SISTER SCRIBES: KIRSTEN HESKETH ON DEVELOPING AN UNHEALTHY AMAZON OBSESSION

Posted on by

I’m way behind the rest of the Sister Scribes in this publishing lark and my debut novel has just gone up for pre-order. Another Us isn’t being published until May 14th – indeed, it hasn’t even got a cover yet – and yet there it is, sitting pretty on Amazon with one of those big smiley faces where the cover illustration should be.

No one told me it was up there.

In fact, I would have been blissfully ignorant of all this, had a lovely lady in America not tweeted me to let me know she had just pre-ordered my book and how much she was looking forward to reading it.

Well, if she could only know what that has set in motion!

All I can say if that it was a good thing that my publishers didn’t let me know as soon as Another Us went up on Amazon because that would have meant I started the obsessive, frenzied, ridiculous checking of sales rankings even earlier. Does anyone else do this? Several times a day? First thing in the morning? Last thing at night? Or am I am just really, really weird?

But there is so much to check and it is all so really, really exciting (and nerve-wracking and depressing and thrilling depending on what I find.)

  • There’s the overall sales ranking itself – and a helpful little graph of how it changes over time. (My graph resembles a yo-yo on speed and probably correlates neatly with my blood pressure and heart rate.)
  • Then there are the sub-categories. Someone has put my book into the parenting and family humour, parenting and family relationship categories, which I would say is fairly spot on. For one heady moment, presumably when all my friends and family were busy pre-ordering Another Us, my book made it into top ten of a couple of these categories and my squeals of excitement could be heard from here to Timbuktu to be followed by groans of despair when it subsequently went into freefall.
  • As if the above wasn’t enough, within each category there is a ‘hot new release’ section. Doesn’t that sound brilliant – ‘hot new release’?  Another Us – currently the only one without a cover and looking a bit sorry for itself – has featured in the top ten there too and sent me skipping round the kitchen – which meant that when it invariably plummeted, I was handily placed to scoff a couple of soothing Curly Wurlies.
  • And don’t get me started on Amazon USA! That, of course, has all the same categories, which merely serves to double the joy – or pain (delete as appropriate).. Another Us in the ‘motherhood’ category over there as well, and I did have a little chuckle when I discovered it was a ‘hot new release’ – right next to ‘How to have a mindful epidural’! Fun, fun, fun …

Hubbie fails to share my enthusiasm about all this. When I told him I thought I was close to cracking Amazon’s algorithm, I swear I heard him mutter ‘obsessed’ and ‘addicted’ into his pinot noir. In fact, there may well have been ‘words’ after that and I might have told him I that I didn’t want to hear anything about his Fitbit and his 10k personal best ever again!

Marital harmony has since been restored and, my obsession with Amazon has subsequently waned. But heaven help us all when the book is launched!

 

Kirsten Hesketh’s debut novel. Another Us, will be published by Canelo on May 14th and is now available for pre-order.

 

Michael Rowan doesn’t know whether to laugh or shudder at the world premiere of Bin Juice at the VAULT Festival

Posted on by

The Vaults, Leake Street, London, SE1 7NN. Tuesday 10th – Sunday 15th March 2020

Madison Clare

Photo credit Lidia Crisfulli

Written by Cat Kolubayev and directed by Anastasia Bruce-Jones this is a fast paced, all female dark comedy, a story of loyalty, revenge and secrecy.

Francine and Marla are on the hunt for a new hazardous waste removal apprentice.

Having just escaped a life of misfortune, Belinda walks in, ready for her interview.

The position isn’t quite what it seems and the advert may have missed a few pertinent details. Showing the nasty side of an already filthy job, someone is about to find themselves in a very sticky situation.

Adeline Waby

Photo Credit: Lidia Crisfulli

A new job at a hazardous waste removal company means Belinda’s going to have

to get her hands a little dirty.

Bin Juice romps about with mess and grime and dirt and selfishness, crime and mobs and savagery.

Helena Antoniou

Photo credit Lidia Crisfulli

Expertly mixing the comedic with the macabre, the three women keep up the pace, but a special mention to Madison Clare, who plays Marla demonstrating innate comedic timing.

