http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk en-gb hazelosmond.co.uk 2012-5-15T00:00:00Z hazelosmond.co.uk http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#118304 Every now and again you read a book that leaves you viewing the world in a slightly different way and gnashing your teeth that you didnt write it. Such a book is The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder the debut novel by JW Ironmonger. Now at this point I should state that I am a little biased having interviewed John at the Hexham Book Festival. I found him be as wise and funny as his book with in addition the kind of modesty that has you saying out loud to him John this is a brilliant book do you realise how brilliant a book this is while he just looks a bit bashful and murmurs thank you. So. the book.As part of his PhD Maximilian Ponder only son of a highly individual family decides to lock himself away in the family seat to catalogue his memories. He envisages that it will take about three years and his only link with the outside world during that time will be his childhood friend Adam Last. Adams many tasks include not mentioning anything that is happening in the present da... 2012-5-15 11:14:49 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#117854 As part of Hexham Book Festival I went to listen to two authors currently earning critical and popular praise SJ Watson writer of the thriller Before I Go To Sleep and Rachel Joyce whose book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry has been described as a tender quietly comic coming of old age tale. Earlier in the week both had been long listed for the Desmond Elliott prize. Both authors started by explaining what had sparked their books. In SJ Watsons case he had read an obituary of someone who following an operation when he was 26 years old had been unable to lay down any new memories. In his book Christine wakes up next to a man she doesnt recognise in a house she doesnt know. When she goes to look in the bathroom mirror she sees a woman standing there who is in her forties yet she knows she is only in her twenties. Christine slowly realises that the woman in the mirror is her and every day she has to relearn who she is and try to work out who she should trust. The reader is in t... 2012-5-7 16:55:20 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#117196 Welcome to Rosy Thornton who has kindly guested on my blog before and is doing so again to tell you about her new book set in the Cambridgeshire fens. Over to you Rosy.... Im sure Im not the only writer who is fascinated by names. The names of things and of people and places how they were acquired what they mean and the many subtle resonances which make them appropriate. The idea for my latest novel began with the name of a place. A couple of miles north of the Cambridgeshire fenland village where I live is a spot known locally as Twenty Pence. Theres nothing much there just a solitary house and a bridge across the drainage cut. Twenty pence Ive always assumed must once have been the toll to cross the water there. Perhaps the house belonged to the tollkeeper. Thats how I imagine it anyway. But theres something about Twenty Pence that bugs me. For a start twenty pence would surely be far too much to cross a river back in the days whe... 2012-4-27 07:51:50 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#116999 I didnt realise when I started to think about this blog that there was any kind of theme other than that Ive been out and about recently hoovering up plays films and author interviews. Then I started to write it and realised there was a vague thread there about adaptations of original creative pieces... On Tuesday I went to see Alison Carrs play Quick Bright Things at the Peoples Theatre Newcastle. The play began as a response to the Royal Shakespeare Companys Open Stages project which invited non professional companies to stage a play around Shakespeare in a different way. Alisons play looked at A Midsummer Nights Dream staged it in three parts with three different casts and in different parts of the theatre in what is fancily called a promenade production. Part One started in the bar hurrah where there was an awkward date between a young girl and lad which had been engineered by a friend. It was a good take on the I love her shes my best friendshe drives me madI could easily ... 2012-4-24 09:40:50 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#116095 Its been more or less a month OK... more if youre being strict since I last posted and perhaps you thought that my disappointment at not winning the Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year Award see previous blog had sent me stumbling towards a soft sofa and hard liquor No Ive had what those who are not writers call a deadline and what those of us who are writers call oh Lordy its only a few weeks till I have to finish the book and even though I have written it many times in my head and lived with these characters for months and might even be in love with the leading man I actually have to get it finished and polished. Why oh why didnt I start this earlier so that all I needed to do now was tweak Yes its been a regime of writing until 4am and creeping upstairs to ricochet off the door in the dark and then fall asleep in bed. Sometimes Ive even got the right bed and not found myself in the morning face to face with a confused daughter. Hunched over the keyboard eyelids propped open with... 2012-4-8 21:51:19 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#114086 Youll know by now that I didnt win the Romantic Comedy of the Year RoNA on Monday afternoon. Writing this two days later I can shrug my shoulders and say Never mind. Fantastic to be shortlisted with my first book Im determined to come this way again and hearty congratulations to Jane Lovering who did win. But it might be interesting for you to know what my emotions were exactly at that moment when the envelope was opened and I knew it wasnt going to be my year. After all I did say right at the start of blogging that I would always try to be as truthful as possible about the writers life Ive never found it useful or inspiring to read blogs where writers give the impression that everything is progressing swimmingly with their writing and they still have time to put a smile on a partners face and perfectly crafted meals in front of their children. Sorry but for me a blog isnt a work of fiction Writers are complex beasts. Many of us are a weird mixture of confidence and uncert... 