The Day of Small Things

I first heard the quote that gives the blog post its title from the novel The Day of Small Things by O. Douglas (sister of John Buchan), encountered by me when I was about ten in my great-aunt’s house; it and her other titles have been on my comfort-read list ever since.

She got the quote from the Bible, Zechariah, iv. 10: ‘Who hath despised the day of small things?’

I have never been more grateful for the ‘small things’ than in these recent, unprecedented, days.

My daughter and I went out a drive on Mother’s Day (22 March) into the beautiful Border country around Peebles. We admired the scenery, including newborn lambs, without getting out of the car. A lovely memory to have – and not an experience that will be repeated anytime soon, because the day after that came the lockdown.

No going into shops for us for health reasons. So we are very fortunate that many local small businesses have stepped forward to be a lifeline in delivering food to the door – fruit and veg boxes, bread, milk, eggs, other groceries, butcher meat and fish.

One company delivered the goods and after that phoned for payment which restored my faith in human nature to quite a tearful extent.

On second thoughts keeping people fed is no small thing – it’s massive and I’m so grateful, and for:

WhatsApp – for keeping in regular touch with family and friends, whether for reassurances regarding health and well-being, doing silly little quizzes together, dress-up Friday photographs and much more

FaceTime 

phone calls

email

zoom – for enabling meetings of book group and writing class

Face Book (keeping in touch plus there have been some very funny memes and black humour and many heart-warming stories; I don’t read the negative stuff or click through to the horror/tabloid stories)

friends’ blogs showing what their daily lives are like at the moment: Anne Stenhouse and Anne Stormont

cooking something with substituted ingredients that turns out well (those food deliveries, wonderful though they are, are unable to supply plain flour or yeast; who’s got it all?)

 

Richard Osman’s House of Games – 6pm BBC2, brain-teasing fun

blossom

teddies and rainbows in windows

(and in my son’s Greater London street on Easter Sunday painted eggs for children to ‘hunt’)

I can read all day if I want to (and I do), currently the rather wonderful Where the Crawdads Sing and, alternately, a comfort read Mrs Pooter’s Diary.

 

Joe Wicks’ YouTube exercises (to help keep reader’s bottom at bay)

exercise bike (ditto)

early morning walks through deserted streets (ditto, and for fresh air, and to feel some sense of normality while marvelling at the changed, almost vehicle-less, city)

free theatre productions on YouTube

Malory Towers on iPlayer

large garden (communal, south-facing)

sleep (previously I could lie awake worrying about various things but now with these being eclipsed I’m sleeping like the proverbial log – perhaps some form of defence mechanism kicking in?)

time to put together a new anthology Still Rocking and other stories– watch this space.

(all images courtesy of Pixaby)

Nine in July

I read nine books in July.

Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham

I read this round about the time it came out, in 2002, so when I realised that a sequel had been published a couple of years ago I had to reread this first. And I liked it just as much this time. Five American women, stationed with their husbands on an air base in Norfolk in the early 1950s, make friends with a local woman, Kath. Their friendships (and fall-outs) endure over the next forty years.

What makes the book so special is the very under-rated Graham’s drily humorous writing (someone described it as a cross between Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett, and her dialogue is brilliant), and the very individual voice of the narrator, Peggy. This is how it opens:

 

We were down at the commissary, just for something to do, me and Lois, pushing Sandie in her stroller. Breath puffing out like smoke every time we laughed and just hanging there in the air. The cold hadn’t killed the scent of the beet harvest, though. All my born days, I never knowed such a sickly smell.

‘I swear,’ she said, loud as you please, ‘this place is colder than a gravedigger’s ass.’ Lois always did have a mouth on her.

