Story in a Teacup

The Sunday Times Short Story List... and My Own Favourite Short Stories

2012-02-25T08:00:00.001Z

So the longlist for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Awards 2012 has been announced this week, and you can see it here.

Do you read short stories?

I'm very much a novel reader as a rule. I don't have anything against the short story form at all, but find myself drifting towards longer reads because I love the feeling of being sucked in and utterly, completely enveloped in a story over a period of several days. I like to get to know the characters and watch a story unfurl.

But short stories are very clever things. They have to engage the reader from the very first sentence, every paragraph has to move the plot along at a fair lick, and they still have to hold one's attention every bit as much as a longer yarn. I might not read all that many short stories, but this means that the ones I do read really stay with me. Here are the three that have made homes for themselves in my memory:

Neil Gaiman: Chivalry

Taken from his anthology Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman's story Chivalry is such a simple tale, it could have been written for young children or adults. It gives an account of Mrs Whittaker, an elderly lady who is in the habit of popping into her local Oxfam shop to buy 'a little something' every Thursday after collecting her pension at the post office. As well as picking up her usual Mills and Boons, one day she finds the Holy Grail under an old fur coat at the back of the shop, and thinking it would look nice on the mantelpiece, she pays her 30p for it and takes it home. Several days later she finds a real knight in shining armour on her doorstep - a 'very pleasant young man', who is on a quest, and willing to swap some highly sought after treasures in return for the Sangrail.

I love this short story because it is told in Gaiman's usual quiet humour. The idea of the Holy Grail turning up in a charity shop is just brilliant. Even funnier is the fact that Mrs Whittaker knows precisely what it is, but only cares that it looks nice sitting between her china bassett hound and a photo of her husband in the 1940s. As a frequenter of vintage bargains in charity shops myself, I only wish something so exciting would turn up on one of my thrifting adventures!

E. Nesbit: The Violet Car

While E.Nesbit is well-known for her enchanting children's books, such as The Railway Children. The Would-be-Goods and The Story of the Treasure Seekers, her adult horror stories have always been much neglected. They are brilliant; capable of sending chills down my spine where so few other horror fiction writers succeed.

The Violet Car is the story of a nurse sent to Charlestown to see to 'a mental case'. Arriving at a typically unnerving old house to care for the wife of the man who engaged her, it quickly becomes clear that no one knows which of the pair is actually the mentally ill. Each believes the other is deranged. It soon emerges that their daughter Bessie had been killed by a violet motor car, and that the couple visit the site of the collision every single day. But the reason for their visit - we learn - is not just a desire to see the place where their daughter was killed.

This is the story in the collection which comes to my mind often, but every one of them is written with suspense and in an almost absent, emotionally-removed tone that works so well.

Roald Dahl: The Visitor

Part of a collection of four stories, entitled Switch Bitch, like E.Nesbit, here Roald Dahl shows the reader another side of his personality. These stories are a far cry from his children's books, dealing with far more salacious storylines. The Visitor tells one of several tales from the diary of Uncle Oswald, a daring ladies' man with a penchant for travelling and whom collects exotic scorpions and spiders, or Arachnida. On one journey he finds himself stranded with a broken fanbelt in the middle of the Sinai Desert, and is rescued by a rich man, who takes him back to his family home while he awaits the delivery of a new belt the next day. Oswald becomes highly aroused at meeting the man's beautiful wife and daughter, and he determines to seek their entertainment that night. But not all goes quite to plan.

I was initially a little dubious about reading Roald Dahl's 'other works' as I think of them. He was the storyteller of my childhood, I still own all of his books and read them regularly today. But having taken the plunge (I decided that if his grandaughter Sophie could wax lyricial about Switch Bitch then I could be brave enough to do the same!) I am filled yet again with awe at the breadth of Dahl's talents. The Visitor's blackly humourous revelation made me gasp at the end... but I won't spoil it for you!

So, if you do read short stories, what about them appeals to you? And do you have a favourite?

Until next time, don't look behind you.

Inspirational Wednesday

2012-02-22T08:00:00.001Z

Last week I went on a spot of adventuring to Creswell Crags, just outside Sheffield. It was a really unusual place to take the dog for a walk, as not only is it honeycombed with wonderful caves, formed during the last Ice Age, but within those caves have been discovered the oldest cave paintings in Europe, up to 50,000 years old, the only rock art in Britain. I had a great time wandering from cave to cave and thinking about all the families who sheltered in them over a period of 4,000 years.

So with that in mind, this week's Inspirational Wednesday picture just had to be a cave! Caves make really interesting settings for stories because they can provide comfort and shelter from the elements and be home, but they can also be dark, damp and sinister, full of skeletons, ghosts and predators.

Source: julia.blogg.se via Anastasia on Pinterest

Enjoy a really inspiring Wednesday, and hope you'll be able to join me for Creatives Unite tomorrow.

On My Reading List

2012-02-21T08:00:00.001Z

I've been on a bit of a reading drought recently, where I just can't seem to focus on any one book. This doesn't always matter as I tend to have several books on the go at any one time, a popular fiction, a classic and a non-fiction, so if I can't concentrate on one, I just switch to another until I've muddled through them all. This time it hasn't been so simple, so I suspended all other reading projects and sought out something I was told by friends would guarantee I got my reading mojo back...

...They were right. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has sorted the problem out!

So now I'm back in my reading groove here's what's lined up on my list:

Jeffrey Deaver is the latest author lined up to fill Ian Fleming's shoes in writing a James Bond novel. I really enjoyed Sebastian Faulk's Devil May Care so I'm looking forward to seeing how Carte Blanche measures up.

I love reading social history books, and having been sucked into Judith Flander's book The Victorian House a few years ago, which described everyday life in the middle-class Victorian home, I did a mini happy dance in my local library when I spotted another of her books - this time about leisure and pleasure in Victorian Britain. The period saw the birth of the British seaside holiday, so I hope it won't have me daydreaming too much of a holiday of my own... oh, it will, won't it? Damn.

Ah, the next in the Outlander series. I've actually already started this one, but at 1400 pages long it's going to take a while! I love these books because it's just one epic adventure, book after book, where I can go off and read something else for a while but then return to the comfort of the characters I've spent so much time with. It's like a lovely long break in Scotland with the rugged Jamie Fraser, interspersed with a world tour, and with battles, voyages, love, adventure, mystery, sex, time travel and the 18th century all chucked in for good measure. Marvellous stuff.

I think I read Inkheart and Inkspell when I was in my mid-teens, and ten years later it's about time I finished the series! I picked up Inkdeath on a carboot for 30p a few weeks ago, so now I have no excuse. I enjoyed the first two - and does anyone remember the dire film in 2008? - so I'm keen to find out what happens to Mo and Meggie in the final part. I love the idea of stories coming to life through reading aloud.

And I'm now going to need the other two in the Millennium series! What's on your reading list?

My Artistic Hero

2012-02-18T08:00:00.001Z

I've always had a special respect for anyone talented enough to be able to take a great photograph. To be able to capture the true character of a person in a single shot, or the mood of a landscape so emotive that it literally makes you gasp to look at it, is something I have always wanted to be able to do.

While I have been working on my composition skills with a professional photographer recently, and learning how lighting and the different modes of my camera work, I still believe it takes natural talent to be able to spot a brilliant photographic opportunity, and capture the magic of a scene or the twinkle in an eye.

The influence of the internet and the growing popularity of sites like Pinterest mean that photography is now everywhere; I can be admiring stunning examples of camera work with a few clicks of my mouse. And I know at least six professionals - all talented in their own right, and all with different styles and specialisms. They work freelance, shooting everything from weddings to marketing images for websites and restaurants.

But when I think of the quintessential photographer I don't think of those professionals making great strides to bring us colourful 'wow' images, or Photoshop wonders, or pictures worthy of winning BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year. I think of one photographer who has been dead since 1941.

I think of Frank Meadow Sutcliffe.

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe (1853-1941)

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's photography has special meaning for me, because his main subject throughout his entire life was the North Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby and its inhabitants. Visiting Whitby for one week every year with my family throughout my own life, I have grown up appreciating and revisiting this talented pioneeer's work again and again. Whitby is a truly magical place on many levels, steeped in a rich history of folklore, whaling and fishing, the black jet so favoured by Queen Victoria after her husband's death, Captain James Cook... and of course is the setting of the gothic novel Dracula. The place absolutely oozes character as much today as it did in Sutcliffe's Victorian Whitby.

This fantastic image reminds me of the kind of modern snaps we see all the time.
Just look at the shy smile on little Hannah Leadley's face.

Shipwrecks were common along this stretch of coast, an eery thought when you look out on the same scene today.
Frank Meadow Sutcliffe described how he took this photograph: "The wind was so strong that it was impossible to walk: all one could do was to crawl along on all-fours; in this case a heavy camera stand shook like an aspen, a focusing cloth was an absurdity. If it had not been for the help of a big heavy soldier, an artilliary man, who was on the beach at the time, who curled himself up under the tripod and held on with both hands to the two legs which caught the most wind, it would have been impossible to do anything."

Sutcliffe was born in Headingley, Leeds in 1853, and his father was a watercolour artist, so his son learned to appreciate art from a young age. When Thomas Sutcliffe died in 1871 the family moved to Whitby, where Frank set up a photography studio in an old jet workshop. He made his living from taking portraits, but his true passion was caputuring scenes of Whitby and its everyday, hardworking inhabitants. Over the length of his career he was awarded sixty-two medals from all over the world.

One of Sutcliffe's most famous photographs, 'Through the Station Doorway', amazing
for the equipment he had available.
You can still stand in this spot today...

...This is the same scene in 1994, taken by Michael J.Shaw. It's changed again since then.

Today the Sutcliffe Gallery stands on Flowergate in Whitby, where his photography still stands up as being very high quality alongside the digital images produced by his modern counterparts. But what never fails to astound me is remembering that he took his photographs with a whole plate camera holding glass negatives - one of the earliest ever pieces of photographic equipment. People visit from all over the world to see his work and the place he called home, though even in Victorian times he caused the town to be dubbed 'Photographer's Mecca' as so many others tried to imitate his work.

One of my favourites. With photography being a new art, Victorian photos tended to be very sombre and staged. It's therefore so rare and wonderful to get a glimpse first-hand of Victorian people looking so relaxed and natural. This image is called, 'Darby and Joan'. There is such life in their faces.

Quality aside, it's rare to see such honest snapshots of real everyday life of working Victorians. For as long as I can remember I have been gazing through the window of a studio in Whitby where you can dress in Victorian fashions and have a sepia portrait taken, but although the concept is fun I've always preferred the idea of these natural scenes.

Having walked this street several times on ghost walks, I find it quite a haunting scene.

The 'Rachel Lotinga'

Eight fishergirls, posing just as teenage girls might today...nothing changes!

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe is my photographic hero, and as well as owning books of his work my parents' home displays some of the family's favourites of his photographs on its walls. Looking at them always fills me with warmth and keeps me going until my next nostalgic, magical Whitby visit!

Sutcliffe's camera, a whole plate with glass negatives, next to a modern counterpart.

My own attempt at a Whitby photograph, taken at the top of the 199 steps.

Have you got an artistic hero, working in any medium? What is it about them that inspires you?

Enjoy your weekend,

Images shown are copyright of The Sutcliffe Gallery and Michael J. Shaw, with the exception of the last, which is my own. Please do not copy these photograhs without permission. Thank you.

Are You In This Evening?

2012-02-16T11:47:00.001Z

Creatives Unite! is on this evening, folks. An hour from 9-10pm for you to devote to any creative project you like. Get inspired, feel motivated, get your creative mojo back, and end your Thursday on a productive high! Check out the page above for more information, and to sign up for your hour this evening just email storyinateacup@gmail.com, or send a tweet to @storyinateacup. Don't forget to choose your reward, too!

See you then!

Inspirational Wednesday

2012-02-15T08:00:00.003Z

I've had a pretty productive week on the creativity front since last Wednesday. I've worked on my murder mystery story, done some baking, made a birthday present and card, and even bought some dolly pegs! (Did you ever make peg dolls as a child? At 50p for 12 I decided it was time to dedicate a rainy Sunday to revisiting that particular craft sometime!) I also hope to have my first halfway complex sewing project - a Cath Kidston bag - finished for Creatives Unite! tomorrow evening.

And here we are again on Inspirational Wednesday. Did any of you have a go at making gifts for your loved ones for Valentine's Day? Do share your stories below if you did.

This week I have for you a photo which I not only hope will inspire you, but the subject of which is inspiring in its own right. It had my thoughts turning to Miss Jean Brodie.

source

Enjoy your Inspirational Wednesday, and hope to see lots of you on Twitter/in spirit for a creative hour tomorrow evening.

My Favourite Love Poems... A Step Away From the Norm

2012-02-14T08:00:00.001Z

I had a browse through the favourite love poems of well-known writers on The Guardian's website yesterday. Being Valentine's Day today Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate, has also written a new love poem for the occasion. Though I still have only a tenuous relationship with her work, having had it stuffed down my throat in huge, choking lumps while at high school (she just seems like such an angry person!) I must admit that her more recent poems have had me looking at her work with refreshed eyes.

Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or a kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.

Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

Carol Ann Duffy. Miffed.

Anyway, being the English degree graduate and absorber of emotions in written form that I am, this got me thinking about my own favourite love poems. Some came instantly to mind, such as Frederic Lawrence Knowles' A Memory, as featured here, and Richard Lovelace's To Althea, From Prison.

"Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage;

Minds innocent and quiet take

That for a hermitage:

If I have freedom in my love

And in my soul am free,

Angels alone that soar above

Enjoy such liberty."

Then, on plucking a few books from the shelf and spending a couple of hours going back over the poems I studied, I came across others I would have previously disregarded as too saccharine, had I not deconstructed each line and learned to look at them from a new perspective. Shakespeare's sonnets - in particular 57 and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways (which now has an unfortunate habit of reminding me of Roger Rabbit's love for Jessica Rabbit each time I hear it), are particular favourites.

But in case you think I'm the sort to spend Valentine's Day joyously frolicking through my local meadow, plucking snowdrops for cute 'ickle bunnies and reciting love poetry from the Romantic period, I have to admit that poetry occupies a whole different agenda in my life. I like poems that tell a story. I like poems that make me laugh.

And love poems do not have to be from a lover to his beloved, but can simply be about love. One of my favourite poems, one which fulfils everything I think poetry should be about, is Alexander Pope's mock epic The Rape of the Lock. Written in the age of flamboyance and over-the-top demonstrations by foppish types to the objects of their desires - the eighteenth century (don't you just adore that century?) the poem mocks the vanity and folly of high society of the time. Where the classical period abounded with epic poems about love and war, The Rape of the Lock follows the same form, but manages to make fun of such subjects. A lovestruck (and I suspect, ugly and overweight) Baron seeks to 'rape' the beautiful virgin Belinda of a lock of her hair - a symbol of her becoming a fallen woman. She kicks up a huge fuss, and her companions attempt to convince her that really, it's no big deal. It's very, very clever.

Another poem about love that always stays with me is Mariana by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, because here is a poem where unrequited love is, for the poor woman, the greatest pain a human can suffer on Earth:

"Upon the middle of the night,
Waking she heard the night-fowl crow;
The cock sung out an hour ere light:
From the dark fen the oxen's low
Came to her: without hope of change,
In sleep she seemed to walk forlorn,
Till cold winds woke the grey-eyed morn
About the lonely moated grange.
She only said, 'The day is dreary,
He cometh not,' she said;
She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!'"

Depressing, huh? Of course, these days we'd encourage poor, lovesick Mariana to wallow with chocolate for a few days, but then slap on some makeup and a push-up bra, pull herself together and get back in the race. But then the poem wouldn't work half so well, would it...

Personally, I'll be on the lookout for more cheerful poems on the subject of L-O-V-E today! And all this talk of eighteenth century poets has reminded me of this delicious Blackadder episode. (Zoom to 13:37 for the scene I'm thinking of!)

Have you got a favourite love poem?

Enjoy your February 14th, with my most sincere contrafibularities. I shall return interfrastically,

Why You Can't Afford Not to be Creative

2012-02-11T08:00:00.001Z

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware" ~ Henry Miller

From the amount I've been waffling on about it most of you will by now have noticed that I set something up a fortnight ago called Creatives Unite! The response has been fantastic - really exciting - so I can only assume that others feel the same way as me; making time to be creative is important. Fact. I believe it's as essential for your health as exercise and eating well. Like exercise, it has by-products we don't consider when we first take it up.

