As regular readers may be aware, I go on about how editing takes longer than first drafting to the point of being really quite boring. It deserves attention, I trill, it is the most time consuming of all the things if you want to do it justice.
JG Ballard Crash Manuscript, found at donyalynne.blogspot.com
Lately I have been trying to read ALL THE BOOKS. This is impossible, but I am making a better fist of it that I did when I was doing the writing of the 12 books in 12 months. Here are some brief highlights of what I’ve read since the start of October. You should read all of these and tell me what you think.
Filed under reading
Apologies if you’re meant to be a mummy blogger to join in with Silent Sunday…
Filed under Uncategorized
If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you might be aware that when I’m not writing I sometimes act as Media Officer for Homespun, a new children’s theatre company. Now I am cannily combining the two in the interests of raising cash to send our show, East of the Sun West of the Moon (which was pretty well received at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year) on tour in 2013. I am putting together an eBook of folk and fairy stories, with all proceeds going towards redevelopment and production costs. I am therefore looking for bright young things to donate their stories in the interests of supporting new children’s theatre. If you or someone you know is a bright young thing, please read on for more information…
Filed under 12booksin12months, writing
I was going through half finished word documents from last year (there are a fair few with beginnings of characters and ideas started then abandoned) and found this. It’s a poem I wrote for my brother in December which I considered making into a picture book before I got into the falcon idea. Maybe I’ll get it done this year, though. In fact, maybe I’ll do a collection of story-poems based on Edinburgh streets and illustrate the whole thing… if you think that idea has legs, please leave a comment!
The background to this one is that my brother and I were crossing Great King Street in Edinburgh and both slipped on a wee patch of black ice. However, the temperature was a balmy 6 or 7 degrees and there was no ice or snow or anything anywhere else – so naturally we got suspicious. Why was that bit icy, when everywhere else was fine? Clearly the answer was magic.
Filed under 12booksin12months, blogging, socialnetworking
If you don’t know of A.L.Kennedy, you should rectify that state of affairs immediately. I first came across her through her column in the Guardian, which is very funny, but she does all sorts of other stuff too – book writing and stand up being the main activities where it’s socially acceptable to follow her movements (although not in a stalker-y way). Yesterday she was at the Edinburgh book festival talking about her new novel, The Blue Book, so I went along to listen.
Kennedy began with a reading from near the start of the book – “it’s page 31. Not much has happened, not much will,” – a passage including the character description, “red shoes and amateur clown hair,” which I loved, although naturally she says it better than I do.
She was then interrupted by an enigmatic lady leaving the auditorium with the chilling words, “I know you from a long time ago.” Not the most traditional of heckles in my experience, so top marks for mystique there, especially as she proceeded to stand in front of the stage repeating the phrase over and over again…
Filed under 12booksin12months, blogging, socialnetworking, writing
