Tuesday, 20 August 2024

Significant Dates


It’s curious, isn’t it, the way you always remember what you were doing when big news breaks? 

·         When Dianna died, my son, who was learning to drive, took us to a car boot sale where he was raising money to help support himself at uni.  The guy in the next spot had several books about the royal family and was managing to sell them at £25.00 a time. Normally they would have fetched perhaps 50p. When we woke up that morning I thought we’d gone back in time. “This is the BBC,” said an almost 1940s’ posh voice. “We regret to inform you ….”

·         The day J F Kennedy was shot my dad fetched me from Guides.  “I’ve got some very bad news,” he said.  I was relieved it was the president of the USA rather than one of our relations he meant.

·         My grandmother and I heard Robert Kennedy being shot. We were on a coach trip and we stopped for a comfort break; the driver had the radio on.

·         We were on holiday in Spain when 9/11 happened and our daughter’s boyfriend, who had stayed indoors, suffering from Spanish tummy, ran to find us at the swimming pool to tell us what had happened.  Everyone there overheard him and rushed into the bar to follow the news. Mike had watched live the second plane go into the twin towers.

Ordinary lives carry on whilst these things are happening. We published a book On This Day which was precisely about this. The J F Kennedy assassination is prominent in Debz Hobbs-Wyatt’s book While No One Was Watching. (Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.)There’s also a subtle reference to it in her forthcoming novel If Crows Could Talk.

Have you got a story that takes place on a significant date?  Might this be a useful prompt for a story?         

Saturday, 17 August 2024

Linda Morse tells us all about her collection of monologues that has jsut been published.

 



How did you come to think of producing a book of your monologues?

Ever since having had a monologue published by Bridge House in ‘To Be … To Become’, (subsequently ‘Transformations’), I have kept in touch.  When I noticed the opportunity to publish a single author collection, I realised that I had a written quite a number of monologues for different actors and  theatre companies over the years and hoped that you might be interested in a collection.   ‘And I Said …’ is the happy result.


 How do you use the book along side performances? 
 All the pieces in this book have had public performances and are suitable both for readings or dramatic performances. Recently, I had my ‘Launch’ in Salisbury, where two actors performed a selection of the pieces and, of course, I had the books on sale.  The whole evening, held upstairs in a Salisbury Inn, was great fun and I hope to repeat it elsewhere. 
 
 

 


 

 
Tell us a little about how you got into writing plays and monologues?
I have been writing or creating something all my life.  Starting with constantly telling myself stories as a child, writing self-indulgent poetry at school and college and then moving on to music-related scripts and lyrics. I wrote a lot of musicals (both words and music) for young people, both when I was directing a Youth Theatre and as a music teacher. I began to realise that it was drama, rather than music, that especially excited and engaged me and gradually I moved into writing  almost entirely for stage.  This started with short plays and monologues and has broadened into full-length plays.  I have also started to experiment with film and audio and even return to some (less-indulgent) poetry. 
 
Which was the hardest to write in this volume? 
I think technically, it has to be The Gown.  It is by far the longest piece, performing at about 40 minutes.  To develop a story at that length is definitely more like writing a full length play, as you have to maintain the dramatic momentum throughout.  I had a wonderful actor performing the piece and she brought it to life in the Salisbury Fringe festival.

 
  Do you have a favourite?    
 Two of which I am very fond are  both true stories and therefore hold emotional and personal meaning for me.  ‘Hourglass’ is about the death one of my closet friends at the age of 50, two days after we had signed a joint contract with a publisher for a children’s musical we had created together.   It was the last time I saw  her .                                                                                                                                                                 The final piece in the collection, ‘A Particular Day’  was based on a conversation I had over the breakfast table with one of my daughters.  We were discussing what our relationship would be like if we had met each other at the same age.  I like the fact that it has produced a slightly mystical piece.
 
.How would you like people to use the monologues? 
As I work with actors on a regular basis, I am hoping that there will be general interest in using  the book for audition and performance pieces.  However,  a number of my friends and acquaintances seem to feel that the pieces stand up as short stories, so I’m hoping that is another market.   

Are you working on anything new at the moment?  

Y es, happily I’m very busy at the moment with a short film, ’Happy Hour’  doing the rounds of the Film Festivals and a play ‘Empty Mirrors’ on in September at The Space Theatre on the Isle of Dogs, London.  I am also writing an extremely interesting one-woman play, ‘How Jimi Hendrix Changed my Life’  for an actor I met last year and potentially another one-woman play for the wonderful actor depicted on the cover of ‘And I Said …’  about three generations of women in one family.

