SUNDAY SERMON - THE IMPORTANCE OF STORIES

Susan Greenfield on Storytelling from The School of Life on Vimeo.

CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHWOLD

...................................................Benacre beach, grass, feather, shadows
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........................................................... Old Father Time, Benacre
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......................................................Southwold beach, Christmas morning
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.......................................................Beach huts, Christmas morning
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..........................................................Toby, mouth of River Blyth
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........................................................Chris and I, Christmas morning walk
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......................................................Benacre beach, sparrowhawk rising
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....................................................Benacre bar
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...................................................Walking on the sliding cliffs
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......................................................Wood, pebbles, sand

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THE WRITING SMITHY

And now for something completely different. I know only too well how hard it is to find the right people to work with as a writer, especially when seeking quality feedback and support. So, I invited novelist Jenn Ashworth and poet Sarah Hymas , not only experienced, well-published writers, but also experienced tutors,to talk a little about their place, The Writing Smithy, .

Vanessa Gebbie: For an aspiring writer seeking help, doing research to find the best place to spend what little spare cash they have, the world of writing consultancies can be a frightening, confusing place, chocca with all sorts of organisations promising to open doors, to change a writer's life. Why did you think there was room for another? Why did you start The Writing Smithy?

Jenn Ashworth: I had the idea floating around for a while - I'd worked as a freelance for other consultancies but had become uncomfortable with some of the working styles and policies I'd noticed. And even though there are lots and lots of consultancies offering services to writers, few of them are run by writers themselves and have the focus on process and rewriting that ours does.
Sarah Hymas: I had been working closely with writers for Litfest in Lancaster, as the editor of its publishing imprint, Flax. We offered one-to-one professional development sessions for writers we published and the feedback was, again and again, how useful the writers, at whatever points of their career, found the sessions The chance to talk candidly and confidentially with someone about your writing and career can clarify aspirations, definitions of success and so help with persuing the path you've chosen. I wanted to offer this to writers beyond the North West remit of Lancaster's Litfest. Plus, I really enjoy it myself! 

VG: Can you say a little more about The Writing Smithy's focus on process, first, then as another issue - rewriting? They are so fundamental - once I'd learned the way my own brain worked, as a writer, I was away! 

Jenn: I think partly this was a little bit of a reaction to what we saw as the 'get published quick' flavour of a lot of businesses doing this kind of work - of course we care about our own careers and most of our clients are very ambitious for themselves in that way too. But if the focus is on writing a synopsis, marketing yourself and so on - then where and when is editing, drafting, the long, slow process that learning to do something better involves being addressed? We do genuinely think that working on the writer as well as the writing itself is the most long-lasting form of help we can give other writers.

Sarah:  Plus we find it fascinating! As you said, Vanessa, once you found how your brain works you were away. That exploration of ourselves is so unique and ultimately rewarding for all of us, and to be alongside someone tunnelling their own synapses is a privilege. Hopefully it's a continually evolving process too, so there is always something new to learn at all stages of our journeys as writers. Certainly that's what we believe. It's an essential part of creativity: the search for the new... both externally and internally. As for your question about rewriting: its long, slow and intricate. But as creative as the first drafting process - there's something like the art of wood carving in the precision that is needed in the rewriting stage: keeping true to the essence of the thing without chopping off the thumb!

VG: How do you work with a writer on their own process? 

Jenn: I listen and observe a lot, and then ask questions that are aimed at getting the writer I am working with to examine the ways they instinctively or habitually go about things, and consider alternatives. I think it's just as important to understand why and when certain methods or techniques work as it is to know when they aren't, so I might also work with a writer to help them understand just why that brilliant paragraph or piece of writing works so well - to turn sucessess from flukes into choices.

Sarah: Yes, it is the questions that encourage the self-examination that are key, I agree with Jenn. And reading of course. How someone reads other people's work, what work you're drawn too, can also help to illuminate your instincts towards writing style and subject: what is it that we love about somebody else's approach to a subject we are interested in? How is our work different?

VG: So how do you guide them in the vital stage of rewriting a manuscript?

Jenn: the most important thing, for me, is before we even go near the writing - to help the writer I am working with articulate exactly what it is they are setting out to achieve. The writer sets the goals. I might ask questions aimed at getting the writer to clarify their goals, or encourage them to aim as high as they can, but writing is all about making decisions and I'm careful not to get in the way of that decision making process. All that's a lot more difficult than it sounds! I can and do give an honest reader's response to a manuscript and that might include some critical feedback, as you'd expect in a usual teaching situation, but my feedback is always aimed at helping a writer achieve what they want to - not my own idea of what makes good writing, or anyone else's.

