A snippet from Roger Noons

This is the cover from Roger's flash fiction collection.  Click on the image to find out more.

 

Tell me about your story  in  Aftermath - but don't give any spoilers!  

My story in Aftermath comprises 4 mini tales, examples of small businesses affected by Lockdown. None of them had any offers of financial assistance.

 

What inspired you to write this?

The original idea came to me after talking to a police officer, who said how criminality had changed, mostly for the good of innocent folk. With many people at home and the streets in urban and suburban areas being devoid of traffic, certain criminal activities were curtailed. There was of course an increase in cyber crime and internet law breaking. The people who I included in the stories were unable to conduct their businesses on line.

Why did you think it important to contribute  to this collection? 

 I think it important that a writer always takes any opportunity to achieve publication and my tales contain a sense of black humour. When times become difficult, the ability to smile (even behind a face covering) and laugh are important for therapy, indeed sanity. I felt it unlikely that any other contributor would submit a similar piece.

How have you coped with the pandemic? 

Last year, the pandemic became secondary in my mind as my wife of fifty years became seriously ill. She died on 28th December. The cause was not Covid connected and the fact that consultations were delayed by the NHS concentrating on Coronavirus, was irrelevant. Had the cause of her symptoms been identified earlier, the prognosis would still have been the same.

Can you tell us about your other publications?

I have been included in many anthologies of both poetry and prose over the last fifteen years, had screenplays filmed and to date have two single author publications. An A to Z by RLN comprises 26 short stories and Slimline Tales, published by Chapeltown Books contains 74 pieces of flash fiction.

 

 

 

A continuing response by writers to the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 and during the ongoing aftershocks in 2021, this collection is of work by writers we have published before and whom we trust, and their trusted colleagues. When disasters strike writers respond and react in words. They share with us their hopes and fears. They describe and rationalise.

 

A snippet from John Guest, one of the ''Aftermath' contibutors

 

Tell me about your story  in  Aftermath - but don't give any spoilers! 

My story in Aftermath is called First Person; a short tale about a man called Adam, ironically seemingly the last person. There is a brief and somewhat bleak explanation of how he got to this point, connected to the global pandemic and a sudden (and hopefully hopeful) twist at the end.

What inspired you to write this?

I don't really know, it just came to me as an idea, like many of the things I write. I typed all pretty much in one sitting.

 

 

How have you coped with the pandemic?

An event so historic as the Coronavirus pandemic needs to be recorded, reflected on and chronicled. Aftermath is one (excellent) way to do this.

How have you coped with the pandemic?

Looked after my grandchildren, gardened and home built, recorded audiobooks, wrote, read, listened, studied and prayed.

 

Can you tell us about your other publications? 

I have had four books published (2000, 2005, 2010, 2014), audioread 7 novels (the first published via you), completed a doctoral thesis on Play and written hundreds of newspaper columns and some poems.

 

 

 

 

A continuing response by writers to the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 and during the ongoing aftershocks in 2021, this collection is of work by writers we have published before and whom we trust, and their trusted colleagues. When disasters strike writers respond and react in words. They share with us their hopes and fears. They describe and rationalise.

Living the Dream – full-time writer?

 

I’m writing something about this for a non-fiction text I’m working on and I thought a word or two might be useful here. Does a full-time writer, in fact, spend all of what might be classed the working day sat at desk writing? Probably not.

But how do you know when you’re successful. What does success look like?

 

The book-shaped swimming pool

This concept was offered at a conference I attended. The speaker suggested that you might be convinced that you were a real writer by the time you were able to afford, from your earnings as a writer, a home with a book-shaped swimming pool.

Well, I don’t yet have a book-shaped swimming pool but I can afford a gym membership, and the gym has a swimming pool, and in in non-Covid times, I can afford to go on holiday to places with swimming pools. So, I’m getting there, right?  

Without being too indulgent I have a nice life style. But is all of that from my earnings as a writer and do I spend a lot of my time writing? Not quite, but maybe I’m getting there.

