One morning the sky seemed full of aircraft …

At last, the second volume of my father’s memoirs is published – and these are the first words of the first chapter, it is D. Day – and six days later it was his 18th birthday and his call-up papers arrived.

Sadly this is also the final volume of Frank’s memoirs – even though, if Frank had the time left to him to write them, he would have probably been into volumes 4 or 5 at the very least before the end.

Volume 2 takes him up until he is 28, he then began Volume 3 … but the rest of his life is sketched in by his children (myself and my brother Mark) covering almost all the interests he participated in over the years and explaining a few of those unexplained bits he put in his own writing – saying – ‘more about this later’.

Frank had always intended his memoir to be a record for his descendants though, with his eye for detail, it is also a great exercise in observation of life in those times and a good social comment from the point of view of the ordinary man.
With his descendants in mind, the book concludes with a piece he wrote before he began his memoirs – things he’d been told by his parents about their life and about their parents – taking the family memories back another generation.

The first four years of Volume 2 see him in the Army at the end of WWII and up until his (late) de-mob. In his inimitable ‘voice’ we have an insight into the induction of civilians into the war-time army and the procedures of life in the army.
Much of his time he was posted in Europe – and these chapters include his own photographs of places he saw (some from tiny pictures – about 1″ x 2″).

Talking of photographs, from after the war there is a picture of the first car he and his brother Peter got – the photo this was taken from was about a half inch square (12mm square).

Editing this was a mammoth task – and I am pleased that it has been achieved. For those of you who read and enjoyed his first volume – it is available via Amazon HERE. (Or directly from me if you live close enough to pick it up)
And for everyone – here is a sample of the rest of that first chapter.

Chapter 1 – Into the Army

One morning the sky seemed to be full of aircraft all with three broad white bands around their wings and fuselage. It was D day, 6th June 1944 and on the 12th of June I was 18 and I received my call up. With this came a travel warrant to report to Norwich barracks on the 29th of June. I had already handed my rifle into the Home guard but kept my uniform (battledress) to travel in – as I still had no decent civilian clothes.

On the afternoon before I went I pointed to the apples on the tree outside the window and said ‘There won’t be any of those left when I get home again.’

Next morning I set out to walk to South Zeal to catch the early bus to Exeter and the train to Norwich, a long tedious trip. When the train finally arrived we were met by Sergeants directing the recruits to army lorries. It seemed that all those that came from the West Country were pointed to a different lorry from the others. When we arrived at the barracks we were sent to the dining hall and given a mug of tea and a plate with something like soggy lumpy mashed potatoes – boiled butter beans – all ice cold. I started eating mine but sitting opposite me were two lads dressed in nice casual clothes moaning about the food, and when one reached across towards my plate and saying. ‘I don’t know how you can eat that,’ without thinking I slammed my fork into the table close to his hand and growled. He jumped back and said. ‘Christ where did they get you from?’ I was a bit disturbed as I realised I’d had a flashback to cripple school meals, and having to defend them.

The sergeant bawled out, ‘Outside for induction!’ I joined the induction queue and suddenly found myself in front of an ATS who snapped out, ‘Name?’ and then wanted all my other details, all in a tone that said I was holding up the complete war effort. Then she rattled off a string of numbers. I hesitated and she said, ‘That’s your number, move on.’ And then the confusion really kicked in as a single battledress was pushed towards me and the soldier behind the counter shouted out, ‘Battledress. two.’ (where others were given two) I realised that was because I was already wearing one.
As I progressed along the counter more clothes and equipment were pushed at me, each time with the description called out including a ‘housewife, soldiers for the use of’ which turned out to be a sewing and darning kit.
Then all the webbing equipment and water bottle were added, and just when I was so loaded I could not see over the top I got 3 blankets.
Again I was asked my number. I staggered away hoping I had got it right.

