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Author Interview: Jennifer C Wilson – 31 Days of Writing

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Jennifer C Wilson for her author shot and book cover shots. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

It is a great pleasure to welcome back Jennifer C Wilson to Chandler’s Ford Today. Jennifer’s new book, published today, is 31 Days of Writing, which will be so useful to a wide range of writers.

Amazon Buy Link – Pre-order link

31 Days of Writing buy link:

Blurb for 31 Days of Writing

31 Days of Writing draws on the prompts and exercises from seven years of North Tyneside Writers’ Circle. Whether you’re wanting to build scenes for a work-in-progress, or generate ideas for short stories/poems, there’s something for everyone in this collection, to keep the inspiration flowing for a month of writing…

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Having a Superpower

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Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

I run a monthly Zoom workshop on flash fiction writing for the Association of Christian Writers. It is great fun to do and the online aspect helps so much as the members live several hundreds of miles apart so we could never get together in person.

I usually set a monthly theme and then set exercises based on that. Sometimes I will prepare an answer to an exercise to show as an example but most of the time I will write on the night of the meeting with the other members.

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Election Hustings – Meet the Candidates for Chandler’s Ford and Eastleigh – Sunday June 23rd

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Hustings - Chandler's Ford and Eastleigh
Hustings – Chandler’s Ford and Eastleigh

As we are all aware, the parliamentary constituency of Chandler’s Ford and Eastleigh is newly re-organised and most electors have had little opportunity to see their candidates in person.

In Chandler’s Ford, all potential electors are invited to a special event to see and hear from the parliamentary candidates for Chandler’s Ford and Eastleigh.

Date and Time: Sunday, June 23rd, 7:00 PM (doors open at 6:30 PM)

Location: Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church, Winchester Road, SO53 2GJ

Organised by Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford and Chaired by Bishop Geoff Annas, Acting Bishop of Southampton, the meeting is open to all electors in Chandler’s Ford and Eastleigh, of all faiths or none.

Please come and support this and hear from the candidates to help inform your vote, for an evening of discussion and engagement.

Remember to arrive early to secure your seat.

Churches Together in Chandler's Ford
Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford

 

Submit Your Questions

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Author Interview: Jenny Sanders – The Polished Arrows of Non-Fiction Writing – Part 2

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Jenny Sanders for supplying book and author pictures. Other images from Unsplash and Pixabay (forwarded by Jenny Sanders). Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

It was such a pleasure to welcome back Jenny Sanders to Chandler’s Ford Today last week where we discussed her new devotional book, Polished Arrows. Devotionals are a specialised form of writing and she discussed the joys and challenges she faces here.

This week, Jenny is sharing thoughts on marketing and book launches. There are some great tips here for any writer thinking along these lines which may prove useful to you.

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Beyond Beliefs by Sohail Husain: The Incredible True Story of a German Refugee, an Indian Migrant and the Families Left Behind

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After 6 years’ research, Chandler’s Ford resident Sohail Husain has published this remarkable book – Beyond Beliefs.

Beyond Beliefs is an incredible true story of a German refugee, an Indian migrant and the families left behind.

Now you can Meet the Author Sohail Husain, on Monday 24th June, at Dovetail Cafe at Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church, from 2pm to 4pm.

Meet the author from Chandler's Ford - Beyond Beliefs book written by Sohail Husain.
Meet the author from Chandler’s Ford – Beyond Beliefs book written by Sohail Husain.

This epic memoir recounts the compelling and extraordinary tale of Sohail’s parents and grandparents, whose lives were engulfed by four momentous events of the 20th century: the First World War, the Great Depression, the Partition of India and the Holocaust.

His parents were separated by birthplace, race, faith, language and age, but their common experience of unimaginable loss and upheaval ultimately brought them together in London.

Their love story was complicated and unconventional, but enduring. It is a testament to human spirit overcoming tragedy and adversity. [Read more…] about Beyond Beliefs by Sohail Husain: The Incredible True Story of a German Refugee, an Indian Migrant and the Families Left Behind

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Author Interview: Jenny Sanders The Polished Arrows of Non-Fiction Writing – Part 1

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Jenny Sanders for supplying book and author pictures. Other images from Unsplash and Pixabay (forwarded by Jenny Sanders). Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

It’s a pleasure to welcome Jenny Sanders back to Chandler’s Ford Today. Jenny and I are connected through the Association of Christian Writers. We have written for Mom’s Favourite Reads. We now write regularly for Writers’ Narrative (on which I am also a copy editor. Good news – it is free to subscribe to – see the link for more).

As well as her children’s fiction, Jenny writes articles on writing. She also writes non-fiction books (Christian devotionals) and her latest is due out today, 31st May 2024. Her Polished Arrows is a follow up to her first non-fiction book, Spiritual Feasting, (both published by Instant Apostle).

I’m always interested in how writers combine writing fiction with non-fiction. The disciplines are different so managing to meet the demands of both is an interesting challenge.

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Decisions

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Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Every story focuses on a decision. At some point a character has to choose whether or not to act on a situation they’re facing. What they decide to do has immense consequences for that story.

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Journeys

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Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

By the time this goes live on Chandler’s Ford Today, I shall be packing up after a lovely holiday in Scotland with my husband and Lady and preparing to have a long journey home again. So with that in mind, I thought I would look at journeys in writing.

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Questions and Answers In Writing

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Questions are something I often use in my writing. For my non-fiction work, they often act as an underlying theme. I have been known to use them as titles too. For fiction, again I use them for titles and themes. In this case though I am getting my character(s) to answer the question. In my non-fiction work I’m answering it through the conclusion I come to at the end but I show my “workings” along the way.

