Literary attempts, beetroot and redcurrant jelly, sunshine and bad news days

Its been too long - the blog kept appearing on lists but didn't get done! But I'm having a day of getting through my current list before I add anything to it. So here goes!

Failed miserably in getting work out to agents. This always happens initially because once I start to look at my little archive of stories they don't seem good enough, its funny how you have to be in the right mood to approach these sorts of tasks. Hoping for better next week, but am a little side-tracked by my entry to the Costa Short Story Competition which closes for entries in 7 days time.  I've had a snippet of a story languishing on the computer for some time that I've now taken by the scruff of the neck and completely revamped with more characters and more plot and lots more words. I'm happy with it but now the polishing begins, thesaurus and Fowler's Modern at the ready. Wish me luck.

My neighbour's wedding was a treat to behold, white horses and carriage started the day and smart sports cars ended it with lots of colour and bollywood dancing in between.  There are photographs but must get some permissions first before sharing.

The beetroot is lovely and I've perfected a great relish recipe - so close friends beware a jar or two may well be on offer soon - when I find a day to commit to the work - but it can't be long because the baby beets are ready.  Time will be taken up this evening with the yearly ritual of making redcurrant jelly.  The currants are lovely this year, must have been the spring rain and all this sunshine.  The juice is ready and the pots are being washed at this very moment by my better half.

The sunshine here continues which is great, but watering the veg and our new plants takes time and effort.  I'm trying to turn it into a fitness regime - walking fast holding two full watering cans must do something to your waistline, so here's hoping.


Work on pictures for my October exhibition is going to plan, just need the last four to the printers and then eight onto the framer.  A couple of my last choices are below.....

I always try to include some national news here each time - but most of the big stories at the moment are making me sad and angry - the conflict in Gaza and Iraq and the shooting down of the airliner in Ukraine for example. Why does man (and I mean man specifically  - I'm a mild feminist) choose the aggression route to solve problems. I can imagine how hard it is to carry generations' worth of hatred for another tribe, religion, race whatever it is. But I have a theory that in cultures where women lack any real power there is often quick calls to fight rather than calls to discuss and resolve. I'm with Ban Ki Moon and his call to the Israelis and Palestinians "Stop fighting and start talking". Easier said than done Ban Ki.

Here's hoping for better news next time I put pen to paper, thanks for reading this blog...
Elaine x

Post-holiday blues, Brazilian football, Wimbledon and phone hacking

Well a good time was had by all in Brittany, despite the only mediocre weather.  Eurocamp was just as we remembered, simple but value for money. The campsite at Beg-Miel was right next to a lovely beach, giving us scope for long walks with good coffee at each end, and a nature park complete with otters. Lounging by the pool, eating pizza from the takeaway a bit of tennis and watching world cup football in the bar made up the rest of the time. Bliss. Brittany Ferries also need a mention, great crossings both ways, a lovely new ship and really nice staff - thank you.


Back to work with the scary task of polishing my best stories ready to be packaged off to some unsuspecting literary agents - I have a list of anyone remotely interested in short stories on who's desk they will be landing.  Scary because of the fear of the rejection letter (tends to a be an email these days if you're lucky, or mostly no response at all - the poor dears are so busy with submissions they have very little time to correspond in any depth if at all), but it has to be done, how else would you know about your chances unless you put it out there.

I've grown beetroot!! Dead chuffed with the lovely row of bushy leaves and growing beets underneath.  The plan is to make beetroot relish and do some pickling - sorry but it is the sort of thing I get excited about these days!

The coming weekend looks busy. We've been invited to our neighbours' daughter's wedding. They are Sikh so we're really looking forward the occasion, with all its colourful dressing up.

Not sure what I think about the new laws which will allow the security services and government to look at data about who we are calling and contacting. Is this what's known as 'phone hacking'? Things getting rushed through often go a bit awry shortly after when challenges are made.  However I have nothing to hide on my phone and computer and want to know that the security services are keeping an eye on the baddies, but also understand the civil liberties issue, so not sure about this one.

I'm not surprised Brazil are out of the world cup because their football lacked any of the skill shown in the past, but 7:1 was a bit of a shock.  Its interesting watching sports tournaments when your team or favourite player gets knocked out and you're watching as a neutral - a bit of passion is lost. 
I missed the second week of Wimbledon (which was a bit of error on my part - I booked the holiday) and once I learnt that my lovely Andy was out my interest waned. However was treated to a masterful show of tennis on Sunday - thank you Djokovic and Federer for a great 5-setter.

Thanks to all the readers of my blog, hope you're finding it interesting and would love to hear more of you comments.
Elaine x

World cup exit, photo exhibition, Channel 4 news and Iraq

Ah well, the fat lady is singing and the boys are coming home on this sad day for England football fans.  Actually the sad / frustrating day was last week against Uruguay, but that's another story.  My better half spurred us on by saying not to worry because we've got the European Championships to look forward to in two years time ..... oh bliss, more venting of spleens and commiserations.
Life does go on despite the horrible thoughts that we are terrible at football - we are also terrible at cricket at the moment according to Aggers on Radio 5 this morning.

