Debbie Young's Blog, page 41

Three Historic Moments

The Somerset Monument that towers above my village, Hawkesbury Upton

This article was originally written for the July issue of the Hawkesbury Parish News, and the deadline was a week before the EU Referendum. What a world away that time seems now…

As I write this post, we’re poised on the brink of three historic milestones:

Firstly, the one that will be done and dusted by the time you read this magazine: the EU referendum, though the after-effects will be long-term. Whichever way the nation votes, I shall still call myself a European, because that’s what I feel like in my heart, and if anyone begs to differ, I shall cite the definition of our geographical continent.
The second major event is the US election. Whichever way the results go, they will be groundbreaking: first female president (Clinton) or first president for 60 years not to have previously held a publicly elected office (Trump). If Trump trumps Clinton, here’s my solution for keeping him in check: instead of his proposed wall along the US/Mexican border, let’s build a wall around Trump.

The third book in the Monument to Hawkesbury series takes us up to 2000. Available for sale in Hawkesbury Stores, natch!

The third big event may go unnoticed on the world stage, but it’s big news by Hawkesbury standards: the reopening of the Hawkesbury Shop under community ownership, under the new trading name of Hawkesbury Stores. When future generations write the next volume of A Monument to Hawkesbury,  this event will surely merit a chapter of its own, filled with fond reminiscences of Anne Weston and her team, who for so long have been a mainstay of our community.  There’ll also be admiring tributes to how harmoniously the village pulled together, led by an excellent committee, to ensure a smooth change of status to benefit all concerned.

I think European and US politicians could learn a lot from studying our community.

The new signage for the community-owned Hawkesbury Stores will go up shortly

All Part of the Charm, a collection of essays about moving to the village, plus all the columns I’ve written for the Hawkesbury Parish News, is now available in book form (paperback and ebook), available to order from all good bookshops. If anyone would like a free review copy, please get in touch. All reviews on Amazon or elsewhere will be much appreciated!

Filed under: Hawkesbury Life, politics, shopping Tagged: All Part of the Charm, Donald Trump, EU Referendum, Hawkesbury Shop, Hawkesbury Stores, Hillary Clinton, village politics, village shop

Why Anthologies Are Like Buses

A quick shout-out for two fun anthology projects in which some of my stories are featured – and National Flash Fiction Day (today!)

 

Story anthologies, like rag rugs, are much greater than the sum of the parts. (I made this rag rug too!)

I’m a big fan of short story anthologies, which serve as a sampler of the work of different writers, usually offering one story from each of a number of authors.

NB An anthology is a different animal to a collection, which features the work of a single author, e.g. my short story collections Marry in Haste, Quick Change and Stocking Fillers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think of an anthology more as a tasting menu – a small sample of lots of different authors, so you can try all kinds before deciding which you like best. Yum.

I was pleased to have had stories featured in two anthologies in 2014:

the 2014 National Flash Fiction Day anthology Eating My Words , the brainchild of NFFD founder and director Calum Kerr
Change the Ending , an interesting project celebrating public services through flash fiction stories by a mixture of seasoned writers and public servants with now authorial experience, curated by the inspirational Dawn Reeves

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my stories was also included in the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival 2015 anthology, H is for Hawkesbury, which featured samples of work from all of the festival’s featured authors and poets. The 2016 edition is now in production.

Companion piece for 2016 festival to follow shortly…

This month I’ve added two new anthologies to my portfolio (like buses, you wait for ages then two come along at once):

The Box of Stars Beneath the Bed , the 2016 National Flash Fiction Day anthology for which I was honoured to be asked by Calum Kerr to write a story (the result is On the Invisibility of the Deaf on page 111)
Out of the Shadows , a set of stories by indie author friends, under the strapline “Strong Writing by Strong Women”, curated by Mohanalaskshmi Rajamukar, which reproduces my flash fiction story Out of the Mouths of Babes, as featured in Quick Change

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the reader, anthologies present an easy way to test-drive short samples of work by a wide range of authors, without having to buy all of their books. Of course, anthology authors hope you will go on to buy at least some of their books – and for this reason, appearing in anthologies is a handy marketing strategy for any author.

