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Athelstone posted an update 5 years, 6 months ago
Is it just me, or is the commercially produced garlic from supermarkets and greengrocers feeble old shite compared to the stuff I cooked with a few years back? I’ll swear it used to have some bite and tang to it, but these days I could stick whole bulbs in and hardly taste it. Going to try growing a few different types.
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JaneShuff posted an update 5 years, 6 months ago
Posting this on the off chance someone can help. I’m planning my next book, part of which will be set in a camp for refugees and immigrants – very similar to the camp on Lesbos in Greece. I need to do some research into the conditions in the Greek camps and how they operates and also get some sense of the refugees’ different stories. I’ve found an…[Read more]
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Might be worth looking at Medecine Sans Frontier websites etc. They do a lot of work in the Med with the migrants, so there might be things via them?
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 6 months ago
‘Also known as …’
Early Thursday, DS Mike Kennedy, on her arrival.
‘Infirmary’s been on. Ursula Bothwell died three this morning. Peacefully, they said.’
‘Cause?’
‘Not known. Which means –’
‘A PM. Not peaceful.’ DS Fran Lloyd strove to hide the threat of tears. Not normally a problem; had to be more than fifty times she’d heard the nec…[Read more] -
Sandra posted an update 5 years, 6 months ago
For a more accurate picture of Den participation, is it possible to have, in the RH column, Members listed by ‘Active’ rather than ‘Newest?’
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JaneShuff posted an update 5 years, 6 months ago
Congratulations to all for the great bunch of entries! And A Happy New Year!!
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp: December 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 6 months ago
Thank you Ath, both for comments and for setting the comp in the first place. As you probably guessed, I used it as a shameful attempt to find a way into a yet-to-be-written novel and was immensely glad of the opportunity to do so, though knew from the start I’d barely skated your original intent. And well done Libby – I look forward to finding…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly comp: December 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 6 months ago
A very happy new year to all Denizens! The advent competition didn’t have 25 entries as I hoped, but by way of compensation, those that were submitted are all gems that I would be happy to find behind a calendar window.
Janette: A New Opening
A truly positive response to the Covid restrictions. This was beautifully written with a powerful feeling…[Read more] -
Athelstone posted an update 5 years, 6 months ago
Are there any more takers for the last monthly competition, in the final hours of the year? We have three super entries so far, but room for more.
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JaneShuff replied to the topic Traditional or Self-Publishing? in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
Good article @dougk.
For anyone looking to submit to Indie Presses in the UK and Ireland, the Indie Press Guide produced by Mslexia is a good place to start. Also, if you don’t have an agent to check a contract for you, the Society of Authors in the UK will check it at no charge. I’ve found them VERY thorough!
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JaneShuff replied to the topic Indie publishing deal in the forum Podium 5 years, 7 months ago
Thank you @athelstone @janette @raine @thea @libby @sandradavies.
Verve are a small imprint of an indie press so there’ll be no books on shelves in Waterstones but they’re lovely people and the fit feels so right. The indie press route has worked very well for me and is well worth a try. They’re often more open to books that don’t quite fit into…[Read more]
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Aha, Jesmond. My brother lived there in the early/mid 70s. Lily Avenue. I visited a couple of times. Don’t remember much about it – but we were young.
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We moved away when I was three so I remember nothing!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Indie publishing deal in the forum Podium 5 years, 7 months ago
So pleased with the news! Simply brilliant.
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Raine replied to the topic Indie publishing deal in the forum Podium 5 years, 7 months ago
I didnt spot the Twitter post so shall go on a hunt now…
I love the name Jesmond, is that a family name? Bet it feels very real now they’ve announced it! Hope you celebrated with some sort of unhealthy substance. xxx -
JaneShuff started the topic Indie publishing deal in the forum Podium 5 years, 7 months ago
Exciting news from me. On The Edge my ‘girl on a lighthouse’ thriller has found a home with Verve Books. It’s been a long journey with a lot of setbacks on the way and I am thrilled.There’s nothing like the moment when the e mail saying how much someone loved your book (with no caveats, no buts,) arrives in your inbox. It will be published in…[Read more]
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Yay, congratulations, Jane! That’s brilliant news, and so deserved! Really looking forward to reading it. xx
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Brilliant, Jane! Keep us posted and let us know when we can buy a copy.
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I’m assuming this is the one I read some years ago, which at the time I thought very impressive. Good to hear talent will eventually earn its reward.
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Well done, Jane, I hope it does stupendously well!
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Thank you @johnalty. I’ll be happy if it does what the publishers hope it will do! I might need your help as I’m contracted to write a second in the series and it is looking as though there’ll be a bit of sailing in it.
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Happy to help
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp: December 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 7 months ago
With good intent
‘Let’s face it, it is one of our unadmitted secret pleasures!’
One eyebrow lifting in pantomimed leer, he turned his head away, allowing the wind to carry exhaled smoke along Portobello’s beach towards the Scottish capital.
Aware of the flaring of her too-carelessly clipped hair, she pictured them as opening sequence of some…[Read more] -
Raine replied to the topic Traditional or Self-Publishing? in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
@janeshuff said much of what I would have done. Basically, going it alone means a biggish up front investment by you, and it also means you have to be prepared to invest the time into marketing and promo without the support of a publisher. The plus is that you have full control, and don’t have to wait/hope/get lucky enough to find a…[Read more]
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Very helpful, Raine.
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Oh good! I was just stream of consciousness wittering, but if there was something useful in there, then yay! 😀
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JaneShuff replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: Pete Who? in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
You’re quite right Richard. Although the lack of hoovering and the pile of christmas cards still waiting to be written might point to a different conclusion!
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RichardB replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: Pete Who? in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
‘Instant hit of relateable truth’: yes, that a good way of putting it.
Jane, if you got a result you haven’t been wasting your time, have You?
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Raine replied to the topic How do you deal with the ever-distracting Internet??? in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
When I need to be productive, I set myself time slots for internetage. i.e. 15mins when I first sit at the laptop, during a lunch half hour, and then that’s it apart from evening phone-evil-blackhole-of-distraction. Tbh, I like being able to quickly check something as I’m writing – find a photo of a place, or look at a map or whatever, so I…[Read more]
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JaneShuff replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: Pete Who? in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
I’ve just wasted an hour, thanks to you Richard, trawling through the internet searching for Brian Patten who was my particular favourite and ordered a copy of Little Johnny’s Confession which I am sure is the book of his I used to have. Fingers crossed.
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RichardB replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: Pete Who? in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
Jane, I suspect that, er, somewhere on the way you too encountered that anthology, so long ago you’d forgotten about it until my post reminded you.
Yes, I like the Liverpool Poets too. It’s only one aspect of his talent, but Roger McGough has raised that lowest form of wit, the pun, into an art form. Like this, from The Mersey Sound:
The Act of…[Read more]
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No it’s not just you! Supermarket garlic tastes quite bland compared to the stuff I’ve cooked with while self-catering in France – though our local farm shop sometimes has decent bulbs.
Sounds a great idea to try growing it yourself.
Definitely true. The garlic in the box I get from the organic farmer in the next village is ten times tastier than supermarket stuff.
I agree. It has gone the way of so many other foods, so bland when mass produced. My France holiday (a distant memory) showed just how much.
One of the first and most obvious changes is that after preparing a meal with garlic I’d have to scrub away at my hands for a good ten minutes and they’d still be poor company next day. These days a quick rinse is all that’s needed.