Jane Eagland's Blog, page 5

Writing Workshop: Stimulate your writing

Another day of activities to kick-start your writing

Find out more on the Alston Hall website or email them direct.

Writing Workshop: Stimulate your writing is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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'Whisper My Name' has come third in Lancashire Book of the Year award

has come third in the 2011 Lancashire Book of the Year award.

is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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On a High…

 

…after two extraordinary days (which required FOUR outfits-for appearing-in-public! )

The first event was the Lancashire Book of the Year Award, for which was short-listed.

Keren David won with her first novel When I was Joe. I haven't read it yet, but it sounds so brilliant, I had to buy a copy (and get Keren to sign it, of course). I also came home with Sam Mills' thriller Blackout which came second. And I was amazed and chuffed that Whisper My Name came third.

The great and unique thing about the Lancashire Book award is that at every stage of the process it is young readers who judge the books. Every year the nominated titles (eighty four this time) are read by students in twelve schools. After meeting up to discuss the books they vote for their favourite top ten. And then two representatives from each school are chosen to be judges and they select the winner. This year, because it was the 25th anniversary of the award, twenty nine other schools got to read and talk about the shortlist. So all over Lancashire hundreds of young people were reading, forming opinions and arguing about books. A wonderful thought!

Many of these students were involved in the award events, talking about what being part of it meant to them and expressing their support for particular titles. They were amazing – poised and articulate, they spoke passionately about their love of reading. (And were better speakers than most of us adults!)

As for the events, well… the organisers, mainly members of Lancashire library service, supported by the County Council, and the University of Central Lancashire, did us proud. On Friday afternoon a hundred and fifty students put questions to the short-listed authors; in the evening there was a splendid dinner (including strawberries, meringue and cream… yum!) and on Saturday morning, along with teachers, students and their families, we all gathered in the imposing, but somewhat intimidating Council Chamber, for the award ceremony. I don't think many of us authors envied Keren, who had to sit on a high dais and make a speech, which she did very well. We didn't escape totally, however, having to say a little bit about what being short-listed meant to us.

I said how lovely it was for me that my first nomination for an award was in Lancashire, my adopted home. And when I used to be involved with pupils taking part in the award, I never dreamt that one day a book of mine would be in the running for it.

After that there was a book-signing, when it was delightful to meet the students and that was followed by a slap-up buffet (with, can you believe it, more meringue!)

Apart from getting photographed more times than I care for, it was a stupendous event and I count myself very honoured to have been involved in it. You can read more about it and see some of those photographs (including some of yours truly) over on the remarkable Bookwitch's blog.

And then as if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, in the evening it was off to Knutsford for a concert by the Tatton Singers, conducted by John Powell, which included the world premiere of a piece commissioned by the choir entitled Songs for Summer, a setting by Martin Lessons of poems I wrote specially for this occasion.

It was the first time I'd heard the music and I was bowled over – it expressed the mood of the words so well, haunting at times and at times deliberately amusing. The choir threw themselves into it and gave a tremendous performance. As soon as it ended I wanted to hear it all over again. Afterwards I was presented with a beautiful bouquet and guess what? There was a buffet…with cake!

Back to reality tomorrow…(and possibly a bit of calorie control).

On a High… is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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Talk of many things…including ice cream!

Back from Cornwall and the kind of holiday I like best: writing in the morning and then out in the afternoon for breezy walks by the sea, savouring the sight of those tremendous waves rolling in or crashing onto the rocks, and managing to fit in more than one cream tea and Cornish ice cream!

And while I've been away some jolly things have been happening. Flax, the publishing imprint of Litfest, launched its latest publications including Flashmob, a collection of flash fiction. Sadly I missed the launch, which sounded like a good do. I'd have loved to see Claire Massey reading in that tremendous dress.

You can read my story In the Box or listen to me reading it here. And also launched was a growing haiku by Maya Chowdhry – well worth a look!

I returned to the news that a poem of mine had been short-listed in the Grey Hen Press competition. I don't really think of myself as a poet; it's something I feel moved to have a go at from time to time, usually with rubbish results, so I felt chuffed about this.

And a guest blog of mine has now been posted over on My Bookish Ways – with a chance to win a copy of Wildthorn!

Finally, watch out for THE AWFULLY BIG BLOG ADVENTURE ONLINE LITERARY FESTIVAL.

On 9th and 10th July 2011 forty children's authors from the Scattered Authors' Society, including Adele Geras, Mary Hoffman, Liz Kessler, Celia Rees and yours truly will be offering something exciting every half hour from 9.30am to 7.30pm. Don't miss it!

Talk of many things…including ice cream! is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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Flashmob has launched

Flashmob has launched! Hear me read my flash fiction story In the Box.