There couldn’t be a better time to sample the work of new authors in this way, because today just happens to be the fifth National Flash Fiction Day. (More information about that on the event website here.) They’d make fun holiday reads too.

On the subject of flash fiction (which, by the way, is just another term for very short stories), if you sign up to my book launch emailing list (only used when I’ve got a new book to shout about), you’ll be able to download a free ebook of my own flash fiction collection, Quick Change.

In the meantime, happy Flash Fiction Day, and happy reading, whatever you choose to read!

All of the books above available as ebooks at very low prices, and all but Out of the Shadows are also out in paperback too, from all good retailers, online and on the high street.

I love patchwork too, for similar reasons – a bit of the quilt from my bed here, also made by me. #busybee

 

Filed under: flash fiction, writing Tagged: anthologies, Flash Fiction, short stories, short story collections

Struggling with my Inner Optimist at the EU Referendum Result

A rare political post from a usually apolitical, optimistic writer

As I type this post with a heavy heart, I’m bleary eyed after staying awake till 3.30am, repeatedly hitting “refresh” on the BBC News Referendum Results page in the hope that somehow if only I did it enough times, the split in votes would change to favour the “Remain” camp.

The school, not the bookshop (though that’s very lovely too in a different way)

Waking before 6am to discover that no, this hadn’t all been a bad dream, I then had the useful distraction of having to set off for Westonbirt School, where I’d been invited as an independent  witness for a Guinness Book of World Records attempt at the World’s Biggest Reading Lesson. The other independent witness was Hereward Corbett, proprietor of the nearby Yellow-Lighted Bookshop in Tetbury.

Just When Some Magic Would Have Come in Handy

It was a surreal moment when I entered the beautiful building to discover that the event had a Harry Potter theme, and staff and pupils alike had dressed for the occasion.

I thought that sitting at the back of the beautiful Great Hall, listening to readings from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be a welcome distraction from the devastating political news. I remembered showing round a prospective pupil, years ago, who said to me, in all innocence, “Gosh, this is just like Hogwarts! Have you got any wizards here?”

However, I was wrong. Instead it reminded me of a similar occasion nearly twenty years ago, not long after I started working at Westonbirt: the General Election in May 1997.

A Political Education

Some of the sixth formers were voting for the first time, and the school had run a mock election in school to raise the pupils’ political awareness. Given that this is an elite fee-paying school, it was no surprise that in the girls’ vote, the Conservatives won a sweeping victory. Given the politics of the typical teacher, it was no surprise that in the staff room there was jubilation at the election of a left-wing government led by that young, fresh-faced and camera-friendly charmer, Tony Blair.

Oh, if only we knew then what we know now, how different that morning might have been, in the school staff room and all over the country.

A Coping Mechanism…

The unexpected and timely parallel then reminded me of one of the mantras of my late first husband, with which he used to placate me whenever I was upset or worried about anything:

“Nothing is ever as good as you think it will be, and nothing is ever as bad as you think it will be.”

I have repeated those wise words to myself many times since his death back in 2000, and I’m hoping they’ll hold true for our country now as we prepare to sever our ties with the EU.

…And Some Consolation

And finally, here’s something for anyone who has found nothing else to smile about today: Harry Potter themed cakes, courtesy of the excellent Westonbirt School catering staff. I’m just hoping we don’t hear any British politicians any time soon channelling Marie Antoinette: “Let them eat cake.”

 

 

 

Filed under: writing Tagged: Brexit, EU Referendum, Harry Potter, politics, reading, Westonbirt School

The Perfect Tidying Storm

Order out of chaos in the utility room

This week my house hasn’t known what’s hit it. Never one to do today whatever housework can be put off till tomorrow, I’ve been decluttering like a demon, filling bags and boxes with stuff to eject, and turning out drawers with the exactitude and application of someone training for an Olympic medal in tidiness.

