Looking Back at Flamingos - Joan Lennon

Back in 2011, I was thinking about how good books breed more good books. Fifteen years later, it's still true.   

These big birds and children’s authors - what do we have in common?

Is it that both groups are leggy, prone to pink and spectacularly ridiculous-looking? Speaking as a short-legged pink-hater who can only dream of looking spectacularly anything, I’d say no. Is it that people tend to look at us strangely when they meet us at parties? Perhaps, though I can’t remember the last time I encountered a flamingo at a rave. Or, indeed, the last time I went to one myself.

No, I think the thing we have in common is that we are both groups which are better as groups than in isolation. We need each other.

Take flamingos. Flamingos won’t breed unless their numbers are greater than some magic flamingo minimum. Sneaky zoo keepers have got around this by putting big mirrors by their pools so that the birds think there are at least twice as many of their colleagues long-legging it about the place than there really are. And – hey presto – bouncing baby flamingos ensue.

Writers are the same. We don’t thrive in a vacuum. We write better when we are part of a collective of creativity. The more really good children’s books there are, the more there will be. Birds and book-writers alike, we need a community in order to be really pink and glowing.

For, as the saying goes, no flamingo is an island.

Joan Lennon website

Joan Lennon Instagram

FINDING THE PERFECT NOTEBOOK by Lynne Benton

 In common with all/most/many other writers, I love notebooks!  Any notebooks.  I use them for so many things, but again, like many others I suspect, I’m very fussy about the right sort of notebooks.

Some years ago a friend (not a fellow-writer) was on holiday in France with her family, and looked for a present to bring home for me.  She went into a stationery shop and bought me two of those beautiful notebooks you can only get in France. 

 

Her family said, "What a funny present!  Why did you buy her those?"  To which my friend replied, "Because I know she'll love them!"  (She was right - I did!)  She is definitely the right sort of friend!

My favourite variety of notebook has always been A5 size, spiral-bound, lines 8mm apart, ideally hard-backed (though I can be flexible on that, as can the notebook).  The big advantage of spiral-bound books is that they stay open when you want them to, and you can leave them open at the page you need, or fold them back and they stay there. I have found that sometimes books with narrow lines, 5mm apart, have their uses too.  So I have a pretty good collection, including some that are so beautiful that I’m still waiting for the perfect occasion to use them!

However, since the advent of Zoom webinars, of which I currently have at least two a week, I now find non-spiral-bound notebooks more useful for note-taking (the spiral binding tends to get in the way if you’re writing quickly on the left hand page)  But they must be hardback, so I don’t need to put something else behind it to provide a solid backing, they must lie flat when open, and essentially they need a built-in ribbon bookmark, so I can easily find where I got to after the previous webinar.  For this purpose I definitely need 8mm lines – when taking notes in a hurry my handwriting is too untidy to fit on narrower ones.  And because I follow two slightly different courses, I need a different notebook for each one – at the moment one book is blue and one is red, both fitting my exacting requirements.

But I am now reaching the end of both of these, and will very shortly need replacements.  Which was why, last week, I decided that time had come to go shopping for them!  This in itself felt amazing – going shopping, in real shops, for notebooks?  What’s not to like?

I started in my favourite shop for these things, a large store which sells everything, including, usually, a huge selection of perfect notebooks – only to find that at the moment their stock is greatly diminished, for obvious reasons, so they didn’t have their usual range.  And of those that were there, most seemed to have narrow lines, so no good for note-taking.  Some didn’t even have lines at all, but little dots in box formation, and I couldn’t work out what those would be for – maybe someone here can enlighten me?

Then I remembered my favourite card shop, an independent one which also happens to sell the most beautiful notebooks – maybe on this occasion I might treat myself?  Unfortunately I discovered it has closed down – again, for obvious reasons, but I couldn’t help a sinking of the heart at this discovery.

On down through the town, to discover that another shop I like, a small shop in a Danish chain which sells all sorts of unusual things, was, rather surprisingly, still open.  I went in and found one notebook that wasn’t quite what I needed at the moment, but not far off.  At least the lines were the right distance apart.  Then, as I walked round the shop, I found two more – one reduced to 50p so too good to leave behind – as well as a small notebook with a built-in electronic calculator on the front cover!  How useful is that?  So I came out with four notebooks, even if none of them was exactly right.

