Back to school

It's that time of year when everyone's heading back to school, picking up winter activities and hobbies, starting new evening classes and learning new skills.

This afternoon I took part in a fantastic writing workshop in Belfast organised by the Community Arts Partnership https://www.capartscentre.com/ and facilitated by Shelley. So it was 'back to school' in terms of spending a few hours writing. It was good to meet up with fellow writers and be creative with Shelley's writing prompts  https://twitter.com/YIMBoyle/status/1034886446845440000


Tonight 'Back to School' was the theme at this month's 'Ten X 9' storytelling in the Black Box http://www.tenx9.com/ I went along to hear one of my writer friends telling her true story, which she delivered with humour and style. The audience loved it! Well done to all the storytellers who moved and entertained us with their tales from the best days of our lives.

Au Revoir

I spent a few hours this morning in the company of other writers . We met up in the splendid Linen Hall Library in Belfast for coffee and a chat. It was good to see some familiar fellow writer friends and to meet some new ones there too and hear what everyone is working on.

 

It's worth popping in for a browse round the oldest library in Belfast. The shop has quirky literary gifts for sale and the treats in the coffee shop are tasty.

Coffee and books are always a good combination so it's such a shame the library has taken the decision to close (along with its coffee shop) on Saturdays from this autumn.

So while it's 'au revoir' to the Linen Hall Library coffee shop, thankfully with so many coffee shops opening up I'm sure we'll be able to find a welcoming coffee shop where we can meet up, chat and read.

Ten Significant Books - Day 10

This is the book I probably read the most in my teens. Long, long before the days of wiki books were used for referencing and I used this one many times to learn. At that time in my life I wanted to be a music journalist and this book was one I gained extensive knowledge from.

I chose it as part of my school prize that year. It had to be specially ordered by Mullans bookshop in Belfast (sadly no still longer around) and some of my teachers were a bit perplexed at my choice (I think they were probably secretly jealous).

I haven't had a look at the book for a very long time. But when I took it out of the bookshelf tonight,  like so many of my books I found a newspaper cutting hidden in the leaves. It's tucked into the page where my family members have an entry in the book.

Beating A Retreat

Military Beating Retreat concerts have a long tradition dating back to the 1690s. Originally the beating of the drum was used to order troops to break off fighting and withdraw to the safety of camp as darkness fell, later it signalled the closing of the camp gates at the end of the day and called troops back to base for the night. Today a Beating Retreat is an evening military concert with a marching display and usually marks the lowering of the Regimental flag at sunset.

It wasn't this sort of retreat - but it would be very difficult to beat the last few days away.

Plenty of good food, great craic, good company and intensive writing - is indeed hard to beat.

We may not have had 'wall to wall' sunshine this time on the retreat, but it was still warm and dry enough at times to enjoy the beach at Coney.

Ten Significant Books - Day 9

This is another school text book - the first one on our 'O' level syllabus. It sticks in my mind as being the first book I felt I 'had' to read and the first book I didn't enjoy reading. Up until this point, all school text books, had been enjoyable, even though they might not have been books I would have selected to read.

When I look back on it now, the writer and the book were not at fault. 'Treasure Island' is a brilliant book with fantastic characters. Without Long John Silver we probably wouldn't have Captain Jack Sparrow.

I didn't enjoy this due to the way it was taught. Our English teacher was sarcastic and had a habit of belittling pupils in the class who weren't her 'favourites'. I can remember her reading out misquotes from the book to everyone in class that some of our class mates had invented in their exam papers and she never seemed to like any of the boys. I'm pleased to say I wasn't one of her 'favourites' and that her behaviour didn't put me off enjoying the other text books, going on to study 'A' level English and having an appreciation of pirates.

Ten Significant Books - Day 8

This book haunts me. But not only because of the wonderful story written so brilliantly.

And not just this novel - but this particular version of it.

