Blog Tour

It's been a very busy summer! My last blog was back in June and since then I've been out and about with my new children's book. But I've been prompted to return to my blog thanks to the invitation from writer Kriss Nichol to take part in the Blog Tour. So here goes....

Q1: What are you currently working on?

I'm actually about to revise my first book West Over the Waves, The Final Flight of Elsie Mackay. The book is officially out of print but there will be lots of interest in it next year - I'm told! American best selling author Laurie Notaro is publishing a novel interweaving the story of aviator Elsie Mackay along with two other women (Ruth Elder and Mabel Boll) who were also trying to the be first female to fly the Atlantic. The book is being published by Simon and Schuster next summer and Laurie has told me she'll be pointing readers towards my non fiction book! So it needs to be available. There is also talk of a film based on Elsie Mackay, who was the actress, designer daughter of Lord Inchcape of Glenapp, and I've read a very wonderful script by screenwriter Tony Lindsay.


Q2: How does my work differ from others in my genre?

I'm not sure I have a genre! I originally trained and worked as a journalist and because of that I feel that I am a jobbing writer, willing to turn my hand to anything! I write a newspaper column, short stories, creative non fiction and children's books. I also have a stack of ideas for a novel if I ever have time. I am a huge fan of Kate Atkinson and love the way her work cannot really be catagorised to a genre.


Q3: Why do I write what I do?

It's a compulsion! Simple as that. It just happens. If I get an idea or an inspiration I just have to get it down as fast as I can. Both of my non fiction books were researched and written quite quickly because I become obsessed. Even my new children's story - due out in spring 2015 - landed in my head fully formed while I was walking the dog one day and I had to run home and write it down. I know it sounds odd but I just find that when it happens, I'm driven!


Q4: How does my writing process work?

You can probably tell from the last question that I don't really have a process. Despite having studied yoga and worked as a teacher, I am very undisciplined. I have a busy and challenging family life which I have to work round too. Having said that, when I have a project underway everything else gets swept to one side and you'll find me in archives and libraries researching and then just writing until it's done.

Q5: What's new from you? 

I had a new children's book, Big Bill's Beltie Bairns, published in May and with my publishing hat on, we have a new book due out this autumn called The Galloway Chilli by Shalla Gray. I was also appointed literary animateur for Wigtownshire in July, supporting the region's literary development officer, Carolyn Yates. With the Curly Tales and my Mary Timney book, I have a busy schedule of readings and talks over the next few months.



I'm now handing the baton to author Patricia Comb. Over to you Patricia.

Writer or Performing Monkey!

A few years ago I was reviewing events at the Wigtown Book Festival for the local newspaper and I wrote one article commenting on how much of a writer's life was now taken up with performing at festivals. This was before I wrote my first book and at that point I had no notion I would end up in this position myself. It was painfully obvious that many writers were wonderful at their craft but hated being dragged into the spotlight. They spoke too quietly, were awkward or  trembling wrecks or just delivered lecture, their heads buried in a pile of papers, and who could blame them? They had chosen to be writers not performers and just wanted to be left alone to get on with it. 

The ability to present your work, to talk about it, and if you're a children's writer then keep a crowd of youngsters happy for an hour, is increasingly part of an author's life. I'm involved in the children's committee for a festival and the decree from the director is that anyone selected for an invitation to appear should be able to present an 'experience' not just a reading of their work. This is a tall order and pretty unreasonable. By this criteria many excellent writers would be left on the shelf. 

When I wrote my first children's book I was invited to appear at a book festival. My event attracted a large audience and luckily the illustrator agreed to appear with me. We had never done an event before, let alone before a large crowd of young children, but I thought we did pretty well. We both talked to the kids, I read the story and Pauline explained how she'd done the illustrations. We then played a game and we had some colouring sheets to do. Everyone seemed happy apart from the publisher who claimed we'd lost sales as some children had drifted away. (Friends who were at the event later told me that one child had been taken to the toilet but that was it).

I have since become more experienced at public speaking to adults and reading stories to wee ones and looking back I know that our first event was pretty good for a pair of novices. I've seen some real stinkers from authors who just want to read the book and go home. I don't blame them but there is the expectation now that children should be entertained. One popular author performs a series of spectacular magic tricks at his events (and leaves quite a mess!), another runs around so much he must lose a stone! 

At a recent workshop about becoming a children's writer, Debbie Williams, course leader at the University of Central Lancashire, said that you are far more likely to be taken on by a publisher if you've been a teacher or can show that you know children, and can engage with them. In fact you have to be able to engage with people. 

As I left the building after the talk I passed an author (the event was for writers) who had been at the same (small) event, and I smiled warmly. He looked through me as if he'd never seen me before in his puff! That's not the way to do it, I thought.