The forensic interview technique of Adeline Waby’s Francine, would have most human resources departments heading for the exit, whilst Helena Antoniou’s Belinda/ Barney, proves she can more than hold her own both within the play and on the stage.  

 

Running Time 1 hour

Box Office -Tickets are available priced £10.50 from https://vaultfestival.com/

or 0208 050 9241.

Age Guidance 12+

Twitter@BinJuicePlay#BinJuicePlay #TheSWRC@VAULTFestival

 

 

Michael Rowan gets a taste for recycling at Montezuma’s WASTE NOT, WANT NOT RECYCLABLE SHOP, open between 10am and 6pm on 13th and 14th March at 67 Neal Street in Covent Garden, London

Posted on by

Visitors eat imitation food packaging waste, made from chocolate, at Montezuma’s ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ recyclable chocolate shop, in Covent Garden, London. The pop-up shop lets customers swap old food packaging for chocolate and treats, to celebrate Montezuma’s switch to 100% sustainable packaging across its whole range.     Photo credit: Matt Crossick

You don’t have to be a genius to realise that landfill and carbon footprints are contributing to environmental harm and global warming. However, you probably do need to be a genius to get everyone to think about day to day packaging.

Those clever people at Montezuma’s take their chocolate seriously and their environmental impact just as seriously, which is good news for us all.

Montezuma’s wants people to re-think their daily habits by saying no to waste and yes to chocolate and it’s doing so in the most appetising manner.

Montezuma’s is inviting people to experience the sweet side of eco living, with its ‘WASTE NOT, WANT NOT RECYCLABLE SHOP’ in Covent Garden. To celebrate the launch of the brand’s new sustainable packaging, the award-winning British chocolate company is opening a pop-up shop, where you can swap your unwanted packaging for tailor-made treats, designed to imitate some of the biggest waste culprits in the UK food industry – think grab-and-go salad bowls, sandwich wrappers and those iconic black sushi trays.

Montezuma Chocolate managing director Bruce Alexander at Montezuma’s ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ recyclable chocolate shop, in Covent Garden, London.Photo credit: Matt Crossick

 

The beautiful, bespoke treats may look like trash, but they are actually formed from Montezuma’s classic white chocolate, filled with its indulgent truffle centre, and hand painted for a realistic finish! All chocolate lovers need to do to get their hands on these decadent chocolates, is simply hand over their used food containers – proving that recycling has more than just the one benefit.

Sitting in the window of the store is a fully edible 3D artwork, made to replicate a bin overflowing with non-recyclable rubbish. The piece will highlight the unrecycled waste that ends up on landfill each year. The indulgent installation will be lit up 24 hours a day, to inspire passers-by to make more sustainable choices when it comes to food.

Photo credit: Matt Crossick

The venture comes in the wake of Montezuma’s newly designed packaging, 100% of the Montezuma’s newly designed packaging is either recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable – a first for a British chocolate company. As well as using recyclable inks, adhesives, stickers and tapes, the company’s best-selling chocolate bars will now be delivered in 100% paper and card cartons, eliminating the non-recyclable metallised wrappers. Look carefully at all the art work as each tells a different story, but you will need to look closely.

Montezuma’s WASTE NOT, WANT NOT RECYCLABLE SHOP is open between 10am and 6pm on 13th and 14th March at 67 Neal Street in Covent Garden, London but don’t worry if you can’t get there because their repackaged fabulously tasty bars can be found in Sainsburys and Waitrose amongst other retailers.

 

 

My Writing Process – Tracy Baines

Posted on by

tracy-baines-author

I’ve always wanted to write novels, but it felt overwhelming, and to be honest, I didn’t have the confidence to dive into something so all encompassing – so I wrote articles and short stories. I’m so glad I did something – other than procrastinate. I learnt so much from writing short stories: brevity, character, structure and so on. It’s the same skills – you just need more stamina if you’re writing a novel. Gosh, I never knew how draining sitting down all morning could be.

I could always find the time for a short story and it taught me that I could finish things. Finishing is so important. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard people say they’ve got loads of beginnings. If you’re struggling, I’d say choose one thing and keep going until you finish it. My short stories have been published in magazines various magazines in the UK and abroad.