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Fryern Funtasia Chandler’s Ford 2024

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Once again Fryern Funtasia was held during the May Bank Holiday Monday, at Fryern Recreation Ground. Did you have a good time? Yes we did despite the rain.

You can imagine the organisation of this event was a mammoth task and it was so wonderful to see so many people and animals, and so many stalls, games, and activities.

Some children sang some songs about the ‘sunshine’ and don’t we love these children from Fryern schools?

Thanks to Chandler’s Ford Parish Council and Event sponsors – TMT Legal Services are supporting this year’s event, along with
National Lottery Community Fund,
Infinity Playgrounds,
Dripool Ltd,
Vitaplay
and A&A.
(Source – Chandler’s Ford Parish Council)

Below are some photos taken before the rain. Let’s start with some animals –

 

 

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Review: The Chameleon Theatre Group – Waiting For Gateaux

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Image Credits:-
A huge thank you to The Chameleons as ever for kind permission to use their excellent photos. Screenshots from The Chameleons’ Facebook page and website were taken by me, Allison Symes. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Also a huge thank you to Katrina Lush for kind permission to use her photo of the Slimming World Yes You Can sign placed next to The Chameleons’ Waiting For Gateaux sign at Ritchie Hall recently. Katrina, like me, is a member of the Slimming World group that meets here. This photo went up on the local SW Facebook page and gave us all a huge laugh. I think it is excellent product placement for Slimming World and The Chameleons.

It was a joy to be back at the Ritchie Hall with Janet to see the latest production from The Chameleon Theatre Company. Their latest show, Waiting for Gateaux, intrigued me the moment I heard about it. My first thought was this must be more fun than Waiting for Godot. I was right. I was surprised though to find a story behind the laughs which was often moving. More on that shortly.

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My Top Five Writing Exercises

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Image Credits:   Images were created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

I love writing exercises as I’ve shared before in previous posts (see Related Posts below). Writing exercises encourage lateral thinking. I’ve had far more story ideas thanks to using these.

You can get used to thinking in certain ways for your next idea (especially for short form writing where you need to constantly invent things) so it can be easy to become “bored” or to run out of inspiration. You don’t want it to be a case of same old, same old here.

So mixing up how you approach writing stories is a good idea. It keeps you on your creative toes as well which is never a bad thing.

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History – Fact and Fiction

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Image Credits:- 
Images created via Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Some images directly from Pixabay. My book cover image from Chapeltown Books.

Earlier this month, I had the great pleasure and privilege of presenting to an online history group a PowerPoint on Josephine Tey (author of The Daughter of Time) and Philippa Langley (co-author, with Michael Jones, of The Search for Richard III: The King’s Grave, and, more recently, The Princes in the Tower, where she is sole author).

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Author Interview – Sophie Neville – A Creative Life on Water, In Film, and In Writing – Part 2

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Sophie Neville for supplying book and author pics. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos or are images supplied by Sophie Neville or are from Pixabay directly or are from the CFT archives. Screenshot taken by me, Allison Symes. Images from Sophie Neville’s website are used with her express and kind permission. Thank you, Sophie.

It’s a joy to welcome back Sophie Neville to Chandler’s Ford Today. If anyone could be said to have a life immersed in creativity, it is Sophie Neville. She has starred in films (best known role was Titty in Swallows and Amazons which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year); she has been on television in front of and behind the camera; she is an artist with many exhibitions to her name; and she is an award winning script writer.

That is only a brief summary! Do check out her news, YouTube and social media links, all of which are at the bottom of this interview.

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Author Interview: Sophie Neville – A Creative Life on Water, in Film, and in Writing – Part 1

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Sophie Neville for supplying book and author pics. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos or are from Pixabay directly. Images from Sophie Neville’s website are used with her express and kind permission. Thank you, Sophie.

It is a huge pleasure to welcome fellow member of the Association of Christian Writers, Sophie Neville, to Chandler’s Ford Today. Sophie is best known for her role as Titty in Swallows and Amazons, that well loved children’s film classic. She went on to appear in The Two Ronnies, Doctor Who, Animal Magic, Songs of Praise, Crossroads, and Nationwide, and these are just a few of her TV and film credits. For a full listing do visit her website.

I remember Swallows and Amazons and The Two Ronnies in particular. I loved their Charley Farley and Piggy Malone, in which Sophie appeared. For full details of Sophie’s extensive TV and film work, do check out the link.

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Questions and Answers for Characters

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images

As I write a lot of stories, I have to find ways to continually invent characters. One useful way of doing this is to outline my characters (rather than the plot) as by knowing more about them, I can figure out what trouble I can land them in – such fun! Plots come from that. Outlines don’t have to be long. It is a question of working out what you need to know. That will vary from writer to writer.

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PowerPoint

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Linking back to last week’s post on Online Workshops I thought I’d take a look at PowerPoint in more detail. I used PowerPoint a lot in the late 1980s/early 1990s and then forgot all about it until Zoom came into my working life.

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Online Workshops

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

I don’t know about you but these days I split time into two categories – pre-pandemic and post-same. I recently ran a workshop for the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group on leap years. One thing coming from that was in recalling the last Leap Year Day was 29th February 2020! Much has changed since then, hasn’t it?!

One positive thing to come from the pandemic was the increasing use of video conferencing via Zoom and the like. It made certain events possible. Ironically it has led to paying gigs for me as workshops. I hope that continues!

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The Task of the Opening Lines

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Every part of a story or article, of whatever length, has its role to play but the most important is the opening line. Unless readers get past that, the rest won’t be read. So what does any opening line need to do to encourage people to keep reading?

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Light Writing

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos

The best light works do not lay their themes on with the proverbial trowel. As you read the marvellous prose and get behind those characters, you will pick up the themes almost by osmosis. There is no lecturing. You are left to follow the characters on their journey.

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