You start an exercise routine to get fit and toned, for better energy levels, a healthier heart and muscles. But once you've been exercising for just a few days you start to realise that all those endorphins are making you a more positive human being. You feel you can take on more in life, you sleep better, your confidence and self-perception improve. All much-needed bonuses.

"Are you sure the more... conventional way of running
isn't just as effective, Sweetheart?"

And it's the same, I've always found, when it comes to creativity. My family have told me time and time again - when I've failed to notice it myself - that my ability to deal with life's challenges, my confidence, and my positivity all improve when I'm working on a creative project - in my case, usually writing. But I get the same buzz from completing a difficult craft project or learning a new creative skill. It's led me to believe my entire life that although I don't have to be a many-times published writer to feel successful, I absolutely was born to write. I have to write. If I don't write, I'm not me, and I hate me.

Ask any athlete. They're likely to feel the same way about their sport.

All too-often we let the more practical side of life get in the way. It's important to be able to think logically. You need maths skills. You need to be able to carry out a practical job in order to make money and live. You need to be able to 'live in the real world' so you don't crash the car, or get swindled on your home insurance policy. You needed to learn to write well-constructed, balanced essays at school and university so you could pass your exams. Sitting in the exam room or that meeting doodling pretty pictures of unicorns and lions wearing hats won't see you become a dynamo in the world of commerce. I've never seen Lord Sugar making origami hamsters while he berates his candidates in the boardroom. You just got in from work? Oh no, no time for reading, or sewing, or working on that new website. You need to complete three loads of washing, do the food shopping, feed the family, flea the cat, do some online banking and hoover the stairs.

Practicality is really, really important in life. But for anyone who knows they have creative bones in their body, too much practicality and logic, applied day in day out, with no respite, can lead to feelings of boredom, lack of self-fulfilment, feeling you're a ditsy, airy-fairy idiot in a world of clever, successful people... and ultimately, depression.

"Brad banned me from Pinterest. Now I'm angry!"

I set up Creatives Unite! because I know from experience how difficult it is to licence yourself to make time to create in the modern world, where we're expected to be switched on and achieving, 24/7. And so many agreed, because they have started to join me - putting aside the bills, the washing up and the laundry and being brave enough to allow themselves a full hour to dedicate to their creative health, in the knowledge that there are others out there doing the same thing, at the same time, and supporting one another on a Thursday evening. This is magical! Please, please spread the world if you've found value in it so far, because the more we have taking part, the more supportive that network becomes, and we may even help a few more people to realise how much they used to love writing, or crochet, or drawing...whatever it is, and that paying attention to that side of your personality is so, so important.

If anyone can think of a creative method of making this disappear...

AND... My message of the day is that I want as many people as possible to make Creatives Unite! a regular thing in their lives, but I also believe that if being creative is part of your personality, it's a part of you that should shine every single day. I read a brilliant blog post by Thrifty Chick here the other day about how despite having to give up forty hours of her week to a desk job, she is determined to take back every minute of the rest of her time - and that includes her lunch break. Creative lunchbreaks are a brilliant idea! Something different for lunch, a walk in the park, some Pinterest... I even know someone who has set up a lunchtime knitting circle with colleagues!

Small bouts of creativity really can be a part of your every day. I find it nigh on impossible to sit in front of the tv without being busy, so I always have some sort of project on the go. Creativity can come in the form of varying your route to work and taking pictures of your surroundings as they change throughout the year, taking up dancing instead of your usual jogging or creating different playlists to listen to while doing the housework.

Stephen Fry listened to hundreds of hours worth of audio fiction
while walking around London to get fit and lose weight. Wise, wise man.

Statistics indicate that the majority of us only tend to make variations of the same eight recipes year after year, so creativity can be found in cooking something new, even if it's just a fantastic dessert for your partner at a weekend. Make the kids' bedtime story rock with silly voices and hand puppets. Start a blog. Fly a kite. Finish all the craft projects you started. Grab a pen and paper and write anything while waiting for the kettle to boil.

And the best thing is that you are allowed to be creative! Give yourself permission. The saying goes, 'Exercise. You don't have time not to."

Same for creativity.

For ideas on how to get started, Keri Smith's wonderful book (it's more like a play folder!) Living Out Loud: Activities to Fuel a Creative Life accentuates the need for play:

"Play is the most importat element in discovering who you are. Play will lead you right into your deepest desires.

Be present. Enjoy yourself. Trust that your body remembers what it feels like to play. Move from your center. Gain strength from one another, and walk forward together with courage. The universe is waiting..."

I always find this lady so inspiring. But before I whizz off to craft something fabulous out of toilet roll centres, I'll leave you with words from Bessie Stanley. You might think it sounds very much like Ralph Waldo Emerson's 'Success', but I'm now told that this is a more reliable original. Just look at how many lines relate to creativity:

“What Constitutes Success”
By Bessie Stanley (1905)

He has achieved success who has lived well,
laughed often and loved much;
who has gained the respect of intelligent men
and the love of little children;
who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
who has left the world better than he found it,
whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty
or failed to express it;
who has always looked for the best in others
and given them the best he had;
whose life was an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you fit creativity into your life. Have a fantastic weekend!

Inspirational Wednesday

2012-02-08T08:00:00.001Z

Time to get creative, for Inspirational Wednesday is here once again. In honour of The Woman in Black hitting cinemas, I thought a suitably spooky photo would be fitting this week:

Source: tumblr.com via Thao on Pinterest

Don't forget that tomorrow is Creatives Unite! It's just an hour every Thursday evening where you switch off the tv and all other distractions, and commit to furthering a creative project between 9 and 10pm. Your project could be anything from writing to knitting, web design to painting. It may just be the kick-start you need to find your powerful creative mojo, and you have the benefit of knowing there are lots of people just like you out there, rooting for you and working on creative projects of their own.

Getting involved is as easy as pie, just click here to find out more and sign up. The more the merrier! (Different time zones and busy people who need to be in bed early can still join in too!)

Have an inspirational Wednesday!

The Artist's Way: Boosting My Creativity

2012-02-07T08:00:00.007Z

I'm about to embark on a self-imposed programme. This makes me sound very much as though I need to lose weight or give up an alcohol problem, but I can assure you it's a lot more tame than that.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the title of a book which, according to Amazon, promises to help me 'unblock' (no, not that sort of programme either. Allow me to finish and I'll tell you!) .... my creativity. It's called The Artist's Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering your Creative Self.

Interestingly, this cover seems more keen to push the spirtual elements of the course
than the copy I have here in front of me, which has the top band as its subtitle instead.

It's not new; I've borrowed my copy from the library and it was published in 1993, and I really wish I could remember where I came across the title in the first place, but it seems to have strolled into my life, so I've decided to give it a go.

Ironically, after years of feeling creatively blocked it's turned up at a time when I'm actually feeling fantastically splendid on the creative output front. I'm writing tonnes, enjoying playing with my sewing machine, learning to crochet, upcycling anything that sits still for long enough (though don't worry, I draw the line at that ropey-looking squirrel that keeps visiting my garden), and even making my own writing paper. But I know what it's like to feel frustrated when the ideas don't flow, and I have no idea what I did to cause this creative phase to smile down upon me, so at a time when I'm working hard to encourage others to join me on my artistic cloud in the form of Creatives Unite!, well, I feel I should find out what the writer of this course, Julia Cameron, has to tell me. I might well need her advice when my current monsoon of creative activity once again runs dry.

By rights the programme is supposed to be taken over a period of 12 weeks. I'm going to have to cheat and condense things a little, as to be quite honest, I was too cheap to buy a copy, and the library are going to want it back in a maximum of 6! Modules include 'Recovering a Sense of Identity', 'Recovering a Sense of Possibility' and 'Recovering a Sense of Faith'... the chosen term of 'recovery' here suggesting that in not creating I am somehow ill or missing something valuable. For the barren artist, this is probably not an exaggeration.

So we'll see how I get on. I'm curious to know whether the programme is aimed at people like me, who know they are naturally creative, but whom sporadically struggle to relax and let the ideas flow, or whether it should also work for people who do not consider themselves either naturally creative or even creatively talented at all. I strongly and passionately believe that every individual has a wonderful and genius talent of some sort, but is that talent always a creative one?

I am slightly dubious about the notion, too, of this being a spiritual path, and on flicking through the pages the word 'God' has caught my eye a number of times. I'm not at all religious, but I am very open-minded about spirituality. Fortunately the author assures me in her introduction that my beliefs will not in any way affect how I benefit, and that in fact I shouldn't even acknowledge that side of the lessons if I don't wish. It's a concern mentioned by some reviewers on Amazon too, but enough overpoweringly positive ones drown those out. Clearly, I'm not to make it into an issue.

I'm very much looking forward to getting stuck in, and I'll report back in a few weeks and let you know how I got on.

Have you ever taken any sort of creativity-boosting programme, course or advice? (Wine doesn't count on this occasion!) I'd love to hear your experiences.

4 Things That Writing a Murder Mystery Has Taught Me About My Craft

2012-02-04T08:00:00.001Z

Regular readers of this blog will know that in recent months I have been attempting to write a murder mystery. We'll call it a novella, though who knows how long it will end up being. I'm not taking it or myself too seriously and am really enjoying allowing myself to have fun with quite stereotypical characters. Think Midsomer Murders.

Despite being the most fun I have ever had with a writing project, it is also the most difficult. I've written longer pieces, having taken part in Nanowrimo, but forcing myself to plot out every tiny detail before beginning to write was against my nature! I like to have only a vague idea of where the story is carrying me.

But to say I only started writing my murder mystery to entertain myself, I've learned a lot.

1. Writing a murder mystery is a discipline. I can waffle for England. You've probably noticed. Every single paragraph of a murder mystery needs to move the plot along. It needs to throw up a nugget of precious information, help us get to know the characters, establish the circumstances under which the murder took place. Most would argue that this isn't specific to writing a mystery; that whatever the genre, the plot should not linger. I don't think this is necessarily the case. In pretty much every other genre of fiction there is allowance for characters to stop and stare, as William Henry Davies would put it.

I have had to learn to cut the chaff and write in a more lean style. Description is fine, because you're adding flesh and interest to the bones of the story, but too much distraction from the ultimate question of 'whodunnit' and you risk losing the reader's interest. Agatha Christie never spent unnecessary time on over-romanticised wanderings.

2. Finding an original plot is not as easy as I thought. They say that every story has been told before. True. And there have been hundreds of thousands of crime stories written. If I'm in the mood for watching one on television, I can pretty much guarantee that one will be shown somewhere on tv that very evening. On this occasion I've decided not to worry too much about originality; I don't intend to do anything with the finished novel, and as I say, it's almost a parody of all those that have gone before. But it has left me in awe of those tv writers who keep churning out murder mystery scripts. Especially when we all think we're quite the tv-dinner detectives these days. Tough crowd.

3. The relationship between a detective inspector and his sergeant has so much potential. You would think that these would be roles that have been done to death, but I really don't think so. Take Inspector Morse and Sergent Lewis, for example. Morse was a mentor to the younger. Lewis was young and keen, Morse was mature and quietly self-confident. They had a father-son relationship. Twenty years later Lewis (tv series) has an entirely different relationship with his sergeant, Hathaway. Lewis himself has matured in his expertise, but he still bounces ideas off Hathaway, who is the intellectual of the two.

Each of my detecting duo are experiencing doubts in their personal lives, and the hierarchy between them regularly switches. This is a real exercise in developing the way in which characters interact with one another.

4. Researching methods of murder on the internet is reassuringly unnerving. If I was forced to conduct my explorations into a lesser-known method of bumping someone in an internet café I'd be very worried about what casual onlookers might be wondering about me. As it is, I work from home. I needed a very specific method for this murder, so writing that the murderer 'clonked their victim over the head' just wasn't going to cut it, if you'll pardon the pun. I am pleased to discover that I don't harbour too much of a macabre interest in murder sans detection...

So for a fun pastime, writing a murder mystery has turned out to be quite an education in research, self-discipline, plotting and character interaction.

I'm off to keep that plot moving forward!

Creatives Unite! Starts This Evening - Are You In?

2012-02-02T10:59:00.001Z

For an update on how the first session went, visit the Creatives Unite! page, above!

Calling all writers, crafters, bloggers, artists and creative types!

Hello, recruit!

Do you struggle to make time to spend on your creative side?
Do you often start projects but never get round to finishing them?
Ever experience writer's block or creative frustration?

Then join us for Creatives Unite!

What is Creatives Unite?!

Simple. Every Thursday between 9 and 10pm GMT, the Creatives Unite! community sit down at their desks with a cup of tea for a solid hour of uninterrupted creating.

Why?

Because I believe that if you consider yourself to be a creative person at all, you owe it to yourself to explore that part of your personality. You'll also know that you aren't usually at your best when you don't have some sort of creative project underway, so you kind of owe it to your long-suffering friends and family too!

Not only that, but everyone's going through a pretty rough time in this economic climate. You need to do more of what makes you happy. We need to get through this together. Time to create, and being part of a supportive community could be exactly what you need.

And anyway, you don't want any regrets about all those wonderful projects you never got around to, do you?

Who's It For?

Everyone and their Aunt Mabel. Whether you write, draw, sew, knit, paint, write songs, play music, craft jewellery, throw pottery, design, blog... any creative pursuit whatsoever. I know you probably won't get to finish your chosen project in an hour, but that time may just be the kick-start you need to stop procrastinating or waiting for the perfect idea to come along and just... do it.

When Is It?

Every Thursday, 9- 10pm EDT, at a quiet spot near you. If you're in a different timezone or just aren't free at that time, no problem, just pick a regular time of your own, and follow the instructions below.

You've Inspired Me! How Do I Join?

Easy.

1. Every week, send an email to storyinateacup@gmail.com or a tweet to @StoryInATeacup. Tell me your name and what project you'll be working on this week. This books you onto the list for that week (though you can just join in and not tell me if you wish, but where's the fun in that?!)

2. Get yourself on Twitter, and follow me @StoryInATeacup. At 9pm you'll see the starting pistol tweet, then at 10pm the finishing siren tweet. During that time you'll know we're all behind you, creating alongside you and cheering you on. I'll also regularly send out tweets so you can find fellow creative sorts to follow and network with.

3. Decide on a reward! We need to keep your motivation high, and a solid hour of dedication to your chosen project needs applauding. Whether it be a cup of Horlicks, a glass of wine, a movie at the weekend... whatever you like! Choose a reward and give yourself a pat on the back.

4. At 10pm, if you've managed your hour without distractions, send me a tweet or an email and I'll shout about your awesomeness to the Twitter world and the Gods of Creativity. They'll be terribly pleased.

And that's it! Creatives Unite!

Are you in?

Email: storyinateacup@gmail.com
Twitter: @StoryInATeacup

Inspirational Wednesday

2012-02-01T08:00:00.001Z

Tomorrow sees the start of my creative revolution, Creatives Unite! If you'd love to have more time to write or indulge any other creative pursuit - whatever it is, or if you often find that you start projects and never get round to finishing them, this may be just the thing you're looking for! To find out more and sign up just scroll down to yesterday's post, or if you look to the top of this screen you'll see a dedicated page. The more the merrier, and February could just turn out to be your most creatively fulfilling yet.

And if you're wondering just which creative project to get started on, luckily, it's Inspirational Wednesday! You'll find a random photo below, there purely to serve your mind with wonderful ideas and have you frolicking around the room eager to kick-start a new creative idea.

Source: maliciousglamour.tumblr.com via Paul Clayton on Pinterest

What creative plans have you got for today?

Do You Struggle to Find the Time and Motivation to Create? Here's a Solution.

2012-01-31T08:00:00.014Z

"If you wait until the conditions are right, you'll never move forward." ~ Jurgen Wolff

When you sit down to create something, how do you guarantee that the ideas - the right ideas - will spring to the tips of your fingers precisely at the moment you need them?

Do you ever find that you just don't have the time to indulge your creative side? You fear you'll never finish that novel, paint a masterpiece onto that canvas or finish that sewing pattern because you just have too much else to do? And let's face it, you're shattered at the end of the working day!

The problem is that we are all forced to dance to the tune of the modern world. We have so many demands on our time. It almost seems like a barmy paradox to have to schedule in a regimented window in our diaries in which we may permit ourselves to create, to be the most authentic, the most free and energetic, the most us we can be. But this is the way of things, and it's certainly a better option than reaching the end of your life and regretting never having allowed yourself the time to fully explore the amazing creative talents you possess.

Scheduled time is the only way many of us can indulge the creative side of our personality at all, and all too often we don't give this time the attention it deserves. Life gets in the way. You are a creative individual, and that part of your personality should not be ignored.