We're preparing to invade France - just the four of us into Southern Brittany. Clothes are washed, lists written and cases are out of the loft.  The travel sickness tabs have been purchased for the Plymouth - Roscoff sailing - non of us are good sailors.  Really looking forward to a week in the sun lying next to a pool and the sea.

More preparations have been made for the upcoming photo exhibition in October at the Alfred East Gallery.  I've had the first six of the proposed fourteen pictures printed and mounted and I'm really pleased with the big ones. They're sitting in the lounge at the moment - they look so lovely I'm tempted to buy them - the idea is that someone else buys them, here's hoping.

Looking back at the news this week makes uncomfortable viewing, listening and reading especially where the middle east is concerned.  I like watching Channel 4 news, and love Jon Snow (I met him once and have his autograph) and I felt immense pride last night watching journalists in the Channel 4 newsroom and Jon Snow protested in silence with black tape over their mouths about the jailing of Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt for reporting the news.




The other bad news for the middle east is Iraq - who is going / able to save this country?  Religion certainly won't.

I've failed in my quest to perfect another short story for Kindle - ran out of time, but the other two are still up there. Why do I imagine the internet to be in the sky when its in a big building in a field somewhere - does anyone else do that?  For those of you who don't know about them here are the links to the stories - Answers from Ghosts and Letter to Barbara.

Elaine x

Twitter, more gardening and a bit of sports news..

Well as promised the gardening took over during the last two weeks.  Most of the blank bits of border in the back garden are now planted up with a few shrubs and loads of annuals - they still look small but I've got every hope that by the end of the month the ground will be covered, I hope so because I hate weeding. My better half is the fruit and veg grower but this year I'm trying to make my mark by joining in with the growing of beetroot, lettuce and courgettes.  The beetroot and courgettes are doing really well, but the lettuce have stopped growing for some reason - I'll have to ask the head gardener what to do with them - he's bound to know the answer. I've noticed that once you've sown or planted something one becomes incredibly protective of it and interested in how its doing - checking on 'me offsprings' (and I don't mean the boys) several times a day is not unusual.

Talking of the real offspring -  they are together tonight with a few other mates down in the capital to watch a little game of footy planned for later, we are of course talking about the World Cup and England's first game. Readers of this blog will know that we are football fans and so have to go through this obligatory torture every 4 years, which has ended literally in tears for both us and players (remember Gazzer) every time since 1966.  So here we go again and it will be great!

I've joined Twitter ........ @damsoncake, yes damsoncake (which part of my brain that came from I'll never know)......and I'm following some of the people everyone does e.g. Stephen Fry and Jon Snow and I'm enjoying it so far, but as most people warn - boy could it take up your whole day, may need to ration myself.

Writing and photography has gone a little quiet at the moment because of the garden but I'm determined to have another short story on kindle before I go on holiday in two weeks time and I'm taking a big writing pad with me to France to hand-write some ideas to come back with - who knows, if it rains all week then there might be enough in it for the novel!!

George Bush Snr celebrated his 90th birthday with a tandem parachute jump - what plans have you got for your 90th?

Elaine x

 

Gardening, the next writing comp and summer hols

Exciting news!!  Its stopped raining.  The problem with rain and grass is that whilst its raining you can't cut it and whilst its raining at this time of year it grows very fast.  All you can do is watch it grow and imagine the effort that's going to be needed when the rain stops.  That day came yesterday, so on went the wellies and out came the mower.  The good thing is that once the grass is cut no matter how many weeds there are in the borders the garden all of a sudden looks a hundred times better.  We still have lots of empty beds to fill with plants; some of the background shrubs have now been purchased and we have lots of previously rescued herbaceous stuff to bring down from the field so this weekend with its promise of dry weather involves lots of garden activity.  Wellies, yoga stretches (thanks to Julia Thorley) and ibuprofen at the ready.

The Alfred East Open 14 Exhibition draws to a close today, and I'm chuffed with the comments received about the photo I entered, thanks to those who gave me the comments x.  The next big thing on the photography agenda is the personal exhibition planned at the gallery for October when two photography friends and I have hired the long gallery at the AE for a month long exhibition.  So now all there is to do is create 14 beautiful images, get them mounted and ready for hanging, think about a preview evening, arrange advertising etc etc ....  Oh and raid the piggy banks in order to pay for it all.  The idea of these exhibitions is to sell something, selling enough to pay the expenses would be great because I really do enjoy the process - so here's hoping!  Here's a preview of one of the 14 ....... its a view from Neist Point on Skye looking out to the Outer Hebrides, if you look close enough you can see a couple of people standing 1,000 feet up on the cliff - its not me, don't worry.

On the writing front things have come down a little since my foray into the literary world at the Ruth Rendell event last week, and thankfully my aching feet from walking the streets of London have returned to normal.  But on Thursday with some gusto I decided at the last minute to enter a flash fiction piece, a short story and a poem to the Bridport Prize. This competition is international and has become one of the big ones with its winners ranking among the famous.  The judges this year include the poet Liz Lochhead whose work I really like - so again here's hoping!
For those interested my two short stories (Answers from Ghosts and Letter to Barbara) already on Kindle are on offer and free to download for the next few days.