2012-3-7 18:36:17 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#113583 Had a new experience this week live radio. Jonathan Miles who hosts the 1012 slot on BBC Radio Newcastle was doing a show asking whether our attitudes towards sex had changed and was featuring a range of people who make their living from sex. This did make me feel slightly racier than I am but of course what they were getting at in my case was the fact I write romances which feature sex scenes. Other people interviewed on the show were a sex therapist a male escort and someone who works for Ann Summers and also blogs about sex. What you might call a mixed bunch and having talked to the lady who does the blogging as we waited for our respective turns I can also say they were a lively and interesting bunch. Ah waiting for our turns as always its a time of butterflies and blurting when every bit of saliva leaves your mouth and you suspect it has gone to your bladder because you now have a desperate urge to go to the toilet. But once I was in the studio had been introduced t... 2012-2-29 11:57:27 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#112291 This has been burning a hole in my mind since I found out Whos Afraid of Mr Wolfe has been shortlisted for the Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year award by the Romantic Novelists Association. You can read more about it here www.rnaawards.com and see who the other nominees are in this and the other categories. I am going down to London on March 5th for the awards ceremony where all the nominees with find out who is the winner from each category. Which is a fantastic excuse to get a new dress and some new shoes and the date is not far enough in the future to be able to torture yourself with the thought that maybe just maybe you could drop that extra stone of weight in preparation. Im also very much looking forward to putting some more faces to names in the romantic writing world and a little star struck at the thought that Im going to be in the same room as people like Jill Mansell and Freya North. Note to self do not stalk them or look at them with your mouth open. I am very much ... 2012-2-11 12:02:11 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#111793 Its true my blog sent out a search party for me and here I am. The reason for the silence is the best reason of all for a writer Ive been writing. I have a deadline of the end of April for my third book to be sent to Quercus and time seemed to be speeding up faster than the word count. So Ive had my head down stupid expression as thats the easiest way to crook your neck if youre trying to type and look at the screen too and now Im making the progress I wanted. But I havent yet got to the stage where I can lean on the gate chew grass and talk smugly about how I made it to the end. As well as writing Ive been researching. My third book involves a woman who works for a company running tours of art galleries in London and while I know a fair bit about older art and over the years have visited most of the big London galleries my knowledge of modern art needed refreshing. So the other week I had a flying trip down to London and went to among other places the Saatchi Gallery. Th... 2012-2-4 20:49:37 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#110010 Theres nothing like a good rant to start the year so here goes. And before I start I am aware that Im going off on one and am slightly amazed at my own strength of feeling about this subject. So do feel free to tell me I am completely wrong by clicking on the envelope at the bottom and leaving feedback. OKso deep breath. Adapting a wellknown wellloved classic must be a minefield. Do you faithfully reproduce what has gone before or try to put your own slant on it Maybe even give it a modern twist to make it more accessible to todays audience On the one hand you could be accused of playing it safe on the other youll have the purists breathing down your neck. I perhaps naively think its possible to do both stay true to the spirit of the original while bring the full force of a modern imagination to it so that the audience looks afresh at its relevancehumourtragedyYou have probably seen many examples of that yourself. I remember a production of The Tempest by the RSC a coup... 2012-1-9 05:44:55 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#109562 Short post and to the point.... wishing you all a Happy Healthy and Fulfilled Year.... will be posting again soon on why the National Theatres production of Comedy of Errors worked for me and why the BBC production of Great Expectations didnt...... 