Source: interioralchemy.tumblr.com via Emily on Pinterest

I'm going to be looking at a series of solutions to the problems of making time to create, and how to summon great ideas on demand over the next few weeks. It's a project I'm really looking forward to exploring, and hope you'll both join me and join in.

So if any of what I have just said has rung true with you - if you struggle to commit to time to create, or find yourself putting it off. If you manage to drag yourself to the desk but end up browsing Facebook or staring at the TV instead... don't fear. You're human. And I have a cunning plan...

Creatives Unite!

Every Thursday evening - starting with this week - I invite you to join me between 9 and 10pm for an intense creativity session. Whatever it is you do, from blogging to knitting, fiction writing to Airfix modelling, painting to pottery, sit down with your chosen beverage and join me in a solid hour of uninterrupted creating.

I'll be there every step of the way on Twitter, from the starting pistol to the finishing siren. When you sit down to create you'll have the comfort of knowing that there are others out there - hopefully more each week - battling with and coaxing their muse, just like you. With all other distractions switched off, and the clock ticking, you'll be amazed at what you can come up with in that time.

Why?

Because you don't make enough time in your life for what you love. Because you've been telling yourself for years that you have to have the perfect time, the perfect desk, the perfect idea, the right materials, the kids need to grow up and move out, the dog needs a walk, that essay needs writing, the toilet needs cleaning.... blah blah blah. Because everyone is going through harrowing times in this tough economy at the moment, and creating is one of the best remedies in existence for keeping you healthy and sane.

You don't have to create your final project or finish anything in that time. You can use it to plan a plot, research ideas on Pinterest, source your next fabric... it doesn't matter as long as you are concentrating all of your efforts on furthering your chosen project.

It's only an hour, but it may just be the kick-start you need to see your project through.

Like The Plan? Here's how to join in:

1. Register for the session each week. Send an email to storyinateacup@gmail.com, telling me your name and what you'll be working on, or send me a tweet @storyinateacup.

2. Get yourself on Twitter, where I'll be tweeting weekly announcements that each session is going ahead, as well as the starting pistol and finishing siren for each session. It's also a brilliant way for fellow creatives to network and encourage one another.

3. The best bit - decide on your reward! Concentrating for an hour on a project you've been procrastinating over can be difficult at first, so we need to keep your motivation high. Your reward can be anything from a cup of tea (or wine!) to a movie at the weekend, a new book... you're a creative person, use your imagination!

4. On completing your hour, tell the world! Send me a tweet or an email, and I'll pass on the great news!

The more people we get to join in, the more rewarding the experience will be, so spread the word on Twitter, and Creatives Unite!

See you on Thursday! (If you want to get a practise in have a go at Inspirational Wednesday here on the blog tomorrow.)

The Woman in Black

2012-01-28T08:00:00.001Z

There's been a lot of coverage in the media this week about the film The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Ciarán Hinds.

So far anticipation of the film has been spilt equally between positive and negative, with many applauding the arrival of the first traditional ghost story in many years, and others wondering whether the age of such a film is already long past.

Before Christmas I wrote about whether it's possible for the traditional ghost story to really work in our modern times. We have never been more sceptical in our belief in the supernatural, and let's face it, I'm possibly the only person who is easily scared by a spooky dead woman in a film in this day and age. It takes increasing amounts of 3D, gore and special effects to raise the goosebumps of the average cinema-goer, and books don't even have that advantage.

And I have to say, I sincerely hope that Daniel Radcliffe is up to the job. His stiff acting skills left me utterly cold in the Harry Potter films, to the extent that I gave up in disgust after the first four. He does have plenty of experience in lurking around dark sets looking scared, but it's the protagonist's job to spread the infectious fear of the unknown to his audience - he could make or break the film.

Perhaps I'm only dubious because I've also noticed that few people have made any reference to the original form of this story - a novella by the talented Susan Hill. The Woman in Black is one of my favourite ghost stories, and for me, answers the question posed above; it did succeed in giving me the collywobbles every bit as much as other ghostly tales over a century older. This story stays with the reader long after finishing - whenever I pass a derelict and dilapidated old house it's images of her ghost I shudder to recall. Susan Hill's writing is the reason you'd never get me to enter such a property!

Susan Hill has; however, had a hand in the production of the upcoming film, something I always find reassuring, with Jane Goldman having written the screenplay. So far, I'm willing to venture into my local cinema and give this film - and Radcliffe's latest attempt at being taken seriously - the chance it deserves.

But I am a wuss at heart, and one note of a haunting underscore and I'll be hiding behind my coat! The porcelain doll's scary eyes are enough to set me off.

What do you think about the film's hype so far? Have you read the book?

Don't look behind you...

Inspirational Wednesday

2012-01-25T08:00:00.001Z

It's Wednesday! I thought it was Wednesday yesterday, but it turns out to be today instead. But that's a good thing, because it means I haven't missed the most creative day of my week. It also means I now need a calendar at my side to be able to navigate through the week like a normal person. Sad.

I'm sure you know the drill by now. Every Wednesday I post a photo to help get the mid-week off with a giant creative explosion. Interpret the photo however you like; paint it, make up a story based on it, make a glove puppet...well, your imagination is your only limit!

Some people got rather excited on Twitter last week and emailed to say they had written wonderful things about the wedding couple photo featured. Many of you, like me, were just letching over the bride's shoes. All this is to be encouraged, so whatever creative endeavours you're getting up to today, bob a comment below or send me a tweet, because let's face it, every creative achievement, however small, needs celebrating in these difficult times.

This week's photo is a little selfish. I was browsing on the Daily Mail website last week (I know, I know!) and there was a photo on there of a British family standing triumphantly over a dead giraffe. They had shot it for sport. Seeing such a beautiful, peaceful creature with its long neck flopped to one side like that made me so upset that I just had to feature a happy picture of a giraffe this week:

Source: photography.1000notes.com via Sherrill on Pinterest

I hope, if nothing else, this makes you smile!

Happy creating,

Favourite Books Images of the Week

2012-01-24T08:00:00.002Z

You won't have to try very hard to get me to admit that I missed being able to watch the BBC's Sherlock last weekend. It was replaced by Birdsong, though, and rest assured I'll be adding my review after the second episode this week.

One great thing about an otherwise very busy week last week has been an evening spent admiring utterly wonderful books-related images from around the web. You can guess what has been the main focus of my pinboards on Pinterest lately!

Without further ado, a couple of Sherlock beauties and further photographic wonders:

I am actually in love with this photo. In love.

Source: book-slut.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: timetravelingscamp.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: book-slut.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: uselesslittlethings.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: book-slut.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: 500px.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: book-slut.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: sailinghome.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: bookshelfporn.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: book-slut.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

10 Tips For Giving Writer's Block The Chop

2012-01-21T08:00:00.004Z

This is a subject that has been covered many, many times in other blogs, books, podcasts, writers' groups - you name it. I'm just going to say the words. Here we go...

Writer's Block.

Using this term is becoming a little bit like uttering the name 'Voldemort' in polite wizarding society. It's like an infectious disease; many will never admit to having it, and others, those hypochondriacs of the writing world, will bemoan the woes of being a sufferer to anyone who will listen. They don't have writer's block. They have Procrastinationitis. For advice on this crippling illness, which can affect every area of your life, please click here for instant relief.

Ah look, a picture of some snow. The thing most feared by all writers.

Writer's block isn't just the curse of writers, of course, but of all manner of creatives. At some point everyone finds that the well of ideas has dried up; the bucket is coming up empty. It doesn't matter whether you paint ceramics, design interiors or make public speeches (ouch).

And obviously, I'm here to tell you that it's all in your head. I know. I'm only qualified to be writing about this subject because writer's block has blighted my existence for the past, oh I dunno... six years. Maybe more. But I'm quite a bloody-minded individual, and I got sick of avoiding my desk and feeling pathetic, fed up of fending off questions from family members about 'what I was working on' with 'oh, you know, a bit of this and that'. This was true. I wrote shopping lists, to-do lists, emails, Facebook statuses - hey, of course I was writing! Every day!

I had become the epitome of irony. I was a writer. I was a writer... who didn't write.

Yes, that's right. I had become the Ironic Woman.

Source: tate.org.uk via Charmaine on Pinterest

So as I say, I got fed up with myself. I gave me a thorough good talking-to - with the dog in the room so no one would think I was talking to myself - and realised that curing writer's block is not about stalking round the countryside in frustration, and waving as each birthday flies by while enduring the agonising wait for the idea of a lifetime to come along like an extremely overdue bus. Nope. The fact is, that if you want to get somewhere, you just gotta start walking.

Here are my tips for beating writer's block. Let's just assume that the first step is to admit you've got it.

No. 2: When you're doing the same things in the same routine day in, day out, creative ideas can be few and far between. Do something different. Instead of watching Saturday Morning Kitchen this weekend get up. Go for a walk. Take photos. Of anything. Go to the cinema. Have a picnic in your car. Go through some old photographs. Go for a bike ride. Just get out of that old routine and stimulate your brain.

No. 3: Use a different medium. No, that doesn't mean you need to grab the Yellow Pages and look up your local soothsayer. She can't help you. If you usually write on a computer, hand write on paper. If you normally paint, try charcoal. If cooking is your thing - stop cooking and bake cakes instead. Doing the same thing in a different way will help you look at your craft from a new perspective, and it should help remind you why you love it so much in the first place. And writing by hand is therapeutic, so it should help you to relax and let those ideas flow.

No. 4: When and where do you daydream the most? In the shower or bath? When you wake up in a morning and are putting off venturing out into the cold? When you're out walking? Wherever it is, do more of it. Your brain will quickly form an association between that action and producing creative thoughts, and it will soon become your go-to saviour when writer's block strikes.

No. 5: As children we are encouraged to play, to make believe and engage with toys. But somewhere around the age of eleven or twelve years old, the boot is stuck firmly on the other foot. We are discouraged from taking a bear to bed, the toys are given away, it's no longer acceptable to have an imaginary friend, nor to skip down the street instead of walking. In other words, don't embarrass your parents. Grow up. Many parents worry that if they do not enforce this on their children then their offspring will be unable to cope in the cold, harsh adult world. Actually, those who really cannot cope in the adult world are the ones who were never given the freedom to play as children in the first place. They don't know how to play. They don't know how to interact and share with other children, solve problems, imagine scenarios from different perspectives or use that amazing imagination that every human possesses.

Pheobe had the right idea.

But as the saying goes, it's never too late to have a happy childhood. Trainers often use props such as puppets to get trainees to act out concepts and learn. No executive business type I've met (and I've met many) has ever had an issue with this, and you shouldn't either. So play! Imagine yourself in different situations, grab the kids and sit down on the floor to play castles. Read children's books. Make something out of toilet rolls. Play with your food. Stop worrying about what other people think. Children look at the world in such a special way, and readily accept even the most bizarre situations. One of the greatest tragedies of adult life is losing that ability. Play... and see what your imagination does.

No. 6: Set a timer for 30 minutes. Sit down at your desk. You must stay seated at your desk until the alarm sounds, but you don't have to write. You may not browse the internet. See what happens.

No. 7: Before you go to sleep at night ask your brain to come up with a new creative idea, or solve a plot problem you've been having. Believe that your brain will come up with a solution, and keep a notebook by your bed in case you wake in the night with an 'aha!' moment. It's pretty amazing what the subconscious gets up to when you're in the magical land of Nod.

No. 8: Start a blog. It can be about anything from sheep farming to lawnmowers to your Gary Barlow fan club (just don't ask me to subscribe to the latter). Decide how many posts you're going to commit to each week. You'll soon have a loyal group of followers expecting to see new posts, and you'll be forced to sit down and write every week. Ha. I can attest to this one working, as since starting this blog and its sister blog miss-beatrix.blogspot.com nearly two months ago I've never written so much. And it's surprising how many new ideas the very act of writing can throw up.

No. 9: Read others' blogs too. There is a whole world of ideas out there being shared on the internet daily by other creatives, just like you. You already know that, because you're sitting reading a blog right now (thank you!) but instead of just glancing through and drifting on, engage with other bloggers, and comment on their posts. Before you know it you'll have built up a network, and you'll be surprised how supportive and helpful they can be when you're experiencing a creative dam. Follow all sorts of blogs, because it could be a photographer or a mum of three or a llama enthusiast who inspires your next great idea. Join Pinterest, where you'll find reams of thought-provoking images posted by people who know something amazing when they see it.

No. 10: Buy a writer's block! This clever little book contains hundreds of prompts to kick-start your creative juices. Available from here. You could also join me here for Inspirational Wednesday each week, because I have no shame when it comes to promotion.

Yes, it's shaped like a block.

What is your fail-safe plan when writer's block strikes?

Now stop reading this and go and do something productive.

Inspirational Wednesday

2012-01-18T08:00:00.001Z

Welcome back.

It's Inspirational Wednesday, where every week I post a photograph, with the aim to help you think creative thoughts. My hope is that you then follow through on such wondrous wanderings around that fine brain of yours and use the photo to kick-start a new creative project.

The photo below was also posted on Bookshelf Porn, and if you like it you'll find a post on the subject here and a website dedicated to, well, bookshelf porn here. Drool...

Ahem. Anyway, this week's photo comes via Pinterest. Getting seriously obsessed with that place. If you want to follow me for other inspirational photos, glance and dance to the right of the screen, and you'll see a red Pinterest button. I have a special pinboard for stories. It's delicious.

Anyway, I hope you have a creative and imaginative Inspirational Wednesday. I'm going to be spending my entire evening scribbling away at my murder mystery.

Pin by Miranda M - fiendlover.tumblr.com

Enjoy!

The Books That Make Me Laugh Out Loud

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000Z

...or the common useage: 'Books That Make Me LOL' *shudder*.

Now this could have turned into a huge topic. I'm sure we can all think of books that had us chuckling like maniacs. But when I came to really think about it, there are literally hundreds of books that made me smile, but only a handful that genuinely made me laugh - to the point where anyone else who might have been in the room was firing worried looks in my direction.

I like to think I've got a good sense of humour, (will avoid another acronym there, if you don't mind) and I try to infuse my own writing with that part of my personality. And although I don't watch much tv - I tend to look ahead to what I might want to watch and then turn the tv straight off after the programme has finished - comedies always have me giggling, though I appreciate dry wit and observational humour rather than the silliness of someone like Harry Hill. So why is it that a book with the same qualities is such a rare thing?

Perhaps it's just me. Perhaps you, dear reader, are forever having to think sad thoughts to get yourself down from the ceiling where you spend most of your time guffawing and chortling at whichever literary treasure you are currently absorbing while enjoying a tea party with Mary Poppins and her latest young charges. Either way, I'd like to know your thoughts on the subject.

So here are the books that have had me rolling in the aisles. Some I haven't read for years, but I never forget a ~~man~~ book that makes me laugh.

How to Be a Woman ~ Caitlin Moran

I'm about to use a few clichés here, but only because so many others are talking about this woman at the moment; she is very, very brave, and I love her for it. Part comedy, part rant and all feminism, she attacks subjects such why women are always being asked when we're going to have a baby, what you should call your vagina (gasp) and asks why it's considered not okay to call yourself a feminist these days. Apparently it's even made it onto the Gender Studies courses at some universities (which immediately makes it sound far more dull than it is).

Moran has a very astute wit which would rival that of most of the male jokers in your average bar. She asserts that she is a feminist as there are still so many issues out there where we are considered inferior to men. That said I was also pleased that she made it clear that this does not make her a masculine, non-shaving, bra-burning man hater. She loves men. She just wants to be considered equal to them.

I found it so refreshing - another cliché sorry - that someone, male or female, has finally written a frank book about these issues, and the truth of her words had me giggling like a loon. I'm not alone; the media has gone crazy for this book. Long may she continue. It's a rare writer who can educate and humour me simulataneously.

Yes Man ~ Danny Wallace

I love this guy. This book's been out for some years now, and has since been made into a rather disappointing film, but I remember first reading it because it was the day I was going to the cinema to see a film I had been looking forward to for ages. When it came to be time to set off though, I wanted to stay put on the sofa and read this book instead. Now for me, that's a pretty rare thing.

The book is an account of Wallace's decision to say 'yes' to everything. Everything. In fact, he simply isn't allowed to say no. To anything. His resolve takes him on all sorts of random adventures, even to Amsterdam.

It's the way Wallace writes as though he's your mate and you're down at the pub and he's telling you about what happened on his latest 'stupid boy project'. He's also very self-depricating in the best possible way, and at the risk of sounding like an old dear, he just seems like a nice young man.

