The publication date for Alfie Slider vs the Shape Shifter will be mid-late January 2017.

The good people at SilverWood Books have proof read it, I’ve provided them with a biograhpy, dedication, a teaser for book 2 and the blurb for the back cover:

Some people say that Alfie Slider is a bit weird, but he thinks weird just means different. Weird is good. Living with his Sci Fi mad mum, outdoorsy dad and cheeky little sister means that life is never predictable, but even that hasn’t prepared him for finding a strange key on his way home from school.
The key is compelling, and on closer inspection it breaks the laws of physics. Once he’s figured out how to use it, Alfie is sucked into adventures that are literally out of this world.
This story has evil grannies, flame throwing frogs, scary headmasters, bossy computers, shape-changing aliens, crashed space ships, huge explosions, best friends and parallel universes. In other words, it’s a bit weird; but weird just means different. Weird is good.

I’ve given them an idea of what I’d like to see for cover design, and I’m having some photos taken later this week to use for the sleeve.

It all feels a bit unreal, and very, very exciting. I’m anticipating the moment, in January, when I can open a box of books and see the culmination of two years hard work in my hand. The thought that my work will be in the British Library, the Bodleian, and all the other great reference libraries. The thought of people, all over the world, being able to order hard copies online, or order them from their local book shop. The thought of people downloading the book onto their eBook reader.

The thought of people reading it.

2017 is going to be a great year.

Writing a book is a strange business. You put hours and hours of thought and energy into creating something but, other than running the idea past a select few (my husband and kids, usually) you do it on faith alone until it’s finished. You believe that you have a good story, and that you are the one to tell it, and that’s enough.

When it’s finished, or at least you think it is, you start to share it more widely. People read it, and you learn from their reactions whether you were right to have that faith or not. Now, I’m lucky here because I write for kids and kids don’t pull any punches. I’ve outlined ideas to my son and had him just screw his face up like I asked him to eat dog poo, and others he’s started jumping up and down in excitement.

That’s why I was nervous, last year, when I went into his school and read a couple of chapters of Alfie Slider to years 3&4. They were great, though! They sat and listened, only a few minor shuffles, and they asked great questions afterwards. I left feeling encouraged and got right back to work trying to get Alfie into print.

There are big things happening in Alfie’s world just now, the manuscript has been proof read and the lovely people at Silverwood Books are working hard to get it into print for January 2017. The sequel is out with beta-readers. It’s another one of those points along the road where self-doubt begins to creep in. Will anyone buy the book? Is it really good enough to be published? Is the sequel any good?

I help out in both my children’s classes; my daughter is in year 1 and my son is now in year 5. His teacher has asked me to help with literacy, and I’m loving every minute of seeing how he inspires the children to write, and being a part of their creative process. At break time this week, a couple of kids were still in the classroom doing a job, and I was looking at book covers on the shelves, because I have decisions to make about the cover for Shape Shifter. We got chatting and the following conversation happened:

Boy: You read your book to us last year. It was really good.
Girl: It was, it was really good. What did the key open?
Boy: I guessed it was a space ship.
Me: You were right.
Boy: Isn’t the next one Alfie Slider and the Frozen Prince?

I was totally floored! If I’d mentioned Frozen Prince at all, it was in passing when I answered questions at the end, because I hadn’t even finished the first draft at that point!

I had the great pleasure of spending Wednesday night in the company of my friends and colleagues from York Writers and a man that waterstones.com described as ‘one of the most exciting young writers in Britain today’, Guy Mankowski.

Guy had delivered a workshop on ‘A sense of place’ earlier in the year, and agreed to judge our short story competition too. I didn’t envy him the task, and sure enough when I emailed Guy to check arrangements a few days before he said that half the entries could easily have been in the top 3.

Over the course of the evening, Guy gave feedback on every entry. I know they were invaluable to the authors of those pieces, but I learned a lot from listening to their feedback too. Guy was a great judge, his comments were so useful and encouraging and delivered so respectfully. There was no sense of ego, just one among equals who’d been given a tough job to do.

The story I had submitted, Westerbury, is one of my ‘odd ones’. That is, a story that I felt compelled to write, but is nothing like my usual work (interestingly enough, so was the story I won the Aine Marie Chadwick Trophy for). I feel a bit of a cheat, if I’m honest, because I actually dreamed the whole thing as if it was a BBC Sunday afternoon drama; it was impeccably cast, Martin Freeman and Julia Davis took key roles.

It’s a story about a cook, whose husband has disappeared (presumed murdered by her), and how she lives in the community he was born into under suspicion. It all comes to a dramatic climax in under 2,000 words so it rattles along at speed. I worked on it just after I’d done a short story workshop and was all fired up about style, so I’ve peppered it with culinary references (do you see what I did there? Peppered!); interestingly no one who has read it has ever picked up on those. I don’t know if that means they were a success or not! I’ve never been entirely happy with the ending.

