I am happily preparing for a party at the moment – an online one to celebrate the publication of my new book, Tripping The Flash Fantastic.
Date For Your Diary: Saturday, 10th October 2020
Time: 7.00 pm to 9.30 pm
Venue: Your computer, laptop, I-Pad etc at your home!
Link for Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1246876649024453
(Can’t beat the convenience here! No traffic hold-ups. Just a good internet connection needed which you hopefully should have anyway!).
In my last post I extolled the benefits of my new fitness watch – mainly in accurately measuring the distance and time of my runs, but a few other (less important) features as well.
But the data doesn’t have to stay on the watch. I can upload it to web-based applications and, Oh wow! What a plethora of fun and procrastination that opens.
For example, I can view pretty-coloured graphs that track my daily health and fitness, such as movement and heart rate and progress towards daily step goals. [Read more…] about Living with a Fitness Tracker – Part 2
So, as pondered in an earlier post, I decided to treat myself to a fitness tracking watch. I justified the expense (both to myself and to Mrs Chippy) on the basis that it was less than half the money I was saving on fuel by working at home. I didn’t really need to justify the expense to Mrs Chippy at all; within a few days she had bought herself one too!
I have to say, I am impressed. Obviously, it tells me the time and date – it is a watch, after all – but it will also fairly accurately track how far I run, walk or cycle – it’s even clever enough to work out what type of activity I am doing. [Read more…] about Living with a Fitness Tracker – Part 1
In this bit of nonsense, I have included each of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet codewords …
Last November, alpha male Mike and his Zulu boyfriend Charlie took a holiday at the famous golf hotel in Lima. Wanting a break from the game, they took a drive through the delta, up into the sierra, where they heard the famous echo. In the evening they were joined by their yankee soldier friend Victor (who was in uniform) and his Papa.
They all went to the theatre where they saw Romeo and Juliet (it was an Oscar-winning performance – ‘Bravo’, they cried) and then went dancing, first the foxtrot then the tango. [Read more…] about A Romantic Romp through the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
Murphy’s Law has struck again for this writer! No news (publication or otherwise) for a while and then lots all at the same time!
[Read more…] about Local Author News – Allison Symes – New Book, New Anthology, New Zoom Event!
Romsey Plaza Theatre launched its first ever CrowdFunding event this Monday to raise money to cover its box office losses due to Covid.
Over the past 6 months, the Plaza has been closed and we have had virtually no income. We need your help to ensure that the Plaza is able to continue covering our basic overheads. In conjunction with the Theatres Trust and their #SaveOurTheatres initiative, we have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds which will make sure that our theatre continues to operate safely through the lockdown and for years beyond. [Read more…] about #SaveOurTheatres – Plaza Theatre Romsey
I talked about lessons from school, learning to drive etc., last week. This week I’m going to look at what I have learned from writing and how that has developed life skills too.
[Read more…] about Lessons – Part 2 – Lessons Learned from the Writing Life
Lessons are a big part of life. Some we love, others we loathe. In this two-part series, I thought I’d take a look at how lessons are an ongoing thing. We’re just not always conscious of it. I’ve learned so much from writing which has helped directly not only with that but with life skills too.
So let’s start with the obvious then.
It’s an afternoon in August and, after the morning’s continuous rain, my wife and I have been out for a brisk walk around the wooded roads of Brownhill, Merdon, Lake and Lakewood. It’s warm and the overpowering sweet smell of Scots pine and Douglas fir pervades the landscape. There are still large numbers of conifers among the mature oak trees where they were once a dominant species.
I first moved into Lakewood Road in 1955 when the woodlands prevailed; the area to the west of the Lake was a pine forest through which I regularly went horse-riding. It is now, tragically, an inaccessible tangle of overgrown species – but that’s another story!
At that time, in the rectangle of land formed by Hiltingbury, Hocombe, Lakewood and Hursley Roads, there was little development, the oldest house being our neighbours’ house,The White House, the land for which had been acquired in 1908. The area was woodland and heathland. I galloped across this land frequently and, like many other boys, rode my bike aerobatically over ‘the bumps’ behind the present Ashdown Road.
As a young boy, I had that wonderful sense of freedom, space and adventure. The land was ripe to be plundered and developed and, from the 1890s, the land from Ford to Brownhill, and Hiltingbury to Hocombe was destined to fall under the woodman’s axe to make way, initially, for exclusive houses.
Local YA author, Richard Hardie, is delighted to announce that his novel, Leap of Faith, the first in his Temporal Detective Series, is now being advertised on the online edition of Doctor Who magazine.
Well done, Richard! Both the print and online versions of the magazine have a big “reach” so being able to get the word out to readers about a time travelling detective agency to fans of the most famous time travelling show is a very good move!
[Read more…] about Local Author News: Richard Hardie and Doctor Who by Allison Symes
The defining thought for my recent CFT posts has been how writers can pick up on the zeitgeist, long before we know there is one to tap into!
This summer the topic has been about changing direction. Some writers do this a lot, others only every now and again. Some make the change a permanent one, others see the variation as a detour from what they usually write though they will resume that in due course. My recent interviews with Scottish crime writers, Val Penny and Wendy H Jones, are good examples of this.
Another author changing direction is Jennifer C Wilson who has gone from writing ghost stories crossed with history in her Kindred Spirits series to romance with The Raided Heart and is now writing non-fiction with her recently released A Novel Approach.