The passage that had me chuckling:

"So here's my public service announcement: If you're thinking of getting into drugs, and you want help, I have two photographs in particular I can show you. One is of me in downtown Amsterdam pointing at a bus that I am sure has big, pretty eyes. And the other is of me lying on my back in the middle of the road with my arms outstretched as I tried to tickle the moon. I refrain from publishing these photographs here because no mother deserves to see she has raised a moon-tickler."

After Yes Man I went on to devour his first book, Join Me and thought it just as funny. But as the first book in a long time to have made me laugh just so much, Yes Man makes the list. It's also one of the few books I have re-read more than once. Wallace makes you think just how much your life can change simply by saying yes more. His own had changed in the ultimate way by the end of the book, but I won't ruin it for you.

The Code of the Woosters ~ PG Wodehouse

Honestly, any one of Wodehouse's books could have made this list. He's one of my literary heroes, and if he were alive today I would dearly love to seek him out and give him a giant thank you hug for all of the times he has saved me when I've felt sad and disappointed in the human race. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry both credit his books with helping them through Depression. At university my final year dissertation was about themes in his stories. Most importantly, he is the writer who has me laughing again and again.

Like many others, I find the relationship between Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves absolutely magical. Wooster bumbles through life, lurching from one engagement to the next, getting into scrapes and expostulating with his terrifying aunts. Jeeves always manages to save the day with a calm, well-measured grace. Wooster's endearing charm and observations about the world around him, and Jeeves' patience and efficiency make them a sparkling combination. I have at least one Wodehouse book on my bedside table at all times.

And a few characters who have made me laugh:

Jamie Fraser, The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon - I'm still ploughing my way through these epic novels and adore hanging out with Jamie and Claire. Friends have scoffed at some of the plot points but I won't hear a word said against this series. Beneath his very Scottish, warrior-like exterior Jamie makes some fantastic remarks that make me laugh and love him all the more. It's just a good job I love Claire too, really.

Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter series by JK Rowling - I won't be reading this series again for a long, long time, but there are a few characters who have really made me chuckle, Dumbledore being one of them. I particularly enjoy his fondness for sherbert lemons.

Paddington Bear, Michael Bond - you will have guessed some time ago that I'm rather enamoured with this bear, and he always cheers me up when things go wrong. I love his inquisitive outlook on life and particularly remember his opening the car door to let the clutch out in Paddington Takes the Test.

Diary of a Wombat, Jackie French - a picture book that can conjure up an audible giggle is a rare thing indeed but this book manages it every single time. This simple tale of a pet wombat who inadvertently trashes her family's home as she ambles through life is adorable, and Bruce Whatley's illustrations are hilarious, perhaps because they remind me both of my extremely messy but loveable puppy and my pet guinea pig combined.

Which books have succeeded in making you laugh out loud? We all need a laugh in January, so be a good sport and share yours below.

Have a chortlesome Tuesday,

The Story in a Teacup Daily Newspaper

2012-01-16T11:05:00.000Z

Just to let you know that Story in a Teacup now has its own daily digital newspaper. It includes informative articles from across the worlds of writing, books, creativity and publishing.

You can either subscribe via email or by following me on Twitter - see the button on the right - a link to the latest edition will be tweeted every morning.

Enjoy, scribbling fans!

Just As I Thought I'd Got Out of Finishing My Ghost Story...

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000Z

Before Christmas I wrote a post here about my plans to write a Christmas ghost story. What with festive preparations and blogging I only got as far as drafting an outline, and with a sigh realised it was going to be the end of this year before I would get back into it.

source

Luckily, I stumbled across a call for anthology submissions by Spectral Press. What are they looking for? Christmas ghost stories, in the style of M.R. James or Dickens! Perfect! The deadline is June, so now I have no excuse.

Here is the link if you fancy giving it a go yourself. Now I know how Steven Moffat felt trying to come up with the Dr Who Christmas Special plot in the middle of summer. Better start praying for some inspiring snow while it's still winter, then.

Bah, sherbert lemons,

Robert Twigger - Second Wind in Writing

2012-01-13T09:30:00.000Z

Second wind in writing

Just as marathon runners have a series of barriers and comparatively easy bits during a race, so, too, do writers. Though every book is different and some are much easier than others, I have found, writing non-fiction that requires research that the below has a rough validity.
0-30,000 words is pretty easy.
30K to 50K not too bad.
Around 60K there is period of resistance; you break through if persistent.
Then it just gets harder. But still bearable until you get to 90K- around 300 pages of a normal sized book.
The 10k from 90 to 100k seem to last forever. The wall.
Just under 100K it seems ridiculous you could write more. You go on.
At 102 or 103K a great vista opens: huge relief- you've broken through and it seems as if you could keep going for ever...

Find author Robert Twigger's blog here.

Inspirational Wednesday

2012-01-11T08:49:00.000Z

It's that time of the week once again; Inspirational Wednesday! Every week I post a photo, aiming to inspire you to get those creative juices going.

Since last week I have been busy as a new member of Pinterest. I've been pinning away like mad finding my own inspirational photos from across the web and 'pinning' them to boards. So today I've pinched a photo from someone else - with full credit of course - and hope it inspires you too.

This photo comes from honeykennedy.com and was pinned by Pennyweight.

Who might the couple be? What happened to them before they made it to the altar? Will they really live happily ever after? The rest is up to you. (I can't stop ogling the bride's shoes, but that's beside the point.)

What inspires you to create? Get in touch and let me know!

Have a sensational Inspirational Wednesday,

Word of the day: Expostulate

The Joy of Books

2012-01-10T11:41:00.000Z

This is very lovely.

With thanks to crazedadman

The English Sonnet: A Tutorial

2012-01-10T08:48:00.000Z

Today I have for you a friendly, absolutely non-scary and inspiring tutorial from Liz Hudson on composing an English sonnet. Sonnets are synonomous primarily with good old Billy Shakespeare, and although his sonnets are bloomin' marvellous, his very name can often deter those who fancy having a bash at writing one in our modern times. Schoolchildren everywhere shudder at the very mention of the word... sonnet.

But sonnets, like any other poetry, of course, are supposed to enable you to enjoy playing with words and imagery, and express your emotions. No one is going to look over your shoulder and pick over the technicalities of your syntax or stanzas. And if they do, they're clearly the sort of irritating individual who, rather than enjoying the sentiment and beauty of poetry, only ever sees the cogs and wheels of a verse, so to speak. This means you have full permission to politely elbow them.

So sharpen your quill, and head on over to here and give this tutorial a go.

To make you feel better, here's a very simple [read terrible] English sonnet I wrote a few years ago:

Stirring Thoughts

The clock upon the mantelpiece strikes four,

‘Tis time to pause, and make a cup of tea.

I cross the room and firmly shut the door.

And as I sip my thoughts wash over me.

I open up my dented biscuit tin,

And in my favourite mug I swiftly dunk.

Consumption is such a delicious sin,

The pangs in my hungered soul are soon shrunk.

In my chair where I and my dreams reside,

I stir my memory and savour your face.

I think of you and warmth flows into pride.

Swallowing woes at a leisurely pace.

Then I drain the last dregs of you away.

And it’s time to continue with my day.

And if you've always wanted to have a go at scribbling verse but haven't really known how to go about it, Stephen Fry is of the same opinion as myself - writing poetry should be fun, not boring or scary. So I wholly recommend his book, The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within.

Yet another reason why I love Mr Fry

Enjoy your poetic ramblings, and if you decide to give the tutorial a go, or have positive experiences of writing sonnets, do drop a comment and tell the world all about it!

With thanks to Liz Hudson at http://thepenandthesword.weebly.com/

Dickens's Victorian London

2012-01-09T15:04:00.000Z

Would very much like to look at this:

Over 200 photographs - most of which have never been published before - illustrate this mesmerising guide to Victorian London as seen through the eyes of Charles Dickens. The book takes the reader on a haunting journey, discovering the places and subjects that stimulated the imagination of one of our greatest storytellers.

Best price found: £8.99 from The Book People.

Bookshelf Porn!

2012-01-09T12:50:00.000Z

Check out this fantastic hub for unusual bookshelves: Bookshelf Porn. The most adventurous I've ever got in book storage is a shelf over my door like in The Vicar of Dibley.

Visit http://www.bookshelfporn.com/ to see the rest of their wonderful bookish images!

Mood and Creativity

2012-01-07T09:00:00.000Z

I have always been interested in the nature of creativity. Why some people are more creative than others,
why it seems to come and go for some people, and how we define creativity in the first place are questions that often put their feet up and stew in my brain.

I consider creativity to incorporate a wide range of things; from how you solve problems, to how good you are at playing and using your imagination (as an adult as well as in childhood), and how you interact with different art forms, from architecture to writing, sewing to painting, choreography to web design. I know children who when you give them a toy such as a doll, haven't a clue how to play with it. They might dress and undress it, but seemingly don't have the ability to involve it in make believe. But provide the same child with paint and paper and they can create the most amazing imaginative scenes.

What I've been wondering about most recently, however, is how mood affects our ability to create. My own creative life consists of writing and crafts, but I've noticed how my mood - whether I'm feeling happy and optimistic, or down in the dumps, really affects my motivation to create, and the sort of creativity I want to engage in.

When I'm in a happy mood I have all sorts of creative ideas for things I would like to make. I want to sew, I think up innovative ideas for recycling/upcycling items, I want to bake scrumptious cakes. I want to paint a canvas and present it proudly to a poor unsuspecting friend. I tug all of my fabrics out of my craft box and play around with different combinations. I actually feel motivated to work out how to thread my sewing machine (I'm not kidding when I say it's one of the things I was most proud of in 2011!)

And of course, for many of us, a natural result of being happy is to sing and dance. I am rubbish at both, but I don't let that stop me! And those actions in themselves are creative and free.

When I'm in a bad mood, I'm usually very distracted, so I don't create at all. Reading a book until the storm blows over might be as far as I get. When I'm sad, or thoughtful, I often write. Not because writing is necessarily an occupation for those with the blues, but instead of being mindlessly happy and carefree I tend to be very focused on the emotion, and inward concerns. It's also often a mood where we like to be alone - perfect for focusing on a writing project. When I examine my emotions, my natural reaction is to blurt it all out on paper. I might write a terrible poem or work through a plot point I've been tussling with for ages.

While depression shouldn't be confused with a depressive mood, it's certainly true that many people who suffer from the disorder can be considered to be particularly creative. Virginia Woolf and Hugh Laurie are two good examples.

Virginia Woolf famously suffered from bouts of severe clinical depression.
Nonetheless she was a talented and imaginative writer.

There are studies, however, that show that mood aside, a positive outlook on life enhances creativity, problem-solving and flexible thinking, as a study conducted for Psychological Science showed. Participants were split into three groups. The first was shown images of earthquake sufferers, the second images of a baby giggling and people dancing, and the third were shown images which would not affect mood. All participants were then given creative activities. The giggling baby and people dancing group were by far the most imaginative in these tasks.

There are also a number of studies that suggest that weather can affect our mood, and therefore our ability to create. Many are more creative when the sun shines and the weather is warm. Others like to batten down the hatches at home and work on a creative project when the rain hammers down and the wind howls outside. Some of us are really very susceptible to the weather - I'm certainly one of them. On dark, cold and wet winter mornings I often feel like getting through the day is an uphill struggle, and creativity becomes a state difficult to achieve. I'm certainly more productive in the summer than the winter. But I find the spring and autumn very inspirational; I'm often at my happiest in these two months.

Lambs are such a cliché for joyful Spring, but they're a cliché for a reason!

It's very clear to me how my mood affect my creativity levels - and I suspect that mood affects others' creativity levels in different ways. The great news, of course, is that when I'm feeling happy - and I'm delighted to say that this is most of the time, I'm a creative person. The other great news is that moods can be changed. If you need or want to create, and know you're the type of person who needs to be in a bright and sunny mood to do so, some happy music, a brisk walk, or watching funny clips on YouTube will usually do the job. That's the state to be in - after all, you don't want to have to be thoroughly down in the dumps to feel like painting, after all!

A walk with Bea the dog always helps me think and brightens my mood!

Creativity is the brain at play. It's one of the best parts of you. It makes you unique, and the time you spend creating is so precious. I would only ever want it to be a fun and joyful pasttime. Your mood might affect your creativity, but creating certainly affects your mood, too. I know I struggle through the winter, being one of those humans who would dearly love to become a badger for a few months and hibernate. Nowadays I recognise this and make a conscious effort to create more when it's dark outside. I write blog posts and read early in a morning. I spend more time looking at magazines such as Molly Makes and I make the effort to learn new creative skills - crochet being next on my list. Along with getting a dog so I get out in the sunshine and walk, the effects of all this creating have...well, lead to more creating!

How does your mood and the weather and seasons affect your ability or attitude towards creativity? I'd love to hear your views and experiences.

Before I go, if you want to ignite your creative spark, and like me, fervently believe that growing out of the ability to imagine and play is one of the most tragic things that can happen to an adult, you'll love Living Out Loud: Activities to Fuel a Creative Life by Keri Smith. It's full of brilliant ideas for getting in touch with your creative side and releasing your inhibitions. Plus there are fantastic stickers. Everyone loves stickers. I've picked up my copy time and time again.

Have a creative and happy Saturday,

Inspirational Wednesday

2012-01-04T09:00:00.000Z

It seems like two seconds since last week's Inspirational Wednesday. Are you a whizz with a camera? Every week I post a photo with the aim of inspiring you to kick-start a creative project. If you have a photo you'd like to share then email it to storyinateacup@gmail.com, with your name and a blog if you have one so I can credit back to you.

So without further ado:

Happy creating,

My Commonplace Book

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000Z

A very Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed your celebrations. I certainly enjoyed catching up on watching Great Expectations and Sherlock. I find it difficult to sit still and concentrate on a programme, so both win points in my book!

Like many others I have made a few resolutions for the coming twelve months. I decided to only make positive ones, rather than 'giving up' or 'losing' or 'cutting out' sorts of resolutions, as I only want mine to lead to positive outcomes. One of them is to contribute more to my commonplace book.

My commonplace book

Perhaps you keep a commonplace book in some form without realising. Here is a definition I pilfered from here.

"Commonplacing is the practice of entering literary excerpts and personal comments into a private journal, that is, into a commonplace book or, to use a 17th century synonym, a silva rerum ("a forest of things"). Typically the excerpts were regarded as exceptionally insightful or beautiful or as applicable to a variety of situations, and so as such they are often especially quotable. . . . The practice of commonplacing can be traced back in the European tradition to the 5th century B.C.E. and the Sophist, Protagoras.

Historically commonplacing has played an important role in education, and it has served as a vital tool of erudition.

"Boys ... had to keep notebooks or commonplace books in which to record, and then learn, idioms, quotations, or figures useful in composition or declamation. Not a little of that wide learning and impressive range of quotation adorning Elizabethan literature comes from these commonplace books." Schools in Tudor England, by Craig R. Thompson (Washington: Folger Shakespeare Library, 1958): p. 16, cf. 44.

"Students with literary tastes, in days when books were hard to come by, kept 'commonplace' or notebooks into which they copied out verses or prose extracts that particularly appealed to them." The Intellectual Life of Colonial New England, by Samuel Eliot Morison (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1965; reprint of the 2nd ed., 1956): p. 49.

I began mine some years ago when I read a Daily Telegraph article about the author Jilly Cooper and how she keeps a commonplace book. Never having heard of such a thing before I looked it up, loved the idea, and have kept one ever since.

Mine contains inspirational quotations and stickers, ticket stubs, favourite poems, facts I find interesting and observations about the world around me. I find it not only a source of grounding and comfort in difficult times but a great way to find inspiration for my writing.

Do you keep any sort of record of inspirational quotations or observations?

A Memory

2011-12-31T09:00:00.000Z

A Memory

The night walked down the sky

With the moon in her hand;

By the light of that yellow lantern

I saw you stand.

The hair that swept your shoulders

Was yellow, too,

Your feet as you touched the grasses

Shamed the dew.

The Night wore all her jewels,

And you wore none,

But your gown had the odor of lilies

Drenched with sun.

And never was Eve of the Garden

Or Mary the Maid

More pure than you as you stood there

Bold, yet afraid.

And the sleeping birds woke, trembling,

And the folded flowers were aware,

And my senses were faint with the fragrant

Gold of your hair.

And our lips found ways of speaking

What words cannot say,

Till a hundred nests gave music

And the East was gray.

