Friends – Activity – Chrissy

Daedalus replied to the topic Cover reveal for This Is Our Undoing in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

Publishers vary a lot in terms of the extent they will consult and take account of author suggestions. Mine have ranged from asking me for examples of covers I like and making changes to the design at my behest, to not even showing me the cover until the book is published. In the middle was making some changes to a first iteration, showing a…[Read more]

Daedalus replied to the topic Cover reveal for This Is Our Undoing in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

It’s a great cover because it hints at characters and themes and atmosphere enough to give a sense of the book, without doing so too overtly

Daedalus replied to the topic Cover reveal for This Is Our Undoing in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

That’s not the worst Wordsworth Classics cover, sadly https://www.amazon.co.uk/Middlemarch-Wordsworth-Classics-George-Eliot/dp/1853262374/

Libby replied 5 years, 2 months ago

Yeuch … Still, fair play to her for levitating on one wrist.
- Daedalus replied 5 years, 2 months ago
  
  I think she might be balancing on the stump of the other arm too

Libby replied to the topic Cover reveal for This Is Our Undoing in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

Gosh, that Mrs D cover is ghastly. And not very helpful.

Libby replied to the topic Cover reveal for This Is Our Undoing in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

This is a fabulous cover @raine Classy and enticing.

Apologies, I thought I’d replied when I first saw it but obviously I hadn’t 🙁

Libby started the topic Book shops in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

With apologies for starting a coronovirus thread but UK bookshops are really starting to struggle as their wholesalers have difficulty in supplying them due to coronovirus. This article explains https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/03/booksellers-struggle-with-lack-of-new-stock-amid-covid-19-crisis-coronavirus
Readers can help by ordering…[Read more]

Daedalus replied to the topic Cloudie short story challenge publication in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

Aaah, that makes sense! Yes, now you mention it I think I recall more attention on that aspect. I think it worked. Good on you, lovely to see your writing get more recognition

Kate started the topic Short story in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

If anyone would like to read my HWA longlisted short story, it is now available in Sundial magazine at the below link. A Viking romp that I hope you will enjoy.

https://sites.google.com/view/sundial-magazine/short-stories/when-the-gods-laugh

Libby replied 5 years, 2 months ago

Congratulations, @katemachon . Sundial has done a super job with the layout and presentation. What a fabulous picture.
Well done.
- Kate replied 5 years, 2 months ago
  
  Thanks, Libby. I’m impressed with their attention to detail.
Sandra replied 5 years, 2 months ago

A Viking romp remembered and very much enjoyed again, and the picture beautifully matched.
- Kate replied 5 years, 2 months ago
  
  Thanks,Sandra.
JaneShuff replied 5 years, 2 months ago

Great storytelling Kate, and I didn’t know you lived in Jersey!
- Kate replied 5 years, 2 months ago
  
  Thanks, Jane. Not a Jersey girl, but been here 30 years. Are you a Channel Islander? Not a Guernsey girl, I hope. 😀
  - JaneShuff replied 5 years, 2 months ago
    
    No. I am in France just down the coast in Brittany but keep on planning to visit with a friend who lives in Normandy
    - Kate replied 5 years, 2 months ago
      
      We used to like hopping across to St Malo.

Daedalus replied to the topic Cloudie short story challenge publication in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

That’s interesting @raine, the story seemed pretty much exactly as I remembered it so I don’t suppose too much can have changed? Really glad to see my writing friends appearing in my favourite sources

Daedalus replied to the topic Cloudie short story challenge publication in the forum Podium 5 years, 2 months ago

I treated myself to the podcast this morning. Wonderful story, lovely to hear it being read. SH is a fantastic home for it, one of my very favourite mags

John S Alty replied to the topic Monthly comp – February 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 2 months ago

Well done, Janette!

Libby replied to the topic Monthly comp – February 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 2 months ago

Congratulations, @janette . Two shivers for the price of one. A very enjoyable story.

Janette replied 5 years, 2 months ago

Thank you, Libby x

Kate replied to the topic Comments from an Editor in the forum Blogs 5 years, 3 months ago

I write in first person a lot and the overuse of I was something that was pointed out to me early on. The writing can end up feeling like a list of stage directions. I have found that the gymnastics you have to go through to avoid overuse does what Libby mentions and moves you closer into the character’s head as well as adding voice. As Richard…[Read more]

Libby replied 5 years, 3 months ago

Yep, contraction comment. WTF.

Libby replied to the topic Comments from an Editor in the forum Blogs 5 years, 3 months ago

Oh, it has worked!

I’ll go back to my quill and parchment.

Libby replied to the topic Comments from an Editor in the forum Blogs 5 years, 3 months ago

Thanks, Richard. I tried to copy the link first of all and couldn’t make it work. Thank you for a working link to Emma Darwin.

BTW have you seen this on the BBC news website today?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55937512

Blast, link not working. BBC news website, go to the Wales tab. “Station reopening at Bow Street brings first trains for…[Read more]

Libby replied to the topic Comments from an Editor in the forum Blogs 5 years, 3 months ago

As Richard says, this is seems more about style, and a rigid editor, than about the rich possibilities of first-person narrators.

I’m the first to agree that repetition of ‘I’ can be a problem, just as repetition of any word can trip up the reader. And the over-repeated ‘I’ can be hard to get rid of, as I know from my own efforts.

It can also…[Read more]

Kate replied to the topic Good news on the lyric writing front in the forum Podium 5 years, 3 months ago

Wow, John. That’s amazing. Such a huge competition. You must be on cloud 9. Congratulations!

John S Alty replied 5 years, 3 months ago

Thanks, Kate

Libby replied to the topic Good news on the lyric writing front in the forum Podium 5 years, 3 months ago

That’s brilliant, John! Huge congratulations. What an achievement – I’m really pleased.

John S Alty replied 5 years, 3 months ago

Thanks, Libby

John S Alty started the topic Good news on the lyric writing front in the forum Podium 5 years, 3 months ago

John Schofield (my real name) has won the Lyrics Only category in the UK Songwriting Contest 2020 with his song “It’s Later Than You Think.”
The UK Songwriting Contest directors and judges include top award-winning producers and songwriters who have worked closely with many of the world´s major artists. There were almost 10,000 song entries from 8…[Read more]

Janette replied 5 years, 3 months ago

Oh, big WOW John – not that I didn’t doubt you, but against 10,000??! Will anyone be taking the lyrics up going ahead, for recording? Are we allowed to see them? This is brilliant news for such a cold, icy-blast sort of day. Many congratulations.
- Thea replied 5 years, 3 months ago
  
  Congratulations, John! What a fantastic achievement 🙂
  - John S Alty replied 5 years, 3 months ago
    
    Thanks, Thea
- John S Alty replied 5 years, 3 months ago
  
  Thanks, Janette.

@chrissy