The pack from Eurocamp came yesterday!  We're off to Brittany at the end of the month for week.  The two of us plus our two 6' 4" offspring in a caravan, hopefully in the sunshine.  The thing that keeps making me smile is the rule that men are not allowed to wear shorts-type swimwear going down the slides into the pools, so the speedos have to be found. The menfolk have been warned.
In the past we've always done the Dover - Calais crossing and then the long drive across, this year we're going Plymouth - Roscoff overnight - tips for an overnight ferry crossing would be welcome.

So, time to get out the wellies and forks!
Elaine x

London, short story comp success and bloody Shakespeare

Today I'll be mostly wearing soft slippers and drinking camomile tea (regards to the Fast Show).  Yesterday was a magical day in London attending a couple of exciting events with my better half and the boys and included hours of walking, as it always does, but this time  in ill-suited shoes. 
The two events kicked off with my luncheon date at the Ruth Rendell Short Story Awards in Kensington where I was awarded runner-up for my short story 'Race to the Shiny Trees'.  The competition is organised by a brilliant charity called Interact Reading (have a look at their website here), and the judging of the stories is done by the Baroness herself.  We got to meet her and lots of other interesting people from the charity and the literary world (only about 40 people in all but big and grand enough for me).  As well as winning the runner-up prize two other lovely things happened - firstly all three of the short-listed stories were read out loud by professional actors (you'll see why if you have a look at Interact's website) which was great to listen to, and secondly I met Nell Dunn, writer of the famous 'Up the Junction' back in the 1960s.  What a wonderfully gracious lady she is.
The afternoon was spent by the four of us walking our way around London, with stops for cream tea, and dinner later on, to eventually end up at the Globe Theatre to watch Titus Andronicus courtesy of our eldest who'd bought us standing tickets.  What an experience!  The Globe Theatre is amazing, you get a real feel of what it may have been like back in The Bard's day.  The actors were on a raised stage plus bits of the action took place among the standing audience which was great.  I'm not a fan of Shakespeare (I'm ready for the abuse - don't worry, lots of people over the years have tried to convince me of its cleverness), but I can admire the splendour of it all, and do enjoy reading and listening to selected passages. The story of Titus is full of murder and treachery, typical Shakespeare, but this one has lots, and I mean lots of murder.  The 'blood' was everywhere.  Well done Will, a great little short story!
Thanks family for a lovely and exhausting day out.  And thanks Ruth for liking my story.

Report from the Hebrides, photos, good and bad news

Well its official - I've fallen in love with Skye.  Its a magical place - lots of mountains and sea and lovely people.  We were really lucky with the weather - we caught the odd shower and grey cloud but enjoyed quite a bit of the big yellow thing.  It was still cool up there so the suntan extends only to face, hands and forearms - a bit of coverage was needed to protect from the breeze.  The only exception was the walk out to Neist Point and lighthouse where the sheer effort needed in the climb and the fear of the sheer drop bought on a bit of a glow, so for 15 minutes the sleeveless top was on show. 
The rest of the 10 days included great views of the Outer Hebrides, the pair of golden eagles, lots of tea and cake, and the two lovely B&Bs - The Rowans on Skye at Portnalong (a very special little place, use the link to see it), and Dunborrowdale at Portree. And a big thank you to my better half for the 1,500 miles of near perfect driving. The trip was book-ended with a overnight stay in Milngavie on the way up an overnight stay at New Lanark Mill (really interesting place, use the link to have a look) and a visit to the beautiful Harlow Carr gardens in Harrogate on the way back.
Many photos were taken as you may imagine - about 550 in all.  I have to add at this point that every one was taken on the manual setting on the camera - so lots of quick, and not so quick fiddling to achieve best exposure etc.  I got news that I'd been given a distinction grade for my City and Guilds in photography - so it would have been a bit of a cheat if I'd gone back to using auto!  A couple photos appear below, hope you like them .....

 

 

 
The youngest offspring has had an exciting weekend helping at City Sound Project music festival in Canterbury with one day spent as artist liaison - supporting the bands before and after appearances, it also got him invited to an after show party - lucky boy! 

Talking of exciting things ............... I was lucky enough to have one of my photo chosen to appear in the Alfred East Open 14 exhibition, its on until the end of May and includes some lovely pieces of art work - worth a look.
Also .............. I've been shortlisted for the Ruth Rendell short story award with two other writers.  Its a competition run by Interact Reading which I entered last October and had nearly forgotten about it until the phone call came a few weeks ago.  I'm off to London on May 21st to a lunch where the winner will be announced, and get to meet Ruth herself.  Excited?  Over the moon!

So April has been a good month overall, but for one thing.  I lost touch with a dear nursing friend, Ian, about ten years ago only to learn from someone recently that he is very poorly with cancer, and not long for this world.  I've exchanged a couple of emails with him and he seems to be as funny and talented as he ever was.  Many of my thoughts at the moment are with him and his partner and family.