HOW COULD WE EVER FORGET?

This is my grandfather, James Richard Brown,  who fought with the 2nd Royal Guernsey Light Infantry and the Royal Irish Fusiliers in World War One. He was invalided out of the army on May 6, 1919 after losing a lung. Today I am thinking of all the other brave soldiers who never had the chance to be
 fathers and grandfathers.
  Gold Bless them all.

 

 

 

 

1914-2014

 

Lest we Forget

 

NOVEMBER IS THE NEW JANUARY - HOW TO GET ORGANISED

A new website, a new novel, plus a sequel to Baggy Pants and Bootees. There - I've made my New Year's resolutions early and nothing can stop me  from reaching my goal.

The problem with November is that it's easy to get distracted from completing the work-in-progress. Should I blog about Guy Fawkes Inn that I discovered on my last trip to York?

 

Should I increase my marketing to gain maximum exposure for the festive season ?

 

 Should I join the group that will make me lose a dress size before the festive season. (I'm always losing things, but a weight isn't one of them.)

ARE YOU A LOSER?

Find your name here



I wonder if that magazine editor still wants my piece about how I got published?

 

Did I  say I'd give a talk to that lovely writers' group before Christmas?

 

I love the new hardback from my favourite author, but I'm still only halfway through it...

 

I need more 'likes' for my facebook author page.  Not to mention followers on twitter....

https://twitter.com/MarilynChapma77 It can pay to be cheeky https://www.facebook.com/              

Is the word disorganised in the dictionary? I can never find it....

Now where was I? Oh yes, my plans for next year. I've written them down at the beginning of this blog.  All I have to do is follow them. Wish me luck!

 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

-

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said,
"Oh my, it's getting late."
The second one said,
"But we don't care."
The third one said,
"I see witches in the air."
The fourth one said,
"Let's run, and run, and run."
The fifth one said,
"Get ready for some fun."
Then whoosh went the wind,
And out went the lights,
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Who put me on the hob?

I did!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Shhh - did someone close the library?

 

 

 

 

Shhh - don't tell anyone.... I've just written a short story to celebrate my granddaughter's fifth birthday next week.

We were doing role play at the top of the stairs the other day  in a specially constructed den  made of cushions, towels and various pieces of furniture from her bedroom. As we stacked up a pile of her favourite books, the talk soon turned to libraries.

What is a lady who works in the library called?' I asked.

'A librarian,' she replied, after a little prompting.

And what does the librarian say when you go in the library?

' Shh...' came the reply.

Shh?' I said. 'What does that mean?'

'It means please keep quiet, Grandma. You have to keep quiet in libraries.'

And so the idea for the 'birthday present' was born. But that's, well, another story...

Meanwhile, I'm  thrilled that  a trip to the library still means as much to my granddaughter as it did to me when I was a young child. Every week my two sisters and I would visit our local library where I first discovered  one of my all-time favourite books 'A Peep Behind the Scenes' a 'turn-of-the-century' story by Mrs O.F. Walton.

 Isn't it  worrying, then, that libraries in the UK are closing every week as local authorities are forced to make 'necessary' cuts.  Free access to books should surely be something for us to pass on to a future generation.  Have you checked on the future of your library lately? If not,  take a look at http://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/

Meanwhile,  I would tell you more about my new short story but I can't because..... Shh - I promised not to say a word.

And the author wore Baggy Pants...

 

 

 

Huge thanks to Plackitt and Booth Booksellers in Lytham and everyone came to the launch of

Baggy Pants and Bootees.

See the book here!

 

Desire at Downton Abbey...

Writer, actor,  and member of the House of Lords Julian Fellowes might not describe himself as a romantic novelist - but the new series of Downton Abbey proves otherwise.

This week's episode had all the right ingredients, not least a smiling (for a change) Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery ( pictured above on her way to a secret liaison.)

But romance is not romance without those who disapprove. And who better than veteran actress Maggie Smith delivering her lines with the precision of a very sharp knife? 'In my day,' she pronounced on the return of her wayward granddaughter, 'a lady was incapable of feeling physical attraction until instructed to by her mama...'

We know it's all ridiculous but we love to believe it and that's what makes it so compelling.

 

While Lady Mary  was presumed to have been at a 'conference on land management' in Liverpool she revealed, with a perfectly straight face, that she had 'learnt a great deal I did not know before.'

 

The tongue-in-cheek lines never fail to hit the spot and the tv audience clearly love it...

 

Romantic novelist? I wonder what they would think of Sir Julian at Mills and Boon?



The Surprise behind The Sunrise

 

Alison and Pat from Plackitt & Booth, Lytham, with Victoria Hislop (centre)
Photo courtesy of Headline

Renown author Victoria Hislop, who  has sold millions of books all over the world, admits she never wanted  to be a novelist. 'I didn't have a creative gene in my body,' she told a lively audience at Lowther Theatre, Lytham, this week.

