My guest this Tuesday is author, Elizabeth Gates, who has come along to talk about her writing. So without further ado, let’s go over to Elizabeth.

 

How do Tales of derring-do draw us in?

Elizabeth Gates 

I live on the Wirral, between the two great cultural and historical centres of Liverpool and Chester but I’m also surrounded by countryside. My own little patch includes a garden, marsh and beach on the Wirral coast, famed for its wild birds. I’m usually followed by a trail of happy humans, cats and labradors.

Although I’ve lived here for decades, I’ve also lived abroad in Belgium, Germany and France as well as other parts of the United Kingdom. For example, I picked up a Bachelors’ degree at Bedford College, University of London, and a Masters at the University of Essex in Colchester. At the same time, I’ve been teaching – at home and abroad – English Literature and Creative Writing at colleges and universities.

In addition to this, my own writing career is well-established. For twenty-five years (1985-2010) I worked as a freelance journalist, mostly on Public Health issues. These ranged from mental health among members of the armed forces returning from Afghanistan to suicides among farmers. I even interviewed Phillipino mariners – waiting for a passage home, trapped in Liverpool docks.

So how did these widely different experiences lead to my tales of derring-do in 18^th Century Scotland and Revolutionary Paris? I’m not sure, but it was such a time of change. That’s probably why I love it. Ideas were burgeoning all over Europe and everyone was touched by them – whether the most remote – such as the Norse Gaels on the Scottish Isles – or the roughest Paris lowlifes. And even if you’re starting a revolution, you have to have lunch. People live their lives – ‘anyway’ not ‘because of… the tides in the affairs of men’. These are largely stories of everyday folk doing the best they can.

But certain individuals of magical quality will always stand out. There will always be heroes and heroines and we will always search for them. That’s how tales of derring-do draw us in.

Any idea to sustain a trilogy must be strong and its story must be told through the eyes of strong characters. Since the Laird Malcolm Craig Lowrie met French Versailles denizen Adelaide de Fontenoy under the evil eye of lawyer Sir William Robinson, it’s certainly been a roller-coaster ride. And I can’t wait to see where we go next.

This mystery of magic has sustained me through a trilogy. My debut novel, The Wolf of Dalriada, came out in 2016 and is available directly through my website, in Ebook form from Amazon or the publishers, Troubador. The second in the trilogy will be available later this year and I am currently writing the third.

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About Elizabeth Gates 

Between reading English Language & Literature at Bedford College, University of London, and acquiring an MA in Linguistics at the University of Essex, Elizabeth explored Europe as a teacher of English and Creative Writing. Later she worked as a freelance journalist – published for over twenty-five years, in national, regional and local magazines and newspapers, specialising in Public Health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder in the armed forces and suicide among our farmers and the health of foreign seamen trapped on ships held in British ports. Elizabeth’s return to fiction has resulted in The Wolf of Dalriada, her debut novel,  published in 2016 and the second in the series, Staining the Soul, will come out later this year.

Click on the links below to purchase a copy of The Wolf of Dalriada

Signed Paperback 

Ebook (Amazon) 

Ebook (Troubadour)

Links to where you can find Elizabeth Gates on Social Media

Twitter

Facebook

Website 

 

 

 

 

Today, 9th May, 2020, is my late sister’s birthday. Heather would have been 64,  just fourteen months younger than me and we grew up like twins. In 2009 she was taken from this world following a battle with throat cancer.
Before I discovered fiction I used to do a lot of life writing. These days however, I write fiction and use my characters to pass on my pain. It really is great therapy. You should try it.
Anyway, because it is Heather’s birthday, I thought I’d share a sonnet I wrote a few years ago.

One became Two

First there was one and then one became two,
the day you arrived was Bobbsey for me.
From that day on we were inseparable,
two girls dressed the same, as twins like to be.
We’d sing to vinyl forty-fives and step
sideways in routine, both arms wide up high,
drink tea and trick Pisha Pashya with decks
of cards or flirt with boys making them shy.

