Friday 9 August 2013

Summer Temptations



What a hectic summer! I am daily juggling deadlines, interviews and teaching while all the time resisting the temptation to recline before the sun’s rays and bring a smidgeon of warm tones to my English complexion. Yet writing responsibilities forever take precedence, of course.

So, first, I should report that my interviews with the astonishingly creative cake designer, Tracey Mann, and Olympic athlete, Greg Rutherford, have been featured in Buckinghamshire Life. But just to prove my eclectic affiliations, my book review of Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co was published in Hertfordshire Life and two further book reviews have appeared in The Lady. Oh, and I ventured over to the Ashmolean again in order to review the Stradivarius exhibition for the latter magazine, too. 

Meanwhile I have recently met and tutored some charmingly enthusiastic writers and only the other week my Regular Writing group overflowed with gusto after our session on plotting. 

This month’s Chiltern Writers meeting gave me the opportunity to catch up with speaker, Clare MacKintosh, whom I first encountered when running a workshop at the inaugural Chipping Norton Literary Festival. Apparently this year the event welcomed 3,000 visitors. Quite a success story and a stimulating evening from the effusive Clare.

Plans are already afoot for next year’s Berkhamsted Short Story Competition, by the way. Frankly, I can’t wait to read those entries and raise more money for the wonderful St Francis Hospice.

Now, please excuse me. I have pitches to chase and ideas to brainstorm. There again, the sunshine is tempting . . .

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