Our hallway is blocked by two huge boxes containing the new chicken house. The blurb insists it will take between ten and fifteen minutes to convert these two flat-packs into the house and run but having experienced the joys of self-assembly before, I remain sceptical.

The chicken house which Mum gave me is made from re-used wood and isn’t as watertight as it needs to be. It soaks up water from beneath, which is very bad for the birds’ health. Plus we wanted to give them a bigger run anyway. So I scoured the internet and found something much better. All I have to do now is assemble it then we can have our hall back and Hattie and Joyce can move house (again!)

I’m just back from a trip into the village. There’s an icy wind coming off the sea today but it’s pleasant once you get walking. I’d tackle the flat-packs now but the light will be fading soon, and so instead I’ll update this blog - which now gets auto-shipped from LiveJournal.

So what’s new?

Well, I’ve now completed the first draft of Bethany Rose, and am happy with where it ended. To explain, I began writing Bethany’s story with the idea that the MS would finish in the present time. Half way through writing it, I knew this was simply not going to happen and so it took me a few days to figure out a way round this. However, the novel now ends at the close of a major, clear-cut phase of her life. And as not much new happens for a few years after this - which would be boring to write and read anyway! - it’s a good place to end. Obviously there’s a lot of work to be done on the MS before anyone could call it finished in the true sense; the first draft is like the skeleton on which editing and polishing hangs the flesh of the book (more or less; the analogy soon heads onto shaky ground so let’s just skip that bit.)

Riverside Writers meet next Monday (Dec 21st), and this month’s writing theme was suggested by Carol Falaki, and is “The Melting Glacier.”

So is global warming for real or not? Again, I’m sceptical - not just because of the recent questions raised over the honesty of the data which seems to indicate global warming, but because we’ve only been measuring the weather for around 150 years. In the life of this planet, that’s a ridiculously miniscule timescale on which to judge anything.

When Vikings first landed on what became named Greenland, the weather was mild and according to their own records they were able to raise crops readily. That’s why the land was called “Green.” However, the weather changed and they died. They starved and froze to death, and this was apparently part of a cycle which the natives of Greenland already knew about. Who’s to say that the whole Earth doesn’t go through similar cycles of warming and cooling? Some scientists say it does just this, and that we’re about to enter a period of cooling. Time will tell, hmm? Meanwhile, a lot of money is being made peddling “green” stuff.

Also new… Take a peek at Spooky Cute Designs site, as I’ve been adding a huge amount of new items. There’s now a collection of greetings cards, nature scenes taken from our photography files. Plus there’re more designs in the entire collection. Discover what’s new for yourself and let me know what you think!

Spooky cute Designs: http://www.zazzle.com/AdeleCB

Also new… I’ve added a few new Hubpages, which are small non-fiction essays covering a wide range of topics, from recipes to an oil portrait of Vlad Dracula. Rummage around for yourself and see what takes your fancy. http://hubpages.com/profile/AdeleCosgroveBray

If you’re looking for something to read, then I have to recommend Peter V Brett’s The Painted Man which I thoroughly enjoyed. Well written with strong and believable characters, it offers an unusual plotline which places various people in different locations who gradually come together to fight for survival. A real page-turner, this one.

October 31st saw an evening or short monologues by various writers from Wirral performed by members of the Carlton Players. The event was organised by Jenny Humphreys. Three other members of Riverside Writers took part, apart from myself: Tim Hulme, Carol Falaki and Peter Hurd.

My contribution was one of my short pieces involving the Caldy fae, The Faerie Tree, which is partly autobiographical. This was performed by Angela Keeler, who has been acting for seventeen years.

My photos are poor, my only excuse being the tricky lighting conditions which my digi isn't clever enough to cope with - sharp spotlights from the ceiling and bar area, and deep shadows. I had to push the highlight option in PhotoImpression 4 to extremes in order to be able to see much of the stage area. With my old and trusty Pentax SLR it would have been a doddle.

The word-count for Bethany Rose now stands at 91,500 (and I’m aiming at 100,000), which means that the first draft is on its last lap.

