Category Archives: People

INTRODUCING SISTER SCRIBES: JANE CABLE

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This isn’t an easy post to write. If you’re a Frost regular, then you probably know who I am. On the other hand our readership is increasing all the time, so you could well never have heard of Jane Cable.

The first thing to say is I’ve recently been given the role of Contributing Editor at Frost and I’m feeling a bit of a fraud. If anything, having dragged my Sister Scribes on board (not that all of them were kicking and screaming) I’ll be ‘contributing’ even less this year. But it will allow me to spread my wings a little and write more about some of the other things I love… like history, travel, food and drink.

I’m also feeling a bit of a fraud about describing myself as a full time writer, because the reality is I generally spend about half the time writing (or marketing, or all the other bits and bobs associated with it) that I would do if I had a genuine full time job. But actually I want to enjoy life too.

I’m in my fifties (and proud of it… prouder than I am of the parentheses which are plaguing every paragraph) and my OH and I have worked really hard in the corporate world and in our own business since we graduated. Rather than continue at such a pace we decided to kick back and in 2017 we downsized to Cornwall and it was the best thing we ever did.

I’m a total advocate of the lifestyle down here. Not the part holidaymakers would necessarily see, but the everyday world of the everyday people. Very few live to work – most work about enough to live. Nobody’s bothered what you do or what sort of car you drive. As long as you say thank you when they give way to you. And once you sink back into the ‘manana with breaks for pasties’ timescale of anything getting done then it’s a dream.

So where am I in my writing career? I brought out two books independently with a reasonable degree of success, but after a false start with a publisher that went bust I now have a two book deal with Sapere. They are a joy to work with (saying that, I haven’t had my first edit notes yet so time will tell), collaborative and co-operative. They also do their best to bring their authors together, and I’m a great one for that.

Little did I know how influential attending the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference in 2017 would be in terms of finding writer friends. For me by far the most valuable part of the weekend was time spent with other authors and through social media we kept in touch. I was delighted to find that Kitty Wilson lived in Cornwall (although the rat bag has since moved to Bristol) and when Cassandra Grafton came here on a research trip we all met up.

From this meeting the idea of organising our own mini retreat/girls’ break was formed. We invited along Susanna Bavin and Kirsten Hesketh (who’d we also met at the RNA conference) and the rest, as they say, is history and after four days in Bath we’d become Sister Scribes.

There are probably a few other things you need to know about me that sometimes surprise people. I used to freelance as a cricket writer and I love the game. I’m Welsh by birth and fiercely proud of it. And if I couldn’t write it would feel as though my hands had been cut off. Actually, it would probably be because my hands had been cut off…

Follow Jane on Twitter @JaneCable

 

INTRODUCING SISTER SCRIBES: SUSANNA BAVIN

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Despite her concerns about sounding showy-offy that’s the last thing Susanna Bavin is. She may be the quietest of the Sister Scribes, the most softly spoken, but that does nothing to hide her keen intellect and enquiring mind. Most definitely her own woman.

There is something scary about being asked to introduce yourself on a magazine page. Will it sound showy-offy? But my fellow Sister Scribes have all introduced themselves, so now it’s my turn. Here goes.

I am living proof that dreams come true. There! How’s that for showy-offy? Not to mention being rather a grand claim. But it’s the simple truth. As a child, I dreamed of one day living in North Wales – Llandudno, to be precise – and six years ago, my husband and I found a beautiful house here, threw caution and jobs to the winds, and moved here. Best thing we ever did. One question we get asked by people who would love to live here (it seems that almost everybody who comes here on holiday dreams of living here) is, “Is it different when you live here? Less special?” and the answer to that is a resounding No. We love it just as much, if not more, and that feeling of “Wow! We really live here” has never gone away.

So that’s one dream. The other, of course, is that I have finally become a published writer. I say ‘finally’ because, although I was a child-writer and have been writing all my life, for most of that time I didn’t submit anything to literary agents. As a matter of fact, I got rather hooked on getting feedback and worked with a writers’ advisory service for some years. Then I decided to aim for publication, so I joined the RNA (Romantic Novelists’ Association) with the intention of writing four books, so as to have a body of work to offer a literary agent.

In the event, after I had written three, I became aware of other new writers getting their books published, which made me feel left behind, so I decided that the size of my body of work was perfectly adequate at three books and started submitting to literary agents. I was lucky enough to be signed up by Laura Longrigg at MBA.

