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Making it up as I go along

Making it up as I go along

Tag Archives: #NotTheBooker

Being

14 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

#NotTheBooker, Cornwall, Edna O'Brien, Family, Ghostbird

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #16

The part of Cornwall I visit is another kind of island. It’s close to the sea, on several sides. Secluded at the far end of a long track the timber-framed house built by my son and daughter-in-love sits in an oasis of calm. The family – which includes my two beautiful teenage granddaughters – inhabit the land, work it, respect it and by and large live off it. They make things, grow food and raise animals. There are goats and bees, vegetables galore, grapes, willow for baskets, apple trees, chickens, a dog and right now, kittens. It’s a perfect place to be and where I was last week, hence no blog post. With intermittent WiFi I was happy to take a break.

IMG-20160808-00207

In the meantime – goodness me!

We are twelve hours away from the NotTheBooker shortlist vote closing. To my genuine astonishment, I have over a dozen mentions and some lovely reviews. They’re creeping up on Amazon too and each one is a gift. I don’t do stats because I don’t understand how they work. I’m not uninterested – it’s just that me knowing where my book is on a graph makes no difference. It’s still there. I’m still here – being me and wondering if I can write another book. Because that’s also important to me.

I digress. Many of the voters are known to me purely because the online author/reader community is tight-knit and supportive. Some are not and that is particularly gratifying. Which is not to say the reviews from people who know me (either in real life or virtually) don’t matter. They do – they are pretty fantastic to be honest and I’m genuinely blown away.

The odd comment has been made about the thing being ‘rigged’ and that some reviews have been written by publicists (or author’s aunties!) This may be true in a few cases – I have no idea although I doubt it. And in any case I know the difference between a sycophant and a genuine admirer. I’m deeply touched that people have made the effort to write original and generous reviews for my little book. Ghostbird is still flying high and she’s having the time of her life!

book1 - Copy (2)

And I am still on a list with Edna O’Brien, content to be…

Onward and sideways, dear reader.

To ‘squee’ or not to ‘squee’

31 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

#NotTheBooker, Bloggers, Books, Ghostbird, Glittering Prizes

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #15

My default setting with regard to public accolades, and praise of any kind frankly, is fairly low key. It doesn’t mean that when amazing things happen or people pay my writing compliments, I’m not affected. I am charmed, grateful and delighted. Inside, I’m all aflutter but apart from the smile, on the outside it doesn’t particularly show. When Ghostbird was chosen as ‘Waterstones Wales & Welsh Independent Bookshops Book of the Month’ last April, I was gobsmacked. In a dumbstruck, smiley but silent kind of way.

It isn’t false modesty – I simply don’t have the ‘blow your own trumpet’ gene. I genuinely don’t know what to say. I never expected to be published, never mind see my book picked as book of the month.

The other day I discovered one of my favourite book bloggers – Anne Williams – had nominated Ghostbird for the Guardian’s ‘Not the Booker’ prize. Like many people, I’ve heard of the NTB but it simply wasn’t on my personal radar. It wouldn’t have occurred to me in a million years to check for my book. And yet there it is. Out of the enormous number of books she must have read over the past year, Anne has chosen mine.

If anything is going to evoke a ‘squee’ in me, I guess it’s that. Not for being nominated per se – rather, it’s the fact that from day one and her wonderful review of my book for the blog tour, Anne committed herself to it. When she said she would do everything in her power to support me, she clearly meant it. Anne Williams is the tiara on the fairy on the icing on the top of my publishing cake!

anne W

I nominated Maggie O’Farrell’s fabulous This Must Be The Place. (Ms O’Farrell can rest easy – I’m the one on the outside with my nose pressed up against the windowpane being an awestruck admirer.) But my name’s in there somewhere too. I may not be making much noise; inside I am squeeing.

carol 8 dp hat large - Copy
Photograph © Janey Stevens

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