A Virtual Writers’ Weekend – just the job for these strange times

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Have you been spending your time in lockdown working on a novel, short story, picture book or children’s book? The Virtual Writers’ Weekend, online from 24-27 June, 2021, is a place where writers working in all genres and at all levels can find writing support, editorial feedback and meet one-to-one with literary agents to pitch their manuscript.

Founded by the former director of the long-running Winchester Writers’ Festival, Sara Gangai, the Writers’ Weekend had its inaugural event in July, 2020 and drew an international audience.

After finding that a virtual event can be as interactive and effective as an in-person event, Sara decided to hold it virtually again in 2021. ‘Now, more than ever, there is a need for writers to have a chance to meet and share with other writers and rub virtual elbows with literary agents and published authors.’ The highlight for many is the one-to-one appointments and every year, a number of writers attain publication as a result of the event. New this year: small-group genre-specific Writers’ Circles for peer feedback, starting in May and ending with a one-to-one with an agent or author mentor.

The 2021 event features acclaimed keynote speakers: Diana Gabaldon, best-selling author of the ‘Outlander’ series that has an avid following, and award-winning children’s author/illustrator Chris Riddell, who’s rich illustrations for a new edition of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass will come out in June. A slate of best-selling authors and top literary agents will give talks and answer audience questions on the craft of writing, including Kate Mosse, Robert Fabbri, Helen Fields, Derek Miller, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Lissa Evans, Tracey Corderoy, MG Leonard, and illustrator Ness Wood, to name a few.

For the full programme and details on scholarships, bursaries and their six writing competitions, please visit www.writersweekend.uk.

 

 

Keeping Your Child Active

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While younger children may be more inclined to burn off energy by running around, especially during play with their friends, you want to nurture this activity to help them remain fit and healthy as they grow up. Looking into ways that you can promote an active lifestyle without turning it into a chore, or something that they find boring, can help them to enjoy staying active, as well as provide some great opportunities for getting outdoors and spending time together as a family.

Active Toys

Children learn to develop their skills via play, which is why the type of toys that you buy your child can impact their growth tremendously. To encourage your child to engage in more active or outdoor play, you may want to consider toys for the right age from Wicked Uncle. This can allow them to begin to discover games or skills that incorporate exercise. Something as simple as a child’s first bike can help them to discover a love of cycling which can be great for both travel and keeping fit. This can also allow you to venture out as a family, exploring the local area, with the journey becoming part of the adventure. 

Clubs

As your child grows up and starts school, a number of clubs may be offered to them, both by their learning provider as well as other institutions. Encouraging your child to sign up for sports clubs can enable them to learn more about social interactions and keep fit. Some other clubs your child may join might also provide them with life skills, such as the ability to swim. Children can often make lifelong friends by taking part in these clubs, as well as developing their abilities. Many children who attend sports clubs from when they are young often go on to continue enjoying and participating in that sport, even into adulthood.

Combination with a Balanced Diet

While keeping active is important for your child to grow up fit and healthy, their diet cannot be neglected. Even when undertaking exercise, poor food choices can still cause weight gain, as well as other health problems which may affect their enjoyment and longevity. By providing your child with correctly portioned food, rich in lean proteins, healthy fats, and plenty of fruit and vegetables, you will be enabling them to make better food choices as they grow up, as well as to provide their insides with the correct vitamins and minerals they require to function properly. It is also important, after activity, that you do not overcompensate by giving them an increased number of calories. 

While processed or greasy food should be kept to a minimum, these may be incorporated into your child’s diet to allow them to practice moderation, as well as to avoid binging on forbidden foods once they reach an age where they have more autonomy over purchasing food.

Considering ways to keep your child active and healthy now can help them to grow up with a good relationship with both food and exercise. 