The books I write are sagas. To date, I have had three published – The Deserter’s Daughter, A Respectable Woman and The Sewing Room Girl. The fourth, The Poor Relation, follows in May. The books are set in the part of Manchester where my family has lived for several generations and where I grew up.

I was a saga writer before I knew what sagas were. As a teenager, I lapped up Victoria Holt’s novels and started writing gothic stories, but these naturally grew and became what I later found out were sagas. For me, this was just the natural development of my writing style. I was delighted when, as a reader, I found out that other people wrote this kind of story too!

What do I like about sagas? The historical setting, for starters. I love to see the characters having to tackle their problems within the social and legal context of the time. I also enjoy the glimpse of social history, which is a great interest of mine. Clothes, meals, furniture – I love all those domestic details especially costume. It’s no coincidence that my forthcoming book, The Sewing Room Girl, involves the making of lots of clothes!

Follow Susanna on Twitter @SusannaBavin

 

 

THE 10 FUNNIEST JOKES OF ALL TIME

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“Why was the sand wet?”, “What do you call a blind dinosaur?” and “What did the policeman say to his tummy?” have been voted the funniest gags EVER according to children.

The recent Beano survey polled kids aged 7-12 to clear up once and for all which gags get the most giggles but in all honesty, the findings are consistent with our adult laugh-o-meter too…

Check out the innocent gems below:

 

  1. Why was the sand wet? Because the sea weed! (52%)
  2. What do you call a blind dinosaur? Doyouthinkhesaurus (45%)
  3. What did the policeman say to his tummy? Freeze you’re under a vest (44%)
  4. Doctor, Doctor! Help, I feel like a pair of curtains! Pull yourself together then (42%)
  5. What’s the fastest vegetable? A runner bean! (41%)
  6. What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? Frostbite! (40%)
  7. What’s brown and sticky? A stick! (39%)
  8. What do you call a blind deer? No eye deer (38%)
  9. Why should you be careful when it’s raining cats and dogs? You might step in a poodle! (38%)
  10. Do you want to hear a joke about pizza? Never mind, it’s too cheesy (37%

 

Beano’s national school joke competition is open for entries from April 1st. Primary school pupils or teachers (on behalf of their pupils) can enter via www.beano.com/jokes 

INTRODUCING SISTER SCRIBES: KITTY WILSON

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Sister Scribe number three is Kitty Wilson. You know with every group of friends there’s always one who’s outrageously funny. Well that’s Kitty. Funny and clever and warm. It’s little wonder she writes romcoms – and that they’re hilarious.

 

Hello! It’s so exciting to be able to collaborate with some of my best writing friends as Sister Scribes and keep you updated with all our news and views, so a big thank you to Frost Magazine for hosting us.

I’m Kitty Wilson and I write contemporary romantic comedies; my current series is set in the fictional village of Penmenna and is based around the school there. I used to be a primary school teacher myself and absolutely loved being part of such a strong community.

Having been both parent and teacher, I know what goes on both sides of the school door and really wanted to use a school as a setting and then fill it with some larger-than-life characters. I feel very lucky to be able to do this and often find myself giggling away as I invent some of the more outlandish antics of Penmenna’s PTA.

When my parents first suggested moving to Cornwall I was furious, and vowed I would never set foot in the place. I failed to win that battle so would wander around the lanes, sulky look on my face and a book tucked in my pocket, desperately waiting for a romantic hero to come and rescue me. These days I’m glad I wasn’t bundled into a car by a passer-by but it felt as if my heart would break with disappointment back then.

I lived there for twenty-five years, only moving away a few months ago to have a taste of life in the city. However, the sea is in my soul and I do head back to Cornwall regularly to get some beach time. Cornwall provided me with so much inspiration it made sense to set my books in the county and writing about it now makes me feel as if I’m still there.

Nine years ago, I was devastated when prolonged ill-health meant I had to give it teaching.  After a couple of years, I decided that I would chase my dreams instead until I could return to the classroom. I started to write.

When I had finished the first novel, I began the second, having heard you needed to write a fair few to learn all the things that make a book work. When I put that through the NWS which is a scheme run by the Romantic Novelists Association (the most supportive professional association in the world and one that actively encourages new writers and helps them build a career. It’s also responsible for me meeting my Sister Scribes) I was encouraged to submit the book to agents and publishers. I did this and couldn’t believe it when I had an offer. When I ran to tell one of my closest friends, laptop in hand and tears streaming down my face unable to get any words out, he made me hot sweet tea and sat me down, assuming all the emotion meant a close family member had died!

