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Books to Read Again

With my DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis (posh person’s repetitive strain injury), I’ve been writing less and reading more. And Going to Things. Less of a home body and more of a woman about town on the cultural scene in Oxford. Blackwell’s Bookshop hosted an author event with Roma Tearne on her latest novel ‘The Last Pier’. I ... Read More
 

‘Looking on the bright side’ or ‘Carpal Tunnel Syndrome’

Advice and sympathy are pouring – or rather, trickling – in. When I last blogged I was waiting for inspiration for my third novel while waiting for the verdict of The Oxford Editors on my second. The verdict was very encouraging and I have done a little revising and now wonder where to send it. ... Read More
 

After a Creative Writing course.

I’ve just dug up this little report, written in 2013 as part of my final submission after the Guardian/University of East Anglia Certificate course on the Novel. I thought that rather than deleting it I would share it, since it may be of interest or use to others. My novel ‘Timed Out’ has been accepted ... Read More
 

Ladies’ Lecture celebrating some brave women

It was an honour to attend the Annual Ladies Lecture and Lunch at the Glaziers Hall as a guest of the Master’s Lady, Suzanne Galloway, whom I’d met in another life as a fellow student in Oxford’s Continuing Education Department. The lecture, entitled ‘Tales from The Women’s Library at the London School of Economics’ was ... Read More
 

The adverb fights back

Special event at Blackwell’s: a workshop by that excellent writer and teacher Richard Skinner, Head of Fiction at the Faber Academy. We began with a mini story-telling task relating the events of our Sunday. (Mine was singularly event-free.) He had us cut our words and twist our paragraphs around and for most of us that  ... Read More
 

A publisher, another novel, and waiting for inspiration to strike again

‘Timed Out’, my first novel, now has a publisher, Driven Press.  And ‘Makeover‘, my second, has gone for a manuscript assessment with The Oxford Editors along with a list of issues that are bothering me. For example: Are the two alternating points of view/’voices’ clearly differentiated or will I be accused of head-hopping? I have ... Read More
 

Ian McEwan – inspiring but humbling

‘As you write you can’t escape all the literature you have loved.’ This was one of many wise reflections from Ian McEwan this evening. Another couple of points that struck me particularly: the importance of people’s jobs, so often neglected in novels and yet key to fleshing out  character; and the pleasures of the short  ... Read More