It was one of my 'A' level English texts which I had recurring anxiety dreams about many years after I'd passed my exams and completed my English degree. Unfortunately our teacher took ill during our 'A' level course and we were very much left to our own devices to get through the syllabus. While it stood us in good ground for working on our own at university some of us might have got better grades if we'd been allocated a temporary teacher to support us rather than being shoved in with another class. Parents today wouldn't put up with it.

As I looked through the novel I still have I came across a couple of interesting bookmarks!



I didn't realise at the time the impact this had on me and for years afterwards if I was feeling anxious about something I would dream that I needed to re-read 'Wuthering Heights' again for my exam the following day.

I passed the exam with a very respectable grade and went on to university. Had I got a better grade I would have gone on to study law rather than English literature, and I'm more than happy that I spent three years reading novels, poetry and plays.

Significant Books - Day 7

Between the pages of a book many an adventure can be had, new discoveries made, secrets hidden and memories awakened.  In looking through this book again I came across a clematis flower from my childhood garden which I had pressed in between the pages. The book was chosen for this purpose as it is large and could withstand the weight of other books on top of it.

The book was one I chose as a birthday present as a child, my Dad taking me to the bookshop when we were on holiday in England. We had this book in school and I loved it! - I loved the beautiful illustrations which bring the poems to life. The book is a special one because it has become something I treasure and I still love reading it with my nieces who are now discovering the magic of books.

Ten Significant Books - day 6

"Again, again, again". The familiar sound of a child wanting to hear a favourite story. My Mum had this one cracked. She always thought of different ways for me to hear stories before I could read them for myself. As well as reading them to me herself, we listened together to the story on Radio 2's 'Listen with Mother' almost every day, waiting for the familiar "Are you sitting comfortably? then I'll begin." (Clearly this is why I still enjoy listening to Radio 2)

 

 

That usually happened after we'd watched an episode of one of my favourites (after Pebble Mill and the 1 o'clock news) on 'Watch with Mother' on BBC1, long, long before CBeebies had been dreamt of.

Before my brothers got home from school, the record player would be switched on and we'd listen to more stories on vinyl LPs (once again fashionable) - the forerunner of talking books. This one was my favourite and it was played again, again and again. Wendy Craig introduced me to the stories about Tom Thumb and Hunka Munka, Jeremy Fisher, Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddleduck and Pigling Bland and I have loved them since (and still have the LP).

 

 

Ten Significant Books - Day 5

On Day 5 - it had to be a Famous Five book! I grew to love and read practically everything Enid Blyton wrote - from the Noddy books, Amelia Jane, The Magic Faraway Tree, Mr Meddles Muddles, The Secret Seven Books, the St Clare and Malory Towers series to of course the Famous Five. If Enid Blyton wrote it, I've probably read it.

At this time in my life I could have read a book a day - oh to have the time to do that now! And often I did. Mum took us to Carrickfergus library regularly and we also were lucky to have a mobile library that came up our road once a fortnight. I was able to order books and have them delivered in the library van almost to the door - for free! - much better than Amazon! I remember well the joy of looking out the front window waiting for the library van to negotiate our narrow, bumpy road and how excited I was to climb up the steps to see if any of the books I had ordered had arrived.

Through our brilliant library service and my Mum going into a bomb damaged Belfast regularly to buy me a book I worked my way through the Famous Five books. I read all of them - or rather I started to read all of them. There was one of the stories I never finished and it wasn't anything to do with the story or my reading ability. I wish I could remember which book it was. I started reading it and around a third of the way into the book, noticed that it had been printed wrong and the story started again for a second time - but didn't finish. Mum took it back to the shop the next week and got her money back. They didn't have another copy as she had ordered it in and while they tried to order another copy it never arrived. The library weren't able to get a copy either. So the Famous Five book, whose name I can't remember sticks in my mind for being the first book I've never finished reading. And while I don't like to be defeated, I'm not going to read them all now to complete the challenge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Riverdance' in an anthology

It was lovely to receive this book in the post today - the Lagan Navigation Trust's anthology 'Where My River Flows' and to read my winning poem 'Riverdance' on the first page. I'm looking forward to reading all the other poems and stories.