I used that publication offer to secure myself an agent who then immediately found me an alternative deal to consider. I never had dreamt I would be in the position of choosing a publisher, to this day I can’t quite believe that happened. I am loving writing them and there will be five Cornish School books in total, I have just finished the third and will be starting number four next week.

I am so looking forward to keeping everyone up to date with its progress through Frost magazine and introducing you to some of the women within the writing industry whom I admire. We’re going to have a blast!

Follow Kitty on Twitter @KittyWilson23

INTRODUCING SISTER SCRIBES: KIRSTEN HESKETH

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The second Sister Scribe I have pleasure in introducing is Kirsten Hesketh. Actually, she’s done a fab job of introducing herself… except she’s failed to mention that she’s kind, generous, funny and super-bright… and two glasses of sherry and a limoncello generally put her under the table.

 

Hello!

My name is Kirsten Hesketh and I am a novelist living in beautiful Henley-on-Thames. I am absolutely delighted to be part of Sister Scribes and I’m very excited to see how the project unfolds over the next weeks and months.

In fact, between you and me, I’m also feeling a twinge of Imposter Syndrome as I am the only one amongst our number who has yet to be published. Shhh … maybe they haven’t realised! Seriously, though, I hope my dispatches from the querying trenches will be interesting and entertaining: after all, isn’t it as much about the journey as the destination?

Anyway, a little about me.

My debut novel, Another Us, is the – hopefully! – poignant and funny story of a marriage at breaking point. Emma and Daniel’s son Jack has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and Emma is horrified to discover that 80% of such marriages fall apart. I am neuro-typical – if there is such a thing! – but one of my children was diagnosed with mild Asperger Syndrome when he was ten. My book starts pretty close to where we were as a family at that time (with an extra child added in for good measure) but quickly moves into ‘what if?’ territory – exploring the impact of the diagnosis on the family and the marriage.

I wrote the book in fits and starts, slotting it around my day job as a marketing consultant. I made every writing mistake possible – trying to get it right before getting it written (painstakingly polishing passages that didn’t even make the final cut) and sending it out to agents as soon as I’d finished the first draft. I don’t think it really had a plot. Let alone a narrative arc!

About this time, I joined Twitter and started to discover that fellow writers really are the most generous and lovely bunch. Twitter led me to the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) New Writers’ Scheme, which in turn led me to the RNA conference.  The RNA conference led me to delightfully raucous kitchen parties, sore head … and the other Sister Scribes. And along the way, I have met some truly inspirational women writers and poets and I am very excited to be introducing some of them to you in due course …

Once I had worked out what Another Us was really about. I redrafted and polished it and I started pitching to agents again. That was nerve-wracking, but once I’d received the first couple of rejections, I started to enjoy the process. I was lucky enough to have a little flurry of interest and I chose to sign with Felicity Trew from the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency who, interestingly, I had heard speak at the RNA conference. Felicity is advocate, enabler, co-conspirator and therapist all in one and I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

I’m now working on my second novel – affectionately titled Muddy Milly – which is set on an archaeological dig and is about a woman facing up to traumas in her past. My hubbie and I are heavily involved in a Roman dig near where we live in the Chilterns and I absolutely love it – the excitement, the camaraderie, the gentle exercise, the beautiful woodland. I’m really looking forward to March when the season starts again …

I’m a proud member of Reading Writers and am currently their treasurer and I’m still a member of the RNS New Writers’ Scheme. I am very much looking forward to the conference in the summer (although my liver is not).

I’m very much looking forward to meeting you all over the coming weeks and months.

Kirsten xx

 

Follow Kirsten on Twitter @Kirsten_Hesketh

INTRODUCING SISTER SCRIBES: CASSANDRA GRAFTON

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The first Sister Scribe I have pleasure in introducing is Cassandra Grafton. Cass currently splits her time between Switzerland, where she lives with her husband, and England where she lives with her characters. She loves travelling, words, cats and wine, and the Sister Scribes love the Swiss chocolate she so generously shares with us.

Hello! I’m delighted to be part of this exciting new venture with my Sister Scribes here at Frost Magazine!

A proud bookworm since childhood, I try to write the sort of stories I love to read – heart-warming, character driven and strong on location. Having moved around extensively and lived in three countries, I find places inspiring and the setting of my novels often becomes as much a part of the story as the characters.