As we grew taller and ripened in years,
the time came to go our separate ways,
you soared over wild waves high in the air,
to fulfil your dream, gone were jester days.
Malignancy struck, you fought a fierce war,
battled and lost, leaving one – as before.

 

As part of the VE Day celebrations, the price of House of Grace on Amazon Kindle has been slashed to 99p /99c for a few days ONLY.

If you haven’t read House of Grace –  this low price could be the ideal time to get acquainted with the Granvilles and Gilmores in this riches to rags family saga set in the 50s and 60s.

Click here do download for 99p/99c

Don’t forget you can read House of Grace and The Coal Miner’s Son for FREE with Kindle Unlimited.

Happy reading…

This week for my Tuesday guest feature we are sticking with poetry. I’m pleased to welcome Alison Chisholm, talented poet and tutor, to ‘Patricia’s Pen.’

I first met Alison at Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in 2016 and not only did I enjoy her poetry course but also benefited from her one to one feedback sessions.

Alison is here to talk about my favourite love, poetry, so without further ado, it’s over to Alison.

Poetry and Me

Alison Chisholm 

Strange how you fall into poetry.  It isn’t an obvious career choice.  I was hooked pre-school when my uncle gave me a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Child’s Garden of Verses.  I already loved stories, but poetry … WOW!  Here was a complete story and something to make you think in just a few words that sang with all the mystery and excitement of a magic spell.  A few years later, no great shakes academically, I discovered the joys of reading poetry aloud in elocution classes, sharing those magical words with the world.  At seventeen, I qualified to teach elocution, and a few years later realised that writing my own poetry brought even more wonder than reading other people’s.

The greatest joy, of course, is that a poet is one of the few professions in which it is a huge advantage to grow old.  You have so much more to write about, and have lived through such fascinating changes in the poetry world, most notably seeing how a quirky minority interest for a few eccentrics has within a fairly short time become a way of life, a solace and a strengthener for so many of us.

Writing poetry helps to put things in order.  Its balance and control counter the chaos of other aspects of life.  It’s the best way to celebrate anniversaries, losing a stone, the birth of a baby, the fact that it’s Tuesday.  It’s the best way to come to terms with the first broken love affair, losing your Dad, crashing the car, burning the Yorkshire puddings.  Writing poetry helps to make sense of the things life does to you.

As I write this, the world is in the grip of what feels like the greatest change in society since we came down from the trees.  Donne might have told us that no man is an island but today every one of us is an island, floating tantalisingly far from all the other islands in seas of sickness and fear.  Poetry has never been more important.  Reading it transports us into other, less terrifying worlds.  It reminds us that we are human.  It reminds us that we can dream.  Writing it does the same, with the added advantage that it whiles away the odd hour that might otherwise have been surrendered to daytime TV.  Both reading and writing poetry can be achieved with a nice gin and tonic in the other hand.  Life could be worse.

*

Thank you, Alison, that was both informative and enjoyable to read and I’m sure my readers will agree. No wonder you fell in love with poetry after getting that copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Child’s Garden of Verses. What a beautiful book. All children should have a copy.

Links of where to purchase Alison Chisholm’s books will be listed below but first let’s find out a little more about her.

About Alison Chisholm

Alison Chisholm was born in Liverpool and has lived in Southport most of her life, with a brief foray in the North East to collect a career, a husband and the first of her two daughters.  She has two and a half grandchildren, two cats and a mildly dysfunctional tortoise.

She has written twelve collections of poetry and various textbooks on the craft of writing, and co-written books on public speaking, competitions and autobiography.  She wrote the poetry correspondence course of the Writers Bureau, Manchester, and is a columnist on Writing Magazine. She gives talks, readings, workshops and courses, and adjudicates competitions.

You can find Alison on Facebook and her recent books on Amazon, Lulu or contact Alison via Private Message on Facebook for signed copies.

 

Today Georgia Conlon kindly invited me over to her blog ‘The Isolation Book Club’ to discuss my reading and writing in isolation.

