Current writing
I’m now on the third draft 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. And it now has a title. The Glastonbury Specification. That was yesterday’s epiphany.
I’ve almost finished the first draft of my latest non-fiction work as well.
I’m delighted to have had another story accepted by Reedsy: Postcards and Lemon Shortbread
Also Rozia’s U-log, a novella that connects Peace Child 2 (Babel) to Peace Child 3 is available via Chanillo. Find it here.
The Young Person’s Library
I’ve now added any books this month so far but I am reading a rather good one at the moment which should make it to September’s list.
Current reading recommendation
The Short Stuff by Jim Bates
Okay, so this was published by Chapeltown but I was only involved in the design of the book. Other people decided whether it was worth publishing. Another editor and proof reader worked on the text.
Jim certainly gets a lot of story into a small space. He retains his distinctive story-teller voice for this.
There is a lot to make you think in this collection.
This is one of the little square books of flash fiction and Jim’s work is a very welcome addition to the series.
Get 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 140 x 140.
So, flash fiction seems to be the order of the day. This was inspired by Twitter – the old order where we were limited to 140 characters. I wrote one 140 pieces of just 140 words each. I used as a prompt the first picture I saw each day on my Twitter feed.
I enjoyed working with prompts. The discipline was good as well – having to make every story exactly 140 words long. Is this one of those cases where creativity abounds because of the restrictions we’ve imposed?
Find out and grab your copy and lots of other freebies here.
And please, please, please leave a review when you’ve finished.
I’ve also finished a similar book – 280 x 70, working on the new Twitter regime. This time I’m allowed 280 words per story. I’m hoping to publish this book soon.
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.
I’ve reflected on war being about young men sorting out old men’s quarrels in Young Men Fighting Old Men’s Wars. I’ve revisited the Enabling Act, the act that allowed Hitler to take more power than he really did. Many people, myself included, see parallels with what’s happening now. However, thankfully, we are not yet greeting each other in the name of Boris Johnson nor do we have pictures of him in classrooms. Is there hope for us? I’ve reviewed another book about the German Resistance: All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner . I’ve written about Survivor Guilt and Loss of Citizenship. These topics are also covered in We Share the Same Sky by Rachael Cerrotti, another account of a Holocaust survivor.
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. 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.
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