We were told we were now fully responsible for the kits and any loss or damage would be replaced at our cost. Then we were marched away to the barracks – which turned out to be the old cavalry section and the area I was in, with 30 others, was the ex stables and faintly smelt like it. I was given a bunk which happened to be double and the other lad opted for the lower one – I was pleased with that. Then the order came to change into uniform. I began to look round at the others and was surprised at the obvious difference in ages. I thought they would all be my age but the call up was gradually creeping up and among us were men who had been in the occupation army in Germany after the First World War. So what it amounted to was, of the thirty in the barracks room, some knew the routine of army life but the majority were all ages called up as their reserve jobs came to an end, but all mature and confident … and me. Confused, lost and, in modern parlance, definitely out of my comfort zone.

Finally – I would like to wish
YOU ALL a Very Happy and Hopeful NEW YEAR. May 2021 be a better and happier year for everyone, for you and for those you love.

I love to hear your comments – please do feel free to chat 🙂
X ANN

ps If you are reading this on email and would like to comment just click onto the title and it will take you to the actual blog – so you can comment there
If it is the first time you have written a comment don’t worry if it doesn’t appear immediately, your first comment has to be verified (to keep the spam-bots out) and I do this personally – so I am sure to see your comment – thanks for reading – Ann

Remember – reviews of books are a great way to say ‘thank you’ to an author if you like what they write,
  Thank You

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Lichen Sclerosus (LS), FB’s faceless bots and Our new BOOK!

This story begins when I put up my first blog post about Lichen Sclerosus and why borax was my new best friend – back in February 2017. Very soon after I posted it, an American woman, Allicia Mae Cain, happened to find it. She’d been trawling the internet for something, some glimmer of hope, that her LS could be eased by something other than the steroids – as these had failed her – leaving her even worse than before.

She says that reading my blog was like ‘something almost magical’ – and went out and bought a box (being in the USA she could just pick a box of Borax up at her local supermarket). It worked for her – as it had worked for me – and she couldn’t wait to spread the word. Not having a blog – she set up a private Facebook support group. Private, so that only women with LS could join – and join they did!

When, two years later, (because I was getting questions in the ‘comments’ and directly by email, asking whether it was still working) I posted my LS and Borax Up-Date in Feb 2019 – Allicia reached out to me – and told me about her support group – inviting me to join.

I did join. It was great support group – Allicia has so much empathy, kindly patience, an ability to reach-out and reassure (even via the internet), to listen to others and to share the knowledge she had gained from her on-going researches.

By October 2019 this group was supporting 4,000+ women suffering with this condition.

Then one day – it disappeared! No warnings… No explanations … just gone!

As the Admin – Allicia sent numerous reports and requests for reasons, as did at least a 100 of us, with whom Allicia had a separate contact. No-one got a reply.

It seemed it had been axed at the whim of a faceless FB robot.

There was nothing for it but to start again. Concerned that having the word ‘healing’ or ‘borax’ in her title made it a target for the bots – she changed the name completely. Allicia’s new group, ‘Sharing is Caring about Lichen Sclerosus et al’ is growing with now 2,500 members a year later, and it, and she, are just as great – but it hasn’t yet been found by all the 4,000 who were on Allicia’s original group. There are many, many new members who weren’t in the original group, however, and now and again, someone joins with a ‘Thank goodness I’ve found you again! What happened?’ … and we still have no idea.

Back in November 2019 we were chatting about all the information that had suddenly vanished. How all the collated wisdom (the things people had found that worked for them – moisturisers, clothes, diet, soaks etc) had been suddenly withdrawn from everybody by the arbitrary closing of her group. I suggested that, together, we should put all we knew, particularly about the borax therapies, and the other collated wisdom, into a book, so they couldn’t be lost like that again – and Allicia said that she’d been wondering about that too, but didn’t really know how to go about it.  And so our collaboration began. The idea behind the book was that all this information would then be accessible to those who needed it – regardless of Facebook’s weird decisions or even FB’s existence.

AND SO – since then we have been collaborating on this book – which is also going for the ‘longest title on a book ever’ competition’ #joke 🙂

If you are looking you can find it HERE on Amazon in the UK
OR HERE on Amazon.com
By using the ‘Look Inside’ feature (at the top of the cover pic on the Amazon site), you can see ‘Contents’ list – which, conveniently, shows the sort of things covered in the book.