Sarah: And that is always the crucial thing: to remove our own instincts and tastes from the process. It isn't about suggesting what would be good to write instead, but to flag up how everything builds towards towards that intention. And leave the writer to consider on the possible solutions, or to discuss those with them. I also think it's very useful to identify the 'nub' of a piece, be that the climax, anti-climax, key word or phrase in a poem that the writer believes to be holding it together. This can help with deciding on the shape of a poem: how to build up to that, fall away from it etc... Although having said that I'm always very keen to share with them other poets' work I love.
 

VG: Perhaps you can reveal a little of your own learning processes here - the things you've learned along the way that feed into what you are now doing for others?

Jenn: I've learned to get a handle on my own bad habits of procrastination and how to tune out distractions! Procrastination - motivation, these things come up very often and I feel I can speak a bit from experience! But I've also learned I need to be gentle with myself and that I need breaks - my concentration span isn't as long as I'd like it to be and that is what it is. Even if you can't totally eliminate your weaknesses, you can work around them!

Sarah: I think it's about trusting myself: I'm working on ideas and drafts even when it doesn't seem like it. When I'm walking or cooking or reading. And by understanding that you can give drafts the space they need to percolate. Patience is invaluable. After all, while it might feel like, it isn't heart surgery, everything can wait, really.

Thank you, both of you, for taking the time to consider my questions - all strength to you both, and to The Writing Smithy. Hats off, chaps - those writers who find you are lucky people.

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I hope that’s been useful - please feel free to spread the word. And to close - I love the ethos, as stated on their website -

Your work is yours – we won’t steer you in a direction you’re not happy with and although growth means change, we understand what it’s like to be a writer. We don’t want to turn you into something you’re not.

Writers, beware bureaucracy...The Story of not getting £150

Postscript - another writer in the same position, different University, has waited since APRIL for her payment... this is unacceptable, isn't it? Why should writers be treated like this?
If you are reading this, and know of any other instances where Universities use and abuse writers, please let me know. Might as well make a list...with no names mentioned if you'd rather not.


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Writers, be aware of the issues that can arise if you agree to a commission.
Back in the summer, I agreed to supply two stories to 'Matter', Sheffield Hallam University's annual anthology of poetry and short stories, written by students on their Masters in Creative Writing Programme, and supported by published writers like me - who were to be paid £150.
Or so I thought. In October, (three months after the commission, delivery and acceptance of the work) I asked about payment. This was prior to the launch of the anthology in London, to which I was invited, and at which I was asked to read. I was asked to bring an invoice, which I did. Yes, I'd read, gladly, launch was held in London Review Bookshop, The Coward's Tale was about to come out, so timing was great.
They didn't offer travel expenses, but I thought - hey, nice event, good people - I'll support. Trainfare, tube, car parking, cost me just over £35.00. OK - I'll pay for that out of my fee. That will leave me with £115 clear. I even bought my own copy of the anthology at the launch - 'Oh we should have given you one of those ... sorry.' which cost some further ££ from the pot. No one suggested giving me my money back...
A few weeks later, having heard nothing, about the fee, I queried via email. The reply came back - Oh sorry, we cant pay you without an electronic invoice."
I zapped one back - slightly niggled - as no one had previously asked for it electronically...
Weeks pass. over a month. Unis often work on a monthly pay system - but no - nothing. So I queried again... and yes, it would be paid soon, it was in the pipeline.
Oh good. Jump up and down in glee at the prospect...Except nothing happened.
I queried again. (Now five months since the commission, delivery and acceptance of the work, and now post-publication, in an anthology they are selling, selling MY WORK... and I bought my own to support... am I feeling VERY silly by now?
So will they pay me this time? Nope - "Oh sorry, the Finance dept outsources payments to Northgate. They need to check your tax status among other things, before they can process the payment..." ie - The payment hadn't even been processed. They were sitting on it, just as they'd sat on it back in October, waiting for me to query again - and again - and again.

I'm afraid I got cross. My husband said weeks ago - "They will string it out until you give up, Ness - querying it will cost you more than the final sum..." and I didn't like to believe that. But now, yup- he was right. The behaviour of the university was simply rude, disrespectful, and I wasnt going to waste my time any more....apart that is from a final timewaster - writing this, to warn writers to get payment UP FRONT in these circumstances. The people with whom I dealt over the anthology, and my stories - the creative people, were really nice. Charming - but they weren't the Finance people, who scatter their emails liberally with indicators of who they'd like to be - FINANCE DIRECTORATE. (Huh? Accounts Dept would do, thanks...) Orwell would love this lot.

I pulled the plug, and lost my payment, which I'd never had anyway, suspect they were trying hard to make me give up ...and which The Directorate can now delete from their system, and pay a minion the same as I should have been paid, for the deletion.

