Category Archives: Culture

Marx: A Very Short Introduction

Posted on by

marx, a short introductionMarx: A Very Short Introduction is Marx made easy. A brilliant and balanced book that is essential for anyone interested in Marx.

In Marx: A Very Short Introdution, Peter Singer identifies the central vision that unifies Marx’s thought, enabling us to grasp Marx’s views as a whole. He sees him as a philosopher primarily concerned with human freedom, rather than as an economist or a social scientist. In plain English, he explains alienation, historical materialism, the economic theory of Capital, and Marx’s ideas of communism, and concludes with an assessment of Marx’s legacy.

About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life’s most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Available here.

THE BUSINESS OF BOOKS: FROM PITCH TO PUBLICATION

Posted on by

Jane Cable picks up a good book.

Doubts happen to every writer, at every level. For me, at this precise moment, it’s about whether I’ve written the right book. It’s a book I wanted to write, with characters I’m passionate about and a story I believe in, but as I begin the submission process the doubts have set in.

As ever, it was a writer friend who gave me a helping hand out of the hole I was rapidly digging for myself. Take a bow, Barbara Copperthwaite, for recommending an excellent book; From Pitch to Publication by the late, great literary agent Carole Blake. Barbara credits reading the book with helping her to land her agent and publishing deal. “Turns out I was doing it all wrong,” she told me. And because I know ‘all wrong’ was nothing to do with the quality of her writing, I downloaded the book straight away.

It isn’t a book you read cover to cover – you keep it by your side and refer to different chapters at different stages of your life as a writer of commercial fiction. And some of the advice seems just a tiny bit dated, written as it was in the days (not that long ago) before direct submission and digital only publishers became major players in the market. But the first chapter alone gave me plenty to think about.

 

So, what have I learnt from this wonderful tome?

What is the right book?

The very first pages start with the question that had been haunting me. And answered it from a very commercial angle. Yes, write what moves you but with an eye on the eventual market. Trends are impossible to spot but there are certain aspects of a novel you can build in from the start which will help it appeal to publishers; for example the right well-researched location, the right choice of profession for your protagonists. Both need a touch of glamour – or at least desirability. Keep the word ‘aspirational’ in mind and you can’t go far wrong.
Follow your genre’s rules

Genre is massively important in commercial fiction terms and you need to understand the rules of your genre inside out. To do that you need to read a lot of it. While your idea and your voice need to be sparkling and original, your story needs to meet your readers’ expectations. Romances have to end HEA or HFN (happily ever after or happy for now). Every genre has its optimum length. But never, ever, pick a subject because you think it’s going to be the next best thing – your lack of passion for it will show in your writing.
There is a checklist… a magical checklist

I’m not going to give the whole game away, because that wouldn’t be fair and if you’re serious about a career as a commercial writer then you need to buy this book. But here are just a few of the items on it which seemed most important to me:

Is the world where the novel is set one in which readers will want to spend time even before they have come to know the characters?

Is my central character fully developed and someone readers can readily identify with?

Are my plot strands so overly complicated that readers will get confused?

Can I sum up my storyline in one sentence?

 

And finally, the magical triangle

This had never entered my head but it makes the most sense of all. As a writer you need to be able to build and control the relationship not only between writer and character, but between writer and reader – and reader and character. Not just for one book, but in a way that will forge a lengthy career. It’s a huge question but one, as writers, we really need to ask.

 

From Pitch to Publication by Carole Blake is published by Macmillan

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia: What Everyone Needs to Know

