Tim Atkinson's Blog, page 118

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Amazing what you find in the sea at Hunstanton.







Anyone think of a caption?

Vote Dotterel!

Ok, ok, I know. This is all terribly un-British. But I really am rather pleased to have been nominated for this:







It's for blogs (obviously) written by authors (that goes without saying) and (to quote the organisers) they aim "to honour the best blogs by both published and unpublished writers...[to:] recognise the writers who use their blogs to connect with readers in the most imaginative, engaging and inspiring ways. At the same time we hope to attract new audiences to these blogs and hel...

Dot's Doorstep Challenge

I'm a twit!

Are you? I hope so, because it's damn good fun. Where else, in the space of fifteen minutes, could you chat to a couple of dozen people about blogging comment systems, bath-time, the different roles of mums and dads and toddler vocabulary? Or in the course of a day discuss such varied topics as an Ulster Fry, the best Dublin bar (it was St Patrick's Day yesterday), an economical alternative to champagne (Valdo Prosecco Nero Mascalese according to @ThatGirl39) or the the 'interesting' follow h...

Fall

As it's National Poetry Day today I thought I'd post Sophie's contribution from chapter twenty of my novel, Writing Therapy. In the course of preparing her for this final form of therapy, student nurse Will Caxton encourages the teenager to try all sorts of writing exercises, one of which leads to the following...

Fall
Some girls at school seem not to care who seesTheir bodies wet and naked from the shower. The others hide behind a towel, like me, And fret about it all for hours and hours. ...

On tour....

For the next five weeks Writing Therapy will be on a blog book-tour. You can catch it at the following venues:

Gary Murning (http://garymurning.wordpress.com) - wb. 3rd August

Joanna Penn (http://www.thecreativepenn.com/) - wb 10th August

Nik Perring (http://nikperring.blogspot.com) – wb 17th August

Melanie Trevelyn (http://www.melanietrevelyan.co.uk/blog/) wb 24th August

Francis Chantree (http://chantree.blogspot.com/) – wb 31st August

Do pop along to these wonderful blogs and say hello. And

Coming soon....

The blog book-tour. During August, I'll be doing the rounds of several blogs, discussing Writing Therapy, writing, mental health and well-being, nappy-changing and just about anything else that anyone wants to talk about. I'll publish the itinerary here as soon as possible. In the meantime, you might want to listen to an interview I gave to Judy Theobald on BBC Radio Lincolnshire a couple of weeks ago, about, well... Writing Therapy, writing, mental health and well-being, nappy-changing and just

In the Free Press

My home-town newspaper recently ran a story on Writing Therapy's nomination for the Young Minds book award 2009. You can read it here. And you can find out more about the Young Minds book award by clicking here. In fact, if you're under 25 you can become a judge! They're looking for a team of young people to read the nominated books and select the shortlist. So, of you're interested, check out the website and click on the link. [image error]

Fact from fiction

Can you learn anything from fiction? As a writer, the answer has to be a resounding 'yes'. But what about the reader? What can a reader take away from something that never actually happened? Writing Therapy is, first and foremost, a fictional account of a teenage girl's recovery from depression. Frances Nolan is a young girl with a problem. She's been doing too much reading. So much, she thinks that she's a character in a book that she's creating. But the way this young girl chooses to recover r

Review by Sue Guiney

I've been very lucky. Not only has Writing Therapy received a decent number of reviews, but so far they've all been very positive. Sue Guiney, author of the novel Tangled Roots (among many other things) is the latest, and her review is here. It's really pleasing to find out that what you had intended in a piece of writing seems to strike a chord with readers - the more so when I recall the long list of rejections that littered the road to publication. Of course, both writing and reading are high