Ten Significant Books - day 4

This book was a Christmas present one year. I already knew that books weren't just full of stories and poems, and that they could help you learn more about the hobbies you enjoyed to develop new skills. But this was the first time I had a book of my own, bursting with ideas of things to make rather than just watching  Lesley Judd on Blue Peter make a fabulous 'tidy tubs' from an old washing up liquid bottle and sticky-backed plastic.

I also learned from this book that rarely did my efforts to replicate the craft idea look anything like the photograph in the book. Just as well the book title was right - it was fun to make the items in it, but most of them were completely useless!

Ten Significant books - Day 3

This is the first poetry book I remember. I think it may have been a school book which my aunt (a primary school teacher) got for us, ever keen that we developed a love of reading. There were four books in the series and we had two of them - the red one and the blue one.

 

From these books I developed a love of poetry from an early age. From the poems in them such as Eleanor Farjeon's 'Cats', Alfred Noyes' 'Daddy fell into the pond', Rose Fyleman's 'Mice', Thomas Hood's 'Choosing their Names', Spike Milligan's 'On the Ning Nang Nong', Queenie Scott-Hopper's 'The Visit', I learned about rhyme and rhythm and that poems could be entertaining, funny and exciting.

 

The introduction to the blue book concludes "John Dryden once wrote that the chief end of poetry is delight. It is our sincere hope that RHYME AND RHYTHM will indeed be a source of delight, and that it will lead its readers to a lasting love of poetry". Mission accomplished.

Ten Significant Books - day 2

Recycling isn't a new phenomenon. A group of furry creatures made it fashionable in the 1970s and I was one of their biggest fans. Around the time they hit the TV screen I was reading about them too.

My Mum bought me this edition of 'The Wombles' and I read it and read it over and over again. They didn't look as cuddly on the book cover as they did on the TV programme narrated by Bernard Cribbins but the book still made an impression on me.

So much so that I amassed over a few years a Great Bulgaria toothbrush holder, pillowcase,  schoolbag with Madame Cholet on it and several womble records (which are still in my possession!) My aunt bought me this one in exchange for a bottle of sherry I had won in a raffle - while she probably got the better deal I was more than delighted with my new raffle prize.

What I loved most about the book was the characters Elizabeth Beresford created - they each have their own quirky traits and personalities. She made them believable and brought them to life, before they made it to television.

Ten Significant Books - Day 1

I'm going to identify a book per day over the next 10 days that had a significant impact on me from first reading. Thanks to my writing friend Vicky for the nomination. I'm starting out with one of the first books I remember reading in school - Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby from the Uncle Remus stories.

The impact for me was not the actual story, rather it was on my determination to be able to read a story for myself.

Our P2 teacher rewarded us with dolly mixtures for reading well - is it any wonder I have a sweet tooth? If we read well we received two dolly mixtures each day. The sugar police would have a fit at this nowadays.

This was the book that introduced me to the first difficult word I couldn't read on my own and the day I couldn't read and pronounce 'briars' correctly I didn't receive two dolly mixtures.  But it never happened again - not because I wanted the sweets, but rather because I became determined that difficult words wouldn't beat me.

edit, edit, edit - pays off

I was delighted to hear last week that my short story 'Left on the Shelf' had been successful in a  UK writing competition. It's lovely to see the judges' encouraging comments about the story - especially as this story has been rejected several times. Following a few edits, taking on encouraging feedback from unsuccessful submissions, and continuing to believe in my story has eventually paid off. You can read my winning story and the lovely judges' feedback here.
https://www.solution-loans.co.uk/competitions/short-story-writing-competition/results-spring-2018/

workshop video

Last month I took part in a workshop on National Writing Day - it was great to see the video from the event today and I'm looking forward to another workshop with the Community Arts Partnership soon.
https://www.capartscentre.com/2018/07/video-community-arts-partnerships-national-writing-day-workshop/

e books

As someone who is following the digital publishing route, this is an interesting article I noticed today on the BBC website
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45088172