There’s plenty of prep work going on I suspect by the time this post goes out. I hope your Christmas preparations are going well. (I’m in the middle of mine with my food shop due next week and baking still to be done but I’ll get there).
It was great to be able to celebrate with Bridge House Publishing twice in one week this year.
On Thursday, 2nd December, there was a Zoom meeting for those who couldn’t get to the in-person event in London on Saturday, 4th December. There was a quiz, a look at the books published by BHP and its imprints this year (including The City of Stories by Lynn Clement, which I edited), and there were readings.
I read Breaking Out, one of my two stories in The Best of CafeLit 10, which is just one of the many books produced this year.
It was lovely to see so many on screen and I loved hearing the stories.
Chandler’s Ford Christmas Market day is tomorrow – Saturday the 4th of December, at the Age Concern Hall, next to Fryern Arcade, (behind Co-Op), from 10am to 1pm. Well done for Steve Allen for organising the local market in the past few years.
All the stallholders are ready and hand gel will be on the door. Face masks need to be worn.
Come and meet the local crafters of Chandler’s Ford and the local areas.
In the market in November, 135 people visited supporting our friendly stallholders.
In the market on Saturday, you’ll find many high quality items produced by the local people.
Chloe, a jewellery maker from Southamptom, makes gorgeous items. She will be at the market tomorrow as well.
It was a pleasure to be a part of the Brechin/Angus Book Festival from 19th to 21st November 2021. The event also formed part of Book Week Scotland.
Last year, I went to the Festival thanks to Zoom but it was lovely to be there in person this time, my first “big” writing event since before lockdown.
A couple of weeks ago I went to post Christmas presents to the ex-patriot members of my family. “I’ll only be ten minutes” I told Mrs. Chippy. After all, the packages were already wrapped and addressed. I could avoid queuing by going to the self-service machines; print out a postage label; job done. What could possibly go wrong? [Read more…] about Confusion at the post office
It is my pleasure to welcome back Lynn Clement. Her flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, is out with Chapeltown Books and I had the privilege and pleasure of editing this collection.
Prior to that, I had met Lynn when I was guest speaker at the Hampshire Writers’ Society where I talked about flash fiction, CafeLit, Chapeltown Books, and this, I’m glad to say, inspired Lynn to start submitting work to CafeLit and then a single author collection to Chapeltown Books.
This week, Lynn and I talk about the editing process and why it is never a good idea to use song lyrics in your work.
[Read more…] about Introducing Lynn Clement – Part 2 – The Editing
This is a lovely post to write as it is a Local Author News one for debut flash fiction author, Lynn Clement, and me. Why? Because I’ve recently had the joy of editing Lynn’s first flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, which is published through Chapeltown Books. And Lynn is from Hampshire. Definitely local enough!
How did Lynn find out about Chapeltown Books and CafeLit? Quite right – through yours truly.
[Read more…] about Introducing Lynn Clement – The City of Stories
Remembrance Sunday falls on 14 November in 2021. The Chandler’s Ford community came together this morning to remember the service and sacrifice of those who have protected us and defended our freedoms.
Debbie Pearce from Debbie Pearce Photography kindly shares the photographs of the Remembrance Service at the Chandler’s Ford War Memorial with the Chandler’s Ford community. She captured the parade on Hursley Road and the service this morning at St. Boniface Church, Parish of Chandler’s Ford. Thank you Debbie.
[Read more…] about PHOTOS: Remembrance Sunday in Chandler’s Ford 2021
Today we remember and honour those who sacrificed for our freedom in Chandler’s Ford. Locally many people, young and old, observed a national two-minute silence at 11am. By 10.45am there was a large crowd at the Chandler’s Ford war memorial, at St. Boniface Church.
Representatives from local groups laid wreaths of poppies at the war memorial.
The Eastleigh Borough Council wreath was laid by John Caldwell, a previous mayor and an alderman.
You can see more photos from today’s service: PHOTOS: Remembrance Sunday in Chandler’s Ford 2021
[Read more…] about Remembrance Sunday in Chandler’s Ford 2021
Just a quick shout-out to any dressmakers who may be interested in a new hobby.
The Chameleon Theatre Group tell Chandler’s Ford Today they are looking for a new wardrobe mistress/master as their current lady will be stepping down. This would be a great role for a keen, experienced dressmaker. The Chameleons say it can be a very busy role at pantomime time but rewarding.
If this sounds of interest to you, please contact The Chameleons directly. See their website link below and scroll down where you will find an email link. See the screenshot for what you should find on the page.
Many thanks to The Chameleons for sharing the following photos from previous pantomimes as these will give you a good idea of the kinds of costumes you would be working on.
And good luck!
