It gives me great pleasure to announce the official release of Sherry & Sparkly published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press. I am truly honoured to share the pages with, my friend and mentor, Maureen Cullen.

Sherry & Sparkly – A Poetry Conversation by Maureen Cullen and Patricia M Osborne.

Maureen and Patricia grew up hundreds of miles from each other in different countries of the UK but share common experiences of childhood in the fifties and sixties when ice laced the inside of bedroom windows and corporal punishment was common in schools. They survived to become brides, mothers, career women and technophobes. Sometimes joyous, sometimes painful, these poems are a conversation about love, hope and identity. 

Check out Nigel Kent’s review of Sherry and Sparkly HERE

Cancer hits most of us in one form or another and it is for this reason that Maureen Cullen and I decided to donate proceeds, from limited edition copies brought from us direct, to Cancer Research UK.

Sherry & Sparkly makes a perfect gift and a wonderful keepsake.
Maureen and I have decided to continue the pre-publication price for a while longer so don’t delay – order your copy today.

Order your copy of Sherry & Sparkly HERE and help us raise some money for a worthy cause.

About Maureen Cullen

Maureen was born in West Dunbartonshire and now lives in Argyll and Bute. She is a retired social worker who specialised in fostering and adoption. In 2015, she gained an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University where she studied poetry and short fiction. She has been shortlisted in various competitions, including The Fish Short Story Prize and The Bristol Short Story Prize. In 2016, she was published by Nine Arches Press, along with three other poets, in Primers 1. She has poetry published in a range of magazines, including Shooterand The Interpreter’s House. Her current project is a collection of linked short stories based in a fictional town in the West of Scotland.

About Patricia M Osborne

Patricia M Osborne is married with grown-up children and grandchildren. She was born in Liverpool but now lives in West Sussex. In 2019 she graduated with an MA in Creative Writing (University of Brighton).

Patricia writes novels, poetry and short fiction, and has been published in various literary magazines and anthologies. She has published a family saga trilogy. Her poetry pamphlet Taxus Baccata and The Montefiore Bride were published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press 2020.

She has a successful blog at Whitewingsbooks.com where she features other writers and poets. When Patricia isn’t working on her own writing she enjoys sharing her knowledge acting as a mentor to fellow writers.

It gives me great pleasure to invite poet and memoir writer, Margaret Royall, back to Patricia’s Pen. This visit Margaret has come to share details about her combined memoir and poetry new release Immersed in Blue. Without further ado, it’s over to Margaret.

Immersed in Blue

Margaret Royall

First of all I want to say a big thank you to Patricia for inviting me to be a guest on her blog. I am very honoured.

My latest publication, out 5^th December 2021, is entitled ‘Immersed in Blue’ and is published by Steve Cawte for Impspired Press. I’m very excited about this latest book, as it’s a fusion of poetry, prose, travelogue, journal and memoir, illustrated with some beautiful colour photographs (cover and postcard photos courtesy of my friend Moira Brimacombe.) This is how it came to be written.

In 2012 a small miracle occurred. While searching for a painting holiday online I chanced upon a creative writing retreat on the Inner Hebridean Isle of Iona. This mystical, magical place has since become what I like to describe as my ‘heart-home’, a place where I feel totally at ease, happy in my skin. I have returned there year on year, each time producing a course project written as a Haibun (a mix of poetry and  prose), which seeks to capture the myriad faces of the island and explore its numinous beauty. In this collection extracts from my journals 2012-2021 have been selected with the intention of sharing the many sights and sounds, riches of flora, fauna and landscape that I have been privileged to experience. You can read all about the book, including  honest reviews from three acclaimed writers, plus sample poems, by visiting my website.

There will be an official launch evening in the New Year on Sunday, 9^th January 2022, free and online, hosted by Damien B Donnelly and starring guest readers, Paul Brookes, Steve Cawte, Simon Royall, Jo Weston, Patricia M Osborne with Brian MsManus and Kerry Darbishire with Kelly Davis. A link to register for a free ticket is below.

