the writer is a lonely hunter

writing by Gail Aldwin and other authors

Charmouth Literary Festival

  THE FOURTH CHARMOUTH LITERARY FESTIVAL

Date: Saturday 5th October 2013

PEOPLE AND PLACES

Venue: St Andrews Hall, Meeting Room

10.10 – John Bryant
Author of 3.59.4 The Quest to Break the Four Minute Mile. The London Marathon, the history of the greatest race on earth and The Marathon Makers and Jogging. His latest book is a biography, Chris Brasher, about a truly remarkable and singular man.
John is a veteran of marathons around the world and has been involved in the London Marathon since 1981. He has worked as a Fleet Street journalist since 1971, was Editor in Chief of The Daily Telegraph, executive editor of The Daily Mail and for a decade was deputy editor of The Times. John lives in Surrey and Dorset (Charmouth) and has attended all our Literary Festivals and is a great champion of them.

10:40 – Travel Writing with Sarah and Wendy

Sarah E. Dawson
Sarah decided, aged 52, to have her own gap year and to follow the latitude 52 degrees north from the east coast of England to the west coast of Wales. It was a personal challenge traveling on her own; her story is unusual and shows that you don’t have to go very far in order to experience and write about travel. Her travels continue with latitude 53 and 54.

Wendy Knee
Wendy has written three books, Never Die Wondering, Get Cracking and Travels with Granny. Her love of people and zest for life has enabled her to travel to extraordinary places, including Uzbekistan, Ecuador, Guatemala and many more. She cycled 1000 miles through France and Spain following the Camino St Jacques at the age of 58 and at the age of 66, she spent a month volunteering in Uganda and in early 2012 she worked with young teenagers in Mexico. This is the next book.

11.00 – Coffee and writing session for all

11:30 – James Crowden
James is an author and poet living in south Somerset. In 1972 he joined the army and served in Cyprus, travelling widely in Eastern Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and North West India. In 1976 -77 he spent a winter on the northern side of the Himalaya, in the remote Zangskar Valley in Ladakh.
He works between poetry and prose, between the two worlds of inner and outer landscape. His latest book is called Flowers in the Minefield centred on the First World War.

12:00 – Walk, Write, Wild – Juliette Adair
Outside activity to inspire your writing, so be prepared for all weathers.
Juliette is dedicated to creating space for writing. She has been encouraging her family to fit round her writing habit for the past 10 years and has an MA in Creative Writing from City University, London. Her novel ‘Bog Angel’ won the Christopher Little Award in 2007 and was short-listed for the A&C Black centenary prize. She is a member of the Walking Artists Network and in 2006 walked from Dublin to Galway following the route of an ancient story.

12.15 – Poetry –Rosemary Wells    –    Followed by workshop in library
Rosemary has had some of her poetry read on local radio and has been published in local magazines. She won the Silver Salver in the Adult Poetry category at the Wootton Bassett Arts Festival in 2009.

12.30 – E Books  Chella Adgopul
Chella  is a writer, teacher and publisher from West Dorset. A year ago she started Honeybee books, aimed at helping people who wanted to self-publish their writing, either in hard copy or in digital form as an e-book. She has worked with a range of writers, from beginners to professionals and community groups, and is firmly committed to helping make publishing a more democratic and accessible process.

1.00 – Lunch Hour
Literary soap box around the centre of village. This is your chance to stand on your soap box and read out your work (6 minutes max each).

2.00 – Roving Press – Julie Musk
Julie Musk is the project instigator, creative writing arm and principal editor for Roving Press Ltd, an independent local book publisher. She says, ‘Roving Press was born of our desire to publish books that are down-to-earth, helpful and with a travel and/or local interest slant. We produce only a handful of new books each year which we enjoy and believe in. As well as publishing our own titles, we offer a full or partial publishing service for those wishing to self-publish. Julie is a long-term copyeditor and proofreader for other publishers including Wiley-Blackwell and OUP, and is the author of A Slice of Apple Pie: Your One-Stop Guide to Living in America, Lesser Known Swanage and Lesser Known Weymouth.

