Sandra

  • Read your dialogue soon after a trip to Mull. Wish I had the memory to write down what I hear i passing. And your ‘I remember blue tiles and the smell of drains and old food.’ sums it up; as you say above, you only need a couple of telling details.

  • And this a long ago piece deliberately adopting a Neolithic voice:

    Always an edge to beware, to be aware of.

    First at Liddle had been slabs, as thick as three of her three-year fingers, flat patterned stone, hard and often sharp when new, both separating bed from bed and on which they lay, degree of comfort dependent on the depth and newness of…[Read more]

  • I decided not to buy the books and would prefer to dip in and out on this, so herewith my contribution.

    I remember a Christmas, the dining table, taller than me, piled as high again with presents (and bigger ones beneath) and the focus of five adults, all on me.
    I remember my Dad laughing on a Sunday morning when stopped by a policeman for…[Read more]

  • This only 269 words but says what I intended

    Time to play

    Clearing a 25 year-old to-be-replaced kitchen, and the resultant sense of temporary displacement, gave time and focus to a wider realisation of things no longer needed. Delays gave more time than anticipated to jettison stuff, then the lovely announcement of a visit from good friends from…[Read more]

  • Congratulations on the win Ath, and for what it’s worth I found it uncomfortably horrific in its pervasive cult brainwashing manipulation – the sort of thing I usually avoid reading and very definitely cannot write, so am as admiring as I am uncomfortble with it.

    And thanks Squidge for the competition which I took as opportunity to try out a…[Read more]

  • Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 11 months ago

    It’s all the substitute for ‘he said that so resonated with me.

    • Oh, yes.
      ‘Funny?’ she interrogated.
      ‘Hilarious!’ he expostulated.
      ‘Surely not!’ she declared.
      ‘But how to you know?’ he exclaimed.
      ‘Says you!’ she objected.
      ‘That’s the last thing I’m willing to say,’ he concluded.

      And that’s just some of them.

      • I love the book. It was reassuring to see mistakes I knew I was avoiding – and be gently reminded of some that I WAS making, without realising!

  • Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 11 months ago

    That was the first book about writing I ever read – bought it for my daughter – and one of the very, very few whose advice I remember well enough to follow.

    • Me too. Is that because it also pointed out how writing could go horribly wrong? I remember, ‘Wearing only his underpants, she watched her boyfriend swim across the lake.’ :-))

      • It’s all the substitute for ‘he said that so resonated with me.

        • Oh, yes.
          ‘Funny?’ she interrogated.
          ‘Hilarious!’ he expostulated.
          ‘Surely not!’ she declared.
          ‘But how to you know?’ he exclaimed.
          ‘Says you!’ she objected.
          ‘That’s the last thing I’m willing to say,’ he concluded.

          And that’s just some of them.

          • I love the book. It was reassuring to see mistakes I knew I was avoiding – and be gently reminded of some that I WAS making, without realising!

  • A daunting expenditure on books, too … time to hie me to the library methinks.

  • Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 11 months ago

    Best l thing I got out of it was the friendship of a core of valuable fellow-attendees; we still regularly meet, though not as often as desired and have done since January 2014.

  • Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 11 months ago

    Certainly the first, writing part for me.

    • Oh gosh. That looks really involved… I don’t know whether I’d be able to do all of that.

      • what a good idea! I’d be keen.

        • @squidge and @sandradavies I’m sure we can set it up so that people are free to participate in the units that interest them, and not the ones that dont. I think there are probably advantages to having a core group that go through the process together, building on what’s been covered. But I also don’t see the point in making it too ‘strict’, or…[Read more]

          • Besides, it’s structured as a full MA (two years of work) so I think most of us would rather take it slow and be free to dip out when RL/other commitments get in the way.

          • Completely agree with everything you say, @raine. Slow and gentle. Let’s have a go and discuss as we go along….

  • Sandra replied to the topic DIY soapbox in the forum Podium 6 years, 12 months ago

    ‘Commission & omission’, book three in the series Love triangles with murder, is now available for sale on Blurb.

    DIY promotion (which I am strenuously uncomfortable with) takes up a helluva lot of writing time. Book 4 – ‘Drink with a dead man’, whose opening 400 words was declared winner of Raine’s monthly competition, isn’t likely to see…[Read more]

  • Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 12 months ago

    I’m currently attempting to re-format my novels for publishing as ebooks – fiendishly tricky at times and not sure I’ve cracked it yet – sudden and random centering of paragraphs or indents, to say nothing of the change in fonts. A good reason to stick with print IMHO!

  • Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 12 months ago

    Glad the ending was a happy one.

  • Sandra replied to the topic DIY soapbox in the forum Podium 6 years, 12 months ago

    Longest shadows reach, book 2 in the Love triangles with murder series now available

    ‘Step so grave’ indicated a wealth of history between Luke Darbyshere and Baz Rose. They’d been born within a week of each other; lived half mile apart, in a Hertfordshire village small enough to allow no escape. Each had successfully come through adole…[Read more]

  • Sandra posted a new activity comment 6 years, 12 months ago

    Having had a couple of technological cock-ups myself today, you have my sympathy, Raine. Hope a replacement session can be organised.

  • Sandra replied to the topic DIY soapbox in the forum Podium 7 years ago

    Phew – and thanks. The Orkney Distillery is gin, not whisky, and given the amount of free gin, good value as well as entertaining.

  • Sandra replied to the topic DIY soapbox in the forum Podium 7 years ago

    Damn! Sorry @Raine (AND I posted that before the distillery tour!)

    Hopefully my name &/or ‘Step do grave’ ought to find me – links I see might not be different.

    Try: https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/9571608-step-so-grave

  • Sandra replied to the topic DIY soapbox in the forum Podium 7 years ago

    I’ve a couple of reviews on Blurb already, but would be pleased for a few more – honest ones, of course, (I’m not wanting to bit it up for sales) just whether you enjoyed (or didn’t) and why. Or Goodreads.

    ‘Longest shadows reach’ and ‘Commission and omission’ will be added within a couple of weeks – unless I get them out there I’ll fiddle with…[Read more]

  • Sandra replied to the topic Flash fiction success in the forum Podium 7 years ago

    Brilliant, Kate – mega congratulations!!!! Really well done!!!

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