Why have I been changing the habits of a lifetime? Three factors have come into play:

1) the summer solstice – I am always energised by long daylight hours

2) the imminent summer fete in the village, held late June each year to raise money to be distributed to the community’s old people at Christmas (if that sounds a bit feudal, don’t worry – the old people ain’t complaining)

3) more surprisingly, the acquisition of some neat and tidy little rows of pot plants.

I have for a while had a yen to nurture some succulents, reminiscent of the plants on my Grandma’s front room windowsills. She was especially fond of tradescantia (not a succulent but equally unkillable). I finally found some cute sets of cactuses in IKEA and some succulents in glass jars in Waitrose, reduced for quick sale.

“What are those?” asked the lad on the checkout in wonder. “Do they hurt you if you touch them?”

He must have been confusing them with triffids, but not even Waitrose stocks those.

There is something very winning about succulents, small yet neat and perfectly formed, giving a feeling of order to the place, even when the rest of the house is in chaos. (The extension project continues.)

It'll be lovely when it's done. (Repeat and breathe.)

With three succulents on my study windowsill and five cacti standing to attention in my utility room, I feel more in control than I’ve felt for ages.

Installation: Rubble and cement mixer by Gordon Young

Is this feng shui in action? Have I inadvertently favoured my tidiness quadrant? Has my aura changed colour? Have the potplants reversed my polarity?

Whatever the cause, I am more than happy with the effect. If ever I crack the code, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Filed under: creativity, writing Tagged: cacti, feng shui, pot plants, succulents, tidiness, tidying

Time to Reconsider

My post for the Tetbury Advertiser’s June issue

Keeping time – with winged Mercury, and I don’t know who the lady with the beehive is (Photo: Morguefile)

After a lifelong mission to find the perfect watch, I’ve found a surprising new solution.

Over the years, I’ve owned many different kinds of timepiece. At an early age, I decided to be a nurse when I grew up, purely because I craved an upside-down watch, like the pretend one printed on my dressing-up nurse outfit.

When I was about seven, my first real watch arrived as a Christmas present.  This “Cinderella” Timex arrived wrapped round a china statuette of the Disney Princess, which made it seem very special. Well, Disney Princesses were a rarer commodity in those pre-Frozen days.

Spending Time

My most extravagant-looking watch came much later, without the intervention of princesses. But it did look fit for one, at least until the gold rubbed off. Having bought my fake Rolex for a few dollars on a business trip to Hong Kong, I discovered on my return to work that my secretary had the same model, but hers was genuine.

Back in my 20:20 vision days, I loved the daring simplicity of the Swatch, with its big, round, minimalist dial. But I wouldn’t wear one now, in case people mistook it for an aid for elderly eyes.

No, not that sort of swatch (Photo: Morguefile)

Running Time

Then I went through a running phase, favouring sports watches that took nearly as much energy to programme as my races did to run.

Next I went almost full circle, buying a Mickey Mouse watch on a trip to Disneyland. Its face showed a pleasingly retro Steamboat Willie style rodent rather than the brasher modern one, but the watch recently ran out of – er – steam.

After that, I embraced the Fitbit. Better suited for my more sedentary lifestyle these days, it shamed me to get up from my desk every now and again. It made me disproportionately happy when I achieved 10,000 daily steps. But when the rubber strap has started to disintegrate, I cast it aside, resorting to self-discipline rather than technology to mobilise myself. How quaint.

Olden Times

Then recently I received a free sample of a steampunk fob watch from a company seeking a review. The attractive etched Victorian-style case requires both my hands to open it. As a result, I can’t look at the time without it being obvious, so I seldom do so in company, for fear of appearing rude. This fiddly mechanism means that even when I’m on my own I check the time less often than I would wearing a conventional watch. It takes too much time to check the time, so I don’t bother.