Victoria was in Lancashire to celebrate the launch of her latest novel, The Sunrise, released on September 26 and already a best seller.

 Set in Famagusta, Cypress, in the early 1970s, the book follows two families whose lives are changed forever when the Turks stage a coup forcing the locals to flee for their lives.  Based on recent history, The Sunrise charts the decline of the once prosperous town into a ghostly half-ruin. Even today, no-one is allowed into Famagusta, which is fenced off with barbed wire and guarded by Turkish soldiers.  Eerily, some of the homes remain much as they were  forty years ago, 'still with books on the shelves.'

The writer first fell in love with Greece when she visited Athens in 1976 and now sees it as her second home. She is well known on the islands for the  film of her debut novel, The Island, and can speak Greek fluently - albeit with a French accent! So taken is she with the culture that she admits she'll never write a novel set in England. 'I don't think I can write about English people,' she said with a definite twinkle in her eye.

Are her characters based on real people? 'No character is based on one individual.' she explained, 'but they do reflect the various personalities of the Greeks.'

Victoria read English at university and became a travel journalist, before realising that it would be 'much more fun' to make up her own stories.  Every day she writes in the library near her home to avoid getting  distracted by the minutiae  of daily life  - and that includes eating, or having a cup of coffee. Which perhaps explains why she is very slim!

Does she still have ambitions? 'I'd like to write like Ian McEwan,' she said, without hesitation.

Despite being married to journalist and presenter Ian Hislop, a popular panellist on BBC's Have I Got News for You,' Victoria appears unfazed by her huge success. After answering numerous questions from the floor, she thanked Plackitt and Booth, booksellers, of Lytham for hosting the event and for being a great example of the successful independent bookshop.

The Sunrise is published by Headline and available in hardback and paperback from all good booksellers.








 

Bra-burning and bookworms

Bra-burning and equality at work were on the agenda at a 'book club-with-a difference' in Lancashire last week. The Bookworms are an enthusiastic group of professional women, from the historic town of Carnforth, who invited me to talk on Baggy Pant and Bootees (released in paperback this month.)

 Set between the Second World War and the 1960s, the book contrasts the misery of the post war years with the infamous 'swinging sixties' less than two decades later.

My memories of life in the chauvinistic world of provincial journalism in the late sixties prompted a surge of recollections in an afternoon discussion, reminiscent of TV's Loose Women. So how much has really changed for women in the workplace?

Back in the sixties, my first women's page features championed female lawyers, scientists and accountants who had managed to infiltrate a male-dominated world. 'Women CAN be a success in the workplace'  I proclaimed, with barely disguised glee. All this, where previously there had been fashion, food and flower arranging, a woman's staple reading diet.

 'Women have to be better than their male counterparts to succeed in the workplace even now' said one club member.

 How often have you read about a high flying female  professional suing her male boss  for 'unfair conduct?' I'm not talking here about sexual harassment, which is clearly a serious matter, but if women do want to work in high profile jobs,  equality has to work both ways. And a man or woman who earns over £100k a year  must also expect to work under pressure.

Most of the women at the meeting regarded equality in the workplace as the norm, but admitted that ingrained attitudes, especially in the older generations, are sometimes difficult to erase.

 The much-discussed bra-burning of the sixties  arose from a myth and has gone down forever in history. Meanwhile,  I am  still standing on my metaphorical soap box and burning my metaphorical bra. How about you?

Published by Amelia Press, Baggy Pants and Bootees is available from good bookshops and from Amazon.co.uk here and Amazon.com here


 

BAGGY PANTS AND BOOTEES - THE PAPERBACK ARRIVES!

 

The first paperback copy arrives.

 

                                        BAGGY PANTS AND BOOTEES is available in paperback  now!

When war baby Sophie joins the macho world of 1960s journalism she’s determined to prove that she’s ‘one of the boys.’ But a phone call from her estranged mother after years of guilt and torment sets Sophie on a quest to uncover the secret of her birth.

Was her father the all-American soldier she dreamt of when she was a child, or someone far more sinister? This is the story the ambitious reporter was destined to write.

Helped by the charming but mysterious David, Sophie uncovers a heartbroken wartime orphan, a GI romance and a terrifying rape that leads to an innocent man’s court martial – and finds clues to her own unhappy childhood.

Torn between her secret love for Steve, the newspaper’s most eligible bachelor, and her desire to know who she really is, Sophie follows David to find her father.  Only when faced with the startling truth can she accept the tragedy of love, loss and betrayal and begin a very different kind of future.

Baggy Pants and Bootees ,will shortly be available from Plackitt & Booth, booksellers, Lytham, Lancashire, or to order from any good bookshop.
 

You can also buy it on amazon.co.uk
here
and  on amazon.com
here