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Find a book club
Find a Book Club, a club that does what it says on the tin, asked me to recommend 10 books for book clubs (including two of my own).
Author Archives: Angela
Don’t Let Them Tell You How To Grieve
I read about this extraordinarily beautiful, touching, poignant, funny, sad, life-affirming, illuminating, comforting and grief-understanding collection of poems by Gina Claye on dovegreyreader’s blog at the end of April. I ordered myself a couple of copies which arrived this morning. … Continue reading
Tagged Don't Let Them Tell You How To Grieve, dovergreyreader, Gina Claye, grieving
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Lost in Translation … ?
I found a clever little widget over at Bookersatz which translates your blog for you. It’s called Altavista Babelfish Translator and you can see it over there on the right and down a bit. But because the title of my … Continue reading
Research, and fiction
It is an extraordinary thing (although obvious I’m sure to all except me) the way that research informs fiction and changes its direction. Several years ago, when I was writing a series of Just-Soesque short stories for children, I spent … Continue reading
Planning a novel …
… is a strange and frustrating business, despite my colleague’s beautiful vine and wire analogy. My heart gives a little leap of excitement each time I think I’ve ‘got it’, only to find that what I thought I’d got won’t … Continue reading
Posted in Speaking of Love
Tagged Hope Remains, Peter Mattiessen, Planning a novel, puzzles, vine and wire analogy, Zen Buddhism
6 Comments
As easy as 123
Norm at normblog has tagged me for this … and because I’ve never been tagged before (I’m so easily flattered) and because my nearest book was not what I usually read but what I absolutely need (for research for my … Continue reading
Telling ourselves into being
I found this: We tell ourselves into being, don’t we?… I think that is one of the great reasons for stories. I mean, we are the storytelling animal, there is no other creature on earth that tells itself stories in … Continue reading
Tagged Matthew d'Ancona, Norman Geras, normblog, Salman Rushdie, storytelling, Telling ourselves into being, The Spectator
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To plan or not to plan a novel?
That is the question. A writing colleague and I were talking the other day about whether we should or shouldn’t plan our novels. I said I felt as I’d heard Rose Tremain say she’d felt: that if she plans, the … Continue reading
Cornflower Book Group
The Cornflower Book Group is discussing Speaking of Love, so if you’d like to join in the discussion, hop on over there, here.I’d like to hear what you think does work as well as what you think doesn’t work, and … Continue reading
I have been Normed
Here. It is a wonderful thing that normblog does, this norming thing of a Friday. The similarities and the differences between, for instance, why a person would tell a lie (often to save a life) and which songs and poems … Continue reading
The Convergence of the Twain
It is strange what research throws up when you let yourself follow a curving line, isn’t it? (I know, it could be called a MAT, but I don’t think it counts.) I was looking for information about icebergs, when this … Continue reading
Posted in Titanic
Tagged research, The Convergence of the Twain, Thomas Hardy
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In the blink of an eye
Jean-Dominique Bauby (Jean-Do to his friends) wrote a whole book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, by the arduous process of one blink for each letter. In French it’s called La Scaphandre et le Papillon. (I tried to upload a … Continue reading
Writing yourself well
I’ve just read, over at the wonderful Stuck in a Book, that he’s just about to read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. He has a treat in store. And that reminded me that Perkins Gilman also wrote about why … Continue reading
Prinknash (pr Prinnidge)
I am going here where these Benedictine monks live The reason I am going is that this was my great-grandmother’s childhood home (she of the biography I was going to write, now of the novel that I am about to … Continue reading
Procrastination
A friend of mine, a wonderful artist who works in all kinds of media (mediums?) told me about the Jerwood Moving image award winners. I highly recommend Johnny Kelly’s (which is called PROCRASTINATION). It’ll take you about 5 minutes to … Continue reading
Tagged Jerwood Moving Image award winners, Johnny Kelly, June Heap, MATing, Procrastination
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Old work, new work
While staring through the window and dreaming about my new novel (and doing some planning) I find images from my first novel stealing into my mind. I ask myself if that’s because I’m afraid of stepping into the new or … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged art and fear, frank lloyd wright, ivy, new novel, new work, old work
2 Comments
The Cornflower Book Group
Yesterday, at the Cornflower Book Group, Speaking of Love came out of the hat to be read next. It’s the fifth volume to be read by Cornflower Book Group members and discussion will begin from 12 April on Cornflower’s blog. … Continue reading
Monet and painting, MATing and writing
Today MATing translates as ‘writing this before I begin to stare through the window’. Sometimes it takes much staring before I can write. This story knows what I mean: One day Monet was sitting on the bench in his garden … Continue reading
Cover story … and fab reports
In October I asked people to tell me the short story that Speaking of Love‘s paperback cover told them. I promised a copy of the paperback to the writer of the story that most appealed to me (see original post … Continue reading
Posted in Speaking of Love
Tagged Angela Young, Eliza Graham, event reports, Mark Thornton, Mostly Books, Paperback cover, Simon Thomas, Stuck in a Book
1 Comment
Congratulations to …
… Jonathan Trigell and Boy A on becoming THE Book to Talk About, 2008. (Press release here.) And thank you to everyone who voted for Speaking of Love. It has been a privilege for the book to be on the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Boy A, Jonathan Trigell, the book to talk about 2008
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