And so you now know why I’ve been so quiet on my blog for so long. Working on this (and my father’s second volume of memoirs – out before the end of the year) have kept my computer time all occupied. #excusesmade  😉 

All the best – Ann Xx

ps If you are reading this on email and would like to comment just click onto the title and it will take you to the actual blog – so you can comment there
If it is the first time you have written a comment don’t worry if it doesn’t appear immediately, your first comment has to be verified (to keep the spam-bots out) and I do this personally – so I am sure to see your comment – thanks for reading – Ann

Remember – reviews of books are a great way to say ‘thank you’ to an author if you like what they write,
  Thank You

If you wish to keep it private – about LS and just contact me then just reply to the email this arrived on (or if you have found this on the internet then email ann@ annfoweraker .com (closing-up the gaps) – otherwise go to the actual page and click comments to add yours. 
NOTE: I am not a doctor – I speak only from my own experience – please do your own research too


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Planned Parenthood – early medieval style

It is amazing where researches for a book take you. Regular readers will know that I am embarking upon my first historical novel – and that it is set in early medieval times – late AD600s to be precise.

So my wise-woman is going to help a female Saxon slave to ensure she doesn’t conceive. Umm – and how does she do that? The male in question is not going to be party to any care that needs taking – so off into the depths of the internet I go – following one thread after another until I find some answers – and other interesting facts…siphium

One thread took me back so far that the herb in question had become extinct even before the years I was looking at! But was fascinating anyway. A herb that was the making of Cyrene – wanted for so many reasons apart from that of being the most effective contraceptive potion available. The plant was known as Silphium and it featured on the coins of the country – that’s how important it was! It appears to have been only able to grow in a narrow strip of land – and, despite many attempts, could not be propagated anywhere else. Seeds simply did not grow, roots or cuttings did not work elsewhere.

Silphium had properties that also made it a go-to culinary condiment and ingredient, where leaves, stems and roots were used – as well as making the meat of sheep grazed on it most wonderfully tender. It was used to treat a wide range of maladies – and then there was its powerful contraceptive properties.  It was so valuable that Julius Caesar had a cache (1,500lbs or 680kg) stored in the official treasury. Ultimately it was harvested (or eaten by the sheep) into extinction!

Medical Texts from ancient Greece and Rome

In many medical texts available at the time, there were lists of mixtures designed to ‘hurry the menses or cleanse the womb’, therefore these mixtures were usable to end an unwanted pregnancy, especially very early or before it had begun! One version of the Antidotarium has several recipes for ‘quickening the menses’ utilizing a number of herbs including arum, birthwort, artemisia, century plant, lupine, pepper, Queen Anne’s Lace, myrrh, licorice, pennyroyal, rue, peony, parsley, and cypress.

Did they work?  Well, I’m not sure about pepper but pennyroyal, parsley, and Queen Anne’s lace for instance, are so effective that modern women are recommended to avoid them if they want to become pregnant. In fact, for many of them to work, the concentration had to be so high as to be dangerous to the women themselves. (Yes, I’ve looked a lot of these up – and many are on the Poisonous plants list!) oueen-annes-lace

Herbs could also be used as physical barriers for conception or as pessaries, pulped and often mixed with pungent oils, honey or even animal dung. Ewww!

I need something that would be growing in Ireland at the correct time, and so far have settled on Queen Anne’s Lace – the wild carrot. Modern day use of this as a contraceptive suggests a number of ways, but chewing the seeds for a number of days after intercourse looks like a method that could have been used in Eire in that time, and would be a safer alternative. Apparently it works because chemicals in the seeds block progesterone synthesis, thus disrupting implantation thus preventing pregnancy.  I wonder – how did they find that out in the first place!?

Now to find out if the plant grew there, then! Harder than you might imagine as it will only be if it has been traced by pollen in samples or if a book written, at the correct time in Eire, mentions it, even though it is described as a native plant nowadays – I have discovered this does not necessarily mean it grew there in AD 600.

Do you end up down the rabbit tunnels of the internet – just because you looked up one thing?

Have you ever wondered how they managed these things back in deepest history? – when being pregnant was a very dangerous condition – resulting in death more times than we like to think about.

