Tag: books

South Warwickshire Literary Festival 2023

~ JacciGoodingAuthor ~ 3 Comments

As some of you may know last year was our first year at having a go at Doing A Lit Fest and we got so excited about it that this month sees us doing it again, this time in Harbury, near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. We expanded our reach a bit by launching a writing competition in April and by the time you read this our winners will know they’ve won. It’s been a privilege reading work from so many authors; fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry and thankfully I didn’t have to judge any of the entries. Our three authors who did do the judging had a difficult job as we received so much great stuff. Where to start! Anyhow, it’s always great to win, right? but for those who haven’t on this occasion, the best advice is to just keep plugging away. I say this from experience! ‘Ah so what’ I mutter, as yet another rejection email slips into my inbox. ‘Clearly the world isn’t ready for my amazing writing just yet and where the hell is that bottle opener…?’

But here we are heading toward Saturday 23rd – here’s the postcode if you fancy coming along – CV33 9JE – all our workshops are now full but we have an amazing running order. Just look at this lot! Author Erin Green – she of the 12 romance and romcom novels – will be giving a talk on life as an agented and published author, sharing her insight and experience and telling it like it is to be a writer in the current climate. We delighted to have Louise Bolan, founder of the superb Fairlight Books giving the headline talk on everything you’ll ever need to know about how to get your work in front of a small publisher. Local author Celia Rees, author of award-winning Witch Child is joining us, historian Dr Claire Millington is opening the show with a talk about her children’s book set in Pompeii at a time when things got a bit hot and dusty, and no SWLF would be complete without our current Young Poet Laureate. Honestly, kids these days! Poetic, Talented, The Future!

Our workshops are full so sorry if you’ve missed out there – we won’t tell you about the fantastic stuff you are missing out on as that would be meany meany of us but do still nab a ticket and come along to enjoy our lunchtime Open Mic – oh that’ll be a hoot! Got a poem to perform, a flash to voice, or a short story to shout about? Now’s your chance! Oh and if all this delicious writery stuff isn’t enough, we’ll also have a raffle with some great prizes on offer. Books anyone?

To be sure to get a ticket please hop over to the SWLF website. There may be a possibility to buy on the door but numbers are limited and you know what they say…when we’re full, we’re full. Or something like that… See You There!

Writing Ideas and Picture Prompts

~ JacciGoodingAuthor ~ 1 Comment

Summer is often the time, if you’re not working and have the opportunity, to rest the mind and sink into the world of books. Summer reading is always a big thing, with bookshops doing their best to tempt you with beach reads and not-to be-missed novels. Shop windows will be magnificently dressed to entice you in. Maybe offers of coffee and comfy sofas too will be positioned near to the door offering you the chance to nip in to browse then nab a book or three.

But what if you’re the writer? Been to a few lit fests and been inspired? Need to get those words down? Well now’s the time, and never shy to offer you, loyal reader, a few writing prompts, how about these: how often do you see a shop described as a Noted house for paper bags? Isn’t it wonderful? If you’d like to know more, here’s a link to the website Ghost Signs where you can learn more about it. If you fancy a bit of black and white, try this, taken at one of the UK’s last remaining tidal mills, Woodbridge Tidal Mill in Suffolk.

Or maybe this? Early morning sunlight on the River Leam in Leamington Spa. And here, one of my favourites this year, taken somewhere in the Caribbean. And not by me unfortunately! No filters, nuthin.

How about some written prompts then?

Here’re some that may nudge you toward a poem or short story, novel even…

1 The Tunisian sand, warm beneath his feet, shifted slightly as he moved. There, out at sea, he saw something resting on the water…

2 Heat was everywhere. The ground, the walls, the windows, fever-hot and unrepentant. Shadow was in short supply…

3 Midday and the forest air was still. Silently life continued deep underground and in the canopy, but for now, the stillness held an eerie calm…

4 The fight in the street caused little interest. A baby cried somewhere and a desolate dog barked. Ed returned with onions and apples stolen from his local supermarket and his stomach grumbled, hollow and cold…

We Did It!

~ JacciGoodingAuthor ~ 2 Comments
Here we are!

We did it – our first south Warwickshire literary festival and what a brilliant turn out it was! The sun shone – which was just as well as we had to move our many authors outside to sell their books due to ticket sales.

Creating Characters with Terri and Jenefer

Our workshops were packed. Everyone seemed to have a great time and our workshop leaders delivered some fantastic content. All of them are to be commended – Hugo Kerr, Jenefer Heap and Terri Daneshyar, Cate West and last but not least Mslexia judge Audrey Niven. They were superb. From what our attendees told us it was an excellent day.

Well, are they?!

And our speakers in the main hall – well! The Young Poets certainly made an impact! We were blown away by their eloquence, observation and just damned talent! Award-winning young poet Emily Hunt drew much attention with her clever poems on nature, and Dan Wale, the Warwickshire Young Poet Laureate had us clapping almost out of our seats, and YPL runner-up Jolyon Summerfield also delighted us with his work.

HWA long-lister Author Bea Hitchman
‘The Fish’ author Jo Stubbs and poet Gwyneth Box

All our authors were wonderful and we owe a huge debt to them for agreeing to take part for nothing. A special thank you has to go to poet, author and translator Gwyneth Box who stepped in at the very last minute – Cinderella timing if ever there was any – when one of our speakers was unable to come – and delivered a great hour-long talk off the hoof. Superb stuff.

Oh, and cake? Did we mention that? Well, our lit fest attendees did. In droves! Apparently it was pretty good!

         So – plans for next year? You bet!

Already drawing up the schedule…

Something About April

~ JacciGoodingAuthor

There’s just something about April, dontcha think? Is it gonna be warm? Is it gonna be cold? Is the sun gonna shine? When will it be summer? As I write, despite the horror news of the world burning to a crisp by Christmas it is quite actually properly April out there. You know the kind of thing here in the northern hemisphere, first bit of sun and we all rush outside like idiots getting sunburn while complaining it’s still chuffing cold, or migrating to the pub to quaff vast amounts of ale/cider/gin/something fizzy because it is SUMMER AND THAT’S WHAT WE DO only to discover that as soon as the sun goes down we return to winter and a halter-neck and flip flops just won’t cut it.

But why this nonsense about the weather? How about this is why we should include the weather in our writing:

Thanks NOAA at Unsplash for this great picture

‘On the fifth day, which was Sunday, it rained very hard. I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.’ – Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

or

‘It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.’ Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.

There was once a school of thought that suggested writing about weather in our work was dull. B Or Ing. Something we shouldn’t do if we wanted to keep our readers engaged. No one wants to read about the sunshine pouring in through the window or the rain battering the door we were told. Why ever not? I think one of the most important elements of a novel or short story or even flash, is, if applicable to the plot, the weather. It can set a mood, break a mood, and is as important a plot device as any of the others. Thrashing storms have to be thrashed out on the page to bring them to life. Simply saying there was a horrible storm at sea and the ship nearly sank doesn’t creative many waves, does it? So bring on the weather.

With climate change and the heating of the Earth many authors are turning their skills to writing cli-fi, much of it not fiction at all, so it looks like the weather in our writing is well and truly here to stay. But not in the way authors 50 years ago expected I guess.

Is cli-fi speculative? Can be. Dystopian? If you want. Utopian? Up to you. But all of it deals with the human fallout of a warming planet.

Climate Fiction: sounds like 21st century gothic horror to me.