving them lots of information and ideas to help them in their
work with the under-fives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">My new novel is coming along nicely, having just passed the
20,000 word mark, even though I still have nothing to report on the progress of
the finished one which is still doing the rounds of literary agents looking for
a publishing deal. I have also returned to poetry, with two free-verse poems I
feel particularly proud of now entered for competitions, in the hope of a
prize. I am nothing if not versatile when it comes to my writing!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDYp9KMVrGDm53cEc6dWzvetDLYCBIJI5P3MM1cRbW_ZT8bPyIhizmn_JKmBMCvcof6e0u04WbgPl4dFsM6eKW3CzJbeKsir4MPRGF8TLNdHjsVN8gj5aAhGqnNij1ULKfQeZ5umIQ1LI/s1600/Feb+2015+mags.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDYp9KMVrGDm53cEc6dWzvetDLYCBIJI5P3MM1cRbW_ZT8bPyIhizmn_JKmBMCvcof6e0u04WbgPl4dFsM6eKW3CzJbeKsir4MPRGF8TLNdHjsVN8gj5aAhGqnNij1ULKfQeZ5umIQ1LI/s1600/Feb+2015+mags.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now, over to my other love: cryptic crosswords. After 50-odd
years of enjoying the daily challenge of cracking them, I have now finally compiled
one of my own - which will, I hope, be appearing in the next issue of The Woman
Writer, the members’ magazine of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists
(SWWJ), whose Council I have recently joined. And that brings me to a very
important announcement… the winner of my crossword competition, launched here
on the blog last month.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was a little disappointed by the low number of entries,
but nevertheless I am very happy to announce that the winner is… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wendy
Clarke.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wendy wins a personalised crossword compiled specially for
her husband's upcoming fiftieth birthday, and I will be in touch with her soon
to get a few ‘clues’ about him to make sure the finished puzzle really is all
about him!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-47326986227090965962015-01-18T07:58:00.000-08:002015-01-18T08:06:14.448-08:00IT’S COMPETITION TIME!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Do you know someone who loves crosswords?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since the publication of my book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Crack-Cryptic-Crosswords-Answers/dp/1845285085/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354898163&sr=8-2"><span style="color: blue;">How
to Crack Cryptic Crosswords</span></a></i>, many people have asked whether I ever
write crosswords of my own. Well, so far I have spent more than fifty years
solving other people’s but have not taken that extra step into becoming a
compiler. That may soon be rectified when my first self-penned crossword
appears in the Society of Women Writers and Journalists’ quarterly magazine,
The Woman Writer. Only time will tell if the society’s members enjoy it enough
to want me to carry on submitting puzzles on a regular basis.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, I need the practice!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you would like me to create a <strong>unique cryptic crossword, individually
tailor-made</strong> for a friend or family member, perhaps as a birthday gift or to pop
inside a greetings card – or you’d just like one written for yourself – then I can
do it for you! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Just leave me a brief comment below indicating who it’s for
and why they might enjoy it, and I will be in touch with one lucky reader,
randomly-selected, to find out all I can about your chosen recipient’s
interests and hobbies so I can build the clues around them, and maybe even hide
their own name somewhere amongst the solutions!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I know I will have fun creating the puzzle, and I hope the
winner or their friend will enjoy solving it just as much.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, now it’s over to you…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-18090937357900996792014-12-21T13:51:00.000-08:002014-12-21T13:51:23.196-08:00THE GRAND RE-LAUNCH<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">I’m
back!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">After
a year of blogging together as a team, the ‘Write Minds’ ladies are going their
separate ways. No, we haven’t fallen out. Far from it! We have become very firm
friends and, as fellow members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, will
continue to meet, chat and support each other as often as ever, both in person
and through our many social networking links. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">In
fact, sharing a blog with four other aspiring romantic novelists for a whole
year has been a very useful experience, giving us the chance to set ourselves writing
goals, explore shared themes, promote our own successes and interview some