 

Time writing

I aim to spend three hours a day writing and also to produce 2000 words.  That is every single day of the year.  I take Christmas Day, my birthday and travelling days off and sometimes life events get in the way. I just write those words another time and send the hours on another day.  I’m behind at the moment but not too far behind.

I also spend my time on social media and on editing, publishing, marketing my work and that of others and submitting my work.

I attend French, German and Spanish conversation groups and interesting talks and seminars. I’m involved with a choir. 

Maybe I’m spending about thirty hours a week on writerly activities?

 

Does my writing have an impact?      

I’m placing about 60% of what I’m writing. So, about 60% of my output has so far found a publisher – in a paying market.  That might be on an online e-zine, in a printed anthology, with a small publisher, with a bigger publisher or even in one to the imprints for which I edit but this will include a full editorial process. It takes a while to place texts. That time taken dilutes any income that I earn from those placements.

 

Am I earning a living from my writing?

Not quite. Payments are poor.  But they do add up with royalties, income from work published by the imprints I manage, ALCS and PLR payments. I used to do author visits and they were quite lucrative. I’m not pursuing those so much now as I don’t need the extra cash, though I will accept interesting work.

I was a senior lecturer in creative writing. That led to a decent pension when I retired. So, it  feels like payment for my writing.

There is always the possibility anyway that one work will really take off.

 

Do I have permission to spend time writing?

Yes I do.  60% is good enough to be paid for.  The other 40% is just as good - it just hasn’t found the right home yet.

I have some adequate and some good reviews – and just enough lousy ones to show that I’m a real writer.

I was once paid a lot of money because I was deemed to know enough about it in order to be able to teach. By the way, it just isn’t true that those who can’t, teach.  Those who can’t can’t teach either!

 

Well, then, living the dream or what?

Yes.          

Margaret Bulleyment tell us about her story in the 'Aftermath' collection' her expereince of lockdown and about some of her other work.

 

Balcony Views

 

Iris has just moved into a retirement village to be with her friend, Rose, but her arrival is not the happy day she imagined. It’s March 2020, Rose is nowhere to be found, the lockdown means communication with fellow residents is limited to shouting across balconies and entertainment is only provided by the young gardener. Has Rose made a mistake?

 

 

I find story writing a little bit like making soup. You start with one ingredient and then you add another that complements it, but you need an unlikely ingredient to liven it up and then you need to simmer the mixture long enough, for all the flavours to come together.

 

Lockdown for my husband and me was not especially difficult to begin with. We are both retired, my husband is housebound and I have a bad foot, so we were not about to travel the world and we were no strangers to Sainsbury's online deliveries, so it was other people who had joined our world. We could sit outside enjoying the garden in spring, while others were battling day and night to save peoples’ lives, while clad in inadequate masks and suits. What was there to complain about?

 

But as time wore on and we were unable to see our family, and my choral singing had shifted from postponed concerts to becoming a forbidden activity, we began to realise that our communication with others, however limited, was the most important element of our lives.

 

We were fortunate, but I thought of older people like us who had moved specially to be in a lively community of similar souls and who would by now, be feeling more cut off than they had felt when living alone.

 

The next ingredient was what I call ‘graded death.’ Death comes to everyone, but if you unfortunately die in a recorded event that makes the news, your every detail will be made known to the world, but if you are just another statistic on a certificate, you are anonymous. (You would never guess both my parents worked in the Births, Marriages and Deaths department in the General Register Office, would you?) In a pandemic, you may well have caused the death of other people without knowing it, or someone, known or unknown, will have caused your death.

 

Finally, I read that the first Sunday in May is a special event in the gardening calendar. You will need to read the story to find out what that is.

 

I started a Covid Diary in March, recording what was happening in the news, as well as what I and my village community were doing. When I was asked to write something for Aftermath, I did not want to record a version of my diary entries, but to write a story reflecting what was happening at the time, through its characters. Nothing reflects the times more than what is written in the moment. I am still writing my diary and looking back at what I wrote on that day in 2020 and already it reads as history.

