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A tribute to the bright lights of Teignmouth – by Lucy Martin

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While the rest of the country and most of the world is grimly foretelling disaster – a tornado of fascism billowing in on the wind that isn’t properly connected to the grid, birth rates plummeting so fast that even immigration can’t keep up, twenty percent of our population on anti-depressants and AI about to put us all on the dole, I want to make a case for celebration.

Happiness is…. Remember those Snoopy posters from the eighties? Happiness is in fact living in Teignmouth. Despite the multitudinous vape shops, ice-cream-swiping seagulls and the closure of the lido, there is something about this place that is breathtakingly magical. What a privilege to gaze out at the vast horizon, watch the changing mood of the waves as they shift from glassy calm to a towering battalion overnight, one moment caressing the sun-drenched sand, the next slamming into the groynes and hurling themselves over the sea wall, gulls feasting on the debris of shellfish when the storm has passed.

But most of all it’s the people – intensely alive, involved, dynamic, and very quirky. I just popped into Spyglass gallery, or tried to pop in. He’d locked the door but let me in when I knocked and proudly showed me his avocado plant grown from – well, an avocado, and fertilised with Stew. A second plant stood alongside it, not looking nearly as lively. ‘That one hasn’t had Stew yet, but I’m going to do it.’ While his expression goes all dreamy with the thought of his new venture as plant-food manufacturer, I scurry home for a meeting of Teignmouth Writers. This group sprang up out of nowhere from a message I put out on a Facebook page and they have turned out to be the most inspiring, entertaining, creative bunch you could wish to meet – poets, academics, novelists, all of them committed to supporting each other’s literary endeavours and improving their craft.  This week one member reveals she used to write steamy romances, and asks whether anyone would be interested in a breakaway group for some of that. Some jaws fall open while other members suddenly find they’ve dropped something on the floor.

Then there’s the (admittedly rather tamer) creative writing workshop I run for the U3A, (which by the way is not just for old people – just free people).  This week it’s vision boards, cutting and sticking life-affirming headlines and snippets of feel-good articles onto canvas boards and staying way beyond home time because it’s such fun. There’s something about losing yourself in a craft activity that really calms the mind and lifts the spirits.

My third literary pursuit in this seaside idyll is book club – a whirlwind of enthusiastic, up-for-anything vibrant women, who in between devouring novels and teaching huge classes of spirited teenagers (so many teachers!) can be found sea swimming in bikinis in the middle of winter, rowing halfway down the coast in a gale and volunteering for the Samaritans. I have been humbled by their zest for life. I offer to host a meeting, and they rock up clutching all sorts of salads and puddings they’ve rustled up in the twinkling of an eye to accompany my measly dinner offering. We discuss the French resistance, the history of Cyprus and the concept of inherited trauma. They work hard, play hard and think hard. It’s exhausting, but it’s fantastic.

Sometimes it feels like going against the grain to bounce around saying isn’t life great, but it doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to the suffering of the world. The women sitting around my table last night had plenty to say about all that, but the world going to shit doesn’t bring them down or even slow them down. They get up every day and go to work, volunteer here there and everywhere to make their community a better place, run around after ageing parents and adult children, and for some reason I can’t fathom, still insist on shunning wetsuits for their daily dips.

That should be the end and it is, but I just wanted to add a little something, in case you’re not a mermaid and have to do a boring office job…

The French philosopher Voltaire said in Candide ‘chacun doit cultiver son propre jardin’ (everyone should cultivate their own garden – in other words do your bit, however small) which wouldn’t be a bad motto for getting through the dark times. There have always been and will always be dark times, but my new home has shown me how in our own little ways we can bring light to the darkest corners of the world, and with enough lights on, who knows? The whole planet might look a little less gloomy.

Cover design: where to start? – by Bob Fairbrother

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Well, a book is judged by its cover …
and the name on it (oh)…
and the strong reviews (oh)…
and, of course,
the weight of the marketing spend behind it (oh, oh and thrice oh).

But let’s keep it positive and having a strong cover is a still mighty fine start.

So, what to do?

The effort of getting a cover design isn’t necessarily an issue if you get a contract with a publisher, because they will do the work. However, after sending my manuscript to several agents and publishers, I was not fortunate enough to get an agent or, indeed, a publisher’s contract.

