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Making it up as I go along

Making it up as I go along

Tag Archives: Guest Post

Guest post with Judith Barrow

03 Friday Sep 2021

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Books, Guest Post, Honno, Judith Barrow, Literature Wales, Shortlisted, Women's Press

When my friend, Judith Barrow, and I – both published by Honno – realised we had been shortlisted, alongside one another, for the Literature Wales Book of the Year/Fiction Award, we immediately agreed on two things: we were chuffed to bits for one another & it was amazing to be recognised, slightly past the prime of our lives, for such a prestigious award. This led to a discussion about being published by a press that, amongst its many attributes, doesn’t see age. And I asked Judith if she would care to share her thoughts about being published by Honno. She agreed, and it’s my pleasure to hand over to her. Welcome, Judith!


Why I like being published by Honno
I’ve been a creative writing tutor for many years and am always pleased when a student of mine has a story or an article published… somewhere! But last week I was especially delighted to receive an excited call from one of them to tell me her story has been accepted for a forthcoming anthology by Honno, my own publishers. And it brought back the memory, my own moment of the excitement I felt when, some fifteen years ago, Honno accepted one of my stories for their anthology, Coming up Roses: tinyurl.com/t56r6mbx

The acceptance of that story gave me confidence to submit the first of my books to Honno. Six books later I’m still with them. And happy to stay with them.

Honno is my kind of publisher; small, independent, and led by strong women who know what kind of books they want to publish and don’t accept anything but the best that an author can produce. So the editing is hard, but fair, and leads to many discussions – and a few compromises on both sides.

Because it is known to be a Welsh press it is sometimes assumed that all its authors will be Welsh as well. So, often, when I’ve appeared at events, people are surprised to hear my broad Northern English accent. The supposition is false; Honno’s aim as an inspiring, feminist Welsh press is to provide opportunities for women writers. The only proviso is that they are either Welsh, are living in Wales or have a connection to the country – which actually covers a great many writers.

I love their strapline: “Great Women, Great Writing, Great Stories.” So it always gives me a thrill when the manuscript I’ve been toiling over for months (or years!) is accepted by them.

I’ve had experience of having an agent, of being asked to conform to the commercial market; to fit in. And it wasn’t for me. As a creative writing tutor, I’ve spent the last couple of decades encouraging students to “write in their own voices”. So when the agent told me I needed to conform if I wanted to be published by one of the big publishing companies, I knew it wasn’t for me. This, after she’d placed me with a commercial editor who, not only wanted me to write in a different way, but also wanted me to write in a different genre. “The talent and skill as a writer is there but you need to be open to change,” was the advice.

I took it; I changed from being a client with an agent (who had, after all, accepted me on the strength of my first book) to seeking other outlets for my work.

I was lucky, I found Honno.

But it’s not only the professionalism of Honno, the specific care and attention they give to each element of producing a book, it’s the brilliant feeling of being part of a group of women who write diverse and brilliant novels. And who support one another and are generous enough to share and promote each another’s latest publication. In what we now call (and hopefully will again, to some extent before long) “normal times”, as many of us as are able meet up to talk about our writing, the current state of the writing world, new ideas for promotion – and just a general catch up on one another’s lives. And have a laugh. Oh, and lunch – and even, sometimes, a cheeky glass of wine.

This year, friend and fellow Honno author, Carol Lovekin, and I were honoured to be shortlisted for The Wales Book of the Year. Me for my novel, The Memory: bit.ly/3b2xRSn and Carol for Wild Spinning Girls: bit.ly/3gJx4dJ . It was an enjoyable and gratifying experience. We were delighted, not only for ourselves, but for Honno as well. A reward for all the hard work put in on both sides.

Thank you very much for your words, Judith. It goes with saying, I echo your sentiments about Honno – it’s wonderful to see our remarkable publisher acknowledged in this way. And well done us! It was an honour to be shortlisted with you. Here’s to more books by women of a certain age!

And before I go, dear reader, may I say how much I recommend Judith’s books.

