Keris Stainton's Blog, page 5

Throwback Thursday: my graduation, 2001

What I read in April

I’m falling way behind with the books I’ve always meant to read list. I should probably dedicate May to catching up on that. (I probably won’t though.)

My favourite adult book this month was The Days of Anna Madrigal which I finally made myself read. I’d been putting it off because I didn’t want the series to be over, but at the same time I worried that I might die without finishing it. (“That, my friend, is a dark side.”) I adored it, of course.

I also really loved We’ll Always Have Paris: A Mother/Daughter Memoir by Jennifer Coburn. Jennifer Coburn started taking her daughter on extended European holidays – just the two of them – from when her daughter was just eight. The travelogue and the mother/daughter relationship is interspersed with stories of Coburn’s relationship with her late father – often painful, but also beautiful.

My favourite YA book this month was The Savages by Matt Whyman. It’s a story of a cannibal family and David thought it sounded disgusting and couldn’t understand why I was reading it, but I thought it was funny and creepy and thought-provoking. Looking forward to the sequel!

If I hadn’t read the Armistead Maupin, then Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens would have been my absolute favourite book of the month. It’s the first in an MG mystery series, set in a girls’ boarding school, and I absolutely loved it. My friend Cait said she wanted to live in it and I completely agree – I didn’t want it to end. Can’t wait for the next one.

Harry and David have been reading Matilda. I don’t think they’re enjoying it as much as Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, but I’m hoping they’ll enjoy it enough that we can all go and see the musical.

Our favourite picture book this month was Little Answer by Tim Hopgood – about an answer looking for a question. So cute and funny and thought-provoking.

To my horror, Joe says he doesn’t like the Mo Willems Pigeon or Elephant & Piggie books (he likes the Knuffle Bunny books, thank goodness) so I was very relieved that he loves Oliver Jeffers’ books. We re-read them all this month: Stuck and This Moose Belongs to Me are our favourites.

Throwback Thursday: London Records

At my desk in Legal & Business Affairs at London Records where I worked from 1995 to 1997, I think. I loved it.

Who is allowed to play with LEGO?

A couple of months ago, I received a press release about LEGO’s “NEW Enchanting Disney Princess Range”. I admit I groaned because the LEGO Friends range is so gendered and obviously so is the whole Disney Princess phenomenon, but Joe had been asking me for a Frozen playset so I read on.

And I read this “Combining fantasy role-play with construction, fans will be swept away into familiar tales of fantasy, dreams, heroism and magic whilst finding plenty of inspiration for building their very own fairytales.” Okay.

And then this: “Allowing girls aged five to 12 years to build and play out stories from their favourite fairytales…”

Girls. Not “fans”. Girls. And “allowing” them to play? Because they’re not allowed to play with other LEGO? Seriously now? But also, um, Joe is a boy. And Joe, I knew, would love this. Is he not “allowed” to play with it?

So I replied to the press release asking why they felt the need to explicitly state that it’s for girls. They replied with “A large proportion of Disney Princess fans are girls however boys are obviously more than welcome to play with the sets too.” Great! So why not stick with “fans”? Why specifically say “girls”? Why not say that the toys for, oh, I don’t know, “children”?

I asked them this too. They didn’t reply, but they did send me one of the sets, which was very nice of them. And Joe loves it. Yes, even though he’s a boy and so not officially “allowed” to play with it.

Throwback Thursday: First time in New York, 1999

First New York bus tour!

I love this photo. I can almost hear it.

The camera never lies…

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve started the day by sitting in the garden with a cup of tea and a book. On Friday morning, I noticed the back door was looking pretty, the sun shining on it through the hedge. So I got up and took a photo.

As I stepped tentatively back across the lawn, looking out for both cat and dog poo (we have neither cat nor dog), I was thinking about how we really need to get the sink pipe fixed (it broke off a while ago and empties into a bucket) and find a better way to keep next door’s dog (he of the poo) out of the garden than just sundry bits of crap piled up against the hedge…

And then I thought about how if I posted the photo I’d just taken to Facebook or Twitter, I’d be completely misrepresenting myself/my garden/my life. So I took another photo.

No, I didn’t take one of the bucket (or the poo) cos that’s just too disgusting. And the lawn doesn’t extend all the way to the hedge – there’s actually a two foot+  path between them, but you can’t see it because it’s covered with weeds and hedge clippings (yes, the hedge has been clipped – I know it doesn’t much look like it).

Also, after I took the first photo, I banged my head on that peg basket.

Throwback Thursday: First supermarket trolley ride

Introducing the WoMentoring Project

I’m excited and proud to be taking part in this project.

What’s it about?

