Busy, busy!

Life seems to have been very busy recently. Maybe that's why these first six months of 2013 seem to have flown by. World Book week back in March was the start of it with lots of school visits. The furthest was Peterborough and the closest was Corpus Christie Primary - just down the road!

In between time I had some final edits to do on my latest book, The Trunk, which is now out as a Puffin book, published by Penguin Australia. I'm writing under the pseudonym S.Carey for this which is part of their Eerie Series. Had great fun writing this, and gave my grandson, Jake (14) the creeps when I let him read the manuscript before sending it off. Just the right reaction I was hoping for!

Also around March/April time I received my edits back from All Classic Books, who are an American publisher. They will be publishing my first adult thriller, Death Lay Waiting, and there were lots of changes to make on that – and I'm pretty sure I haven't finished yet!. That's the thing about writing, getting it accepted by a publisher is just the start. Then comes all the re-writing and changes. Whatever you do – don't write in stone.

Then Turquoise Radio got in touch, as they wanted to serialise my book, Deadly Hunter for their kids programme presented by Kaz Cockburn. It had been so long since that book was written (it was first published around 1996) that I no longer had the story on my computer. So it was a matter of re-typing it from the book, to get it into a digital format again.

 Kaz would simply have read from the book but I thought it was a good opportunity to bring it up to date. So all that copy typing kept me pretty busy for a few weeks and I have to admit, caused my wrists to ache slightly!

Kaz did a great job in recording the story which was serialised over about eight or nine weeks. I've turned it into an ebook now, and I should have some of the audio on my website soon. I'll definitely need some assistance from my IT wizarrd son, Wayne to help me with that!

Another exciting opportunity followed. Fiction Express who team up with schools to provide fiction that the pupils can contribute to, commissioned me on a story called The Mysterious Indian Vanishing Trick. The original story was pretty set in my mind, but I had to forget all that and create a brand new first chapter with three choices at the end for the children to vote on, and so dictate what would happen in chapter two – and so forth!

Chapter 1 went live yesterday (Friday 14th June) so this week there will be some instant, real time writing happening, as I'll have just two days to write each chapter. I'm praying that I don't get writer's block... I haven't got time! I hear that chocolate is good for avoiding writers block - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

On top of that, I've been writing a couple of non-fiction articles. One for Collector's Gazette on Doctor Who toys; and another for Dogs Monthly magazine on Dogs for the Disabled which took me and  photographer Rob Tysall out and about to the Frances Hay centre in Banbury.

My IT knowledge (or lack of it) came into play to re-vamp Rob's website - www.tysallsphotography.org.uk . Rob and I share his photography studio, which is where I do most of my writing. He wanted to change the colour scheme of his website from black, grey and silver to lilac and purple. Now that might sound easy and straight forward but had me almost tearing my hair out and dissolving into a panic stricken wreck when it all went horribly wrong! Thank heavens for my IT wizard son again, who came to the rescue!

Most recently, Coventry held its Literally...Coventry Book Festival, from Monday to Saturday, with stacks of events taking place. My involvement meant three school visits locally, which were absolutely lovely. I went to Earlsdon Primary, Our Lady of the Assumption Primary and Gosford Primary.

Just a few of the great children at
Our Lady of the Assumption Primary

 Two of those visits were to talk primarily about my book, The Beast which I'm dead chuffed to say won an award in the Coventry Inspirational Book Awards 2013 in their raring2read category.

Which brings me to one of the highlights of this week – the award ceremony. It was held at the wonderful medieval St Mary's Guildhall, with the Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, other authors and illustrators plus invited guests. It was quite exciting to meet Sir Quentin Blake who received a Lifetime Achievement award – the first that the Coventry Literary Festival had awarded.

About to have a photo taken. Sir Quentin Blake
has a laugh with author Gaynor Arnold.

And my big moment!

My daughters, Angela, Debbie and oldest grandson, Jake came along to support me, as well as Lorna Hunt from Usborne Publishing. Usborne published The Beast back in 2004. Can't believe it was that long ago. Mind you, The Reawakning and Rampage have followed, making it a trilogy.  My character, Karbel feels like one of the family these days! Although I don't think I'd want to take him out for a walk...

