EVERY KIND OF READING ALOUD by Enid Richemont

Amazon 0689836368

 Recently I've been asked to narrate one of the story-apps I'm doing with Flying Books. The last time I used a mic was at the launch of FOR MARITSA WITH LOVE amazon.co.uk/dp/0689836368 and on that occasion I nearly wrecked it, so I regard the things with great caution. I don't have a mic on my computer, so we bought a tiny clip-on one. It was strange to be doing a reading without a visible audience. Now, don't misunderstand - I have always read aloud - for me, it's an essential part of working - but it's a private thing, and I hate having anyone around while I'm doing it. Reading finished work to an audience is something else. It's a special kind of sharing, and audience feedback is an essential part of it. A formal reading with a mic, pausing briefly for each page turn, has been a curious experience, and I still haven't got it right - I was told it had too much echo, so I may have to give up and hand over to one of their professional narrators (I wasn't too impressed by the sample narration they sent me, though).

Words spoken, words read aloud, words learnt and uttered, words read inside your head and words alfresco - they all feel astonishingly different. Work on the computer reads differently from work printed out; likewise handwritten work and word scribbles. The first stories ever told were oral, and probably sung, and the narrative would have been changed and embellished by each individual narrator. The physical act of writing slows things down and permits contemplation - and editing. I think the very best writing contains elements of both kinds of storytelling - the immediate and the crafted, which leads me to mention Kathleen Jones's recent fascinating blog about the life, and afterlife, of Katherine Mansfield. I hadn't read her for decades, but found a delightful little Bloomsbury Classics edition of her short stories in the Barbican library and began a re-acquaintance. She was an amazing writer.

I've spent about a month editing and updating my previously published (Walker Books) Young Adult novel, THE GAME amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B0OAE7E, and yesterday I went public and put it on Kindle and KDP Select. It's always fascinating and challenging to go back to work that's already been out in print format (if not, recently, 'in print'). Updating usually involves dealing with political and technological changes, but actual editing can go on for ever - I even found a spelling mistake in the original hardback, and I had a meticulous editor at Walker. At the time of writing, this was a book I felt passionately about - it was one of Wendy Boase's favourites - but over the years I forgot about it, so re-working it felt like coming to a current work in progress. The extraordinary autistic child, Jennie, in the story, who was able to remember and sing (in tune) whole symphonies, but who refused to speak, was based on the very real child - a boy - I met when I was teaching in a Rudolf Steiner school. Please do take a look. Incidentally, I'm thinking of changing the title of this story. There are so many books with that title, and these days, it does, faintly, suggest computer games. My alternative title might be: 'SONG OF THE FURIES' - what do you think?