fantastic published writers, as well as finding our way around all the behind-the-scenes
admin that managing a blog entails …but our writing careers are all taking off
in new and different directions now, and it’s time to spread our wings and fly.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">So,
after a long silence, I’m finally back here on my own blog - and fully
intending to update it regularly with all my news - and probably quite a bit of
other writers’ news too!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">So,
let’s start with my short stories. Fifteen sold and published in women’s
magazines during 2014. Not a huge amount, mainly because the novel writing has
taken up a lot of my time lately, but I still love writing short fiction and
can’t see a time when that is likely to stop. I hit my milestone fiftieth story
for The People’s Friend in the summer, I still appear regularly in the monthly Woman’s
Weekly Fiction Specials, and I will have a story in the My Weekly Annual 2016,
which seems a very long way off right now! I always look forward to seeing what
the lovely illustrators have made of my characters and settings when my stories
move from my own imagination into print, and am rarely disappointed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">But
what about my foray into novel writing? As a member of the RNA’s New Writers’
Scheme I was able to send my 100,000 word manuscript off for a full (anonymous)
critique this year. Oh dear! Their reader, whoever she was, clearly hated everything (and
I do mean everything) about it, which was very disheartening, but I am made of
sterner stuff than to burst into tears and give up, so I asked for it to be
seen by someone else, who turned out to be much more on my wavelength and
offered plenty of praise and some useful suggestions as to how I could knock it
into better shape. And while I was waiting for that second opinion, a published
novelist friend offered to read it for me too, and she loved it! The trouble is
that everyone who reads it has such different views about what works, what
doesn’t and what I should change that I found the whole experience really
confusing - so I sent it off to a couple of agents completely unaltered just to
test the water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">One
knuckle-biting near miss (from a very well-known literary agency) later, and
with a lot of good things said about my writing and my book, I am now anxiously
waiting for the response from a second agent who I met at a ‘Get Published Day’
event, before even thinking of sending it anywhere else. Fingers, toes and
everything else are permanently crossed at the moment, and while I wait I have
of course made a start on the next novel, a much more conventional ‘one man one
woman happy ending’ romance which I am sure will be more to the RNA’s taste.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">So,
before signing off for 2014, here are my writing tips (all highly pertinent to
my recent experiences) for anyone hoping to embark on a major writing project or push, or
considering a change of writing direction in the year ahead:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Stick
to what YOU want to write. Believe in yourself and don’t let one person’s
opinion bring you down or knock you off course. I didn’t… and the next three
people (all top professionals) to read my novel all had very good things to say
about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Get
yourself known on facebook and Twitter. Not every hour of every day, or you
will never find time to write, but use them to make connections with other writers
and with potential readers. Publishers will expect it of you, it will
inevitably help promotion and sales when your book comes out, and you will
enjoy it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Join
any writing organisation that you think you will get something from – even if
it’s just meeting and sharing your work with fellow writers at a local writers’
group so you aren’t doing it all on your own. I love being a member of the
Society of Women Writers and Journalists, which was a wonderfully impressive 120 years old in 2014 – lovely lunches and afternoon teas in London, workshops,
a great little magazine, and a press card for free entry into all kinds of fantastic
places I just might want to write about – and I am about to join the SWWJ’s Council
to get involved in running things and to help guide its future. And I am staying in the RNA for at
least another year too, and will be sending them my next manuscript for
critique, despite my disappointment at the previous reaction. The meetings,
awards ceremonies and my forthcoming first visit to the annual RNA conference
are just too good to give up!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Wishing
you all a Happy Christmas and a successful New Year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Viv Brown <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Oh,
did I forget to say I got married this year too?! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">I