Do share your thoughts – as always I am fascinated to learn

X    Ann

 

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No so much Navel Gazing as …

Oh! Here I am, back again after what seems a frenetic and frantic time. Oh, yes, life sometimes throws things our way that knocks all the writing to pot – including the blog.

In this case my father’s sudden eruption of a HUGE ulcer on his tongue, followed by numerous and sequential trips to the hospital for every type of scan, followed swiftly by an operation to remove a largish bite of his tongue and several lymph nodes from his neck following the diagnosis of cancer. Thank goodness for the NHS! Subsequently we’ve been on the recovery stage – trying to regain weight lost while eating was difficult – while eating is still difficult (with sore but healing new shaped tongue) However, things are stabilised now and I have found my lap-top and returned to all of you.wp_20170512_09_02_15_pro

And returned to the studies of everyday plants that my character – Dominica – might be able to use in her healing around AD689 – and today I’m looking at the plant known as the navelwort – or pennywort.

Wort, or wyrt,  is actually a Viking or Norse suffix meaning ‘medicine’. So the name of this plant in this country comes from later than the time I am dealing with, so I have to check with my sources as to whether it was an introduced plant – or was here already but known by another name. (Yes, Historical writing is tricky!)

I have always rather liked this plant. The round fleshy leaves are one of those edible leaves that my boys readily took to eating just for fun (after being told they were edible) They taste a bit cucumbery.. basically fleshy, wet and green, not bad in a sandwich. However, I didn’t know of their medical usage. The names, pennywort and navelwort I assumed came from their shape and the dimple, like a bellybutton, in the middle, even though, somewhere in the recesses of my mind the ‘wort’ rang a herbal-use bell.

wp_20170623_10_52_15_proNow, the mini-course I went on tells me that the navelwort, Umbilicus rupestris, have strong antimicrobial properties and would have been placed over the end of the umbilical cord and tied on, where they would dry-on forming a seal and keep infection at bay. Thus navelwort referred to this property (though under the doctrine of signatures – they would also have been saying – ‘look at me, I’m for use on the navel!’) Oddly, this use doesn’t seem to be generally mentioned in online sources, so maybe it’s a very old use, perfect for my story.

It seems that these can also be carefully dried and stored for babies that arrived out of the navelwort-growing season too. Now I am really hoping this plant in a real native as I am sure this could work its way naturally into Dominica’s medicine kit.

So, barring any other type of emergency, medical or otherwise, I’ll write to you next week – in the meantime –

have you ever eaten a pennywort sandwich – or even just nibbled a leaf?

Or do you know these plants by any other names?

Do share – you know I love to hear from you!

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A Weedy Medicine Cabinet – Dandelions

Here we are again, we are back in the late AD600 – when the wise-woman, or the monastery-trained, were the go-to people when you were ailing. Why? Mainly because they still held the knowledge honed by the druids about which herbs had which effects on the body.

So it is that I found myself signing up to a herbalist-led course here in the Tamar Valley. My Dominica will have to use the plants that grow here if she is to be a healer (which – in my telling of the tale – she will be)

Here I am going to give a first glimpse of what I learned but how this will be used in the story I have yet to discover (that’s the way my writing works – fill up the  brain with lots of information and then let the sub-conscious sift through and weave it’s own patterns).

We didn’t even have to leave the property where the talk took place – and I suspect you wouldn’t have to stray far from your garden too for the one herb I’m going to touch on here. wp_20170512_09_06_03_pro

Hands-up those who have dandelions in their garden? *sees a forest of hands* Really? LOL 🙂 … well it seems that a Dandelion is a medicine chest all on its own.

Leaves: Make a ‘tea’ from them to drink. (A ‘tea’ basically is as it sounds, pour boiling water over them and allow to steep for a few minutes – remove herb bits – drink)

Many of you will know this is a diuretic (we all remember the warning as children not to pick dandelions as they will make you wet the bed!) Diuretics are used in many conditions today: – for reducing blood-pressure; congestive heart-failure and oedema (swelling due to water-retention) *This is not to say you should treat yourself for these conditions willy-nilly with dandelion tea!*

But did you know that dandelion tea is also a anti-lithic (a stone-breaker) that breaks gall or kidney stones to allow them to be passed?

