Authors Electric

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Fell by the wayside already? Mine have. Eat more healthily, do more exercise… yes, well!  But I will start eating more healthily soon. Nearly all the Christmas chocolates, cake and biscuits have been eaten up. And as the weather starts to improve, I’ll be more inspired to go out for walks and get to the gym... honestly! Writing aspirations and resolutions are always top of my list. And it helps when you can share with writing buddies. My Monday night writing class has been going for quite a few years now. The photo here shows our core members enjoying a post-Christmas/New Year party last Monday. In between eating and drinking, we shared our plans and aspirations for 2018. And while lots of people poo-poo the idea of making promises to yourself you never keep, I honestly think it’s a good idea to set yourself new challenges at the beginning of the year. Only don’t beat yourself up if you fail to keep them. ...

Today is something of a Red Letter Day for me, as it sees the release of my first adult crime novel. It's called Kill or Die , and while it's not self published, I hope you will indulge me giving it a little mention here. It's being published by Bloodhound Books, who have been a real pleasure to work with. I think we've all had bad experiences at some time or other with some publishers, but I'm feeling really fortunate to be working with two publishers who are just brilliant. My other one is Badger Learning who I write hi-lo books for reluctant teenagers. I'm not exactly new to writing crime, as my children's books for Scholastic back in the 1990's featured murder mysteries - but murder in the best possible taste! No blood or gore. Whereas in Kill or Die there's definitely bit of the sticky red stuff! It's funny though, how it's okay to write about murder – unless it's involving animals. When I was just starting to wr...

We all know that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, well these hospital workers want more than just apples, they want the complete crumble – and any other delicious recipes you'd care to share with them. I thought you'd all be keen as mustard, and certainly not sour grapes if I passed on this culinary request to you. So don't get in a pickle, as what I'm about to ask you is as easy as pie. And if it's not your cup of tea well I'll eat my hat! Okay enough of the foodie cliches. A couple of days ago I was  contacted by a lady named Denise Cross, asking if I would like to contribute a favourite recipe to a cookery book that she and her team are putting together. She also asked if I knew of any other authors who would also like to contribute - hence this timely blog post! When I learned what this cookery book was in aid of, I  was only too pleased to help. Denise works at the Children's Hospital School in the Queen's Medical Centre...

Me in an army helicopter Like lots of authors, I sometimes get asked to give talks on what I do, so I've put together a talk which I call The Perils and Pitfalls of Being a Writer.  As the name suggests its full of little stories and anecdotes of the fun, adventures and misadventures  you can get up to when you're a writer. In my case it's mainly when I'm out and about doing magazine articles. Because I write about anything and everything, the topics range from antiques to animals and from collectors to celebrities - and all things in between.  Quite a lot of the stories revolve around writing for Dogs Monthly, such as interviewing the couple with a nine stone puppy which didn't just chew my pencil as I sat taking notes, it devoured my entire hand. “Excuse me but you dog is eating my hand!” isn't a phrase I often come out with. Off out with the Thames Police Then there was the time we went out with the Thames Police on their launch w...

Coventry's very own Lady Godiva, Pru Poretta.  They say that inspiration is all around us, and if any of you have taken part in your local Heritage Open Days run during September by the National Trust, you're probably buzzing with new ideas. Here in Coventry, the Heritage Open Days weekend began on Friday with the city celebrating 1,000 years of the birth of Coventry.  As many people know, Coventry is famous for the story of Lady Godiva, and the city is so fortunate to have its own resident Lady Godiva. A lovely lady named Pru Poretta who has taken on the role for the last 30 years or so and is a real ambassador for the city. Lady Godiva (Pru Poretta) in the new Coventry Cathedral. On the Friday of the Heritage Open Days, Pru headed a multi cultural procession from the town centre to the new cathedral for a ceremony which included the unveiling and presentation of a unique Travelling Tapestry, created and inspired by hundreds of people. ...

Ann Evans, author visit at Sowe Valley Primary You can never start writing and publishing too early! A few months ago a local primary school got in touch to see if I would run an after school's club with the aim of producing a school magazine.  I imagine they invited me after a previous author school visit around World Book Day.  It was a  paying job, so I thought, why not? Although I only get paid for the hour I'm there – and not the hours I later discovered I was spending knocking the kids' work into shape. Still, it was enjoyable work. So, the fifteen children turned up at our Monday afternoon's after school magazine club at Sowe Valley Primary, and I admit it took me quite a few weeks to remember all the names. And the fact that it was children from all years made me wonder if it was going to be tricky working with multi age groups. It went from little Ellie in year 1 (aged 5) to Kayleigh in year 6 (aged 11). But oddly enough, it seems when it come...

As well as being a fan of Monty Python in my youth, I was also an avid reader of horror and ghost stories. Grubby, increasingly battered copies of the Pan series of horror stories passed from hand to hand around the classroom ... and then I discovered Dennis Wheatley and H.P Lovecraft nestling up against Dickens in my Dad's bookcase, and had a few more sleepless nights ... As I got older I became a bit more squeamish and my love of horror lessened - but not so the good old ghost story, which provides all of the chills but without the buckets of blood and gore. The highlight of Christmas TV viewing was the BBC ghost story: a friend introduced me to MR James amongst other authors - and there are some very fine ghost story writers amongst the Authors Electric members too, including Susan Price, Mari Biella and Ann Evan s ... But although I read lots of ghost stories, I don't write them. Well, not normally. I did at one time pen a few, for t...

Karen King, Ann Evans, Chrissie Bradshaw, Sheryl Browne, Lynda Stacey. Last weekend was one of my writing highlights of the year – the Romantic Novelist Association's annual conference.  This year is was held at Lancaster University, and it was my third conference. My good pal, author Karen King and I teamed up, and we took the train north feeling really excited to be going along to another RNA gathering. It's the thought of meeting up with familiar faces, making new friends, and basically just being around so many people who share that love of writing. It's such an amazing atmosphere, lots of buzz and noise, lots of laughter and chat – and of course plenty of time to eat and drink. Of course it wasn't all socialising. It was brilliantly organised with th e programme of talks, workshops and one-to-ones sent out to delegates some weeks before the event so that you can say which sessions you plan on attending, and arrange a one-to-one consultation with ...

The most fantastic stories aren't always found in books or on film. Sometimes the most incredible fantasies are written in the words of a song and performed in the most awesome and dramatic way. One of my favourite CD's to listen to as I'm driving, is Catch the Rainbow – the anthology by the brilliant (in my opinion) rock band , Rainbow. And the song that sends shivers down my spine, is the all time classic, Stargazer. It's written by Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, both of whom seem to have an affinity with the Medieval period with its swords and sorcery. And this song – described by some far more knowledgeable than me on musical matters as neo-classical, tells the strange tale of a Wizard who entrapped his workforce for years, forcing them to build a tower to the stars.  It was the wizard's desire to reach the stars, but when he finally climbed the tower, he fell to his death. His slaves were in shock to see the wizard was ...

KIDS STUFF by Ann Evans Some favourite characters When you write children's books, World Book Week is often a very busy week. Not that I'm complaining, because being invited into schools to work with the children, inspiring them to read, and to write creatively is just the best thing. Plus of course, it's a most welcome addition to a writer's income. What makes it especially interesting is that every school visit is different. The way the day is worked out, the children and teachers in the classes, the activities you do, and the questions you get asked. Even though you plan your day, you're very much working off the seat of your pants. Questions come flying at you, and you need to have an instant answer – and make it interesting. After reading an extract of The Beast, youngsters were inspired to draw it. Although most of my books are for 8-12 year olds and young adult, I'll often be asked to work with the little ones too – rece...