Every writer has been inspired by what they love reading. Most writers continue to be inspired by those fabulous stories we enjoy. Reading does feed into writing and it is a wonderful thing.
MY MOTHER’S DIARIES
November and December 1950: The Turning of the Year
Half-term, Bonfire Night and a busy Hiltonbury Christmas, recorded by Margaret “Bebe” Vining and retold by her son, Andy.
By Andy Vining
It has been a busy few weeks since Seeing The Other Side was published by Chapeltown Books on 16th July. There was the launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, a book event at Salisbury URC, a blog tour and I hope there will be more things to come.
MY MOTHER’S DIARIES
September and October 1950: Autumn Turning
Harvest’s end, a child leaving for school and autumn settling over Hiltonbury Farm, recorded by Margaret “Bebe” Vining and retold by her son, Andy.
By Andy Vining
I’m never sorry to welcome September back. It’s a lovely month and I’ve always loved the changing colours of the leaves. Okay the darker evenings are a downside but then again does that give more time for reading and/or writing? I would hope so. Of course, following the heatwave this year, the cooler autumn temperatures are also welcome.
But I thought I’d look at using autumn in our writing for this post and hope you find it useful. It’s always a delight, incidentally, to create pictures via Book Brush for my Chandler’s Ford Today posts but I had a wealth of wonderful images to choose from for this so hope you enjoy these too.
I’m delighted to say I’ll be taking a lovely trip on our local train service to the fair city of Salisbury on Saturday 5th September 2026. It’s a great run from Chandler’s Ford, and a direct one, and you see some wonderful scenery but why am I going?
If you’re thinking along the lines of she’s not just doing this for the fun of it, you’re spot on.
Writing exercises are a major part of my writing life. There are several reasons for this.
What I produce as a result of the writing exercise is more work I can polish up and eventually submit somewhere. I’ve had work published thanks to doing this.
Exercises got me used to the idea of being a “proper writer” as I was responding to a prompt set by someone else. They’re excellent workouts for the brain. They’re also good practice for writing to competitions with a set theme.
Most exercises I’ve been set are at events, day trips, online ones, or The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. These are a natural part of the writing life and the whole idea is to get you writing more than you would have done alone and to tackle themes you might not have thought of trying.
[Read more…] about The Joy of Responding to and Setting Writing Exercises
Andy Vining shares his mother’s diaries in his podcast. You can listen to these stories on Spotify.
MY MOTHER’S DIARIES
July and August 1950: Harvest, Cowpens and a Summer of Rain
Two eventful summer months at Hiltonbury Farm, recorded by Margaret “Bebe” Vining and retold by her son, Andy.
By Andy Vining
New cowpens promised modern farming, but relentless rain threatened the harvest. Around both ran the busy life of the Vining family: school journeys, birthdays, shows, visitors, preserving fruit and making the most of every dry hour.
It will come as no surprise to regular readers of Chandler’s Ford Today I (a) went to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and (b) had a fabulous time there. Having said that, this year’s school was especially meaningful for me. Why?
[Read more…] about Swanwick 2026 and Book Launch for Seeing The Other Side
Andy Vining shares his mother’s diaries in his podcast. You can listen to these stories on Spotify.
MY MOTHER’S DIARIES
May and June 1950: Curtains, Cowslips and Haymaking
Two months at Hiltonbury Farm, recorded by Margaret “Bebe” Vining and retold by her son, Andy.
By Andy Vining
I’ve just come back from a wonderful few days at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I hope to report more on that next week, including details on how my book launch there for Seeing The Other Side went. But it was the thought of the launch which led to the idea for this post.
Writing events didn’t come into my creative life at all to begin with. The thought of going to any terrified me but as it became clearer to me, writing wasn’t going to just be a hobby, I knew I needed to network, to learn more about the industry and so on. So that meant writing events would need to be something I got used to.