~ Frederic Lawrence Knowles (1869-1905) 

A Blog Update

2011-12-30T09:00:00.001Z

After a month of daily postings to spread the word about Story in a Teacup, I am now going to be posting three times a week. This should mean that I can write high-quality and engaging posts, as well as freeing up some more time to read for blog material!

So blog posts will now be published on the subjects of books and reading, writing and creativity every Tuesday and Saturday, with an inspirational photograph still featuring every Wednesday. You can also follow for daily books and writing tweets on Twitter @storyinateacup.

I really welcome feedback on the subjects covered in this blog, and always enjoy chatting with fellow book-lovers and writers, so please don't hesitate to drop comments and point me to your own blog if you have one.

For continued daily postings on the subjects of all things vintage, crafts and social history, please visit Story in a Teacup's sister blog: http://miss-beatrix.blogspot.com/.

If there's any literary topics specifically you'd like me to cover, drop an email to storyinateacup@gmail.com.

Thanks for your support so far!

Finding Inspiration at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park

2011-12-29T09:00:00.000Z

On Tuesday I enjoyed a family trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 500 acres in Wakefield overlooking a lake, populated by enormous sculptures by various artists, some as part of current exhibitions and some permanantly on display.

I first visited while still at school - the park welcomes over 40,000 educational visits every year - and wasn't sure how to feel about the place. While I enjoy many forms of art for aesthetics' sake, I'm the first to admit that I struggle with modern art. I can easily come up with my own interpretation of a work, but a curious part of me always wants to know if I'm right! And of course, often the point is that the individual's interpretation is as right as the next. Still, the artist created the work in order to say something, so I always want to know what they were trying to say. And the whole 'here is a cube in the middle of a lawn' style has always gone over my head. I liked the idea of a sculpture park, but didn't understand it.

On more recent visits my family have openly admitted that the art still leaves them non-plussed, whereas I have developed a new-found appreciation for it. I find that Yorkshire Sculpture Park only ever seems to exhibit work that can be interpreted and that evokes some form of emotion. Most of the time a background to the work and artist is provided, and when the sculptor's comments are provided I find the sculptures all the more clever. Understanding or not, I always leave feeling inspired at the very least, and Tuesday's visit was no exception.

On Tuesday's visit it was an exhibition by artist Jaume Plensa that caught my imagination. His work featured both indoors and outdoors, many of them being constructed of letters. A long windowed gallery housed a curtain of musical metal letters, catching the light and casting animate shadows on the concrete floor.

These figures are inscribed with the names of some of Plensa's favourite composers. They show the influential power of writers, artists and musicians.

Jaume Plensa's Speak No Evil 2010

Jaume Plensa's Hear No Evil 2010

The written word being my preferred artistic medium, I loved the idea of art being made out of letters, and it got me thinking about craft projects using letters, and how they might inspire my own writing.

Which artists influence your own creativity?

Inspirational Wednesday

2011-12-28T09:00:00.000Z

Here we are again at Inspirational Wednesday. Every week I post a photo, with the aim of inspiring readers to use it to kick-start a creative project. Many a time this technique has helped me get the cogs of a stranded story moving again.

Yesterday I paid a visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, so this week's photo was taken on the day.

I'll be posting more about my day at the sculpture park tomorrow.

If you have an inspiring photo you'd like to share, whether one you've taken yourself or one that has inspired you, feel free to email it to me at storyinateacup@gmail.com , along with your blog url if you have one and your name so I can credit it to you. If the photo is not one you have taken, please also provide a source.

Happy creating!

Time to Write

2011-12-27T09:00:00.000Z

I hope you all had a great Christmas and Boxing Day! Mine were all the more refreshing for long dog walks instead of spending two days on the sofa.

This week I'm hoping to take advantage of some free time to do some writing. Perhaps further my murder mystery attempt, and work on a ghost story that's been percolating away at the back of my mind for quite some time.

It involves this!

Are you going to be working on any literary projects this week? If it's work as usual, I hope you'll find some time to crack open any new books you received for Christmas. It's also the time to start thinking about those New Year's writing resolution!

The Guardian's Books Quiz of the Year

2011-12-26T09:00:00.000Z

The BBC books reading list challenge proved popular on Twitter the other day, so for those of you fancying a Boxing Day quiz here is a link The Guardian's books quiz of the year.

You can share your results if you wish by posting a comment below or by shouting it out on Twitter @storyinateacup. Enjoy and Happy Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas and Four Weeks Old Today!

2011-12-25T09:00:00.000Z

A very Merry Christmas to all of Story in a Teacup's readers and followers. This blog is one month old today! Thank you for all your support in getting my blogging project off the ground. Have a wonderful day and a creative 2012.

Cheers!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

2011-12-24T19:00:00.000Z

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

~ Clement Clarke Moore, 1822

My Christmas Eve Reading Choices

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000Z

So it's Christmas Eve, which means it's time for me to squeeze in my annual dose of Dickens festive reads.

First stop, A Christmas Carol, obviously, then probably followed by The Chimes. My ingredients for the perfect Christmas literary experience? I read in my wing-backed Scrooge style chair, with a glass of wine at my side!

What will you be reading over Christmas?

Have a wonderful, literary Christmas Eve,

A Fun BBC Book Challenge For Christmas

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000Z

Right, a wee fun Christmas challenge for you today.

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
Copy the content below into a blog post of your own or a word document. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read once. Enter a number for the number of times you read something.

When you've finished, put your total at the bottom, then drop a comment here to let me know how you got on! Remember, everyone likes reading different books and no one should ever tell you what to read, so it isn't a competition!

Here's mine:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X 2
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X 3
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X4
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman X
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens X
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy X 2
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller X
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (managed a fair few but would be unfair to say 'complete works'
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier X
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X 2
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks X 2
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger X
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot (can't stand her writing)
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens X
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (NO ONE HAS! They're lying!)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh X
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X (technically it's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens X
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X 2
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X 4
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres X
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X 5
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X 2
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins X
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy X
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan X
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zifon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X 2
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding X 2
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie X
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens X 2
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome X
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt X
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X 15
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell X
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker X
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X 2
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton X
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams X (AAAAAAARRRRRGH!)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare- X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl- X 3
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

My score 59.

Inspirational Thursday

2011-12-22T09:00:00.000Z

Inspirational Wednesday is Inspirational Thursday this week. Here's your photo of the week, with the aim of giving you a starting point for a creative exercise, whether it be a poem, story, drawing...whatever you wish!

This is Bodiam Castle in East Susex, built in 1385. It is still almost complete and even has a wooden portcullis!

Have you come across or taken any inspirational photos recently? Want to share? Email it to storyinateacup@gmail.com, together with your name, source if it isn't your own photo, and a blog/website if you have one so I can link back to you. Your photo will be featured in a future Inspirational Wednesday.

Enjoy your plotting - just leave out the gunpowder.

Thanks to The National Trust. You can find out more about Bodiam Castle here.

Personal Libraries Can Be Tricky Things

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000Z

Having emerged from a second-hand bookshop on Monday with a couple more acquisitions (Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell and Labyrinth by Kate Mosse) I have come to a rather unwelcome decision. I am going to have to rearrange my book collection. They used to all be in alphabetical order, and I knew exactly where each book was on a particular shelf. But when I added an extra shelf to make extra room, the height of many of my books meant some had to go elsewhere, and since then, with numerous hooverings, now no two books by the same author are together.

Finding a particular book to share with a friend or re-read a favourite chapter is becoming quite an issue, and although I would always swear I knew exactly which books I have, I had a moment of doubt in this shop yesterday. So it's time to get organised.

Seeing as there are over five hundred books in my collection this is going to be something of a challenge!

Do you have a system for keeping your books, or do you pile them all in together?

A Review of Robert Twigger's Angry White Pyjamas

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000Z

A guest post today by Liz Hudson, Owner and Instructor at Leeds Traditional Martial Arts, in Leeds, UK. Liz is a great friend of mine; we met at university in 2005 through a shared love of creative writing and reading.

Liz has combined these interests to write a review of Robert Twigger's Angry White Pyjamas, a entertaining read which sees Twigger take drastic action to break out of his unfit lifestyle. The book won the William Hill Sports Book Award in 1998, though every review I have read touts it as a greater story than its genre suggests.

Take it away, Liz!

A poet by nature, an English teacher in a foreign land by trade; Twigger takes the bit between his teeth and enrols on Tokyo’s infamous riot police course – a gruelling year long course at the local Yoshikan Aikido dojo, with a hard reputation for breaking people. Very quickly we get to know the other ‘foreigners’ on the course, men from all over the world who have earned their black belts and come to test their metal. But there’s just one problem... The closest Twigger has come to learning a martial art is reading a seventeenth century samurai manual.

Twigger takes us on a wildly entertaining journey through the fascinating nuances of modern Japan and the fierce traditionalism of the Yoshinkan Dojo. This amazing man manages to cram as much into a year as we do in five. This book will make you laugh out loud, boggle at the outrageous cultural foibles he encounters and feel his pain. Whether you like martial arts or not, you will love this book.

Every aspiring and experienced Jitsuka alike should have this book on their shelf. I won’t tell you whether Twigger passes the course or not but, regardless of his martial arts skill, this man certainly knows how to live and write a fantastic true story.

To find out more about Leeds Traditional Martial Arts and their Ju Jitsu classes click here. You can try a class at no cost!

For writing tips from Robert Twigger visit his website.

Play nicely,

All Creatures Great and Small

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000Z

When I was around twelve years old I received a book token for Christmas. This meant a very exciting (for me) trip to a three-storey Waterstone's branch in Sheffield one Saturday afternoon to spend it. While I loved books as much as I do now, I didn't have any particular books series or authors in mind, so wandered aimlessly around, unable to decide which kind of book to buy. Money for books was quite a rare thing, and I tended to borrow more books than I bought, so at the time it felt like a very important decision.

Fortunately - or unfortunately - my dad had a strong belief that pocket money and other small monetary windfalls should not be frittered away on fun things, but invested in possessions that improve your mind and enhance your view of the world. Seeing as he had made me spend my token on a history encyclopedia the year before, and my WH Smith's token on a scientific calculator the year before that, I was giving him a wide berth in the bookshop, hoping to be safely on the other side of the till before he vetoed my book choice.

No such luck. Not being a particularly bookish chap himself and getting typically fed up with being stuck in a retail space for so long, he had sought me out before I made my mind up. Before I could protest I was walking out of the shop, book token spent and with two books in my hand: All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot.

They looked like terribly grown up sorts of books, with pictures on the cover as you might find on a Maeve Binchy novel. I squinted at the synopsess on the backs in the car on the way home. Something about a vet and his adventures in the Yorkshire Dales. I liked animals, my dad knew only too well, and we had often visited the Yorkshire Dales. Still, I didn't think it a particularly exciting way to spend the only book funds I got every year. They hadn't even come from the fiction section.

I started All Creatures Great and Small that evening in bed. I was sucked into the world of Herriot, and wrapped in warm, funny, sentimental and yes...educating, stories, all about a young vet trying to make a modest reputation for himself in the at first perplexing county of Yorkshire.

The books - I was reading in omnibus form - were simply some of the most brilliantly written and magical stories I have ever read. I learned all sorts of medical terms that I don't suppose many twelve year-olds know, smiled at the accounts of Herriot winning over the salt-of-the-earth but kind-hearted farmers of the Dales, and laughed at Siegfried's paradoxical manner and Tristan's escapades.

The real James Herriot

Dad was right - just like he was right that one day I would actually need a scientific calculator (who knew?) and would find a history encyclopedia interesting. I knew quite a lot about the Bayeaux Tapestry before visiting in the threads, put it that way. I have read the James Herriot books over and over again, and they have become my 'comfort' books, along with PG Wodehouse and Paddington Bear.

Watching Young James Herriot on BBC1 last night, therefore, was a treat, like getting a bonus on the dvd of a much-loved film, another chance to find out about Herriot's world. As a grown up (a term I keep using about myself but not always true) I have a real affection for the Yorkshire Dales, and am not sure whether it's the setting that deepens my love for the books, or the other way round.

The cast of Young James Herriot

For now, however, the main focus of this new series is Herriot's veterinary training college in Glasgow. I wasn't sure about Herriot being admonished for being too cocky, as that, to me, isn't the character who arrived in Darrowby after qualifying, but as the stories are only semi-autobiographical, I'm not sure of the truth.

James Herriot's son, Jim Wight (Herriot's own real name was James Wight, Herriot being a pen name), appeared on my local news on Friday night, reporting that the Herriot Museum in Thirsk has seen vastly reduced visitor numbers over the past year. He hopes that Young James Herriot will boost those numbers, and also wants the original tv series to be re-shown so that my generation, presumably, can fall in love with the stories too and bring much-needed tourism back to the Dales.

Happy days: Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy and
Peter Davison in All Creatures Great and Small

Well I'm already one of those new generation Herriot fans. If you haven't read the books yet - all I can say is that I am green with envy. Let's hope the tv series is shown on the main channels again soon, because I'd hate interest in Herriot's stories to fade into obscurity.

Young James Herriot is being shown until Tuesday, 9pm, BBC1, or catch up on BBC iPlayer.

Tha's in ferra reet treat tha' knaws,

Life on Mars: Writer Jealousy

2011-12-18T09:00:00.000Z

I love the tv series Life on Mars. Though I've never had a go at script writing myself, I feel I can tell good writing from bad when I watch a series, and Life on Mars is my 'Oh how I wish I had a) that idea and b) 1/10th of the talent of those writers'.

I love the idea of a drama set in the 1970s, and when Sam Tyler finds himself plucked out of the modern day and dropped into 1973 it never ceases to amaze me as I realise the writers, Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham were absolutely right - everyday life is almost unrecognisable from that of nearly forty years ago. Especially as in my head it's only thirty years ago, as I forget we're already more than a decade into a new millennium. Whoops.

Add to this the love-hate team of Sam and the iconic Gene Hunt, sidekicks Ray and Chris and a David Bowie soundtrack to make my heart soar every time I hear it, and you have one brilliant tv drama.

Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt

I'm a big fan of Ashes to Ashes as well, and the writers had me guessing right up until the last episode about what this strange world of the past meant, and how all the characters were wrapped up in it. It was also set late enough for me to have bouts of nostalgia of my own, instead of watching my parents reminisce!

So I'll leave you with the script for the first episode of Life on Mars. If I ever feel brave enough to have a go at script writing (there's always Script Frenzy in April) I'll be using this as my bible.

Life on Mars Script Episode One

Happy acting!

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece

2011-12-17T09:00:00.001Z

I have just come across the trailer for the launch of My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher.

Ten-year-old Jamie hasn’t cried since it happened. He knows he should have – Jasmine cried, Mum cried, Dad still cries. Roger didn’t, but then he is just a cat and didn’t know Rose that well, really.
Everyone kept saying it would get better with time, but that’s just one of those lies that grown-ups tell in awkward situations. Five years on, it’s worse than ever: Dad drinks, Mum’s gone and Jamie’s left with questions that he must answer for himself.
This is his story, an unflinchingly real yet heart-warming account of a young boy’s struggle to make sense of the loss that tore his family apart.

Visit Annabel's website to find out more about her writing, read her blog and pick up some tips.

I can't wait to read My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece.

Do Books Make Good Christmas Gifts, or Are We Kidding Ourselves?

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000Z

Is a book really a great Christmas gift, or is it in the rubbish gift category, along with socks, a tie or shower gel?

Many people are reluctant to give books at Christmas, especially to children, as they think it might be construed as trying to educate or preach instead of entertaining at what is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. An increasing number of kids and teenagers admit that they hate reading - it's boring and only Great Aunt Maud would insist on buying them something to keep them quiet and improve their minds. Let's face it, most of them would rather get a DS game or some trainers.

Ever given a gift to a child or other relative, only to get this reaction?

I myself have certainly had my fair share of buying books for family members of all ages, from ten to eighty-seven, only to be disappointed when I find it's been sitting on a shelf ever since, pages dusty and spine non-creased.
Although I buy my niece a book such as a Roald Dahl every year because we're encouraging her to read and she enjoys it once she gets a hook on a good story, I too shy away from buying books for anyone other than book-loving friends. Friends so book-loving that I met them through a shared love of books and writing. In which case, a book is almost obligatory. They also have the guts to tell me if they didn't enjoy reading it, and then we can have a good old enjoyable picking-apart-of-the-plot sort of chat. Yes, I'm that kind of person.

So are books just something to get people when we don't know what else to buy? Can books have a part in Christmas, or should we continue to march from shop to shop each year muttering, 'must do better, must do better'?