Then earlier this week, I had a real fun evening with The Coventry Writers Group. As part of the Festival we staged an evening of reading and performing our work which had the theme, Coventry Fact and Fiction to a small audience at the Criterion Theatre. My story was Visions, set in Whitefriars Monastery. I adapted it as a little play, and donned a monk's outfit just for fun.

Me as a slightly manic monk!

So all in all, a very busy few months. Better than being bored though!

Some websites you might want to look at:

http://www.tysallsphotography.org.uk

http://www.schools.fictionexpress.co.uk

http://www.usborne.com

http://www.turquoiseradio.com

http://www.literallycoventry.wordpress.com

http://www.allclassicbooks.com

http://www.penguin.com.au

Thank you for the votes by Ann Evans

Just over a year ago I remember writing a blog about theCoventry Inspiration Book Awards. I'd been involved in the judging of a schools' writing competition, and had been invited along to the awards ceremony as a guest.

It was a really good night - especially (obviously) for the authors who won in the twelve adult and twelve young reader categories. And if you were you to ask if I was just a teeny weeny, itsy witsy bit envious as I watched the successful authors taking their bows - well, what writer wouldn't be - in a generous and big hearted way, of course!!

The presentation evening took place in the beautiful Saint Mary's Guildhall – one of Coventry's most historic buildings which dates back to the 14th century and has been in constant use throughout the ages. Reputed to be haunted and the place where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned for a time, the venue alone was inspirational to any writer.

Coventry's St Mary's Guildhall

Looking back on that evening, little did I know that a year on I would be fortunate enough to have a book up there on the actual winners' podium. The first I knew of The Beast even being nominated was when I learned it had been shortlisted in the Young People's Raring2Read category.

The Beast was published by Usborne in 2004 (can't believe it was that long ago!) and tells the story of Karbel, the ghost of a sabre toothed tiger haunting a remote Scottish valley nicknamed Valley of Shadows. Two other books followed it, The Reawakening andRampage, turning it into a trilogy.

In addition to the voting for all the books in all 24 categories being open to one and all, twelve Coventry Primary Schools and twelve Secondary Schools also entered into a lively competition calledBook Bouts! Each school was randomly allocated one of the shortlisted books. They then had to read and prepare a five minute presentation to 'sell' this book.

The benefits to the children being they have a chance to show their creativity in all kinds of things from public speaking, creative writing and drama to ICT, PowerPoint and presentation skills. Eventually there is a special prize judged by an independent panel which is presented to the school with the best presentation. The school rooting for The Beast was Mount Nod Primary.

As if being shortlisted wasn't a big enough thrill, the next six weeks was a nail biting time as two books each week were eliminated 'Big Brother' style until only two were left in each category. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes to find in the Raring2Read category it was eventually down to The Beast and Alex T Smith's wonderful picture book, Claude in the City. A head to head battle ensued between the cute and friendly Claude and a fearsome ghostly beast.

It was a surreal moment to discover that Claude came as runner up, meaning just one thing!

So a massive THANK YOU! to everyone who voted.

Last week I popped along to Mount Nod Primary to meet the book club children who'd got my book in the Book Bout. And what an amazing and delightful team of Year 5 book lovers they were. We had a lovely morning chatting about The Beast then I got to talk to all of years 4 and 5. Plus I spotted a collage of books and reviews they'd made.

Collage of books in the Coventry Inspiration
Book Awards

But the icing on the cake was when they performed their presentation. Firstly just to me, and then to the whole of years 4 and 5. I hadn't actually realised what had been involved in putting this presentation together. They had dramatised and scripted a particular scene; made scenery, and created a big screen PowerPoint presentation with images and music to accompany their acting.

It totally blew me away to think they had gone to so much effort and it didn't surprise me to learn that Mount Nod had themselves won the special prize, for the school with the best presentation.

THANK YOU Mount Nod Primary School, Coventry.

Front row l-r: Olivia, Josh, Jazmine.
Back l-r: Shona, Sanjot, Niamh, Mia, Sophia, Sophie.
Not forgetting Ben who is not in the picture who
did all the computer presentation.

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And Somewhere An Owl Hooted

It's true what they say about never throwing any of your old writing away. You just never know...

My three when they were little.

Years and years ago, when my three children were all young, and my writing was in its very early stages, ie, writing loads and getting loads rejected, they liked to help out now and then.

The kids all knew and liked the fact that mum was trying to be a writer, and often encouraged me – especially my son Wayne who would add a line of narrative whenever he found my computer open and I was off probably doing the dishes or making dinner.

