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Allison Symes – Festive Writing and Round Up 2023

December 22, 2023 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credits:-

A few this time! A huge thank you to Paula R.C. Readman, Debz Brown, Gill James, Nicole Fitton, Hannah Ruth Retallick, and Lynn Clement for supplying images of me reading at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event. Other photos from that event were taken by yours truly, Allison Symes, as were the screenshots. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. (Always tricky taking publicity shots of yourself as you’re trying to do the actual publicity work!).

There are a few things which have become almost like traditions for me in the run up to Christmas. Certainly they are lovely ways of finishing my writing year.

Tags: Allison Symes, am writing, Bridge House Publishing Celebration event, broadcast news, Cafelit, creative writing, festive flash fiction, Friday Flash Fiction, Hannah Kate, I Do I Don't by Allison Symes, North Manchester FM, publication news, The Christmas Tree Fairy by Allison Symes, Three Minute Santas flash fiction show, writing competitions

Introducing Lynn Clement – Part 2 – The Editing

November 26, 2021 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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.

Tags: Allison Symes, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, editing, Lynn Clement, The City of Stories

Introducing Lynn Clement – The City of Stories

November 19, 2021 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credit:-

My speaking at Swanwick 2019 was taken by Penny Blackburn.

Many thanks to Lynn Clement for supplying her author photo and book cover pic.

Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images or were direct from Pixabay.

Book cover pics from Chapeltown Books.

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.

Tags: Allison Symes, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, creative writing, flash fiction, Gill James, Hampshire Writers' Society, Lynn Clement, The City of Stories

Reflections

May 21, 2021 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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

Reflection is an important part of life. We reflect on what we have learned, the mistakes we have made (and hopefully ensure we don’t make again). We reflect on courage and service (as shown by the Remembrance Day events).

A time to reflect makes us take that time out of our busy schedules to ponder on things that are important. Reflection also makes us slow down, also not a bad thing.

Certain life events also give us cause to reflect. And the last year or so has given us all more time than usual to reflect on what is going on (and generally not liking it much).

[Read more…] about Reflections

Tags: Association of Christian Writers, Authors Electric, blogging, Cafelit, Chandler's Ford Today, character studies, creative writing, discovering flash fiction, drafting, More Than Writers, reflection, story. point of change, the writing journey

Judging a Book by Its Cover – Part 3

April 30, 2021 By Allison Symes 7 Comments

This week I chat to authors from CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing, and Chapeltown Books about the importance of book covers. The variety of book covers is amazing but every writer has one thing in common. We all want our covers to be the best they can possibly be.

The three questions I set my guests were:-

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.

Feature Image – Part 3 – Judging a Book by its Cover. Image created in Book Brush using a Pixabay picture.

Tags: Alyson Faye (aka Alyson Rhodes), Amanda Huggins, book covers, book marketing, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, Colin Payn, creative writing, Dawn Knox, fiction, Gail Aldwin, Jim Bates, Paula R C Readman, publishing

Launches in Lockdown – Part 5

February 19, 2021 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

This week, I chat to Amanda Jones, Gail Aldwin, and, aptly, finish the series by talking with my publisher, Gill James.

Gill, like Richard Hardie, sees the writing life from both sides of the fence as an author and publisher. She is the creative force behind Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, and Chapeltown Books.

Feature Image – Launches in Lockdown – Part 5. Image created in Book Brush using Pixabay image.

Tags: #AmandaJones, #BridgeHousePublishing, #celebrationevent, #ChapeltownBooks, #creativewriting. #amwriting, #Crocabeest, #GailAldwin, #GillJames, #Pandemonium, #VictorinaPress, Cafelit, publishing

Launches in Lockdown – Part 4

February 12, 2021 By Allison Symes 6 Comments

This week I chat to friends from Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, and Chapeltown Books, who didn’t launch one book in lockdown. They launched several! Now there’s a challenge!

Feature Image – Launches in Lockdown – Part 4. Image created in Book Brush.

Tags: Amanda Huggins, being published, book marketing, book promotion, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Knox, launches in lockdown, Paula C Readman

Part 2 – The Chronicles Continue – Dawn Knox

December 4, 2020 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

I’m delighted to welcome back a good friend of mine, Dawn Knox, to Chandler’s Ford Today. Dawn and I are both published by Cafelit and Bridge House Publishing. Both of us are flash fiction and short story writers but Dawn is also a playwright and has recently released her second hilarious set of “chronicles” stories called The Macaroon Chronicles. This is the follow up to her debut set of chronicles called The Basilwade Chronicles. If you like a good, funny read, do check these out.

Dawn Knox. Image kindly supplied by her.

Tags: Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Knox, playwriting, stage work, The Basilwade Chronicles, The Great War, The Macaroon Chronicles

Introducing Dawn Knox… The Chronicles Continue

November 27, 2020 By Allison Symes 11 Comments

Dawn Kentish Knox is a great friend and we have publishers in common – Cafelit and Bridge House Publishing in particular. We usually meet at the twice yearly Bridge House events (though technically the one in the summer is the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition one, though Bridge House sponsor that). We are both missing these events this year though we have met on Zoom.

Along with Paula Readman, whom I interviewed a few months back, Dawn and I make up the photo that appears on top of the Scribblers Sans Frontiere Facebook group which is for authors published by Bridge House and its imprints (including Chapeltown Books).

Tags: being published, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books. The Macaroon Chronicles, creative writing, Dawn Knox, humorous prose, The Basilwade Chronicles, The Great War, writing tips

Part 2 – The Writing Game – and What to Watch For

July 31, 2020 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

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.

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Tags: advice, Allison Symes, Amanda Baber, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Kentish Knox, fantasy, flash fiction, Gill James, hints, humour, Paula C Readman, publishing, scams, short stories, tips

Christmas Stories – Allison Symes

December 21, 2018 By Allison Symes 1 Comment

One of the things I love about this time of year is that it is a wonderful time for stories. The weather’s cold and grim, it can be getting dark by 3.30 pm (which I find depressing), there’s not much on TV, so what could be better than keeping cosy and warm while reading a good book?

Naturally the publishers try to tap into this. It is with very good reason the Christmas book market is a major “pay day” for publishers and long may that continue. Book sales now should help fund the discovery of other writers and fabulous books later. [Read more…] about Christmas Stories – Allison Symes

Tags: books, Cafelit, Christmas, Christmas stories, fiction, reading

Celebrations, Crackers, Chapeltown, and Cafelit – London 2018

December 14, 2018 By Allison Symes 3 Comments

On 1st December, it was my great joy to travel to London once again to meet up with fellow Bridge House Publishing/Cafelit/Chapeltown Books authors at the annual celebration event. On the way up by train, I enjoyed my usual routine of writing stories on my phone app and getting quite a bit of work done by the time I got into Waterloo. [Read more…] about Celebrations, Crackers, Chapeltown, and Cafelit – London 2018

Tags: Allison Symes, anthologies, author event, book celebration, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, flash fiction, independent press, short stories

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Image Credit:-

My speaking at Swanwick 2019 was taken by Penny Blackburn.

Many thanks to Lynn Clement for supplying her author photo and book cover pic.

Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images or were direct from Pixabay.

Book cover pics from Chapeltown Books.

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