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And the thrillers keep on coming from Joffe Books in good time for Mother’s Day by Annie Clarke

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GET THREE BESTSELLING CRIME THRILLERS IN ONE BARGAIN BOX SET.  Only 99p/99c for all three

PRAISE FOR MARGARET MURPHY:

“Amongst the best of British crime writing and gives the likes of Ian Rankin and Minette Walters a run for their money . . . If you like crime, you’ll love Murphy.” Chester Chronicle

“Set aside a day — you won’t be able to put it down once it has you in its grip.” Val McDermid

Too good to miss, for a Mum who likes thrillers? Grab this box set today for a bargain price. Only 99p / 99c for THREE unputdownable crime thrillers.

A bumper set for Mother’s Day, but let’s see what else there is for you.

 

            

The Zodiac Murder by Roy Lewis 99p/99c

A dangerous killer who has been abducting, torturing and murdering women is on the loose. Eric Ward is appointed to defend the man accused of these heinous crimes. Due to a technicality, he walks free. But is the man truly guilty?   Find out in the final instalment of Roy Lewis’ Eric Ward mystery series.  99p / 99c

The Frank Doy Crime Thrillers by Dan Latus in one good value box set.

Great for those who enjoy pacey thrillers. Out now at 90% off for a limited time . 99p/99c

The Evil that Men Do by Jeanne M Dams  £1.99 $2.99

Dorothy Martin and her husband escape to the Cotswolds for a charming weekend away in the countryside. When they least expected it, the couple stumble across a body at the bottom of a disused quarry. Did he fall to his death or was he pushed?  (Fabulous Jacket)

        

Next of Kin by Maureen Carter    99P / 99C

Next of Kin is a page turner. Mum will like this, and want more. Perhaps a box of chocs as well then.  Tight plotting, fast pace. Grab a soft centre from the box, take a breather, then back to it.

A Vow of Devotion  by Veronica Black £1.99 / $2.99

The convent welcomes two newcomers hoping to join the fold. Soon after their arrival, there’s a mysterious intruder . . . The convent is no longer safe. Dramatic and entertaining and a favourite of mine – set in a Cornish convent. Sounds just the thing for a lazy Mother’s Day afternoon, as others prepare tea.

 

Hidden in the Heart by Beth Andrews 99p/99c

Romance and mystery,   Lydia Bramwell is sent to her Aunt Camilla in the Sussex countryside. High-spirited Lydia expects a very dull visit to the village of Diddlington but all is not as she had anticipated when a charred corpse is found in the woods. Lydia enlists the help of her friend, John Savidge, to catch the real killer.

As a tease,Blood Stained is on its way –   so a quick looked at the jacket… (This books can be pre-ordered).

BLOOD STAINED by Rebecca Bradley   Can’t find her.   Can’t catch him.  Can’t trust anyone.

The first in a gripping new Sheffield-set crime series starring Detective Claudia Nunn.

Commissioning Editor Emma Grundy Haigh said: “Rebecca Bradley is a thrilling voice in commercial crime fiction. Her insider knowledge of policing delivers unerring authenticity to this new series, but it’s her compelling narrative voice that immediately hooked me in, and I knew straight away we needed Rebecca to join the Joffe Books list. Blood Stained is a dark, twisty and utterly compulsive page-turner that will be devoured by fans of Rachel Abbott and Lisa Reagan.”

There you are then, a few tempters for Mother’s Day. Just don’t forget the box of chocs too.

Books are available from Amazon.  And still time to browse the shelves of  one of our leading independent publishers: Joffe Books. for more choices.

Annie Clarke is the author of the Home Front series (Arrow paperbacks).

All that Glitters, Shelagh Mazey’s fifth novel in the Heart of Stone series promises hours of pleasure. Enjoy.

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All that Glitters is the fifth in the Heart of Stone series by Shelagh Mazey, one of my favourite authors, who has created a series of deeply researched, fascinating, memorable sagas, using settings which seem to span the world.