 

You will find more of my stories in Bridge House’s anthologies – Magnet Book; Café Lit; Snowflakes; Baubles; Glit-er-ary; Crackers; Nativity and Mulling It Over. (Bridge House has been good to me and I am very grateful for their support.) I have had stories on story websites and I also write short plays. I have had two of them performed professionally, in small theatres.

 

My full length play Caribbean Calypso was the runner-up in Trinity College of Music and Drama’s 2011 International Playwriting Competition, in the category of a play suitable for performers aged 11 and under. In December 2017, the play was performed three times in Bangalore by Jagriti Kids – a charity promoting literacy and school attendance.

 

The play is based on the Anansi and Tiger stories and involves music, masks and audience participation. If you have a group of mixed ages and abilities and would be interested in more details of it, please contact me –  jbulleyment@waitrose.com

 

Margaret Bulleyment

 

 

 

News 2 August 2021

 

Fresh air and meeting people face to face   

The Manchester Society of Authors group met for a picnic today.  It was lovely. It was warm but overcast.  Simon, our organiser, had bought some bits and bobs and others brought things to share. We were very careful about how we shared. And so we had a lively mixture of goodies: juicy olives, pink lemonade, prosecco, red wine, crisps, savoury muffins, mini pork pies, stuffed peppers, raspberry crumble, strawberries and chocolate biscuits. And much more.

There were some interesting conversations. I am more convinced than ever that it is right to publish certain of my projects myself or through one of the imprints I manage. One of our groups has done this very successfully and will only go back to the traditional publishers if they will offer her an advance as big as what she’s making from self-publishing.

Whichever way you are published you have to embrace publish and marketing and at least when you’re self-published you can have so much more control over this.

I also met someone who writes a lot about family history. And another writer who like me is moving away a little from writing for young adults.

It was very enjoyable being out in the fresh air. Did you know that Greater Manchester has thirty-two green spaces? Actually, that’s not true.  There is web site that lists thirty–two but there are many, many more. The important lido at Bury, at Clarence Park, isn’t listed. I am sure there must be many others missing. Greater Manchester has at least thirty-two green spaces. 

As I crossed the city to get to the Whitworth Park I noticed that the cafes were thriving and there are still a lot of street cafes in operation.  Piccadilly Gardens was heaving.  Everywhere else was quieter than normal for a week end in Manchester but lively enough even so.     

            

Current writing

I’m on the second draft now of my fifth Peace Child novel. Former protagonist Kaleem has now become a minor character. A minor character, his now adopted daughter, Petri, has stepped up

I continue to write for Talking About My Generation. My latest offerings are reviews of the Manchester International Festival:

https://talkingaboutmygeneration.co.uk/a-daughters-grief-shared-notes-on-grief-manchester-international-festival-2021/

https://talkingaboutmygeneration.co.uk/instillation-the-long-waited-weighted-gathering-at-manchester-international-festival/  

It was great that this festival could go ahead. It was all very well organised and felt very Covid secure.    

I’m also delighted to have a story in https://www.matchgirls1888.org/feathers-pennies . This is all to do with the match girls who went on strike. It appeals to my trade union nature. I have written a piece of flash fiction about one of the girls who were involved in the strike. I enjoy strorifying history

 

The Young Person’s Library

I’ve added just two books this month.

I am Thunder by Mohammad Khan  

This is a carefully developed young adult book about a girl who narrowly avoids being radicalised.

 

Kintana and Captain’s Curse by Susan Brownrigg

This is a novel for fluent readers. It is a fast-paced rip—roaring pirate story with some more homely touches. I’m very proud of what Susan Brownrigg has achieved here. She is one of my SCBWI friends.

 

Current reading recommendation

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

Odile obtains a post as librarian at the American Library in Paris. She continues working there for most of World War II. She makes many friends, some of whom later are in danger: Professor Cohen, who is sent to an internment camp, Margaret, an English woman who is the wife of a diplomat, Bitsi who works in the children’s section and many others. 

She has a twin brother, Remy, who dies whilst he is a prisoner of war.