[Read more…] about Writing Events and How to Make the Most of Them
It is with great pleasure I welcome back Val Penny, Scottish crime writer, to Chandler’s Ford Today. This interview is part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between The Lines Vlog.
A lot has happened since I last chatted to Val, not least of which is her change of publisher to Joffe Books. They are reissuing Val’s back catalogue and Murder in Gilmerton is one of those books to be reissued.
[Read more…] about Author Interview – Val Penny – Murder in Gilmerton
Andy Vining shares his mother’s diaries in his new podcast. Listen to these beautiful stories on Spotify.
Andy Vining’s parents were John and Peggy (later known as Be Be).
March & April 1950 — Spring Returning at Hiltonbury [Read more…] about Andy Vining’s Podcast: My Mother’s Diaries 1948 – 1976: Episode 15 — March and April 1950
Reworking stories is something I do all of the time given I don’t think anyone has ever written the perfect first draft in one go. I know I don’t!
I love the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett’s view “the first draft is just you telling yourself the story”. Spot on and the second draft is where you get rid of all of the things you realise you don’t need. Then comes the next draft and so on. Eventually, you end up with a finely honed piece of work which is ready to submit somewhere.
Andy Vining shares his mother’s diaries in his new podcast. Listen to these beautiful stories on Spotify.
Andy Vining’s parents were John and Peggy (later known as Be Be).
A New Decade Begins at Hiltonbury Farm
January and February 1950
The year 1950 began quietly at Hiltonbury Farm. There were no great celebrations to mark the arrival of a new decade, just illness, winter weather and the familiar work of keeping a busy family farm running. [Read more…] about Andy Vining’s Podcast: My Mother’s Diaries 1948 – 1976: Episode 14 — January and February 1950
What would you consider to be the perfect book for a summer read? I know I’d want something on the lighter side of fiction, though my overall preference heads that way anyway, but there is something apt, I think, for a light book to match a light mood. Summer usually encourages a light mood, I find. If nothing else, a good summer read can distract from the hayfever…!
So straight away I’m heading towards the funnier side of fiction so at some point I’m likely to dip into the wonderful works of P.G. Wodehouse, Jane Austen, and Terry Pratchett. Now there’s a fabulous trio of authors for you.
Andy Vining shares his mother’s diaries in his new podcast. Listen to these beautiful stories on Spotify.
Andy Vining’s parents were John and Peggy (later known as Be Be).
November 1949
Fires Lit for Winter
Welcome to Episode 13 of My Mother’s Diaries.
Each episode I open the pages of my mother’s diaries, written day by day on our family farm in Hampshire in the late 1940s.
Through her words we step back into a world of farming, family, village life… and the small everyday moments that quietly made up a life.
This is November and Dec 1949.
November arrived with the evenings growing darker and the air noticeably colder. [Read more…] about Andy Vining’s Podcast: My Mother’s Diaries 1948 – 1976: Episode 13 — November and December 1949
This post is an update for the one I wrote a few weeks ago. I’m thrilled to say my Seeing The Other Side has now been published by Chapeltown Books (as at 16th July 2026). I’m very happy with how the book looks and now have my stock with me. I’m now in the happy position of starting to organise events to celebrate my new third flash fiction collection. More details as and when.
Marketing and writing are strange bedfellows for most writers. Most writers (including me) much prefer to be writing than carrying out any marketing, yet we need to accept the latter is part of our overall writing life. How else will people know about our writing?
I now know my Seeing The Other Side is coming out on 16th July 2026 so over the next few months I’ll be engaged with marketing. I am hoping to have a blog tour for my third collection plus I will be launching the book at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August. I also hope to arrange other in person signings and to have events on Zoom.
Over the years, I’ve collected a number of excellent books on the craft of writing. I still refer to many of them. The ones I tend not to refer to much are those where I thought I might go down a particular path in writing but have not gone on to do so. I’m loathe to ditch these books, simply because I know how writing journeys can change and it’s not impossible I might come back to these things later.
