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Making it up as I go along

Making it up as I go along

Tag Archives: Public speaking

Fear & Loathing via Abergavenny

14 Sunday May 2017

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Ghostbird, NWR, Public speaking

Island Life, Word Birds & Process

I could just as easily call this post, ‘Unaccustomed as I am to Public Speaking’ only it’s been done before &, unexpectedly, I find it’s no longer true.

Yesterday’s event, hosted by the National Women’s Register: NWR, was sandwiched between two trying journeys. Deciding to eschew the motorway in favour of the prettier route, I got hideously lost in Abergavenny. No disrespect, pretty town, but honestly – road signs? Getting lost in Abergavenny was only the beginning. Further on, having mislaid a small but crucial bit of the A48 (which I suspect doesn’t in fact exist), having missed A Vital Exit & finding myself on the motorway heading for London (don’t ask) I then drove for twelve miles trying not to cry. My inner stroppy bitch bullied me into getting a grip & finally I made it to the venue, the très posh Coldra Court Hotel, at reception, doing a passable impression of a red-faced, deranged bag lady.

(The going home bit was via the motorway & all can say about that is, thank goodness & pretty is as pretty does…)

The event was billed as A Celebration of Women’s Writing & my brief was to talk about my writing, road to publication & the story behind the story of Ghostbird. It was almost certainly The Horrid Journey that brought out the Fear again. A smaller than expected audience meant close scrutiny & nowhere to hide. Bring on the butterflies…

NWR

And yet…

It was fine. I was fine. I enjoyed myself & to my surprise found the Q & A session, which I had dreaded, easy. These things really are just conversations. Some delightful & gratifying feedback was the icing on the cake. When your reader gets you, it makes everything about the writing worth it.

This public speaking lark isn’t so scary after all. Not as scary as the route through Abergavenny at any rate…

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Although I missed the talks by Judith Barrow & Bethan Darwin (sister Honno authors) I did get to hear the redoubtable & feisty Lleucu Seincyn, CEO from Literature Wales. Her passion & determination to make girls visible in literature made me want to punch the air.

And Penny Thomas from Firefly Press & Seren Books gave a fascinating talk on her experiences as a publisher. Firefly is the brainchild of Penny & editor, Janet Thomas. If you are looking for classy books for 8-11 year-olds, look no further!

Special thanks to Natalie Punter, the organiser of the event for her efficiency & kindness. To everyone who attended, contributed & took part, thanks to you too. Without an audience, without readers & book-buyers, writers, literally, are lost.

WRITING TAKE ME FAR

Coming out…

19 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Author, IWD, Public speaking

Island Life, Word Birds & Process

Don’t get too excited, dear reader – my private life is no one’s business but mine…

The closet – if closet there be – is the one where my ‘author’ self has been hiding. Author as opposed to writer: I get called ‘author’ all the time & yet I struggle with the ‘A’ word, unsure at which point one is entitled to own it. Like most published writers I have an ‘author’ page on Facebook; the web address for this blog identifies me as one. This is usefully semantic – I’m talking about a definition far less tangible & considerably more emotional.

An author to me is a writer with several books under her belt. She has gravitas & a following; she gets invited to literary events & conferences. An author participates on panels & gets asked to endorse other writers’ books. She has a sense of herself as a step further along the writing road, with fans perhaps (& no overdraft…)

When Honno took me on, I was asked what kind of publicity events I would be prepared to take part in. I said anything other than physical public appearances. (Radio was fine – no one could see me on the radio.) What with one thing & another, since the launch of Ghostbird when I read in front of a gentle audience of family & friends, without me noticing, I’ve been creating a small physical presence. At my first book fair I read to another audience, potentially terrifying as a Q & A was part of the deal. Lovely people asked great questions & I found myself answering with a confidence I didn’t realise I possessed.

I’ve discovered I enjoy reading out loud from my book. Book fairs are fun & readers are fabulous people. I’m still a writer though – reading from the book I wrote…

At an International Women’s Day event hosted by Honno & WEN I took part in my first panel. Juliet Greenwood, my sister Honno author (three books, dear reader so yes – author!) in a generous attempt at calming my nerves said a certain mystique attaches itself to writers. She didn’t mean it in an ‘Oh my, aren’t we all amazing!’ kind of way – she was talking about the fact that non-writers (& would be) are quietly impressed by those of us who have published a book. As someone who spent most of her life in awe of authors, Juliet’s words had a ring of truth. Still not convinced, & frankly shaking in my boots, in front of my first relatively big audience I looked up & saw a sea of engaged smiles & genuine interest. I relaxed & it was easy. Afterwards, another first was being approached as an author. At that moment, I knew exactly what Juliet meant.

Honno 11
With Juliet Greenwood.

Yesterday I confirmed an invitation to speak at a conference in Wales, to a much larger audience. In my capacity as ‘Welsh Author’ I shall be speaking for 45 minutes & taking questions. I’m terrified (I’ll always be ‘terrified’ in theory) but I’m also okay because I’m coming out as an author & it’s not as scary as I once imagined it would be.

Writers who get published aren’t special – we’re just people who’ve written & published books. If what we write pleases, perhaps we ought to leave it to our readers to decide what to call us & be gracious when they tell us we’re authors.

(And that other thing? The one about authors being asked to endorse other authors’ books? I’ve done that too – see Su Bristow’s glorious book, Sealskin.)

Out & proud!