Next to the big, well-known nationwide stationery store, where I discovered that narrow lines seem to be the thing these days, so I had to dismiss most of their notebooks at once.  However, on a different shelf I found two which actually fulfilled all my requirements, one reddish which can replace the red one, and one blueish to replace the blue one.  Hooray!  So I bought them.

Now I had six new notebooks!

Of course, on my way home I passed another favourite stationery shop, and was sorely tempted to go in, just to see what they had to offer…  However, there was a big sign outside saying “Limited number of customers allowed in the shop at once - Please wait for a member of staff to let you in”.

So, since there was no member of staff in sight, I decided (with some reluctance) that maybe I should just go home.  Maybe I’ve got enough notebooks – at least for the time being.

Until I need another one, of course.

Visit my website: www.lynnebenton.com

Latest book:

Hansel and Gretel, publ. Hachette

SERENDIPITY or CHANCE DISCOVERIES by Lynne Benton

 I almost called this blog TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED, but for people of a certain age who remember the television series of bizarre, rather uncomfortable stories by Roald Dahl, that tends to mean something rather different.  So I’ll stick with SERENDIPITY, which is such a lovely word, and conveys exactly the right meaning.

The dictionary defines Serendipity as “The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy  or beneficial way.”  But then I made a further serendipitous discovery: the dictionary went on to say it was “a word coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale  in which the heroes were always making fortunate discoveries.”  How delightful is that?

And how apt.  Because it has increasingly occurred to me that something I find I miss in Lockdown is the chance of coming across things/places/people by accident.  At the moment we (in England, at any rate) are, effectively, locked in at home.  Which is fine, up to a point.  And that point is – sometimes we all need to get out and about and make chance discoveries away from our own familiar surroundings.

Take shopping, for instance.  Yes, we can shop online at home, whether via a supermarket (if we can get a delivery slot) or via a website – but if we do that we need to know exactly what we want to buy before going online to buy it.  Although it can happen sometimes, there is less likelihood of “coming across something by chance”, as we do if we’re browsing in a real, “non-essential” shop (remember those?)  So often, in the old days, when I was out shopping (either on my own or with a friend – remember that?) I would spot something I’d not even thought of, maybe in a shop I didn’t normally go into, and realise it was exactly right for X’s birthday present, or that it would perfectly match a top/jacket/skirt etc. that I already own, or that something I never knew existed would be so useful in my garden/kitchen/study.  Or I might bump into an old friend or acquaintance, someone I hadn’t seen for ages, and we’d stop and chat and both come away feeling cheered.  Or it may be seeing something beautiful/bizarre/unusual that makes us stop in our tracks and look, or take a photo, to store in our memory for future reference.  This is particularly likely when we’re away on holiday, of course (ah yes, holidays!  Remember those?)  On holiday we often make chance discoveries – a secluded cove, an amazing view, a delightful café, or simply something very unusual, which we can photograph and send to our friends or keep to remind us of what we found. 

Stanley Park, Canada

Writers, of course, are extremely good at spotting the unusual and storing it away.  How often have we been asked “Where do you get your ideas from?” and you’ve replied “Everywhere, all the time, we notice things that could spark the idea for a story.”  But at the moment I’m finding myself having to look inwards, because all my ideas are coming from within me, not from outside discoveries.  And although of course my imagination can come up with a lot, I really miss looking outwards.

Of course I can come across things by chance while reading the paper, a magazine, a book, or watching television, that gives me an idea, but I maintain that it’s not the same as getting out into the real world and seeing things for myself.

It’s the same with research.  Writers need to research all sorts of unlikely things when writing their books, and sometimes they need to experience these things first-hand.  For example, you may need to find out what it was like to travel on a steam train, or to row a boat against the current, or how to work a hot air balloon.

CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index/php?curid=65970

Or you may need to see for yourself how a watermill works, or feel how bleak Hadrian’s Wall might have felt to a Roman soldier suddenly posted there, or how much beach is left in a particular place when the tide comes in.  Without the ability to research all these things, we may have to rely on second-hand accounts, which, although factually correct, will lack the immediacy of experiencing them at first-hand.

As I write this I know many of you will point out that when out walking the dog you are always spotting interesting things, and many of you post pictures of them online so we can all appreciate them.  Which we do.  So maybe it’s my fault that I haven’t made so many chance discoveries. However, without a dog you tend not to just walk for the sake of it, especially if the weather isn’t enticing.  Just walking round and round your local park doesn’t quite cut it.  The trees do change, of course, with the seasons, and that’s lovely, but I still miss being able to go a bit further afield and seeing something different.  Surely I’m not alone in this?