Honno is a Welsh word meaning, ‘that one (feminine) who is elsewhere.’

judithbarrowblog.com/
twitter.com/judithbarrow77

www.facebook.com/judith.barrow.3
www.honno.co.uk/authors/b/judith-barrow/
www.amazon.co.uk/Judith-Barrow/e/B0043RZJV6

Guest Post with Jan Baynham

10 Sunday May 2020

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Guest Post

It’s a strange time for authors to be letting their new books loose into the world, not least debuts. Lockdown means a very different approach to publishing. So, this month it’s a genuine delight to invite Jan Baynham to be my guest. Jan is one of the most hardworking writers I know – my admiration for her is boundless. She’s also great fun, kind & incredibly generous towards other writers. Her debut novel, Her Mother’s Secret was published on 21 April by Ruby Fiction.

The book is described by the publisher as, ‘A wonderful sixties saga from a promising new talent’ & I couldn’t agree more. I asked Jan to share some of her thoughts on her path to publication. So, without further ado – over to you, Jan!

It was September 2015, my first visit to Tenby Book Fair, as it was called then. I got talking to Carol who’d signed a contract for her debut novel, ‘Ghostbird’, to be published by Honno the following March. I was about halfway through the initial draft of my first novel and loving the buzz of writing. My dream of becoming a published author was just starting to lurk at the back of my mind, with me never really thinking it would happen.

I came very late to the party having only started writing fiction when I retired. At that first meeting, Carol’s excitement and enthusiasm for what she had achieved shone through and was a definite motivating factor in my journey to publication. Our genres could not be more different, but her attitude and sheer delight in writing influenced me a great deal. She has been very supportive ever since even though we’ve actually met in person a mere handful of times at book fairs and literary festivals.

I started to build on what I’d learned on the novel writing workshop I’d taken the previous year, taking on board recommendations for workshops and reading articles about honing the craft of writing. A turning point for me was when I was invited to join a local Chapter meeting of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in Cardiff. My novel wasn’t a romance, but it had a love interest in it so in January 2016 I joined the association’s New Writers’ Scheme. In it, published authors critique your manuscript and give detailed feedback.

That first critique gave me both the confidence to carry on and plenty of advice as to how to edit the manuscript to become a tighter novel. Once I started submitting to publishers, I had to deal with rejection. It was always a disappointment and the wait could be endless, but once the rejections started to contain feedback rather than a ‘thanks but no thanks’, I knew I was making progress. My dream of publication was moving closer. Words like ’perhaps’, ‘maybe’ were entering my thoughts. I’d joke with friends that if it did happen, I’d be the oldest debut novelist!

‘Her Mother’s Secret’ was taken up quite quickly in the end. I had a one-to-one session with a publisher at the RNA Conference in 2018 who asked me to submit the finished manuscript. After reading it and giving positive feedback, she sent it to the company’s submissions panel, so I was one step further again towards publication. They did finally reject it but sent such detailed feedback that I worked on and Ruby Fiction offered me a contact in May 2019. Because the novel is mainly set in Greece, there wasn’t time for it to be published and marketed for the summer season last year, but I achieved my dream of becoming a published author in April 2020. It was both exciting and nerve-wracking, but I did it! My advice to anyone reading this is never give up. It’s never too late!

Thank you, Jan for taking time to chat! Best wishes for your book – I hope it flies!

My review:
For a story that, on the face of it, might appear to be a light summer read, Her Mother’s Secret is as dramatic as it is entertaining. In her debut novel, Jan Baynham lends an assured confidence to the traditional ‘love story’. Yes, it’s very much a love story, but there are dark dealings & darker agendas lending the book a crucial edge; a sense of excitement that never lets up.

In 1969, Elin Morgan, an art student, arrives on the Greek island of Péfka to attend a painting school run by a famous artist. The sun beats down on the idyllic setting but in the shadows lurks a grimmer story. In true 60s style it features sex & drugs (drug dealers) & one assumes, rock ‘n roll! Twenty-two years later, Elin’s daughter, Lexi follows in her mother’s footsteps, in search of the secrets hinted at in a diary belonging to Elin.

The author’s love for & knowledge of Greek society & customs shines through, giving the book an air of authenticity. And Her Mother’s Secret is redolent with vivid descriptions. The Greek family dynamics are beautifully observed; a sense of quiet menace ripples beneath the surface as Elin becomes embroiled in chaos, love, family drama & murder. And two decades later, Lexi discovers that some love stories never end. This a well observed story; contemporary & light but with a depth that suggests a fresh, new talent.