Notes in the margins…

12 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

IWD, Public speaking, Technology, Writing

Island Life, word Birds & Process

As I write this blog primarily for myself, it doesn’t matter if I miss a week or even if what I write is relevant to anyone else. Last week, buoyed by early morning words concerning ducks in rows, myriad notes & plot particulars, I was quickly brought back to earth by Monitorgate.

Is there anything more disheartening to a writer than a dead screen?

There’s only so much I can write by hand: notes are not necessarily narrative (not the random way I write at any rate.) After a couple of hours, everything I could do by hand was done. I needed access & access was denied: the World of Word[s] was closed to me…

The blessed Janey turned up the following day with a spare monitor but after a day spent in limbo I realised how different the world of writing has become. I’m a relative latecomer to computers having bought my first PC in 2006. Against all expectations it changed the way I wrote forever. (I was brought up on typewriters; I tried an electronic one (awful) & soon graduated to a word processor which I loved.) The PC was a revelation & I soon cottoned on to its magic. I loved the convenience & the tricks: cut & paste without the glue & scissors! (Spellchecking without a cauldron or a wand in sight.)

I didn’t entirely leave behind the world of paper. I require the physical feel of it, the smell of pencil shavings. I still write copious notes; scenes & the outline of chapters by hand, mostly in bed in the early morning. Grey & occasionally smudged to ghostliness, they are notes in my margins so to speak, essential to my story & my process.

447061ca7f5f8740ed97da59a7f35db7

But there comes a point when nothing moves on unless I’m slotting said notes into my on-screen narrative. A paragraph placed between the lines –  click  – another shifted to an alternative page – click – another deleted – click… Effortless & quick – you get the picture. And the bonus is a visibly increasing wordcount making me feel unutterably smug & virtuous.

In other news, the International Women’s Day event I attended as part of a Honno panel was exactly what I needed to rid myself of Public Panel Paranoia. It was the audience that did it – a sea of smiling, engaged faces, soaking up the nerves & making it OKAY.

I love women…

The morning after…

11 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Blodeuwedd, Book Fair, Facebook, Ghostbird, Llandeilo, Photographs, Public speaking, Sky, Word Birds

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #28

On Facebook I’ve been boring the pants off people with photographs of the view from my aerie. The sky is never the same & some mornings too marvellous not to share: wide Welsh skies festooned with wonder.

Yesterday I attended a book fair in Llandeilo – a day of delights which I’ll expand on (in not too much detail – fear not) shortly. This morning, having slept late, I woke to this view which perfectly encapsulates why there are days when I truly feel as if I’m living on an island.

ceredigion-20161211-00675-copy

No sign of the hills, only that perfect hint of the rising sun & a sense that the trees hovering in the mist might at any moment disappear.

(As for the rest, the process is in stasis as I wait … the word birds do their best, nagging me each morning with whispered pencil songs for book three…)

The book fair was a joyous occasion, not least because in this part of Wales the book writing community is tight. Many of us know each other well; these events are a gathering of supportive friends & colleagues as much as anything. I shared space with two established Honno authors who made me feel like one of the gang, sold books to lovely people & did a reading from Ghostbird to a receptive audience.

As well as catching up with good people, what I appreciate about these affairs is the opportunity to talk about my work & to network. I was approached by someone to give a talk in the spring related to the myth of Blodeuwedd. Having discovered I genuinely enjoy ‘performing’ I’m chuffed to buttons to be asked.

img-20161210-00660

After ten months as a published author, I’m finally beginning to feel as if I belong.

img-20161210-00670

Island Life, Words Birds & Process #3

01 Sunday May 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Book Fair, Fairytales, Ghost Story, Ghostbird, Llandeilo, Magic, Mist, Mythology, Public speaking, Sky, Word Birds

It is a suitably mist-laden day. The sky looks as if it is made of a million feathers. I’m thinking about magic and why we believe in it; if indeed we do.

Yesterday, at Llandeilo Book Fair, I read the chapter in Ghostbird when Cadi – my young main protagonist – first encounters the ghost of her little sister. This baby ghost attaches itself to Cadi and thus begins the search for the truth.

Is such a thing possible? Do ghosts exist and if we resist the notion, is it possible to then go on to enjoy a contemporary story that insists they do? My story relies on a myth, and the suspension of disbelief in fairy tales. I am asking people to accept that the ghost of a little girl could become a catalyst for healing and redemption. That the fairy tale about a woman made from flowers could imprint on the lives of people living in the 21st century.

It is up to my reader of course whether she takes the kind of magic I write about at face value or explains it away as a fancy conjured from my over-active imagination.

I believe there is an intrinsic and emotional truth in fairy tales; nothing in fiction for me comes close. They are the basis for most love stories and the more fearful kind too; the kind that keeps us awake long after the final page has been turned. (Even crime thrillers rely on things that go bump in the night and dreams that turn to nightmare.)

And fairy tales are often allegorical; when unpacked and explored, they can teach us valuable lessons. (Anyone who has read Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés will know this.)

The possibility that reality and the world we glimpse on the other side of the veil can coalesce has always been appealing to me. Not everything odd or mysterious that happens in life can be explained away by logic. And many of us are drawn to the dream places we still long for after we have put away childhood notions of wonder. (Or fear.)

Across the hill, the mist lies still as a caught breath. In the distance a lone red kite hovers; searching for her lunch no doubt. Or is she? Has she caught a glimpse of something beneath the feathered mist? A place where birds speak and ghosts find peace…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other, more grounded news, the Book Fair was brilliant!

me Llandeilo

I sold and signed lots of books and managed to do my reading with only a few stumbles. And answer questions…

I’m getting better at this ‘author’ lark…

My novels

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