The world's oldest woman's weekly magazine

On Thursday 27 April I was delighted to be guest author for the seventh time at a People’s Friend story-writing workshop. This was the first one in Newcastle (following three in Dundee, two in York and one in Glasgow) and nineteen people signed up for it. The workshop is organised and hosted by Fiction Editor Shirley Blair. Shirley has been with the publisher D C Thomson for many years, the last twelve as Fiction Editor for the world’s oldest woman’s weekly magazine – The People’s Friend will celebrate its 150th birthday in January 2019!

When I say I write for The People’s Friend people invariably say, Oh my mum/granny/auntie used to read that – and they have a fixed idea in their heads as to what the magazine is like. In some ways it hasn’t changed since their aged relative read it. It does not have celebrity gossip. It does not have lurid real-life confessions. You could still call it wholesome and heart-warming. But it has moved with the times – of course it has; it wouldn’t still be here if its mindset was still in the 1860s, or even the late 20th century. The stories are still feel-good and upbeat but they reflect 21st-century dilemmas and situations. 

So if you have never read the magazine or haven’t read it for some years do give it a go.

And, if you are a writer, let me tell you that Shirley Blair and her team are passionate about stories and encouraging and supportive of their authors – and they are looking for SIX HUNDRED stories a year to fill the pages of the weekly magazine, the specials and the annuals. See their guidelines here.

What’s not to like?

I look forward to reading stories from some of Thursday’s delegates.

This is the format for the workshops:

 When I talk in the morning session about how to find inspiration and develop ideas I give examples from some of my own stories which were published in the magazine. Three of them – Class of ’64, The New Eighteen and Three’s a Crowd – are in a collection called Three’s a Crowd and other family stories, available on Kindle and in print. 

A Learning Curve and a Half

When I put twelve of my magazine stories together for publishing on Kindle as Three’s a Crowd it was a learning curve and a half to format them. I've used Word for years and years but there were sections of the formatting palette I hadn't known existed.

And – aargh – the hyperlinking, linking the contents to each chapter head. Apparently hyperlinking is easy-peasy on a PC but I work on a Mac … a kind friend pointed me in the direction of this YouTube video.

Then there was all the US tax info to sort out. They say tomayto, we say tomahto … they don’t call it your UTR (Unique Tax Reference) number but that’s what they are looking for. However, thankfully, the tax form only needs to be completed the first time you publish on Kindle.

There were a couple of things I couldn’t figure out so I got in touch via the KDP contact form and got friendly, helpful replies – from real people  –within twenty-four hours.

And I happen to have a graphic-designer husband who was also friendly and helpful, in the matter of putting the cover together.

If you’re planning to publish through Kindle Direct Publishing for the first time my first top tip would be to print out all their directions first and read through them, highlighting anything you’re not sure about and finding out how to do that first. Much easier than trying to juggle the directions on one half of your computer screen and your Word doc on the other. 

My second top tip is to marry a graphic designer.

Easy when you know how … second time around, I wondered what I’d made such a fuss about. I’ve put one of my magazine serials up: The Ferryboat

When Judy and Tom Jeffreys are asked by their daughter Holly and her Scottish chef husband Corin if they will join them in buying The Ferryboat hotel in the West Highlands, they take the plunge and move north.

The rundown hotel needs much expensive upgrading – and what with local opposition to some of their plans, and worrying about their younger daughter, left down south with her flighty grandma, Judy begins to wonder if they’ve made a terrible mistake.

I might even do it a third time …

Coming on Kindle NEXT WEEK, written by me but published by Black & White Publishing is:

You can pre-order it now for a bargain 99p and it will be on your Kindle on 3 November.

One phone call can change everything...

Six days before Christmas, Stella could never have anticipated the impact on her life when the phone rings in her London office.

The phone call is from a friend of the family informing Stella that her grandmother has been hurt in a fall at her home in the Scottish borders and is in hospital. Torn between her responsibilities at work and the need to be with her grandmother she decides she must return to Scotland immediately.

However, on her return to where she grew up, it becomes apparent that her grandmother’s health is not her only concern. Relationships which have lain dormant for years are re-kindled and fresh opportunities present themselves – if she will only dare to take them...

Stella's Christmas Wish

Christmas has come early for me this year with the imminent publication of my first full-length novel Stella’s Christmas Wish. It’s from Edinburgh publishers Black and White Publishing – the cover isn’t black and white though; it’s in pretty colours, with my name on it …

You can pre-order now for a bargain 98p and it will be on your Kindle on 3 November.