It is always a pleasure to see the latest Chameleon Theatre Group production. This one was particularly nice as it was the first time our esteemed CFT editor, Janet Williams, and I have had what is effectively a Chandler’s Ford Today “works outing” since before the lockdowns. And I adore a spoof. So win-win here.
Murder with Ghosts is written by Simon Brett (a big tick in the box) and the plot has more than a nod to an Agatha Christie whodunnit (a HUGE tick in the box here. The first series of books I collected, which I still have, were the Odhams red leather hardbacks of almost all of the Agatha Christie series and novels).
So a spoof written by a renowned crime writer and based on the structure so often used by the Queen of Crime has got to be a winner, yes?
Yes indeed!
[Read more…] about Review: Chameleon Theatre Group – Murder with Ghosts
Now this is a timely topic for me as I will be taking part in the Brechin/Angus Book Festival from 19th to 21st November and something rather special is coming up next March which I hope to write about nearer the time.
For the Festival, I’m running a writing workshop on flash fiction. I’m also giving an author talk on the ups and downs of the writing life. I’m looking forward to doing this and hope to share a report on how things went later. There are also events over the weekend I will be taking part in alongside the other authors such as the afternoon tea on the Sunday when people can come and chat to us over tea and cake. (Now there’s a civilised event for you!).
I make two book lists a year – one for a certain festival coming up in December (yes, Christmas, there I’ve said it!) and another for my birthday. Always great fun to get these together. It also means I’m easy to buy for (so that helps my better half). And I mix up my choice of format for books – paperback, Kindle, and sometimes audio.
So what do I mean exactly by a “good” writing topic? Surely whether it is good or not depends on the nuances, personal bias etc of the writer in question (and whether you agree with them or not!), and whether they “deliver” on the theme in an entertaining and/or interesting way?
Like most schools, mine had inter-house competitions. One year, it fell to me to be House Captain of Music because I was the oldest boy who could play the clarinet. The Housemaster chose the Captain on age, not on ability. Every boy had to sing in the choir, and the performance piece chosen was John Ireland’s setting of Sea Fever by the poet laureate at the time, John Masefield.
Everyone had to sing, from the few with treble voices to the tuneless late-teen tough-guy growlers. We learned about melding music and words, how to enunciate ‘whetted knife’ as if you were cut by a cold wind; how to sound the sibilants to suggest gale and spray and how to prolong the final word – over. The poem was ended, but the feeling and atmosphere lingered on. [Read more…] about Forgotten Letters of John Masefield
By the time this post goes out, I will have returned from the Association of Christian Writers’ AGM and Writers’ Day held on 9th October 2021 at Mary Sumner House in London, which is the home of the Mothers Union incidentally. It will be ACW’s first in-person event since before lockdown.
What ACW did for events and groups was switch everything to Zoom and this worked well. The plan is to combine a mixture of live and Zoom events and group meetings in future.
How did I feel about going back to live events like this? I was fine with it, especially having been to the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in August. But what are the advantages of one-day events such as the ACW one?
This topic was inspired by last week’s post when I talked about Pinch, Punch, The First of the Month. I’ve often used well known sayings in my flash fiction. Sometimes I’ve used them as titles. Sometimes I’ve used them as themes. And I have written stories where the well known saying was both the title and theme.
[Read more…] about Sayings – Their Uses in Fiction and Non-Fiction
And with that welcome to October!
Pinch, punch, the first of the month is one of those peculiar sayings most of us picked up on during childhood. And yes it was followed up with the pinch and the punch. (I suspect the rougher the school, the harder the pinch and the punch too).
The idea behind this phrase, and the one that often follows it (”white rabbits”), is that by saying it, we are meant to have good luck for the month in question. Naturally you wouldn’t want to miss out on said good luck so the moment the calendar shows it is the first again, out comes the saying again.
Image Credit: Book covers from Chapeltown Books. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Author images taken by Adrian Symes.
Today would have been my late parents’ 61st wedding anniversary. (They made it to 55 years together when we lost Mum in 2015).
Anniversaries are important. They form much of our history (1066 probably being the most famous and yes the entire year is an anniversary date. A less “well known” year for this is 1936 – the Year of the Three Kings – George V, Edward VIII and George VI. There has been a Year of the Three Queens too – 1536 – Catherine of Aragon, who always maintained she was rightful Queen of England, Anne Boleyn, both of whom died in this year thanks to the same brute of a man, and Jane Seymour. I’m no fan of Henry VIII incidentally as you might have been able to tell!).
Image Credit: Book covers and author pics were kindly supplied by Maressa Mortimer. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
It is lovely to welcome back Maressa Mortimer to Chandler’s Ford Today. This week, Maressa shares her thoughts on marketing (every writer has views on that!), and how she feels her writing has developed. She also discusses book tours and why she has used Facebook Live for her book launches. So with no further ado, over to Maressa.
[Read more…] about Maressa Mortimer – Part 2 – Being An Indie Author
