Thank you, Scattered Authors! by Sheena Wilkinson

I'm a weirdo; all writers are to some extent. I can't expect non-writer friends to understand the weirdness -- I've given up trying. 

So thank God for the Scattered Authors! This is more than just a blog. It's a community. Every month when I log on to make my contribution, and glance over the recent or scheduled posts, the authors' names jump out with the familiarity of the roll call of my class at school forty years ago.  Some I know fairly well in real life, mostly from the annual retreat at Charney Manor, which I've been lucky enough to attend for the last seven years. Some I know from posting in the Scattered Authors group on Facebook. Some I have met at author events over the years. Many I know only from their insightful, warm, funny or learned posts on here. But none feel like strangers, even if we haven't met.

I don't know, dear reader, if you are a Scattered Author or just a fan of the blog. But I do know this: that at the end of a year when we have been more scattered than usual, when this author, for the first time ever, has not crossed the Irish Sea, I have been more than ever thankful for this writing community. An appreciative comment on a post; the sharing of a writerly joke on a tough day; the offer to critique a manuscript (and then showing me EXACTLY what was wrong with it); the little gift to thank me for an introduction to an editor; the phone call that made me feel like I wasn't the strangest person in the world...

Sometimes I don't know what to write on the 13th of every month. But on this last month of an extraordinary year, it was easy. Thank you, Scattered Authors. Let's hope we are together again soon, but in the meantime...

Upcoming YA books to add to your wish list - by Holly Race

2020 has been a tough year for everyone, authors included. Those of us with books out during lockdown suffered from a lack of impulse purchase sales. And those whose publication dates were pushed back to the end of 2020 or the start of 2021 are now going to be vying for coverage with unprecedented numbers of other releases. 3rd September (nicknamed 'Super Thursday') is seeing the release of 600 books - 600!

So I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight a few upcoming young adult books that you may not have heard about but should definitely be adding to your wish lists. All of them are by brilliant UK-based authors, and all are coming out between now and September 2021.

Only on the Weekends by Dean Atta

For fans of Sex Education and Heartstopper.

Fifteen-year-old Mack is a hopeless romantic. He has like Karim for as long as he can remember, and is ecstatic when Karim becomes his boyfriend - it feels like love.

But when Mack's dad gets a job on a film in Scotland, Mack has to move, and soon hediscovers how painful love can be. It's horrible being so far away from Karim, but the worst part is that Karim doesn't make the effort to visit. Love shouldn't be only on the weekends.

Then, when Mack meets actor Finlay on a film set, he experiences something powerful, a feeling like love at first sight. How long until he tells Karim - and when will his old life and new life collide?

A novel written in verse from the author of the incredible The Black Flamingo.

Pre-order here

The World Between Us by Sarah Ann Juckes

For fans of All the Bright Places

Alice may be bed-bound, but that doesn't stop her from Living. Every day, she logs into Stream Cast and becomes part of the world by watching other people Live wonderful and exciting lives.

But when one of the streamers is killed in a cycle accident, Alice is introduced to a new streamer.

Rowan sees beauty in the everyday, allows her to take over his body and really Live for the first time in years. But Rowan too has troubles that mean he's less than comfortable in his own skin.

As Alice and Rowan build a bigger and more beautiful world together, outside forces threaten to bring this new world to an end.

Pre-order here

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

For fans of S.T.A.G.S. and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students' dark secrets to light. Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can't escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn't afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they're planning much more than a high-school game...

Pre-order here

A Crown of Talons by Katherine and Elizabeth Corr

The sequel to A Throne of Swans.

A Throne of Swans - an incredible, high fantasy reworking of the Swan Lake story - has been one of my highlights of post-lockdown reading. I won't include the blurb for A Crown of Talons for fear of spoiling the first book, which if you haven't read already, you must! Here's the blurb for A Throne of Swans instead:

When her father dies just before her birthday, seventeen-year-old Aderyn inherits the role of Protector of Atratys, a dominion in a kingdom where nobles are able to transform at will into the bird that represents their family bloodline. Aderyn's ancestral bird is a swan. But she has not transformed for years, not since witnessing the death of her mother - ripped apart by hawks that have supposedly been extinct since the long-ago War of the Raptors.

With the benevolent shelter of her mother and her father now lost, Aderyn is at the mercy of her brutal uncle, the King, and his royal court. Driven by revenge and love, she must venture into the malevolent heart of the Citadel in order to seek the truth about the attack that so nearly destroyed her, to fight for the only home she has ever known and for the land she has vowed to protect.

Order A Throne of Swans here and pre-order A Crown of Talons here

Vulture by Bex Hogan

The final instalment of the Isles of Storm and Sorrow trilogy.

I read Viper - the first in the series - a few weeks ago and am racing through the second book - Venom - now. It's a rip-roaring, heartbreaking story set on the high seas of a fantasy world, with a brilliant, diverse array of characters led by pirate protagonist Marianne.