So, should I go down the online designer route such as Ingramspark or Amazon?
Or should I opt for self-design?

Between the two options it appealed to go through the design process and learn something. It was an interesting exercise, and it did show me that I did not have the time or the talent to do it! 

Hiring a designer is not cheap, but I am haunted by the book is judged by its cover idea and decided to swallow the cost.

Deciding on the genre label for the book was the next task, and I waded into that chosen genre for book covers I liked the look of. I narrowed them down to four designers, wrote to them and decided on one of them that were interested in the work, that being Mark Swan of Kid-Ethic.

I prepared a more in-depth brief for Mark and we began an exchange that resulted in four initial draft designs, all of them were excellent, one of which I settled on.

For the next month this project was honed to the final design for Project Deadhead, which I am delighted with.

I thought it would be interesting to have Mark on for a chat to discuss his career and his process. So, if the above has amused your bouchè then click on this YouTube link or the video below:

You can read more about Bob here:

Why a wet day in January is perfect for a walk in the woods – by Melissa Noble

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A wet walk in the woods banishes the January blues and gets creative sparks flying…

It’s 09:49 and the sky’s blanketed in grey. The 40ft conifer that half-blocks my view of the moor is lifting and swaying. One solitary sparrow braves the day.

I’m sat pyjama’d, looking between my list and the mizzle, feeling too weary to do much of anything. I slept well enough, woke early, busy-brained but lacklustre. There is much to be done and I really can’t be bothered.

Something’s got to shift, and I’m the only one here to do it.

There’s nothing else for it. I decide to get my waterproofs on and head for the woods (yes, over my pyjamas – really, it’s fine, no-one has ever caught me out and I’m sure they wouldn’t care if they did).

Two minutes out the door and I realise it’s been two days since I last left the house. I leave my hood down. Cold rain lands hard and fast; my face starts to tingle. I feel myself stand up taller and my stride lengthens. Dog walkers, caps down, offer me a sideways hello, looking at my lead-less hand as though to say ‘you sure you haven’t forgotten something’.

Five minutes on, something starts to shift. The entrance to the woods is a mud-bath. I slip through. This land is still not familiar to me and I head down a couple of dead-end alleys before finding a usable lesser-worn path. One of the brilliant things about this time of year is how much more spacious the woodland feels. Brambles and nettles have not yet got their teeth into the place. And the leafless trees make it easy to keep an eye on the shifting sky – shapes between branches offering a latticed look at the now-parting clouds.

Rain slows. Branches wear drops like Christmas baubles. The birds come back out to sing. I’m sat, reindeer moss cushioned on a fallen tree. The first of the season’s ferns shine clean green, leaves upturned so their burnt-orange spores are more easily caught by the wind.

With a casual glance, the woodland floor seems nowt but mud and mulch, but on closer inspection, tiny green clover-shaped leaves are beginning to carpet the space. Once I notice them, I see they’re coming through everywhere, and I marvel at how easy it is not to see – and how great it feels when we actually give ourselves the time to tune in.

Through the tangle of deadwood, I spy a thicket of yellow-flowered gorse and feel how it must have felt to have been walking these paths with hungry belly – the jolt of joy that would have come in anticipating such a bountiful pea-sweet harvest.

Whatever was out of place with me has gone. I feel energised; settled; connected. Ready to do some work. And thinking, “that’s one thing off the list”, because this blog pretty much wrote itself along the way. I head for home. Just as I’m turning into my road, thunder breaks overhead. The rumble echoes on and on. I turn my face up and drink it all in. There’s only so wet you can get. And then it’s time for tea.

Do you need a good reason to get out of the house in February? Something to lift the spirits and help put a spring in your step?

Come join me for a brilliant morning of fire, nature-connection, mindfulness and creativity. We’ll do a series of activities to help you get tuned into the magic all around. There will be no pressure, no putting-on-spot – just easy ways to help you connect with your natural creativity and get playful using nature’s inspiration. You’ll leave feeling uplifted and energised, ready to look at yourself and the world around with fresh eyes.