Guy’s feedback on the story was that it was a strong, engaging voice and one of the stronger pieces entered. I did well with foreshadowing and descriptions of food which brought the piece to life and he said it had great pace. In terms of improvements, he highlighted a few examples where I’d told, not shown.

The winners on the night were Andy Humphrey (3rd), Sally Mitcham (2nd) and first place, Steve Norris. All their stories were read on the night, and they were wonderful. If you can’t win, the best consolation to have is knowing that lovely, talented people beat you 🙂

I won!

I am now the very, (very, very), proud holder of The Aine Marie Chadwick Trophy. The National Association of Writers’ Groups Awards for Creative Writing 2016, Ghost Story – winner!

I genuinely wasn’t expecting to win, and had such a burst of adrenaline when Gervase Phinn said my name that I couldn’t sleep until gone 1 am. I couldn’t be more surprised and pleased.

Three of my colleagues from York Writers had their own successes; Joanne Tyrell and Sally Mitcham were both runners-up for The Sir Alan Ayckbourn Trophy for their 10 minute plays, and Andy Humphrey won The David Nobbs Memorial Trophy, for comedy writing. I’m so proud of all of them, they are each very talented writers and deserve the recognition of that.

The meal was wonderful, as was the company. I was sat between Science Fiction, Fantasy and Crime Author P.R. Ellis and Steve Bowkett, an author of fiction and educational books (and Editor for NAWG) and I enjoyed the evening tremendously. Gervase was a wonderful speaker, and the atmosphere was warm and supportive; I hope to return to NAWGFest and take part more fully at some point in the future.

My family are due to pick me up in under an hour, so I am enjoying the quiet and a cup of fruit tea before it’s back to reality; into the car to return to York. I’m returning home a very, (very, very), happy writer.

I blogged a while back about how I’d been short listed for a competition, and results would be announced at NAWGFest in September; well, today is that day.

I’ll be honest, I’d been harbouring some guilt about going at all. The venue is 140 miles from home and it’s the last weekend of the summer holidays so I really didn’t want to leave my kids. My husband was really supportive about me going, though, and so I suggested maybe having our holiday in the area in the week leading up to it. We’ve had a grand time exploring Stratford-Upon-Avon and the Wye Valley, but still I felt bad as the big day loomed. I shouldn’t have; at 9:30 in the morning my 9-year-old son suggested dumping me here so they could ‘go swimming’. His 5-year-old sister gleefully agreed.

So, shriven of all guilt I got to the campus after lunch, a few hours too early to check in. Although I’d had visions of finding a shady spot and being terribly creative, it was tipping down with rain so instead I grabbed a panini and a coffee and did some much needed admin. A profile for an anthology coming out later this year, Hour of Writes marking, that sort of thing.

The hour or so flew by, I checked in to my accommodation and went to find the NAWGFest check in desk. There a surprised awaited me, because shortlistees like myself were invited to the Chairman’s Drinks Reception before the meal. How lovely!

I’ve whiled away a peaceful afternoon, world building for Wonderling. I have a delightful evening ahead, and the unaccustomed experience of a night, alone. No husband. no children. Will I sleep?

I have no expectation of winning, but it’s been wonderful to have got this far and to be part of something like this. To feel like a ‘real writer’ (whatever that is) and do writerly things. The perfect end to a summer holidays where my family have been my focus, something to set me on track for next week and getting back to 6 hours a day for work, work, work.

Yorkshire Story, Alfie Slider (one and two!), Wonderling and, oh, did I mention a girl named Sasha Stone? No? Oh, well…watch this space 🙂

This week’s Hour of Writes prompt was ‘We stupid apes’, and it was chosen for a reason. The Hour of Writes folks were working with the Littoral Arts Trust as part of a conference taking place tomorrow, 28th August 2016. The Conference is titled, ‘Stupid Apes’ and is billed as ‘A series of short talks exploring the haphazard urges and creative thoughts that have led humans to dominate the natural world.‘ In addition to calling for entries, which will be displayed on the conference room walls, Hour of Writes asked if entrants would consider ringing in via Skype or recording themselves reading their piece, to be played as part of events.

I love the idea of my entry being part of something bigger. I think ideas are something you can rarely have too many of, and I often get inspiration from the collision of thoughts gleaned from disparate places. I wish I could be a fly on the wall, and see the attendees enjoying the writing that is displayed on the walls, or listening to them being read by their authors. I’m looking forward to hearing what the feedback is from conference goers almost as much as the usual marking and judging – this week by a guest judge tied to the conference itself.

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, I’m also collaborating on a new book. Wonderling: 1981 is a young adult fantasy story that I’m writing with Danny Crow, who I met through York Writers. A few months ago, Danny asked me if I fancied writing something with him. I said yes. We chatted through some ideas and something magical happened: In the space of a couple of hours we had some really intriguing plans for a world a lot like this one, but with a unique twist.