[Read more…] about A Novel Approach – Jennifer C Wilson In Conversation With Allison Symes
Sometimes writers can feel as if they’ve “caught something” in the air and definitely not Covid-19! We refer to the zeitgeist where we subconsciously pick up on a bubbling mood which then does come to the surface and grabs public attention.
For me, and for many writers recently, that bubbling mood has been about changing direction with our writing. This has manifested itself in two distinct ways. Firstly, this has been in taking on new roles which are likely to be permanent (editing for me). Secondly, the other change has been in writing something different from what we are usually known for (as I’ve recently discussed with Val Penny and will be again soon with Jennifer C Wilson).
This week, I invite Scottish crime writer, Wendy H Jones, back to Chandler’s Ford Today as her new venture is something very special indeed. Wendy is the only UK writer in the The Power of Why (see Amazon link). There are 23 stories in this collection of women from around the globe who have taken steps to change their lives by starting their own businesses.
[Read more…] about The Power of Why – Wendy H Jones in conversation with Allison Symes
For the final part of this series, I would like to say a big thank you to my wonderful guests for their excellent contributions. Please find the links to Part 1 and Part 2 here.
Writing is the fulfilment of many people’s dreams (and being published even more so) but, as with any other area of life, there are those prepared to make money out of your dreams and rip you off doing so. When you start out, it is knowing what to look out for that can be tricky. Also, where do you go for advice? (Answer: The Society of Authors, The Alliance of Independent Authors, and talk to other writers. Word does get out about scams and the like).
[Read more…] about Part 3 – The Writing Game – and What to Watch For
Welcome to Part 2 of my new series. You can find the link to Part 1 here. Writing colleagues and I share tips we hope will be useful ranging from contracts to marketing to even handling professional jealousy. There is much to learn from here!
Any industry attracts charlatans. Writing isn’t exempt. From copyright infringements to piracy, it pays to be aware of what can happen and where to go for advice. It is also useful to know what to avoid.
[Read more…] about Part 2 – The Writing Game – and What to Watch For
So much has changed in the industry since I started writing seriously. I’ve gone from using manual typewriters to laptops. I’ve gone from sending submissions in by snail mail to sending almost everything in by email. (There is still the occasional competition which prefers post but these are as common as the Dodo).
In the joy of creativity, and unless you have decided to write solely for your own pleasure, which is fine, it is easy to forget writing is a business. As with any industry, there are charlatans out there.
It is only when you’ve been writing for a while, when you’ve had setbacks, you realise how much you don’t know. There are things I wish I’d been aware of when I started writing.
For this three part series, I share tips and contributions from writing colleagues. A big thank you to them for taking part in this series. We all hope you find it useful. There will be a brief bio for my colleagues plus links to their Amazon Author Central page and the like. Between us, we represent a very wide range of genres and experience in the industry.
[Read more…] about The Writing Game – and What to Watch For – Part 1
One of the discoveries during lockdown for me has been the Zoom app. I know of people able to get to writing events via Zoom who would not have been able to attend that same event if held “physically” due to the distance involved for them.
I would also like to see “standard” events perhaps end up having Zoom sessions as a side line to what they normally do as a way of engaging those who, for whatever reason, would find getting to the main event difficult. So Zoom has been a good thing then.
Missing seeing friends and family has been the worst element over the last few months (though that is easing of course now). Zoom has helped compensate a bit here though it cannot be the same as getting together with your loved ones.
I’m sure many of you will remember the late Barbara Woodhouse, the famous dog trainer whose catchphrase “walkies” has lived on.
Is there a dog owner who doesn’t use that phrase, I wonder?! Certainly all three of my dogs (the bearded collie cross, Gracie; the border collie, Mabel; and now Lady who is a border collie/flat coated retriever/chihuahua mix) all knew the meaning of the word and were/are keen fans of it!
I’ve mentioned before that I love word games and these can take all manner of forms from Scrabble and Boggle to The Times’ cryptic crossword. (I pass on the latter. If I go for crosswords, it is always the quick kind!).
I will often unwind after an evening’s writing by playing Scrabble on my phone.
The advantage of using technology to play a board game is it does mean I never have to worry about losing a tile again. It does also mean I can’t lose the Q or the X no matter how much I want to at times. There is always a downside to technology!
Oh and before you ask, I have been known to get miffed when the computer, which effectively is what the smart phone is in many ways, beats me at Scrabble yet again. I am improving though.
I recently wrote about Changing Direction here and a good example of another author who has done precisely that is crime writer, Val Penny.
Now that doesn’t mean Val is leaving her (writing) life of crime (!), but she has turned to non-fiction with the recent release of her Let’s Get Published.
[Read more…] about Journeying into Non-Fiction Writing – Val Penny
The Waterloo Arts Festival is an annual celebration across several art disciplines all based on a theme. This year’s one was Transforming Communities. Previous topics have been Transforming Being and To Be…To Become.
For the last three years, there has been a writing competition as part of the Festival and Bridge House Publishing have been the sponsors behind this. I’ve been privileged to have had winning stories in all three ebooks produced. Each ebook is a compilation of the fifteen winning entries in each year.
[Read more…] about Waterloo Arts Festival 2020 Goes Digital – Online Writing Event