The Early Birds by Laurie Graham

The sequel. The friends are geographically apart, and distant in other ways too now, but there are still ties that bind. It was great to catch up with Peggy, and to find Lois as mouthy in old age as ever she was; sadly, some of them didn't make it to the end of the book. If I have a gripe it’s that I did learn rather more than I wanted to about 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Laurie Graham is English I believe but many of her characters are American. Gone with the Windsors is the story of the romance between Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, told obliquely by a childhood friend of Wallis’; The Importance of Being Kennedy is about JFK’s family, seen from the viewpoint of their nanny. Both highly recommended.

The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves

Christian Aid book sale. This is the first ‘Vera’ book and excellent it is although the doughty detective doesn’t appear until more than halfway through. Ann Cleeves is so good on landscape as well as character – and plot of course, a triple whammy.

A Stolen Summer by Allegra Huston

Forty-something, unhappily married Eve falls for the twenty-seven-year-old son of an old friend. Ticked a couple of boxes for me – the New York setting and the lovely writing – but in the end I found Eve and her lover to be just too too precious.

Shadowman by Margaret Kirk

A fabulous police procedural set in and around Inverness. When I went up to the area after reading this I couldn’t resist going to have a gawp at the hotel where the murder was ‘committed’ and very lovely it looked in the July sunshine, unlike that dark night when …. Can’t wait to read the next one. 

The last week in July I was able to have a reading binge when I went to stay with my sister for a few days – which included the hottest day of the year (so far). So how better to spend it than on the hammock?

And the book on my Kindle is:

Needlemouse by Jane O’Connor

This was another recommendation by Joanne Baird on her Portobello Book Blog that I thoroughly enjoyed.

It’s told in diary form, by Sylvia Penton, aged 52, PA to ‘Prof’ in a university department and in love with/obsessed by him. Sylvia is no middle-aged Bridget Jones though – she has mean and judgemental thoughts, no friends, doesn’t like her teenage niece and has an odd relationship with her brother-in-law. The only person she really likes is her sister Millie, a lovely, larger-than-life character, who tries to include Sylvia in social occasions without much success. Sylvia’s idea of a good night in is rereading Prof’s published books and articles.

The only unselfish thing she does is to help elderly Jonas in his hedgehog sanctuary at weekends.

When a new PhD student attracts Prof’s attention, Sylvia’s mean thoughts translate into very mean actions with disastrous consequences.

By comparing Sylvia’s year with that of a hedgehog (hedgehog in Japanese translates as ‘needlemouse’) through Jonas’s writings on the little creatures, Jane O’Connor eventually shows us a much happier Sylvia under all her prickliness. Delightful.

Half Truths and White Lies by Jane Davis

Read on Kindle. Heard about this author on Anne Stormont’s Virtual Book Festival. After Andrea’s parents are killed in a road accident she begins to uncover the things they never told her – and much more. Love a family secrets story and this did not disappoint.

Murder Served Cold by Paula Williams

Read on Kindle. First in the Much Winchmoor mystery series, by an author whose magazine short stories, serials and articles I have enjoyed reading over the years. Oh no! – the first in another excellent cosy crime series. I will never live long enough to read them all.

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

Bought in charity shop. Lighthouses hold endless fascination even though these days the light is controlled remotely. The ‘Janus Rock’ with its lighthouse is fictional but based on a location a hundred miles off the coast of Western Australia, where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean.

The book has been out for a while, not sure why I’ve only caught up with it. But better late than never and now I’ve got the film to track down. I see online that some of it was filmed in Port Chalmers/Dunedin which I visited last year so that’s even more reason to watch it.

It’s the story of WWI veteran turned lighthouse keeper Tom and his wife. Isabel keeps having miscarriages so when a small boat is washed up on the Rock with a dead man and a very new, living baby girl, it seems like a miracle. The remoteness of their situation means that the secret can be kept … but not forever. Read this in one big gollop.

And if you’re keen on lighthouses in fact not fiction do check this out.

Six in November

I read six books in November.