Around half-way through writing this, I realised that my intention of telling all of Bethany’s story simply wasn’t going to fit into one novel - not unless I wanted to pen a 200,000 MS, and unless you have Stephen King’s level of assured readership most publishers would probably baulk at accepting that due to costs.

As so often happens with me, the process of writing feels like accepting silent dictation. Or it can be like watching a film projected onto the inside of my forehead; an internal pair of ‘eyes’ watch it play through, and I just write down what happens. I know that probably sounds loopy to most people but your reaction is your own responsibility.

So three-quarters of the way though writing the MS, I was still wondering how on earth I could close this novel in a good place, knowing that the main character’s story continues. If someone had read the other two books from the series, they’d already know her story continues too. Also, while these are part of a series I want it set up so they can be read in any sequence. All I could do, really, was accept more silent dictation and discover where it lead.

Anyway, this week suddenly the final plot was revealed, which has been fun.

And this ending fits in perfectly with the following book - which I hadn’t even thought of until yesterday. Today, not only do I know who the main character is, and therefore the title, but also the loose plot outline.

Yaay!

By the way, if you’re in Birkenhead tomorrow evening, drop into the Little Theatre where a groups of assorted actors will be performing one-act plays or monologues by local writers. Four members of Riverside Writers are taking part, including myself. Angela Keeler will be performing The Faerie Tree, which is one of my series of short tales about the notorious Caldy fae. Doors open at 7pm. Seating is limited, so be early.

Tim Hulme


Peter Hurd


Peter Caton


Carol Falaki


Andy Siddle


Adele Cosgrove-Bray

More photos from this event can be viewed on my Flickr site. Either click on the images above or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/__Adele__

Am I ready for tonight? I think so… I hope so! Yesterday, I was chatting to Julie Mann, one of the librarians at West Kirby Library, and we remarked how the initial planning for New Tales for Old Byways had begun at a meeting a year ago. That was when the Wirral Bookfest had been scheduled for April, before the threatened library closures set everything back months. Julie will be taking photos tonight, just as she did for last year’s Words from Wordsmiths event.

Wirral TV will be filming tonight’s event. This was confirmed only yesterday. It should be an interesting experience to have a film crew moving around.

I’ll be reading Seth’s Basement, which introduces one man’s strange hobby; and also Food, which is one of my series about the Caldy Hill fae. But the program is very diverse, being a group effort.

Hope to see you there!

Permit me to introduce andysids who is a talented member of Riverside Writers.

Andy will be performing some of his work as part of New Tales for Old Byways on October 14th. Meanwhile, go say hi!

Last night's meeting of Riverside Writers began with our planning the program for the above event. Several of us will be performing more than one piece of work for the two-hour cheese and wine evening. Then we moved on to updating everyone on the progress of our anthology, as Carol Falaki has done wonders in finding an affordable publisher.

Once we'd got the formal stuff out of the way, we returned to our more usual style of meeting which is very much writing-based. We heard the results of two monthly projects, The Literary Chicken (flash fiction, 200 words max.) and Presents to Myself, which generated more poetry than is typical for our group.

Next month's writing project involves creating a short story or poem which feature the following objects: cracked plate; horse; recipe; cushion; daffodil; rag doll. If you'd like to join in, help yourself!

Events listings leaflet for Wirral Bookfest 2009; reproduced with permission. To view larger, simply click on either image, then click on 'All Sizes' in the menu bar.

The countdown to this year's Bookfest begins! We will be presenting New Tales from Old Byways at 7pm on Wednesday, October 14th at West Kirby Library.

All our stories and poems will have a local Wirral theme, which means they will be set locally or have some link with the area. This is the second time Riverside Writers has taken part in this week-long festival, which will see twenty-one events taking place in libraries across the peninsula.

The head librarian at West Kirby Library, told me there has been a lot of interest in New Tales for Old Byways already.

http://insidethemiddleeast.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/18/video-1m-reward-for-mermaid-photos/


Pliny the Elder, in the first century AD, was apparently sure that mermaids existed. According to him, their bodies were rough and scaled all over. A fifth century bestiary by Physiologus describes them as beasts of the sea, shaped as a woman from the navel upward and a fish from the navel downward, and added that she especially enjoyed stormy weather.