At the moment I’m working on the Christmas with the Variety Girls  – the sequel to The Variety Girls which was published by Ebury Press in February 2020.

I always write straight to my computer but I make a huge amount of notes by hand. I also go back to writing by hand if I get stuck and can’t get the words flowing. I don’t know why it works, but it does. Most mornings I’ll write a page of A4 of free flow. It’s like a warm-up to get the motor running and I find I can express myself more easily when I do this.

Daydreaming is important to me too. I play around with ideas for as much time as I can before I begin to write. I’ll read a lot of books for background details and research, and some of that will inspire a character or a scene. My books are set in the Variety Theatre during WW2 and I love reading books about old theatre and music hall stars to get creative thoughts flowing.

When I start writing I tend to stick with one character and work out what she wants most of all. Then I work out what could stop her getting it. Gradually all the other characters and events start to pop into my head. I make a synopsis, then develop a plan or outline which will change as I go along. It’s like having a road map. I can take detours here and there, but I always have a road to go back to. I’ve found this stops me from panicking about where I need to go next.

I try to work for a few hours each morning, actually writing, but I’m thinking about it most of the time. I might work in the evening if I’ve had a disrupted day. I tend to write more when I’m past the middle point. Some days are better than others. But if I’m having a bad day I’m happy as long as I get something down that moves the story forward. I know I can always go back and fix it. Again, the short stories helped me because I am not afraid of deleting huge parts of text to get to the nub of the story

Early in my career I was lucky enough to be mentored by Margret Graham – who also writes as Milly Adams and Annie Clarke. I’ve learnt an enormous amount from her and also from reading her many books. I am loving her latest – Girls on the Home Front series.  She is a superb teacher and if you ever get chance to get to one of her workshops crawl there if you have to. She’s also written two books that are brilliant in explaining things such as show and tell etc. No waffle, just practical advice and instruction – and plenty of exercises. You learn how to write by writing – you have to do the work – but having someone wonderful to mentor you makes such a difference.

Margaret’s explanation of structure took me time to understand. It’s very simple but there is such depth to it. It is foremost in my mind when I sit down to work out my novels: normal world, point of change, a rising arc of tension, crisis point or darkest moment, the slipper test, resolution. If you want to know more I can highly recommend The Writers Springboard. She describes structure so simply.

When the writing’s going well there’s nothing like it. It must be what drugs are like. I forget time and am totally in my little world. And when a character  arrives unannounced and tells you their story. Sublime. The difficult part is maintaining the momentum when the words aren’t flowing. It’s turning up at the desk, day after day, in the hope that this will be the day it all starts making sense.

My advice for other writers would be not to think you’re too old, not clever enough, thin enough, rich enough. Have confidence, work hard but most of all enjoy it. It will shine through in your writing.

the-variety-girls-tracy-baines

The Variety Girls published by Ebury Press £6.99

www.tracybaines.co.uk

You Don’t Have to Love Your Body, Just Don’t Hate it.

Posted on by
pregnant, woman, pregnant woman, Catherine Balavage

Me when I was pregnant with my son.

It is fair to say that at some point most of us have had a complicated relationship with our body. Women in particular get a rough ride. The media constantly tells us we are not tall enough, thin enough or tanned enough. Yes, the body positive movement has happened, but it is being sold to us by the same people who made us feel crap about our bodies for decades, and do not get me started on how their tagline is usually about ‘real’ women. It is so condescending. There are no fake women. Airbrushing women within an inch of their lives, while those women were already over five foot ten and a size eight, does not make these women an ideal that ‘real’ women no longer have to aspire to because you are woke now.

The beauty industry is still trying to sell us cellulite creams. In 2019 I was still seeing articles on how to get rid of cellulite. It is truly shocking. Babies have cellulite, children have cellulite, even men have cellulite, but for some reason only women are told that it is somehow not normal and we have to spend our time and energy getting rid of it. God forbid we work on our brains instead of our thighs.

P.S: dimples are cute.