2.30 – Peter John Cooper
Peter will talk about his experience of writing and having his work edited/proof read. Peter is a playwright, poet and theatre director whose work has been seen throughout the UK during the past 40 years. Among his prolific output are two adaptations of Hardy novels which have been published online and two books, She Opened the Door: The Wife and Women Who Haunted Thomas Hardy (published by Roving Press) and a self-published e-novel.

3.00 – Tea – write a biography on one side of paper
Dual personality – let the other person come out.

3.30 – Short story – small but perfectly formed – Frances Colville
Frances lived abroad in Norway and Belgium for 25 years, before settling in Chideock. She writes flash fiction and short stories, has had a piece of flash fiction included in Dorset Voices, an anthology published by Roving Press, and recently won first prize in a Story Slam for Dorset writers. She has also had a play for radio produced at Bridport Arts Centre and is involved in various local history projects. She is currently working on a novel set during the First World War.

4.00 – Close with round up of the day.

 

For further information & details see:

charmouthliteraryfestival.org.uk

Contact Wendy Knee  wendy@wendyknee.com   01297 561493     07968 846514

 


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Excellent repeat event: Story Slam, Briport 2013

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With the success of last year’s event, the Dorset Writers’ Network are hosting another story slam as part of the Open Book Festival in Bridport. Organised by Jennifer Bell of Storyslingers, the evening will be modelled on previous story slams where participants are asked to register in advance through zomzara@googlemail.com (or turn up and register on the night). If there are more registered writers than time slots, the names will be entered into a draw. Each time slot is five minutes maximum (about 780 words). All genres and styles of original prose welcome. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your talent so get writing and share your work with a supportive and enthusiastic audience.

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Dorset County Show, 2013

The County Show has been celebrating the countryside and all things Dorset since 1841. These days there’s a focus on family entertainment, showcasing agriculture and shopping but the old traditions of a county show remain, including the competitions. There are 1,000 competitions to enter and although we didn’t spend much time looking at the livestock, the homecraft and horticultural tents are endlessly fascinating.

With the rise in popularity of television shows such as The Great British Bake Off, the competition for the best of baking is considerable.  Criteria for entry is strict sometimes identifying the required size, shape and ingredients, others offering the chance to use your own recipe.  One category I continue to find perplexing is:

  • Six sweet scones (men only please)

I wonder what Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood would make of that!

Unfortunately, for all the delights of Victoria Sandwiches, Swiss rolls and flapjacks, they were displayed inside plastic bags and not the best circumstances to photograph, so I can’t show you any of the entries.  However, I can share with you the following:

THREE CARROTS, stump rooted, tops trimmed to approx 76mm

THREE CARROTS, stump rooted, tops trimmed to approx 76mm

PAIR OF MARROWS (any size)

PAIR OF MARROWS (any size)

 

These had my husband anticipating an entry for 2014.

Some of the other categories, however, had me in stitches. For example, THE LONGEST RUNNER BEAN of reasonable quality. I’m not sure that would be worth eating. And then there were the monster entries, the largest pumpkin and the heaviest marrow:

heaviest marrowlargest pumpkin

After all the excitement there was one last treasure. An opportunity to stroke the loveliest of rabbits and meet the proud new owner.

rabbit

 

During a long journey yesterday I listened to ‘When God was a Rabbit’ by Sarah Winman.  The family saga was brilliantly read by Emilia Fox but the story was predictable in places. Rabbits at the show and one in a novel – that must be enough rabbits for one week.

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A bit of luck

Just when I thought I had to return to the office for three more days of work after taking leave next week, I discovered that I’m actually owed some days. As a result, my last day of employment with the County Council will be Friday and I’m madly trying to get everything done ready for a holiday in Edinburgh starting on Saturday.  We’re flying from Southampton and taking hand luggage only, so decanting liquids has been the order of the day. Fortunately, the flat that we’re staying at in Stockbridge provides shampoo and shower gel, so it’s only face creams that I need to worry about.

I’ve packed a couple of paperbacks including The Coward’s Tale by Vanessa Gebbie and The Polish Boxer (which was recommended by Sarah Bower) and you can read a review here. I’ve downloaded two audiobooks to my ipod: Catch 22 and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. So when I’m not attending sessions at the Book Festival or the Fringe I’ll have plenty to keep my busy.