Roots: Wash, cut and make a tea – this provides a liver-detox.

Then there’s the sap – that white milky fluid that comes from the broken stem. This can be used to treat warts. It is actually a form of latex and seals the wart off from the air. It needs to be reapplied frequently but eventually the wart will drop off leaving a wet pit on the skin that then heals up. (this make total sense – if you recall my experiment with the duct-tape method of wart removal (here) this works in the same way)

dandelion-fiels-freeimages-live! Not only that – but apparently dandelion sap was even used during the war as a latex (rubber) supply (Not one of us on the course had ever heard of that before!) but as things go – in a serendipitous manner – within a day an advert popped up on FB for Continental tyres – saying they are experimenting with dandelion rubber (due the disease attacking rubber plants worldwide) as well as for other things that use latex.

That’s dandelions for you – amazing and fascinating – now I need to check with Dulcie of Dumnonika, the Iron Age re-enactment group, who has an careful list of truly native plants, whether they were here in this part of the UK back in those times.

I’ll share some of the other medicinal-weeds I learnt about with you another time  🙂

What are your favourite herbal remedies?

Do you remember the warnings about picking Dandelions?

Do Share – you know I love to hear from you!

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Lost in Time – researching for Dominica!

I’ve been gone one thousand, three hundred and twenty-eight years – back in time … to an era we call ‘The Dark Ages’. The Roman garrisons have gone – left these isles to tend to their problems closer to Rome with a farewell letter to the Romano-British from the Emperor Honorius, in AD410, to see to their own protection  – even as they called for aid to fend off the raiding Saxons. However, by the date I’ve been visiting, AD689, the Angles, Jutes and Saxons are well ensconced in the majority of what will become England, but the Vikings are not yet attacking.

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Can you see the river Tamar, just behind the trees – and further beyond?

I am in Cornwall, here, just over the border – the river Tamar. Though, in AD689 Cornwall is not Cornwall – as such, it is part of Dumnonia, roughly Devon and Cornwall and part of Somerset and Dorset, and it is a different place culturally to the rest of ‘England’. The West Saxons (those being the closest – Wessex) have not overtaken the people of Dumnonia yet – in fact – even the Romans had made little impact here, this side of the river, either … a few forts only – no fancy towns all laid out Roman style with villas and influence over the local Kings* here. (*or ‘big-man’ as the system seemed to be in Cornwall in the pre-Roman times … and probably was even at the end of the AD600s.)

So it is a tumultuous time on the border, the threat of invasion by the West Saxons is real, they have made in-roads into Dumnonia … and they have a new battle-cry. By this time the Anglo-Saxons had, by and large, turned from their pagan gods to Christianity, some converted by missionaries from Rome, some by missionaries from Ireland. This had resulted in a clash of Christian doctrines – the Roman church and the Celtic church having different ways to work out the Christian calendar, different tonsures for their monks, and differing rules and ways of worship and a different attitude towards women. Within my time-line comes the decisive synod of Whitby, AD664, that found in favour of the Roman Church and meant that the Celtic churches that would not change were then seen as heretical – and to be wiped out.

The Church in Dumnonia, and especially the ‘Cornish’ ones backed by King Geraint and so rich in Celtic saints from Ireland, refused to change – setting themselves up for the West Saxons to proclaim a ‘religious war’ as a motive to back-up their invasions.

It’s been hard to get back to the here and now – I look at the landscape around me with different eyes – where would have been occupied? Where would have been safe? I read the names of the places I know and refer to my books to see whether I can call the place by its current name – whether the name we know is, in fact, original Celtic (Cornish) or an English name given only after the West Saxons’ invasion, or a blend … and even that has made me look at the landscape again and see things with different eyes as I find the meanings behind the words.

Those who know me in person, know that I am interested in history, mainly local history rather than that of Kings and Queens, but this is something different. To weave a story based on a few scanty legends (Dominica and Indract), set in a time that is poorly recorded (there’s the reason it is called the Dark Ages) and to try to throw myself back into that time and inhabit that landscape and that life is, for me, an extraordinary experience, both thrilling and very scary. It is also totally absorbing and takes me to a place I have never travelled before!