But final laugh, a form arrived from the Directorate just now - for me to fill in - yet more timewasting, and I'd no doubt get something wrong, and have to wait, and not be told until I queried in January. February, March.... They hadn't even clocked that I'd pulled the plug.

Learn from my lack of awareness, and my silly trusting nature. And here is the form... sent 5 months late, from the Sheffield Hallam Finance Directorate, who could not direct a leaf down a stream. Enjoy!



Status Enquiry Form

Your answers should be in respect of the work you are undertaking for Sheffield Hallam University

1 Full Name
2 Nature of Business
3 Full Address & post code


4 Daytime tel number
5 Mobile Number
6 HMRC office and 10 digit ref eg 981/1234567890
7 What is the exact nature of work to be undertaken for the University


8 Name & address of location at which the work is to be done

Who decided this?
9 State the frequency of the work eg
a) hours of attendance
b) Days of attendance
c) Length of contract
10 What is the
rate of pay
frequency of pay
who decided this
provide a sample copy of your invoices to the university
11 Contact name at location or name of individual/team in SHU offering work
12 If written contract or other documentation setting out conditions of engagement please provide a copy
13 How was the contract obtained. Eg tender, advert other (please state)
14 Who decides what work to be done
15 Who issues instruction/guidance on what, where, when and how the work is to be done?
16 is your work checked?
If so by whom
17 Can you be moved from job to job if the universities’ priorities change?
18 are you required to abide by a code of practice or other regulations laid down by SHU?
If so please give details of any handbook or other literature issued (you may be asked for a copy later)
19 Are you entitled to holiday pay, sick pay or other benefits?
20 Are you personally obliged to do the work?
21 is there an obligation to provide someone else to do the work if you are unavailable?
If you are not obliged to send someone else do you have the right to do so?
In reality is it possible to send someone else?
Have you ever sent someone in your place
If so who and when?
Who paid the person at 21d
22 What materials/equipment is necessary for the job?

Who provides these?
23 are any duties performed other than on university premises?
If so what are they?
Where are they performed
What equipment is provided and by whom (at the other location)
24 if while you are undertaking the work you are dismissed can/do you expect a period of notice?
If so how much notice would you expect and vice versa
Is the notice contractual/verbal or understood?
25 Do you have other clients for whom you undertake similar types of work

How many in the last 12 months
26 Do you pay any specific insurance premiums such as public liability insurance?
27 Are you engaged as a teacher or a tutor?

If the answer is yes – continue
If the answer is no go to question 30
28 Do you give instruction on 3 days or more in any 3 month period?
29 Are your duties designed to lead to a certificate, diploma, degree or professional qualification?
30 I certify that the above information supplied by me is correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. Signed Date
Based on the answers provided a decision will be made as to whether PAYE/NIC rules apply
If you require any further information please contact: Northgate Payroll Helpdesk 0870 0668695

LOVELY BOOKS ARRIVE IN THREES

Pressies to meself!!
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Three marvellous books by three writing friends - all three books clattered through the letterbox last week. So I shall tell you about them, and you must rush out and get them because they are terrific... just in time for Christmas.

‘Somewhere Else or Even Here’ (Salt Modern Fiction) is a Scott Prize winner and debut collection from A J Ashworth. I shall declare an interest here - I have admired AJA’s work ever since I first read her story ‘Overnight Miracles’ in the last Willesden Herald winners anthology New Short Stories 5, and was only too delighted when she asked me for a blurb quote for her collection. I said, using one of her own wonderful phrases -

‘The stories here really are shooting stars - ‘brilliant sparkling scratches’ against the night. A very gifted wrtiter. One to watch...’

The lovely Maggie Gee also blurbed as did Simon van Booy, winner of the 2009 Frank O’Connor Prize, who said:

‘With beauty, poise and fearlessness, A. J. Ashworth creates worlds that are chillingly real, exploring the raw human need for attachment and the fear of closeness in a way that is both tender and haunting. She is a fierce new talent.’

Nuff said, really. if you enjoy great short stories, get it. Easy.
Here it is on Salt Publishing’s website - HERE! Go get it!
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Next, ‘The Juno Charm’ (Salmon Poetry) the third full collection of poetry from Nuala Ni Chonchuir. Author of three short story collections, and a novel described by The Irish Examiner as ‘a gem’ - Nuala is one of the most prolific and consistently strong writers I know, working across the forms with apparent ease. I was delighted to welcome her on a recent blog-tour stop for ‘The Juno Charm’ - and she allowed me to include one of the poems - so go back a few posts to read the intriguing poem entitled 'Japanese Madonna'.
To quote from the description of the collection - in this book Ni Chonchuir

‘explores the worlds of two marriages - one waning one waxing - and the pain of pregnancy loss and fertility struggles’ ... ‘employs her signature sensual frankness...’. 'Sometimes irreverent, always vivid, this is poetry ripe with imaginative possibility and wit.'