Contact me, Melissa Noble, from The Academy of Wide-Hearted Living for more details: [email protected]
Or you can book direct via Eventbrite: https://tinyurl.com/4v9359mb

Book launch of ‘We Are Made’ – by John Ludlam

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Local author, John Ludlam, has released a gripping new historical novel set in the dark days of 1938, as Europe was sliding towards the chaos of all-out war and Britain faced an enemy it didn’t yet understand.

Set in London and war-ravaged southern Spain, We Are Made is a deeply affecting exploration of love, loss, and moral complexity played out against the brooding backdrop of pre-war London.

William, torn from academia by grief and responsibility, finds himself drawn into the industrial pulse of Spitfire production and the shadows of espionage. As he reconnects with Elizabeth, their love story is woven into an intricate web of political and personal tensions.

Local literature fans gathered at TAAG (Teignmouth Arts and Action Group) for a lively book launch, where John gave a reading and signed copies of the novel.

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For more than thirty years John covered international news for the Visnews and Reuters news agencies.

We Are Made is the first in a series of novels examining what geopolitics does to people.

‘My years as a video agency journalist have taught me that geopolitics will never leave us alone,’ he said. ‘Ordinary people are always caught up in the ambitions of those who shout the loudest. This is as true today as it was in 1938, when We Are Made is set. Men, shouting… That pretty much sums up geopolitics.’

The novel is out now on Amazon, in ebook and paperback format.
Click here to purchase a copy.

The Daylight Saving Club – by Melissa Noble

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Helping you thrive through winter

Introduction

Once the clocks go back, it can feel like we’re in for a bit of a slog. That’s why I’ve created the Daylight Saving Club.

It’s a series of online sessions to help keep the winter blues at bay. They’re carefully crafted to keep in tune with the seasons, embracing the cosiness without slipping into a slump.

Join us and, when Spring arrives, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running.

How it works

Sessions run on Zoom, from October 29th through to the end of March. There’s a whole host of brilliant stuff lined up, carefully crafted to help us embrace the cosiness without sinking into a slump. If you know you’re prone to disappearing down a rabbit hole throughout the winter months, this is your year to do things differently.

The sessions

There are three types of session. We meet on a Tuesday evening at 7 (with a repeat on Saturday at 3)

Creative Zing is designed to connect with our creativity so we can use it to make life better. Sessions will be fun and fully interactive. No previous experience or talent required! Here, it’s all about getting stuck in, enjoying that feeling of flow. Perfect for writers who are feeling a bit stuck!

Winter Zen is an hour of pure relaxation. Think storytime, guided meditation, visualisation and deep relaxation. Get your comfies on. Make a cosy nest. No cameras on. No need to do anything except show up.

Hygge Huddle is a virtual fireside sharing space. We’ll tackle some of the challenges of the season and come up with practical solutions to help us all thrive. It’ll be a supportive and uplifting place, rich with lots of wellbeing-boosting tips!

Curious? More details and booking here

Melissa x

Where do writers get their ideas from? – by Ffion Mackenzie

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Whether you want to write that best-seller novel, an award winning short story or an invaluable ‘How to’ book,’ you’ll need ideas to kick start your writing.

In this series, we’ll look at different idea inspiring devices, starting with: Walking in Graveyards.

Here’s why:

1. The science bit: Walking releases the feel good hormones to help you feel more confident and open to your creativity.

2. Simply walking away from your computer and desk with all the detritus of your online life, frees up all that brain space.

3. Step into a graveyard and like me, you’ll hopefully, be engulfed by the calm stillness. The air changes as you breath in the reverence that forms a sanctuary for those who’ve moved on to a different plane.

4. Start strolling around to search for both the familiar and the new in a different light. Notice how your all the senses you need for writing, appear:

Sight:
Look at how low branches of the oat tree seems to form wings around a particular headstone

Smell:
The sticky sweet scent of amber from the tree trunk

Touch:
The dry, rough bark and maybe wonder how it might feel on the skin of a young man’s back
as he makes love to another against the imperious oak.

Sound:
The terrible scream of a Screech Owl,
the wind whipping around the graveyard, knocking over vases of wilted flowers and kicking up the path’s gravel.

What might the dead tell you? Find a tombstone whose inscription moves you, leading to more questions.