She finds out that her father and the man she married, both of whom are policeman, have been responding to “crow” letters – letters that giveaway illegal activities. Odile hides some of these letters. She leaves her husband of one day when she finds out this that he has been involved in beating up Margaret who had had an affair with a German soldier.

We read of Odile in World War II but also of her life in the 1980s as a widow in America. She married bigamously an American soldier she met at the American hospital. She befriends   a young neighbour, Lily, and tries to help her avoid the same sort of mistakes she had made.

Some of the characters are based on real people. 

Grab your copy here.           

 

 Giveaway

Note: these are usually mobi-files to be downloaded to a Kindle.  Occasionally there are PDFs.  

This month I’m giving away Spooking, my gentle YA paranormal romance. 

Tom crashes his car and he wakes up in an unfamiliar place. He is unable to reach Amanda. They argued just before the crash. He meets cheeky but friendly Marcus, who, though younger than Tom, has more experience in the areas that now matter. But Marcus has his own concerns and eventually has to leave Tom to deal with his problems on his own. How can Tom let Amanda know how much he loves her? Does she feel the same way? Will they ever be able to move forward?

Grab your copy and lots of other freebies here  

Note: Normally my books and the books supplied by the imprints I manage sell for anything from £0.99 to £10.99.  Most on Kindle are about £2.99 and the average price for paperback is £7.00. Writers have to make a living. But I’m offering these free samples so that you can try before you buy.

 

The Schellberg Project

The posts may be helpful for teachers who are familiar with the Schellberg stories or who are teaching about the Holocaust.  They may also be interesting for other readers of historical fiction.

Sometimes I also write about what might be of interest to other writers.

I have been quite busy again this month.

In Complex Situations I discuss how often people find themselves in really difficulty situations to which there is no easy way out. This was my response to reading An Obsolete Honor by Helena  P. Schrader. This is about the German resistance during the Nazi era.  Schrader takes a German point of view, as I do in many of the Schellberg novels.

I also remind readers to leave reviews for us writers.  It’s one of the most helpful things you can do to support us. See what I’ve said in Reviews Reminder.

More complex situations exist in occupied France. This is shown in the novel The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles , reviewed here. This is also my recommended read, mentioned above. I delve a little more into the complexity of the situation in Never Easy Choices.

 

Some notes about my newsletters and blogs

They do overlap a little but here is a summary of what they all do.

 

Bridge House Authors For all those published by Bridge House, CaféLit, Chapeltown or The Red Telephone or interested in being published by us. General news about the imprints. News for writers. Links to book performance. Sign up here.

 

The Bridgetown  Café Bookshop where you can buy my book and books published by Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, Chapeltown Books and The Red Telephone.  We’re building up our inventory, so please bear with us. Visit us here.     

 

Chapeltown Books News about our books. Sign up here.

 

The Creative Café Project News about the project and CaféLit – for the consumer rather than for the producer.  Sign up here.   

 

Gill’s News: News about my writing, The Schellberg Project, School Visits and Events. Book recommendations and giveaways. Find it here.   

 

Pushing Boundaries, Flying Higher News about conferences and workshops to do with the young adult novel. (infrequent postings) Sign up here.  

 

Red Telephone Books News about our books and our authors. Sign up here.

 

A Publisher’s Perspective Here I and some other editors blog as a publisher. Access this here.   

 

The Creative Café Project Listings and reviews of creative cafés. See them here.   

 

CaféLit Stories Find these here

 

Gill James Writer All about writing and about my books. View this here.

 

Gill’s Recommended Reads Find information here about books that have taken me out of my editor’s head and a reminder of the ones I’ve highlighted in this newsletter.    

 

Gill’s Sample Fiction Read some of my fiction here.

 

The House on Schellberg Street All about my Schellberg project. Read it here.

 

Writing Teacher All about teaching creative writing.  Some creative writing exercises. Access this here.     

 

Books Books Books Weekly offers on our books and news of new books. Find them here. 

 

The Young Person’s Library The children’s book catalogue. Access it here.

 

Fair Submissions  Find it here.   

Opportunities for writers are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.  

Happy reading and writing.

 Image by Karl-Heinz Karisch from Pixabay