We’re now 18,000 words into a first draft, and we’re muddling our way through a collaboration process. We have ‘the spaghetti test’ for ideas; we throw things around and if they stick, they’re in. We don’t have any solid plan for who writes what, we just started with the bits we wanted to write and are now alternating chunks that might be a chapter, or might be three. If one of us has a clear idea of where we go next, they write next. This morning I sent Danny two new chapters and left him with the book for a week while I go on holiday!

I’m really excited about this story. Because it’s young adult rather than middle grade, I can expand on my use of language and punctuation rather than keeping it all simple for ease of reading. I love the ideas behind the book, the characters are all coming to life and I get real pleasure from reading the next installment from Danny and reading it before it’s my turn again. Our plan is to keep going until we’re at the end of this first story (yes, it’s another series!) and then go back and edit the whole thing, again in collaboration. I’ll keep you updated on progress and perhaps share a bit more about the Wonderling universe as its created.

Writing can be a very solitary business, sitting alone at the keyboard for hours at a time creating things from your mind can leave you lonely and full of self doubt. That’s why I love to collaborate with other writers whenever I can, and in whatever ways I can. Building a network around me, whether it’s Facebook, Skype or sitting in my besties lounge whilst we both work on our own projects. It’s alllll good.

A little over a year ago, I had (what I thought was) a finished manuscript for Alfie Slider vs the Shape Shifter and a plan. The plan was typically me; hopelessly optimistic but underpinned with pragmatism. It began with sending Alfie off to my first choice agent and waiting for their reply. I had decided to shoot for the moon, and if I missed? Well, then there were other options.

After a few rejections, I started to get the uncomfortable feeling that I was missing a key piece of information about the book. I got insecure; was it rubbish? Was I just blinded by my love of my first novel? So I sent it to Cornerstones Literary Agency, and had one of their readers take a look at it. Their report was encouraging (honestly, the phrase ‘a skilled and talented writer’ was worth more than years of therapy for my self confidence) , and in the light of their feedback I worked through the story one more time; and after that? Then it was really finished.

I submitted again, and this time there was some interest; one agency took the time to reply personally and say why they regretted having to say no to Alfie, and that they hoped I’d send them anything else I wrote. The message I was getting from Cornerstones, Agencies and my research into the industry as a whole was this; Your chances of placing your first book with a publisher, and getting a decent amount of marketing support? They make winning the lottery look like a sure thing.

I realised that, even if I could find an agent, who could find me a publisher, the chances are I would still be doing the marketing of the book myself. And if that was the case, then shouldn’t I get most of the profit?

I’ll be honest, I’ve been sniffy about self-publishing in the past. I’ve read self published books that are full of typos, that are good stories but not well told. I didn’t want to be the person who self published a book that wasn’t up to standard. But, I knew that Alfie /was/ up to standard. I’d been told that by professionals in the industry, but more importantly I’d been told that by my beta readers and the kids I’d read extracts to in school.

So, I researched my options and came across SilverWood Books; their tagline is ‘Professional Publishing for the self-funding author’. What this means is that I am paying the production costs to get Alfie Slider out into the world, and Silverwood do all the things that publishers normally do to get your book sold. Press releases, book catalogues, Amazon, copies to the reference libraries and all that amazing stuff.

I signed the publishing agreement yesterday, and had it confirmed today. Alfie Slider is on his way to print. There’s a lot of hard work ahead for me, but I am so, so excited to get started with it all and I’m very, very proud of myself for making my dream come true.

Back in May, I was shortlisted for the Luna Press Publishing short story competition. The winner and all short listed stories are to be published in an anthology later this year.

Earlier this week I got an email from Luna Press, their editor had been through ‘Beyond Fiction’ and made some changes; would I look at them and approve or otherwise?

It was a nervous moment for me, my first professional edit. I’d heard horror stories from other writers about working with editors who wanted to change the whole story, or make amendments that altered the flow of the whole thing. My insecurity started babbling away that it would be full of comments pointing out the flaws in the plot and my writing. Secretly relieved that I didn’t have time to edit it for a few days, I closed the email and added it to my to do list for my one child-free day this week; today.

In the end, it was actually a pleasure. Most of the amendments were minor grammatical things; I didn’t know you needed to put a space before an ellipses, for example. There were two or three weak or confusing sentences which the editor noticed, and I made changes. Then I read through the whole story again, and I could see how much it had benefited from it. It was a really polished piece of writing.

It’s also reminded me of what a cracking story this is, and how much potential it has. It could easily become a novella, or a novel (heck, probably a series!) I just need to find the time to write it …

Not something I have at the moment because I’m doing final edits before publication to Shape Shifter, and working on a new book with co-author Dan Crow; Wonderling. More about that, soon. Promise.

‘Beyond Fiction’ will be published in ‘Beyond Realities, Volume II’ by Luna Press Publishing in December 2016. Volume I is available from the Luna Press Shop and includes a short story by my friend, Sally Mitcham.