And I’m sure I’m not alone in longing for the end of Lockdown, when we can all leave home from time to time and see the world outside.  And maybe make some chance discoveries!

See my website: www.lynnebenton.com

On a Scale of Owls ... by Joan Lennon

 

If the world really is divided between writers who are larks and writers who are owls, normally I'm a lark.  Lately, though, I'd say my larkishness has become a bit more bewildered-by-being-awake-in-the-day owly - I'm sleeping later, starting work later, blinking in the winter light, such as it is, and fantasizing about naps.  Maybe it's the time of year.  Maybe it's the state of the world.  Is anyone else finding their larks are turning owlish, or their owls are becoming larky?

And which medieval owl are you feeling like today? 

(An old photo, but it reminds me that I'd love to do another Falconry Day sometime!)

(Thanks to Michelle Lovric for putting the Medieval Owl Scale up on Facebook.)

Joan Lennon Instagram

Deadlines by Lynne Benton

 Every month, as the 14^th approaches, I become increasingly concerned that I won’t think of anything to write about, especially when I read what others have written in the preceding days.  Other people’s blogs always seem to be so very erudite/knowledgeable/entertaining/full of excellent ideas etc., that all my ideas seem very dull or trivial in comparison.  I had thought of writing about New Year Resolutions, only I notice that the blog on the 11th was about New Year Resolutions, so I can’t do that one! 

So instead I’ve decided to write about Deadlines - a subject that’s always going to be topical, whether they are deadlines for getting your book finished, or sent out, or a deadline for fulfilling some other obligation, or for doing the dreaded Tax Return before 31 January (yes, that comes next, after I’ve finished and posted this blog!) 

So – first, getting my book finished.  Yes, done, read by various Beta Readers and adjusted accordingly.  Ready to get it out there as soon as possible, especially since having discovered that there is a wonderful window of opportunity in 2022 for which my book would be just right!  (My book is set in 1953, at the time of the Queen’s coronation, and I now discover that in 2022 there are to be great celebrations of her Platinum Jubilee – which could give my book an excellent hook, if someone would publish it at the right moment!  Fingers crossed for that one! And it’s another deadline, of course…!)

Anyway, in order to get my book out to a mainstream publisher, I could do with finding a new agent to represent me – my previous agent, who was lovely, had to give up the agency some years ago due to ill health, and since then I’ve been going it alone.  Self-publishing is fine, except that unless you're already famous, sales are not great!  Obviously it wasn’t sensible to start the hunt for a new agent just before Christmas, so it meant starting the ball rolling in January…

As anyone who has tried agent-seeking lately will know, all agents want you to send them different things: one wants the first three chapters, one wants the first 30 pages, another wants the first 3000 words, while yet another wants to see the whole manuscript.  And they all want synopses of different lengths too – anything from one paragraph to two pages!  Of course it’s important to find the right person to represent you, and obviously you can’t just send out exactly the same letter to several agents at once, but it all takes rather a long time.  As I’m finding.  But although I’ve applied to three so far, I aim to approach two more before the end of the month.  Yes, a deadline, even if it’s one of my own making!

I’m also kept very busy planning, writing, recording and sending off my monthly Music programme to Local Radio, as well as reading the next part of my book for Local Radio which goes out every week.  These both have to be sent a week before they’re due to be broadcast.  Thankfully I’ve just sent off the music programme which goes out next Sunday, which is a relief!  I reckon each one takes me three days to put together: one day to come up with a theme, think of the music to go with it and find the relevant CDs (from several rather large piles…!), one day to play the pieces I’ve chosen and time them – some CDs, irritatingly, fail to tell you how long a piece is, which is vital to know when you’re planning an hour’s programme! – and another day to write the script, including doing whatever research is needed, time it and then do all the technical stuff: recording the script, followed by all the CD tracks, and then sending them all to the radio station.  Then the tech guy adds the signature tune and puts all the pieces of music in the order I want (the computer arranges them differently, which I can’t do anything about, so I have to send him a list of the correct order with the recording!) Then he sends it back to me to check that it’s all okay.  Listening to it takes another hour, but I’m glad he does, because then I know it will go out all right on the day.

When my husband does his music programme, at least he does all the choosing, timing and writing the script, but I still do all the technical stuff: the recording of script and music tracks and sending them all to the radio station, and then checking them afterwards.  So I reckon when he’s doing it, it still takes me at least one day, if not two, to do my bit.

