I Survived the Last Day!

Just popping in to say I'm back from the last day of the Lowdham Book Festival.

It was an early start from home, and cool.  But by midday was warm and sunny, which is always encouraging.

Nottingham and the surrounding areas had quite a few events going on, including Armed Forces Day; but I'm glad to say lots of people did come to the Festival even if they left it later...

Many of the free talks were full and people had to be turned away as capacity had been reached.

A good sign this year was people actually buying new books (and not necessarily those by well-known writers) and not just second-hand ones.

When there was a temporary lull in footfall I was able to leave the writers' club stall to look at books. I bought a new (signed by the author) book for my OH (who drives me to events, goes home and then comes to collect me later).

And I found a 1978 book on fans (the decorative type for wafting in your face) for £3, for myself, so I was happy.

The Fringe at the Ship event went well (more later with pictures) and my lighter contemporary stories were appreciated - at least those listening laughed at the right points and clapped at the end of each one without prompting... :-)

It's been a long day and I'm going to catch-up on Facebook, and sift through the growing list of e-mails that invariably fill my inbox on a Friday night/Saturday morning...

When the pictures arrive from the NWC photographer, I will share a few of them...

Hope Sunday's weather is just as good, so I can recover...

PLR and Other News...

I've been busy trying to get as much as possible done this month with limited time and hands to help, so apologies for my recent silence on the blog pages...

After today my writing time is going to be spasmodic, as college has finished and the house will not be as quiet as it is normally on a week-day when everyone is out.

I'm getting ready for the last day of the Lowdham Book Festival too- every event on Saturday is free to attend, so if you're nearby and can spare an hour or two I know you'll find something to interest you.

I'll be on the Nottingham Writers' Club stall, and then at midday at The Fringe at the Ship, before returning to the table to promote the club and members work...

Last week's cyberspace book launch of the One Word Anthology was a great success, so a big thank you to everyone who popped into the launch page on Facebook- much fun was had by all... :-)

 

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Now to the serious stuff...

Many writers were unhappy about the proposed move of control of the Public Lending Rights service (probably) to the British Library when it was proposed in 2010. Sadly even with an overwhelming majority against the move in the 2012 consultation, the intention to make this change has continued.

Yesterday (26th) the scrutiny committee of Culture, Media and Sports declared its findings:

" The CMS committee, chaired by Conservative MP John Whittingdale, concluded that: "It was resoundingly clear from the public consultation that there was overwhelming opposition to the Government's proposal to abolish the Registrar of Public Lending Right and to transfer its functions to another public body. We continue to believe that the British Library is not a suitable host organisation for the PLR function given its many responsibilities and the risk that these could take priority over the PLR function." " (The Bookseller - here.)

Unfortunately the Government can ignore the opinion of the committee and carry on with it's plans. Money can be saved by this change, so change they will. :(

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Another related PLR issue is e-books. Authors do not receive PLR on library e-book loans, so they are losing income.

 

 And the Society of Authors (SoA) has found that authors may not be receiving the correct payments from their publishers for e-book library loans by treating them as if they were sales rather than licences...

 

 If you go the item in the SoA's News and Events section, you can read about it in more detail- here.

Digital is giving writers so many opportunities, but it's also giving them a lot of 'virtual' headaches in trying to ensure they get the money they have a right to...

Happy Launch Day - One Word Anthology...

Last November when the e-book version of the One Word Anthology was released I officially crept into existence.

Serena Lake has been evolving for many years - and was originally going to be called Persephone Lake, but writers have to be practical and Serena Lake fits better on a book cover!

Actually Serena is a little more earthy than Persephone. And Serena sounds like an historical romance writer too.

The two, 200 word stories in the One Word Anthology are both moment in time pieces.

In 'After Heat' for the word 'Heat' one of my characters in waiting, Jago, is sharing a moment in time with the woman he is falling in love with- now considering he is a typical alpha male who just seems to have women falling over themselves to get his attention, that moment is quite significant.

I just have to discover how they reach that stage...and write the rest of it. :-)

The second story 'Surprises' for the word 'Shift' was a little bit of a struggle.

The only idea that shift brought to mind was the underwear type - (I'd been studying historic costume for a different character at that time). I had this scene of a cabin, but the size of a cabin (the old traditional sailing ship cabins not modern liner cabins) wouldn't work for how I saw the idea, so adjustments in location had to be made and by being flexible it solved the problem of how to keep the reader- and Jason guessing...

Jago and Jason are both in the queue for their stories to be written...

Now Serena ( otherwise known as Carol) is working on a novella set in 1802, so hopefully the next time you see the name Serena Lake on a book cover, it will be for this story.

But I'll always be grateful that I was able to step out into the world in the One Word Anthology by the Talkback Writers...

Serena...

Come Along and Enjoy the Launch Today...

Today is the day.

The paperback version of the 'One Word Anthology' is officially launched at 11.00.

Read the words from new voices...

You can join the Talkback Writers on Facebook any-time from 11 am onward to celebrate the launch, and have some word fun...

The book has been on sale a couple of days now and we hope to improve on our #6 in poetry anthologies and #47 in anthologies ranking.

And there's even a trailer for the book which I'll be adding soon- thank you to Catherine Dalling - one of the anthology writers - for creating it for the launch.

Enjoy the party...

the book launch...

Book cover artist: Marion Clark

Glass illustration courtesy of http://freedigitalphotos.net

One Word Anthology Book Launch on Tuesday...

I was very excited last November when the Talkback Writers launched the e-book version of the One Word Anthology- as it was the first book to feature any of my stories for sale to the reading public.

(Serena will be talking about this too...)

One Word Anthology in paperback available now

Each author did what publicity they could (Catherine  Dalling and I did a guest spot on BBC Radio Nottingham talking about the book) and the e-book is still getting sales, but quite a few people wanted a paperback version to buy.

