We have recently had the privilege of publishing Paula's single author collection. Here's what she had to say.
Thank you for inviting me to your blog Gill to talk about my book, Days Pass like a Shadow a collection of thirteen dark tales which are all linked by the theme of Death and Loss. This collection features my most favourite stories that I have written so far. Though I’ve been busy writing almost every day since finishing working full-time nine years ago, it has only been in these last couple of years that my confidence has grown enough for me to feel I fully understand the process needed to create stories to a high enough standard that they are selected for publication.
Each of stories in Days Pass like a Shadow
has its own story behind its creation. The first story in the
collection The Meetings began life as a submission for the
magazine, People’s Friend. I received some positive feedback from their editor
but he didn’t like the ending and wanted me to rewrite the story. I did, but
then he told me it had lost its sparkle in the rewrite. Shortly after its
rejection I came across a writing competition and decided to change The
Meetings back to its original story line and entered it. To my utter delight
and amazement, it was overall winner in the competition. It proved to me; if
your work suffers rejection in one place try somewhere else.
The idea behind On the Streets of Kabul
came to me in a dream. It seemed so real and shocking it woke me. So not to wake
my husband, I got out of bed, went to the kitchen and turned on the light so I
could write down the dream while it was fresh in my mind. It seemed so real I
could feel the heat, taste the dust and smell the fear. For Days Pass like a
Shadow, I extended the story to give it a rounded ending.
Perfect Justice is another story that came
about under extraordinary circumstances. When I was working full-time in an
electronics factory, I would go in early so I could get a parking space. Before
it was time to start work, I would either make notes of plot ideas or read books
on how to write to be published. I did the same during my lunch breaks too. Of
course, my work colleagues knew about my crazy dream to become a published
writer.
One day I noticed a supervisor was always watching
me. My job was to hand-build units. If I had shortages of parts, I had to make
notes of what I needed, and then go and collect the parts from the
storeroom. On three occasions my supervisor called me out for
writing in company’s time. So Perfect Justice was born. As
they say, don’t get mad, get even. The surname Perfect came
about when my work colleague, Kathy told me about a girl she knew who had the
same surname. She said, she wasn’t Perfect, but horrible.
What’s next for me? Now my focus is more on
writing novels, though I won’t be giving up writing short stories, Gill. I’m
busy constructing a new novel, which is a follow-up of my novella, The
Funeral Birds. It’s the continuing story about a failing private
detective agency, but it has a twist as there’s a four hundred year old witch in
the story. I do have a couple of other projects I need to finish first before I
can concentrate on it solely.
I had planned to do a garden party at my home to
launch my book but unfortunately, the Covid-19 put a stop to that. My writing
group was going to get involved with the local radio station. They were to come
to the group to do an interview with us but again that was cancelled. I’m hoping
by next year things will be a lot easier and the village WI will want speakers
to come along again as I had put my name forward. I’m busy marketing online with
thousands of other writers but I’m not sure whether it will reap the rewards we
all hope for.
To buy a copy of Days Pass
like a Shadow, you can purchase it from the publisher at Bridge House,
from Amazon online or order it through your local bookshop.
What got me started was the need to prove to
myself that I could. I left school poorly educated and it was a
comment made by a Polish colleague who laughed at me when I said I didn’t
understand the working of English grammar. She explained that they learnt
English at school. I felt ashamed as English was my birth language yet I didn’t
understand how it worked when written down. That’s when I decided
to teach myself from the second-hand books bought off EBay by my husband as we
couldn’t afford to pay for a writing course at the time.
Reading about English Grammar was like reading a
foreign language, I had no idea want they were talking about, but I persevered
and now I think I understand though I do have moments of doubts.
Do I have a routine? Yes, I suppose I do. I’m at
my most productive in the morning. I have a small office at the top of the
stairs where I work facing a wall of books. I sometimes have music on in the
background, a mixture of classic and new age music, but mainly instrumentals. I
find it helps me to stay focused. The winter months are the best for writing
long pieces of work, as I don’t have to worry about the garden.
My husband has always been supportive of me, but
was mainly friends to start with. Now the rest of my family are on board once my
work became more widely published.
What am I most proud of with my writing? That I never gave up and kept the
faith in my ability.
2 comments:
Congratulations, Paula. You have persevered through all that self-doubt and you are finally free to fly with those birds!!!
I am so touched by this Paula your writing journey is so interesting, This is an example of how sheer determination, hard work, believing in yourself and letting nothing stand in your way, can lead to success. I wish more people could read this especially those experiencing self-doubt because your story is an inspiration to others to follow their dream whether you want to be an artist, a singer, a writer etc- let nothing stand in the way of your dreams and aspirations.
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