I’ve been reflecting on the writers who have influenced both my reading habits and writing inspirations, and most of them have been women. My early years were spent devouring the novels of Enid Blyton, especially her boarding school stories. I’ve never been to boarding school, but it all seemed such fun, with midnight feasts and lashings of ginger beer! I think what also drew me to her stories was that she gave her lead characters some flaws, and I took comfort from the fact that sometimes it was okay to get it wrong.

When I reached my teens, romance took over, from the wild passion of the Brontës to the more gentle romance of Mills & Boon, all of which I consumed avidly. I fell in love with Mr Darcy and Captain Wentworth. I moved onto that early pioneer of chick-lit, Jilly Cooper, loving the humour she brought to her stories, then to Marion Keyes and Anna Maxted – real laugh out loud stories that also moved me to tears, turning occasionally to Daphne du Maurier for a dash of suspense. The final influence on my tastes came a little later, in the form of JK Rowling and her Harry Potter series.

It was both the latter and my love for all things Austen that eventually led to turning my long-held dreams of being a writer into reality.

I met a Californian (Ada Bright) on a Forum online and we both decided to try our hand at co-writing fan fiction, firstly around the Potter universe and later dabbling with Austen’s characters – it was fun, rewarding and a great way to hone our writing skills.

Eventually, I decided to publish some of these endeavours before Ada and I settled down to co-write The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen, which has since been picked up by Canelo Digital Publishing and will be released in September, with a sequel following in November.

It’s true to say that Jane Austen has, therefore, been the biggest influence of all those women writers. It feels apt that Chawton House in Hampshire, located in the village where Jane Austen was living when she published her first four novels, a secondary home of her brother, Edward (Austen) Knight, now houses a library dedicated to early editions of works by women, mostly within the period 1600-1830, a unique collection of women’s writing.

The historic setting of the house brings to life the context within which women writers lived and worked. The diversity of women’s writing during this period is displayed through novels, poetry, drama, published letters and memoirs on a whole range of subjects including history, travel, medicine, botany, cookery and more.

I’m looking forward to working with my fellow Sister Scribes over the coming year as we share our thoughts and experiences with you and introduce you to some of the key women writers in our lives.

Source: Chawton House website (https://chawtonhouse.org)

 

Follow Cassandra on social media @CassGrafton on Twitter or on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/cassie.grafton

WRITING IN THE NEW

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Jane Cable sets out her plans for Frost for 2019…

Much as I’ve loved hosting Business of Books over the last couple of years, it’s definitely time for a change. Two changes in fact, but more of the second one later.

Readers with very good memories may recall that in the autumn I went on a mini retreat with four writer friends. It was a comment from Kitty that started it – just as we were leaving – she said we’d become sister scribes. So I began to ponder what that could mean.

The world over women are particularly good at giving other women support. We excel at cooperation, collaboration, sharing the champagne and handing out the tissues (or the gin). We celebrate, we commiserate, we coax, we cajole – in short, we are there for each other.

So this year I’m sharing my Frost columns with my Sister Scribes. Over the next few weeks everyone will introduce themselves, and in the coming months we will all introduce other sisters from the world of words; women whose contributions to our writing lives are important to us. Women who want to share their passion for writing for, by, and about women.

So, the Sister Scribes are:
Cassandra Grafton has her roots in Austen-inspired fiction and is a Jane Austen Literacy Foundation ambassador. Published by Canelo from this year.
Jane Cable is a long term contributor to Frost. Indie author published by Sapere from this year.
Kirsten Hesketh’s first novel landed her an agent. Hopefully a deal will follow soon.
Kitty Wilson walked straight out of the RNA New Writers’ Scheme into multiple offers. Writes hilarious romcoms for Canelo.
Susanna Bavin writes elegant, well-researched sagas. Published by Allison & Busby.

We met because we are all members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, but that doesn’t mean the columns will all be about romance as our network of contacts spreads far and wide. Within the genre we cover a broad church, from sagas to romcoms and a great deal in between. There will be plenty of interest for readers and writers alike, with our first guests including my own long time buddy Carol Thomas on marketing collaboration and Cassandra’s co-author Ada Bright on what it’s really like writing together.

So that’s the first change. The second is an additional column on the last Wednesday of every month to replace the popular Take Four Writers. I will miss Angela, Claire, Jackie and Lucy but it’s time to offer a different perspective and I’m delighted that Sapere Books has offered to provide it.

