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...
Nothing wrong with nostalgia!
Included in this issue and retitled My, How We’ve Grown, was inspired by a recent visit to Norwood Grove, the little terrace where I spent most of my early childhood. Our home – two up, two down and a cellar – was very cramped by today’s standards and had no indoor ‘facilities’, but at least it was a ‘through’ house at a time when many families in Leeds occupied ‘back to backs’.
Memories of the Second World War had started to fade by the time I came onto the scene, but the neighbours who’d lived through it were as tightly bonded as any community could be. With the men away fighting, the wives had helped each other in every way they could and the support network was still going strong years later. It was a wonderfully secure environment for children to grow up in and, although our material possessions were scanty in comparison with those enjoyed by subsequent generations, we never felt deprived.
Norwood Grove is now part of ‘studentville’ and many of the houses have roof extensions and ‘opened up’ cellars, giving a great deal more living space. Almost every house boasts a satellite dish and burglar alarm and vehicles line the street from end to end. Evidently today’s children, if any actually live there, don’t have the freedom that we did to play out from dawn to dusk, chalk endless hopscotch squares on the pavement or look forward to Bonfire Night. It’s inconceivable now that a team of fathers would be allowed to pile up on the cobbles anything that would burn, throw a ‘guy’ on top and set fire to the lot while the mothers bustled around with baked potatoes, home made toffee apples and trays of ‘parkin’. Health and Safety hadn’t been invented and we all took our chances with whatever fireworks anyone had brought along. Happy days!
22 May, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story
Tiptoe Through The Bluebells
Yes, I know that the old song referred to tulips, but that point is explained in the story!
‘And a singing bus driver’s the unlikely catalyst for Maggie Cobbett’s lively romance’ in the new issue of the People’s Friend, available today. Even more unlikely, some might say, is that it’s set in Milton Keynes! I love the accompanying illustration, not least of all because the handsome young man bears more than a passing resemblance to my husband in his youth. The title wasn’t my choice, but hey, I bow to the TPF’s superior knowledge of these things.
7 May, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story
An easy puzzle to solve!
Guess who’s ‘Puzzler of the Week’ in the 1/5/14 issue of Real People! One of the categories of ‘fillers’ I describe in Easy Money For Writers And Wannabes is for puzzles and quizzes and it has just born fruit (£50 worth) for me. Admittedly, it took longer to compose than most of the fillers I submit, but it was a simple idea and well worth the effort. In fairness to the magazine while it’s still on sale, I can’t reproduce it here, but you’ll find it on page 20 together with a nice little blurb about its creator.
The book continues to sell well and I’m indebted to two more people for helping it on its way. Kath McGurl has featured it on her wonderful blog – womagwriter.blogspot.co.uk – and I also have a new 5* review on Amazon.
5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful little book 26 April 2014
27 April, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story
Local recognition
The support of Graham Chalmers, our local paper’s Weekend Editor, is always very much appreciated. The article above is in the current issue which, in its various editions, has a wide circulation in North and West Yorkshire. Fingers crossed that a surge of sales will follow!
In addition and in response to a distressing article last week about the persecution of the red kite, a poem I wrote some time ago about these magnificent birds also appears on the readers’ letters page. ‘Red Kites Over Eccup Reservoir’ is included amongst the stories and poems available for you to read in the Stories + Poetry section of this website.
25 April, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story
Easy Money For Writers And Wannabes
I’m delighted with the positive response so far to my first non-fiction eBook. Writing ‘fillers’ for magazines and newspapers has long provided me with an extra income stream and there’s plenty of scope for everyone out there. All it takes is a little ingenuity and a keen eye on the current market. Please invest in a copy. It will pay for itself many times over and I’ll be delighted to hear about your successes.
Travel is only one of the dozens – maybe hundreds – of topics that you could explore. The cover of my book is taken from a published piece about a loyal reader on holiday with her favourite magazine. That’s what the editor wanted and that’s what the editor got!
15 March, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story
An Evening with York Writers
I spent this evening in the upstairs room of the Brigantes Bar and Brasserie in Micklegate and enjoyed hearing ten members of York Writers rehearsing contributions to their forthcoming showcase. This will take place on 27th March from 8 p.m. at York City Screen as part of York Literature Festival and promises to be a very good evening. The pieces I heard included both poetry and prose, with subjects as far apart as canopy dwelling sloths and chewing your own hair!
As the meeting was also billed as a ‘Local Writers’ Night’, I was happy to be invited to participate and read a couple of stories from my own collections.
More information about York Writers can be had from http://yorkwriters.webs.com
5 March, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story
Featured in Writers’ News
Life can seem rather flat in the aftermath of the festive season, so I was very pleased to open the latest issue of Writing Magazine/Writers’ News and find the feature below.
As both subscriber and occasional contributor over many years, I’d recommend WM/WN to any aspiring (or established) writer. The articles are generally well researched and informative, the competitions are challenging and the news sections fill in the gaps between editions of The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.
5 January, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story
A Celebratory Seasonal Reading
I was very pleased to have one of my stories chosen for inclusion at this event organised by the Friends of Harrogate Library (FOHL), not least because it gave me the opportunity to take a look round the newly refurbished premises. These are now of a very high standard and a real asset to the town.
Unsure of the procedure, I’d taken a copy of my story along but was agreeably surprised to find a team of readers (shown on the right of the photograph) waiting to entertain the audience. It was a rare treat to sit back and enjoy listening to someone else’s interpretation of my words and Harrogate Library’s Noelle McCreath (could a name have been more appropriate for a reading at this time of year?), seated in the middle of the trio, did them full justice – even the foreign phrases!
The interval refreshments, including my first mince pie this year, were delicious, the wine flowed freely and I was able to catch up with some friends I hadn’t seen for a while. All in all (although my story didn’t win this time round*), it was a very enjoyable evening.
*A slightly different version won a recent RWG competition. See http://www.riponwriters.co.uk/
Below is the press report on the evening:
7 December, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story
Club Focus on Ripon Activity Project
As a long term volunteer for RAP, a social group for adults with learning and/or physical disabilities, I was very happy to write the article below for our local newspaper. The limitations of an A4 scanner have led to its being split into two.
16 November, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story
Kind words from Deborah Moggach
I’m proud to have Deborah Moggach’s permission to pass on her kind words about one of the stories in my third collection. The author of the brilliant The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and many other best selling novels has emailed me to say that she enjoyed Vainglory hugely and felt ‘so much at home in it’. Like Debby’s earlier novel ‘Tulip Fever’, it was inspired by a 17th century Dutch masterpiece and is one of my favourites amongst all the many short stories that I’ve written.
The ‘genre paintings’ of contemporary domestic interiors by artists such as De Maes, De Hooch, Ter Borch and Vermeer are so detailed that ‘experts’ argue for hours about hidden messages, whilst fiction writers are free to let their imaginations run riot. Some of the happiest days of my youth were spent in Amsterdam and I thoroughly recommend a visit to the famous Rijksmuseum, now open once again after ten years of rebuilding, renovation and restoration.
Swings & Roundabouts is available from Amazon as a separate eBook or as part of an eBook or paperback omnibus edition of my three short story collections.
6 September, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story
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