Get your FREE tickets HERE

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About Margaret Royall

Margaret’s work has featured in publications such as The Blue Nib, Impspired, Dreich, Black Bough Poetry and the acclaimed Gloucestershire Pandemic Poetry Anthology. She has five books of poetry to her name. She won Hedgehog Press’ full  fat collection competition in 2020 and ‘Where Flora Sings’ was subsequently nominated for the Laurel Prize. Her highly rated memoir of childhood, ‘The Road To Cleethorpes Pier’ was published by Crumps Barn Studio in May 2020. She has been s/listed in several competitions, featured on guest blogs and published widely online. Her new collection ‘Immersed in Blue’, from Impspired, is out on 5^th December 2021 and will be officially launched on 9^th January 2022 at a poetry evening with guest readers, hosted by Damien B Donnelly.

Margaret is a regular performer at open mic events and leads a Nottinghamshire women’s poetry group. She is currently writing her first novel.

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Today I’m delighted to invite Hedgehog Poetry Press poet, Nigel Kent, back to Patricia’s Pen. Nigel is here to share information about his brand new poetry collection, Unmuted. Check out that cover. Isn’t it just gorgeous? Without further ado, let’s go over to Nigel.

Unmuted

Nigel Kent

Thanks, Patricia, for allowing me the opportunity to tell your readers about my latest collection, Unmuted (Hedgehog Poetry Press, 2021).

Unmuted is a collection of thirty-two ekphrastic poems  which explore the selected art works as though each is a frame in a storyboard that I unfreeze and unmute to reveal the narrative that lies behind it. I should stress that these are the stories that I hear in my head when I look at the pieces and, as a result, may be very different from what the artist intended. I hope this is a strength of the collection, as it enables each poem to stand alone from the work that inspired it and means that readers not do not need to have any prior knowledge when they come to the poem. However, having first read the poem in isolation, I hope there is a second pleasure to be had in reading it alongside the art work.

That said, anyone with the slightest knowledge of art will recognise a number of the artists and the works which inspired the collection: such as Picasso’s Weeping Woman, L.S. Lowry’s Coming from the Mill and Edward Hopper’s Automat. I didn’t pick such works because they were well-known. My selection was based entirely on whether the piece spoke to me or not. As a result there are some lesser known works too, for the reader to discover, such as George Segal’s Bus Riders, Paula Rego’s Come to Me and Josef Herman’s Head of a Miner.

As I looked at Herman’s picture it seemed to me that he portrayed his subject as though the miner was hewn from rock himself, and in doing so captured the silent strength of the man, his courage and the solidarity of the community he represents. I try to bring this out in the poem. Why don’t you now have a look at the picture and see what you think? You can find it HERE

About Nigel Kent

Nigel Kent is a twice Pushcart Prize nominated poet (2019 and 2020) and reviewer who lives in rural Worcestershire. He is an active member of the Open University Poetry Society, managing its website and occasionally editing its workshop magazine.

He has been shortlisted for several national competitions and his poetry has appeared in a wide range of anthologies and magazines. Some of his work has been translated by Mariana Zavati Gardner for the literary journals, Banchetful and Pro Saeculum.

He is the author of two collections, and four pamphlets: Unmuted, a collection of 32 ekphrastic poems (Hedgehog Press, 2021); Saudade (Hedgehog Press, 2019) his first collection; Psychopathogen, a pamphlet exploring the effects of the pandemic, which was nominated for the 2020 Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets and made the Poetry Society’s Winter List, 2020; A Voice and A Vision, a book of photopoetry in collaboration with photographer, Nick Browne; and two poetry conversations with Sarah Thomson, ‘Thinking You Home’ and ‘A Hostile Environment’.

In 2021 he was shortlisted for the Saboteur Award for Reviewer of Literature.

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If you want to know more about Unmuted visit HERE

Readers of this blog can buy a copy for £7 P&P free if you enter the word PATRICIA in the contact form.