2012-1-3 11:09:29 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#108389 Now and again things make me chew the carpet. Like the latest film about Shakespeare ok so I havent seen it but the underlying idea behind it is that Shakespeare as we know him balding kind of sad eyes impressive ruff was not the one who wrote the plays. They were in fact written by a member of the nobility Sir Blueblood Highbrow de Richboy. Ok I lied about that last bit but I told you I was annoyed so annoyed Im not even going to check which Earl its meant to be this time. Now the main reason I have a problem with this theory and I know people as wonderful as Mark Rylance dont is because running through these doubts about who Shakespeare actually was is a thick seam of only somebody whod travelled abroad had the education of a noble and the experience of court could have produced such profound works of art. Not a grammar school boy from the Midlands. Son of a glove maker. This hacks me off as a person and as a writer because I believe it completely ignores the one thin... 2011-12-8 15:49:13 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#106906 Last week was one with plenty of variety... I finished going through the suggested edits for my next book The Genuine Article. I hadnt looked at the manuscript for a couple of months and it is amazing how a break can act like a particularly efficient pair of glasses allowing you to see strengths and weaknesses you might not have noticed before. Ive only been through this process twice but both times Ive been petrified what if I revisited the book and thought what the hell were you playing at Its pants. Im glad to report this did not happen. I still love the book and forgive it the pain it caused me... for at times it felt like giving birth to a baby wearing a sombrero made of barbed wire. The plot is more complex than the one in Mr Wolfe and there are a couple of issues in it I wanted to treat with sensitivity while remembering that what I write is romantic comedy with equal emphasis on both those words. Added to that was the pressure of what people call the difficult secon... 2011-11-15 17:40:59 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#106398 I wrote this piece for a guest spot on the blog belonging to historical romance writer Elizabeth Hanbury httpwww.elizabethhanbury.com and as it addresses a question thats been brewing away in my brain for a while I thought Id post it here too. The question Where does the writer get her voice This is something that intrigues me because up until five years ago I wasnt listening to what now appears to be my writing voice but trying to summon one up based on what I believed I should be writing. I put it down to doing an English degree and to equating being serious with being taken seriously. It will not surprise you to learn that the pressure to write something weighty and profound resulted in a blank mind and a computer screen to match. Soon the only writing I was doing was advertising copywriting nothing wrong with that and I will always be grateful that advertising taught me the importance of being entertaining brief and direct but where was that book I was going to wri... 2011-11-8 09:21:50 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#105228 Im one of a number of writers who are this week taking part in this event. If you pop over to the website youll find a list of prizes ... Im giving away two signed copies of Whos Afraid of Mr Wolfe Good luck. 2011-10-23 19:15:51 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#104738 Apologies to my regular readers for the long absence which was due to a. horrible stomach bug b. visit of elderly relative c. deadline for edits on second book. But look here I am back and delighted to introduce you to Hilary Ely who as Bookfox Hilary is a reviewer on Vulpes Libris. I first encountered Hilary on C19... yes another Mr Armitage admirer and was very interested to know her views on reviewing and book blogging ... Many thanks Hazel for asking me to contribute to your blog. Im delighted to be here with some thoughts about reviewing books online in general and book blogging in particular. Im one of those book bloggers a member of the Vulpes Libris collective. To our intense surprise when we stop to think about it Vulpes Libris appears in Wikios list of top UK literary blogs. That doesnt mean were read by millions though just hundreds a day but thats a lot in my book for the first time in my life my words are being read by hundreds of people and not just ... 2011-10-16 14:44:23 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#102788 While it seems as if Ive been living with Mr Wolfe for a couple of years now its OK my husband is very understanding he has in fact only been released into the wild for five months. But in those five months Ive learned a lot especially about myself. In the spirit of passing things forward I offer you a quick tour of the highlights and some of the low spots. 1. You will become your own mad stalker. You start to watch the sales figures hunt out review sites google your book title sift through feedback. You cannot enter a book shop without rearranging your book so that it is somehow more prominent. This may involve shifting other writers work a little to one side. If Sharon Osbourne ever finds out she will kill you. 2. You will discover that you have a thinner and a thicker skin than you thought. How can that be Well you may receive a whole wedge of marvellous reviews on Amazon but it is the negative ones that youll remember... but within those negative ones you will after a li... 2011-9-19 11:06:14 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#101682 Im really pleased to welcome Georgia Hill to my blog this week another graduate of the C19 website. Georgia Hills first novel Pursued by Love was nominated for the RNA New Writers Award. Her latest book In a Class of His Own will be out soon with EScape Press. Thank you to Hazel for inviting me to guest blog on her lovely site. I love to look round an old house or beautiful garden especially if the property has a literary connection. On a visit to Sissinghurst I envied Vita SackvilleWest her stunning tower room and loved equally Rudyard Kiplings study at his home in Sussex. It was