will still be writing as Vivien Hampshire, but I am now officially Mrs Brown –
without her boys!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVF1O8RX-WUjo3aCjPT5jW81KqSzjtGwSwotwdR-Vk_YESgY2eMLLiXm-_TkGtnjXLeUH-ZppJOYOdKtlNIOod2tNa1Pg01OIKwyrK1iMtzGiEctQLZyepX0PKuBOQG_bYI9nuf0plEwo/s1600/vivs-41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVF1O8RX-WUjo3aCjPT5jW81KqSzjtGwSwotwdR-Vk_YESgY2eMLLiXm-_TkGtnjXLeUH-ZppJOYOdKtlNIOod2tNa1Pg01OIKwyrK1iMtzGiEctQLZyepX0PKuBOQG_bYI9nuf0plEwo/s1600/vivs-41.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">MY
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vivien-Hampshire/e/B004NO9ANM/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vivien-Hampshire/e/B004NO9ANM/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0</span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">AMAZON
LINKS TO MY PUBLISHED BOOKS:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">How
to Crack Cryptic Crosswords<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Crack-Cryptic-Crosswords-Answers/dp/1845285085/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354898163&sr=8-2"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Crack-Cryptic-Crosswords-Answers/dp/1845285085/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354898163&sr=8-2</span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Losing
Lucy<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006WP6VUU/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006WP6VUU/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-59702717303448159212014-01-31T04:08:00.001-08:002014-10-21T13:40:00.014-07:00JOINING UP WITH LIKE-MINDED FRIENDSWell, this blog has not been updated for a while and there's a reason for that... I have joined up with four writer friends to create a new blog where we can share our thoughts, problems and progress with the world! What drew us together (apart from the fact that we like each other!) was that we have all, over the last couple of years, joined the Romantic Novelists Association as new writers, which means we get lots of help and support, and meetings with and critiques from already successful published authors, as we write our own first novels. It's great! Our new blog hopes to chart how we get on as we make our way into the sometimes scary world of becoming published authors in our favourite genre - romantic fiction - while most of us are also carrying on with our short story and article writing at the same time. We have to make a living before our bestsellers hit the charts!! The new blog is called WRITEMINDSWRITEPLACE - Women chatting about their writing world. We hope you will visit us there! writemindswriteplace.wordpress.com
<a href="http://writemindswriteplace.wordpress.com"></a>
<a href="http://writemindswriteplace.wordpress.com"></a>
Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-81952449890018768382013-10-18T07:21:00.001-07:002013-10-18T07:24:11.008-07:00Just a little plug for the FESTIVAL OF ROMANCE coming up in Bedford in November - and its exciting New Talent Award. Happy to say I am on the shortlist for this year's award!
<a href="http://festivalofromance.co.uk/#/new-talent/4566583941"></a>Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3481387429718883527.post-28968573994137559232013-10-13T15:07:00.000-07:002013-10-13T15:07:08.433-07:00MOVING ON!
It's been a very busy and eventful year and my blog has been sadly neglected lately!
My book 'How to Crack Cryptic Crosswords' has made it into paperback and is selling well in bookshops and on Amazon. My stories and articles continue to appear in loads of magazines every month. My daughter got married in June and the poem I wrote for the occasion went down really well at the reception, making me remember just what a joy writing poetry is, so there will be more of it from now on. A small win in a national competition got me tickets to see Pam Ayres in concert, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so I know there is still a market and an audience out there for good accessible entertaining poems. More competitions - here I come.
I joined the Romantic Novelists Association New Writers Scheme this year and received a very encouraging report on my part-written new novel, and I continue to enjoy membership of the SWWJ, whose very handy press card is going to find itself in more regular use as I have more time to get out and about to visit places of interest that I just might want to write about, because...
I have taken the HUGE decision to give up the day job and become a full-time self-employed freelance writer! So, from Christmas Eve, no more going off to work in the snow. No more having to ask for days off or doing what someone else tells me to do. I will be heading up the stairs to my own home office to work in the warm this winter, and taking my laptop with me to write in the garden or anywhere I fancy when the sunny weather returns. Hopefully production levels, enjoyment levels - and income levels - will be going up from now on!! Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16997604571297216233noreply@blogger.com3