In a thirteenth century work, De Propietatibus Rerum by Bartholomew Angelicus claimed that mermaids lulled sailors to sleep then kidnapped them for sex. If the sailors refused, the mermaid would kill then eat them. Then in 1739, The Scots Magazine reported that the crew of the Halifax, short on rations in the East Indies, had caught and eaten several mermaids. The sailors said mermaid flesh tasted like veal.

More mermaid info: http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/mermaids/1.html

You're probably wondering why I shared these gems of fishy authenticity. It's largely the consequence of having hubby upstairs, snoring through another of his migraines. Having written myself to a (temporary!) stand-still, I went web-wandering while part of my brain tinkered around with the more-detailed formation of a particular character. I couldn't write more of his story until I knew how he would react to the situation and the other people in it. I needed to know his motivations for being involved in the first place. Anyway, those details have been sorted out now.

Recently, I posted a short piece about Riverside Writers which ended with a off-the-cuff quip about my writing a Hub Page about how to start and run a happy writers' group. Qute a few people (on LJ and elsewhere) asked me to go ahead. And so, for those who are interested, here it is:- http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Run-A-Writers-Circle

Riverside Writers’ meeting last night was unusually well attended, largely due to the coverage given in the local press. We were joined by Gary Smailes from Bubblecow http://www.bubblecow.com who delivered an information-packed talk about today’s publishing business and the value of social networking.

First Gary talked about the pros and cons of self-publishing, and the various options available. These roughly fall into two categories - the kind you pay for, or the web-based sort where you upload your MS to a print-on-demand site.

Self-publishing is really only a valid option if you plan to sell a limited number of copies to a pre-established audience, such as friends and family or a circle of acquaintances who share a specific interest relevant to your book.

Increasingly, mainstream publishers instantly reject any self-published works unless they have sold an absolute minimum of 3,000 copies, and very few achieve this.

Gary then moved on to discussing the emerging importance of small publishing houses, many of which actively welcome new authors who show promise.

A writer seeking a deal with a big-name publisher, however, really does need an agent, and Gary spent a considerable amount of time explaining the importance of finding an appropriate agent and how to approach them through email, cover letters and MS submissions.

Cover letters should not be dashed off in a morning, he said. Set it aside for a week then come back to it. Comb the letter through for errors in punctuation, spelling and grammar. Get someone else to look at it and find faults. This letter is likely to be your first-contact sales pitch, so you need to get it right.

Then Gary moved on to the subject of traditional publishers and what they’re looking for. The big-name houses are inundated with unknown or barely-known writers hoping for attention, and many of these have false ideas about the business.

One of the first things any agent or publisher does these-days, when looking at a promising MS, is run a Google search on the author’s name. If little or nothing results, it will probably be assumed that the author has no audience - which translates into minimal prospective sales. Gary encouraged everyone to develop a central site, such as a blog, and then add two or three social network sites. (Riverside Writers’ members have heard me tell them this numerous times!) Twitter came highly recommended - in fact it was via Twitter that Gary and I met.

Gary had invited questions from the audience throughout, and I think it’s fair to say that everyone enjoyed his talk and learned something new.

Thanks go to Gary Smailes for his hard work.

Thanks also go to West Kirby library staff for rapidly finding us a bigger room to hold the meeting in, as numbers exceeded expectations.

And here’s hoping the next meeting of Riverside Writers will see a return of some of the new faces who came along. That will be at West Kirby Library, 7.30pm on Monday, September 28th.

Richard took this photo of me yesterday. It was taken in our garden; you can see part of the thick curtain of glossy ivy which climbs up the wooden fence by the contorted hazel tree, right by the entrance to the Grove or "circular lawn" as I obliquely describe it in my latest Hubpage: http://hubpages.com/hub/Adeles-Garden

The photo was taken for use with my author's bio for a horror/dark fantasy anthology to be edited by Raven Digitalis, who started this project two years ago. Raven intends to submit the MS to an interested prospective publisher on October 1st. My contribution was Spanish Jones, part one of which was broadcast live on 7 Waves Radio in October last year. It's a tale of pirates, selkies and witches fighting to the death on Hilbre Island and Middle Eye. Anyway, here's hoping that the MS will be accepted.