Every month one of the Sapere team will give an insight into their publishing year. Editorial Director Amy Durant is as delighted about it as I am: “I am very excited to be offered this chance to give readers and writers a unique perspective into what life is like at Sapere Books. We are still a very new publisher and we have lots of exciting projects and developments launching this year – including publishing two of Jane’s books – so there will be plenty of news to share. As a small team we have the flexibility to change strategies at the drop of a hat, if something interesting pops up, so even I don’t know yet what I’ll be writing about in six months’ time, but I hope you will enjoy reading about Sapere Books’ journey in our second year of trading.”

So what will I be doing with all this extra time? I’m hoping I’ll be able to review more books for Frost and even branch out into travel and history related articles. Plus, as Amy has reminded me, I have two books out this year…

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – BALANCING, SHINING, HURDLING, REFLECTING

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The final word from our four writers and a heartfelt thank you to them all for sharing their writing years. Ladies – you’re an inspiration.

JACKIE BALDWIN: BALANCING

This month for me has been all about trying to balance the competing demands on my time between the day job, writing the first draft of my third crime novel and getting sorted for Christmas. My heart says write but my head says shop, clean and do the ironing! I have never been good at splitting my focus.

Tis the season to be jolly! I am a member of a wonderful crime writing community called Crime and Publishment in Gretna. Some of us are published whilst others are working on a first draft or at the submission stage.  After our Christmas meal we went round the table celebrating everyone’s writing wins, both big and small. It was heartening to hear how far we have come since our first year in 2014.

For me this time of year is always a time for reflection. To remember those people and animals who are no longer with us but lit up our lives, to be grateful for those who are still here and to think about where I want to direct my energies in the brand new shiny year to come.

It has been a pleasure to share my writing journey with you all this year. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

ANGELA PETCH: SHINING

December Frost:  sparkly, ice-cold, sharp, and a fitting way to skate away from a year of monthly reports. I shall miss them: it’s been a way of focussing during quite a year.

December 1st, I launched my self-published “Mavis and Dot”, and, promoted by a Blog Tour, it’s going well. My shiny new banner helped pull in interested readers. On the following Saturday, I manned a successful book stall outside Arundel Cancer Research Shop. All profits from M and D are destined for this charity.  A sequel has been requested; I’m thinking up scenarios for the two ladies.

Edits for Bookouture are 99% done for the first Tuscan novel commissioned for Spring 2019, (no title yet), and I’ve written a couple of chapters for the second. The rest is in my head. This year I will pin to paper.

Thanks so much to Jane and my trio of friendly authors. New friendships made, new goals formed. Good luck to us all, happy Christmas and 2019.

 

CLAIRE DYER: HURDLING

So, another year has gone by and I’m definitely a year older, but no wiser I fear!

Some highlights have been (in no particular order): my kids are doing OK; Mr Dyer is well and busy; my cats are still my friends; my novel The Last Day was published and I’ve been working on another two books since which has been both a challenge and a joy; it looks like there may be a new poetry collection in 2021.

Some lowlights have been (in no particular order): my mother’s dementia; the state of the nation; I don’t seem to be ageing like Dame Judi Dench, more like Ena Sharples; Hollywood still hasn’t called to offer to make my book into a movie!

And, as ever, there have been hurdles as is the case of the writer’s life. No sooner are we over one, then another appears. Sometimes they trip us up; sometimes we sail over them, landing gracefully on the other side a bit like a gazelle. And, as ever, there’s no saying which the next one will be as I sit here at the year’s end with the echo of the starting pistol and the crowd’s roar in my ear.

LUCY COLEMAN: REFLECTING

As the year draws to a close it’s a time when I reflect upon the highlights and low points of my working year. But more importantly it’s when I set new goals for the year ahead.

It has been my second most successful year as an author to date, for which I’m incredibly grateful. Hitting the no. 5 spot in the UK Kindle chart with ‘Snowflakes Over Holly Cove’, my second novel writing as Lucy Coleman, was beyond any dream I ever had. The goals I set are never about the results, but about the work required to keep honing my skills.

My goal for 2018 was to write four new books. Tick. And the first novella in a new little project with a new pen name. Tick.

My goal for 2019? Four new books and the second novella.

I write because it’s my passion and I write from the heart. The happiness and fulfilment is in the creation, because it is a little like the lottery. In this case fate is in the hands of the legion of wonderful reviewers and readers who choose your book. And that’s humbling.

Wishing everyone a 2019 filled with happiness, love and good health. And to the incredible Jane Cable and my fellow writers, you are all an inspiration!