It was a pleasure this morning to wake up to a wonderful review for Sherry & Sparkly from Nigel Kent on his fabulous website.

Nigel was shortlisted earlier this year for the Saboteur Award for Reviewer of Literature.

Like what you read? To be honest if I hadn’t co-written this gorgeous pamphlet I’d be queueing up to purchase one myself.

Fancy a copy of this limited edition produced by The Hedgehog Poetry Press?

Pop over to my website SHOP HERE (once in SHOP scroll down for Sherry & Sparkly) and grab yourself a pre publication price offer of only £5.50 plus p&p. RRP £7.99 plus p&p.

Great for a keepsake, gift or stocking filler.

All proceeds of copies sold via the authors, minus PayPal charges and p&p, go to Cancer Research UK.

We do not keep a penny ourselves.

Publication Date 16th December 2021

Read Nigel Kent’s review of Sherry & Sparkly HERE

Buy your Limited Edition copy HERE – Once in the online shop, scroll down for Sherry & Sparkly.

It’s a pleasure to invite children’s author, Lynette Creswell, back to Patricia’s Pen to chat about the hoglets. Without further ado, it’s over to Lynette.

Hoglets’ Christmas Magic

Lynette Creswell

Hi, I’m Lynette and I’ve been writing for over thirty years. Having suffered a dysfunctional childhood, I was compelled from an early age to write stories which took me to another place. I created mythical realms and magical creatures influenced by stories such as the Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair, written by Enid Blyton.

Since moving to Lincolnshire in 2000 I’ve written six novels and a compilation of short stories. I’ve published four fantasy books and two romance novels although Hoglets’ Christmas Magic is my first ever children’s story.

I’ve always enjoyed writing for children. I used to write for my own children when they were small. It gave me such a buzz to see their eyes light up when they realised they were one of my characters. My husband could see how much joy writing gave me and bought a laptop.

I didn’t write the story about the hoglets with the intention of turning them into a book. I wrote Hoglets’ Christmas Magic as a free read a couple of years ago for my blog. I uploaded the Christmas freebie and the response was phenomenal. I received a mountain of messages and emails from parents and grandparents asking when the hoglets were due to be published. Overwhelmed by the response, (and a hard push from a dear friend) I took the plunge. It’s been no easy feat to publish Hoglets’ Christmas Magic. It’s taken blood, sweat and a pandemic to turn the hoglets into a beautifully illustrated paperback.

What can readers enjoy from the book?

Hoglets’ Christmas Magic is a heart-warming tale about two adorable hedgehogs who save Christmas for a little girl. It’s a book to read on Christmas Eve or when you’d like ‘special quality time’ with your little ones.

The book’s already a huge hit with parents and teachers. One primary school teacher tweeted… ‘Gather your children, curl up by the fire, sip hot chocolate and enjoy a story that will make your heart glow.’

A headmistress of another school emailed and said… ‘I wish my children were little again so I could read them such a delightful and uplifting story.’

Hoglets’ Christmas Magic video

Book Blurb

It’s Christmas Eve with the hoglets.

Prickles and Primrose are excited. That is until… As they decorate the Christmas tree they discover the star for the top has shattered. Not to be defeated – the brave hoglets set out into the wood to seek a substitute star but stumble across Santa instead.

What adventure will they encounter?

AND… what about the star?

If you love Winnie the Pooh you’ll fall in love with the hoglets, Prickles and Primrose, from Briar Wood

What writing advice do you have for other aspiring authors?

Read books in the same genre you’re writing. This is key to success. Check out works by similar authors and note their style, motives, flow, and even their vocabulary. Look what’s current and what sells. Know your market and you’ll be one step ahead.

What do you enjoy most about writing and why?

Writing is escapism. The moment I put pen to paper I’m in another world, another time, another place. Writing is captivating and crafting something new is a wonderful feeling. I enjoy creating new characters and watching them grow. Writing is rewarding too.

What can readers who enjoy your book do to help make it successful?