Yes, I rant a bit but I have my reasons. As a teenager I thought my body looked awful. All I saw was flaws. Now I am in my thirties and I think it truly is amazing. There are parts I am not keen on, the bits of fat that accumulate around my C section scar and are hard to shift, for example, but I refuse to hate it. My body has made two beautiful children and been through two very different births: one emergency C section and one VBAC. It has been pregnant four times but only has two children and it has endured two traumatic surgeries.

The last few years I have been the fittest I have ever been in between my pregnancies. I am at my lowest weight in ten years and I am proud when I manage to make healthy choices, and gentle on myself when I do not. It makes me sad when I think about how long it took me to love my body on my good days, and not hate it on my bad ones. When I was a teenager I was ill with glandular fever. I was bedridden for years and it took a lot of time to get healthy again. My education was affected and it is only now I am managing to find the time to rectify that. You would think it that was an important lesson but I spent my twenties working fourteen hour days, going to parties and over-exercising. Turns out you can not exist on canapés and champagne alone. My main food groups were pasta and cereal. It is embarrassing to think about now that I try to make sure I have at least five-a-day and that I do not exert my body to much.

What I am trying to say is that your body is amazing. YOU are amazing, and while you do not have to love every part of your body, do not hate it. It is a miracle.

Bob Hillary’s Simplify, is a simple book with a simple solution: Review by Mary Cooper

Posted on by

And that solution is? Get back to nature.

The illustrations by Rosie Balyuzi dotted throughout the book, lead you through its meandering pages as Bob relates how he unhooked himself from the negative aspects of his life.

For two years he went off-grid into the Welsh mountains. Sometimes with no electricity, no phone, and miles from, what we call, civilisation.

He reconnected with nature.

Away from the paraphernalia of his old life, he found himself embracing the peacefulness of nature, and the silence of his mind and body.

Bob Hillary is a man of our times, probably ahead of our times as we try to catch up with what he has been advocating for years.

We can’t keep burning the Earth’s candle at both ends.

We have to take responsibility for our actions, and have more respect for each other and this planet we are privileged to inhabit.

Bob gives us twenty-one practices to simplify our lives. From just allowing ourselves to take it easy, to meditation and breathing.

On page seventy-six, he advocates exercise. This can include dancing.

Apparently there is a practice called 5Rhythmsdance a sort of movement meditation where you can dance away your demons.

It reminded me of a session of Laughing Yoga I did with my sister and three other stranger in an open tent at a Sunday market in Ireland — I’m smiling now as I think of it.

The session lasted about an hour, and so engrossed were we in our laughing that we were completely oblivious to the passers-by stopping to watch.

It was a fantastic unforgettable and liberating experience as I think 5Rhythmsdance would be too.

Bob Hillary’s lifestyle is intriguing, and in Simplify, he is very generously giving us the tools to aspire to a better way of life, a life that has been lost in this mad, mad world we have created.

Available from Amazon.co.uk

SISTER SCRIBES: SUSANNA BAVIN ON WHY TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED ARE SO UNUSUAL AND SO SATISFYING

Posted on by

How many of you out there remember watching Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected back in the 1970s? Or, if you don’t remember any of the programmes themselves, I bet you remember the opening credits, with the silhouette of the girl dancing in front of what I imagine was a psychedelic background. I can’t be sure about the psychedelic bit, because our telly was black-and-white. I can recall only one of the stories, which featured Susan George as a housewife who cooked a joint of meat . . . and if you don’t know the significance of this, I’m not going to tell you. I’ll just say the story had a very clever twist at the end.

We all enjoy a good plot-twist, don’t we? One of the things about being an experienced reader is that it is rare to be truly surprised by something that happens in a book – though I want to make it clear that this in no way lessens the enjoyment of reading it. It is particularly true for readers of genre fiction, where certain conventions and expectations exist within whatever type of story it is. I once wrote a blog called A Promise Between Friends, which was about the ‘contract’ between the author of genre fiction and the reader. The author writes a stirring story within the conventions and the reader meets the writer halfway. Even so, a good plot-twist is always welcome.

Take Hope at Holly Cottage by saga writer Tania Crosse. The idea of the husband or father drinking his wages and then knocking his wife around is well-known to readers of sagas and historicals, but Tania Crosse takes this familiar idea and gives it a new lease of life. Yes, Anna’s dad has bouts of violence, but the reason behind them is one I haven’t come across in a saga before and it adds extra depth to the tragic dynamics of the family situation. After packing the opening chapters with drama and emotion, Tania Crosse then takes the heroine off into a completely new place for the next part of her story, changing not only the setting but also the atmosphere, and giving Anna something new to strive for.