And I love Mary O’Donnell’s quote, which says that Nuala

‘reveals herself as a witty and energetic purveyor of the happiness and pleasure that lie on the far side of common experience.’

A great collection. ‘The Juno Charm’ can be bought from the publisher and other places...but it’s sold out on Amazon, so ...

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Finally I have five copies (wheee!) of another poetry collection, and will be giving this to poetry-loving friends this Christmas. Bookseller, writer and general good egg Jen Campbell undertook a challenge over the weekend of 5/6 November, to write 100 poems in a weekend. She did this to raise money for EEC International, a charity that funds research centres looking into gene p63 and degenerative eye conditions associated with EEC Syndrome - (Electrodactyly-ectodermal dysplasia clefting syndrome) - which Jen has. It is likely that most people who have EEC syndrome will lose their sight. If a cure can be found for this degenerative eye sign problem, it will help thousands of people worldwide. Not just those with EEC.

The poems were written over 48 hours to tag-word prompts sent to Jen on Twitter. I knew that wonderful things can sometimes happen when a writer puts herself under pressure - sometimes - but these poems really are something quite special.

Here are two, with Jen’s permission.

No 35 (Tag word, “Collage”)


We find ourselves as decoupage.

I think this, standing on an escalator
leaning on your arm. We bend and
mould to fit. Adapt and layer over.

When you sleep, your limbs shed skin
like changing clothes. I could take them
to hang. Line the walls of a gallery.

We could spend the weekends walking
amongst ourselves
seeing how we’ve grown.

No 82 (Tag words ‘Mill” and “Holland”)

You want a shoulder tattooed tulip
looking back to time we spent there.

The thick air of autumn cafes
hand in hand with the canal.

Jen produced the books in a limited edition of 200, with cover brilliantly illustrated by Greg McLeod. If there any left, you can buy them via Jen’s blog HERE- If there are none left, you can read all about them, and her... at the same place.

Her first book (other than this one), the hilarious ‘Wierd Things Customers Say In Bookshops’ will be published by Constable and Robinson in April 2012.

IMAGINE...BRIDPORT OPEN BOOK FESTIVAL

Imagine – a festival that includes a whole community – young and old, readers, writers and those in between. A festival that seeks to celebrate the written word in all its forms – poetry and prose, and which celebrates the performance of those words too. A festival that is not held in starry, glitzy and expensive venues, but in a working theatre space, a converted chapel - Bridport Arts Centre. Or in a room above a restaurant. Or in a café. And a festival that attracts not only local readers and writers, and emerging writers, and those who have emerged (whatever that be...) but also some of the best known names in the land.
Carol Ann Duffy, poet laureate. A L Kennedy, much lauded writer and performer. It doesn’t get better than that.

The Bridport Open Book Festival is the celebration of the written word that surrounds one of the most respected story and poetry competitions in the English speaking world – The Bridport Prize.
In 2007, this writer won a prize in the short story section, and we travelled down, my husband and I, all the way from Sussex. At the prizegiving lunch I met writers who had come from the west coast of the USA to collect a £50 prize – such is the respect for this award, and an indication of how much it matters to those whose work is selected. 2011 was no different. Several writers had traveled great distances for their moment of glory – a walk amid warm applause up to the Bridport Arts Centre stage, to collect a cream envelope from this year’s judges... see above - said poet laureate and said lauded writer/performer.

I was at Bridport to do a few things meself. Firstly, running two flash fiction workshops alongside friend and colleague Tania Hershman,
she of The White Road and Other Stories, and Bristol Science faculty, and much too much more to mention in one sentence! Friday’s session was held in a packed room above a rather nice restaurant called The Olive Tree, who supplied us with fresh coffee, pastries, cakes - and Saturday’s was in the school room attached to the Quaker meeting house. We had a brilliant time – participants left each session with at least three first draft flashes, and a sprinkling of story seeds and ideas for more. Lovely to work with T – and lovely to plan ahead for more workshops in 2012. I was particularly pleased that David Woolley came to a session – he is the new Festival Director, an acclaimed poet, and erstwhile director of the Dylan Thomas Centre at Swansea, and the Dylan Thomas Festival. We had an interesting and not-long-enough natter about prose poetry..., which he says, does not exist. Hope to be able to argue more intelligently next year if I go as a customer again!