So let’s see where Mazey takes her astonishing cast of characters this time:

Aurora Dryer is the adopted daughter of Lord and Lady Dryer of Alvington Manor. She has fallen for the prospector Rhys Thomas on a short-lived trip to Australia. Her challenge is to persuade her parents to let her follow her heart and return to the gold mining town of Bendigo to see if the magic can be re-captured.

Lucy Seymour, the young widow of murdered Ashleigh Seymour, makes the decision to travel with her small son Frankie to the diamond mines of South Africa to visit her brother-in-law, Rupert. Enticed by the offer of marriage, Lucy knows that she and her son have a long sea voyage and epic trek overland ahead of them, but she wishes to escape her uneventful provincial life with her in-laws.

Both women are yearning for excitement, but their journeys are destined to take different paths to those they had envisaged. Their story will take them to the gold and diamond mines of Australia and South Africa. In the pursuit of love they will face many adventures including a shipwreck, black magic, vendettas, arson, kidnap and extortion.

The novel, set in the second half of the nineteenth century, starts with a prologue, which is always a good way to bring the reader up to date.  This time  Shelagh Mazey uses   ‘where we are in the series’ letters, a device used from time to time, to draw the threads of the novel together. Clever.  And within the first chapter there is talk of smallpox, and vaccinations which makes this historical novel immediately  relatable – again –  clever.

Swiftly flowing, always page turning,  Mazey writes with compassion, and gentleness. Whenever I read one of her novels I learn about a country, and a time set back in the annals of history. All that Glitters is no exception,   Mazey  transports us from Portland and its rich history, to South Africa, by sea, to Australia, too. I can see the bright light, and smell, almost taste the dust of  these far away countries,  as we follow all that the characters endure, all their trials and tribulations. Do they overcome them? Ah, read and see.

Why travel in their footsteps, when you can buy this book and take the journey in the comfort of your armchair, and what’s more, travel back in time while you’re about it?

Another triumph for Shelagh Mazey. Bravo.

All that Glitters is available in eBook and paperback.(though the pb is held up slightly owing to lockdown.)

 

My Writing Process KL SLATER

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After years of unsuccessfully trying to get my stories noticed from the slush pile, I went back to university to study for an MA in Creative Writing at the age of 40. Before graduation I’d secured both a literary agent and a book deal. I’m now a full-time writer and live in Nottingham. Sounds quick but it took a long time, if you count the ten long years of prior rejections.

What you have written, past and present.
I wrote four Young Adult books between 2014-2018, published by Macmillan Children’s Books. Then in 2016 I moved back to writing my first love: adult psychological crime fiction and that’s what I write exclusively today for Hachette’s Bookouture, a digital-first publisher. Audible publish my audiobooks and I’ve also written two Audible Originals exclusively for them. I’ve just written my fifteenth adult thriller.

What you are promoting now.
THE EVIDENCE, a psychological thriller I’ve written exclusively for Audible published 11th February 2021.

A bit about your process of writing.
I work best during the morning. This discipline is a throwback to working a full-time day job and writing between 6-8 am before I went out to work. Sometimes I write in bed immediately after waking and, on a good day, I can get a couple of thousand words down before I get up. But usually, after reading and surfing online for a while, I go downstairs to my office and start work between 8 and 9 am. In pre-lockdown days we’d go out somewhere in the afternoons. Remember that?

Do you plan or just write?
I used to just write a short blurb and that was the extent of my natural urge to plan. But writing commercial thrillers and a few a year, means I now have to plan the book more thoroughly … thoroughly for me, anyway. I’ll do a long outline which I agree with my editor and then add to it as I start writing. I don’t know a lot about the story at the beginning of the process, I just have my initial idea and a sense of how I want it to feel. It doesn’t mean the plot can’t differ from the outline – it nearly always does – but in order to provide the twists and turns the modern reader expects, there has to be some element of planning.

What about word count?
I write a few books a year so it’s essential I’m disciplined about achieving minimum daily word counts when I begin a first draft. I try and get a basic draft down in no more than a couple of months so I’m looking at 1-2k a day. I often add substantial word count during structural and line edits. Sometimes I like to use an app on my phone called Focus Keeper. The ticking timer drives some people crazy but it keeps me … well, focused.