• Please tell your friends, family, schools, hairdresser, window cleaner … anyone who’s willing to listen. Word of mouth is still the best way to make a book successful.

• Buy Hoglets’ Christmas Magic as a gift.

• Leave a review on Amazon so others can see how much you enjoyed the hoglets. Hardly anyone buys a book without reading reviews. I know I don’t. Hoglets’ Christmas Magic

What is your next project?

If the hoglets are successful, I’ll write another story about them. Last summer I wrote three chapter books so if readers are keen to take the hedgehogs to their hearts, there’s more.

Order your copy of Hoglets’ Christmas Magic Here.

About Lynette Creswell

Lynette was born in London, but raised in Burnley, Lancashire. From the tender age of five she lived with her grandmother who gave her books to keep her quiet. Lynette found she had a passion for reading and started writing once she began school. Lynette’s inspiration came from childhood books written by Enid Blyton. The Enchanted Wood and The Faraway Tree were her first taste of fantasy. In adulthood, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Series captured her own vivid imagination. Her first novel Sinners of Magic won her acclaim and the story soon turned into a trilogy. With readers begging for more Lynette ended the series with a spin off story featuring a windigo.

Wishing to be a multi-genre author, Lynette turned her pen to romance. Her two novels: Cracks in the Glass and Two Kinds of Truth were a huge hit with readers.

Returning to her love of short story writing, Lynette entered the 2019 SWWJ (Society of Women Writers and Journalists) competition. A Slice of Cake – a light-hearted story about her five-year-old granddaughter came runner up.

Lynette lives in North East Lincolnshire with her husband. All her grandchildren are the apple of her eye.

Find out more about Lynette Creswell and all her books HERE

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I’m delighted to have been invited back to Nigel Kent’s, a fellow Hedgehog Poetry Press poet, Drop-in Feature on his website to discuss one of the poems in Sherry & Sparkly.

Why not pop over and have a read?

Nigel Kent’s Drop-in

Order your Limited Edition copy of Sherry and Sparkly

All proceeds minus PayPal charges and postage&packaging will be donated to Cancer Research UK.

Cancer has touched most of us in one form or another and it is for this reason that Maureen Cullen and I came together to write a conversation in poetry with the view to donate all proceeds to Cancer Research UK.

The Hedgehog Poetry Press produce the most gorgeous books and Sherry & Sparkly is no exception.

Limited edition copies at pre publication price of £5.50 plus p&p are going quickly. Order your copy now and help us raise money for this much needed charity.

Publication Date 16th December 2021 The Hedgehog Poetry Press

Ideal gift for yourself or someone else.

Order below:

Help Maureen Cullen and I raise money for Cancer Research – All our royalties from Sherry & Sparkly, less PayPal Fees and postage & packaging, go to the charity. We keep nothing for ourselves.

My guest today is a returning guest to Patricia’s Pen. Valerie Poore visited earlier in the year to talk about her memoirs. She’s back to let you know more about her novel writing. Without further ado, it’s over to Valerie.

Getting creative with the truth

Valerie Poore

First of all, many thanks to Patricia for letting me loose on her blog again. Back in April, I wrote about writing memoirs, which is what I mostly do. But what isn’t widely known is that I’ve also written two novels—well, sort of.

To be honest, I’ve cheated a bit as I’ve chosen the easiest and most liberating way of writing fiction. How? Because both my novels are largely fact.

Let me explain.

Unlike most real novelists, I can’t say I chose my genre; neither of my books falls into any particular category. I just wrote them because I didn’t have enough material to write non-fiction.

My first novel was The Skipper’s Child, a cat and mouse adventure set on the European waterways. The story’s main character is Arie Kornet, the son of a commercial barge skipper. The secondary characters are his family: his father, mother and two sisters. Then there’s a young Russian stowaway and a small host of sinister characters who are after the luckless Russian for reasons I won’t go into here.