Posted on by

alzheimer's, dementia, booksAlzheimer’s is swiftly on the rise: it is estimated that every 67 seconds, someone develops the disease. For many, the words ‘Alzheimer’s disease’ or ‘dementia’ immediately denote severe mental loss and, perhaps, madness. Indeed, the vast majority of media coverage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other types of dementia focuses primarily on the losses experienced by people diagnosed and the terrible burden felt by care partners yearning for a “magic bullet” drug cure.
Providing an accessible, question-and-answer-format primer on what touches so many lives, and yet so few of us understand, Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia: What Everyone Needs to Know®contributes what is urgently missing from public knowledge: unsparing investigation of their causes and manifestations, and focus on the strengths possessed by people diagnosed. Steven R. Sabat mines a large body of research to convey the genetic and biological aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, its clinical history, and, most significantly, to reveal the subjective experience of those with Alzheimer’s or dementia. By clarifying the terms surrounding dementia and Alzheimer’s, which are two distinct conditions, Sabat corrects dangerous misconceptions that plague our understanding of memory dysfunction. People diagnosed with AD retain awareness, thinking ability, and sense of self; crucially, Sabat demonstrates that there are ways to facilitate communication even when the person with AD has great difficulty finding the words he or she wants to use. From years spent exploring and observing the points of view and experiences of people diagnosed, Sabat strives to inform as well as to remind readers of the respect and empathy owed to those diagnosed and living with dementia.


Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia conveys this type of information and more, which, when applied by family and professional caregivers, will help improve the quality of life of those diagnosed as well as of those who provide support and care.

This is an important book. It is well-researched and well-written. Essential reading. 

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia: What Everyone Needs to Know is available here,

 

 

The Empowered Mama

Posted on by

the empowered mama, parenting, motherhoodThe Empowered Mama

The Empowered Mama is a practical and interactive workbook full of simple, powerful tools to help moms reconnect with themselves on the journey through motherhood.

Moms often try to juggle the roles of wife, mother, and homemaker while also being professional, competent woman. Many moms feel like they can’t take time to replenish their bodies and minds despite their many roles. There’s just not enough time in the day, and it seems selfish to take time when families and work still demand more.

The Empowered Mama is a practical workbook full of simple, powerful tools to help you reconnect with yourself on the journey through motherhood. Author Lisa Druxman uplifts, inspires, and takes moms on a journey not just to rediscover themselves, but to fall in love with motherhood again. Whether you are a working mom or a stay-at-home mom, this book will add balance to your life.

Since there will never be more hours in the day, The Empowered Mama will help you maximize the hours you do have to accomplish what matters most. This guide focuses on all parts of a mom’s life — work relationships, built-up stressors, cleaning up your diet, even going green and being more mindful about the environment — all with the intuitive understanding that getting the rest of your life in order will only reap huge dividends for your family.

I really loved this interactive book. It was impossible to not be inspired. I found myself nodding along as I read, happy that it was not just me, or feeling enlightened by the shared experience. Particularly in the part that explained why you still feel like crap after having a baby: baby sling wearing, tiredness, pushing a pram, sore muscles…. The Empowered Mama is full of quotes, exercises and information to make you the best you can be. It is easy to neglect yourself when you are a mother and anything that makes you focus on yourself is to be applauded. This book makes you the best you. Brilliant stuff.

The Empowered Mama is available here. 

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: FIRST, LAST, EVERYTHING – CO-AUTHOR SUE FEATHERSTONE

Posted on by

What was the first writing advice you were ever given

Truthfully, I don’t remember who gave me my first writing advice or what advice was offered but the first piece of advice that stands out came from a chap called Frank Littlewood, a tutor at Richmond College in Sheffield where I did my journalism training. Frank was a plump former Yorkshire Post sub-editor, who always wore a grubby knitted yellow waistcoat, and was absolutely passionate about good writing and correct spelling and grammar.

He could be a bit long-winded sometimes but he knew his trade and every rookie reporter who sat in his classroom learned a lot from him. I can see him now, in that virulently-coloured waistcoat, wagging a finger and telling us: ‘News is people.’ In other words, stories are about people and what happens to them and why? That applies to novelists just as much as journalists: good characters matter and it doesn’t matter whether readers love them or hate them so long as they want to read about them.

 

What was the most recent writing advice you’ve been given?

That’s easy: show don’t tell.

