Carys Bray's Blog, page 14

Southport Flower Show

I'll be signing books at the Southport Flower Show on Saturday 17th August. 



I've never been to the Flower Show before so I'm really looking forward to it.

Have a nice day (unless you don't have a note)

Last week we took the children to Disneyland Paris for five days. On the first night of the holiday Son 3 somehow fell from the top bunk in the hotel room while he slept. His dad and I woke to an almighty crash and the awful, held-breath dread you occasionally experience as a parent.

Son 3 had a large lump on his head, carpet burn on his face, the beginnings of a black eye and significant

'The Friday Gospels' paperback launch

I'm really looking forward to Jenn Ashworth's paperback launch of The Friday Gospels tomorrow evening at Ebb and Flo Bookshop, 7 p.m. I'll be reading from Sweet Home and there will be cake (hopefully the icing won't melt!).

Arvon

I've just spent a lovely week at Lumb Bank on an Arvon Fiction Course tutored by Edward Docx and Alice Jolly.

It was a little bit magical and although I've only been home for 24 hours I'm already finding it hard to believe I was away for most of last week.

I didn't get very much writing done. We spent the mornings (10 - 1 o'clock) being taught by Ed and Alice. These sessions were

Half Term Projects

Half term projects and homework - argh.

I had hoped to spend a lot of time editing my novel but instead I've supervised the writing of a project on WW2 Liverpool, GCSE history revision, various reading assignments and pages of maths problems I can only just about remember how to solve. I feel like the mother in this hilarious blog post.

Yesterday, as part of the WW2 Liverpool project, we went

The Friday Gospels paperback launch

I'm going to be reading from Sweet Home at the paperback launch of Jenn Ashworth's new novel The Friday Gospels.



The launch will take place at Ebb & Flo the lovely new bookshop in Chorley on 20th July at 7 pm.

There's going to be cake and everything - I can't wait.

Catch Up

I have finally finished my marking which means I can resume editing the as-yet-nameless novel (next time I'm going to decide on a name *first*). 

I also need to start to think about how to approach a very exciting short story commission and an essay on The Book of Mormon Musical which I saw earlier this year (an hilarious, blasphemous, yet extremely affectionate portrayal of Mormonism and

A few words for my daughter

Sometimes it's hard having three big brothers, especially when they say mean things like, 'You can't come to the park and play football with us.'

Occasionally you get really cross and storm up to your room and shout things like, 'It seems like the suffragettes died for NOTHING.' And although I might laugh when you say things like this, it does make me sad (and angry) when boys (particularly

The Stone Thrower

My shortlisted feature piece about Adam Marek's second short story collection, The Stone Thrower is now up at the Thresholds blog. 

Instruction Manual For Swallowing

I've been marking first year undergraduate creative writing reflections this week. Many of my students mentioned enjoying Adam Marek's short stories. Although Instruction Manual for Swallowing is not a set text, I always play 'The 40-Litre Monkey' and 'Testicular Cancer Versus the Behemoth' (available for free at the Comma Press Story Bank) at some point during the year. I remember when I first