Reading and writing are both great escapes from reality. You can read my blog on Georgia’s site by clicking here.

~

A note for your diaries – Poet, Alison Chisholm is my guest on Tuesday 5th May 2020 – a blog not to be missed.

 

Hi Everyone

I thought this Sunday in place of my regular writing challenge, I would share a blog written by the lovely Lynette Creswell. Lynette not only discusses short story writing but introduces her fabulous new short story collection, available to pre-order on Amazon Kindle for a mere 99p.

So if you like diverse, dark-humoured and bite-sized, this compelling collection could be what you’ve been waiting for.

To read Lynette’s blog which includes a mini synopsis for each of her seven stories in the collection, click here.

Join me in wishing Lynette the very best of luck with her great new collection, Cat Thief: A Collection of Short Stories. 

 

 

 

 

As poetry is my first love, it gives me great pleasure to welcome, Poet, John McCullough, (shortlisted for Costa Poetry Award 2019) to ‘Patricia’s Pen’.

John talks about his writing, and offers advice to other writers. Without further ado let’s go over to John.

Laying a Reckless Road:

Reflections on Being Shortlisted for the Costa

by

John McCullough

In November 2019, it was announced that my third collection of poems, Reckless Paper Birds was one of the four books on the shortlist for the Costa Poetry Award. In a press release, the judges said:

This collection – hilarious, harrowing and hyper-modern – offers a startlingly fresh insight into vulnerability and suffering.

It was a glorious surprise – I haven’t stopped fizzing since. From the start, I’d set out with this publication to do something very different from my other work. I wanted to write a political book, one that probed the idea of having a soul and focussed on the side of myself that is anxious and fallible, incompetent and manic. I’m so glad if it connects with other humans who feel the same.

Here’s the thing though. I started writing poems in 1995 with very little natural ability – I’d say less than the average. I might be up for prizes now but I wasn’t the best poet in my creative writing classes at university. I wasn’t even the second-best. Looking back, I find my work from then very melodramatic. (I was a Goth which probably didn’t help.)

All I had was a love of other people’s poetry. After those years of generally floating about like a little thunder cloud, I spent many years reading, reading, reading. I learned through paying close attention how different approaches to phrasing, techniques and structure have particular emotional effects. It puts lots of tools in your toolbox that you can use to solve the various problems that crop up when writing and drafting your own work. Gradually, my awful poems got better. I spent longer crafting and editing each one, digesting feedback from friends and striving to make my writing more poignant. Unpleasant events had to happen too. I needed to have my heart broken and to feel broken by forces like politics and mental illness and then I needed years to reflect on those experiences.

This needs saying because there are still many who believe in the Romantic idea of writing ability as an innate gift, what I call the genius myth. Perhaps it is a gift for a rare few but it wasn’t for me or most folk I know. Poetry is a craft and like any craft it takes thousands of hours of quiet honing. There’s no way around this. Try to enjoy the journey of discovering new writers who reshape the way you see the world and each little breakthrough as you refine your editing strategies.

Almost every one of the larger poetry magazines that have published me actually rejected my work first too. Don’t let knock-backs stop you from submitting again. I could wallpaper a room with my rejection slips from the early years. It’s OK to sulk for a bit, I think – I know I do! – but the same day try to pick yourself up again and consider any comments given. (Always promising when these appear: they don’t have to do this.) If you can see the editor’s point, redraft. Think whether you chose the right kind of outlet. Then send out again as soon as you’re ready. Keep the wheel of regular submissions revolving as this maximizes your chances and it also feels a little less personal. And imagine there is a giant bar where only writers who’ve had a rejection are allowed to go. I am there. I showed up so often they gave me a lifetime membership.

It’s important to be kind to yourself as a writer. We each have to lay our own unique roads and in most cases the process is long and slow. Resist beating yourself up by comparing yourself to others. Celebrate the success of friends who’ve worked hard. When you make a habit of supporting other people, you’ll find support returns to you when you least expect it. I couldn’t be without my own group of writer friends whose events I go to and who I regularly swap work with for warm, constructive criticism. It makes the whole process less isolating. Writing is communal and we’re all in it together, doing the best we can.