Keeping time in my pocket (photo: Morguefile)

And, do you know, that attitude’s been strangely liberating. Instead of feeling that I’m constantly racing against the clock, I focus on what I’m doing, and let each task take as long as it takes to do it well. With Through-the-Looking-Glass logic, I’m making better use of the hours in the day and feel much more relaxed.

So take that, Time’s Winged Chariot! You may still be at my back, but at least I’ve stopped looking in the rear-view mirror.

My collected articles from the Tetbury Advertiser 2010-2015 are now available to buy in paperback or ebook as Young By Name – the title of my regular column in this award-winning community magazine.

Post-script: Since writing this article, the lovely people at Fitbit have kindly replaced my disintegrating watch with a brand new one, no questions asked. I even got a better model than previously because the one I had before was being discontinuted. So now I have two functional watches and am spoiled for choice. Too much time on my hands, you might say…

Filed under: Tetbury Advertiser, writing Tagged: clocks, pocket watch, time, watches

One Man’s Weeds

My column for the June issue of the Hawkesbury Parish News

Pegging the washing out on the line in the garden, I realise I’m knee-deep in dandelion clocks. The recent rains have brought the weeds on apace, as well as the glorious spring blossom.

It’s dandelion time…

But on a sunny day like this, I’m happy to forgive the weeds. After all, weeds are only plants that are growing in the wrong place.

I learned this important gardening truth at a very young age, berating my father for uprooting bindweed. I couldn’t understand how he could want to eradicate its beautiful pink and white flowers that fitted like fairies’ hats on the ends of my small fingers.

Bindweed – love it or hate it?

My own nemesis is ivy, so rampant in my garden that I feel it should carry a government health warning when sold in garden centres. But I know it’s a haven for wildlife, and come Christmas, I’ll be glad of it for decorating the house.

The holly and the …

I’ve even learned to love blanketweed. I spent ages today twirling it like mouldy candyfloss round a garden cane, spring-cleaning our garden pond. The frog that was watching me work, like a small green planning officer, seemed glad to see the back of it. But beneath it, I was delighted to discover lots of frost-sensitive oxygenating plants, safely overwintered and multiplying beneath this insulating, er, blanket. They’d have cost a fortune to buy new in the garden centre.

So what’s not to love about weeds? Japanese knotweed? Bring it on!*

Inscrutable knotweed…

 

*No, not really! Not even I’m that much of an optimist!

If you enjoyed this post, you might like these other ones about gardening and garden produce…

In praise of gooseberries and other soft fruit in my gardens, past and present
The joy of jam from my garden harvest
My new philosophy of flower arranging

A collection of essays and columns about life in Hawkesbury Upton

…and All Part of the Charm , my new collection of essays about village life, including other columns written for Hawkesbury Parish News 2010-2015, now available to order in paperback and as an ebook here or from your local bookshop. 

 

(Photo credits: www.morguefile.com)

 

 

Filed under: Hawkesbury Parish News, writing Tagged: flowers, gardening, optimism, weeds

Summer Reading Ideas from Today’s Child

artiA post about my latest book review feature for Today’s Child Magazine

For the last few years, I’ve been writing a regular books feature, reviewing and previewing children’s books for the free parenting magazine, Today’s Child. I first wrote for them when I was still working part-time for children’s reading charity Readathon, which provides free books and storytellers for children in hospital, and encourages children in schools to read for pleasure. But as the magazine has grown and I’ve switched roles, writing full-time from home now, we’ve changed to a freelance arrangement, though I still sneak in plenty of Readathon references!

Today’s Child is now a quarterly publication, distributed free as a print magazine to certain London postcodes It’s also available to read anywhere in the world, online, for free. I contribute enough copy to fill a double-page spread, celebrating children’s books and chatting informally about different aspects of children’s reading.

