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.

The Faerie Tree, one of my series of tales about the notorious Caldy fae, will be performed by actress Angela Keeler as part of an evening of short monologues. Angela's theatrical career spans seventeen years, and has included such diverse works as Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale and Frank Marcus's The Killing of Sister George.

This event will take place on 31st October 2009, at the Carlton Little Theatre in Birkenhead. The performance begins at 7.30pm. Seats are limited, so arrive early to avoid disappointment.

One of my monologues, The Faerie Tree, has been chosen for inclusion in a theatrical event scheduled to take place sometime in October, probably in Birkenhead. Another of my series of short stories about the Caldy Fae, this piece has previously been broadcast on 7 Waves Radio.

Caldy is a small area of the Wirral peninsula, nestling on and around Caldy Hill which is covered in ancient woodland and whose summit overlooks the River Dee. The hill is hollow and faeries live within--not the tiny, sparkly tutu-clad “fairies” of (largely) Victorian invention, but the powerful, magical and oftentimes devious gods of the ancient Celts who settled in this area.

Richard surprised me this morning with a gorgeous amethyst ring. It's an unusual setting, with a delicate bow at either end of the oblong stone. I knew nothing about it until he handed it to me in the jeweller's box. That is so like him; he's always buying me little presents all year round, whether there's anything formal to celebrate or not.

Yesterday I put a few more tweaks to a short ghost story, The Homecoming, which is set in Parkgate just down the coast from us. I'll workshop it a Riverside Writers before I call it finished, though, as I'm not totally sure it makes 100% sense yet. Sometimes when an idea is clear in your head you can't always see that the words on the page don't convey that idea clearly enough. That's where Beta readers come in handy.

On Friday last week I was invited back to City Talk radio to record four more of my short stories: The Club, New Year's Day, Clara's Wristwatch and The Faerie Tree. These will be broadcast during Roy Basnett's Zone Unknown show on Fridays between 10pm and 1am (GMT) on City Talk 105.9 FM.

Alternatively, you can hear The Club at any time throughout this week by going to the website at: http://www.citytalk.fm/showdj.asp?DJID=48793 To hear my bit, move the curser almost to the end of the slide.

If anyone is wondering why this LJ layout has been changed back to the original design, it's because the new one "ate" my guestbook. Not than many people have actually signed the guestbook anyway...!!! But it's a sparkly little gadget and I like it.

While I was in Liverpool on Friday, I visited the World Museum (as it now calls itself) on William Brown Street. No longer do visitors hike up mountainous steps to reach the entrance. Grand they may look, but those steps really were a bit scary. Anyway, I wanted to view the new Egyptian Gallery, but effortlessly spent three hours meandering round the entire place, taking in the aquarium (no seahorses now!) and the Romanesque statue section, which used to be bigger, and my favourite sculpture was absent. There was a lively display of Tibetan statues, and a gorgeous Asian goddess with twenty-four arms, and absolutely heaps of interesting, beautiful or educational things to see.

The Egyptian section didn't seem to have much new in it, unfortunately (in fact, I can remember pieces from the old displays which were not on show now, but maybe they're being restored?) However the collection's presentation has been greatly improved.

I was standing beside a mummy when a mother and two small boys approached. One of the boys wrinkled his face and loudly declared, "That's disgusting! Wrapping up dead bodies in bandages! That's horrible!" The other boy kept watching the mummy's fingers for any signs of life. I don't think the tea shop stocked tanna leaves....