Maybe, like me in the nineties, you’re someone who’s progressing at a slower pace than people you started out with but, listen, you’re still progressing. If you’re willing to devote yourself to reading and taking on board feedback you will keep growing. And as long as you see development in your work, as long as you see yourself pushing forward and breaking what is new ground for you, then as a writer you’re already winning.

*

Thank you, John. Some very helpful advice for my readers. John makes a very good point about rejection.

About John McCullough 

John McCullough lives in Hove. His first collection of poems, The Frost Fairs (Salt) won the Polari First Book Prize in 2012 and was a Book of the Year for The Independent as well as a summer read in The Observer. It was followed by Spacecraft (Penned in the Margins) which was a summer read in The Guardian and shortlisted for the Ledbury-Forte prize. His latest, Reckless Paper Birds (also Penned), explores vulnerability and mental health. It was recently shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. John teaches creative writing at the University of Brighton and for the Arvon Foundation.

You can find out more about John and his books by visiting Penned in the Margins

Links

Website 

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Books also available via Amazon.

Reckless Paper Birds 

Spacecraft

 

 

 

 

This week’s challenger is writer, Alison Symes, a fellow Swanwicker.  Allison has  visited ‘Patricia’s Pen’ previously, answering not only to the story challenge but spotlighted under my Guest Feature. You can read Allison’s story, written in under one hundred words, below.

‘Darling, you look fabulous.’

‘Really? I haven’t been out in months. Truth is I’m nervous being anywhere after my car accident.’

‘How are you, darling?’

‘Well, being hit by that alien spaceship coming in to land too fast at the corner of Goodman’s Road wasn’t fun and …’

‘What is your moisturiser, sweetie? It makes you look young and smells invigorating. I could do with some. What is it?’

‘The cheap Dettol from Lidl’s.’

‘You’re a star to tell me. I must rush and get some before they sell out. See you!’

(92 words)

~

Thank you for a great story, Allison. I’m quite sure our readers have had plenty of conversations like that.

To find out more about Allison and her writing you can visit here

Submissions open for the story and haiku challenges – Check out the guidelines and submit for consideration via the online form here.

~

News for Next Week 

Don’t miss out on next week’s Tuesday Guest feature with Poet John McCullough . John poetry collection, Reckless Paper Birds (2019) was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. John will be talking about his writing and offering advice to writers. Don’t miss it.

 

Talented author, Anita D Hunt, returns to ‘Patricia’s Pen’ to share her thoughts on isolation through this beautiful haiku below.

Thank you, Anita for sending that in.

How’s everyone coping with self-isolation? Reading, writing, activity books, crosswords etc can all help. Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp and Facetime have come into their own with virtual groups for choir and band rehearsals, or family and friends getting together. Thank goodness we have the internet.

Let’s find out a little about Anita. 

Anita Hunt lives in the middle of beautiful Cornwall and has somehow managed to acquire an MA in Creative Writing whilst working full time with adults with learning disabilities and running around after her three adult sons. She has two dogs who are appropriately nicknamed ‘fluffy butt’ (the elderly westie) and Psychopooch (the black lab x cocker spaniel). As well as writing the Memory Sessions, she is a published poet, published theatre reviewer and is writing her first novel – ‘Behind the Curtain’. She relaxes by playing with her camera or a ball of wool and by singing with the Rock Choir. When asked how she fits everything in, she shrugs her shoulders, gives you that ‘I don’t know look‘ and is heard to mutter – ‘sleep is for wimps…’

If you’re interested in finding out more about Anita and her books, check out her website link below.

Piskie Dreams

 

 

 

Today’s haiku comes from yours truly. This haiku is included in my poetry collection ‘In a Delightful Country’ which I hope to publish in the near future. Enjoy.

If you have a haiku or micro story in under 100 words you’d like to be considered for the Sunday Writing Challenge on Patricia’s Pen  – Check here for the guidelines and submit via the online form.