Here’s an example loosely based on one I saw:

John Buchanan
Father to Paul Buchanan, who lost his life in 1861 at seventeen years.
Rest Together in Eternity

You might ask yourself, how did Paul die? Did he suffer a disease, an accident – or something more sinister?
What happened to his mother?

In her blog, The Creative Penn, Joanna Penn talks about writing in graveyards. Do check it out. She’s a great baton holder for new and established writers.

Now think again of seventeen-year-old Paul. Was it he who felt the bark of the Yew, raw and sharp as it etched into the naked skin of his back?

A story is blooming as surely as the primrose amongst the weathered headstones.

Put what you can into your phone or notebook.

Your story is almost written.

And for the next one, take a walk along a riverbank or anywhere that lets you hear the whisper of your writer’s voice in nature.

Ffion’s original blog post can be found here.

Writing in Two Different Genres – by Elizabeth Ducie

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When I wrote my debut novel between 2006 and 2014 (yes, it really did take me 8 years) no-one told me I should write to genre. Consequently, Gorgito’s Ice Rink ended up as a quest novel with elements of history, romance and mystery. A bookseller’s nightmare. But I published it myself and it was Runner-Up in the Self-Published Book of the Year awards, so I must have done something right.

However, when I began the next book, I knew a bit more and placed myself firmly in the thriller category. I modelled that book on the Women’s Murder Club series by James Patterson. If you’re going to be influenced, then why not by the best? Even more so when I realised that Counterfeit! was not a standalone story, but part of a trilogy, the Jones Sisters thrillers.

By the time I’d published Deception! and Corruption!, it was 2018 and I’d been sharing headspace with the Jones sisters for more than six years. I needed a break, so spent a year writing non-fiction, hoping they would get bored and go away in the meantime.

But that didn’t happen. Charlie in particular refused to leave. So I retired her and her family to a pub in Devon and allowed her to set up an amateur sleuthing group. My Coombesford cosy crime series was the result.

In June 2023, I had finished the pre-launch activities for cosy #3 and sat down by the pool in Greece (a tough life but someone has to do it) to plot out cosy #4, which I planned to write during NaNoWriMo in November and which would come out for the Christmas 2024 market.

But six chapters in, I realised I wasn’t plotting a cosy at all. I was working on the fourth part of my thriller trilogy. So I was now in the position of working on two series at once, both crime, but in very different sub-genres. And with a cross-over of characters between the two.

It’s been a busy fifteen months since then. Most of the time, I was only working on one book at a time and was able to remember whether I should write about chocolate chip cookies and the family’s adopted dog, Bertie; or put Charlie in yet another critical situation featuring a car chase, an explosion, or both.

In the end, I think I got it right. A few times I realised I was straying into the wrong territory and had to delete and rewrite. But if any reader spots a stray paragraph where the tone doesn’t quite sound right, then I hope they’ll understand why it happened.

Elizabeth Ducie’s explosive new book Retribution! is available now. To order a copy, click here.

The dreaded Writer’s Block, and how to get over it! – by Melissa Noble

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Google ‘how to overcome writer’s block’ and up pops loads of articles containing countless checklists. But what happens when you’ve optimised your environment, set all the productivity schedules, eaten all the superfoods, taken on plenty of water and STILL the words won’t come? Chances are, there’s something else at play. 

How do you get moving, then? Who better to ask than a group of writers.  ‘Blasting through the blocks’ was the theme of our Teignmouth Writers July meet-up. Nine of us around the table, each with a different idea. Put them all together and some themes emerge; understand WHY the block has appeared and you’re part way to getting moving.

  1. There’s an idea stuck inside and it needs help to get out

You’ve had a whisper. That little scritch that tells you something wants to be written. You sit. Stare at the page/screen. And it just won’t come. What to do? Simple. Get moving or get in water. 

Getting out for a good stomp in nature is a brilliant way of creating an internal shift. Instead of actively trying to ‘pull’ an idea to the forefront, let it be. Get outside. Connect with the world around you through all the senses. Notice the colours, smell all the ‘pine-woody mushroomy’*  smells. Touch leaves and walls as you’re walking by. If the idea is ready to be known, it will float in. Let go of trying. See what occurs.