Second, a lovely event scheduled for 6 pm on Saturday evening, showing how winning a Bridport Prize can lead to amazing things – my chance to compere an event – to interview colleagues who have gone on to be published, and to invite them to read their work. Judith Allnatt read to us from her second novel, the rather brilliant ‘The Poet’s Wife’ – about Patty, wife of John Clare. And short story writer Adam Marek, author of ‘Instruction Manual for Swallowing’ (Comma Press) read a new short story. I read from The Coward’s Tale. Q and A followed.

'Storm Warning' (second collection) was the adult title chosen for the Bridport Big Read this year (thank you!) and it was great to answer a question about mining – added to The Coward’s Tale – it does make me seem a bit of a nerd – o soddit. I am a nerd. Official.

Then, clutching a pint glass containing a local cider brew, we sidled into the main theatre for one of the main highlights of the Festival... Onto the stage came not only our poet laureate, clad in a flowing grey top, but a musician by the name of John Sampson who proceeded to floor us with his playing of penny whistles, recorders of all sorts, crump horns and goat horns, at one point donning a Mozart wig. Oh he was so clever. Acted with his eyes and had everyone in stitches. Or he had us on the verge of tears... as he accompanied CAD in her reading of some of her poems. She in turn accompanied us on a journey through the gamut of emotion – we laughed at her observations, and we nodded in understanding and in awe, and we cried. At least I did – when she finished with a poem about her mother. But they were good tears!
I certainly fell in love a little with Carol Ann – as did most of the other writers with me, both male and female. What a star! To recover, we found there is a jolly nice curry house in Bridport High Street. Six of us gathered there and stuffed our faces until late...

Saturday, and the second workshop. More great work, interesting exercises – including a science based ‘word cricket’ which had me scribbling like crazy... Then the prize-giving bubbly reception, lunch and award ceremony, watching the winners and runners up receiving their prizes from the judges. Smashing to see Euan Thorneycroft from A M Heath, the London lit agency who read all the finalists’ work (and my agent...proof if such was needed that The Bridport Prize really does change lives). Smashing to see friend and colleague Peggy Riley collecting her runner-up prize, and smashing to hear many of the winners reading their poems, flashes, and snippets of stories.
Back to The Bull Hotel in the High Street for tea, with Adam and Tania – which morphed into an early sarnie supper before the second highlight of the festival, A L Kennedy on stage – and said supper in turn morphed into early sarnie supper with said A L K. It was great to meet her properly – to be able to ask questions like ‘So what did the Austrians/German audiences think of ‘Day’?’ and stuff like that.

Her performance later, alone on stage, and shoeless, was terrific. Inspirational. Moving...I won't spoil it, if you haven’t seen her – suffice it to say that she is in love with words, and always has been. She is a quietly great actor, too – to hear her perform Goneril’s speech to Lear, while fixing a man in the front row with a gentle gaze – was absolutely unforgettable.
Sir, I love you more than word can yield the matter;

Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty;

Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;

No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;

As much as child e’er loved, or father found

A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.

Beyond all manner of so much I love you...

I should think the gentleman's wife gave him hell later... If you didn’t also fall in love with words that evening, you weren’t listening properly, sez me.

Then we repaired to a nearby watering hole to partake of the waters, easing past a badge-laden bouncer to take advantage of a lull in the evening’s jollities – until our table was removed by the bar staff, who warned us ‘it gets packed in here, just you wait...’
Brekkie at Hive Beach café on the Sunday, before taking Tania to Dorchester station – sitting outside in the sunshine, listening to the crashing of the waves...then walking on the beach and marveling at the cliffs. It was a wedding anniversary - I got home, knackered, to a huge bunch of flowers, and supper cooking...lucky me.

Thanks Bridport, I had a wonderful and unforgettable time. And before I sign off, this is the lady behind the Bridport Prize -the lovely and incredibly hard-working Frances Everett, who deserves an enormous round of applause!
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Oh. PS - I had a poem shortlisted. This has now happened a few times - and not the same poem neither. Who knows - one day, I might end up with a pome in the anthology. I'd like that. There's a public challenge for me!

GARRISON KEILLOR, STANLEY SPENCER, CHAUCER, BRUEGHEL, DYLAN THOMAS ET AL...

The Coward's Tale is compared to the work of many different people, in reviews out this week - in an attempt to explain what it is like. Among the comparisons are: "A Welsh version of Garrison Keillor"-

.This by Litlove, in a wonderful write-up on Tales from the Reading Room
David Rose, on his terrific Amazon review, likens it to Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, (as do many) and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but also says it is more reminiscent of the work of artist Stanley Spencer. Stanley Spencer's 'Resurrection'.
Writer Tom Conoboy compares the novel to another artist, this time, the visionary Brueghel, in a seriously in-depth analysis of the book on his blog. The Fall of the Rebel Angels, Pieter Brueghel the Elder

Marie Claire Magazine said it was "dazzling, vibrant and melancholy", and it is one of two titles in their November Good Book club special offers...
Psychologies Magazine calls it "Poetic..." and "an absorbing portrait of love, grief and humanity".
And if you would like to win a copy, go to Bookhugger, read a snippet and answer an easy question!

