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...
R.I.P., Tom, our Beloved Puss
Almost seventeen years ago, a lady from the RSPCA arrived at our home with a pair of ‘hard to place’ kittens, offspring of a feral mother. It had never occurred to me before that black was the least favourite colour for would be adopters to request. Why? Goodness knows. Superstition about witches and their familiars, perhaps?
Given the chance to name one of them, our younger son immediately decided on Tom. Not the most imaginative name for a tom cat, I suppose, but it stuck. He was Thomas on formal occasions and his subsequent paperwork for the vet. His sister became Tabitha, Tab for short.
They were so shy that we hardly saw them for the first few weeks and kept accusing each other of leaving exterior doors open. The food we left out for them always disappeared overnight, though. Tab was much warier, but Tom gradually gained enough confidence to jump up onto the sofa beside me and allow himself to be stroked. Eventually, his sister followed suit, although not before opening up my right arm from wrist to elbow with her tiny claws the first time I attempted to pick her up. I still have the scars to prove it!
Tom and Tab squabbled as siblings will and he often elbowed her out of the way when treats or a warm lap were on offer, but they were always together. Will she miss him as much as we do? It’s hard to tell with cats, but she must wonder where he is now. Unfortunately Tom, always the larger and bolder of the two, began to deteriorate last year. His back legs lost all their strength and he started to waste away. Towards the end, he was on three different types of medication, but the vet told us that there was no hope of improvement.
We console ourselves with the knowledge that he had a comfortable life far in excess of what might have been expected when he was born. Farewell, old chap. You’ll never be forgotten.
16 March, 2018 - Make the first comment on this story
1st session with the Squigglers
Well, that was fun! I showed some photographs about a turn of the (19th/20th) century workhouse and mining village, outlined my story, read some extracts and then let the Squigglers loose on the art materials provided. Very promising start. Thanks due to Shaun Doyle from Ripon Library (who also took the photo) and Vicki Lever from North Yorkshire Youth for their support and enthusiastic participation.
26 February, 2018 - Make the first comment on this story
Flash Fiction Workshop
I was very pleased to take part in this event in York last night and to meet so many pleasant and enthusiastic people.
The four workshops ran simultaneously, with Toni ringing a bell when it was time for the groups to move on. The spaces allocated on the top floor of Waterstones were comfortably far apart, which prevented any overlapping of sound, and plenty of chairs were provided.
With only a short time to spend with each group, I had to take a whistle stop approach to my subject but managed to cover all the main points as well as read out a few examples. Everyone left with a handout and – I hope – an increased understanding of the nature of flash fiction and what can be done with it.
We sold a few books too!
22 February, 2018 - Make the first comment on this story
Working with Squigglers
This should be fun. My ‘work in progress’ is a story about a boy sent up from a London workhouse to toil in the Yorkshire coal mines. It seems very appropriate that the Squigglers sometimes meet in the Ripon Workhouse Museum.
6 February, 2018 - There is one comment on this story
A Very Welcome Guest
Today I’m more than happy to hand over my blog to Val Penny, whose debut crime novel, Hunter’s Chase, is published by Crooked Cats Books. I’ll leave it to Val herself to tell you all about it:
The story is set in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. I think setting is very important to a novel and did consider creating an imaginary town for my main protagonist, Detective Inspector Hunter Wilson. However, I know the city of Edinburgh well as I lived there for many years and it has everything a writer could need. It is a diverse city with all different kinds of buildings and people. It is small enough that characters can move around it quickly and large enough for it to be credible that anything I want to happen there, could happen.
Edinburgh is also a beautiful city with a castle, a palace and a cathedral, wealthy homes, horrible slums, fine restaurants, fast food outlets and idiosyncratic pubs. It is home to an Olympic size pool, the National Rugby Team and two famous football teams. It is also home to The Edinburgh International Festivals, what more could I or my characters want?
I chose Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, as the setting for my novel ‘Hunter’s Chase’, it is a beautiful city of around half a million people. The city is situated on the south banks of the Firth of Forth. There are some lovely views across the Forth from Edinburgh to the county of Fife on the north of the river. There are three bridges crossing the Firth of Forth: the oldest is the Forth Rail Bridge, built in the nineteenth century, the Forth Road Bridge was built in the twentieth century and the most modern, a bridge for road traffic was completed in the early part of this century, named the Queensferry Crossing.