Passing a brook or near to the sea? Even better. There’s something about being in water that helps create flow. Shoes off and stand still. Eyes closed. Deep breath. Focus on the feel of the water passing by. Chances are, something will shift.

No time to get out and about? Mundane chores can have a similar effect. Get your hands in a big bowl of soapy washing-up. Get lost in the bubbles. Let the idea surface in its own sweet time. 

Or jump in the shower. Let the water play over you. Key is NOT thinking about whatever it is you’re trying to ‘solve’. If the water hasn’t worked, try a walk – and if that doesn’t work – there are plenty of other ideas below!

  1. You’ve come up against a brick wall.

Perhaps a character has decided to go somewhere unexpected. Or the plot has wiggled off the beaten track. How do you get from A to where you want to be?
Try setting a timer and make a list of impossible next steps. Be absolutely outlandish. Let your imagination have free rein. Out of ridiculousness, some golden nuggets may emerge. 

If that doesn’t work, maybe it’s time to retrace your steps. You might be in a blind alley because you’ve taken a wrong turn. Work backwards to the last pivot point. 

What happens if you take a different direction? (No need to get precious about wasted words – cut and paste them into a cache – they might come in handy some other time!).

  1. You’ve got time. You’ve got peace and quiet. And the words just won’t come.

Tell yourself to write one line. A rubbish line. Something that’s definitely not going to make an appearance in any final draft. It’s a foot in the door. A mark on the page. Something to get you started. And once you’ve written one, invite another. Keep adding lines. Could be absolute nonsense. At this stage, it doesn’t matter. All you’re doing is connecting with flow.

Incidentally, tone matters here. Do you need coaxing or a firm boot up the bum? If one doesn’t work, try t’other. If you’re only ever in the habit of giving yourself a hard time, it might be helpful to play around with a different, softer approach.

If a line won’t come, work from a prompt. There are gazillions online.

And if you write for a while and it still doesn’t feel right, that’s ok too. Don’t discard the work. Look back over it another day. When we’re out of alignment, the tendency is to look at everything with a critical eye. Save judgment for brighter days. No knee-jerk culling! 

On these kinds of days, it might be that you’re trying to pour from an empty cup. Us writers and artists sometimes need inspiration. There are days when we just need to rest in beauty. Perhaps today wasn’t a writing day. Perhaps it was meant to be a day for observing; gathering; resting; being. 

  1. You’ve run out of steam. There’s time on the clock but you’re just not feeling it.

Are you bored or dehydrated? Some people find it helpful to have multiple projects on the go. As soon as one starts feeling a bit sludgy, switch. Get to know your attention span. Embrace it.

  1. Nothing works.

You’ve tried all the tricks and still the words don’t come. It could be that there is something deeper at play. Perhaps you’ve written a passage that is absolutely golden and you’re freaking out at your own brilliance. Maybe you’re coming towards the end of a project and have realised that means actually showing it to people. 

Up til this point, it’s just been you and the page. What if others don’t like it? Or even worse, what if they really like it. How will you be able to cope with the fame, you’re really not the red-carpet type. And if they like this one too much, how will anything else you write ever be good enough. If this is the peak, then perhaps it’s better just to take a pause before it’s all over. 

All perfectly normal. This is where community comes into its own. Surround yourself with other writers. People who get the highs and the lows and the thrill of it all. In those moments of fear and doubt, lean in. Or get a coach. We all need cheerleaders sometimes. There’s no shame in it. 

Better that than a half-finished piece that sits in a drawer for decades, the victim of its own potential. People get blocked in a big way all the time. The piece doesn’t go away, but sits at the edge of the mind, half-done and ever hopeful. 

SO… Don’t let it happen to you. Reach out! Let’s get those words out into the world. If you’ve tasted the deliciousness of being in flow it’d be a real shame to deny yourself more of it.
What better pleasure than letting words tumble. Gift yourself. If others happen to enjoy reading, all the better, but the most important thing is how you feel when it’s just you and the waiting page. 

*thanks, John Betjemen ‘Miss J Hunter Dunn’.

A couple of places to get you started:

https://www.descriptionari.com
https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts