I am going here: Which is in northwest Scotland. Image © Copyright Donald MacDonald and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence. I’m going in search of the cottage that my great-grandmother used to go to get away from it all. I want to breathe the air, see what she saw and hear what … Read More
Author: Angela
BUILDERS and FISHERMEN, a MAT with a purpose
I am MATing, but there is a point. (Well, I would say that wouldn’t I?) Last night the boyf and I were talking about writing and I said I felt as if I was assembling, not writing at the moment. I’m just collecting the already-written pieces of my third (sorry, second) novel and putting them … Read More
New Leaves
Leaves from my small plot for the new year. And as for turning them over, or at least paying attention to them, I shall divide 2008 between writing my third novel, a modern Beauty and the Beast (it’s really my second second novel, because the first second novel turned into a short story) and preparing … Read More
This Christmas Life, a poem by Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope’s Christmas poem is quite beautiful. I heard it on Radio Four on, I think, Saturday night last. As far as I can tell it was published a couple of years ago, but it is timeless. I can’t post it here for obvious copyright reasons, but you can read it where I found it, … Read More
Booking Through Thursday
Today’s questions are: 1 What fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best new book published in 2007? (Older books that you read for the first time in 2007 don’tcount.)2 What non-fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best new book published in 2007? (Older books that you read … Read More
Happy Christmas
I hope you don’t think it’s too early … but I took this last night, after decorating it on the weekend. And now for the cumberland sauce, the brandy butter, the smoked mackerel pate (yes), the Dickens reread – or Oliver Twist every night this week on BBC 1? – and, because the presents are … Read More
Soul food
At the beginning of November Canongate said that the first 100 people who registered on THE GIFT site would receive a free copy of Lews Hyde’s The Gift. All you had to do in return was pledge to make a gift today. I posted about it here, after finding out about the whole thing on … Read More
Lady into Fox …
… this morning I went out into my garden (small L-shaped plot, actually) to take this picture … … because I just couldn’t help wondering how they survive in the frost. See here, some cyclamen tolerate frost very well, some not at all … not sure which mine is. But before I could take the … Read More
Booking Through Thursday, on Saturday …
… This week’s question is suggested by Island Editions: Do you have a favourite book, now out of print, that you would like to see become available again? (I have several…) Mine is The Agony and the Ego (click on the title for secondhand amazon copies …) which is an utterly wonderful book (Penguin PLEASE … Read More
World Book Day, Book Groups and Speaking of Love
My publishers, the wonderful Beautiful Books, say that if you’d like, they will send you a free copy of Speaking of Love because it’s been longlisted for the World Book Day/Spread the Word award. The number of free copies is limited, there are 20 of them, and you need to ask for yours before 1 … Read More
Speaking of Love and The Book To Talk About
Speaking of Love has been longlisted for Spread the Word’s Book to Talk About, which is wonderful news for the book, and for all the books on the list (there are 100 of them). The award will be announced in the UK’s Year of Reading (2008). The short list will appear in February – voted … Read More
La Serenissima
I have been here: and I was going to show you some other beauties … but the photographs proved impossible to upload … and Blogger kept showing me an incomprehensible code and saying ‘We’re sorry’. I have just got back and it is extremely difficult to work as fast as I did before I left, … Read More
The writing process …
… or should that be the thicket? I seem to go from a simple idea for a novel, a contemporary Beauty and the Beast in the case of my next novel, into a thicket of handwritten notes, ideas scribbled on stray pieces of paper, written scenes, more ideas, bits of plot, character notes, more ideas, … Read More
GIFT day and Lewis Hyde’s The Gift
Over on Dovegreyreader’s blog today she writes about GIFT day, organised by Canongate for the publication of Lewis Hyde’s book, The Gift, which argues that we should keep some parts of our social, cultural and spiritual life out of the marketplace. He believes that the rise of capitalism has brought about the decline of the … Read More
Paperback cover
This is what the paperback cover of Speaking of Love, to be published on 6 March 2008, will look like. If you’ve got any thoughts about it, I’d love to know. In fact, how about this: Tell me what story you think this cover tells in, say, a long sentence (or two) and the plotline … Read More
The Man Booker prize
And so it’s: Anne Enright for The Gathering. Congratulations to her and her book. I heard on the radio (four) news last night (have you noticed that they say ‘BBC News for Radio Four’ now instead of the old ‘BBC Radio Four News’? I wonder why the strange, minute, change?). Anyway, as I was saying, … Read More
The Man Booker prize
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. (That’s the one I’d like to win.)
The short story that was a novel …
… is a draft away from finished, but I can’t post it here because one of the competitions that I am going to submit it to requires that it has not been published in ANY form. So I shall hear what the writers group has to say tomorrow, redraft, let it rest for a while … Read More
When is a MAT harder than writing? …
… when it results in this: Describe your five strengths as a writer I found the challenge HERE and because I was busy MATing (reading readers’ and writers’ blogs to avoid writing) I told myself that I would do it, that stumbling across it served me right for avoiding writing, and that I’d get back … Read More
ANOTHER NEW FIRST PAGE …
… this is how it goes. Slowly. But here is a redrafted first page for the short story that was a novel. *** I drift from place to place and from year to year with such ease, now. But, despite what they think, I usually know that I am drifting. It’s just that I can’t … Read More