Sally Zigmond talks to us about her writing and The Story Weaver.

 

Tell us about how you came to write these stories.

When my two sons started school, my days were more free so I enrolled in a daytime adult learning course called “ Writing for Publication and Profit.” The ability to make money from writing had never occurred to me before. (Naive or what?) Anyway, I found I enjoyed writing. My first published piece was about the facts, fiction, myth and magic about Dandelions. Then, with my husband's photographs, I wrote about our caravan holidays and did quite well financially. But although fact always pays more than fiction, I soon grew bored and wanted to use my imagination. I was a total ingenue and it took a lot of practise and study for my fiction to be published.

Then I had a stroke of luck – or was it finding myself in the right place at the right time or something to do with stars aligning? Who knows but, in a writing magazine, I saw a small advertisement from someone called Jo Good (now, Jo Derrick), the editor of a small press magazine called QWF: Quality Women's Fiction. I liked the look of it. To cut a very long story short, often happy, but more often sad, Jo and I became firm friends. We still are today on social media but have not seen each other face to face for a very long time.

 

The Story Weaver is such a lovely title.What was the inspiration behind that?

When I sat my A level in Fashion And Fabric I was struck by how many words and expressions for weaving were used metaphorically in everyday life: that old man in the pub spinning his yarns about his life as a plumber; that man with the pop-star looks and winks who wove a tapestry of lies that entertained all the young girls but made the older women laugh. And what about , "What a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive."? (Sir Walter Scott). 

 

Tell us something about  your writing routine.  

Like must of us, I have to fit my writing into my daily life. Usually I begin the day with a cup of black coffee checking overnight emails. Then it's the Guardian daily Sudoku, a quick update on Twitter and Facebook, then breakfast. I download my current writing projects and fit them in to the rest of the day.

 

 Do you have a dedicated writing space?

My desk and PC are in the passage/hall between the kitchen/diner. I have a widow but it it is just above my head. I see the sky and tree trunks across the road and but can only see high vehicles such as tractors, dust carts and lorries.

 

 Do you have anything new in the pipeline?

I am currently nearing the end of what I hope will be the final draft of a medieval novel. I have yet to proofread and find all those pesky typos I missed before. Then I will submit it to the many agents I have earmarked. I am not over optimistic but am determined. If all else fails, I will self-publish with help. 

Find your copy of  The Story Weaver here

Some Fun Things about Being a Writer

 

Only today at breakfast I talked to my husband about how fortunate I was that for the last eleven years of my working life I was in effect paid to do my hobby. I was paid to write, research and talk to other people about writing. I had a job at a university as a lecturer in Creative Writing. I even had a sabbatical in order to just write and research and out of that sabbatical my Schellberg Cycle was born. I shall be starting the seventh and final book soon.  Already it is clear there is some fun in writing.

So here is a list of ten things I like about being a writer.

1.      Reading , watching TV, going to the cinema or theatre or even gossiping in the pub all add to your understanding of story.

2.      Even if you’re reading a book you’re not finding so good you can switch your critical head on and enjoy the analysis.

3.      I enjoy going to other writers’ book events. And the festivals and conferences.

4.      When you write, you can visit all sorts of worlds you wouldn’t normally know. You can be anyone or anything.

5.      If anyone annoys you, you can get revenge by putting them in a novel or sort story.

6.      You can get ideas form the most surprising places and at some interesting times: on a bus or at a bus stop, while you’re walking the dog, from some of the “little” stories in your local newspaper.

7.      It’s fabulous when you get a copy of your book in your hand.

8.      Great reviews make you feel good. And you learn to shrug the others off.

9.      It’s encouraging seeing your sale rank go up on Amazon and when you get your royalties.

10.  Other writers can become great friends.

So definitely: being a writer is fun.    

We Need Fans and Followers, not so much Friends and Family

 I found myself getting quite irritated by a tweet I read decently. Another writer was complaining that at a family dinner no one asked her how her writing was going. I wrote a reply which I then deleted. The writer was already upset; there was no point in my upsetting them more. And I’ve actually got quite a lot to say for which there would not be enough characters even if I had a paid account with X.