Talk about the nightmare before Christmas...

Well first of all I should make it clear that I'm biased. You already know that, because you've clicked on a blog with 'Story' in its title that then informs you it covers the subjects of books and reading. Every other post on this blog is about books, reading and stories. So, you understand, you are reading a post by a woman who kind of...well, likes books. Just so long as we're clear on that.

BUT. While it is true that books are not a one size fits all gift, that there will always remain a large sector of society who would rather receive anything other than a boring yawn-inducing insomnia-curing book on Christmas morning, I, for one, still think books make bloody marvellous presents. For some people. Who and how? Well I'll tell you.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

1. The elderly love books. That does not mean that just because they belong to a less telly and gaming-dependent generation that they automatically love books. But many of them do. You may remember in this post my talking about how my nan and I often recommend book titles to one another. I joined Audible, a site where I pay £8.00 a month, and I get to download an audiobook. Now audiobooks are expensive, often around £35.00, so £8.00 is a real bargain. Especially as I download the book to my iPod, use it to brighten up dull exercise, housework etc., and then email it to my nan. She loves audiobooks as she can listen to them in bed when she can't sleep, and it means she doesn't have to hold up a book with tiny print. So perhaps the elderly relatives in your live - and/or the visually impaired - would enjoy an Audible membership or an audiobook this Christmas. There's 50,000 titles to choose from! I reckon I'm going for Stieg Larsson's series next.

Not quite sure what emotion David's experiencing there, actually.

2. Books can make good presents for teens. Okay, so choose your teen with care. You don't want to come across as the old duffer who buys the boring presents (though if they're that ungrateful use the book you bought them to wallop them over the head). Unfortunately, I have learned in recent years that even I, not yet in my mid-twenties, can be thought of as an old duffer by a teenager. It's something to do with wearing slippers and having an opinion on the news, apparently. But think of the Twilight series that many a young teen has been obsessed with in recent years. Originally a series of books. Harry Potter? Originally a series of books. The Golden Compass? Narnia, P.S I Love You, Bridget Jones... you get the idea. I would never had spent a year of my life ploughing through The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a teenager had it not been for the films. But I'm glad I did, because when I came out of the cinema those books gave me the perfect fodder for my Middle Earth phase. Get the right book, and you'll suddenly be the cool relative.
Of course, for every teenager that thinks books are boring, there's another who is an avid reader. They are the dream relatives. Buy them lots of books and then leave them to it. Even better, buy them a book token. Buy them lots of book tokens.

Give a teenage girl the gift of Edward Fever this festive season!
Available in mild, extreme, or downright obsessive...

3. Books ALWAYS make great gifts for small children, and often for slightly older ones too. Oooh, look at me with my controversial statement there. But I believe it to be true. The under-sevens might not give your bookish offering the same ear-piercing scream of delight that a giant Peppa Pig might invoke (mind you, I'd still scream at a giant Peppa Pig - terrifying), but books are the gifts that will later be appreciated and remembered more than any other. That is because stories stay with us. We grow up with them. Have you forgotten the story of The Three Bears since you heard it as a child? Me neither. A child will pick your book at bedtime time and time again. If it's a Christmas story it will be read every year. And they will always remember that story. That's a pretty amazing gift. And I reckon anything that gets parents reading and enjoying stories with their children is a magical thing. Parents will thank you for a new story to read at bedtime on Christmas night.

Your ticket to calm, happy kids on Christmas Eve!

4. So I've left out pretty much everyone between the ages of 20 and 65. That's because it's a personal thing. Buy children books and read with them and the chances are they'll grow into a book reading adult. But when it comes to buying for the adults of the present, well, it's a different story ('scuse the pun). They either read, or they don't. If they don't, sorry, but you may need to resort to socks again, because you'll only be disappointed that they thank you but never open the covers of your thoughtfully chosen gift. In my experience it's difficult to convert a non-reader, and you shouldn't try. Just because you think it's a marvellous way to spend an afternoon, doesn't mean they do. I have a brother who isn't into books at all. But last year he developed a sudden liking for Clive Cussler novels. I have searched every car boot sale, and you can guess what he's getting from me this year! But would I then start to impose other authors on him? No. Books are my thing. I'm just pleased he's sharing one of my interests at all and getting some pleasure from it, however short a time it lasts.
If you are buying for a reader, take the time to find out what sort of books they enjoy. Perhaps they never touch fiction and only read military history books. Perhaps you have an aunt who knows Mills and Boon books are hardly Dickens, but loves nothing more than unwinding with a good romance story in the bath. Indulge her, don't try to educate her. All books are good books to the happy reader!

If this sign's on the bathroom door, do not disturb.

So I do think books can make a really treasured gift for the right recipient at Christmas. Even a tiny baby will love a gift book when they're older, perhaps a volume of classic fairytales, for example.

But one final word. Books are also an opportunity to bring down the cost of buying gifts at Christmas. (See also my post on Story in a Teacup's sister blog today for more on this). Books don't have to be expensive. A rare find in a second-hand bookshop can make a wonderful gift. A 20p book bought at a carboot sale that sends the kids off to sleep calmly on Christmas Eve is priceless. And if you buy new, why not support your local independent bookshop? They will be able to help you choose the perfect book and you'll be helping a business survive in tough times.

And yes, for out and out book lovers a book token is always a great gift. For it is also the gift of shopping!

Happy gifting,

The Gruffalo's Child at Christmas

2011-12-15T09:00:00.000Z

I'm very much looking forward to watching the television adaptation of The Gruffalo's Child on Christmas Day. I'm always a little dubious about books being made into...well, anything, really. But luckily I'm often proved wrong, and was certainly wrong when it came to The Gruffalo's adaptation in 2009.

The animation looked as though it had leapt straight out of the book, and the voices were perfect. I may be a grown up (never too late to have a happy childhood, right?) but I love children's books and really wish Julia Donaldson's had been around when I was small.

One snowy night when the Gruffalo snored

The Gruffalo's Child was feeling bored.

The Gruffalo's Child was feeling brave

So she tiptoed out of the gruffalo cave

The snow fell fast and the wind blew wild.

Into the wood went the Gruffalo's Child.

The stories for both The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child are so simple, and I think that's why they hold so much appeal. Children love the repetition of the verse, and grown ups recognise how snugly it all fits together. Axel Scheffler provides vibrant and alive illustrations.

Julia Donaldson is currently the Children's Laureate and writes about her enthusiasm for children bringing stories to life through acting and play in the Christmas edition of the Radio Times, pg 56.

You have probably noticed the huge range of Gruffalo products in the shops these days. For the mini (or rather bigger) Gruffalo fan in your life here's a couple of my favourites:

Gruffalo Mouse 9 inches Amazon £8.79

Gruffalo Baking Set Temptation Gifts £12.76

This is fantastic for getting kids to act out the story
with their very own beautiful pop-up theatre! The Book People, £4.99

16 inch soft toy Gruffalo, Amazon, £19.34

Gruffalo Trunki, Amazon, £29.95

Be careful out there,

Inspirational Wednesday

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000Z

Here we are again, the bus stops at Inspirational Wednesday. Every week I post a random photo to get those creative cogs whirring. This week it's:

You could write about the couple themselves, Ann and William Mallender, or anything conjured up by the idea of a gravestone. Use your imagination! (By the way, I can recommend Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book if you haven't already discovered it.)

Happy scribbling,

The Trouble With Murder

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000Z

Earlier this year I set myself a challenge to write a murder mystery short story. Although I often jot down a few key words before beginning a story, I'm generally more of a 'write and see where it takes you' kinda scribbler, so the greatest change for me was to make myself sit down and plan out almost every detail of the plot before writing the first sentence.

I should probably mention at this point that:

a) It is no longer a short story, but something of a novella, and
b) It's safe to say that I am writing a parody. And yes, it's a parody on purpose.

The idea emerged as a result of my watching a fair few detective murder mysteries last year, including Lewis, George Gently and Midsomer Murders. I find Midsomer particularly cheesy, with some pretty ropey acting at times, but nonetheless a lot of fun, with a predicatable sequence of events to reach the conclusion. I wanted my story to be fun as well. I wanted to incorporate all the features of the typical modern television murder mystery, from the debriefing by the forensics team to the typical despairing relationship between inspector and sidekick sergeant.

The father-son relationship between Inspector Lewis and DS Hathaway
is often inter-changeable.

So far, I have the main plot all in place and basically written, with a lot of editing to do. The greatest difficulty has been exactly as I feared; hiding the murderer from the reader while still making them a prevalent character - not someone who just shows up towards the end as a convenient walk-on. It's often meant I've had to take a step back from the story and then almost creep back up on it a few days later, so I could read it with fresh eyes from the perspective of a new audience.

Finding the perfect method of murder has also been quite a brain scruncher. Did I want a murder weapon to be found? Would the motives of the main characters be in competition with one another, or would there be no obvious motive at all? I've had to Google some very bizarre subjects in the name of murder research!

It was Professor Plum in the dining room. Wasn't it?

Most of all it's been a lot of fun writing my first murder mystery, and really quite freeing to be able to use sterotypical characters and have fun with them, without worrying that perhaps it's all been done before. It's also been interesting to pick apart murder mystery television series and look for common factors. Many are very similar. Just as Miss Marple always gathers her suspects together for the ending revelation and Midsomer Murders tends to end with a moment of epiphany then a race against the clock to stop the murderer before he strikes again, many readers and viewers like a set routine for their favourite characters to follow when exposing the culprit. The exciting thing about this method is that the truly original elements of the narrative can step out, unexpected, from a subplot, adding extra depth to the storyline.

I leave you with the opening scene (unedited) from my story so far.

Detective Chief Inspector Iain Bushell had recently purchased a new cheese knife. Or rather, it was new to him, for it was really an antique. Having bought it via the internet – his very first eBay purchase - he admired its metallic gleam and polished ivory handle as it lay in place on his cheese board, next to a large wedge of straw coloured Saint-Aubin. He had never appreciated that eBay had an entire section named ‘Cheese/Crackers’, and he had scrolled in bewilderment through scores of listings; everything from ancient cheese pins to jumbo bags of Cheetos. It amazed him that two such items could co-exist under the same heading. After some minutes of browsing his discerning eye had discovered two desirable items, a Blakeney cheese dome, and the knife. Wary of his status as a virgin internet shopper, he had chosen the knife because the seller had one hundred per cent feedback status, and he could see the knife’s silver stamp clearly in the photograph. He had had to be patient; his Paypal account had not yet been set up and he had paid by cheque, but now his prize had arrived. Fiona would be so proud of him when she next came home. He was just caressing the knife with a view to testing it on the cheese when the house phone rang. It was the detective sergeant.

“Sir? We have a case.”

“Well then why, Mowles, haven’t you called me on my mobile? You know I don’t like my house phone to be used for work-related matters. Plus it’s a Saturday.”

“Sorry, sir, I tried your mobile. It’s switched off.”

Damn, thought Bushell. He might have mastered cyberspace but other forms of technology still foiled him. He must have let the battery go dead again.

“And what’s the job?”

“Death over at Mortingham. Suspected murder but Forensics is there now.” Mowles read out the address, which Bushell carved onto the back of an envelope with a stubborn biro.

“Funny thing is though, sir, the woman who found him made one hell of a fuss when she came into the station about how he’d been killed by aliens. Said there were awful marks on the body and that she was convinced.”

Bushell tutted, “You know as well as I do that the eye sees what the mind wants it to, particularly under stress. Probably strangled, but we’ll leave that to Forensics.”

“So I’ll see you in about half an hour then, sir?”

“Give it an hour, Mowles. No point in rushing the forensic team, and besides, I was about to have lunch.”

“I see. Right you are then, sir. See you in a bit.”

Bushell left the cordless handset on the arm of the sofa and returned to the kitchen. He was a man of some height, and his home seemed too small for him, with its low ceilings and mock support beams, so that his brown and grey hair seemed to continually brush against it. This didn’t bother him, however, for he had bought the property for its kitchen when he had transferred to North Yorkshire from London ten years before. The back part of the house was an extension, and therefore had large rooms and higher ceilings. The kitchen was his domain; the older parts of the cottage he generally only spent time in when his partner Fiona was home. An IT Contractor, she spent weeks at a time away in various parts of the country. Their relationship was a solid one and they spoke on the phone at exactly nine o’clock every evening, but both kept their eyes firmly on their respective careers. It was how each managed to live both with and without the other. Their home, as a result, resembled a traditionally furnished bachelor pad; an engine red aga, black marble work surfaces, a burgundy leather suite with plain carpet in the living room and plain, roughly made up sheets on the double bed. Here and there, however, a cushion would provide comfort, an ornament would unobtrusively be displayed, a bottle of bath salts would occupy a bathroom shelf. The fridge – supposedly Bushell’s territory - had been conquered by photos of the couple on holiday, Fiona’s infant niece and a strict recycling chart. These were quiet embellishments, and their scarcity did not worry either of them; Fiona’s personality rendered other expressions of ownership unnecessary. Altogether it was a comfortable home, with cosy lighting, dark wood furniture and a sensation of slowed time within its walls.

Bushell now picked up the cheese knife for a second time and prepared to take the plunge with all the seriousness and precision of cutting a wedding cake. His large hand hovered, but then replaced the knife back on the board. He could no longer enjoy the moment; the curiosity and paperwork surrounding a suspicious death already crowded his mind. He sighed, covered the cheese and went upstairs to change.

Have you written a murder mystery, or tried a genre completely removed from your comfort zone? Share your experiences below.

Stay safe..

Su Blackwell - Paper Artist

2011-12-12T09:00:00.000Z

Monday always seems to be the day where we fall out of bed of a morning, gaze bleary-eyed around us, and wonder if we really have strayed into Groundhog Day. Every Monday is the same. It's dark, there's traffic everywhere, your brain is struggling to think of something even remotely interesting to cook that evening... gah. No wonder we all feel like escaping to a fictional world in a good book. So you could get eaten by a Gruffalo. Got to be more interesting than office politics, right?

Never fear! I've found something astounding to brighten your Monday.

I first came across paper artist Su Blackwell in September 2008, when I stumbled across an article about her work in Yorkshire Life Magazine. I was in awe of her intricate and original sculptures, made from the paper of second-hand books, and arranged to look like fairytale scenes springing straight from the books themselves.

A beautiful scene from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. source

Su with some of her work. Source.

Su, who is Sheffield-born (I'm not biased at all!) tears, folds and cuts paper into the sculptures, which she then displays in hand-made wooden or glass boxes. She studied at Bradford College before gaining an MA with distinction in textiles at the Royal College of Art. Today she has a studio in London.

source

Each sculpture is so fragile, but all pack a punch when it comes to an almost ethereal, dream-like atmosphere. Paper is such an everyday material; we all touch it every day, but Su manages to create tableau with such dexterity as most of us could never achieve.

To find out more about Su Blackwell and her work, as well as her current projects - she has a book coming out in 2012 - visit: http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/

You'll never look at paper the same way again!

Have a fantastical Monday,

Paddington App

2011-12-11T14:48:00.000Z

Attention Paddington Bear fans! It appears that earlier this month a Paddington app was launched through iTunes! You can find out more here.

Enjoy!

Paddington Bear Part 2

2011-12-11T09:00:00.000Z

Yesterday saw me write about Paddington, one of my favourite characters in children's literature. If you have kids you might want to visit the official Paddington Bear website, to find out more about his history and get them playing some games on a cold Christmas holiday afternoon: http://www.paddingtonbear.com/ . If you want to visit even though you don't have kids, that's fine too...

My Michael Bond collection

I reckon Paddington books should be standard reading in primary schools, as for young learners the stories are funny and engaging, and the text is easy to read. Michael Bond's talent lies in his ability to engage adult readers, many of whom are very nostalgic about the curious, accident-prone Peruvian bear of their childhood.
In 2008 Michael Bond published Paddington Here and Now, once again illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, to celebrate fifty years since the publication of A Bear Called Paddington. I found myself chatting to other buyers of the book in a branch of Waterstone's. While some were parents and grandparents hoping to introduce their children to the books for the first time, most were buying a copy for themselves (as was I!), especially as we had all been told we would meet a long-lost relative of Paddington in this new adventure.

Paddington and his Aunt Lucy, who arranged for him to move to England when she moved into the Retired Home for Bears in Lima!