You can buy the book here: tinyurl.com/y8dvtlbf

Links to Jan’s social media:
twitter.com/JanBaynham
www.facebook.com/JanBayLit/
And her blog: Jan’s Journey Into Writing:
janbaynham.blogspot.com/

Blog Tour – Day Three mash up!

24 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Blog Tour, Day Three, Guest Post, Review, Snow Sisters

Yesterday, SNOW SISTERS made her first live outing & went to a book fair. She looked very pretty & behaved impeccably.

narberth 2

While we were hanging out & having fun, in a galaxy far away, the charming Annie (THE MISSTERY) hosted Day Three of the blog tour here. And she left a generous review for me to come home to.

Annie also offered me a guest post. She gave me the freedom to write what I wanted & when the sometimes vexed question concerning ‘IDEAS’ cropped up, it gave me the opportunity to take a sideways look at it.

“The Nature of Glimmerings & the Unanswerable Question by Carol Lovekin

If I could choose a genre in which to place my books, it would be Quirky. Since authors aren’t allowed to pick and choose let’s call mine ‘contemporary fiction’ with hints of magical realism. (Which isn’t at all the same as fantasy, let’s be clear.) My stories are firmly rooted in reality. I explore possibilities: the fine line between the everyday and the world of enchantment.

I’m a feminist and my stories reflect this too. I explore family relationships: how people, women in particular, respond to loss and how they survive. My books have ghosts, although there are no clanking chains or blood-chilling wails. All it takes to embrace my ghosts, and the magic I conjure, is a temporary suspension of disbelief.

Enter my loyal reader, with her penchant for a quirky ghost story and a liking for strong women. And her question: ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’

Until I began writing seriously I would have claimed my ideas came out of ‘nowhere’ which is of course nonsensical. Ideas, however obscure, have to come from somewhere. And yet, paradoxically, the notion that a story must stem from a single concept is absurd.

It’s the word ‘idea’ itself I find problematical. It posits the notion that the genesis of a novel lies in an idea per se: a definable moment the writer can recall.

The origin of most stories is, for me at any rate, a random gathering of scattered thoughts; glimmerings as slender and obscure as a line in a poem or novel triggering a sideways digression. And as I forget most of my night dreams the moment I wake up, I’ve never dreamed a story into existence. Any I do recall are rarely logical – and I don’t write fantasy remember – so my dreams are unlikely to serve me on any level whatsoever. Day dreaming however is another thing entirely: it’s where glimmerings evolve, the ‘what if’ moments and barely discernible fragments that come out of left field.

Singular words have always appealed to me. I collect them: words like cwtch which is Welsh for hug. And more often than not, a single word can entice me and suggest a theme for a scene, or present me with an unexpected tangent.

My study overlooks trees and low hills. Some mornings the mist lies as heavy as sleep and it’s like living on an island. I like to imagine the Avalon barge emerging between the mists to collect me. It never does, and chewing my pencil I sigh, scan a sky full of birds and watch instead for the ones I call my word birds. They circle a tall beech tree, ignored by a big bossy crow – my hunched, feathery muse. (I kid myself it’s the same one every day – shouting kraa from the topmost branch, urging me to stop lollygagging and get on with my work.)

These word birds are my writing familiars; they drop their glimmerings onto my windowsill; leave words and phrases in the edges of my hair. I gather up these offerings and it’s anyone’s guess what they will become. Not all the words make it onto the page and many get away. Or I put them away, because no sensible writer ever throws anything out.

The glimmerings may not at first gift me entire plots or even vague outlines. What they do is hover in a ghost location in my imagination. The place where I wave my pencil wand and cast my story spells; listen for my word birds, in case they have more enchantment for me.

My loyal reader is a gem and I love her. The fact remains, next time she asks me where my ideas come from, I shall have no choice but to answer, ‘I have no idea…’ “

My sincere thanks to Annie. You can read more on her interesting blog:
themisstery.com

 

My novels

Wild Spinning Girls
Wild Spinning Girls
Snow Sisters
Snow Sisters
Ghostbird
Ghostbird
Only May
Only May
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