Why should we actually expect our friends and family to be interested in our writing? My husband is a football fan and often watches three matches at once via computer and TV screen, and apart form a cursory ”How did they get on?” when I’m really trying to assess his mood, I’m not really interested.  He’s also an IT expert and very useful in that capacity at times. I’m glad he continues to be successful but again, I don’t need to know the details.

So why should your family, at a family dinner, ask how your writing is going? More likely they need to know how you are doing. Are you well? Are managing to pay the rent? Are you happy? Is there anything they can help with? Aha! Yes, they could buy one of your books. But don’t expect them to think of that unless you tell them.

I have a lot of writing friends and I’m always interested in how their process is going, including with marketing. We chat as professionals working in the same filed often do. But I’m still not necessarily interested in every detail of those works – many of my writing friends work in a genre that doesn’t light my fire. 

And there are some writers I adore. I become a fan and if I remember, a follower: I hit the “Follow” button an Amazon.

We probably think we are more emotionally tied to our creative work than people are to other sorts of work.  Are we though?

What about your cousin the nurse who has just had to help a patient who was dying? Or your brother-in-law the plumber who has just had to fit a new boiler in a very old house and the pipe-work wouldn’t play ball? Or your friend at the gym who has just had to give someone the sack because they just weren’t up to the job even though that means that they will no longer be able to pay their rent? Do you ever really want to kwon how it’s going for them? Do you bother to ask? If your answer is no, then you have absolutely no right to expect them to be interested in your writing. If yes, then no doubt you will soon see that they’ll show an interest in what’s most on your mind as well.

Some friends and family may also be or become fans and followers. We need to reach out to our identified reader, make sure we’re visible to them and make it’s easy for them to become followers.

We need to be pragmatic. Sure, there is a deeply emotional side to writing – we probably couldn’t do it well if there wasn’t. But we also have to have our business head on. If people aren’t noticing that we’re writing it may well be our own fault.

Tied up with this is imposter syndrome.

The people closest to us don’t get that we need time to write? And we don’t assert that? Why can’t we be more assertive? The answer is probably because we don’t believe it ourselves. Maybe we need to be clearer:

·         Grab your time to write. I now shut my study door if I don’t want to be disturbed. My family are now trained; sometimes I forget to open it again – and get an apologetic knock on the door.   

·         Be prepared to describe yourself as a writer – even if you have a day job tell people that.

·         Tell people about your writing when they ask how you are.

·         Be proud of what you’ve achieved and be prepared to tell people about it – as long as you don’t get too swanky.  

·         Find the people who can become fans and followers. I network a lot with children’s writers because I sometimes write for children. But my fans and followers are more likely to be school children and those involved in education. So, I befriend teachers and school librarians on social media.

·         Don’t whinge that you’re not getting noticed.  Do something that will get you noticed Whinging will get you the wrong sort of attention.  If you have friends that have been more successful than you, look at what they’re doing and see if you can emulate. Only, of course, if you feel comfortable with that. Hint: there are zillions of promotional activities that work. There are bound to be a few with which you can feel comfortable. Go grab them.  

Enjoy interacting with your fans and followers.

   

News 1 April 2024

 

Easter weekend 

 

And April Fools’ Day to boot. And the day we put the clock forward. Two bank holidays in one long weekend. So everything is happening at once. A real boon for people who have demanding  day jobs. 

I note that hot cross buns have been available since just after Christmas – as have chocolate Easter eggs. For me, this dilutes the season a little.  I love both hot cross buns and chocolate Easter eggs – but only at Easter.

Easter is early this year and there has been news about fixing the date. I would welcome that and I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t. Yet neither does it seem all that important.  The third Sunday of April has been suggested. That’s fine with me.

Easter anyway is a time of much promise.  Indeed our garden is looking pretty and should soon be even more beautiful.  

  

 

Writing news

I’m still working on edits of Peace Child 6. I’m currently in the middle of one about variety in pace.