For seasoned fans of Michael Bond, you may already know that he wrote a great deal other books once he saw success with his stories of Paddington. As a long-time owners of guinea pigs, I find his books about Olga da Polga, an over-enthusiastic guinea pig who tells tall tales to all of her friends not only funny, but Olga's character quite true to life, too! Young pet owners will love her adventures, and I'm sure generations of pet guinea pigs will have been named after her.

I'll leave you with some of the best Paddington gift ideas out there, for Paddington fans young and old:

The Spode London Paddington Collection http://www.spode.co.uk/.

This is ridiculously cute. So cute that I own one. From here

"Please look after this child. Thank you." Available from here.

A gorgeous present for an adult fan. Did you know Jeremy Clarkson's mum made the first Paddington toys? From here

.

Happy adventuring,

Paddington Bear Part 1

2011-12-10T09:00:00.000Z

When I was little, Winnie the Pooh was the bear in my life. From the books to the Disney films, I loved his cuddly form, his friendly voice and hearing about all of his adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood.

I didn't really become aware of Michael Bond's tales of Paddington Bear until I was around ten years old. I remember reading an old Paddington book of my uncle's, Paddington Helps Out on a visit to my grandparents' one summer, and giggling at the tale of Paddington's attempt at making dumplings. A great story waves at you from time to time as you go about real life; I smile every time I make stew and dumplings for tea.

While I remained aware of Paddington and his place in children's literature and loved the television series, it wasn't until my late teens that I re-visited some of the stories, and discovered others for the first time. It was at this stage that I began to appreciate the special quality of Michael Bond's writing, his ability to make readers of all ages see the world through Paddington's eyes:

"It was midnight. All the household had long since gone to bed.

'You know,' said Mrs Brown, just as the clock was striking twelve, 'it's a funny thing, but I'm sure Paddington's up to something.'

'There's nothing funny in that,' replied Mr Brown sleepily. 'He's always up to something. What is it this time?'

'That's just the trouble.' said Mrs Brown, 'I don't really know. But he was wandering around wearing a flase beard this morning. He nearly startled poor Mrs Bird out of her wits. He's been writing things in his notebook all the evening too, and do you know what?'

'No,' said Mr Brown, stifling a yawn. 'What?'

'When I looked over his shoulder there was nothing there!'

'Oh well, bears will be bears,' said Mr Brown." ~ More About Paddington.

Paddington's innocent nature and disastrous inquisitiveness is only accentuated by the austere housekeeper Mrs Bird, and the beige but accepting head of the family, Mr Brown.The Brown family are largely understanding of Paddington's escapades, after all he tries much harder than most to try and understand the world, a quality to be admired in a bear.

I very quickly collected all of the Paddington books, and often turn to them when I want to read something lighthearted or to be cheered up. Paddington's adventures are timeless, and never fail to make me smile.

As Stephen Fry quite rightly said, Paddington Bear is a national institution.

Enjoy this:

- I'm off for a marmalade sandwich. Another Paddington post tomorrow!

With thanks to Paddingtonbeartoons

On My Reading List

2011-12-09T09:00:00.000Z

So as I have mentioned in recent posts, I'm looking forward to curling up over Christmas and making a start on some great books. Here is my to-read list as it currently stands:

The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries ~ Charlaine Harris

While some more high-brow reading aficionados will be wrinkling their noses at this, I for one think for books that you just can't put down, Charlaine Harris is a fantastic writer. Myself and some friends ended up descending into pre-teen style simultaneous readings of her True Blood series last year. I was aware at the time that our obsession was a little on the pathetic side, but they drew us all in, and how often can you say that a book has gripped not only you but your friends, to the extent that you're sending each other text messages to see where you're all up to? It takes a bloomin' good story to do that, so I decided it should be something to be celebrated. I hate the TV series. I also hate most other vampire novels, including Twilight.
So I'm very much looking forward to sampling some of Harris' other works. Aurora Teagarden is waiting on my shelf next time I'm in a mysterious mood.

When God Was a Rabbit ~ Sarah Winman

I noticed someone on the Guardian Books website earlier was self-chastising himself over not having read this novel yet. I never will understand this attitude that books somehow go mouldy if they aren't read while in vogue. I've mentioned before that I'm not one for reading a book just because everyone's talking about it, but I am always keen to read writer's debut novels, and deconstruct them to understand how the writer uses plot and language together. Putting that first novel out there takes so much courage and exposure of one's personality and emotions, after all. When God Was a Rabbit won the Galaxy New Writer of the Year Award 2011, and it appeals to me that the story spans four decades.

The Crimson Petal and the White ~ Michel Faber

I really enjoyed the television series of this over the summer. I thought Ramola Garai played the part of Sugar well, and I do love a good tale of the downtrodden in Victorian England. I am told Faber's prose is to be envied, so this is a book to be savoured, not skim-read. I bought the book as soon as the tv series finished, but decided to wait for the plot details to fade from my memory before I started reading.

All two out of the three of these novels are pretty lengthy, so along with some rather more arduous text books on technical subjects that need tackling, I'm sure they'll keep me well fed in reading fodder over the Christmas period.

What will you be reading?

Read It Swap It and Book Exchange Schemes

2011-12-08T09:00:00.000Z

Welcome to Thursday.

Today I would like to draw your attention to a website I've become quite a fan of this year. As many people switch from new to second-hand books to save money and reduce their carbon footprint, schemes such as that of Read It Swap It grow in popularity.

This is how it works:

The swap process works in the same way that you'd normally swap something. You find something you like, you ask to swap, another ReadItSwapIt members chooses something of yours and you exchange the goods. The only difference with ReadItSwapIt is that the swaps are done over the internet.
Step 1 - You select the book that you would like from The Library. Many books are available from more than one person, so choose the person you like the look of. Click 'Swap with this member'.
Step 2 - The ReadItSwapIt member who owns that book receives an email saying that you want to swap.
Step 3 - The other user logs onto the site and views your list of books. If this user finds one that he or she likes, he or she will confirm the swap. He or she can also reject the swap request at this point. If the swap is confirmed, the other user will be able to see your postal address.
Step 4 - You will receive an email saying the swap has been confirmed, along with the address to which you need to post the book.
Step 5 - When the books are received, each person logs on to say they have received the book and they rate the other person.

Simple, eh? I really like this idea, as it brings a communal, sharing ethic to the very solitary hobby of reading, and it means you can receive exciting post for the cost of sending a parcel back.

Are you a member of any book swap schemes? Or perhaps you use a book exchange facility in a pub, café, or in my village - a telephone box!

Happy swapping,

Inspirational Wednesday

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000Z

Today it's Wednesday, so I'd like to share an inspiring photograph with you. I took this at the top of the 199 steps in Whitby, North Yorkshire last year. Whitby holds a special place in the heart of my family and we visit for a holiday (four generations of us!) every year. As well as being a famous 17th century whaling port, the coastal town has strong links with smuggling, Captain James Cook, jet - famously worn by Queen Victoria after the death of her beloved husband, Albert - and it boasts some pretty amazing fish and chips!

Many, of course, associate Whitby with Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the town has a rich culture of ghost stories and gothic history. I never fail to get a huge boost of inspiration every time I visit, and am currently writing a story about The Hand of Glory, one of which is displayed in Whitby's Pannet Park Musuem. I will share it with you when it's finished.

I hope this photo inspires you too!

Writing, the Procrastination Monster and Self-Discipline

2011-12-06T09:00:00.000Z

Most writers are well-versed in the art of procrastination. And it really is an art; many spend hours a day honing their procrastination skills and trying new techniques for making sure they are champions at putting things off.

You love writing, that's why you are a writer. Why then, do so many of us open a new Word document and then proceed to pop over to see what the headlines are on the newspaper sites? Oh, and you'll need to make a coffee so that you can stay awake. And you should probably just let the cat out first so she isn't bothering you while you work. Hold on a minute, isn't it phone bill day? Better just pop onto online banking and get that job ticked off, then you can write without worrying about it. That's a pretty advert on that site...you've always wanted one of those, haven't you? Ah well only half an hour before the kids need picking up from school now, so by the time you've shoved another pile of washing in the machine and found your car keys, oh, and the cat wants to go out again...

We've all been there. Some of you are there right now, which is why you're reading this blog. No -wait, don't leave! I'm here to help.

Procrastination v. delay or postpone action. Origin C16: from L. procrastinat, procrastinaire 'defer till the morning' from pro - 'forward' + crastinus 'belonging to tomorrow'.

So if we love to write, why do we faff about instead of getting on with this wonderful hobby or career? My theory:

1. It's a habit. You learned as a child that there is instant gratification in doing things that make you smile, laugh or that shock you, so you click on that advert, you check those headlines... habits are hard to break.

2. Yes, writing can be a lot of fun. So can climbing a mountain. But it's still hard. There are still plot points that need figuring out, you've been struggling to think of the right word to describe that character's laugh for three days. It requires a lot of mental energy and concentration. So why not put it off by doing something less taxing on the brain?

3. So you finish writing that book and submit it to your agent or publisher. You finish that short story, and you are so proud of yourself. But what then? You're going to be sending your hard work, knitted from your own private thoughts and feelings out into the wide world, and complete strangers are going to rip it to pieces. You could be rejected over and over, and start to doubt your talents after all. Isn't it better just to put off finishing it? You're sure you'll feel more confident tomorrow.

4. Everyone procrastinates. It's so common, that it's accepted. Go on Twitter, Facebook or look around your office at work and you'll find people putting things off, getting distracted, just like you. It can't be that bad if everyone's at it, can it?

Well, I don't have to tell you that yes, it is bad. I can be as big a procrastinator as everyone else. When I was seventeen, I won a national short story competition. Because I was studying for my A-levels at the time, the school quickly learned about it, and I had a small feature in a popular teen mag, so for a couple of weeks my win meant I was the centre of attention, something I hate at the best of times. Fellow students and staff understood that I wanted more than anything to be a writer when I left school. They believed in me, which was fantastic, but with it came a huge amount of pressure to keep the ball rolling, to get published again quickly. Many thought that becoming the next JK Rowling would be a cinch - I knew better. I was only too aware that being published - especially before the internet gained the power it has today - is a tricky business. So without making a conscious decision to, I pretty much stopped writing. I told everyone I was busy studying - I needed good grades to get a good job and bring the money in - why wouldn't anyone listen when I said writing was not a viable career option?

When I moved away to university I was plunged into an ocean of fellow procrastinators. It seemed that few around me took studying seriously. Sure, they worked hard on essays and handed their work in, but they were always written last minute. Going out was always preferable to staying in and planting oneself at the desk, trying to make sense of The Faerie Queene. Few treated their course like the full-time job it was supposed to be. And although I met some fantastic friends who also loved to write, the degree was the perfect excuse for not finding the time to write on a regular basis.

So when I graduated some years ago, they might as well have given me a degree in the art of procrastination. I had done well in my course, but then needed to get rid of the procrastination monster, and work very, very hard in a recession to be a success. And that requires self-discipline and determination.

Repeated and prolonged procrastination is accepted, but I began to increasingly notice side-effects when it came to my writing.

I lost confidence in my writing ability. I was scared of finding out just how rubbish I had become, so I thought it was safer not to write.
I felt as though there was always a part of my personality missing; the essence of me wasn't there, because I wasn't doing the activity that makes me feel truly authentic and alive.
I was having to make excuses when family and friends asked me if I was still writing. I'd say I was 'working on something'. I wasn't.
I was always cross with myself for never being able to get things done. I would watch people I admire chase their dreams, and vow that tomorrow, I would too. I never would.

Looking a bit more serious than an annoying habit, now, isn't it, this procrastination lark? What changed for me? Well, apart from being utterly fed up with lurching from one day to the next and feeling I wasn't even trying to reach my potential, I did the customary writery thing of reading two books:

The Procrastinator's Handbook: Mastering the Art of Doing it Now - Rita Emmett. This no-nonsense book helped me to look at procrastination from a different perspective and work out why we all do it. Full of handy tips for becoming an 'anticrastinator'. Although Emmett admits that she herself was a terrible procrastinator, you'll still wonder why you ever allowed yourself to become one too. By the time I had finished this book I couldn't wait to do something about it!

No Excuses: The Power of Self-Discipline - Brian Tracy. Self-discipline might sound boring, but we'd all have a lot more time for fun, success (and sleep!) if we were better at it.

So whilst few of us are super-efficient never-failing perfect machines when it comes to running our lives, here are some tips from this recovering procrastinator for making sure you write more. Some are obvious and often-repeated, but let's face it, we all need telling again.

1. Have a routine. Having a routine is all about the habit-game. If procrastination is a habit, create the new habit of doing certain things at a certain time. You'll get more done, and have a set time for writing. We all have different amounts of money to spend, but we are all given the same amount of hours to spend in a day. Work out how you're going to spend your time budget today, and set aside some of that for your writing.

2. Use The Power of Three. You have other stuff to do before you can allow yourself to sit down and write? Ok, well then use The Power of Three! Make the bed, clean out the budgie, hoover the stairs. Great, you've completed a set! Next empty the dishwasher, walk the dog, iron four items. You'll get a great feeling of satisfaction every time you complete a set, and you can add small rewards if you wish. You'll be on a roll before you know it. It's how I get myself up, showered and ready to start work on cold, dark Winter mornings!

3. Switch of Facebook. Switch off Twitter. By that I mean log out completely. Remove all shortcuts from your desktop and phone. You can play on the sites as a reward for completing your day's writing quota. Speaking of which...

4. Have a daily word quota. Again, you'll feel fab when you reach it and you can boast to all and sundry on Twitter when you have.

5. Set up an accountability group. Have friends who also like to write? Agree you'll give each other a call every evening, week, or month and check up on each other's writing progress. Depending on whether you're motivated by punishment or reward, they need to hold you accountable in some way. No local friends with the same interest? That's where Twitter and Skype can be helpful.

6. Remind yourself why you love to write. It's easy to forget when it begins to seem like a chore. Write down three reasons why you love what you do. Re-read the best piece you ever wrote.

7. Keep an ideas journal. That way, you won't have an excuse for procrastinating because you're faced with the dreaded blank page. You'll always have a bank of ideas to turn to. I keep one for this blog.

8. Understand the Pain-Pleasure scale. Many self-help authors speak about this concept in some form or another. Every decision you have ever made has been to avoid pain or increase pleasure, from what kind of car you bought to which pair of shoes you chose to wear today. For example, you went on a diet because you hated having no confidence about your body (avoid pain) and you wanted to fit in that gorgeous dress ready for Christmas (increase pleasure). You failed to keep yourself to the diet because the short-term pleasure of eating that takeaway was stronger than the long-term pleasure of how you would feel when you reached your target dress size. You don't finish the novel and reach the long-term pleasure of being a published author because the short-term pain of editing your work wins out every time. Short-term is stronger than long-term. Think long-term!

9. Keep a blog. That's why you're reading this. I trapped myself into writing every day because I now have an audience ready to read my words every day. It's a brilliant confidence booster and fun too! Just don't let it interfere with your other writing!

10. Have a space for writing. Few of us have the luxury of a study where we can shut ourselves away, free of distraction and write. But that's ok. Whether it's the kitchen table, a space under the stairs (hello Harry Potter), a coffee shop or your local library, find a space where you write, and nothing else. You'll find you have all your equipment to hand and it's easier to get into the right frame of mind. Again, you're creating a positive habit for yourself.

Remember that procrastinating is you consciously making the decision to put something off. You made a choice. That means you can also make the decision to bop it over the head and write, write write! Have you had battles with writing and procrastination? What has worked for you? I'd love to hear your stories.

Now, stop reading this and get on with that word count!

Until tomorrow,

Ghost Stories and Christmas

2011-12-05T09:00:00.000Z

A lovely literary friend of mine, Clare, has been to visit this weekend, and as ever we had a good old chinwag about the books we've been reading recently. Clare and I agree that E.Nesbit's The Power of Darkness - Tales of Terror are easily the most unnerving ghost stories we've ever read. Along with Dickens' The Signalman and M.R James' Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad, Nesbit manages to induce the spine-tingling collywobbles where other stories fail.

Edith Nesbit wrote The Railway Children but was capable of writing a frightening yarn as well.

Most people associate ghost stories with Hallowe'en, of course. But whilst All Hallows Eve is supposed to be the night where the dead rise and once again walk the Earth, I still associate it with being a fun festival, full of symbols of horror, rather than genuinely spooky sentiments. Christmas, for me, is a far more ghostly time of year. We tend to associate Christmas with shutting out the cold, snowy winter nights and sitting in a pool of light in front of a friendly, crackling fire; shadows dancing around the peripheries of the room. We think of Dickens and a Christmas Carol; the repetitive, cyclical nature of the season bringing back our own ghosts of Christmas past time and again.