Wish me luck on my time-travels 🙂

Do you go time-travelling?

Do you find yourself inhabiting a different world when visiting ancient houses or estates?

Do share – you know I love to hear from you!

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Something else I have never (knowingly) done before…

I don’t know about you – but I do not usually re-read novels. I may re-read a paragraph if, as I’m going through a book, I wonder if I understood properly something that was intimated, when subsequent events suggest I didn’t – but a whole novel – no. Even as a writer of fiction I tend to think that if I have read it – that’s it, done and dusted – there are far too many books out there to re-read fiction. Usually, if I have read a fiction book I have got from it all I wanted. Intrigue, thrills, laughter, a new perspective, escape … and then I look for the next novel to entertain me. nation

So, I can honestly say, I have never consciously re-read a novel. Now, I do know that I have sometimes started to re-read a novel … one that has come out in a new cover say …but as soon as I get into it and realise I know where it is going and that I have read it before I abandon it.

Just after January settled itself down, I was tidying a book shelf … !yes, unusual phenomena – but there were a few books that needed to be homed – so a bit of judicious shuffling had to happen! … and I spotted a novel by Terry Pratchett that I had not read – and I thought I had read them all over the years. Now I need to explain that #2 son had emptied his rucksack of books out onto these shelves, in what had been his room, before he set off to ‘climb around the world for a few years’ – and at some time he’d had a lot of Pratchett books too.

‘Nation’ is not part of the disc-world series, in fact it is not part of any of Terry’s other series either … it is a complete stand-alone. Weirdly, I hadn’t even heard of it. So I picked it out of the shelf and began reading. ‘Nation’ is set in a parallel world at a time we would call early Victorian, so much is recognisable and that which isn’t is just that little shift different and all this makes for an unusual and engaging book.

Mau, a boy about to become a man, has left his tribe as boys must, to go to the boys’ island, to come back a man. I do not think I will spoil anything by saying that as he leaves the island to return home a big wave comes, a tsunami … and all that follows is as a consequence of this.

I couldn’t but help think about the tsunami that hit Thailand, and neighbouring countries, on Boxing Day of 2004, and of the island of Koh Phi Phi where #4 son spent a few years, more recently.  There  70% of the buildings were flattened, and up to 40% people of the ten thousand estimated to have been on the island at the time (including tourists) were wiped off the face of the land by the wave, leaving 104 children with no parents. Only 850 bodies were recovered, the rest remain missing.

After I had finished reading it I went to my Goodreads page to write a review … and while I was looking for the correct version cover to put on the page I realised that this book had been first published under Pratchett – Children’s books, then only later more generally. I wondered why it was ‘for children’ – as are a few of the disc-world linked novels – but decided it was only because it featured young people as the main characters as it is as intricate and full of meaning as many of his other books.

Yes, full of meaning – as well as being full of ‘funny layers’ and ‘hard truth layers’ and quirky asides. If you are a Pratchett fan you will recognise all these aspects of his work. If you have never read them – or just picked up one and read a little bit here and there, you may think that his books are too weird, too ‘other’ for your taste, but I would urge you to settle down and read a few, to get to know the city of Ankh-Morpork and the Watch as a start. You do not need to know about their world view (a world that is a disc, on the backs of four elephants balanced on the back of a celestial turtle, hurtling through space – it doesn’t really feature much) you only need to know a heaving metropolis populated by the adventurous of every kind of sentient creature that exists on their disc-world – be it dwarf or troll, werewolf or human, vampire or Nobby Nobbs.thud

So it was, that, after reading Nation, and feeling in the mood for more Pratchett I had to resort to re-reading a novel. I chose THUD!.

THUD! Is an exquisite commentary on our times. If you swapped out dwarves and trolls for Muslims and Christians you could be near the mark. And history – oh, history and how it can be manipulated and cause trouble in the mouths of the wrong people. And then there’s the Watch – Ankh-Morpork’s policemen – made up of almost the right mixture of beings to represent the inhabitants of the city…  Sure – there are comic elements – in fact I know I literally laughed out loud more than once – but there … there it is – a fundamental message, glowing in the ‘dark’ of a ‘fantasy’ novel.