NUALA NI CHONCHUIR WEAVES 'THE JUNO CHARM'

Isn't this smashing? I am delighted to welcome friend and vastly talented writer Nuala Ni Chonchuir who has popped across from Ireland to natter abut her new collection of poetry, 'The Juno Charm', out with Salmon publishing. She has kindlystopped off here on her blog tour. Right, I'll just pull up a couple of chairs...
Vanessa: So, multi-book person, poet, short story writer, novelist, tell me how you think the perspective of a poet, indeed any creative writer, changes when they start to see the world as a parent, not just as a 'free spirit' adult with no eye on the genetic inheritance and its future success or not.

Nuala: I'll restrict my responses to those of my poet self... I wrote poetry all along but I didn’t get serious about it until my late twenties, and I was already a parent by then (I had my first son at 23). I think as a parent you do see the world differently, because it suddenly becomes a scary place for your kids. Some of my work has been inspired by my kids: pregnancy poems, birth poems, charm poems that wish for happy lives for them. There’s a poem in this collection called ‘Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale’ and it’s about 9/11 with reference to my son worrying about worldly dangers.
I would never censor myself because of my kids – in my experience, writers’ offspring have little interest in the writer parent’s work. I do hope they will read my books as adults and maybe understand me a bit more as a result.

Vanessa: I want to ask about all the poems, as they have your stamp of being mesmeric, many are seductive, and all seem beautiful to this reader ... but I will confine the question to one - hidden in the middle, ‘The Japanese Madonna’. I love that. Can you tell me about the images here - where does this come from? What's the 'story?'

Nuala: We had a spate of moving Virgin Mary statues here in Ireland – people were convinced the statues were rocking, crying etc. I have a great love for the BVM as an icon – she was one of the few women to feature prominently in the church of my childhood and I think we can claim her as a strong mother, whether we are religious or not. So I’m interested in her in all her forms and I came across a picture of a Japanese Madonna and thought, ‘Of course, why wouldn’t there be such a woman?’ She appeared to a nun in Japan and she wept and bled (apparently). So, she was a good story for a poem, in contrast to one of our own moving statues who just rocked. (You can reproduce the poem if you like.)

Vanessa: I do like! Thanks so much. And here it is - the little gem:

The Japanese Madonna

As Madonna of Akita
I was carved
by a Buddhist from
a weeping katsura.

I forsook kimono and zori
for an unpainted robe,
a European chin,
and an aristocrat’s gaze.

I dropped blood-tears,
my sweat stank of roses,
and I warned that fire
would fall from the sky.

In Ballinspittle
I was made of stone;
I just flexed my fingers
and rocked.

And one more, sorry, I can't quite let this go... the final poem, ‘The Writer’s Room’. It is very funny – I’d love to know about the photographs it was inspired by. But more importantly, you say the writer is 'unassailable' whilst keeping space for the prizes to come, on the shelves... loved that! But I wondered, you, the writer – how to stay 'unassailable'? How to you tackle the demons who tell you something is rubbish, not to write it? Or don't you suffer from those?

Nuala: The Guardian used to do a series of photos on a Saturday of writers’ rooms and there was often a po-faced description (from the writer) about the space, the muse and so forth. So I was poking fun at the kind of writer who seems to adore the idea of being a writer and comes out with a lot of egotistical rot as a result.
One of the writers said they were ‘unassailable’ at their desk and there is that feeling, when the work is going well, that you are safe in your working (yet imaginary) world.
Sometimes the voice that says something is rubbish is a sensible voice telling me to re-look at the work. I’ve written two unpublished novels (years of work) and they will never be published because they don’t deserve to be.
There are always doubts, about everything. Bringing out a new book is a horrible mix of fear and elation. Will everyone hate it? Will they get it? Confidence in the work waxes and wanes.

Vanessa: Many of the poems are wonderfully physical, sensual pieces of work. I think I made that point in our discussion on Red Car – some poems from that reappear here in The Juno Charm and it’s lovely that they may find a broader readership. I am finding increasingly that the process of writing is a physical one. I’m not talking backache and RSI here (!) but more the physical sensation, a sort of 'don't do this Vanessa,' warning when I am 'controlling' the work too much and not letting the characters/ words flow as they will, at least at first draft stage. Do you find writing a physical process?

