Newsletter December 2015

Another year almost done, then. 2015 has had its ups and downs for me and my friends and associates but we’re all generally making progress. I’m glad that not too many of my friends have been badly affected by the floods and those that have seem to be well supported.
The Book Case at Hebden Bridge suffered badly. However, it was good to see them so well supported by Blue Moose and Salt publishers and authors Melvin Burgess, Marion Keyes and Ian Rankin.
I expect as the day goes on we’ll all be making our new year’s resolutions and I look forward to reading them all.
My own is along the lines of getting back to my writing routine which has been very disrupted by the day job. It’s beginning to happen anyway.      

       

Bridge House

We had a great celebration event, featuring Snowflakes, The Best of CafeLit 4 and the Shelagh Delaney winners in London, 5 December, at Waxy O’Connors. It was marred somewhat by Debz having her handbag stolen. In her usual cheerful way though she didn’t let that get in the way. This time I did take along some books to sell and I’m glad to say I didn’t have to take any home. However, you’ve got to allow that against the taxi fare.
“Blimey, this is heavy,” said the taxi-driver as he loaded my suitcase into the cab. “What have you got in here? 40 books I should think?” He wasn’t far off. There were 41, in fact.
We did the book swap again. Everyone brought along another of their books or a book they’d enjoyed reading. Oddly, there were several left at the end. My daughter dropped them off at a place she knew on the way home.    
It’s always good to meet people in person. A few people read, though the acoustics weren’t brilliant in that space.
I was very pleased with the video in the end. Take a look here.
We’ve decided on the theme for next year. Baubles. Short, snappy, sparkly stories that brighten up the darker nights like baubles enhance the Christmas tree. We’re not talking about things that give you a good belly laugh nor anything that is overly sentimental. Feel good is fine, yes, but just a light touch. You’ll know it when you think of it. Check out full submission details here.
We seem to have sold quite a few more books than normal this time. For the first time ever we’ve had problems with delivery. So apologies to anyone who has had to wait a long time.

Story time

It’s that time of year again. It’s a time of the year I like a lot. It may be something to do with having a birthday in the few days leading up to Christmas. However there is more to it than that, I think.

This is the great story time. We stay indoors a lot. We hibernate. We fuel our bodies against the cold, we watch the snow coming down and are glad that we don’t have to go out in it. Or maybe there is no snow and it may not even be that cold, but the days are short and the evenings long. We often feel more like staying in that going out.   

So, what do we do? We stay in the warm, we perhaps light a candle and we devour story in all sorts of forms – books, films, video games.  

I also catch up with some writing. The act of creating a story can be even richer than reading one.  

I find too that it’s a time when I sleep more and dream more. I even daydream a lot. I get more ideas. The winter actually prepares for the spring and the summer. It’s all happening there below the surface. The story suggestions bubble away. They take shape and burst forth. It’s all part of the cycle.