Later as I would be reading through my story, I'd find his helpful line that was going to turn my story into a best seller ....And somewhere an owl hooted.

“Wayne!!” I'd yell.

It got to be a bit of a standing joke over the years, and he has never got out of the habit of adding his 'catch phrase' whenever he gets the chance. Now donkey's years on with the kids all grown up and flown the nest, and with kids of their own (well two of them) I still find ...And somewhere an owl hooted in whatever I'm working on if he happens to call by and spots my computer open. The most recent time only a few months ago. It just makes me laugh although I wouldn't be surprised if one day I'll be reading through something I've had published and I'll see his handiwork there in print, somehow having escaped my eagle eye.

Thinking back to the very first time he'd added his few words, it was to a story I was working on called Death Lay Waiting which was an adult novel about murder and a kidnapping. After I'd finished it, I sent it off to various publishers. I remember one rejection coming back saying it was too violent and gory and another came back saying it wasn't hard hitting enough. Eventually it got put away in a drawer and I got on with other stuff. Happily that other stuff turned into six books for Scholastic, the first being Cry Danger.

Then about two years ago as I was sorting out my old filing cabinet I came across this slightly yellowing manuscript, with the title Death Lay Waiting. Attached was a review by a writing tutor who I couldn't even remember sending it to. His comments were very encouraging, which made me wonder why I hadn't persevered with it years ago.

I think when you first start out, a rejection letter is a rejection letter. I didn't realise then that I should have taken those editor's comments on board and re-wrote/adjusted or whatever.

However, curious, I re-read my story and realised that it wasn't too bad at all, so I set about re-writing it and bringing it up to date, and off it went again winging its way to another publisher, only to have it rejected again; and then another publisher – who, to my absolute delight, have accepted it!

It's an American publisher who I hadn't heard of, but they seem very keen and there's a contract for hardback and paperback and as an e-book, with an advance – not huge, but still an advance, and decent royalties.

I'm over the moon about it, and just so pleased that a story first written, dare I say it, over twenty years ago, is finally going to see the light of day.

And now that I'm making a start on the proofs, I wonder if I can slip in there somewhere that classic line...And somewhere an owl hooted.

A Year of Books

My new book - coming soon!!

What sort of books to you like reading? That's a question I often get asked by school children when I'm doing an author visit. Usually I find myself waffling on a bit because I like all kinds of books – children's and adults and often have a few books on the go, so I can always find something to read that suits my mood. Currently I'm reading 61 Hours by Lee Child - a Jack Reacher novel and Lynda La Plante's Bloodline. Very different in style but both gripping in their own way. 

I've also been reading the proofs for my latest children's book, The Trunk, which is being published by Penguin Australia in their Eerie Series under the pseudonym of S.Carey. This was great fun to write and it's exciting to know it will be out soon. A few friends and relatives have asked me 'what's in the trunk?' But I'm not saying. Only my 14 year old grandson, Jake (and Penguin editors) know. I tried the story out on Jake to gauge his reaction, which was. 'Nan! Your mind! I can't stop thinking about it!'

'Good, good', I say rubbing my hands together with glee.

So, looking back over the last 12 months, I thought I'd pick out a dozen or so books that I've read and which have left a lasting impression.

Other recently read books have included Claimed by Vicky Lewis Thompson, a Mills & Boon romance – I've been trying to write a Mills & Boon for years. It was my original ambition when I first got the writing bug. I've had some success with two romances, published by DC Thompson and which are coming out in hard back and large print via other publishers, but the ever illusive M&B still eludes me. 

Everybody Jam by Ali Lewis is another book I've enjoyed over the past year. A friend leant me this book because I needed to get the feel of the Australian outback for The Trunk which is set in a vaguely similar location. So while I'd intended reading it just as research regarding the accents and backdrop I was soon captivated by the story. 

Firstborn, Karen King's delightful dragon book was a really enjoyable read, and was one of the first ebooks I downloaded onto my new kindle at the beginning of 2012. 

Another great children's book which I absolutely loved was Katherine Langrish's Dark Angels, and what was so exciting was that I'd read the book without realising it had been written by Katherine - a fellow member of the Scattered Authors Society. I hadn't looked at the author's name until after I'd finished reading it – doh! It was such a lovely surprise!

