Hello, and thank you for visiting my site. I hope that you'll return often and always find something of interest about my world and what inspires me to pick up a pen. (This is a figure of speech, unfortunately. My handwriting is terrible!) Here's what I've been up to recently...
Wheels on Fire
It’s always exciting to bring out a new book and this one is hot off the press, so to speak. As a veteran of many school trips abroad, most of them to France (although Germany may well provide a future setting), it was inevitable that some of my own experiences and those of my colleagues will have crept into the story. However, the character of Karen (Kaz) Russell, wheelchair bound after the accident that has killed her mother, popped ready made into my mind. Furious that no one in authority seems to care enough to pursue the driver responsible, Kaz decides to take matters into her own hands and the school trip to Paris will provide the ideal opportunity.
I hope that the book will appeal to the 10-13 age group and also strike a chord with their teachers. Comments and reviews will be very welcome.
4 August, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
Reviewing 9 to 5 The Musical
It’s always a pleasure to review a show for a local group and last Tuesday evening saw me at Harrogate Theatre for Ripon Amateur Operatic Group’s dress rehearsal of 9 to 5 The Musical. Sitting in the centre of the front row of the Circle and armed with a clipboard, torch and copy of the programme was an interesting, although far from relaxing experience. It’s always an odd feeling to see the cast acting, dancing and singing their hearts out to rows of mostly empty seats and so receiving minimal feedback for their efforts. Wishing to do justice to the performance, I was also acutely conscious that turning my attention away from the stage in order to write notes might cause me to miss some of the action. However, I did my best, sat up until 2.30 a.m. to finish the review in time for the press deadline and kept my fingers crossed that I hadn’t made any major mistakes or omissions.
Delighted to receive some complimentary tickets, I was in the theatre again for the last night of the show and enjoyed it a great deal more. Relaxing in the Stalls, with no decisions to make other than which flavour of ice cream to buy in the interval, was an undiluted pleasure. There were indeed little cameos that I’d missed first time round and the enthusiastic applause from the audience at the end of each big number was very well deserved.
1 May, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
A strange kind of recognition!
Like all writers, I expect, I’m keen to expand my readership. However, the revelation that sparked this winning letter in the May 2017 of Writing Magazine came as a bolt from the blue.
4 April, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
York Writers’ Showcase
I very much enjoyed being part of the line up of York Writers for the last HUB event of this year’s York Literature Festival. Each of us was allowed ten minutes and I chose to read a couple of very short stories from my Anyone For Murder? collection. They seemed to go down well with the audience. Well, at least everyone laughed in the right places.
Paul Mulryne, seen in the photo above taking a breather, did a great job as compere.
It was a shame that some of the people originally down to take part were unable to make it, but the rest of us agreed that it had been a very worthwhile experience. Roll on HUB 2018!
30 March, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
York Writers Anthology
Yes, I know. I’d have given the title an apostrophe too, but it was an editorial decision.
That said, the anthology is hot off the presses and a great read. Twenty-five stories and poems have been contributed by members of York Writers. Between us, I hope that we’ve catered for all tastes. Well, not quite all, but a fair few.
My own story, No Time For Contemplation, is about a puppy farmer getting her comeuppance – and not before time either! Anyone who exploits helpless animals is a villain in my book – books, actually. (One of the characters in my novel Shadows of the Past comes to a very unpleasant end, although his callous attitude to creatures that he considers to be vermin is only one of his crimes.)
Anyway, we of York Writers hope to raise our profile through this collection, which is available through Amazon and will also be on sale at our Showcase Event at York Theatre Royal next week. Please come along and support us.
20 March, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
Promoting Yorkshire Authors next event
Tomorrow evening will see us in the De Grey Rooms, next to York Theatre Royal.
Writing a book is only the first step on what can be a long and rocky road.
We don’t pretend to have all the answers and hope to pick up a few pointers ourselves from the other writers we welcome to this session.
19 March, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
A Double Whammy!
The March 2017 issues of these popular Yorkshire magazines feature two very different contributions from the Cobbett household.
The Dalesman has a ‘filler’ in its ‘Signs and Wonders’ column, a rather unsavoury gem captured by my husband last autumn when he dropped me off in Malton for the Ryedale Book Festival. Has he been reading my Easy Money For Writers And Wannabes, I wonder?
Down Your Way, which specialises in nostalgia, has my article about family mementos. We probably have far more than our fair share of those!
26 February, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
Thanks, Edwin!
I’m indebted to fellow member Edwin Rydberg for this great image, which has already appeared on www.promotingyorkshireauthors.com
6 February, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
News Flash!
Following advice from several writer friends, I’ve decided to set up a Facebook page for my novel ‘Shadows of the Past’. I’ll be posting notes on the background to the story and the items featured on the cover, regular updates on promotional events and even the odd competition. You’ll find it all at https://www.facebook.com/maggiecobbettnovelist/
6 February, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
A Tale of Two Poems
I’ve never considered poetry to be my strong point, although I’ve had a few successes over the years. My first blissful week at the Writers’ Summer School in Swanwick, for example, came about when I was awarded the first prize – a free place – in the poetry competition that year with a quirky sonnet about friendship. To My Writing Partner can be viewed on the Stories and Poems page of this website.
However, I’ve recently learnt a valuable lesson about writing poetry for the commercial market. The example above has just appeared in print and is a heavily adapted version of a much longer poem written in free verse some years ago. I was delighted when an adjudicator at that time, a highly respected local poet, awarded the latter second place. The magazine that liked the theme but not the form requested a version that rhymed and had a conventional metre. For the free verse poem I received kudos; for the adapted version I received cash. Go figure! Up to you to decide which you prefer, of course. The former is available to read on my Stories and Poems page, should you so wish.
6 January, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
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