the writer is a lonely hunter

writing by Gail Aldwin and other authors

Nov 20

Plaza or Odeon? Take your pick

by gailaldwin

Dorchester is the county town of Dorset and with a population of around 20,000 it now boasts TWO cinemas. When we first moved here six years ago I was delighted to live within walking distance of a cinema and I’ve been a regular visitor to the Plaza ever since.

Built in the 1930s the Plaza has been updated to provide an all-digital, four screen, 3D and live satelite enabled modern cinema. Some new releases come to Dorchester very quickly but I ran out of luck one year waiting for Atonement to arrive and had to slip along to Weymouth to see the film.  That said, with tickets charged at £2.50 during the week and £3.50 on Friday and Saturday nights,  going to the Plaza is a brilliant and cheap night out.

However, we have an interloper on the Dorchester cinema scene with the Odeon three-screen cinema newly opened in Brewery Square.  The development is on the site of the former Eldridge Pope brewery and will have several new restaurants, shops and housing when it’s completed. In the meantime we have Carluccio’s and the Odeon to keep us guessing as to what the final facilities will be like. But with another cinema, therein lies a dilemma.

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Dorset visits

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Nov 13

National Association of Writers in Education: 25th anniversary conference

by gailaldwin

The Minster’s Western Front (Wikipedia)

I was in York at the weekend, attending a wonderful conference where I also delivered a workshop.  Participants attending ‘Flash Fiction:  keeping it short’ came from across the phases of education, all with an interest in developing writing for themselves and their students. I shared a range of prompts aimed to get those less experienced in writing flash started.  These included:

  • Looking at classified advertisements for inspiration
  • Getting ideas for writing from Dulux colour cards (this prompt originates from Calum Kerr, Director of National Flash Fiction Day)
  • Using pages from small, illustrated notebooks to focus the mind on purposeful word selection
  • Drawing upon a photo to think about the story behind the image, from the photographer’s point of view
  • Describing stereotypes from ‘Come Dine with Me’ to create characters you love to hate
  • Self publishing mini books by folding and cutting a sheet of A4 paper
  • Finding markets for your writing:  a selection of websites and magazines that accept flash fiction.

I’d like to thank everyone that came to the workshop for engaging so readily in the tasks, for being willing to share the outcomes from the prompts and for the feedback provided. Read the rest of this entry »

Feedback flash fiction Reading writing

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Nov 8

A visit to Winstone Books of Sherborne

by gailaldwin

Winstone’s is situated at 8 Cheap Street, towards the top of the town in Sherborne.  The shop is double fronted and light streams into the space that contains a huge range of books. As well as shelves along the walls, there are central displays and stands for book-themed gift cards.  A quarter of the floor space is dedicated to children’s books and the owner, Wayne Winstone has worked hard to establish links with schools to promote reading as an important life experience for children of all ages.

The children’s area is inviting with a couch, a rocking horse and a standard lamp to entice families to stay and browse.  Children are invited to review books and as part of the Sherborne Literary Festival, a short story competition for children was held.

Wayne has been successful in attracting authors to deliver talks and book signings at the shop and recent events included a book launch by Sarah Challis. Read the rest of this entry »

authors competitions Dorset events Reading writing

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Oct 30

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.

blogs

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Oct 23

A writing week in the Algarve

by gailaldwin

It’s hard to believe that only last week I was in the Algarve enjoying the hospitality of Carol McGrath who organised a writing retreat for friends.  I joined other writers including Alison Morton and Denise Barnes as well as Sue Stephenson (I wrote about some visits I made with Sue and Carol here) and Grace McGrath. It was wonderful to feel the sunshine, swim in the pool, eat delicious seafood and talk endlessly about books and writing.

As part of the week, I delivered some input on writing flash fiction.  I’m not sure if my captive audience were aware of being guinea pigs for a workshop that I’ll be delivering in November at the NAWE conference in York. Fortunately, the tasks and activities were well received and, I believe, may have converted some to the benefits of flash fiction as a relief from longer writing.

While a good part of our time was spent writing, we also  visited the beach and spent Saturday in Lagos. While I was there and had internet access, I found I’d been contacted through this blog’s contact page by Larry Michell, the driver of the overland bus that I travelled on from London to Kathmandu in 1981 (you can read more about the journey here).  The internet is a marvellous thing, I was thrilled hear from Larry and when I’m next in Australia (hopefully in 2015) they’ll be a reunion of overland survivors.

Lagos also provided a splendid restaurant for lunch and an interesting afternoon Read the rest of this entry »

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Oct 17

Wimborne Literary Festival, 1-3 November 2012

by gailaldwin

Earlier in the year I paid a visit to Gullivers Bookshop in Wimborne and you can read about my experience here.  I’m delighted to again be writing about Gullivers but this time in relation to the Wimborne Literary Festival which the book shop is hosting for the second year.  The on-line programme has just been published and there’s a wide range of workshops for adults and children. Click here for the link to the site.