The WoMentoring Project exists to offer free mentoring by professional literary women to up and coming female writers who would otherwise find it difficult to access similar opportunities.

The mission of The WoMentoring Project is simply to introduce successful literary women to other women writers at the beginning of their careers who would benefit from some insight, knowledge and support. The hope is that we’ll see new, talented and diverse female voices emerging as a result of time and guidance received from our mentors.

Each mentor selects their own mentee and it is at their discretion how little or much time they donate. We have no budget, it’s a completely free initiative and every aspect of the project – from the project management to the website design to the PR support – is being volunteered by a collective of female literary professionals. Quite simply this is about exceptional women supporting exceptional women. Welcome to The WoMentoring Project.

Why do we need it?

Like many great ideas the WoMentoring Project came about via a conversation on Twitter. While discussing the current lack of peer mentoring and the prohibitive expense for many of professional mentoring we asked our followers – largely writers, editors and agents – who would be willing to donate a few hours of their time to another woman just starting out. The response was overwhelming – within two hours we had over sixty volunteer mentors.

The WoMentoring Project is run on an entirely voluntary basis and all of our mentors are professional writers, editors or literary agents. Many of us received unofficial or official mentoring ourselves which helped us get ahead and the emphasis is on ‘paying forward’ some of the support we’ve been given.

In an industry where male writers are still reviewed and paid more than their female counterparts in the UK, we wanted to balance the playing field. Likewise, we want to give female voices that would otherwise find it hard to be heard, a greater opportunity of reaching their true potential.

Applications

In an ideal world we would offer a mentor to every writer who needed and wanted one. Of course this isn’t possible so instead we’ve tried to ensure the application process is accessible while also ensuring that out mentors have enough information with which to make their selection.

Applicant mentees will submit a 1000 word writing sample and a 500 word statement about how they would benefit from free mentoring. All applications will be for a specific mentor and mentees can only apply for one mentor at a time. Selections will be at the mentor’s discretion.

You could even be mentored by me…

Logo and illustrations designed by Sally Jane Thompson

Throwback Thursday: Majorca

No, it’s not even that far back. Less than two years ago. But I honestly think about this holiday every single day.

Partly it’s because I took some of my favourite photos of the children and we have a bunch of them framed around the house.

Partly because the boys talk about it a lot. Swimming in the sea, eating watermelon on the beach, going out on the sailing boat at sunset. And the slide in the hotel swimming pool.

For me, I admit, it’s mostly about the pizza and the wine. The pizza place was directly on the beach. Pizza, wine, sun, sand and water as warm as a bath. Bliss.

Of course, I also remember how much Joe whined and how I had to fight both boys to put suncream on them and how – and I know I shouldn’t complain about this – it was often just too damn hot.

But we all still sigh when we talk about it and we really, really want to go back.

Watching Frozen with Joe

How we love Frozen. We saw it at the cinema and Joe and I watched it last week on DVD. And then we watched it again. The third time, Joe was obviously familiar enough with the story that he could ask some questions. So. Many. Questions.

I think this is only about the first twenty minutes. May be slightly out of order since it was hard to keep up.

Obviously, there are spoilers herein…

Joe in his home-made Queen Elsa outfit.

Why does she shoot her in the face?

Why does she say… *gasps* ?

Why does she say ‘I’m gonna keep you’?

How is he changing them into snow pictures?

How does he change the magic?

Why do they need to lock the gates?

What about if she just climbs out of the window?

Where are they going?

And how do they park if the ship’s gone?

How did they die?

How did Anna and Elsa not die?

Do people hang covers over pictures when people die?

Did she just get the black clothes and give them to the princess?

Who looks after them now their parents have died?

How do they grow bigger in the movie?

How does she not just open the door?

Why can’t they just break it? With a saw?

How does Joan [of Arc] fight? Is she fighting a dragon?

Why do they need to share the carrot?

And how much pounds is a sleigh?

How much pounds is a horse?

Why is the ship back if it sinked?

Is there a real Coronation Day?*

Why does she say ‘a ballroom with no ball’?

How are they going to eat the cake if the man’s in it?

Is she living with her? Is it a flat?

Why is he nice now and he’s still the baddie?

How do his clothes not get wet and in real life they do?

Why does they both say ‘Arundel’?

Where does the Weaseltown really live? Is Weaseltown really real?

Why does his hair flip over when he bends down?

Why does he say ‘I love crazy’?

Why does she laugh?

How does the snowman know they’re there?

How do they make it on a computer?

Does a real lady sing this?

Why does she say ‘I’m never going back’?

So she’s just going to stay in there without any food?! Why did she not even make a fridge?!

* I said our Queen has been on the throne since 1952. Joe said, “How does she wee?!”