One phone call can change everything...

Six days before Christmas, Stella could never have anticipated the impact on her life when the phone rings in her London office.

The phone call is from a friend of the family informing Stella that her grandmother has been hurt in a fall at her home in the Scottish borders and is in hospital. Torn between her responsibilities at work and the need to be with her grandmother she decides she must return to Scotland immediately.

However, on her return to where she grew up, it becomes apparent that her grandmother’s health is not her only concern. Relationships which have lain dormant for years are re-kindled and fresh opportunities present themselves – if she will only dare to take them...

Up until now I’ve had published around fifty short stories and three magazine serials and I self-published a collection of short stories Three’s a Crowd. I'm very excited to have written A Whole Novel and very very excited to be having it published by Black and White Publishing who say they are ‘committed to publishing the best books from the most talented writers in the UK’.

A bit of a spree

The annual conference of the Scottish Association of Writers was held 18-20 March, at the Westerwood Hotel, near Cumbernauld, a place that may not strike you as the most glamorous destination for the weekend but the hotel is out of the town in a hollow surrounded by hills and it was hard to believe that the M8 (I think – road numbers not my strong point) was only a few hundred yards away. The food was scrumptious and the young staff efficient and friendly.

‘But what about the “Writers” bit?” I hear you cry. “You didn’t go there just to scoff apple crumble tart with vanilla custard, did you?”

No, but that crisply pastried, lightly cinammoned confection was certainly a bonus. Yum.

Ten members of Edinburgh Writers Club including our Honorary President Alanna Knight attended, got nine places in the competitions and won the quiz on Friday night.

I had been asked to judge the Women’s Short Story Competition. The thirty-eight entries were wide-ranging in their topics – abseiling, dancing bears, suffragettes, selkies, a yellow car, DNA tests, Christmas angels, the bedroom tax and the Bell Rock Lighthouse to name but a few.

The winning story was full of excellent fishy puns while still being a very touching story. Magazine editors (and competition judges) always say they don’t see enough humorous stories so I do hope Chipping Away will be submitted and accepted and in print before long.

On Saturday afternoon I gave a workshop on structuring a story for women’s magazines (if this is something you are interested in there are a few spaces left in The People’s Friend story-writing workshop in Dundee 29 March:

http://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/fiction/fiction-editors-blog/2016/february/16/story-writing-workshop/

There was a bookstall and I took along some copies of of my recently published story collection ... may have mentioned it before ...

I attended two excellent workshops myself – one by crime writer Caro Ramsay called From Pen to Publisher and Beyond, and Putting the Fiction into Face and the Fact into Fiction by journalist/non-fiction writer turned crime novelist Douglas Skelton. If you get the chance to hear those writers talking about anything I recommend you take it. And read their books of course ...

The crime theme continued on Monday night back home when Russel MacLean came to talk to Edinburgh Writers’ Club and to adjudicate our crime-writing competition. His enthusiasm for and knowledge of the genre was brilliant and we came away with writing tips (he uses a five-act structure) as well as a list of other crime writers to look out for.

And on Tuesday … more crime. The launch in Blackwell’s of Michael J Malone’s book Bad Samaritan (isn’t that a great title?). An advance review said the book ‘Hits you like an express train.’ I look forward to being hit.

Publication day!

Publishing a story collection has been a series of steep learning curves – as soon as I climbed over one, another loomed up. But here we are, at least for the Kindle edition (print version coming soon) – it's out there, officially published today.

And, just like having a baby, I've already forgotten the bad bits and and am quite prepared to do it all again ...

The stories first appeared in The People's Friend, Woman's Weekly, and Woman's Day (an Australian magazine).

And talking of the The People's Friend – I am guest author at their imminent award-winning story-writing workshops. The Glasgow and York dates are sold out but there are some spaces left in Dundee on 29 March, see further details on Fiction Editor Shirley Blair's blog

Maybe I'll see you there?

Three's a Crowd

I am pleased to say that I have brought out a collection of my short stories (previously published in The People's Friend, Woman's Weekly and Woman's Day).

The Kindle edition will be published on 27 February 2016 and it is available for pre-order now:

myBook.to/B01BP9UDRY

A paperback edition will follow in March.