I'm playing catch-up, posting this in late December. My last few blog posts have been about my own book Stella’s Christmas Wish which was published by Black & White on 3 November. I’m thrilled that it’s attracted so many lovely comments.

I squeezed in reading six books in November – between doing guest posts for lovely book bloggers and looking at reviews. Find out more about all that here. 

So, I read:

Return to Kilcraig by Rosemary Gemmell

Read on Kindle. ‘The legacy of her beloved grandmother's cottage in the Scottish village of Kilcraig seems like the ideal solution after Christy Morrison’s recent trauma. Until the threats begin.’ I do love a romantic suspense novel. Great sense of place here and some heart-stopping moments.

A Yorkshire Christmas by Kate Hewitt

Read on Kindle. I hadn’t read ‘Kate Hewitt’ before but have enjoyed books by this author under the name Katherine Swartz (see her website here). I was enjoying A Yorkshire Christmas and was surprised that the story was being wrapped up although only showing 50% finished, then I realised that what I’d downloaded was two books in one; the other was called Falling for Christmas (Book 1 in the Falling for the Freemans series).

And blow me, if it didn’t have exactly the same plot as A Yorkshire Christmas – just before Christmas a city girl running away from her life gets snowbound in a remote area, is rescued by attractive man who is going to be spending Christmas on his own, they fall for each other, and get married in the local church the following Christmas Eve. However Falling for Christmas is set in upstate New York.

I forgave the author because what’s not to like about that scenario plus I love books set in upstate New York – and I went on to buy and read the second in the series, set in the same location:

Falling Hard (Falling for the Freemans Book 2)

‘Quinn Freeman has spent his life avoiding the dangers of commitment, but his reluctant return to his home town stirs up memories and emotions he’d intended to leave buried.’ This is the only book I’ve read where the female protagonist is a plumber – Meghan's skills come in handy when Quinn Freeman decides to renovate his family’s abandoned hotel.

I look forward to Book 3.

And now for something completely different …

A House in Flanders by Michael Jenkins

In 1951 Michael Jenkins aged 14 was sent to spend the summer in a country house in Flanders, in a household consisting of elderly ladies who had previously been connected (in a way that eventually became clear to him) with his own family. He was soon irrevocably entwined with a family that had taken him to their hearts – and found out about the scars that two world wars left on his hosts and on the area. Beautifully written account of events seen through the eyes of a boy.

Displacement by Anne Stormont

Read on Kindle. Loved this book with its dual setting. First there’s the Isle of Skye (where the author lives) and the loveliness of its geography and geology, and the work involved in looking after sheep, plus the interaction between friends and neighbours. Then we move to Israel, its beauty and its problems – and its wonderful food. Through her time in both of these places we get to know author/artist/crofter Rachel – her heritage, and her coming to terms with recent traumatic events in her family. An engrossing read and – my test of a good book – one that brought tears to my eyes more than once.

My Writing Process blog tour

Thank you to Jane Riddell for inviting me to My Writing Process blog tour. Jane took part in the tour on 16 December and her answers can be found on:  http://wwwbloggercom-janelilly.blogspot.co.uk/

My Writing Process

What am I working on?

I always have several projects on the go which could explain why I have not (yet) got past 37,000 words on anything; that was the length of my first People’s Friend serial The Family at Farrshore. I am currently writing another serial for them and have just submitted the second instalment for comment. I have several magazine stories at various stages of completion, a romantic novella almost finished, and about 20,000 words of what will be a full-length novel if I live long enough. Plus, from various writing classes, workshops and other prompts I have dozens of ideas – stories-in-waiting.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I don’t know if anyone reading my work blind (as it were) would know straight away that it was mine; that’s not for me to say. But I write in different genres and styles. If I’m writing a story that I plan to submit to Woman’s Weekly I would write it slightly differently from a People’s Friend story. A story aimed at New Writing Scotland or a national competition would be very different from both of those.