But why did I write this story in the first place? Well, my Dutch partner really is a skipper’s child. He grew up on a barge travelling through Europe in the 60s. When we met, he told me numerous fascinating anecdotes about his early life, including snippets about his father’s wartime activities. I was so intrigued by these stories I wanted to write about them, but I knew there weren’t enough tales for a biography. So I decided to weave them into a plot of my own making.

The Kornets are my interpretation of my partner’s family. To me, they are real actors in a fictional drama. Their way of life, their routines and how they interact with each other are all based on my partner’s memories. The plot—being that of the family’s efforts to help the young stowaway—is pure invention. For me, it was a gift to be able to write the adventure in which these ‘real’ characters took part.

But what about my other novel, How to Breed Sheep, Geese and English Eccentrics? In a nutshell, this is a story I created around my own life as a smallholder in England’s West Country, after leaving university.

The main character, Maisie, is fictitious, while all the others are based on composites of people in my past. The animals, though, are completely real; so are the scrapes they get Maisie into. As for the plot, it is my fantasy of how I’d have loved my farming life to develop. And that’s where writing it as a novel was so liberating; I could simply recreate my own life. It was huge fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’m now writing another novel, and again it’s based on my own life, this time in South Africa. In fact, by combining my real-life experience with creative fiction, I’m cheerfully rewriting history. I have to say it’s both exciting and stimulating, and I’m loving it!

~~~

Valerie has a special promotion on for her books at 99p/99c – Pop over and grab yourself a bargain on the following links:

The Skipper’s Child

How to Breed Sheep, Geese and English Eccentrics

About Valerie Poore

Val Poore was born and raised in England but at the end of 1981, she moved to South Africa where she and her family lived for nearly twenty years. She adored South Africa, but had to return to Europe in 2001. Since then, she’s been working as a freelance ESL writing skills teacher in the Netherlands. Val shares her time between a 120-year-old barge in Rotterdam and a cottage in Zeeland, both of which seem to take an inordinate amount of time to maintain. As a distraction from teaching, she writes and has written a total of eleven books.

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My guest on Patricia’s Pen today is a lovely author all the way from Itlay, Nina Romano, who has recently released The Girl Who Loved Cayo Bradley. Wow. What a fabulous cover. Nina has come along to chat about What’s in a Chapter. Without further ado, let’s go over to Nina.

What’s in a Chapter?

Nina Romano

I want to seduce you with my words! Here’s what I try to do with every chapter I write. The first line and the last line of each chapter that graces one of my novels, I try to make a zinger. By that I mean I want those lines to entice the reader to continue reading the next sentence, the next chapter. The first sentence is a coax, an invitation, a temptation, a challenge, a lure to beguile and charm the reader to read on.

It is the first sentence that either speeds up the action or slows it down, but even slowing down the pace, doesn’t mean: ho-hum, boring, and putting the reader to sleep. First of all, it’s a continuation of where I left off on the preceding chapter before it, but it’s also the broadening of the story canvas presenting scenes with colorful and imaginative writing. Diverse combinations from my palette add bold strokes to the narrative. I change up the sentence structure. Invert grammar to suit my needs. I write one word sentences. I avoid adverbs and adjectives like the proverbial Corona virus and use strong nouns and verbs.

The first line can be a declarative sentence, seemingly a calm indication of time and space, but it can also be a question, dialogue, or an inflammatory revelation. The first line should always indicate if there is a shift in setting and especially POV. I’ve written several books in 1^st person and 3^rd person POV attached. In all of my novels, I make sure that these switches are clear.  

Ask any poet, like Patricia M Osborne or myself, about line breaks and we’ll tell you that in a poem it’s important to leave off on a strong word. Never end a poetic line with an article of speech, or a weak word, or a conjunction. Why? To lead the reader to continue to the next line. It is the same in fiction: the author must escort and beckon the reader to read on with suggestive prose. At least, this author surely tries to enchant and enthrall.   

Between the first and the last lines, I include compelling material—a risk, a quandary, a problem that creates tension for the main character to solve. Each chapter must contain the character’s motivations. The scenes are painted with dialogue and action, but also the six senses—that’s right—not just the five we’re born with, but also a sixth sense. This can be many things, including the character’s intuition. The sixth sense enriches each chapter. It needn’t be in every chapter, but it’s a neat little thing to store in your bag of writerly tricks. It can be: a hunch, feeling, inkling, suspicion, perception. The intuitive character might use a technique of internal dialogue to determine the outcome of a struggle. He/she might write a note, a poem, a letter, or a message which becomes a quick flash fiction within the fictive tale. There’s nothing like a story within a story!

There are so many things I explore in a chapter—a character’s actions—what are the causes and effects of these?  Cause and effect are both issues I like to include here and there. Almost like Hansel and Gretel dropping bread along the paths in the forest to enable them to find the way back. I also alternate between long and short chapters, which are comprised of exciting, heart-wrenching, or calming prose rendered poetically and lyrically, or brutally frank and even shocking.

One thing this writer aims for is the “cliffhanger” at the end of the chapter, or perhaps an unresolved question, or a new problem. The purpose of this is to make the reader want to turn the page.

