Spring Cleaning - Eloise Williams

Spring has sprung, finally, and with it a time for new ventures.

I’ve done the usual things like emptying my wardrobe for a fresh start – then putting everything back again. Going through drawers full of bits and bobs which have no use – then putting them all back again. Rearranging the furniture for a new look to the house – then putting it all back again.

I guess I’m either messy or I like things the way they are.

My final effort at starting afresh this Spring is in decorating my writing shed.

Or, as we call it in its current state, the shed.

 

When I first moved here we decided that this teeny, tiny, wooden structure would be my writing shed. The hub of literature. A place for me to pen amazing wonders.  I would be Sylvia Plath in there. Mary Shelley, Dorothy Parker, the Bronte sisters rolled into one. I filled it with useful writing things, then shut the door and worked on the kitchen table. It’s warmer and close to the food.

 

But I am now starting on the shed with renewed energy because my Middle Grade book ‘Gaslight’ is just out (EEK!) and I need to move onto my next novel and get down to some serious writing.  

What better way to procrastinate than by decorating?!

Hurrah!

 

I’ve bought vintage wallpaper. Think songbirds and owls. And will now go about our lovely seaside town purchasing all sorts of writerly writing thingies. I might have to put a limit on my spending as I can get carried away with stationary expenditure.

 

I’m getting carpet, and a heater, and lights. You know it’s the bigtime when you get lights in a shed!

I have the launch for ‘Gaslight’ coming and lots of festivals and events, so they’ll come first, obviously (and you are welcome to come to any or all of them!) but then I am going to go all Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen for a good long while.

And when I’ve finished my Spring decorating (probably by about mid-Summer) I’m going to sit in my writing shed, looking at my shiny new book in my shiny new lights, and write more than ever before.

A new start for Spring. A new start for me.  

www.eloisewilliams.com

 

Rainbow Moments by Karen King

When I attended the Patron of Reading Conference in February this year the lovely Helena Pielichaty, the first ever Patron of Reading, gave a moving speech about her experience of being a Patron of Reading. She finished by saying ‘This is the thing of which I’m most proud’. Helena is a talented and profilic author who has had numerous books published including the popular Girls FC series but the thing she is most proud of is inspiring children to read through her POR work. This made me think. What made me proud? What were my rainbow moments, the things that brighten my day?

When I get a new book published I’m always pleased when I finally hold the printed copy in my hands, but proud? No. I’m too besieged with doubts; what if no one likes it? What if there are some typos (and yes, that’s happened a few times), what it if doesn’t sell? I’m fully aware that while my books pay the bills they aren’t literary masterpieces.

My rainbow moments are when a teacher at a school I’m visiting tells me that a pupil who has listened engrossed to my story has never sat still to listen to a story before, or that a pupil who has filled a page in one of my workshops has never before written more than a sentence, when a former creative writing student gets an agent or a book deal, a social media student starts their first blog or makes their first tweet. I feel proud when I’ve helped someone to achieve something.

Earlier this year a lady attended one of my writing class. She had never written anything before, never used a computer, but wanted to write a children’s story for her grandchildren. She worked hard on this story throughout the course. Then one week she told us she’d bought a second-hand computer and was taking IT lessons. On the final week she brought in a neatly typed copy of her story. She was so pleased and proud.  Helping that lady write her story is my brightest rainbow moment this year.

What are your rainbow moments?

 Karen King writes all sorts of books. Check out her website at www.karenking.net