It’s odd what your sub-conscious throws up. A writing friend, who reads some of my work-in-progress, asked me the other week why twins figure frequently, and even a set of triplets. I have no idea! I do recognise, though, that some of my preoccupations appeared in my first PF serial so I’ve made a list of what not to include in the second one: archaeology, dogs, kittens, red-heads, Canadians, ceilidhs, kilts; and I will cut down on mentions of home-baking. As for multiple births … well, who knows?  What my characters get up to when I’m not looking is their business.

Why do I write what I do?

I mostly write women’s magazine short stories because I’ve been fortunate enough to have had around thirty published and hope to have more. I like the discipline of a word count because it focuses your mind on what is important in the story. I like knowing who my audience is before I start.

But I also like writing into the wind and going where it takes me; writing slightly obliquely – leaving gaps for readers to fill; writing poetically. I also love writing descriptions of scenery and there’s not much place for that when you’ve got a word limit.

How does your writing process work?

I wish I could but I don’t think I’ve ever started with a character in mind; it’s either a situation or a setting that I then have to put people in and get to know them. I’m usually a good way in before I realise what the story is about and who is important in it. So it can be a slow process.

I’m not a plotter; that’s why, I think, I work on more than one thing at a time. A solution for one plot development can occur to me when I’m thinking about another.

I start writing on the computer; if I get stuck I work on something else, as I’ve said, or else I write in longhand for a while, in pencil on unlined paper. That frees me up to proceed without the inner editor interfering and I think it allows the brain to make connections it wouldn’t otherwise. I would never send off a submission without first printing it out, reading it aloud and editing on paper.

Read about Regency novelist Anne Stenhouse’s Writing Process on http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/

On 6 January 2014 My Writing Process blog tour visits three terrific writers:

ANNE STORMONT

Anne is a writer and teacher and grandma. She lives in the Hebrides. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. She likes gardening, hiking and riding pillion on her husband’s motor-bike.

She believes – indeed she knows – that there is life after forty, and she writes thoughtful, grown-up, romantic fiction where the main characters are older but no wiser. She has published one novel Change of Life as an indie author and her second book Displacement will be out early in 2014. She blogs at http://annestormont.wordpress.com/ – where you can find out lots more about her.  

JENNIFER YOUNG

I’m a writer of many parts – I write travel as well as fiction – and even within the fictional world I’m always experimenting, trying my hand at a whole range of genres. Based in the beautiful city of Edinburgh, I find it impossible not to be influenced by the places I visit and the people I see around me.

To date my published work consists of short stories in The People’s Friend, Woman’s Weekly and The Lady. My first full-length novel, Thank You For The Music will be published as an ebook in February 2014 by Tirgearr Publishing http://tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Young_Jennifer/index.htm

My blog: http://jenniferyoungauthor.blogspot.co.uk/

and website:

http://217.199.187.57/jenniferyoungauthor.co.uk/index.html?1378816644234

JENNY HARPER

I was born in Calcutta – hence my fascination with this buzzing city – but I now live in Edinburgh, Scotland. I’ve seen all sides of the publishing business, as a commissioning editor, journalist and novelist. My published books include a children’s novel and a romantic novel, as well as a number of books on Scotland and Scottish themes. My history of childbirth, With Child, Birth Through the Ages ­(written as Jenny Carter), is used as a reference by many historical novelists. It’s still available on Amazon!

Awards

Runner up in BBC Woman's Hour/Woman's Weekly 'Romantic Novelist of the Year' competition and winner of the Romantic Novelists Association's Elizabeth Goudge Award. Numerous awards for feature writing and magazine design.

 

RNA

Designed the RNA magazine Romance Matters 2006-2012, and Fabulous at Fifty, the RNA memoir

Oversaw the RNA rebranding

Novels

Face the wind and fly

Loving Susie

http://www.jennyharperauthor.co.uk/

Twitter @harper_jenny or find me on Facebook

http://novelpointsofview.blogspot.co.uk/