Indie book The Survival of Thomas Ford by John A A Logan was another great read. John is a member of Authors Electric which I also belong to, and this was just one of the fantastic reads I've downloaded in e-form over the year.

I bought Pincher Martin by William Golding in a second hand book shop. It was first published in 1958 and is one of those books that sticks in your mind. The beginning absolutely captivated me, the middle almost drove me mad with frustration at the repetition and difficulties the protagonist endured and twice I put it down deciding I couldn't read on. But read on I did and was blown away by he ending – so much so, I will be reading this book again.

I do like Stephen King books and during 2012 I've enjoyed two blockbuster novels of his. Under The Dome being one, and as soon as I'd finished that I started on 11.22.63. Desperate to get through them, but not really wanting them to end, it resulted in reading long into the early hours of the morning instead of sleeping.

Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold. I went to a quirky book 'speed dating' event at my local library, which wasn't dating, but had that same format where instead of telling people about yourself, you chatted for two minutes about your favourite book. One of the ladies couldn't speak highly enough about Girl in a Blue Dress, so I just had to bring it home with me. And it was indeed a great read based around Charles Dickens.

At the same event I heard about Fatherland by Robert Harris, which is all about the German SAS but it's fiction and its setting is Germany after they won the war. Incredibly thought provoking book that I would highly recommend.

And now Hilary Mantel. Her book Beyond Black was the first book of hers I had read – and loved this beautifully written story of troubled psychic Alison. I then read Giving up the Ghost – a memoir, again a fascinating insight into her life. I'd thought mistakenly that I would love anything that she wrote, but discovered this not to be so. The Giant O'Brien is about a poverty stricken Irish giant who goes to London to earn a living by appearing as a freak and I found this story too depressing in its atmosphere and the story itself. I tried the multi award winning Wolf Hall which I found too confusing to continue reading after getting halfway. That said I'll probably love her next book.

So, a year of varied reading. How about you, have you read any good books lately?

Kids Lit Quiz

Quizmaster Wayne Mills at a New Zealand quiz

Earlier this week it was the Midlands regional final of the Kids Lit Quiz. As authors, if you have never attended one of the heats, then you're missing out on a brilliant and inspiring occasion.

This regional final took place in Coventry, my home city, so it was nice and close. And the UK final too is being staged in Coventry on 6th December, which is great for me, as previous years it's taken place in Oxford – and I think, before that, in London.

In case you aren't familiar with the event, it's a competition for school children aged 10 to 13 to answer questions on books. The whole idea was created by Australian Wayne Mills, a senior lecturer in children's literature at the University of Auckland, and it's been an annual event since 1991. As quizmaster in his recognisable top hat and his often wildly enthusiastic delivery of the questions, he sets an amazingly high standard with 100 questions in every heat, questions which regularly stump the adults in the audience yet produce amazing results from the literature-loving young competitors.

There are seven countries taking part in the Kids Lit Quiz at present, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, China and the USA. Hundreds of schools take part in knock-out heats with their teams of four. The overall winning team's prize is always an amazing trip of a lifetime to another part of the world. I believe the winners of this year's competition will, be jetting off on a trip to South Africa. However, there are plenty of prizes of books, vouchers, money, certificates and trophies along the way. There are even spot prizes of cash to the audience during the lively evenings.

At the regional finals there is always an author's team pitting their wits against the kids, just for fun. This year I was happy to take part along with the very knowledgeable David Calcutt, Bali Rai and David Lowe. And I was so chuffed to find that we came second behind Kenilworth School. Alas there were no trophies or certificates for us. Just the fun of taking part.

Quizmaster Wayne Mills guards his questions fiercely and never poses a question about a book that he hasn't read. And his choice of books covers all eras and authors. Amongst Monday's questions were ones on Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, to Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, characters from the Fantastic Four, the Holy Bible– and 96 others!

Because of his great work in promoting books and literature to children Wayne Mills was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's New Years Honours in 2011. And well deservedly as seeing so many youngsters so attentive, bright and excited as they battle for their place in the next heat is just brilliant to see, and I'm always astounded by how much they know and how well read they are.

The UK final takes place on 6th December at The Royal Court Hotel, Tamworth Road, Coventry, hope to see you there!