Have a good week.

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Anniveraries – who’d have them?

This time last year I was offered the post of Service Manager for a teaching team working with Dorset County Council. Now my colleagues, who are all on teachers’ pay and conditions have finished and I’m left  with no-one to manage. It’s not too bad – I am allowed to work from home during the summer and the end is in sight. I’ll receive my final salary and redundancy package on 30 August.  With the end to a new position only one year after starting, it makes the anniversary something of a bitter-sweet event. Bitter owing to the end of a career in local government that I’ve loved  and sweet due to the new beginnings it provides. I’ve secured part-time work with an educational charity to start in September and I’ve the MPhil in Writing to begin in October, so things are looking positive. A new start and studies that may lead to a new career.

My wedding anniversary falls in August but we’re long past the point of celebrating with cards and gifts. Indeed, this year we’ll be travelling to Edinburgh for a family holiday with our teenage children. I’ve visited the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh International Book Festival previously and enjoyed my time so much, I decided to return again with my family. I have tickets for a couple of events at the Book Festival including a session offered by Ronald Frame. He was a tutor at an Arvon course I attended in 2011 and he’s been wonderfully supportive of my writing. So it’ll be a pleasure to see him again, especially as he’ll be talking about his most recent book, Havisham (read a review here) which imagines the life of Catherine before she appears in Great Expectations. It’s well worth reading.

The anniversary that I’ve most enjoyed of late came at the weekend. We we unexpectedly offered tickets to attend the Anniversary Paralympics where Hannah Cockroft and David Weir won their races and Richard Whitehead amazed the crowds on his golden blades.  The wonderful achievements of the athletes from 2012 was certainly an event worth celebrating.

Paralympics 008 (2)

Which anniversaries do you celebrate?

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Things are looking brighter…

University of South WalesI received an email this week confirming that I’ve been accepted onto the Masters in Creative Writing at the University of South Wales. This is a part-time, distance learning, research degree which includes a creative writing project. Although my proposal still has to be passed by the Research Panel, I’m cracking on with ideas for the novel that will accompany the research. I’ll be investigating the child’s voice in adult fiction and putting together a manuscript written from a child’s viewpoint about the abduction of a sibling. I have to say a massive thank you to Carol McGrath who has offered considerable advice and support that has kept me focused and positive throughout the application process.

I am really excited about returning to study. The university only accepts eight students onto the course each year so I am fortunate to be one of them. Previous students include Emma Darwin (click here for Emma’s blog which is well worth a read) and Maria McCann.

Other good news is that I was successful in getting through the interview with an educational charity which will offer me the chance to work with schools on a part-time basis during 2013-14. I’m also building up my contacts with schools to deliver consultancy work and I’ve had some interest in a project that I wish to seek funding from the Arts Council to deliver.  All this activity means I’ve been incredibly busy and writing has taken something of a backseat. Now that I have a little free time, I will work on a piece of flash fiction to submit to the Bridport prize at the end of the month.  Other opportunities you might like to consider include:

What keeps you busy at the minute?

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Spring in Dorset

Spring in Dorset has so far meant biting wind, patches of frost and snow. When the sun does appear, it’s absolutely glorious but all too soon it slinks behind the clouds. In spite of the weather, other activity confirms the changing of the seasons. Last year I wrote a piece of flash fiction titled ‘Fish Pond’ which is based upon the annual activity in our garden. You can read about it here.

The ducks have been lurking again, finding the right moment to splash into the pond and feed on the frogs’ spawn.  This year, however, David has decided to protect the wildlife by creating fortress fish pond.

spring 003 (2)

It’s not a pretty sight and the ducks have abandoned the garden now in favour of the stream along the road. Not even the neighbours’ cat has ventured anywhere near our place now that the days of scooping out the spawn with his paw are over. The wire is so effective that I’m slightly worried we’ll be inundated with frogs and toads later in the year. I hope I don’t find a frog swimming in the downstairs loo again!

Do you have any quirks to share?

