Authors Electric

  Whenever I am asked for tips for new writers one I always give is to join a writing group. I then go on to say that you must choose your group carefully, for if you want to benefit from the comments of other writers there are certain points to be considered. Firstly, are you looking for critical feedback or for approbation and encouragement? The two things are not mutually exclusive, but there are some groups where the first is singularly lacking and, pleasant though it is to read out your work and be told it is really good, if you want to improve and move forward, unalloyed praise is not very helpful. Secondly, your group needs writers with experience and a track record of success. I don’t mean they have to be best sellers or traditionally published but they should be people who know what they are talking about and whose work you respect, for if they are not you won’t value their advice. Thirdly, are the members of the group going to be kind, supportive and encouraging? If...

For many years I’ve been a member of various writing groups. Most of these have involved meeting in person and then sharing work and feeding back via e-mail. Since the pandemic everything has gone on-line – for me that’s my local writing group and poetry group - and I’ve also joined a new online group where we read and feedback on work in progress. I’ve also ‘attended’ a couple of Arvon Masterclasses and ‘Novelnights.’ There are many advantages to online Zoom sessions. The cost of these sessions is usually affordable and there is no travelling - which involves both cost and time. Online sessions are also more accessible for those who are rarely, or never, able to travel. ‘Novelnights’ runs in Bristol, which is many miles from my home and would certainly not be practical for me. But I’ll be honest – I don’t really like Zoom. For one thing I find my own face distracts me and I really don’t want to look at it when I’m speaking - and more importantly I miss in-person human contact and inte...

I love travelling. Especially if the place I’m going to is different from where I grew up. The views across forested hills, the sight of some bird of prey gliding in the air, the sound of huge waves crashing on a beach... I recently discovered a wonderful website that shares Live travel with the world. You simply choose the tour you want at a time that you can attend, get yourself a drink and sit back whilst the tour guide shows you around. It’s free (tip enabled) which to someone Dutch is remarkable in itself, as we have a saying, “Only the sun comes up for free.” There are too many tours to choose from, and some of them are at ridiculous times, but the ones I look for are the ones that include stories, legends, information. I’m not keen on guided tours, as my attention span is normally only a fraction of the guide’s, so by the time we have left the first exhibition room in some castle, the guide is just warming up, and I want to get to the next room already. On the Virtual travel sit...

Colorado Symphony's "Play On" virtual ensemble This changes everything! We repeat this mantra with every crisis, disaster, plague , and war. There's truth in it, despite that our ways may change, but human nature not so much. COVID-19 remains rampant worldwide at this writing, while our cities hunker down to stall its spread and buy time for our doctors and scientists. Squint, and you can see the outlines of changes to come in a post-pandemic world. I'll leave analyses of the cultural, economic and political tectonics to others, and note only the vibrations we're already feeling in our world of writing and publishing. It's early days, but reports indicate a surge in book sales as might be expected what with so many of us sequestered at home with time on our hands. It's difficult to tell if this will be a longterm trend, but demand for books seems to be surging at the moment, particularly for e-books - delivered electronically...

Coventry Writers' Group, the wonderfully supportive and excellent writing group to which I belong, has just, for the second year running, put on a performance of our work as part of the Coventry Literature Festival. We performed at the Criterion Theatre, Earlsdon, Coventry, who very kindly hosted us and even made some of our costumes. We read and acted out a variety of short stories, short plays, poems, factual articles and timely advice from Coventry City Council on how to deal with a zombie invasion. And that was just the start! The photo below shows us in action at our dress rehearsal. Photo by Derek Medcraft My offering was a short and (I hope) humorous poem about the trials and tribulations of an aspiring writer who is rather premature in trying to sell her work. She is enthusiastic and slightly mad (so lots of acting needed there!) It has some slight relevance to what we Electric Authors are trying to do... so my apologies and please don't be offended, anyone. I...

          A Monday morning knock at our door three weeks ago brought the surprising news that our home was in danger of “sudden and catastrophic” collapse and life as I knew it evaporated. We decamped to a nearby hotel and friends, rallying to the bar at cocktail hour, started calling me Mrs Self.           I’m not a stranger to uncertainty but the general feeling of limbo, of being away but just a short walk from a home that might topple over, takes some getting used to. Life goes on of course and I'm trying to keep my mind on the advantages: a sudden, completely unforeseen withdrawal of housework, supermarket shopping and cleaning for starters. The abundance of folded white towels, bath robes and slippers.  A gym, newspaper delivery, interesting Olympic-related lift encounters etc etc. My old Mac was too huge to unplug and lug all the way here, though I did certa...

Writing can be a lonely business. Whether you live alone or are married and/or have a large family, the act of committing your imagination to paper or computer is highly personal – just you and your words against the world. Of course I’m discounting all the people that live in your head and whisper to you at odd hours of the day – if I admitted I talked to imaginary people, I’d have even less of a social life than I do already! It’s slightly different in the 21 st century – the internet helps us connect to other like-minded people, sharing ideas and offering support across the world via facebook, blogs and even sites set up specifically for writers to share their work. These can help even the most isolated of writers to talk to people who understand what it’s like to sometimes feel you are living two lives at the same time. But you can't beat physically meeting up with other writers. Whether it's to share work in progress or just socialise, you know you are with people ...