The delegated parliament of Scotland, is where Hunter’s nemesis, Sir Peter Myerscough serves as Justice Secretary. The Scottish Parliament has wide powers over how the people of Scotland are governed and meets in the Scottish Parliament Building, in the Holyrood district of the city. Following a referendum in 1997, in which the Scottish electorate voted for devolution, the current Parliament was convened by the Scotland Act of 1998 which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature. Since September 2004, the official home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. The Scottish Parliament building was designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles. There was much concern at the time as the building was completed many years late and several times over budget.
Hunter Wilson is divorced. He lives in a flat in Leith, an area to the north of the City and drinks in his local pub, the Persevere Bar. His home is also close to one of the main soccer grounds in Edinburgh, the Hibernian Football Ground. Hibernian Football Club, commonly known as Hibs, is a Scottish professional football club based in Leith.
The other main character, Detective Constable Tim Myerscough is Sir Peter Myerscough’s son. He lives across the city from Hunter, in the south-west of the city. He moves into a flat Gillespie Crescent between Tollcross and Bruntsfield. His local pub in the Golf Tavern, off the Bruntsfield Links.
A wonderful free activity to do all year round is to play golf on Brunstfield Links. It is believed to be one of the oldest sites of golf as it pre-dates the seventeenth century, the short hole course was founded in 1895. Situated south of Melville Drive, there are two courses available to play on. A summer short 36 hole course (open end of April to September) and a 9 hole winter course (open October to end of April).
DC Tim Myerscough’s father, Sir Peter Myerscough, lives even further to the south in the Morningside district of Edinburgh. From his large house he has fine views across the Pentland Hills. The Pentland hills are situated just outside of Edinburgh. The reservoirs are picturesque and each hill is slightly different. If you are fit enough, you can go on top of all of the hills in one day.
Edinburgh is such a diverse and cultural city, home to The Edinburgh International Festivals that represent all aspects of art, three universities and several colleges and the Scottish national rugby ground at Murrayfield. It is the perfect place to situate ‘Hunter’s Chase’ and the cases DI Hunter Wilson has to solve.
myBooks.to/HuntersChase
I wish Val the very best of luck with both this novel and those that will undoubtedly follow. Her contact details are below.
www.authorvalpenny.com
www.facebook.com/valerie.penny.739
Friends of Hunter’s Chase – www.facebook.com/groups/296295777444303
https://twitter.com/valeriepenny
25 January, 2018 - Make the first comment on this story
The President’s Cup
I’ve always been very grateful for the support of Ripon Writers’ Group and was delighted last night to receive the President’s Cup.
The Cup is awarded each year to the member with the most points in our rolling programme of internal competitions.
24 January, 2018 - Make the first comment on this story
Happy New Year to all my followers!
2018 has got off to a good start for me with the publication of the above story in The People’s Friend Special No. 151. Based on an anecdote told to me last year – every writer needs ears like a bat and a handy notebook – it tells of a young teacher trying for promotion. Interviews are daunting enough without half your carefully chosen outfit going missing just beforehand!
4 January, 2018 - Make the first comment on this story
A Very Thoughtful Gift
Looking for a gift for an author? What could be better than a charm bracelet featuring their very own book covers? Amongst all the wonderful things I was given this year by family and friends, this has to be my absolute favourite!
25 December, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
A co-operative effort for Christmas sales.
The support of other writers is very important to me and I lend mine to them whenever possible. Rosemary J. Kind and I decided to share a stall at this year’s Ripon Cathedral Christmas Fair and had a very interesting day chatting to everyone who came our way.
I’d feared initially that being in the Deanery rather than the Cathedral itself might prove to be a disadvantage. Not so. The footfall was constant and shoppers had the advantage of neither being hustled along nor trying to look over other people’s heads to see what was on offer. We sold a lot of books and also had a sign up sheet for a free prize draw/mailing list.
Customers were happy to give us their views on what they enjoyed (or didn’t enjoy) reading and were very positive about what we had on offer. Ros and I cover most genres between us and were generally able to come up with something for everyone. The only lady with whom we failed utterly – and we’re still laughing about it – turned down one of Ros’s novels on the grounds that she didn’t like the feel of the cover and mine because it was too heavy. Well, no one can win ’em all!
27 November, 2017 - Make the first comment on this story
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