thrilling to see Jane Austens tiny desk at Chawton and I was incredibly moved when peering into the Brontes parlour at Haworth definitely a sense of their presence in the air. Has anyone come across this website www.paigecuccaro.com It features pictures of where writers write. It fascinates me to see the different environments that people create in which to write. Or perhaps Im just plain n... 2011-9-2 21:19:06 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#101221 I have been fortunate enough or insane enough to be a performer at the Edinburgh Fringe twice as part of a group drawn from my trusty Amateur Dramatics Club. It was a mad nerveshredding liberating fantastic experience and both times we had the satisfaction of getting good houses and not bad reviews. But even though we were only performing there for one week out of the possible three it was wildly exhausting a state where you are both elated and knackered. Its not just the actual getting up on a stage and acting that wears you out at the Fringe but the socialising the drinking and scary drum roll the dreaded leafleting. For those of you who have been blessed this far in life not to know what that means in an Edinburgh Fringe context its basically that the majority of productions are not the big star vehicles or wellknown comedians but entertainment put together with string and sealing wax and love and therefore audiences have to be enticed to come and see itliterally approached... 2011-8-26 08:34:52 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#100843 I have been lucky enough to snaffle an interview with Elizabeth Ashworth author of The de Lacy Inheritance and so will hold over my blog on the Edinburgh Fringe until next week. Elizabeth has many nonfiction and fiction works to her credit and her short stories and articles have appeared in publications as diverse as The Times Top Gear The Lady and My Weekly. She is also a fellow graduate of the school of C19... Many years ago I miserably failed my history Olevel. History lessons were the most boring hours of the week I had to endure. Our teacher was a batty old dear who wore bloomers that reached down to her knees and whose idea of teaching was to dictate an example essay one week and then have us learn it by heart and reproduce it the next. How I hated the Tudors and Henry VIII. I still hate Henry now but for very different reasons not because he is boring but because he destroyed so many fine monastery buildings and churches. And what he didnt destroy O... 2011-8-20 13:53:30 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#100481 As those of you who call in regularly know Im not just enthusiastic about writing but also about what has somehow acquired the terrible catchall name of the performing arts a phrase that always makes me think of a dog on its hind legs balancing a ball on its nose while barking its way through show tunes. Dhuh. I suppose basically Im talking about live entertainment and in this particular blog entry stuff that falls broadly under the heading of theatre. I am very lucky that this enthusiasm is shared by my husband and to some extent by my daughters and so while some of you may have been baking on a beach or dissolving in the UK rain we have had short trips to London and the Edinburgh Fringe and gobbled up eight different shows. Plus a backstage tour of the National Theatre which made my husband all misty eyed at two points the first when he looked at the number of lights they had hes a backstage boy at heart and the second when our tour guide accidentally led us on to the stage wher... 2011-8-14 21:23:47 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#98818 If you look at the friends you have why you get on with all of them may not actually be something you understand they might not seem to have many characteristics or beliefs in common. In fact up until four years ago I would have said that the only thing all of my friends could be absolutely sure of sharing was the fact that somewhere along the line theyd met me whether at school or university at work through hobbies and clubs or perhaps by living in the same village. Why up until four years ago Because that was when I discovered that far from being an anorakladen swamp with mad stalkers lurking everywhere the internet could actually be a liberating place in which to make friendships. Back in 2007 when I stumbled on a website called C19 I was looking for information about Richard Armitage. And perhaps photos. Ahem. What I found was an encouraging supportive place that I would liken to a kind of cyber commune if that word didnt always seem to conjure up images of bad plumbing... 2011-7-20 16:06:34 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#97976 From time to time Ill be inviting other writers and reviewers to contribute a Friday piece to the blog... well who wants to hear my voice droning on all the time Im really pleased therefore that Rosy Thornton has agreed to do my first ever Friday spot. Like me Rosy started writing fan fiction on the C19 website and then went on to write novels in Rosys case shes had four published. So... seeing as she is a Law lecturer I was interested to know if there were any similarities between writing fiction and the kind of writing she does in her day job... Hello there... I think I may have the strangest backlist on Amazon of any author I know. On the one hand I write contemporary womens fiction with titles such as The Tapestry of Love and More than Love Letters with pastel covers decked in hearts and flowers. On the other hand in my day job as a lecturer in Law at the University of Cambridge I have published more serious academic works including the sexilytitl... 