Easy to say, not so easy to do but the trick which I’ve learned from Rebecca Carpenter, my copy editor at Lakewater Press, is to replace what she calls ‘weak’ verbs with ‘strong’ ones that paint word pictures creating heightened mood and tension.

What’s a weak verb? A really good example is the word ‘looked’, which it is really easy to overuse. For example, consider this sentence: Sally looked at her father. Here ‘looked’ is a weak verb because it tells the reader nothing about the scene or Sally’s mood or her relationship with her dad. But, replace ‘looked’ with a stronger, more descriptive verb, such as peeked, and the scene comes alive because the writer shows the reader how Sally is feeling – clearly she is apprehensive or afraid.

Think about it: Sally peeked at her father. You could change the mood again by using a different word: Sally stared at her father. This time, it’s obvious Sally is surprised or incredulous. It’s a small change but so effective.

 

What is the piece of advice you’d most like to pass on?

Oh dear! This is a really hard question because there are so many pieces of advice I’d like to pass on. These include: the harder I work, the luckier I get, which has been attributed to, amongst others former US president Thomas Jefferson and movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn.

I’ve also learned that achieving your dreams is a marathon and not a sprint and that your first job may not be your dream job but it will be good preparation for the dream job.

However, if pushed, the one piece of advice that has helped me in both my personal and professional life is: treat others as you’d want them to treat you. So be polite and considerate and don’t take advantage of other people. Never say something behind someone’s back you wouldn’t say to their face and if you make a mistake, apologise and move on. And never try and attribute blame. Mistakes happen, learn from them.

 

Sue Featherstone is a former journalist and public relations practitioner turned academic then author. Together with her friend and writing partner Susan Pape, she has written two successful journalism text books and their first novel, A Falling Friend, was published by Lakewater Press in 2016 and a sequel A Forsaken Friend is published on March 21, 2018.

They now write about books at https://bookloversbooklist.com/

 

The Fourth Trimester Companion: How to Take Care of Your Body, Mind, and Family as You Welcome Your New Baby

Posted on by

baby, new baby, parenting, A well-cared-for baby is a baby whose mother is taking care of herself. Put simply: good mother care Is good baby care. 

That’s the core of the Fourth Trimester concept. In recent years doctors, nurses, midwives, and others involved in providing baby care have adopted this vital concept enthusiastically. The Fourth Trimester emphasizes that how a mother takes care of herself in the first three months of a new baby’s life brings crucial benefits for her, for her baby, and for her partner and family.

With this important new book, moms (as well as their partners and other caregivers, whether lay or professional) now have the resources to have an ideal Fourth Trimester experience. Cynthia Gabriel, a doula and the author of the best-selling book Natural Hospital Birth, delivers all the information, guidance, and encouragement new mothers need to take care of their bodies, minds, and spirits during the vital months of the Fourth Trimester—so that they feel their best and so their babies have the best possible chance to thrive.

This is a great book to help mothers- and fathers- get through a difficult time. Full of great, accessible information, this book is enjoyable to read. It is like having a friend with you. It is US based but is still relevant to UK readers. Highly recommended.
The Fourth Trimester Companion: How to Take Care of Your Body, Mind, and Family as You Welcome Your New Baby is available here.

Four Mums In a Boat Book Review

Posted on by

Four Mums in a Boat: Friends who rowed 3000 miles, broke a world record and learnt a lot about life along the way

The incredible true story of four ordinary working mums from Yorkshire who took on an extraordinary challenge and broke a world record along the way.

Janette, Frances, Helen and Niki, though all from Yorkshire, were four very different women, all juggling full time jobs alongside being mothers to each of their 2 children. They could never be described as athletes, but they were determined to be busy and the local Saturday morning rowing club was the perfect place to go to have a laugh and a gossip, get the blood pumping in the open air, and feel invigorated.

Brought together by their love of rowing, they quickly became firm friends, and it wasn’t long before they cooked up a crazy idea over a few glasses of wine: together, they were going to do something that fewer people than had gone into space or climbed Everest had succeeded in doing. They were going to cross 3,000 miles of treacherous ocean in the toughest row in the world, The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

Yes, they had children and husbands that they would be leaving behind for two months, yes they had businesses to run, mortgages to pay, responsibilities. And there was that little thing of them all being in their 40s and 50s.

