Just a few days left for the Monthly Competition. Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Just a few days left for the Monthly Competition. Hurry, hurry, hurry!
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Janette

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 6 days, 20 hours ago

    I’m also looking at how backstage works in theatres, particularly the wardrobe part, meanwhile I aim to generalise and hope it suffices.
    Yes, the Mechanics Institute Library is amazing. I only wish I’d more time to explore it. Ours at least, had the education part of it taken over by the council, but it is interesting to see how many groups…[Read more]

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 6 days, 20 hours ago

    Thanks, Ath

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 1 week, 1 day ago

    Thank you, Libby, I’ll bear that in mind. It’s mostly theatre life I’m interested in, but I may want to pick your brain some time when I come to refining descriptives.

  • Janette posted an update 1 week, 3 days ago

    Apologies for the big absences. I have had a lot to get my head around and the battle is not yet over, but I am starting to ease myself back into addressing an unfinished WIP. I have found a brilliant library: The Bradford Mechanics Institute Library, who serve teas to your table while you write. I love that you have to be a member (for the small…[Read more]

    • Hi @janette, I grew up close to Manchester in the 1970s. I don’t know a great deal though can remember the atmosphere and what it looked like. There was a sense of desolation despite the moneyed suburbs. I don’t know anything about the theatres – a memory of the Library Theatre but that’s all. But if you think I can help, send me a private message…[Read more]

      • Thank you, Libby, I’ll bear that in mind. It’s mostly theatre life I’m interested in, but I may want to pick your brain some time when I come to refining descriptives.

    • I know nothing about Manchester in the mid 70s. I did do a few trips by coach from Newbury to Wigan in the early 70s (to the Casino) fuelled by optimism and fabulous blues music, Not so many that I was a regular. Happy to discuss.

    • John T replied 1 week ago

      I was born in Manchester, but no help, as I left in 1965, aged 10! The Mechanics Institute Library sounds amazing. Dad was a member of one in Hull when he was teenager before the war, and made a point of joining one in Cardiff when we moved there in 1965. All part of the workers’ education movement – he was a big supporter.

      • I’m also looking at how backstage works in theatres, particularly the wardrobe part, meanwhile I aim to generalise and hope it suffices.
        Yes, the Mechanics Institute Library is amazing. I only wish I’d more time to explore it. Ours at least, had the education part of it taken over by the council, but it is interesting to see how many groups…[Read more]

  • It’s hardly fair to say ‘by default’, because @Alex, your story merits more than that. I loved the uplifting ending, and the thread you chose in the challenge, which was a pleasure to read. It is with the same pleasure I pass the baton over to you.

  • Janette posted an update 4 months, 1 week ago

    Only ten more days to go for the November Monthly comp.

    • Um, fingers crossed and a fair wind …
      It might be more of a description than a story. My brain is full of other stories at the moment. But I’m interested in the task you’ve set @Janette

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Thank you, Libby. Like Sea, I loved yours and Sandra’s too. It’s remarks like this that tell me not to give up on Grace, so thank you.

  • Just to make clear – this just relates to autumnal references. You can use sight in other parts of the story.

  • Autumn is upon us in all its savage glory, but it is so much more than a paint pallet. I’d like you to theme your story around Autumn, including every sense except sight. I’d like this to be within a 450 word limit, please.

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Oh! I signed in for a glimpse of the next challenge, to find it’s down to me. I did not expect that – thank you. And thank you for the prompt which made me close examine this and another scene I saw improvement possibilities in.

  • Hope this meets the challenge. It is approaching the end of my book Saving Grace, and has spoilers (in the event this thing gets published!). Pervious feedback said this scene felt too easy/convenient. Now, she panics and resists. I show her conflicts as she starts to make comparisons.

    Untitled

    While he drove, Michael told me about how he worked…[Read more]

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 5 months, 3 weeks ago

    Thank you for a good challenge, Squidge. Congratulations, Sea, well deserved, though I enjoyed all of the other stories too.

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 5 months, 3 weeks ago

    @johnt3 Good idea. Some of my favourites are children’s books.

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 6 months ago

    Thanks, Libby. Here’s hoping x

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 6 months ago

    Thanks, Ath. Yes, writing and reading both confounded. It feels like a midge infestation in my head when I try to take things in or concentrate further than one page. Hopefully, I’ll overpower IT sooner rather than later.

    • My usual remedy for reading problems is to read children’s books. I read a lot – they’re my therapy.

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 6 months, 1 week ago

    Thanks, John. Big Yorkshire hugs right back atcha x

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 6 months, 1 week ago

    Metaphorical – though just as pesky and stubborn.

    • I know that black dog. It’s hard to shove it out of the way, sometimes. Big cwtches from Wales x

    • Sorry to hear it. It is remarkably adept at confounding all good intentions to write.

      • Thanks, Ath. Yes, writing and reading both confounded. It feels like a midge infestation in my head when I try to take things in or concentrate further than one page. Hopefully, I’ll overpower IT sooner rather than later.

        • My usual remedy for reading problems is to read children’s books. I read a lot – they’re my therapy.

  • Janette posted an update 6 months, 1 week ago

    Joined @johnt3 in giving BlueSky a go. Looking forward to finding more familiar faces there, but I haven’t much to report on yet. My book 2 (way off finishing its rewrite) needs to be closer to ready before I consider which way to get book 1 published. Black dog keeps sitting on my keyboard.

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 6 months, 1 week ago

    Woohoo! Can’t wait for my copy.

    • Being the the most amazing beta-reader, your copy will appear before I publish it. Pre-publication copies are currently at the printers.

  • Janette posted a new activity comment 6 months, 2 weeks ago

    I’ve requested an invitation to join. Can’t see any harm in trying it out.

    • I have no invites to pass on yet, but I gather you get them after a while. It’s a fairly empty space at the moment, but I think it will fill up. People like Joanne Harris, Neil Gaiman and Chuck Wendig are on board.

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