~~~

About Nina Romano

Nina Romano earned a B.S. from Ithaca College, an M.A. from Adelphi University and a B.A. and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from FIU. A world traveler and lover of history, she lived in Rome, Italy, for twenty years, and is fluent in Italian and Spanish. She has taught English and Literature as an Adjunct Professor at St. Thomas University, Miami, and has facilitated numerous Creative Writing and Poetry Workshops at Writing Conferences throughout the States. 

Romano has authored a short story collection, The Other Side of the Gates, and has had five poetry collections and two poetry chapbooks published traditionally with independent publishers. She co-authored a nonfiction book: Writing in a Changing World, and has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry.

Nina Romano’s historical Wayfarer Trilogy has been published from Turner Publishing. The Secret Language of Women, Book #1, was a Foreword Reviews Book Award Finalist and Gold Medal winner of the Independent Publisher’s 2016 IPPY Book Award. Lemon Blossoms, Book # 2, was a Foreword Reviews Book Award Finalist, and In America, Book #3, was a finalist in Chanticleer Media’s Chatelaine Book Awards.

Her Western Historical Romance, The Girl Who Loved Cayo Bradley is a semifinalist for the Laramie Book Awards.

Her novel, Dark Eyes, an historical thriller set in Soviet Russia, is forthcoming in 2022 from Speaking Volumes, LLC.

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To find out more about Nina Romano and purchase her books – pop over to her Amazon Author Page.

Today is a special day as my writing bestie Suzi Bamblett launches her excellent psychological thriller novel Three Faced Doll. You won’t want to miss this. Here’s Suzi to tell you a bit more.

Three Faced Doll

Suzi Bamblett

Monday 15^th November is ‘I Love to Write Day’ and a fitting day to launch my second novel, Three Faced Doll.

As usual I’ve channelled my favourite author, Daphne du Maurier: “Every one of us has his, or her, dark side. Which is to overcome the other?”

Daphne often delved into the dark side of her psyche when writing. This can be seen in her novel, The Scapegoat and her short story, Don’t Look Now.

In another novel The Parasites, Daphne created three main characters representing different facets of herself: “Maria, Niall, Celia were the three people I know myself to have been.”

Daphne acknowledged this novel had autobiographical elements. The work of the creative writer often does.

I came to know Daphne better during the writing of a dissertation for my MA in Creative Writing at Brighton University. It’s where Patricia and I met and studied together. We’ve been ‘besties’ ever since.

My psychological thriller, Three Faced Doll is available now from Amazon.

Paperback £9.99, ebook £2.99 and free as kindleunlimited.

It’s a story about triplets… Or is it?

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Suzi’s debut novel was a timeslip fiction novel The Travelling Philanthropist and you can buy that HERE

You can find out more about Suzi Bamblett and her writing by visiting her website Broodleroo

You can also read about Suzi and Three Faced Doll on Daphne Du Maurier’s Website HERE