How do you do your structure?
I tend to draft out my initial outline in the form of five acts to start writing to a recognisable shape. But I’m not a slave to a turning point at 10%, another at 25%, that kind of thing. I just find it a useful template to get me started.

What do you find hard about writing?
Stopping. I find it so hard to break off or have a whole day off so I have to force myself as there’s a real world out there and real people I care about and want to spend time with. I’ve found getting out of the house is key to breaking the spell. I’m constantly striving to achieve that illusive but tempting cliché: work-life balance.

What do you love about writing?
I love how the world and characters I’m writing seem so real. I love that I’m earning a great living doing something I would do – and for many years did do – for free. And I love writing digital-first; it’s incredible that 6-8 months after having a new idea, the book can be out there.

Advice for other writers.
Write. Sounds obvious but most writers I know, myself included, have a precarious state of mind that is prone to self-sabotage and procrastination. So many new writers – I used to be one of them – spend too much time striving for perfection instead of getting the book down and then using editing as a powerful tool to refine the story. It’s really hard to get something good the first time around. I like to think of the writing process as a kind of sculpting: starting with a lump of clay and through many stages and revisions, finally ending up with something good.

The Evidence by K.L. Slater is available exclusively on Audible now.

The World Between Us by Sarah Ann Juckes Reviewed by Natalie Jayne Peeke West Country Correspondent

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Alice may be bed-bound, but every day Stream Cast brings the world to her. From the streets of Tokyo to a masterclass in video games, she experiences other people’s wild and exciting lives all without ever leaving her room.

But everything changes when Alice is introduced to a new streamer.

Rowan encourages Alice to stop watching, and start taking control. But Rowan has a secret he’s trying to hide from Alice – and from himself.

As Alice and Rowan build a bigger and more beautiful world together, their secrets threaten to tear them apart. Would you risk everything for love?
Every so often I like to pick up a book that is more suitable for younger ages, mainly to satisfy my curiosity about how books have changed with the times and see what is new for the young people of today.

From the first page to the last I was hooked, it’s a cliché but I genuinely could not put this marvellous book down.

During these times where we have all been locked away from our friends like Alice, many of us have used technology for socialising. However, unlike most of us, Alice is bed bound all of the time.

Do you ever wonder what that is like? Sarah Ann Juckes writes a beautiful story of Alice, her friends and of course, her first love.

The world between us is aimed at readers aged 12-17, however I am in my late 20s and I still enjoyed it. I found it to be a lovely smooth read with short chapters which is ideal if you only want to read little and often.

I would recommend The World Between Us to fans of All the Bright Places and the fault in our stars.

Can I access my pension savings before I retire?

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If you are over 55 and have the right pension – yes you can! This is great news for people in the UK at the moment, as the official retirement date seems to be getting further and further away.  But why would you want to use hard earned cash which has been saved for your later years? Isn’t this a bit risky?

Use the guidance of a regulated financial advisor

Clearly money put aside for your retirement years was put there for a reason. To diminish those funds could be putting your retirement in danger. For this reason, you should never mess with your pension pot alone and get the guidance of a regulated financial advisor if you are thinking of releasing money. These professionals are accountable to the FCA.  Many offer a no-obligation pension check and can help you understand the options available to you. They can let you know if releasing money is right for you or not, based on your individual circumstances. It could leave you worse off in retirement.

In other words, as you approach your final working years you can double check that your pension pot is strong enough to fund a long retirement and also consider how you can use your savings to help you with debts, treats or big buys in the here and now.

So how do you access your pension?

In 2015 the government in the UK introduced pension freedoms. They allow people to take lump sums from their pension or a regular income, from the age of 55. You can only do this with work pensions or private pensions. You cannot access your state pension or unfunded pensions. If you have a final salary pension you can transfer monies to a fund which offers access. However, be careful as you could be giving up valuable guarantees. Before you do this get guidance as to whether having access to your pension will be detrimental to your long term benefits.