The irresistible Axel Scheffler strikes again

The Summer 2016 issue is hot off the press/internet, and my recommended reads this quarter include:

Pip and Posy: The New Friend by Axel Scheffler
Captain Pug: The Dog Who Sailed the Seas by Laura James
Deep Water by Lu Hersey (a very popular guest at the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival this year)
A Summer of British Wildlife by James Lowen

You can read the article on their website here. 

Not to be confused with Captain Pugwash* by those of us of a certain age

I was thrilled to hear earlier today that as a result of the mention of Readathon in the feature, Laura James has very kindly donated lots of her books to the charity, and I know they will go down really well with children in hospitals throughout the UK. (If you’re too young to get the Captain Pugwash reference in the caption above, you can find out more about him here.)

A great read set on the Cornish coast, for older children – and adults will enjoy it too

Here’s hoping that none of us end up in hospital this summer, but if you do, be sure to take a good book! The therapeutic and distraction value of reading cannot be underestimated.

I have a vivid memory of sitting alongside my daughter in A&E (that’s the Emergency Room, for my American readers), when she was about six, in the early hours of the morning, surrounded by drunks, and captivating them as well as her by reading aloud from a Roald Dahl novel which I’d had the foresight to stick in my bag as we made our hospital dash.

20 very short stories to slip into your hand luggage – or get the free ebook by joining my mailing list

If you’re short of ideas of what to read yourself this summer, my slim collections of short stories will hardly make a dent in your baggage allowance!

Happy summer reading, wherever you’re heading!

Have you seen my book blog? A great place to get further reading recommendations all year round! www.debbieyoungsbookblog.com

 

 

Filed under: book reviews, charities Tagged: book reviews, holiday reading, reading, summer holidays, Today's Child

Not So Lonely with “The Loney” on BBC Radio Gloucestershire Book Club

It’s always a joy to appear on BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s Book Club feature with presenter Dominic Cotter and fellow local author and Bookseller journalist Caroline Sanderson. The June 2016 edition of the show was especially good fun, as we had three extra folk for company!

Your book of the month for June

Helene, the bookseller who runs the fabulous Suffolk Anthology bookshop in Cheltenham, where I run a monthly writers’ group (more info about that here), was interviewed live online, sharing her top tips on current bestsellers.
Multiple-award-winning Andrew Michael Hurley, author of our Book of the Month, The Loney, joined us towards the end of the show to talk about his experience of writing and publishing the book.
Most important of all, a lovely local reader phoned in to the show! Prudence from Painswick called to ask us not to reveal the ending, because she still had a couple of chapters to go! She had dashed out to her local bookshop in Stroud when Caroline nominated The Loney on last month’s show, so within an hour of the show’s ending, she was stuck into next month’s big read! It was very rewarding to hear her say how much she enjoys the show.

Next month’s read

So, what do you have to read for next month? Dominic, Caroline and I all agreed that it was about time we paid attention to local Gloucestershire author and national treasure Jilly Cooper, whose books, I had to confess, I’ve never read. So, Riders, it is, then – and considering I’m a socialist who is generally left cold by posh people on horses, what will I make of this classic bestseller? Find out on next month’s show on Tuesday 12th July at noon.

Well, I reckon it’s always good to read outside of your comfort zone, and I’m keeping an open mind…

In the meantime, if you’d like to hear the June show, you can catch it on iPlayer between now and then via this link.

RELATED POSTS

Read my review of The Loney over on Vine Leaves Literary Journal’s “Sampling the Wine” book review blog, of which I’m editor
Why I review books and why I think all authors should (whether or not they share their reviews in public)
Have you seen my book blog? It’s on a separate site here: www.debbieyoungsbookblog.com (always one for an obvious name, me!)

Filed under: BBC Radio Gloucestershire, book reviews, reading, writing Tagged: Andrew Michael Hurley, BBC Radio Gloucestershire, book reviews, Caroline Sanderson, Dominic Cotter, Jilly Cooper, reading, Riders

Who Needs Email Anyway?