Nuala: Yes, in the sense that I jig in my seat when it’s going well; I rub my hands together and laugh. I also get tingles when things start to flow in the right direction, or a logical connection happens that, up to that point, I hadn’t seen. Real tingles – hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck-rising stuff.
I read my work aloud all the time so I throw myself into it. I love that all-jigging, smiling, hair-raising feeling, I must say ☺.

Vanessa : I'm perennially interested to know this - but how do you know when a poem is being born? And how do you know when it is finished?

Nuala: Gosh, erm, it just feels like a poem as opposed to fiction. It has a shorter span as it plays out before me. I’ve written poems and stories on the same topics, so it’s not necessarily a subject matter issue. I guess something just hits me and it won’t go away until I write it down.
As for being finished, it’s done when I grow tired of tinkering and when its music sounds right to my ear when I say it out loud.
Thanks so much for having me, Vanessa, and for such intriguing questions. Next week my tour takes me to Co. Kildare and writer Niamh Boyce’s blog Words A Day. It would be lovely if people could join me there.

BIO: Born in Dublin in 1970, Nuala Ní Chonchúir lives in Galway county. Her début novel You (New Island, 2010) was called ‘a heart-warmer’ by The Irish Times and ‘a gem’ by The Irish Examiner. Her third short story collection Nude (Salt, 2009)) was shortlisted for the UK’s Edge Hill Prize. Her second short story collection To The World of Men, Welcome has just been re-issued by Arlen House in an expanded paperback edition. The Juno Charm, her third full poetry collection, is launched this week in Dublin and Galway.
Here is the link to the page on Salmon if people want to buy the book: HERE!
Credit:The portrait of Nuala is by Emilia Krysztofiak

Thanks for stopping by, Nuala. Lots of good luck with this wonderful collection.

Edit and added - I am really sorry - everyone who has left lovely comments, including Nuala herself, will see they aren't here. Maybe because I set up the post to be published automatically, Blogger is deleting anything new... many apologies. Thank you for your messages, and to Nuala - she had thanked people, and its all got blanked!

SIGNING WITH A DIFFERENCE - WATERSTONES BRIGHTON, 19 November

Saturday morning, 19th November, I am doing a different sort of book signing at Waterstones Brighton! For every lovely reader who buys a copy of The Coward's Tale, I will write a short short short story...something whimsical and just for them, with their own name if they want, as the character. Must be nuts!
Photos from Twitpic here

(The book launch at Daunt Books last Thursday was wonderful! I will post something when I've collected photos from friends. Guess who didn't take a camera...?)

The Brit Writers discussion...

Writers may be aware that there are ongoing discussions on several well-supported blogs, and on Twitter, Facebook and so forth, about the merits, or not, of the Brit Writers organisation.

One such conversation, preceded by the most reasonable list of questions which any organisation must be able to answer easily - is on Claire King's blog, here.

I don't propose to enter into a dialogue here, but suggest that all writers who are thinking of spending their hard-earned cash either entering their competitions, or submitting work for review and possible publication, might do well to read as much as they can before parting with any funds.

This is no different to the advice I'd give writers wondering whether to enter any other competition, or mustering the bravery to send a manuscript for assessment at any literary consultancy. You should always always always check the credibility of the organisations, and whether the claims they make are solid. Then armed with as much info as you can muster, make up your own mind.

Added: To help you - perhaps you might find this post useful: Debi Alper, who was initially pleased to be a judge for a Brit Writers competition, but who then withdrew her support, has collated several 'discussions' and links to them, in one blog post. HERE.

Contribution for 11 11 11 from Oscar Windsor-Smith

Farewell Sweet Molly Brown on Every Day Poets

A VISIT FROM NUALA NI CHONCHUIR, TALKING ABOUT THE JUNO CHARM

Isn't this smashing? My friend and vastly talented writer Nuala Ni Chonchuir has popped across from Ireland to natter abut her new collection of poetry, The Juno Charm, out with Salmon publishing. Right, I'll just pull up a couple of chairs...
Vanessa: So, multi-book person, poet, short story writer, novelist, tell me how you think the perspective of a poet, indeed any creative writer, changes when they start to see the world as a parent, not just as a 'free spirit' adult with no eye on the genetic inheritance and its future success or not.

Nuala: I'll restrict my responses to those of my poet self... I wrote poetry all along but I didn’t get serious about it until my late twenties, and I was already a parent by then (I had my first son at 23). I think as a parent you do see the world differently, because it suddenly becomes a scary place for your kids. Some of my work has been inspired by my kids: pregnancy poems, birth poems, charm poems that wish for happy lives for them. There’s a poem in this collection called ‘Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale’ and it’s about 9/11 with reference to my son worrying about worldly dangers.
I would never censor myself because of my kids – in my experience, writers’ offspring have little interest in the writer parent’s work. I do hope they will read my books as adults and maybe understand me a bit more as a result.