I have since gone on to re-read ‘Jingo!’ about War and those who actually wish for it, create it, push for it … to further their own agendas  – regardless of the consequences to the ordinary people … also somewhat pertinent.jingo

Do you re-read novels?

If so – What is your favourite – and how many times have you re-read it?

Do share – I’d love to know which novels you think are worth reading twice.

 

 

ps another 1lb down … 🙂

and hair still looking great 🙂

 

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Looe Literary Festival and an authorly-secret

 

‘Welcome to Looe’ the sign said – indeed – welcome to the Looe Literary Festival 2016, no longer a baby – now a three-year-old and growing and learning every year.

I was honoured, once again, to be invited to present my new book at this festival – the places aren’t unlimited, even though the brave organisers, June and Amelia, try to make space for all.

It was great to see Waterstones, led by Lee (who held my launch of Some Kind of Synchrony in the Plymouth, New George Street, branch) getting involved as the Literary Festival’s main book seller – and it was great to have the pop-up Art Gallery and ‘locals’ book shop at Archies once again (after missing out on it last year.)

The venues had almost all changed as well. Us Local Authors were in the very nice space of the upstairs of The Black Swan. So it was there that a goodly number appeared to hear my talk. Now, without an interviewer this year I planted questions to get me on my way. (*if I do this again, and you happen to come along, you might like to know that if you volunteered to ask me a ‘planted’ question you would be entered for an instant draw – the prize for which, this time, was a signed copy of The Angel Bug.*) – but this isn’t my authorly-secret.

This scheme kept me on track with the main bits I wanted to include – but I also left a gap for random questions from the audience. One that I have never had before was concerning the book that will never be published – the first one I ever wrote. I had pointed out that I was glad that it had not been possible to just pop a book up on Amazon back when I started writing – as I might have been tempted and ruined my writing career before it had begun, whereas I could now see that it was full of the worst ‘first-book’ ‘new author’ errors. (no, this isn’t the authorly-secret either) looe-lit-fest-reading

‘What were these errors?’ I was asked … and I had to admit to ‘purple prose’ – too much description, every flower, every petal described on a walk… type of thing. I also admitted to ‘far too much introspection’ as the protagonist contemplated her lot and agonised over decisions. What eluded me at the time, but I recalled when I returned home, was the lack of real driving storyline. Sure she went from one relationship to another – but she did not exactly grow in the transition – and throughout was beset with angst. I’d called this book, eventually, ‘Windmills’ – after the song title ‘Windmills of your mind’ and had each chapter headed with a different line from the song. (seems that, had I actually published this, I might have ended up in trouble for using the lyrics without permission – who knew! – but this isn’t the authorly-secret either)

As it happens this never-to-be-published book found its way into A Respectable Life. It gets a sideways mention as one of the other books that the book group are reading from the ‘Best-Reads’ short list. It amused me to put it in there but, until now, only I knew! – and that IS my authorly-secret! And now you all know and will recognise it when you read that line!  looe-lit-fest-signing

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and it was SO GOOD to meet some of my readers – especially those who have read my other books and came along specially – if that was you – it was great to meet you!!

Thank all of you, both at the book launch and after the Looe Lit Fest reading, who also encouraged me to put my poems out in book form too. I am now considering it…

Back to researching and writing now … and working on fermented foods … and researching natural healing … and sorting poems … and …

What are you all getting up to as the days draw in and the cold weather starts?

Do share – you know I love to hear from you

Best – Ann

Please, if you enjoyed a book by an indie-published author, help them gain a wider audience by doing a review on Amazon – doesn’t have to be in depth – just has to be heartfelt. Thank you X

 

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Book Launch in an Imaginary Place

So ‘A Respectable Life’ is out there now … my baby – toddling around in the world – hoping people will like it… and reports suggest they do 🙂

The book launch itself was quite different from the one to launch the paperback of Some Kind of Synchrony. That one was held in Plymouth Waterstones, particularly apt as the very same building had been the Western Morning News building at one time (and the WMN was where I had done my research for that book) and I had a ‘serious’ type interview with Simon Parker, an editor with the WMN who had been a young journalist in that very building.