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Flash fiction workshops in Dorset

Dorset Writers' Network, Winfrith Newburgh Village Hall

Dorset Writers’ Network, Winfrith Newburgh Village Hall

I was delighted to offer two flash fiction workshops locally on Saturday. The first was delivered at a fantastic event in celebration of Dorset Women’s Day, held at the Dorford Centre in Dorchester. The second was in the afternoon, working with some wonderful Dorset writers on behalf of the Dorset Writers’ Network. The content for each workshop varied slightly, but as an overview, I’ve listed some of the activities included.

  • Definition of flash fiction

Not an easy task, but we did our best to come up with a definition by considering the length, the content, the structure, the process and the purpose of writing flash fiction

  • Giving it a go – six word stories

Using models from the famous (Hemmingway and Atwood) and the not so famous (shortlisted entries to Fleeting Magazine’s 2012 competition) a variety of six word stories were shared to inspire participants. The resulting writing ranged from the sexually-charged to the humorous.

  • Keeping it short

Using a piece of paper with a pretty picture prompt (a bit larger than a post-it note) participants produced pieces of flash fiction by drawing on the senses. Something about writing on a small piece of paper seems to focus the mind on careful word selection allowing participants to keep the writing short.

  • Using stereotypes

This is a quick way into writing. Using prompts from the addictive television series ‘Come Dine with Me’ some useful characters sketches were drawn

  • Putting yourself in the shoes of a photograph

By looking at a range of black and white photographs, participants were asked to imagine that they were the photographer and to write a short piece of fiction considering their relationship with the people in the photograph and to think about why the photograph was taken

  • Making an origami book as a form of self publishing

This involved a demonstration and the distribution of a pre-prepared book containing one of my flash fiction stories.  If you want to know how this is done, you’ll have to attend one of my workshops in the future.

A big thank you to everyone who attended the workshops – you were generous in sharing your writing and it was a pleasure working with you. If you would like me to deliver a workshop to your writing group, please get in touch using the ‘contact me’ page.

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Spring writing workshops

I’ve been invited to deliver several flash fiction workshops in the coming months and I’m delighted at the prospect. To give you an idea of what I’ll be covering, please see the outline below:

Flash fiction, keeping it short

Everyday lives are packed with tasks and activities that leave little time for reading or writing at length.  Flash fiction has the ability to fit into the breaks and provides satisfying stories with all the elements of a longer piece of fiction.  ‘Keeping it short’ is an interactive workshop that explores opportunities to incorporate flash fiction into your creative life and will use examples to share:

  • Flash fiction at its best
  • Starting points for writing flash fiction
  • Ideas about the definition of flash fiction
  • Websites and journals that publish flash fiction enabling writers to reach a wider audience

What do you think?  Have I got all the bases covered?

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Lit Up! event: a life in writing

Along with writing friends Sarah Scally and  Fiona Murphy, I spent an excellent day on Saturday at Bournemouth Library learning how to make a living from writing.  That is, how to fund your writing through grant applications, residencies and commissions.  The workshop was organised by Lit Up! and provided practical advice, presentations and talks by poet Andrew McMillan and project organiser Amy Mason.

Andrew McMillan and Amy Mason

Andrew McMillan and Amy Mason

By the end of the day, I’d made several new Twitter friends, generated fresh ideas for projects and came away with inspiration for new pieces of creative writing. The event more than lived up to its billing, a unique day full of tips on putting together bids, planning and executing successful writing sessions. Thank you very much Amy and Andrew for sharing inside information on how to get the most from the Arts Council.

Top tips included

  • subscribing to Arts Jobs  for regular updates on paid and unpaid writing opportunities
  • using the language of the brief to frame your application for residencies and writing opportunities (refer to target audience, outcomes etc)
  • drawing upon help from others to support your application, for example, references from other writers, project coordinators etc
  • Seek advice and support from the Arts Council. The Relationship Manager for the south-west is kate.offord@artscouncil.org.uk
  • the importance of tangible outcomes from writing sessions and workshops such as a celebration event or production of a pamphlet of work

By drawing on the ideas from the day, and combining these with the experience I’ve gained from workshop delivery at conferences and writing groups, I now feel much more confident in designing and seeking funding for my own literary writing project.  The only trouble is having the time to map this out.  My full-time work commitment is likely to go on until the end of August but with redundancy possible, I may be well be poring over my notes before too long.

Which skills would you like to develop for a life in writing?

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