Vanessa: I want to ask about all the poems, as they have your stamp of being mesmeric, many are seductive, and all seem beautiful to this reader ... but I will confine the question to one - hidden in the middle, ‘The Japanese Madonna’. I love that. Can you tell me about the images here - where does this come from? What's the 'story?'

Nuala: We had a spate of moving Virgin Mary statues here in Ireland – people were convinced the statues were rocking, crying etc. I have a great love for the BVM as an icon – she was one of the few women to feature prominently in the church of my childhood and I think we can claim her as a strong mother, whether we are religious or not. So I’m interested in her in all her forms and I came across a picture of a Japanese Madonna and thought, ‘Of course, why wouldn’t there be such a woman?’ She appeared to a nun in Japan and she wept and bled (apparently). So, she was a good story for a poem, in contrast to one of our own moving statues who just rocked. (You can reproduce the poem if you like.)

Vanessa: I do like! Thanks so much. And here it is - the little gem:

The Japanese Madonna

As Madonna of Akita
I was carved
by a Buddhist from
a weeping katsura.

I forsook kimono and zori
for an unpainted robe,
a European chin,
and an aristocrat’s gaze.

I dropped blood-tears,
my sweat stank of roses,
and I warned that fire
would fall from the sky.

In Ballinspittle
I was made of stone;
I just flexed my fingers
and rocked.

And one more, sorry, I can't quite let this go... the final poem, ‘The Writer’s Room’. It is very funny – I’d love to know about the photographs it was inspired by. But more importantly, you say the writer is 'unassailable' whilst keeping space for the prizes to come, on the shelves... loved that! But I wondered, you, the writer – how to stay 'unassailable'? How to you tackle the demons who tell you something is rubbish, not to write it? Or don't you suffer from those?

Nuala: The Guardian used to do a series of photos on a Saturday of writers’ rooms and there was often a po-faced description (from the writer) about the space, the muse and so forth. So I was poking fun at the kind of writer who seems to adore the idea of being a writer and comes out with a lot of egotistical rot as a result.
One of the writers said they were ‘unassailable’ at their desk and there is that feeling, when the work is going well, that you are safe in your working (yet imaginary) world.
Sometimes the voice that says something is rubbish is a sensible voice telling me to re-look at the work. I’ve written two unpublished novels (years of work) and they will never be published because they don’t deserve to be.
There are always doubts, about everything. Bringing out a new book is a horrible mix of fear and elation. Will everyone hate it? Will they get it? Confidence in the work waxes and wanes.

Vanessa: Many of the poems are wonderfully physical, sensual pieces of work. I think I made that point in our discussion on Red Car – some poems from that reappear here in The Juno Charm and it’s lovely that they may find a broader readership. I am finding increasingly that the process of writing is a physical one. I’m not talking backache and RSI here (!) but more the physical sensation, a sort of 'don't do this Vanessa,' warning when I am 'controlling' the work too much and not letting the characters/ words flow as they will, at least at first draft stage. Do you find writing a physical process?

Nuala: Yes, in the sense that I jig in my seat when it’s going well; I rub my hands together and laugh. I also get tingles when things start to flow in the right direction, or a logical connection happens that, up to that point, I hadn’t seen. Real tingles – hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck-rising stuff.
I read my work aloud all the time so I throw myself into it. I love that all-jigging, smiling, hair-raising feeling, I must say ☺.

Vanessa : I'm perennially interested to know this - but how do you know when a poem is being born? And how do you know when it is finished?

Nuala: Gosh, erm, it just feels like a poem as opposed to fiction. It has a shorter span as it plays out before me. I’ve written poems and stories on the same topics, so it’s not necessarily a subject matter issue. I guess something just hits me and it won’t go away until I write it down.
As for being finished, it’s done when I grow tired of tinkering and when its music sounds right to my ear when I say it out loud.
Thanks so much for having me, Vanessa, and for such intriguing questions. Next week my tour takes me to Co. Kildare and writer Niamh Boyce’s blog Words A Day. It would be lovely if people could join me there.

BIO: Born in Dublin in 1970, Nuala Ní Chonchúir lives in Galway county. Her début novel You (New Island, 2010) was called ‘a heart-warmer’ by The Irish Times and ‘a gem’ by The Irish Examiner. Her third short story collection Nude (Salt, 2009)) was shortlisted for the UK’s Edge Hill Prize. Her second short story collection To The World of Men, Welcome has just been re-issued by Arlen House in an expanded paperback edition. The Juno Charm, her third full poetry collection, is launched this week in Dublin and Galway.
Here is the link to the page on Salmon if people want to buy the book: HERE!
Credit:The portrait of Nuala is by Emilia Krysztofiak