Ali Bacon's Blog, page 12

Robert Louis Stevenson – a bit of a find

Robert Louis Stevenson commemorative issue

My daughter unearthed this in an Oxfam shop a few months ago and just got round to bringing it home. It has all the fascination of an old book, or in this case and old magazine with ahessian (?) cover and what I suppose is an old version of a ‘perfect’ binding, i.e. the pages that were once stuck together are now falling apart.

It’s a series of tributes to the writer andalso has some wonderful plates – photographs of RLS and his family and also of pain...

South Glos writers: you are not alone!

If anyone really wants to know how it feels to be a writer (be careful what you wish for!)I think this just about sums it up, except that it’s not a straight line of course buta cycle (or hamster wheel?) i.e. you get on at a different point each day and it’sagood day if you finish at no 5. Finishing at 6 is very enjoyable, of course, but can be quickly followed by a tumbleto no 4!

So progress on the novel is much as it has always been i.e. up and down, and ifanyone would like more of un update...

Enjoying the moment in Stroud

The audience awaits!

Stroud Short Stories was a great evening forreaders and listeners – and I was lucky enough to be both. It’s a lovely venue with a fantastic atmosphere and I canrecommend the next event (April 2015) to anyone in striking distance ofStroud with an interest in short stories as a writer or a reader.But for me it represented something more. Okay, the audience was big (a sell-out!) and none of them had had an arm twisted by me – or as far as I know anyone else – to turn out on a...

It’s all happening – another events round-up!

You may have guessed that what withthe startof my MA course and my monthly blog for Authors Electric, I’m less likely to be mulling things over here, but this isareminder of some upcoming events and one great piece of news.

At the risk of repeating myself, thisSaturday is ‘Books Are My Bag’ day, so do join us at Foyles in Bristol if you can manage. Details below.

For those who can’t make it there’s a Facebook eventwhich I’ll try (no promises!) to update during the day, or look out for Twitter h...

Full circle: or Mary Berry, Nathan Filer – and me

Education – I have spent most of my life involved in it in some way, but after a six-year stint (including on-the-job training) to become a qualified graduate librarian (that was then, they do things a bit more quickly now) and a double dose of parenting, I didn’t anticipatebeing a consumer in the system, well not the mainstream system anyway.

So what changed? Well to echo many a song lyric, I’ve always thought life was for learning, and since giving up voluntary work (lots to learn there!) I’...

Do Authors Dream of Electric Books?

Soon I’ll be looking at my rough first draft and deciding just where to go next with it. Soon I may even be doing something completely different (in which case you will surely hear)but right now I’m in a bit of a limbo, a limbo that’s actually much needed. I need a limbo to get some dull but necessary jobs done – tax forms (tick), bank statements (tick), floor-washing as well as some nicer jobs that have been neglected – from brushing up some flash fiction (for our Books are My Bag day) to we...

A close shave, or how I nearly wrote the wrong book

While writing the WIP (yes, first draft may be finished but much progress still to be made) I’ve been plagued by the question of genre. I really only plumped for the novel form because it’s the one I’m familiar with. At the same time, I was aware of keeping as closely as I could to ‘the facts’ and simply making up the bits I didn’t know, exploring above all else where and how the story ended. But new facts were popping up all the time. If I included them all and filled all the gaps that could...

Thoughts on historical and literary fiction: blogging with Jane Davis

Is blogging on thedecline? My owntarget ofweekly posts (which I maintained for three years!) has long since gone to the walland there are very few blogs I return to on a regular basis. I also notice that more and more authors use Facebook or other social media to makeuseful and informative posts alongside the more ephemeral (!)chit-chat.

Someone who comes into this category is author-publisher Jane Davis whose FB posts arealways worth a look and whoseI Stopped Time– a prize-winning novel touch...

Events round-up

Writing workshops

Last autumn Iled my first ever writing workshop in Downend library as part of South GloucestershireDiscover Festival. Since then I’ve been involved in other writing events, most recently joining forces with another local writerPauline Masurel.

Mazzy and I enjoyed working together so much that we’re teaming up again for this year’s Discover Festival where we’re running a Get Writing workshop in two different venues.

Discover is such a great idea. There are all kindsof activites...

Free writing workshops this autumn

Last autumn Iled my first ever writing workshop in Downend library as part of South GloucestershireDiscover Festival. Since then I’ve been involved in other writing events, most recently joining forces with another local writerPauline Masurel.

Two’s company

Mazzy and I enjoyed working together so much that we’re teaming up again for this year’s Discover Festival where we’re running a Get Writing workshop in two different venues.

Discover is such a great idea. There are all kindsof activites on...