I’m pleased to see Dorset’s writing talent on the programme, including a workshop to be delivered by Sarah Steele who runs the Wimborne Writing Group. This will be a treat for anyone interested in poetry.  Sarah is an experienced tutor who runs the Wimborne Writing Group which meets once a month on a Wednesday in the Community Learning and Resource Centre. Members are experienced and talented writers who enjoy tasks and activities set by Sarah to develop writing skills.  The collaborative support offered by group members is something I definitely miss now that I am temporarily  unable to attend the sessions due to work commitments.  You can read more about Sarah here.

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authors competitions Dorset events poetry Reading writing

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Oct 2

Four Buses: going to print

by gailaldwin

You may remember that back in July, I won a competition to have sixty copies of my flash fiction and short story collection titled Four Buses printed by CPI Anthony Rowe. While it was great to become a winning author, I didn’t realise how much work would be involved in claiming this prize.  I was asked to submit a print-ready pdf of the collection together with a monochrome cover.  I set to work, finding out about typesetting and organising the stories. The process was more involved than I had imagined and together with editing, this took a considerable amount of time.  I even turned my hand to producing a mock-up of the cover but had to seek professional help for the final version. You can see the cover below:

FourBuses Cover v2

I’m delighted with the reviews on the back page, it’s great to have positive feedback from writers that I admire:

‘A varied and interesting collection from a fresh new voice.’

 –  VANESSA GEBBIE, author of The Coward’sTale

 ‘This is clever writing! Ingenious, perceptive and heartfelt: snapshots of real lives, which make us look twice – and with new understanding – at the familiar.’

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Oct 2

Alfie Dog: an online paying market for your stories

by gailaldwin

I recently had two stories accepted by Alfie Dog, an online publisher where you can download a whole range of stories in different genres.  My stories are identified as commercial fiction and are titled Social Surfing and Wait There They only cost 39p each to download so I’d encourage you to take a look.  Don’t worry if you haven’t got a kindle, you can always download the story as a pdf and print it off or read it on your computer.  I’ll get the benefit of 50% in royalties if you do.  While this is never going to make me rich, at least my stories are now of a standard to appear in paying markets. The other good thing about Alfie Dog is that they accept previously published work, so long as the copyright remains with the author.   I’m very much into recycling and see this as a good way of enabling my stories to reach a wider audience.

If you fancy submitting, the editor will provide feedback even if the story is not accepted and may suggest changes in order to resubmit. It’s certainly worth a go. Click here for submission details.

Do you know of any other online paying markets?

authors flash fiction short stories writing

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Sep 25

The writing shoehorn: trying to fit it all in

by gailaldwin

I’m now four weeks into a full-time contract that lasts until 31 March 2013. I haven’t worked full-time for over 20 years and I’m more tired and grouchy than normal as a result. I’m working for the local authority, managing a service for schools, and although there is a lot of pressure, I’m not actually stressed. Something of the writer enables me to schedule activities into a reasonable timetable and put off until later those tasks that are not a priority.

I’m also pleased that I’m managing to keep writing.  I get up early each morning and write at least 500 words.  It means the pace is slower than usual in writing the first draft of a new novel but at least I’m moving forward.  This time I’m tackling a story about  first time mums.  My manuscript titled ‘Manipulation’ is again abandoned in a drawer.  When the feedback came from the reader with the Romantic Novelists’ Association, I gave up all hope of turning this into something marketable.  According to the report, the writing is definitely not of the romantic genre and I should think about turning it into a psychological thriller! I take the point,  I was never convinced it was a traditional romantic novel, but I’ve got no intention of doing any more work on it.  Tra-lah, I’ll have better luck with the new project, I hope.

The idea of running a competition was met with some enthusiasm.  I didn’t get the full ten comments but enough to think it’s worth doing.  I’ll get onto it when I have a minute!

Along with other activities, my home life is also changing at a pace with my daughter now away at university and my son enjoying his parents’ undivided attention.  Relationships are funny, the way everything shifts now that there are only three of us at home.  My husband has decided to cook most evenings to save me the trouble and  I’m now stuck doing the ironing. I had paid my daughter to do it for the last three years but my son is not so keen to accept the job.  Instead, he’s doing the wood-chopping – a very good job indeed, with the nights drawing in and the winter approaching.

Have you noticed your routines changing lately?

authors Feedback writing

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Sep 18

Mere Literary Festival and flash fiction competition

by gailaldwin

I was pleased to learn about the Mere Literary Festival and I can now share with you details of their flash fiction competition. You’re asked to write up to 350 words which must include a given phrase which will be announced on the website on 27 September. There is a category for the under 16s which is free but all other entries are charged at £2 with £1 for additional entries.  Please send your story through the post which must be received by 5 October.  Prizes are £50, £25 and £10. For further details, click here for the MFL website.

My blog now has over 100 blog followers and I when I started out on 30 November 2011, I promised myself that I’d run a small competition to celebrate if I ever reached the 100 mark. I’m delighted and honoured to have so many people interested in reading my posts. Thank you.  My only concern is whether there are enough people interested in entering a competition.  I have a prize in mind, a copy of ‘Reading Like A Writer’ and you can read a review of the book by Louise Doughty here. If I get more than 10 comments expressing an interest in entering, I’ll get cracking with deciding on the format and drawing up the rules of entry.  Have a think about it and let me know.

This is the cover of the first edition but you can win  a new paperback copy.

(Image used under fair use rationale).

authors competitions Dorset flash fiction Reading

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