Extract from Hide-and-Seek for Astronauts, published in Woman's Weekly:

Last year, Julie hired a fire engine.

The year before, she had an igloo built in the garden – in June. The year before that she took ten four-year-olds on a steam train.

Now she had begun to talk about Ben’s next birthday party although he wouldn’t be seven for another two months. He was obsessed with space so I asked if she’d booked a supersonic trip around the galaxy with a stop for moon burgers.

‘Very funny. Haven’t finalised the details yet. Just keep the eighteenth free.’

When Julie and I were kids, our birthday parties were a few friends round to play in the garden and a home-made cake with candles half-burnt from their previous outing. I don’t remember either of us ever getting new candles, but we didn’t care.

 ‘It’s different now, Karen.’ Julie was dismissive when I reminded her. ‘Anyway, you don’t have children.’

I may not have children of my own but as an infant teacher I see more than enough of them. Julie was right. It is different now. We thought that life didn’t get any better than playing hide-and-seek and looking forward to a big piece of Gran’s jammy sponge. But that all came free, more or less – now birthday parties seemed to be about spending money and not just keeping up with the Joneses but leap-frogging over them.

Julie had become an expert leap-frogger, and spending money was one of her favourite occupations. As was trying to persuade me to spend my hard-earned.

‘Why don’t we go shopping for some new clothes for you?’ she asked me. We were sitting having a Saturday morning cappuccino. It was just ten o’clock but she was carrying several shiny carrier bags from one of the designer shops in the precinct.

‘What for? They’ll just get poster paint and sticky finger marks all over them.’

‘You don’t teach all the time. Matthew suggested … ’

‘Matthew suggested what?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Julie.’ I gave her the look I give P1 when they’re particularly fractious and she capitulated.

‘We were watching one of those makeover programmes and he said why didn’t I put you forward?’

‘As if! I’m not going to parade in my underwear, or worse, for all the world to see. What would Gran have said?’

What Gran would have said to such an event was beyond our imagination, and we dissolved into giggles.

‘I can’t see you doing it,’ Julie conceded. ‘But you could do with a new look.’

I wasn’t offended. Julie meant well and we had this conversation, or variations on it, regularly.

‘I really can’t be bothered,’ I said. ‘You do the glam bit for both of us.’

To be fair, I knew that Julie would be happy to pass her cast-offs on to me and I would have been happy to take them. It was unfortunate that I, the older sister whose hand-me-downs Julie was forced to wear as a child, was three inches shorter than her and a completely different shape.

Julie was still thinking about Gran.

‘We hardly had any clothes that weren’t second-hand or home-made,’ she went on. ‘Remember the paper pattern she kept making those pinafore dresses from? The same one she’d used for our mum. And those scratchy jumpers?’ She pulled a face.

I didn’t tell her that I still had the moss green chunky polo neck Gran knitted for me when I was fourteen, and that I wore it on winter nights when I got in from school.

 ‘She tried to teach us to sew and knit but that was a lost cause.’ Julie finished her coffee and patted her red lips with a napkin. ‘Sure you don’t want me to come shopping with you?’

I was sure.

But when I was getting ready for bed, Matthew’s suggestion came back to me. I looked at the nubbly tweed skirt I’d just flung on the chair. I’d had it for five years but it was still perfectly serviceable. The top I was taking off was in a shade of blue I didn’t particularly like but it had been on a half-price rail.

I didn’t envy Julie her designer lifestyle. Fun for a day maybe but what a palaver. Sometimes I wondered what Gran, with her one ancient lipstick and her three-times-a-year perm, would think of Julie’s manicures and facials and whatnots, not to mention her built-in wardrobes and her forests of shoe-trees.

The nubbly skirt went on again on Monday with a top, mustard this time, from the same sale rail. Even I could see that the colour didn’t suit me; the face that stared back at me looked to be the last stages of yellow fever.

Maybe I should make more of an effort.

Everything seemed to go wrong that morning. When I was gulping down some cereal my cat, Scatty, jumped on the table and knocked over the milk carton. The traffic, even in the bus lane, was worse than usual. P1 was playing up and my fiercest looks did nothing to quell them.

And when I had a break in the staff room at lunch-time there came a hysterical call on my mobile from Julie saying she was at the school gate and did I have a minute.

I hurried outside.

now read on ..... 

myBook.to/B01BP9UDRY