And if you have read Lizzie of Langley Street by Carol Rivers, then you need look no further than its sequel, The Fight for Lizzie Flowers, for a truly unexpected beginning. The first book ends in just the way the reader hopes it will, but the expectations that this creates for what will happen in book 2 are decisively blown to bits in the very first chapter of The Fight for Lizzie Flowers, which opens the continuation of Lizzie’s story in a thoroughly unexpected manner, paving the way for a dramatic and compelling story in which Lizzie – and the reader – can take nothing for granted. As with every Carol Rivers saga, there is a pacey story with well-drawn characters and a strong sense of family feeling.

I was going to end this blog by saying something along the lines of how good it would be if we could have more breath-taking plot-twists, but now I’m wondering whether that might result in too much of a good thing. After all, one of the reasons we all admire a devious plot-twist is because it’s unusual. And perhaps that’s the way it should stay – as a special treat in the occasional book.

Let Natalie Jayne Peeke, our West Country Correspondent introduce you to ‘How Novel’

Posted on by

Once upon a time I was scrolling through Instagram and I came across this interesting company called How Novel. What I was drawn to was the fact that they offer Mystery books which are wrapped, complete with illustrations to hint at the book that lies within.

I had many options to choose from and I ended up selecting two books: one was illustrated with hints such as ‘Espionage & Conflict’ and the second was illustrated with ‘ Witchcraft & Family’. I can not reveal what books I received, only that I am extremely happy with them.

I wanted to find out more about How Novel and they kindly agreed to answer some questions.


How the company came to be and why

I have always been entrepreneurial and wanted to run my own business. I started my first company when I was 16, where we provided sports coaching for children. When that came to an end I was on the lookout for a new idea. I was working in a school at the time, as a teaching assistant, and noticed that the children in one particular class loved reading more than any other. I worked out that the teacher was using her own money to buy books that linked to each individual child’s interests. That got my brain thinking and our sister brand, Reading Box (readingbox.co.uk), was born. We ran events for that brand over Christmas 2019 and wanted to offer something for adults too. I had seen ‘blind-date-with-a-book’ type things before, but thought we could do better; I knew a fantastic artist, put the two together and that is how the product in its current state came to be!

 

What is the ambition of How Novel?  

We want to make How Novel the go to brand for literary gifts. We have so many ideas, the sky is really the limit!

 

What does 2020 have in store for you all?  

Judging by the amount of orders that are coming in, more artists! As every single one of our Mystery Books is hand drawn, our capacity is limited to the speed at which our artists can draw and we will not compromise on quality. Most immediately, we will be launching our subscriptions, which will be more in line with memberships- you will really be part of a community. Every member will get a Mystery Book each month in one of our gorgeous boxes, along with an exclusive bookmark. Each member will also be given a personal pen pal to whom they can write each month and receive a bespoke response!


Did you have to go through a trial and error before you became established?   

Developing both brands to the point of launch took almost a year. For How Novel, the website, graphic design and product itself has all been done in house. However, once we launched it took off. We sent around five boxes out to people on Instagram with a decent following and within a day of them posting, we had doubled that in orders. The numbers have soared since then. So, even though it was a long slog to get going, once we opened our metaphorical doors people have welcomed us with open arms which has been really lovely. The support we have received has been immense.

 

How do you decide what books to use?  

Our Mystery Books are chosen either based on the recommendation of one of the team who has read it and enjoyed it, or we have heard great things about. We try and keep them current and in line with what our demographic tend to read, however we have plans to broaden our selection as we grow. Boring things like stock at our supplier are also taken into consideration. Once the books are delivered to us, one of our team chooses the four words that best represent that specific book before they are finally handed over to our Lead Artist, Jess. She usually sighs and gives us the odd annoyed look at us, once she has seen the difficulty of some of the words she has to draw but she always pulls it off! She’s incredible.

More information: https://www.hownovel.co.uk/