Flashmob has launched is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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Wildthorn Wins Lammy

 I've just heard that Wildthorn won the Children's/Young Adult category in the Lambda Literary Awards last night. I'm really chuffed, of course. But now I'm kicking myself for wimping out of the ceremony. Yes, I'd have had to get myself to New York and yes, it was a scarily glittery event (for which I wouldn't have known what to wear) but golly, wouldn't it have been exciting!

One consolation is that I avoided having to make a speech. I would have been horribly shy and British and unable to weep and thank my parents for bringing me into the world.

But, still, it would have been great to be there and experience the atmosphere and  see Val McDermid receiving a special Pioneer Award.

Ah well…..

Wildthorn Wins Lammy is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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Royalty Free Fiction…

 

…is a great new site that's just been launched which focuses on historical fiction without Kings and Queens. You can find it by clicking here. And you'll find me over there talking about  what inspired me to write !

Royalty Free Fiction… is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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A Refreshing Retreat

Last week I was at Tŷ Newydd, the National Writers' Centre for Wales, for a poetry writing course with poet and artist Rose Flint.

The house, Lloyd George's last home, and situated on the Lleyn Peninsula with views over Cardigan Bay, is a marvellous place to write.

In the mornings we  all sat round the dining room table for workshops. When we were writing we could wander off to a secluded nook looking out onto the garden, or sit in the conservatory. The house is at once cosy and yet filled with light – many of the doors are glass, etched with beautiful words and patterns.

After dinner we gathered in the library for readings.

 

On the first evening Rose read to us and talked about the things that inspire her writing. The following evening Sîan Hughes, the guest reader, who also lead a workshop for us, read some of her poems and talked about the controversy a couple of them had provoked. The two very different voices: Rose's, lyrical and musical, Sîan's, spare and direct, complemented one another very well.

Since I'm a novelist, you might be wondering what I was doing on a poetry course. I didn't go with any expectation that I would produce a poem. I was attracted by the course description which sounded appealingly open-ended:

'W.B.Yeats called poetry the 'voice of the soul', and in times of emotional intensity, when our spirit is out of kilter, full of longing, the art of poetry  can perhaps open a way to discover another voice, to speak differently…risking it, individually and together, in a time and place apart. We can think also of prose poetry and at any level of engagement with the wish to write…'

That description, of being 'out of kilter' yet 'full of longing' fitted me; my longing was to write, so I went with the hope that I would write – something, anything – and without any expectation of what it might be. In the event I wasn't disappointed. In response to the stimuli offered by Rose and Sîan, I wrote every day. Whether what I wrote could be classed as poems, I don't know and it doesn't matter. What matters is that I was enjoying myself. And not just when I was writing.

In the afternoons I walked by the river, the Afon Dwyfor. The wood was full of bluebells, the leaves on the trees that green you only get at this time of year, so fresh and always surprising. And for one morning session, Rose took us to the beach and we built a fire. Collecting driftwood was great fun and it was good just to be there sitting in a cool breeze within hearing of the waves, watching the flames devouring our offerings.

If any of you are writers feeling stuck or jaded, I would recommend a course like this. I have come back refreshed and feel more confident that words will flow if I let them.

A Refreshing Retreat is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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Outer v. Inner

A long time since I've been here. And that's because the outer world, the world of work, people to be seen, jobs to be done in the house (and garden – spring is springing!), has exerted a stronger pull than the inner, private world where writing, including this blog, happens. It's a continuous balancing act and sometimes, as lately, the balance tips too far in one direction.

This has happened largely because the fantasy I was idly indulging over Christmas of extending the house has taken several steps nearer reality. This has involved measuring, drawing plans, talking to architects, revising ideas, re-drawing plans and taking decisions. All very exciting and scary.

In the process, never one to do things by halves, I haven't been able to visit friends without measuring their dining rooms, their utility rooms, their cloakrooms and examining their kitchen drawers and cupboards. In short I have become an Extension Bore.

Of course the prospect of more space and more conveniences (a dish-washer!) is enticing. And of course it needs to be thought about. And yet…and yet….

Deep down I know that part of the reason for this obsession with measurements and scale drawings is that I am Between Books. And that is not a comfortable place to be.

It's not that I haven't got any ideas – notions sprout at odd moments, nudging themselves into my mind, especially when I'm not trying. But I haven't let myself be still, enter into that inner space where the sprouts might grow. Instead I'm running away from it. And I know why. It's because I'm afraid.

Strange, isn't it, to be afraid of what you want? And I do want it. I miss it, and I know that creating an extension can never be as deeply satisfying as writing. But something – fear of commitment? fear of failure? – has kept me turned towards the outer world.

Perhaps it's time to stop running, to give myself space and time, to turn my gaze inward.

This is a start, of sorts.

Outer v. Inner is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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'Wildthorn' nominated for Lambda Literary Award

'Wildthorn' has been nominated for the Lambda Literary Awards.

'Wildthorn' nominated for Lambda Literary Award is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2011 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

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