You can read my review of Northanger Abbey at Bolton’s Octagon theatre here: https://talkingaboutmygeneration.co.uk/review-northanger-abbey-at-the-octagon/ I attended the Theatre Club discussion mentioned; we were all a little perplexed by the play. Yet it had its good points.

You can read two of my stories mentioned last month: https://funnypearls.com/2024/03/rescue-gill-james/ and https://talkingaboutmygeneration.co.uk/encounters-in-the-air-a-short-story-by-gill-james/    

On 13 March I attended the AGM of the Lancashire Authors’ Association and was rather pleased to find that several of my stories had been placed. In the WILLIAM BARON CUP-  Flash Fiction, Short Story in Standard English, not exceeding 500 words, my piece of flash fiction ‘Gone’ was awarded third place and ‘There is Abundance’ was  commended. In the MERCER CUP – Short Story in Standard English, not exceeding 1500 words ‘Hammering’ was highly commended. ‘How to Be a Friend’ and ‘Ginger’ were commended.   

  

On My Blog

Yvonne Walus talks to me about her latest book. I discuss food in my peace Child books. I also talk about television I enjoy and how this strengthens my sense of story: My Kind of Television

     

 

The Young Person’s Library

I’m afraid I’ve not added anything this month. Not to worry, there are books in my to be read pile that should feature next month.

Recommended read

The month I’m recommending Now Go Tell by Susan Sachon.

Protagonist Jenny Watson has a challenging life anyway. And then she is offered an even greater challenge.

It seems like a dream job - putting on a Shakespeare festival and running a pub but she knows she has to get this right. Then things start to become quite sinister and her life is in danger.  

This novel has well-drawn characters, plenty of pace and tension and a satisfying ending. This makes a good holiday read.

Susan Sachon certainly keeps us guessing in Now Go Tell.  

Sample pages

If you like what you’re reading you can click through and find out ways of buying the book. However, I’m still happy to give you a free copy if you’re strapped for cash and / or you’re willing to review.  Just contact me.  

This month I’m offering 140 x 140

Introduction

I wrote these stories on the days when I was mainly editing. They offered a chance to do some writing on days that were full of rewriting.  There are 140 stories, each 140 words long.   

Each story was inspired by the first picture I saw when I opened my Twitter feed. They originally had the Twitter handle of the person tweeting as part of the title but I decided I needed to make it all more anonymous, a little vaguer. I've preserved the dates, however. Just in case someone thinks that writing flash is quick and easy. You will see how long it has taken to produce this volume and if you look at the end date and the date this collection is released, you'll realise that it takes a finite amount of time to produce a book, even with all the technology available to us.

I hope you enjoy this collection and will find it varied, thought-provoking, laughter-producing and tear-jerking. I have certainly enjoyed putting it together.

What's up next in terms of flash? Why, 280 x 70, naturally.      

Read more here                  

 

 

The Schellberg Project

The posts may be helpful for teachers who are familiar with the Schellberg stories or who are teaching about the Holocaust.  They may also be interesting for other readers of historical fiction.

I’ve added a couple of posts this month.

I look at different types of leadership. This actually crosses over with my YA science fiction. I remind myself of how we should be grateful for our freedom: Be Grateful for Your Freedom

  

  

Some notes about my newsletters and blogs

They do overlap a little but here is a summary of what they all do.

 

Bridge House Authors For all those published by Bridge House, CaféLit, Chapeltown or The Red Telephone or interested in being published by us. General news about the imprints. News for writers. Links to book performance. Sign up here.

 

The Bridgetown  Café Bookshop where you can buy my books and books published by Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, Chapeltown Books and The Red Telephone.  Visit us here.     

 

Chapeltown Books News about our books. Sign up here.

 

The Creative Café Project News about the project and CaféLit – for the consumer rather than for the producer.  Sign up here.   

 

Gill’s News: News about my writing, The Schellberg Project, School Visits and Events. Book recommendations and giveaways. Find it here.   

 

Pushing Boundaries, Flying Higher News about conferences and workshops to do with the young adult novel. (infrequent postings) Sign up here.  

 

Red Telephone Books News about our books and our authors. Sign up here.