Turning fact into fiction

About five years ago I went on a press trip to the champagne region of France. I was working at the Coventry Telegraph as a feature writer at the time and one of the perks of the job was getting to go on press trips. This one was particularly fantastic as it was organised by the Champagne Bureau so it was wining and dining in top class restaurants, drinking the best champagne and of course doing lots and lots of research!!

It was probably one of the best press trips I've been on, although it really was hard work, as we were taken to one champagne house after another and there was so much to take in... no I don't mean the booze! I mean info.

We met the wealthy owners of vineyards, had a wonderful home cooked meal in one of their sumptuous homes on one occasion, ate out with important champagney-type people, wandered through vineyards, went down into softly-lit cellars and spoke broken French/English with the champagne growers.

Back home I wrote my articles and features on the trip then filed the notes, photographs and memories safely away under one word, Champagne.

Then, only about a year ago, after getting a romance novella published by My Weekly, called A Tropical Affair, and flushed with success decided to write another one, I started to think what my next romance could be about, and where could I set it.

It didn't take long for me to realise I had the perfect setting filed away, the perfect opportunity for romance to blossom, I even had a whole hoard of dialogue that I could dip in to.

Out came the notes, the photos and the memories. Add a story line where, not so surprisingly the protagonist was a journalist, and off we go!

Champagne Harvest was the result, which in the end was accepted by People's Friend as a 50,000 word pocket novel. It came out on 6th September, and enjoyed life on the newsagents shelves for a week before it was overtaken by the next pocket novel on the publisher's list.

That's fine however, as then I can try and get it accepted as a hardback or large print book by another publisher, which happily is what has happened with A Tropical Affair. And of course get it out there as an ebook.

Naturally I'll be changing the cover for the e-version, so now I'm wondering if I can utilise one of those photographs which we took over in France, but maybe, in the meantime I'll just pop the cork of one of the bottles I brought back and drink to those fond memories which have happily provided me with both the non-fiction and fictional stories I needed.

www.annevansbooks.co.uk

Words of Wisdom

A month or two ago I was seeking some words of wisdom to include in my new book – Become a Writer – A Step by Step Guide which I was putting the final touches to.  I think inspirational quotes from other authors are always interesting to read and I wanted to put some quotes and tips into each chapter along with the writing exercises I'd worked out for readers to do.

Happily, quite a few fellow authors very kindly provided me with some wonderful quotes that are now all in the new book which came out just a couple of weeks ago. It's published in paperback by Greenstream Publishing and will also be out as an ebook very soon.

I was so impressed with the great quotes which 15 different authors kindly wrote especially for the book that I'm more than glad that I asked today's writers for their advice rather than delving into the archives for words of encouragement from long gone famous names.

For example, author and poet Andy Seed suggests this advice for writers:
"Go to your local library, find the shelves covering your genre and pick five books at random. For each one, read the opening few pages and write down three things that make you want to read on."

And children's author Karen King offers these words of advice:
"Don't settle for the first idea you get, use it as a springboard for your story and tweak it, stretch it, play with it until you get something really strong and original."

While novelist and playwright Bill Kirton says:
"When you write, you're putting yourself on the page. Your manipulation of ideas, your choice of words, the fluidity of your text - all these things reflect your intellectual abilities. In other words, they demonstrate the quality of your thinking. Think of writing as performing two main functions: giving shape to your thoughts, and communicating those thoughts to others."

I do enjoy reading quotes by writers on writing and the internet is a great source for these. Some seem pretty archaic and pompous while some of them are quite amusing. So I thought I'd share these ones which I came across which made me smile. Hope they bring a smile to your faces too.

“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.”

W. Somerset Maugham.

“Writers are a little below the clowns and a little above the trained seals.”

John Steinbeck.

“I love being a writer, what I can't stand is the paperwork.”

Peter de Vries.

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.”

Robert Bach

“Write without pay until somebody offers to pay you. If nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for.”

Mark Twain.

“Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.”

Norman Mailer.

“What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he's staring out of the window.”

Burton Rascoe.

“The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes.”

Agatha Christie.

“Lower your standards and keep writing.”

William Stafford.

You can find some great words of wisdom from the likes of Simon Cheshire, Jan Needle and Roz Morris in my book:  Become a Writer – A Step by Step Guide by Ann Evans, published by Greenstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1907670244

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Become-Writer-Step-Guide/dp/1907670246/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343919473&sr=1-1

Please visit my website at: www.annevansbooks.co.uk