A post in praise of, er, post!

Found in my back garden when I moved in to my house, an old post office, and now given pride of place on my kitchen wall

As I tackle my triple-figure inbox this morning, I’m feeling distinctly nostalgic for the old-fashioned letter. Emails, eh? Who really needs or wants them? Not me, that’s for sure.

Today I have scheduled a large chunk of time to catch up on my inbox – never my favourite task. Even though I know there are some welcome missives from lovely people, most are tiresome, asking me to do things I don’t want to do or telling me stuff I already know.

They also make me feel guilty when I am slow to reply, which I usually am, as I have so many other more urgent and interesting tasks on my to-do list.

The Email Imperative

Why is it that so many people assume that emails deserve immediate answers, even sending you follow-up emails to remind you to reply to their original one? That’s never been the case with letters.

At least, not since Victorian times, when there were multiple and speedy postal deliveries every day in London. You could drop a line to someone in the morning to tell them you would meet them for lunch same day.

Comparative Costs of Emails and Letters

Perhaps it’s the fact that emails are free, and cost the sender nothing but time, that makes people more liberal than with letters. The price of stamps these days is certainly enough to make you think twice before sending a single letter, never mind subsequent ones.

Flying the flag for the humble post box in my front room

I’m also frustrated by the notion of the email spam filter, though of course also grateful for its existence. Yesterday I have just discovered a whole raft of entirely valid emails in my spam box, for no apparent reason. Does my postman ever hide random letters from me in that capricious way? I think not. Not that I’ve spotted yet, anyway.

I wonder how much people would curtail their email habits if they had to pay for every one they sent, or, as in the early days of the postal service, for each one they received? On second thoughts, perhaps I shouldn’t give Googlemail ideas…

RELATED POSTS

The Power of the Postage Stamp – about a trip to the Postal Museum
In Praise of Village Shops and Post Offices – a general thank you to all who run them
On a Mission to Post a Parcel – in which assistance in finding a post office comes from an unexpected sourcE

Filed under: lifestyle, nostalgia Tagged: email, post boxes, post office, spam filters

Two Days of Living Danishly

A post about our trip to Denmark at Easter

Essential reading before our trip

In preparation for my first ever visit to Denmark as part of our two-week Easter holiday in our camper can, I read The Year of Living Danishly, in which English journalist Helen Russell recounts what she learns about the country’s customs and culture while accompanying her husband on a year-long business posting to Legoland’s Danish headquarters. (Nice work if you can get it.)

I’ve reviewed the book over on my book blog here, and now thought I might share a few observations of my own…

Headlight Law

By law, motorists must drive with dipped headlights at all times. This includes in the middle of a summer’s day, in sunshine so bright that you are blinded without sunglasses. This seems odd in a nation that otherwise seems conscientious about efficient fuel usage. Even though we were there at Easter, we had clear sunny skies, wore sunglasses – and kept our dipped lights on.

Parking Clock

To ensure drivers comply with timed parking restrictions, the Danes have come up with an elegantly simple device. Every Danish car comes fitted with a clock face on the windscreen, with movable hands which you set to indicate your arrival time. That way traffic wardens (and fellow citizens) know at a glance whether you’ve outstayed your allotted time.

The lady in the Ribe tourist office told us that if we didn’t have one, we could simply display a note on the windscreen, but I was so taken with the idea that I bought one and applied it to our camper van windscreen, alongside our National Trust and English Heritage membership stickers. I’ll be interested to see how long it is before someone back home notices and says “Aha, I see you’ve been to Denmark!”

Enjoying a different kind of drive in Legoland
The Invisibility of Bacon

The Danish bacon industry has all the visibility of an illegal cannabis farm. In our two days there, we didn’t see a single pig, other than inside hot dogs, which are sold everywhere. Apparently it’s all reared intensively indoors.