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Galway Girl

by gailaldwin

The suitcases are now put away for the summer. After a week in Edinburgh we made a dash for Galway City to catch up with Regina who was celebrating her fiftieth birthday. So here’s the party girl with her husband, Andy.

It was a splendid occasion: a chance to meet Regina’s family and friends and touch base with her children who are the same age as mine. The Salthill Hotel put on a wonderful spread and we sat on a table called ‘The Enablers’ with others who have worked in the UK, Ireland and overseas. What a great compliment to be considered an enabler. The company was splendid and when the talking was over we danced well into the night.

You might like to watch the You Tube clip of one of the songs played repeatedly!

We also had the opportunity to look around the city and take a walk by the coast. What a lovely place – somewhere we would certainly like to make a return visit.

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Story Slam in Upton

by gailaldwin

You may remember back in the summer I was delighted to be a judge at the first story slam in Dorset held at the Shaftesbury Arts Centre by Storyslingers. You can read about it here.

I’ve now been asked by Adrian Ford to circulate details of a further story slam taking place in Upton. This time I hope to be a participant, and if my name gets pulled from the hat, I’ll be reading one of my latest stories. Please find the details of the story slam below:
FRIENDS 4 UPTON LIBRARY
(F4UL)

‘OPEN MIC’ STORY SLAM

THURSDAY, 23rd MAY
7.30 pm at Upton Library

ORIGINAL FICTION PRESENTATIONS
5 MINUTE SLOTS
JUDGES: Pam Fudge and Dr Jim Pope
COMPERE: John Barclay

FIRST PRIZE: £30

SECOND PRIZE: £10
(Book Tokens)
(SPONSORED BY GULLIVERS BOOKSHOP, WIMBORNE)

FULL DETAILS on www.f4ul.co.uk/events

ENTRY ON THE DOOR: £2 (£0.50 for F4UL members)

All proceeds go to F4UL funds in support of their aims to keep the library open and support local literary and art projects.

F4UL Publishing, Upton Library, Upton Cross, Upton, Dorset BH16 5PW
‘Supporting our local library; promoting Creative Writing’

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What the Dickens? magazine – goes to sponsume

by gailaldwin

The splendid team at What the Dickens? magazine are seeking your help in getting the next edition into a printed format. The bi-monthly magazine has been available free on-line for one year with six excellent issues. You can read the back copies here.

To find out more about the team behind the magazine there’s a You Tube film which even includes a photo of me!

So, if you feel in the mood to back this creative endeavour go to the Sponsume page, check out the level of sponsorship you’re able to make and help to turn this magazine into a page turning printed version.

Thank you for your help.

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Can you guess where I’ve been?

by gailaldwin

Can you guess where I’ve been?

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What sort of notebook do you use?

by gailaldwin

This post is inspired by Vikki from The View Outside, who drew upon Simon Whaley’s article in Writers’ Forum, to reorganise the way she records ideas for writing into separate notebooks. I have a similar system, which I’ll share with you here. I am a prolific note-maker: to do lists, shopping lists, birthday lists, packing lists you name it, I make a list. I use reporters’ notebooks for all household things and rip the pages out as I go. But for my writing, I use better quality notebooks.

These are the Moleskin notebooks I carry around with me in case of emergency note-taking. I have two different sizes which are used according to the handbag selected. The covers are plain and functional. Bruce Chatwin favoured these notebooks and bought a stock of them to take to Australia when researching his book The Songlines.

This year, I’ve decided to keep a record of all the books I read and note the details in this pretty book given to me by my niece for Christmas. You can find out which book is currently beside my bed and my latest recommendations here.

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The writer is a lonely hunter

by gailaldwin

I make a habit of reading debut novels to get a feel for the competition: who’s been successful, the quality of the writing, what makes a book stand out amongst the millions of manuscripts that are submitted. Some get recognition quickly, like Pidgeon English by Stephen Kelman which was shortlisted for the Booker. The story is told from the viewpoint of an eleven-year-old boy, newly arrived from Ghana, and completely unaware of the dangers of becoming involved with the gang culture of East London. My favourite debut novel is currently After the fire, a still small voice by Evie Wyld. Set in Outback Australia, the novel provides a vivid sense of otherness and the on-going effect of involvement in conflict, in this case, the Korean War. I’d like to write a book as powerful as that! I didn’t realise until quite recently that The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was the debut novel by Carson McCullers. I took the book on honeymoon over twenty years ago, thinking my husband and I would read aloud to each other. Perhaps it wasn’t the greatest choice for a romantic interlude, particularly when the the test match was on television, and I finished the book by reading it silently. The title stays with me though, which I’ve now adapted to acknowledge the challenges of being an isolated writer: the writer is a lonely hunter.

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