 

A Publisher’s Perspective Here I and some other editors blog as a publisher. Access this here.   

 

The Creative Café Project Listings and reviews of creative cafés. See them here.   

 

CaféLit Stories Find these here

 

Gill James Writer All about writing and about my books. View this here.

 

Gill’s Recommended Reads Find information here about books that have taken me out of my editor’s head and a reminder of the ones I’ve highlighted in this newsletter.    

 

Gill’s Sample Fiction Read some of my fiction here.

 

The House on Schellberg Street All about my Schellberg project. Read it here.

 

Writing Teacher All about teaching creative writing.  Some creative writing exercises. Access this here.  I also invite other writers to provide prompts and work for critique.     

 

Books Books Books Weekly offers on our books and news of new books. Find them here. 

 

The Young Person’s Library The children’s book catalogue. Access it here.

 

Fair Submissions  Find it here.   

Opportunities for writers are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.  

Happy reading and writing.

 

My Kind of Television

 

I’m going to a Society of Author’s meeting in Manchester this evening.

“What time will it finish?’ my husband asked.

“Well, I’ll be leaving about 8.00.”

“So, you’ll be home to watch some TV just after 9.00 then?”

We have a Sky box and several series recorded. We tend to binge watch them, starting with oldest first. We have less than 20% of the disk free. We don’t have Netflix.  Other half protests. I’d quite like to, but for sure we’d probably never get through it all.

Last night we finished Father Brown. Cosy crimes and English village life with a good dose of the Catholic Church.  Grantchester has parallels yet we have still to watch that; it is definitely C of E. Call the Midwife is there too.  Some find it too sentimental? It’s uplifting though there is some sadness. We need uplifting sometimes.  

Fun too are Death in Paradise and After Paradise. Amazing how the jolly music always comes after the murder had been committed.

Never go to Oxford or Midsommer –they too are full of murders.   

Well, we make up for that with some gritty Walter Presents crime / police procedurals / thrillers in other languages. Though that woman who keeps losing her keys and the baby that keeps threatening to cry get a little tedious after a while.

Then there are the more serious programme like the drama about the Post Office scandal and the documentary about the miners’ strike.

Casualty has been around forever, hasn’t it? Charlie arrived as a young man and now he is gone. Rumour has it that it has saved lives. I couldn’t quite bring myself to watch it just before a stay in hospital, though.

And what of soaps? I don’t know why quite – I think it may be to do with sunshine and a well-to-do environment - but my soap is Neighbours. And another one, if radio is allowed here, The Archers.

We mustn’t forget all of those excellent dramas on the terrestrial channels. They are usually British produced. I think we do drama rather well.  

Watching TV is an easy way of absorbing story. Could I ever write for it? I’d like to give it a go one day. But if nothing else, these programmes help further develop my sense of story.

There is a disadvantage, though, being a writer: I can usually work out what’s going to happen and whodunit.              

Food in my Peace Child Series

Before I started writing the Peace Child books I spent many months thinking about the world I was creating. And as ever, once I started writing I found there were other things I needed to think about

Food of course is important and I needed to work out how the people in this world obtain it.

The first story begins on our own planet Earth, now called Terrestra. The planet is surrounded by a poison cloud and all inhabitants have to live underground. Vegetation still exists on the surface and as the poison cloud lifts things return to normal. Terrestrans have been able to grow crops underground and so much of this is food as we know it though fusion has become even more common: there are Zones not nations on Terrestra.

Humans still prepare food, if they want to, and certainly humans oversee huge commercial kitchens. However, even the poorest home has a house droid that helps to prepare meals.

On Zandra, where Peace Child Kaleem spends a lot of his time, food production is more difficult and agriculture is tricky. Again, humans still prepare food, but it often can just be dialled up and appears in a special drawer in the kitchen.  

Alcoholic drinks on Terrestra are all based on different flavours of what they call nectar whereas on Zandra they have a kind of beer called frega.

Coffee and tea as we know it still exist but on Zandra there is also a drink known as chufa. It is made from a ground up nut and is creamy in texture and a little bitter in taste. It is a strong stimulant.   