This time, as the book was set in the Tamar Valley in the imaginary village of Hingsbury sited quite close to St Dominick (where I live) I chose to launch the book from the village hall – BUT the village hall was pretending to be ‘Hingsbury hall’ for the evening, in the throes of the ‘Hingsbury Art Fair’ organised by Cordelia, the ‘owner’ of the respectable life.

arl-launch-artists-and-author-med
L >R The Artists line up – Anthea Lay, Jo Totterdell, Marion Kemp-Pack, Myself, Sam Margesson and Derek Scofield

Five lovely and talented artists of my close acquaintance (most of whom either live in the parish or close by) exhibited in a pop-up way for the evening. (quite the antithesis of the carefully staged and managed Art Fair Cordelia runs in the book)arl-audienece-med

The evening was well attended – with about fifty people filling the chairs – indeed, more had to be brought out!

I presented a short talk about my writing history and the writing of the book and, after I read a piece I took questions from the audience, finishing with mentioning what I was working on next.arl-launch-cutting-the-cake-of-the-book-med

THEN I cut the cake – a book shaped and Respectable Life decorated cake. Which was the cue for drinks, nibbles, and looking at art or getting books signed.

I had a fabulous time, and I hope everyone who came enjoyed it too – warm thanks to everyone to came along!

However, if you missed out – you can hear me talk about ‘A Respectable Life’ again at the Looe Literary Festival at 2.30pm in The Black Swan on Saturday 12th November. I’d love to see you there. arl-audience-after-med

Here’s a link to the Looe Lit Fest schedule – so may good writers to see, some talk are free, some to be paid for, plus workshops and great fun for children – if you are in the area don’t miss it! {You’ll notice the Liskeard Poets on Saturday morning – I’ll be reading with them too 🙂 }

Have you been to any good book launches?

What do you think an Author MUST do to make a launch go well?

What should an Author avoid?

Do share – I’d love to know your thoughts – Ann

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‘A Respectable Life’ . . . Goes Live

The lead-up to the launch of a novel is always fraught – but here they are ready for this Friday and looking splendid! arl-mass-1

A website that kept freezing, a code that could not be read, a pdf – with embedded fonts – that was somehow rendered with the wrong font in the proofs – these are some of the extra trials in the run up to the launch of A Respectable Life. {up-date – and a whole box of books delivered to the wrong address!}

You will recall the poll I took on the way the words should be placed on the cover (Thank you all for your comments and votes) It was a close-run thing – but both of the main choices had the word ‘respectable’ split up and uneven on the right hand side.

After much discussion the choice was made – with the hint of a shadow added to deepen the font and make it more serious.

All of this carefully placed on Anthea Lay’s painting of Hingsbury so as not to hide any of the main features of Hingsbury village – the pub, The Old Chapel (where Cordelia lives), the Church, the shop and Hideaway Cottage – I wanted all of these visible on the cover.

Anthea had an interesting task – to create this fictional village from a sketch map and set it into the landscape where I wanted to plant it – and then to squash everything over onto one side – the front cover! Explaining this to a number of people I was told that they ‘love a map’ – so I have included this in the front of the book too.

SO… the book is ready to launch. What to do? Where to hold it?

Now, you have to know that Cordelia organises the prestigious Hingsbury Art Fair – raising thousands for charity – and it is this backdrop that flows behind the events of A Respectable Life – so the Book launch will be in Hingsbury Art Fair!

OK… so St Dominick Hall will be masquerading as Hingsbury hall – with a Pop-Up Art Fair provided by five local artists, Anthea being one of them! Each of these five artists is very different – there’s oils and acrylics, encaustic wax, gouache and pen and ink, fine botanical paintings and quirky multimedia work as well. Something for everyone. There will be a short talk and Q&A followed by refreshments (& cake) and opportunity to chat – look at the art – or buy (signed)books and art (Think Christmas pressies for special people – or yourself 😉 )

Now, if you are in the area – and you haven’t already received an invitation via facebook, twitter or email – please consider this yours!launch-invite-2(click on picture to enlarge and make clearer!)

And we all look forward to seeing you there …

X Ann

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