To some extent they are ideas that lay fallow – an East Anglian novel (place is so often my starting point) being one of them. I now have approx 5000 words and a kind of outline of where the novel is going and more importantly I am very much enjoying the writing.

Then there are my short stories, the first of which, about the artist Michelangelo, floated almost fully formed into my head and demanded to be written. I am now working on a themed collection and have just completed a story in the voice of Mark Rothko. This feels like quite a creative leap for me but one which springs out my love of Art and my background in Art History.

There’s my poetry too, I haven’t abandoned working on that.

And last but not least is my Autumn Novel Group – the details of which are below – this is something I’ve wanted to do for some time and feel quite passionate about.

Autumn Novel Group 2010

This autumn I am offering a unique course for writers interested in making significant progress with a book length project i.e. a novel, a collection of short stories or a family memoir.

The course will take place fortnightly in my home in Witton-le-Wear from 7-9.45pm on Tuesday evenings at a cost of £15.00 per session and will initially run from Sept – December (start date Sept 14^th) over a period of 12 weeks = 6 sessions.  Follow up options may be arranged to continue into 2011 with possible monthly meetings.

Places will be limited to 6 participants. This is to ensure those taking part have sufficient time in which to discuss their current work, their progress and concerns at each meeting.

My intention is that we will concentrate less on reading out and the fine detail of our text (although this may sometimes be appropriate and relevant) and more on process – plot, narrative voice, structure, beginnings, middles, drafting, editing, the language, dialogue, research, procrastination…….we might discuss some or indeed all of these and more, depending on where you are with your writing and what issues or problems you bring to the group.

Having written my first novel The Sweet Track whilst taking part in just such a group I am keenly aware how much there is to learn in the rarefied atmosphere created by the committed few.

It is my intention that as well as leading the group I will write alongside you. My current crime novel has attracted interest with an option for purchase in 2011 and publication in the UK and America in 2012. In the intervening period I will be writing a new novel set on the east coast of England. I am also working on a themed collection of short stories inspired by the lives of well- known artists.

Whether you are just starting out, or already part way through, embarking on and completing a piece of long fiction can be a daunting task. It will be my aim to offer you advice, support and focus in achieving your goals, as well as a warm welcome, coffee and biscuits and a share in my own passion for writing and getting the work done.

If you are interested in joining the group or have any further questions please contact me at: amjoy@hotmail.co.uk

AUGUST

cloth from Dehli

around the table

family

————

white bamboo on black frayed silk

dressing gown as old as my children

——————————–

A man of insight

is not easily persuaded

of cheap solutions

————————

looking for the northern lights

on the high wind blown hill

——————————————

three shooting stars tear

across my night vision

wishes for you

—————————————–

I used to think freedom meant

doing whatever you want ( N.Goldberg)

———————————————–

a man and a woman

meet at the beach hut

a novel begins  *

———————————————

summer’s fireweed stands

sentinel beside the railway track

* more of this later!

Recently I found myself captivated by the poet Linda France’s Book of Days – in which she set herself the challenge of writing a renga verse every day for twelve months – so much so that I have set myself an identical challenge. I began it on July 25^th.

Renga is a traditional form of collaborative verse dating from 10^th century Japan where poets would gather and write verses together, whilst drinking tea or saki – subjects were the natural world, love, the moon and all phenomena vulnerable to change. The first verse of 3 lines – the hokku is the origin of the haiku and is followed by a two line verse.

In renga each verse must have some connection with the preceding one but also depart from it, avoiding repeating a word or an idea. So the renga is carried forward, mirroring the flow of our lives, always changing, never still.

France says it is the – ‘authenticity and integrity’ that she ‘most appreciates about renga – the way it refuses to fix things into easy categories, how it resists personal ownership and control. It has ideas of its own.’

After only eight days I find I am fascinated by the way in which renga has such ideas of its own, how out of a simple two or three line verse inspired by the particular: one’s own world or daily life, emerges a greater truth that at times may sound and behave like an ancient proverb, that may contain a simple but unexpected universality.

When I began I found that when I tried to sleep that night my head swam with words  – hence

Silver scales fall from my eyes

renga fish in the net of night

And the next day -

The closed mill race

forces the flood waters

inside

Renga should of course be collaborative so please add your own 2 or 3 line renga – I would love to publish it for my 100th post which is coming up next!

Sweet peas from my garden

Sweet peas come very near the top of my favourite flower list, perhaps my favourite although I would hate to have to choose and can think of many others that hold a special place in my personal catalogue: cornflowers, old fashioned roses, lilac, cherry blossom, primroses, peonies….

What I love about sweet peas is their glorious, jewel- like colour and their sensational scent and I’m so pleased I planted a whole row in my garden this year. They have just begun to flower and this means I can pick them for the house and enjoy them all day – sweet peas love to be picked, in fact they insist on it. The more you pick, the more flowers appear – a cornucopia of delicate blossoms

My second novel, The Orchid House, reflected my love of flowers and gardens and was inspired by a visit to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. An editor at Bloomsbury said some good things about it and I often think of going back to it and using what I’ve learned – so much now-  to re-write it. I think one day I will…and the sweet peas will be there for sure.

The Flower Garden was set in rows of intense colour, spread out like a carpet made from rags of cotton and chintz. Protected behind walls of warm brick its sheltered beds threw up sweet, old-fashioned drifts of larkspur, cornflower and scabious, godetia and marigold.