Do you have any events you would like to tell us about?                                                                        Empty Mirrors will be at The Space  from September 10th -14th  Empty Mirrors - The Space


 

 

Find your copy of the book here

 

Sunday, 4 August 2024

News 4 August 2024

 Gill's Newsletter

Up in The Lake District

 

We’ve enjoyed a few days up in the Lake District where summer arrived at last though thankfully we didn’t get the heat endured by people further south in this country or elsewhere in Europe.
 


We usually go to the Lakes off-season, so it was a little bit of a shock to find car parks full and lots of people using the crazy golf and Frisbee lawn near to our holiday cottage.
It’s good to take a little time to sit and enjoy nature or people watch.
Naturally, I’ve visited my favourite book shop, Verey Books.  This features on the Creative Café Project site: http://www.creativecafeproject.org/2023/11/verey-books.html It has a great café and as one would expect does book events.

I had to buy a book and I chose The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlene and Jackie Morris. I have of course read it before - and reviewed it at https://www.theyoungpersonslibrary.co.uk/2020/11/the-lost-spells-by-robert-macfarlane.html   
The Lost Spells is a companion book for the huge The Lost Words. Both contain exquisite pictures and words and the web site offers lots of other ways to consider the material.
 

It so happens that there is an exhibition of The Lost Words, The Lost Spells and Jackie Morris’ work at Rheged, the arts, crafts and good food outlet just a five minute drive from where we were staying. It cost £5.00 per person to get into exhibition but it is well worth it. It is on until 1 September.
All of this feeds the creative spirit somehow. Yes, I love my work but holidays are still good.   


Writing news

I’ve just finished the ‘kill off your darlings’ edit of Peace Child 6.
The Best of CafeLit is now out. I edited this and it has one of my stories in it.


I also have a review of a rather interesting local event on Talking About Generation: https://talkingaboutmygeneration.co.uk/exploring-the-carousel-of-us-event-in-swinton/   

 

PHOTOS BY BREIGE COBANE PHOTOGRAPY 

On My Blog

I have quite a few other authors on my blog this month: Jim Bates, Judith Skilleter, Penny Rogers, Eamom O’Leary, TonyDomaille,Allison Symes, S. Nadja Zajdman, June Webber and Maxine Flam all talk about their involvement with The Best of CafeLit 13

Martin Varny talks about his new novel, Saint Ettie’s Music School and Dawn Knox talks about her latest ‘Chronicles’ book, The Post Office Topper Chronicles.  

I’ve also written a little about some companies I find really useful: Some companies I engage with

 

The Young Person’s Library



I have added two new books this month, both suitable for 9-11: The Ice Children by M. G. Leonard, illustrated by Penny Neville-Lee  and Keedie by Elle McNicholl The latter is also suitable for Key Stage 3.


Recommended read

I read Someone Else’s Shoes by Jo jo Moyes for our book club and then we didn’t meet. Nevertheless, it’s a good read.
So, two women end up swapping gym bags and therefore shoes when one of them leaves in a hurry. The gym goes bankrupt, and there is more to the designer shoes than either woman could possibly imagine.
Neither has a perfect marriage and having to live in each other’s shoes for a while makes life even more complicated.
Some say the story is far-fetched. It is and it becomes almost like a Whitehall farce towards the end. Yet it comes good for all of the women involved. It is all a little improbable but sometimes stories have to be that way.  Think Dickens, Molière, Shakespeare and most pantomimes.
Jo Jo Moyes certainly persuades us to watch the backs of all of the ladies that feature in Someone Else’s Shoes.
Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you, may go to Bridge House Publishing.    
Worth a read.


Giveaway
This month I’m giving away The House of Clementine.  
 

Grab your copy here.  You’ll find two different e-book files and a PDF plus a lot of other free materials here.

There is unease on Zandra. On far away Zenoto a young president appears to be turning his back on the innovative and hugely successful financial regime. The Peace Child again has much to do.
It becomes personal. Kaleem’s former girlfriend and her desperately ill step-daughter are attacked.
Some strange encounters partly answer some of Kaleem’s questions. But as he begins to understand what “snazzy” really means and what the brown tunics want, he is faced with yet more puzzles: who or what exactly is Meelak, what is the House of Clementine and how much control does it have, and what or who is really behind the unrest?
Will the Peace Child find his own peace? Find out in this fourth novel in the Peace Child series.
 
Please leave a review on Amazon, if you’re allowed to, on Good Reads and anywhere else you can.
 

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.
I’m still writing about resistance to the Nazis and this month I’ve added a post about Turning a blind eye to others not obeying the rules and about those Dragging feet on new initiatives  including those who were working on the V2 bombs.

 

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 books and books published by Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, Chapeltown Books and The Red Telephone.  Visit us 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.  I also invite other writers to provide prompts and work for critique.     
 
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.