And when it comes to reading the next part of my book for radio, the first thing I have to do is write a “The Story so far” piece to read at the beginning.  Then I have to record that, followed by the next two chapters of the book (the whole episode takes about half-an hour, but I like to check it’s recorded all right before sending it off to the tech guy, who again adds the signature tune and sends it back to me to check.)  And that happens every week, a week before it goes out on air.

So although we are both still enjoying putting together our music programmes, and I’m still enjoying reading my book on air, it’s beginning to feel a bit relentless!   Deadlines are always looming.

Not to mention totally unrelated deadlines due to the ongoing Covid restrictions – working out when I want my next supermarket delivery, finding a slot and planning the food I’m going to need, what needs using up first etc. etc.  (I know most people are facing this one at the moment, but it all takes time, and if you need to add/subtract to your order you have to meet another deadline, ie 12.00 the day before the delivery is due!  Which I forgot about this week until 1.30, when it was too late to add things!)

So even if some of my deadlines are of my own making, they are still deadlines and I fully intend to meet them all, no matter what.  Especially the deadline for my Tax Return.  And for this blog!

Website: www.lynnebenton.com

Welsh writers are coming out of the hills! – David Thorpe

Writers in South Wales seem suddenly to be realising that it does them good to get out of their solitary office chairs and meet each other.

A Welsh children's writers and illustrators branch of SCBWI was begun last year and now boasts 32 members on its Facebook page. It was begun by the regional network coordinator Marie Basting with help from yours truly and now is administered by new young children's writer Zoe Thomas.

Welsh SCBWI's Zoe Thomas.

We have regular meetings, usually either in Carmarthen or Cardiff. There have been expressions of interest from writers and illustrators in North Wales, but they grumble at having so far to come, so we wait with bated breath for them to form their own North Wales Gog chapter. (For the non-Welsh, 'Gog' is Welsh slang for North Walians!)

The Society of Authors recently encouraged members to form local chapters as well, and so author Tony Riches has taken on the awesome responsibility of organising one in South Wales. This is also on Facebook and anyone wanting to be a member should let Tony know here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1798769160336943/.

It only has 15 members at the moment and needs to reach a certain critical mass before the Society will back it. The Society offers to send out emails and help with publicity for regional meetings but only if 100 members in a given area sign up to join.

The Society has 142 members in South Wales, so expecting 70% to sign up is a tall order, but we'll see.

Welsh children's publisher Firefly was represented at the Tenby book fair last month, organised by writer Judith Barrow, where editor Janet Thomas talked about what she was looking for in submissions and awarded prizes for a children's writing competition.

Firefly's Janet Thomas and competition winner. 

Janet and another winner.

Sharon Treegenza, fellow ABBA blogger, was also there and wrote more about this yesterday. Among the prize winners were Catrin Thomas, Leo Robertson, Olivia Robertson and  Libby James, William Russell, Darcy Conbeer, and Zihan Lin.
   

Winner Catrin Lawrence

There was also a Young Adult Flash Fiction Competition for entrants aged 12 - 18, a 100 word Creepy Tale, sponsored by Cambria Publishing Co-operative, which also publishes children's and YA books. This was won by Gracie Ardolino, Catrin Lawrence and Zack Spencer. Catrin, aged 18 (pictured), has already decided that she wants to be a pro writer and enrolled on a Swansea University creative writing course.

Bookfairs seem to happen faster than sunny days at this time of year, with another last week in Carmarthen and another one next week in Crickhowell.

Writer Christoph Fischer is organising a further bookfair in Llandeilo for December and a fully fledged literary festival in the town for next spring.

Finally, my own new writing class which I am running in my new hometown of Llandovery (an absolutely delightful place) has drawn over 20 writers out of the hills.

Me at the Tenby Bookfair

All of this demonstrates to me the enormous appetite of the Welsh to continue their rich literary tradition in the year of the Roald Dahl centenary.

[David Thorpe is the writer of Marvel's Captain Britain, the sci-fi YA novels Hybrids, Doc Chaos: The Chernobyl Effect and the cli-fi fantasy Stormteller.]