Madeline stood against a row of cornflowers, a basket at her feet already half full with sweet peas and cosmos

The books I made at the workshop

The Hearth at Horsley (west of Newcastle) is a beautiful grade 2 listed building that houses eight working studios used by artists and musicians and a very friendly coffee shop selling heavenly scones (as well as other goodies).

On Saturday I spent the day there at a bookmaking course run by Chloe.  Chloe was a great tutor, very laid back but incredibly well prepared, so that we each came away having made three books and all clamouring for a follow up course. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The company was a real treat too – lovely people – as was the chocolate and almond cake Chloe made for our morning break. The course was fantastic value for money and utterly inspiring. I think I might be hooked on making books. As a writer I especially enjoyed the opportunity to do something practical rather than cerebral and know I definitely need more of this.

I found the course via New Writing North’s newsletter  – you can check out coming courses on The Hearth’s website (linked above).

And the way it all finally ended – who says truth isn’t stranger than fiction?

On the subject of fiction – it’s a long game waiting to know the fate of your novel – about six months now — but I’m not complaining – it’s a game I’d much rather been in than not.

Thanks to the hard work of my agent my Danny Beck novel is still out there under consideration with both mainstream and independent publishers, and what has been really encouraging for me is that one editor already likes it very much. Unfortunately a deal is currently not possible for various reasons, however it bodes well for the future and I am so pleased that it has found such favour with an editor and her co-publishers. Someone in the publishing world believes in my novel and often (perhaps not in this case, although maybe – time will tell) one person is enough.

So back to waiting and writing of course – and back also to remembering the Seven Habits of Highly Unhappy People! one of my Clear Thinking weekly insights (if you want to find out more or subscribe then click the link) – the habits listed are Judging, Criticising, Complaining, Blaming, Arguing, Competing and Controlling (i.e. trying to control others)

OK so it’s impossible not to employ some of these habits some of the time, I know, but resisting them leads to a much more positive outlook and comes in very handy when you have to deal with rejection, disappointment or difficulty. Try it and see.

Chair, wallpaper and floorboards

On Thursday I’m off to London to my daughter Katie’s convocation at the Royal Albert Hall – her graduation from a two year M.A. at the Royal College of Art. I am so proud and I have a hat to prove it!

I’m looking forward to seeing Katie’s final collection of wallpapers, chairs, printed floorboards and chests – I remain totally impressed by her originality and her immense hard work. She is my hero.

For more images and a review of Katie’s work go to Phillipa Wagner’s blog

Suspended chair

While I wait to discover the fate of my first crime novel (some very encouraging developments so far but nothing concrete yet ) I’ve found it difficult to write. The waiting game is not easy but there is only one way to play it and that is to start work on the next novel. So far I’ve had a number of false starts and I’ve held off because it seemed presumptuous to begin a second novel with the same character- Private Investigator Danny Beck – at the center when the first has yet to be accepted. But the thing is I believe in him, and if I don’t believe in myself and my characters then who will?

There is much more to say about Danny Beck and a new story to explore, but most important of all it’s what I want to write, what I feel excited about and inspired by and its no good embarking on the long haul if you don’t feel fired-up. Which brings me to fire and ice and to volcanoes.

I have decided to open the novel (working title Fire and Ice) against the backdrop of the volcanic eruption beneath the glacier in Iceland, at the point at which it brings european air space to a standstill. This decision has sparked off a whole train of ideas and I have since been playing with the properties of fire and ice, both physical and metaphorical.

I like to have abstract themes underneath of what I write, for me this is one of the more playful aspects of writing. Today I have been thinking about which of my characters are fire: hot-headed, quick, angry and which ice: emotionally detached, slippery, lethal which of course applies to both elements. But more importantly I have been writing and sketching out the first ten chapters- and all of this is where the joy and pleasure of writing reside – and not in the waiting.

Writing Tip - What will it be about? I have learned that it’s a very useful exercise to write down in a matter of sentences and certainly no more than a paragraph what your novel is about – you can do this at any stage of the writing, it is always useful. It is not as easy as it sounds. It is not about telling the story but about capturing the essence, its heart, more like the blurb you read on the back of published novels. For instance I might begin – Fire and Ice is about one man’s quest for justice…

You need to be able to do this because if you don’t know what the  novel is about how can you expect your reader to know.

So what’s so good about John Harvey? In the first place there’s the writing itself: elegant and witty, Harvey paints a rich canvas, making us see everything. It’s a visual treat. Then there are the characters: beautifully drawn especially Charlie Resnick, a man who cares about victims, about those on the bottom of the heap and a man who cares about women. Charlie Resnick likes women! Place is here too and the whole is deliciously downbeat – definitely my kind of music!

John Harvey loves Jazz that’s his kind of music and he’s a poet too. His 1998 collection Bluer Than This which I’ve just started reading shows the influence of jazz and painting on his writing – Roland Kirk, Chet Baker, Edward Hopper, Pierre Bonnard. The poems are tender, about love and loss, straight from the heart – my kind of poems too!

One last thing – John Harvey blogs. YES! This  seems to me to make him instantly inclusive – inviting as it does comment and dialogue. He’s not too grand despite being the Master of British Crime – just can’t believe it’s taken me so long to find him.