Stepping outside, wrapped up against the cold, the snow silences one's footsteps and muffles all other noise, so that you can feel quite alone as you steel yourself against the icy wind. A snapping twig, the snowflakes making unnerving shapes..

It's easier to believe in the supernatural at Christmas. It's a time for spirits and magic, of stories passed on from the old to the young by the light of the Christmas tree, a time when anything can happen. Whilst I loved the idea of Father Christmas bringing gifts on a sleigh when I was small, I often used to have nightmares leading up to the big night because I knew that at this time of year things could happen that were impossible at every other. And if Father Christmas can fly around the world in one night and enter homes with no trouble, and many believe angels are at their closest to us, what other beings might be abroad on Christmas Eve?

Christmas is not an overtly spooky festival. Where Hallowe'en promotes, encourages and celebrates the macabre, most don't think of Christmas as being a purely spooky season. It's joyful, full of celebration, laughter and fun, the most wonderful time of the year! But it holds subtle elements of the supernatural, a ghostly presence lies in its Dickensian features, the pastime of story-telling by the fire, its pagan customs, the ability of snow to make one feel isolated in a deserted landscape, the memories of Christmas shared with now departed loved ones. Christmastime supernatural tales often have a moral or spiritual element, where Hallowe'en's sole aim is to shock, horrify and thrill. And Winter represents the death of a year, before the birth of new life.

I love the idea of wrapping up in a blanket in front of a cheerful fire, in a chair very much like that of Scrooge, and telling ghostly Christmas tales with friends.

Of course, there are other - less frightening - ways to enjoy a good ghost story!
The Muppet Christmas Carol

Some ghostly Christmas tales you might like to try:

A Christmas Carol ~ Charles Dickens - I know of no other tale that will bring on all manner of Christmas spirits as well as this one!
Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad ~ M.R. James
The Ghost of Christmas Eve ~ J.M Barrie
The Shadow ~ E. Nesbit
The Snow ~ Hugh Walpole

So why not switch off the television and gather round the fire this Christmas Eve?

Clare and I have both decided to have a go at writing ghostly Christmas stories of our own.

I'd love to hear of your favourite Christmas tales, haunting or otherwise. Comment on this post, or email storyinateacup@gmail.com.

The Mad Librarian

2011-12-04T09:00:00.000Z

Yesterday I met a mad librarian. I popped into my local [library, unless pubs have become more cultured recently] to pick up a couple of reservations, and found myself in a twenty minute queue along with three teenagers, an elderly lady and an Agatha Christie fanatic. I kid you not.

The librarian's name was Dan. I think he may possibly be a Hell's Angel in his spare time. He sat proudly behind the library counter, swivelling cheerfully from side to side on his chair, shouting at the customers.

"GERALDINE MCEWAN YOU SAY? NO I'D SAY JOAN 'ICKSON WERE FAR BETTER, I WOULD."

He had a grey wispy ponytail trailing down his back, and a laugh like Mutley from Wacky Races. Right in the middle of stamping one customer's book, he would suddenly whip round on his chair and bellow,

"NOW THEN YOUNG CHRIS! FIVE MINUTES LEFT ON YOUR COMPUTER MATE AND THAT'S YOUR LOT!"

He handed me the books I had reserved, both on the subject of marketing, and he loudly remarked, "TWO BOOKS ON MARKETING IS IT? IT'S ALWAYS THE BORING JOBS THAT PAY WELL. HE HE HE HE! THAT'S WHY I WORK HERE YER SEE!"

I must have been looking either amused or bemused, especially as, having worked in a library before, I'm aware that it's considered indiscreet to shout customers' chosen titles to the entire room. What if someone was borrowing a book on 'Custard: Overcoming Your Phobia', or 'Unplanned Preganancy and Me'? The woman behind me grabbed my elbow and told me Dan lives with his old mum, and therefore has verbal diarrhoea when he comes to work every day.

I thought he was rather marvellous. I went into the library, one I have only recently joined, just to pick up two - admittedly dull - books, and in the time it took to do that very British activity of queueing, I got a brilliant snapshot of a community. Dan the Librarian knew the surnames of the teenagers, and was able to tell one [loudly] without checking the catalogue that his mum's book on pilates would be in the following week. They laughed and exchanged banter with him. He had local gossip for the elderly and asked them if they were keeping their heating going in this cold weather. And there was nothing he didn't know about Agatha Christie. The fact that he teasingly called my own loans boring was a very Yorkshire way of saying, "haven't seen you in here before, say something interesting so we can get to know you!"; a way of provoking a response from a stranger and starting a conversation.

What would we do without these bastions of our local community? Someone who knows all the young, checks up on the elderly, provides the local entertainment, keeps us all in reading matter and has an encyclopedic knowledge of crime fiction? You can't rely on your local constable for that, can you?

I'm looking forward to my next visit to the library. It's the only place I can guarantee it'll be the customers saying 'ssshhhhh!' instead of the staff.

Books-Related Christmas Gifts

2011-12-03T09:00:00.000Z

Books make wonderful Christmas gifts. A novel can provide entertainment lasting longer than many gadgets, and you need something to do while you use up all those obligatory bath salts. The right book gifted to a child can become one of those stories that they grow up with, and can stay with them, being read and re-read every Christmas. And like Christmas, stories can provide escapism and a comforting repetition in turbulent personal times.

On Thursday I shared with you some of my favourite books to read on dark wintry nights at this time of year. Today I'd like to show you some books-related gifts, ideal for the person who seems to have read everything, or the uncle who has very specific science-fiction reading tastes you just can't hope to work with.

You won't be finding anything Kindle-related here, because I'm an old-school paper book fan. Sorry.

Here we go...

The Gimble

This simple but clever idea is called a Gimble. Available from their website and from large book shops, this handy device holds your book open for you, so you can read hands-free. It doesn't damage the spine, and turning pages is easy. Good for the family cook, or reading on the beach. I have a nan with terrible arthritis in her hands, so I'll be scooping up a couple. £4.99 gets you two. Even the business-minded may be impressed, as its inventor featured on Dragon's Den. Nifty, eh?

We all like a cuppa with a read. I must admit to a bit of an obsession with this range because I love vintage Penguin paperbacks; I have this mug and the orange 'My Man Jeeves' version. I can honestly say mine have worn well despite the daily dishwasher ordeal. Available in all sorts of lovely shops, but I like this retailer.

Okay, okay, I like the Penguin Books range so much I decided to feature another product. I own this one as well, so if you're buying for a bookish lady I can vouch for the fact that she will get lots of compliments. In fact you'll have to tell her where you bought it from because she'll be asked that too. This one comes in four colours, featuring different titles on each side according to the category. I own the above pink one (Romantic category), and it costs in the region of £20.00. Available, again, in many book and gift shops, but this one's from here. The range has deckchairs, pencils, teatowels and a board game too. Yes, this writer does accept gifts...

Elmer will brighten up any bedroom. Available from here, £7.99.

Pssst! You. Yes, you! Come closer. *Whispers*...I own this one, too. Hey, you can't say I haven't brought you ideas that haven't been tried and tested. Kids (and certain bloggers in their twenties) will love this cuddly Elmer, the famous patchwork elephant. Why not buy them an Elmer book too? Studies show that having a reading companion helps children build confidence, I remember it certainly worked for me. Not that Elmer is still my reading companion, you understand. Moving swiftly on...

Now, I'm one of those readers who takes their reading quite seriously. I never just walk into a library or bookshop and buy a book just because it cries out to me (sorry Waterstone's 3 for 2 range surreptitiously planted invitingly just inside the door); I have an eternal never-shrinking list of books I want to read. Then, when I've read them, I review them online. So a book journal makes sense, no? The recipient of this journal can keep track of books read and to-read in alphabetical order, and it costs £7.00 from here. If you have an annoying friend who borrows your books and 'forgets' to return them this could be for them. Although they may forget to write down that they borrowed your book then. There's no hope for such people.

Vintage book covers are featuring on all sorts of things at the moment, and I'm all for it. This rather appealing notebook costs £12.00 and comes from here.

I personally find this bag quite creepy, but I can see it has design value. So if you have a Gatsby fan in your life, it costs £24.00 and comes from here.

Last week I was clearing some clutter and doing a car boot sale. I had a box of books at 50p each, and a young dad and his little girl came shyly over and looked into the box. When I smiled and said hello this dad explained that he was encouraging his daughter to read, they had read all sorts of stories together, and did I have anything 'like Charlotte's Web?' After I had finished discreetly wiping away a tear and mentally shouting, 'thank God there are still parents out there who read at home with their kids and isn't this man lovely!' I was forced to say I hadn't got any books like Charlotte's Web. I found this gift book online. If you know a lovely parent who reads with their children, or perhaps a new baby and you'd like to buy a gift book for them to grow into, this edition is bound in cloth, costs £22.95 and comes from the Folio Society. Sniffle.

Right, so you've browsed through the above ideas. Bookworm Uncle Ron doesn't want a cuddly Elmer (strange man), wouldn't keep a book journal, doesn't drink tea... so now what? Ok, one last gift idea. You could adopt a book from The British Library. The programme has been running for twenty years. For £30 you choose the book you'd like to adopt from a list, and the recipient receives an e-certificate and the knowledge that they have contributed towards the British Library's book conservation programme. Yes? Yes?

No?

Ah well. It'll have to be a book token again then.

Writers and Their Notebooks

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000Z

Writers, as we all know, come in all shapes and sizes. And we all have our own favoured ways of inspiring creativity and capturing our ideas. Some of us prefer to write prose straight onto a word processor; some are die-hard handwriters.

Whilst I do all of my story-writing on my laptop, I have, it's fair to say, a bit of an obsession with notebooks. I use them for jotting down ideas, lists, making plans and I keep a journal. I find writing down a few thoughts at the end of each day helps me to shut out distractions, regain focus and instill calm, and handwriting is so therapeutic.

So here are some notebooks I hope will have you reaching for your pens. There's something for everyone!

This Red leather A6 wraparound journal £9.75, is from one of my favourite shops for notebook shopping - Paperchase. It should be easy to spot in any handbag and you can exude executive-chic, but write writery thoughts inside instead.

This cheeky Beano large spiral notebook from Marks and Spencer, £6.00 makes me feel nostalgic for the Beano reading days of my childhood, and will add a touch of fun to any desk. Just don't let yourself stop writing to read the cover instead!

This one speaks for itself. It also has a handy instruction on the cover for when you're procrastinating. It's from Modcloth, $10.99 and is designed by Julia Rothman, a Brooklyn-based artist. It's also environmentally friendly, being made from recycled paper and soy-based ink.

Wednesday marked Mark Twain's 176th birthday. This notebook features one of my favourite of his quotations. Perhaps it will inspire you to send off that next batch of manuscripts, even after several hundred rejection letters. This one is from Etsy, by Zany and costs $10.00 (ships to UK).

Ciak have long been known as one of the chiefs of the magical land of notebooks. On a visit to Italy a few years ago I practically drooled at the number of shops stuffed with them. Fortunately I resisted and saved up for a small one on returning home, (it's now used for blog post ideas!). For quality, simple Italian style and the handy elastic for keeping bits of paper together, this one's for you. The Cartesio from Ciak, features acid-free archive-quality paper and is priced £9.99.

"All these words and all of the pictures and these small scraps of purpose and intention and dreams will walk along side of me and keep me company on this my great journey and will serve to remind me to savour all my days spent upon this earth."

A nice sentiment for your paper-based amanuensis, eh? This hardback has been designed for Wild and Wolf, by Rob Ryan, and is available from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park website, priced £7.95.

Okay, so Cath Kidston had to feature in this post somewhere. This one's just plain pretty, I'm sure you chaps will agree. Available here and priced £9.00. It comes with a pen too!

I enjoy hearing about how writers shape their thoughts into prose, so get in touch and tell me whether you're a computer writer, a notebook scribbler, or like me, both! Comment on this post or send me a tweet @storyinateacup.

Until tomorrow, happy jotting and blotting,

The Christmas Books

2011-12-01T09:00:00.000Z

I'm going to be enjoying a quiet Christmas this year. The festive season always seems to fly around so quickly (earlier each year, it seems), that without being Scrooge-like, I honestly think I can afford to take a back seat on this one, and the next one will be here before I know it. I will still be celebrating with a few close family members, but without the usual pressure of more flamboyant Yuletides.
One foot into the foray of Christmas shoppers yesterday was enough to convince me that cosumerist Christmases can go too far. So many people are complaining they have no money in the current climate, but I have never seen so much stuff being bought as I have every time I've been near any shops in recent weeks. Children off school due to the strikes yesterday were yelling, "I want this!" and carrying toys under their arms, and the shopping centres were fit to burst. Kids are great, but no, a peaceful Christmas to regain energy after a hectic year is all I want this time! This is my first year with a dog, though, so no doubt she will be getting as spoiled as any child on the big day.

One of my favourite things about the festive season is the excuse to curl up in a comfy chair (I have a beloved reading chair) with a glass of something warming and a good book. So while I'm not going to post every day of Advent on the subject of Christmas, here are a few of my favourite reads for those cold, dark wintry evenings.

The Christmas Books ~ Charles Dickens
Well, obviously. A Christmas Carol is standard reading for many at this time of year (although I always have to watch the Muppet film as well), and you can't go wrong with Dickens. His prose is just mulled wine in paper form. Not quite so many will read the full collection of his Christmas stories, however, as gathered under the above title. A Christmas Carol is joined by The Cricket on the Hearth, (full title A Fairy Tale of Home), a simple and homely tale about a man called John Peerybingle and a cricket - yes, a cricket - who watches over the family from his place on the hearth. It has a twist, but as it won't take you more than half an hour to read I won't spoil it for you.

The original frontispiece for The Cricket on the Hearth. Unfortunately my own copy has no illustrations.

Finally is The Chimes, (The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In) a morality plight similar to that of Scrooge, about man's ability to overcome and improve, and the fresh beginnings of a new year. Proper cosy traditional Christmas reading, guv'nor. I also like the idea of there being something quite spooky and ethereal about this time of year.

The Rose and The Ring ~ William Makepeace Thackeray
A friend dreamily told me about this a few years ago, saying it was a tale she had always loved but she hadn't been able to find a copy for many years. A trip to an Oxfam bookshop that very afternoon threw up two, so thinking it rare treasure I snapped up the second straight away, and was glad I did. The last of his six Christmas books and burlesques and subtitled A Fire-side Pantomime for Great or Small Children it manages that very clever thing of being able to provide sheer fairytale magic for children and satire for grown ups simultaneously. It fast became a favourite of my second childhood.

The Rose and the Ring contains fabulous illustrations

A Letter to Father Christmas ~ Rose Impey & Sue Porter
I absolutely loved this book as a child, because it is about a little girl who loves animals. That said, there is a rather terrifying picture of Father Christmas in there that I always had to skip over. Didn't like the idea of a strange man creeping around my bedroom without my knowing about it.
Anyway, Emily writes her Christmas list at a very messy table. By accident she places the wrong sheet of paper in her envelope and sends a shopping list off to Father Christmas instead. On Christmas morning she awakes, and is heart-breakingly disappointed to find that instead of toys she has received carrots, bread, milk, fish, nuts and a hot water bottle. Quelle horreur. Fortunately she has a brilliant idea, wraps up warm and goes around the farm where she lives feeding carrots to the donkey, bread to the birds, fish and milk to the cat, etc., and has a lovely Christmas after all. Sigh.

The Jolly Christmas Postman ~ Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Once upon a Christmas Eve

Just after it had snowed,

The Jolly Postman (him again!)

Came down the jolly road;

And in the bag upon his back

An... interesting load.

Janet and Allan Ahlberg's books deserve a blog post of their very own (that's going on the list...). In my post about libraries yesterday I mentioned that my own library had a copy of The Jolly Postman but that bits were always missing from it. Therefore I had always wanted my own. So for my twentieth Christmas, The Jolly Christmas Postman appeared under the tree, and I realised I didn't need to be seven to get as much joy from it as any child.

The Jolly Postman visits various members of the fairtyale community (where they live I have no idea, or I'd be going myself) delivering festive envelopes and presents. The best part is that the reader gets to open the envelopes themselves and enjoy the contents. Now you see why it's not so magical when other snotty children have stolen bits at the library.

I could look at the illustrations for hours and still not see everything that's going on. They're just so cheering. A fantastic one to settle the kids in bed on Christmas Eve.

So there you have it. As ever I would love to hear your opinions of these stories, and of course, what your own most-worn books of the Christmas season are.

Happy December!