But two years of planning, preparation, fundraising, training and difficult conversations later, and they found themselves standing on the edge of the San Sebastian harbour in the Canary Islands, petrified, exhilarated and ready to head up the race of their lives.

This is the story of how four friends together had the audacity to go on a wild, terrifying and beautiful adventure, not to escape life, but for life not to escape them.

Frost really loved this amazing story of courage and resilience. It is also a must read for mothers who too often put their life on hold and never put themselves first. Nothing in life comes easy but it is possible to have children and live your life to the full. 

 

Available from amazon.co.uk

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: CELEBRATING, TOURING, SPINNING & FACE-PLANTING

Posted on by

MARCH UPDATE FROM OUR FOUR WRITERS…

LUCY COLEMAN… CELEBRATING

March 1st began with a roar – the Beast from the East arrived but it just happened to be the day I started writing my fourth novel for Aria Fiction. Thankfully, after last month’s stressful IT problems, my new office set up is now working well.

The arrival of the snow was perfect timing, though, as my new WIP is a Christmas story and it helped set the scene perfectly!

I was also able to take time out to celebrate my first release with Aria. As the reviews begin to roll in this has been a month of counting my blessings. So many wonderful readers and bloggers have shown support for my first book writing as Lucy Coleman, that I have been overwhelmed.

But now my newest cast of characters are calling and I’m in writing heaven again. Have a lovely Easter and I hope to see you here again next month!  

CLAIRE DYER… TOURING

The two weeks after the publication of The Last Day saw myself and my book on tour.

Each day one lovely blogger would host us on their blog, either including a feature by me or a Q&A designed by them and answered by me. And each day I’d eagerly anticipate the tweet that would alert me to the fact that the post was public, click on the link and scroll down the page, my heart in my mouth, until I found their review of the novel.

I can assure you this was a really scary moment because their good opinion means so much. Bloggers are amazing people. They champion writers and novels and promote reading by their enthusiasm and love of all things book-related. Between us, The Dome Press and I were lucky enough to be hosted by 16 bloggers who each brought a unique insight into what The Last Day is about and how it resonated with them. I learned a great deal about my book by reading their reviews and am eternally grateful to them for each and every one.

 

ANGELA PETCH… SPINNING

You know that feeling when you are chasing your tail? It seems like you’re achieving zilch? “…Busy doin’ nothin’ working the whole day through…”? I have lots of plates spinning at the moment.

I’ve established “Write Away in Tuscany” for September 11th to 18th and found a fab tutor to run the morning classes for this course. I’ve scouted for help with covers that need revamping since Endeavour Press went into liquidation. People’s Friend encouraged me to write a serial and I had three more stories accepted. I’m co-writing a ghost book for Littlehampton Festival. I gave a talk to Ferring book club and accepted a bigger talk in Chichester in April. I attended the Southern Book Show and “networked”. And poor Mavis and Dot? They are sitting on a bench on the prom somewhere, waiting for me to write their fate in the last two chapters.

Oh yes – and I went to Snowdonia for five days to escape.

 

JACKIE BALDWIN… FACE-PLANTING

Hello, again. What have I been up to this month? Editing again! This time it is a line-edit where you really get down to the nitty-gritty. Repetitions are identified and eliminated. Very Special Forces! Someone goes to dinner and vanishes into a space time continuum for five days. Your characters leap to wild, insane conclusions and you have to go back and put the seeding in earlier on. You get the drift. The absolute opposite of fun! Right now, going to Tesco, doing the ironing, even cleaning the bathroom, seem sparkling with allure. Feeling the pressure as my book, Perfect Dead, is due out on 15th June and I still have a copy-edit to go through too. My mood was not improved by doing a total face plant in Dumfries High Street yesterday. I look like I’ve been in a bare knuckle fight and lost!