After initially thinking that a paperback wouldn't be possible cost-wise, we were delighted when our publisher Alfie Dog Ltd told us they were looking into producing a print copy of the anthology.

And now it's here. The official book launch in cyberspace is tomorrow starting at 11.00 am on Facebook and we hope to have enough time (and people) to spread out onto Twitter and a couple of blog posts too.

You won't be able to obtain it in your local bookshop unfortunately, but you can buy it via our publisher, here, and this link will then take you through to Amazon who will be doing the rest- and delivery is free.

As with the e-book there will be a contribution to our chosen charity, Medical Detection Dogs, who train animals to assist and save lives.

I'm sure you'll remember the adorable Lola in her official red coat...

Lola the life-saver

10% of the profits of the book will go to the charity, and for each copy ordered via the alfiedog.com link our publisher will add a donation too.

(This doesn't apply if you go direct to Amazon.co.uk )

Originally the book was priced at £5.99, but you can currently buy it by parting with £5.65, and knowing that you're also contributing to a very good cause.

And you get a good read too...

Pop back tomorrow for the official launch. You'll be very welcome...

A Busy Month Coming Up...

Variety for the weekend...

My short story entry to the Wells Literary Festival competition is now on its way. :-)

My story really didn't need too much extra work as it was very minor things; changing the placing of a short paragraph here, and on the first page where an issue nagged me, I just rewrote the same sentence in a slightly different way, and it was much better.

A year ago I didn't see those little improvements that could still be made, and perhaps they were the aspects that got the story rejected...

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The other exciting news is that the One Word Anthology by the Talkback Writers (of which I'm one- well two, as my pseudonym Serena Lake has stories in there) is shortly coming out in paperback form.

The e-book is still available for 99p from Alfie Dog and other book buying outlets (though there may be slight price differences due to the way the book buying sites work).

The paperback will be £5.99, and 10% of the profit will go to the charity Medical Detection Dogs...

Out soon in paperback

(More news and about the book launch when I have a definite date.)

I better get on with sorting out my author page on Amazon...

It's two weeks to the final day of the Lowdham Book Festival ( 29th June) when Nottingham Writers' Club has a stall promoting the club and members work. So I'll be found on the stall for most of the day.

EXCEPT from just before midday when I and two other club members will be located across the road in The Ship pub to take part in the second Fringe event, reading a selection of our work for 40-45 minutes.

Various groups will be performing throughout the day and into the early evening, so if you're nearby, then do pop in, grab a drink and enjoy the events.

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Then on the 3rd July, Nottingham Writers' Club has a ticket event. Novelist and Biographer Miranda Seymour will be discussing 'sleuthing and biography'; and will be talking about her forthcoming book, 'Noble Endeavours: Stories from England and Germany' due to be published in August.

Tickets will be £2.50 on the door to non-members; £1 for members. 

Miranda Seymour

Starting 7pm, 3rd July 2013, at the Nottingham Mechanics, North Sherwood Street, in the city centre.

If you need any further info you can ask for details via the Nottingham Writers' Club contact form, here.

So I have a few busy weeks to come...

Entering Competitions...

Well I finished my entry for the Spring prose competition at the writers' club in time. It was written and edited in two days. May not have been as good as it could have been, but considering I wasn't 100% well, it's amazing it was completed at all. And the three things that the story had to contain: the tin of treacle, a bird and the weather, actually didn't turn out to be as difficult as I thought...

I've been considering entering a larger short story competition for a couple of years now, but haven't taken that final step yet.

I know I'm not ready for Bridport prize- and quite honestly I don't think I ever will be - so I decided to just step up a level.

There are lots of writers' groups who run open prose and/or poetry competitions, and others that run with literary festivals.

I've decided to put an entry into the Wells Literary Festival short story competition - I posted the details about it last month.

Yesterday I printed out the entry form and details.

It does have the option to pay and submit online, but for this one I'm going to post it - I think it's a psychological thing - if I put it in an envelope and take it to the post office (and put it in the box)  I'm taking another step, and next time I probably will submit online because it won't have the same significance.

So today I'll be looking over my short story in case there's anything I want to revise, and then making a fresh copy that conforms to the rules - title and page numbering stuff.

Then if I'm happy with it all, it will be fill in the form and the entry fee cheque (£5) and off to the Post Office tomorrow.

But if you're not ready for this stage yet, then I can recommend the competitions run by Erewash Writers Group, you can see the current competitions, here.

I still have a few entries to do for some of the annual competitions that Nottingham Writers' Club runs for members each year. The deadline for these is the end of the month, so I better get on with those too.

Then I will be ready to get back to the final two chapters of the novella- draft 1. :-)

Medicines in History...

Sadly I'm indoors with an oil burner infusing the air around me with Eucalyptus pure essential oil- a couple of the family have had a cold and now it's got me- always happens during half terms when everyone is home and exposure is at the maximum- while they recover I get poor breathing...

As much as I'd have liked to spend time in the 18th/19th century, I really wouldn't want to have lived there forever- I would never have survived the various bugs and germs that were lurking...

There's some info about medicine through the ages, here.

Having blood tests done for valid reasons nowadays is bad enough, but bleeding someone as a general treatment for curing many ills as was done in the past, I can only say thank goodness we've moved on!

And you'll find some of the medical equipment used at the time displayed on Pinterest, here.

The local chemist, near where I grew up, still had the big glass jars in the window, (like the big one filled with blue liquid here) and at the back behind the counter area, the chemist's domain, still had the original polished and labelled wooden draws and counters- must have been a high class pharmacy in it's heyday. Sadly the shop is long gone...

Those old shops really had character...