Meanwhile, Riverside Writers have now received one quote for printing our anthology. Obviously we're waiting for other quotes to come in, but already it looks like being a choice between two local companies. I sent emails to members this morning to tell them Gary Smailes from Bubblecow http://www.bubblecow.co.uk/ will be joining us at the next meeting.

Yesterday Richard arrived home clutching Cajun chicken and two wonderfully dreadful films: one had Godzilla and Rodan battling with a three-headed chicken-ish winged thingy, and the other film featured a giant shark (which ate San Francisco bridge and leapt skywards to chomp a plane) battling to the death with a giant octopus, which ate a few ships and an oil rig or two. Both films deserve a place beside Shark in Venice! and King Kong Lives - the one where Kong has a heart transplant and takes a fancy to a Lady Kong with a ginger rinse. Awful but hilarious, all. The Cajun chicken was good, too - peppery spicey, just as it should be.

I’ve just finished writing The Literary Chicken, which is a 200-word creative exercise for this month’s Riverside Writers' project. Carol Falaki thought the group might like to have a go at flash fiction, and Peter Hurd instantly came up with the theme.

A few people have recently said that one of the things they love about Riverside Writers is that it’s so informal and welcoming. There’s no inner clique who treat the other members like a captive audience or resident fan club. I hate all that myself, and have visited a few groups where that attitude prevails. Note that I didn’t join them.

Of course, not everyone who comes along to Riverside Writers becomes a member. Some feel too challenged by the monthly writing projects (which require them to actually write, and not just talk about writing!) even though participation isn’t mandatory. A few have the incorrect notion that coming along to group meetings will give them a fast track to a book deal.

An occasional cuckoo will arrive clutching their MS and want one of us to re-write it for them, for free naturally. And once in a while someone from another writing group will descend to tell us how we’re doing it all wrong - which is tiresome though rather amusing considering how many of us have had work published, including some people who’d never written anything creative until they joined us.

Maybe I should write a Hubpage on ‘How to Run a Happy Writers’ Group’…!

At the next meeting of Riverside Writers, which takes place on August 24th, Gary Smailes from Bubblecow, a Wirral-based editing and author mentoring company will be joining us to talk about his work as an editor and author mentor.

The meeting will begin at 7.30pm as usual, at West Kirby Library.

Members and visitors are politely reminded that there is now a membership fee of £1 per meeting. Everyone is welcome.

While Richard spent the morning trying to sleep off one of his infamous migraines, I wrote more of Seth’s Basement, my effort for this month’s Riverside Writer’s project which was set on the theme of The Artificial Head. It’s been fun to write, and as far-fetched as my story may seem it’s actually based on a guy who had a similar set-up in his own basement. Truth can be stranger than fiction, for sure; I named one of my fictional mannequins Anton after the real-life character.

Riverside Writers’ next meeting is tomorrow night, and we’re going to be joined by editor Maurice James who’ll be giving a talk about the kind of things editors look for in submitted MS.

It’s been raining constantly here today, and both dogs are restless. It’s walkies time and they know they’re going nowhere. If it was just a light shower I’d dress Emily and Ygraine in their little raincoats and off we’d go.

At least the fickle English weather presented a passable version of summer when we were in Southport earlier this week. Richard and I met Mum and my sister Evelyn there, and we had an abysmal meal in a place we’d previously praised. Richard bought squeaky toys for the dogs, and a pink fluffy glove puppet rabbit which Ygraine instantly adopted. Emily has since ripped its face off but that hasn’t deterred Ygraine's affection.

Anyone with an interest in the Adshead, Ashbrook, Bray and McGowan family tree is welcome to visit http://hubpages.com/hub/Four-Branches where I’ve created a webpage with photos about this.

Today we have monsoon rain, which is a pleasant change from living in an oven turned on full. This heat wave has not been fun, and fortunately Ygraine was already booked to be groomed this week. Her coat is so thick and dense that she really suffers during hot spells. She’s much happier today. Actually she’s wrapped round my feet as I type this. She’s pretending to be asleep but she’s waiting for walkies. One move from this chair, and she’ll be spinning in excited circles.