The Terrestrans have now colonised many planets and have met some other races. So the variety of foods is impressive. Seven-year-old Erik, Kaleem’s son in my work in progress, demands a puna bird omelette. This meat is very strong-tasting and he really can’t digest it.  As it’s one of Kaleem’s favourites Erik really wants to eat it. Contrast this with his friend, Raquella, the daughter to the president of the Purple Pirates, delighting in being offered a portion of meat balls with pasta and tomato sauce.

The Purple Pirates are nomadic. Their home planet has died and they are continuously travelling through space. They have learnt to grow all that they need on their space craft. But the vehicles are beginning to fail so they force their way on to Zandra. They have chosen this planet because the people there are so skilled in producing crops. Can the Zandrians learn from them?

Clementines become important in books four, five and six. A family that become successful in farming them set up an order that has had influence throughout the universe.

Food doesn’t dominate in my series but it is there and we have to remember that all of the characters need nourishment even if we don’t make that part of the story.

And even though some of these items may sound quite exotic, I’m still really writing about what I know. Yes, the “what if” questions is there. I find the answer by relating what is happening here to my own experience.                     

Yvonne Walus tells us about her latest book

Tell me about your book.

A: Hello Gill, thank you so much  for featuring me on my blog. My name is Yvonne Walus (www.yvonnewalus.com), and my latest book is a domestic suspense thriller, The Wrong Girl, published by Sands Press in March 2024.

Q: Tell us about your research for this book.

A: Hmm, let's see. The book is set in a fictional boarding school north of Auckland, New Zealand, not too far away from where I live, so that part was easy. One of the protagonists is a teenager, and I spent quite a bit of time convincing my two children and their friends to talk to me about their issues - that was the tricky part. I have a small subplot about growing cannabis, and research, dear readers, I performed using the omniscient Google. Fun fact: did you know that while some cannabis leaves have more fingers than others, it's actually the flower part of the plant that people smoke? Finally, a huge shout out to the New Zealand Police who were kind enough to talk to me about hierarchies, uniforms and police vehicles - Andrew Fabish, you're a star!

Q: What inspired you to write this?

A: I had a few goals when writing this book. First of all, I was intrigued by the idea of a school that does things the old-fashioned way in today's world: no Chat GPT, no Internet, no smart phones. Also, with so much discussion around gender identity, it felt important to explore what it meant for a teenager trying to make sense of all the labels and the pressure to adopt a label. Finally, as with all my books, I wanted to write about strong women in a world that is still shaped by masculine values.

Q: What's next?

A: I'm busy writing the next book in the series, also featuring police detective Zero Zimmerman, and also set in beautiful Aotearoa New Zealand. My readers tell me that reading my books is the next best thing to flying over and experiencing the country in person. 

Q: How can we get a copy of the book?

A: I'll be honoured if you consider adding "The Wrong Girl" to your reading list! https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girl-Yvonne-Eve-Walus/dp/1990066305/  or https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wrong-girl-yvonne-eve-walus/1143667531.

Q: Do you have any early book reviews that you can share with us?

A: 

• “Set at an exclusive New Zealand boarding school, THE WRONG GIRL by Yvonne Eve Walus takes readers deep into a world where nothing is as it seems, and everyone has something to hide. Walus’s fascinating setting, twisty plot, and complicated characters make this book a must-read.” – Karen Dionne, author of the #1 international bestseller THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER and THE WICKED SISTER
  
• "Yvonne Walus’s latest thriller is a clever, fast-paced story about identity, temptation, and deceit. The Wrong Girl has everything: a great plot, a colourful cast of characters, an intriguing setting. A real page-turner." ~ Rose Carlyle, author of international bestseller "The girl in the mirror"
• "Intricately plotted and well-written, THE WRONG GIRL is a fascinating take on a world where appearances can be deceiving, everyone is up to something, and only Constable Zero Zimmerman, in the middle of a messy mix of her own personal problems, can sort out what's true." ~ Ellen Baker, author of "Keeping the house", "I gave my heart to know this" and "The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson"

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