Words, ideas and the EU referendum... by Cecilia Busby

It's a mere two weeks to the EU referendum, and although you have probably had enough of discussing it, and might wonder what it has to do with a blog on writing anyway, I'm uncomfortably aware that by the time I write my next blog, we may already be committed to leaving the EU. Which, for myself, I would be very sad about, but which I am increasingly beginning to think might be the outcome of the vote.  And my reasons for thinking that are reasons that relate to being a writer. They are about words. Specifically, the words available to each side of this increasingly toxic debate. Consider the following two sets of words and phrases:

Set One: independent, great, standing on our own two feet, making our own decisions, standing alone, standing tall, forging our own way, getting rid of bureaucracy, taking control, not being bossed about by others, not having to do what other people say, freedom, self-respect, adventure

Set Two: caution, fear, economic crash, need for alliances in a larger world, being able to argue our points from within, protecting ourselves, keeping jobs, not losing trade, listening to people who know better, being sensible, having more of a voice as part of a bigger group

If these two sets of words were associated with characters in a children's book, the first set would be the hero. The second set would be the parent trying to hold the hero back from his foolhardy assault on the dystopian system - or the Mayor of the village, trying to persuade him not to disturb the dragon up in its mountain lair.

Set Two haven't really managed to rewrite the story; all they are doing is wringing their hands and saying, No - don't go and fight that dragon! For the sake of the village! And that means Set One have all the good lines.

This matters, because in this referendum, facts have lost all traction, and narrative is going to be paramount. The reason for this is that both sides bandy about 'facts' which almost always turn out not to be facts, or to be distorted facts - and while Set One's 'facts' are considerably more distorted and untrue than Set Two's 'facts', this generally gets lost in the shouting match. Set Two, the establishment side, as a result of selective fiddling of facts and progressively greater amounts of spin over the last ten to twenty years has only themselves to blame for the way the public now wearily discounts anything they say. They decided that facts didn't matter, that words could be twisted to their purposes, and ended up with a kind of Orwellian doublespeak which, far from fooling everyone, means people mostly consider the word of the Bank of England Governor as worth no more respect than the latest Facebook meme doing the rounds.

They should have got an author to run the campaign. Then maybe we'd have seen a different set of words. Maybe Set Two would have read something like;

solidarity, cooperation, kindness, openness, loyalty, leadership, hospitality, friendship, diversity, working together, aspiration, being part of something bigger, freedom to travel, freedom to engage, hope, aspiration, idealism, looking forward, togetherness

Now that sounds more like a complex, interesting character, and one I'd figure as a more likeable hero than the independent go-it-alone Boy's Own adventure hero of Set One. It's a shame we haven't heard more of those words in the campaign.



Cecilia Busby writes humorous fantasy adventures for ages 7-12 as C.J. Busby. Her latest book, The Amber Crown, was published last year by Templar.

www.cjbusby.co.uk

@ceciliabusby

"Great fun - made me chortle!" (Diana Wynne Jones on Frogspell)

"A rift-hoping romp with great wit, charm and pace" (Frances Hardinge on Deep Amber)

Libraries Matter - Eve Ainsworth

I had a favourite place to go as a kid. I’m thinking a lot of you would be the same. This place was large and exciting. It was full of my favourite things and it was totally free. What would I have done without my library?

I’d spend hours, sitting cross legged on a tiny window seat reading through my latest collection. Then I fill up my rucksack with my new choices and walk home, bubbling with excitement. I used to love the feel of the books pines pressing against my back. I spend weeks enjoying my reads, before taking them back and starting all over again.

The library fed my addiction. And thank goodness it did. I wasn’t from a well-off family, we couldn’t afford to buy books on a whim – so libraries were vital for me. I can honestly say I wouldn’t have become the author I am now without access to one.

Working in schools, I spoke to young people where the situation was the same – they relied heavily on the library service. Not only to borrow books, but also to access services such as creative writing groups in the area. Where else would they go? I worked in a deprived area - for these students a fully functioning library was vital.

So it breaks my heart when I hear of these services being cut across the country. Ok so, I’m lucky where I am in West Sussex, we’re not too badly affected. But I’m constantly seeing on my Twitter and email timeline a different picture being painted across other authorities.

So by the time you read this, I will have ended my first rally – Speak up for Libraries in London – where authors such as Alan Gibbons, Philip Adargh, Cathy Cassidy and I will be speaking alongside other speakers to help fight back against these cuts.

I’m not the type who usually gets involved in demonstrations such as these. I’m usually the type of person that moans quietly in the privacy or my living room, or posts a grumbling comment on Facebook. But this is different. This ignites the spark of the younger me. A child who needed the access of the library service in order to develop and flourish – and there’s so many of these children still out there.

As I will be saying in my speech. Bevan once said of the National Health Service “it will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it”

The same goes for libraries.