Here's the blurb for Viper:

Seventeen-year-old Marianne is fated to one day become the Viper, defender of the Twelve Isles.

But the reigning Viper stands in her way. Corrupt and merciless, he prowls the seas in his warship, killing with impunity, leaving only pain and suffering in his wake.

He's the most dangerous man on the ocean . . . and he is Marianne's father.

She was born to protect the islands. But can she fight for them if it means losing her family, her home, the boy she loves - and perhaps even her life?

Order Viper here and pre-order Vulture here

Working from Home - Ciaran Murtagh

Over the past few months I've come to a realisation, I work from home but I don't necessarily work at home. Trust a writer to get bogged down by semantics in 'week infinity + 1' of lock down and how typical of them to obsess over the difference between two very small words. But there is a difference and frankly it's huge.

Working from home never looked like this - who compartmentalises their own breakfast?

Now you might argue there are many more important things to worry about at this stage in the shit show currently masquerading as 2020, or perhaps it's precisely because of the times we find ourselves in that navel gazing about the difference between 'from' and 'at' seems like a useful waste of my time.

Every day for the past few months I've been heading to my shed to do my work, just like I have done for the past decade or so. I get the work done, but recently I've been finding it harder and harder, and I've been trying to figure out why. Now of course, the chaotic nature of the world - and in particular our country - at the moment doesn't help. But even putting that to one side, something's changed, and that's where those two little words come in.

Home sweet home

People often tell me that I'm very lucky to work at home. And I am. But the truth is -  I really don't. Maybe 30% of my working life is spent at home. A lot of the time I'll be working in cafes or pubs, on trains, in hotels, in libraries, the top floor of the Royal Festival Hall, in airport departure lounges, or in one memorable deadline crazed fever, a bench in the Whitgift Centre Croydon.

Scene of some of my greatest triumphs

It's easy to say I work at home. But given a choice I work anywhere but! I'm not conditioned to spend four months writing in the same place.  I like to mix it up. I thrive on the energy of busy places. I write about life and characters and people and I like to surround myself with them. It's hard to be inspired by a funny incident or something someone said when you're not interacting. I'm not made to be locked in my shed. I might long for the solitude from time to time, but in reality I want life and I want my words to be conceived in the hubbub of conversation and lives being lived.

Come back. I miss you guys... 

So that's what I've learned. My office might be at home, but I work in the bustling streets that surround me and it can't come back soon enough.

Locavore and Sadfishing. Some new words for 2020 Moira Butterfield

Pesky sniffling and coughing has left me sitting on the sofa a lot in the last few days, giving me time to peruse papers and magazines more closely than usual. I’ve noticed some new words being used and I thought I’d pass them on for interest because we writers tend to be unusually interested in these things. However, I'd avoid actually using them in work unless you're writing about a newsroom or magazine set in January 2020.  Please share any new words you’ve recently read or heard. I'd love to hear! 

Affluenza –As life gets easier it seems to get harder, but only because we have more time to fret about it. EG: Lucky people moaning nonetheless.

Breadcrumbing – Putting out flirting signals. Something from Love Island, I believe (she said, sniffing).

GOAT – Greatest of all time.  This is not my GOAT blog, but hey, I’m ill.

Hot take – An instant response to a current event, of the type found on Twitter or rolling news channels. Could be described as uninformed shouting, possibly! 

Locavore – Someone who tries to get all their food from local sources such as a farmers’ market.  We should all try to be more Locavore, I guess, but it’s a word that’s definitely easier said than done.

Nudge...Nudge Theory is the art of using clever unnoticeable ways to influence the choice someone makes. The idea of nudging even won someone a Nobel Prize for economic theory. We can expect to be nudged regularly, apparently. 

Prolier-than-thou – Overstating your working class credentials Monty Python-style (“We lived in a shoebox.” “Well we lived in a hole in the road”).  Currently being used by the press to poke fun at some of the Labour Party candidates, and because the journalists seem incredibly pleased with themselves for thinking of it. 

Sadfishing – Influencers and celebrities overstating their mental health issues or bad life experiences for personal gain –trying to sell an autobiography or promote a movie, for example. There's a lot of it about. 

WOAT – Worst of all time. “My WOAT Christmas present was an ironing board.”

There’s no guarantee these words will make it through 2020. At the bottom you'll find a BBC Lost for Words link - a hilarious list of words we don’t use any more. Enjoy! 

Wishing you a happy year. 

MB

Moira has a number of narrative non-fiction books coming out in 2020, for Big Picture, Nosy Crow and Quarto. She has just been nominated on the longlist for the 2020 US Green Earth Book Award. 
www.moirabutterfield.com. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2xL1gH6FcyCtYH2NM6zYhTK/lost-for-words-14-expressions-that-have-vanished?ns_mchannel=social&ns_linkname=radio_and_music&ns_campaign=bbc_radio_4&ns_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3624JdsTBbhIt0MeZUeu69I2pZkmB8-KRxqdXO4eMFx6Asrg9ZZ09loOE