When I helped the groomer, Lisa, to he car with her equipment, the door slammed shut. I’d forgotten to put the catch on and so I was locked out. The front room widows were open, and a neighbour--a slender teenager who’s twice my height (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration…) climbed through easily and opened the door for me.

Monday’s meeting of Riverside Writers was fun, as usual. We were joined by two new people, including Jonathon Mayhew who’s recently signed a three-book deal with Bloomsbury. His website is at: http://www.jonmayhew.co.uk/ He talked about the importance of networking in person and online, and also about the enormous amount of re-writes an MS undergoes before the publisher finally gives to go-ahead.

Did I mention that the group is talking about putting together an anthology? We’ve begun looking at prospective printers, as it will be a self-publishing effort.

Spiders love the ivy in our shady front garden.

I have been waging war on the kitchen ceiling, polyfiller and spatula at the ready. The job would be so much easier if I could levitate. This would save having to climb up a stepladder and twist half-upside down so I can smooth away miniature potholes which bring something of a lunar texture to our temple of culinary experimentation.

The house acts like a magnet for moths. There was a large, fat orange-brown one flitting round earlier, and snoozing on the ceiling is a particularly beautiful moth which looks like a Spanish lace fan. No wonder so many have been hanging out in our house--the bats are out in full force tonight.

I've been photographing a few things in the garden, and have also begun weeding around the grove--which is badly overgrown with mare's tail. I've yet to find anything which can kill off mare's tail without destroying the soil for years to come. Anyway, the good news is that my Lady's Mantle has re-established itself under the contorted hazel--which I've given a sensitive prune so now its branches form a 'natural' arch over the entrance to the grove.

Writing: This month's project for Riverside Writers was to produce a poem of short story on the theme of "one more day". I didn't fancy doing a mopey tale (along the lines of having one more day to live, for eg.) and so I ended up with a very short tale--Party Time, 1,250 words--about a retiring Special Ops agent's last day of work. He has a surprise up his sleeve, but I won't give away more than that.

Bethany Rose currently stands at 56,300 words. Progress has slowed while I've been promoting the Parallel Dimensions event which takes place on July 11th. Oodles of press releases have been sent out for that. Also, I've been editing Rowan and have cut a couple of conversations completely. If dialogue doesn't contribute to the plot then it doesn't need to be there.

by Peter Hurd, Treasurer for Riverside Writers.

Tonight's script writing workshop has been cancelled. Another date will be scheduled (TBA). Riverside Writers will meet as usual.

http://www.myspace.com/riversidewriters

Riverside Writers next meet on April 27th, 2009, when we will be visited by playwright Sylvia Tailor who will be leading a workshop on script writing.

Attendees are asked to provide their own writing materials.

The free workshop begins at our usual time of 7.30pm, and takes place at West Kirby Library, Wirral.

All are welcome - even if you've not been for quite some time!

For meeting dates, events & other useful information, visit:-
http://www.myspace.com/riversidewriters
http://www.communigate.co.uk/chesh/riversidewriters/index.phtml

Tim Hulme's short story, The Trunk in Granny's Attic, was published in this month's edition of Writers' Forum after winning first place in this magazine's competition. As winner, he was also awarded £300.

Tim has been a member of Riverside Writers for something like seven years. He holds the post of Secretary and Co-Treasurer for the group. He is also a member of Port Sunlight Writers.

Carol Falaki's first novel, Birth in Suburbia, follows the experiences of three heavily pregnant women. Filled with factual information about pregnancy and labour gleaned from the author's career as a midwife. Midwifery student Gemma aids each birth and learns new things along the way.

Carol has been a member of Riverside Writers for approx. two years. Read Carol's novel here:
http://bookrix.com/_mybook-carolfalaki_1228743771.3955790997

The date of the forthcoming Riverside Writers evening event, New Tales for Old Byways, has been confirmed for 7pm, Wednesday October 14th. This will take place at West Kirby Library, and will be part of Wirral Bookfest 2009. Everyone welcome.

Also being organised (by me) is a UK event for authors who have contributed to any of the Hadley Rille Books anthologies. This will take place in Wirral, probably sometime in early autumn. Dates/times have yet to be confirmed, but Wirral Libraries have already expressed an interest in hosting this event. If any HRB authors are reading this, let me know if you wish to take part.