What are your options?

Here are three fundamental ways in which you can access your pension savings:

  • One lump sum
  • Taking out lump sums whenever you need them
  • Income drawdown. In other words, you draw down your pension as a regular income.

The first 25% of any money you take from your pension will be tax free. Any money left in your pot will continue to be invested by your pension provider. As seen above, you can take as many lump sums – if and when you need them. With drawdown you can create an extra income for yourself which could act as a sole or complimentary income. 

Why do people access their pensions?

Throughout our working lives our hard earned cash tends to go on five specific things:

  1. Sustenance. i.e., paying for those things we need just to allow us to live comfortably
  2. Those treats we give ourselves on a weekly/monthly basis
  3. Short-term savings (i.e., that holiday to America next summer; that new sofa you have been promising the family; rainy day money)
  4. Emergency funding (that unforeseen urgent bill etc.)
  5. Long-term savings (i.e., a savings pot for retirement)

There is always going to be the time when you need that extra bit of cash urgently. It seems people access their pot for reasons 3 and 4 above. Statistics from 2018 show people tend to access their part for the following reasons:

  • 32% to tackle a debt
  • 21% to make house improvements
  • 10% to buy a new car

See here how people are using pension freedoms in the year 2019/2020.

Whatever you do – don’t go it alone. Seek out the guidance of a regulated financial advisor to ensure your pension pay-out will be maximised after any access or indeed if it is a good idea at all. Check out the FCA website to get ideas as to where to find an advisor.

If you are considering your pension, consider using a regulated pensions specialist like Portafina or, view the information guides at The Pensions Advisory Service.

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Let’s Make Us Better – Starting With Pukka Tea by Dr Kathleen Thompson- Award winning author

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After a year of an invisible enemy and lockdowns perhaps it’s no wonder that our lifestyle may have slipped from healthy to ‘could do better’.

Maybe now’s the time to ditch the comfort eating, the ‘is it too early for a glass of wine?’ habit and swap the TV for long walks (socially-distanced of course).

Gently as it goes though, self-kindness and patience are important too – and Pukka teas are a particularly pleasant way to start.

Do you remember when herbal teas tasted like coloured water? No, you’re probably too young, but trust me, Pukka is a totally different experience.

Pukka teas are all certified organic, and are harvested sustainably, and growers paid fairly.  The company was established by entrepreneur Tim Westwell and practicing herbalist Sebastian Pole. ​

Sebastian expertly blends practitioner-grade herbs and spices, which contain the highest level of essential oils and active ingredients. He uses Ayurvedic principles, a centuries-old Indian health practice which classifies people into three types, or Dosha: Vata, Pitta and Kapha, which can be rebalanced to restore health. You can even find your personal Dosha using the questionnaire on the Pukka Herbs website.

I love the various Pukka tea collections , but Day To Night has a particularly great selection, from getting you up in the morning with Ginseng And Matcha Green tea, Turmeric Gold to help reduce inflammation naturally, Revitalise (with cardamom which I adore), and then as we get towards evening, winding down with the naturally caffeine-free teas After Dinner and Night-Time.

But let’s talk a little more about night-time and sleep because sleep patterns have generally suffered during the pandemic. Research shows strong links between sleep and our immune system, and good quality sleep may even help our response to vaccination. So now is a good time for sleep hygiene.

Pukka’s new Night Time Berry is ideal – a mixture including different berries, valerium, chamomile, lavender and echinacea – a fabulous combination of natural sleep-inducers with immune-system support. And the best bit, it tastes absolutely delicious.

So, as a first step to your new healthy life, why not pop a box of Night Time Berry on your shopping list. Available from Waitrose, Amazon and Holland & Barrett for RRP £2.99 for a box containing 20 sachets.

By Dr K Thompson, award-winning author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co.uk

Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.