2011-7-8 21:33:18 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#97738 Im sure youre not all sitting there with bated whatevers waiting for my pearls of wisdom but it has been a while since I blogged. Its ok I have my excuses ready and not one of them involves the dog eating my work. The main reason was that the revisions for my second book took longer than I thought. There we go Ive said it. Once Id started tweaking and unknitting and then knitting back together I found that I was hurtling towards the end of June and the thought of working on anything else that involved writing made me throw myself on the carpet and hammer it with my fists. Even doing a shopping list was pretty traumatic. Now The Genuine Article is back with Quercus a sleeker better thing. And in the light of the recent News of the World allegations the subject matter seems spookily of the moment. But ... in the interests of being honest about the writing life as I said I would be it has meant that the grand airy plans I paraded in front of you about entering all those writing compe... 2011-7-5 20:01:54 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#96438 On Monday went to see The Pitman Painters at The Peoples Theatre in Jesmond Newcastle. Written by Lee Hall it tells the story of a group of Ashington miners in the mid 1930s who turn up for an art appreciation evening class to be taught by a professor from Newcastle University. The gulf between what the professor plans to teach them and what they think art is appears to be fairly large but its bridged by his suggestion that they paint their own pictures. What happens next is the flourishing of the first collective of working class artists the UK has ever seen yet over all the years the men paint and however much their work is revered by collectors and other artists they still spend their days down the mine. Its a funny at times hilarious and moving play and its concerns the important role art can play in any life the effects class and politics have on aspirations will always be relevant. The play was first performed at the Live Theatre in Newcastle then went to the National Theatr... 2011-6-16 22:09:42 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#95816 My friend Angela bought me a voucher for my birthday to have my feet nibbled by fish Gara Ruffa fish no less. So on Tuesday we went off to the spa place in Newcastle where there were about 8 tanks of these fish and after steeling myself I rolled up my trouser legs and got stuck in. My natural instinct when anything from the natural world starts to home in on me is to run away. I persuaded myself not to and it was a strange experience to watch all these fish latch on to your feet and ankles and start well sucking. Yup thats the only word for it. It tickled to start with and there was a fair amount of sensory overload but once you got used to it the feeling was one of mild and not unpleasant pins and needles. We had half an hour and after the first ten minutes you kind of forget that you have your trouser legs rolled up and your feet are covered in fish so that they look like little fishy socks. The whole experience was enlivened by the arrival of two other women one of whom was terr... 2011-6-8 22:05:45 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#95366 One of the books that helped me with my writing didnt really deal with how to more whats stopping you It was Julia Camerons The Artists Way and it made it possible for me to identify a few things holding me back. Those of you who write will probably recognise some of these they included still carrying round the shame of having some writing criticised in a really humiliating way by someone I trusted always doing things at the last minute because then I could tell myself it didnt matter if I failed because I hadnt really had enough time to do a proper job and filling up my time with too many things I had said yes to. Being helped to identify these things was half the battle. Im not saying Ive addressed them all fully still having a tendency to need the adrenaline of a tight deadline to really move up a gear but things have definitely improved. As with most of these books you wont find all the advice works for you. Cameron feels Morning Pages three pages of longhand writing done ... 2011-6-2 21:45:21 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#95006 Still immersed in the revisions for my second book but I have looked up long enough to catch the disquiet that has been caused in the romantic novelists world by an article written by a Daily Mail journalist attending an RNA event in London. For those of you who didnt read the article it appeared that the journalist a woman wasnt interested in looking round the room and writing an article on how diverse the writers were but instead wanted to give the impression that these were all ladies of a certain age and gosh wasnt it amazing that they still had full bladder control let alone that they were producing literature that was in some cases quite raunchy. There was also gratuitous mention of support hose and people donning rain hatsbonnets when they left I believe. I got halfway down the article and my brain switched off having tired of the cliche over complexity approach. But people were annoyed particularly I imagine those who were there and felt it did not portray a true picture o... 2011-5-29 15:10:58 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#94303 I have been doing revisions to my second book some of them just little tweaks but a couple that need thinking about and mulling over and repeated trips to the kettle and the back of the cupboard where I am certain a couple of chocolate biscuits still lurk. I have until mid June to get the revisions back to Quercus but time is chugging along and up until yesterday I was still metaphorically chewing the end of my pencil over how to approach one particular scene from a different angle and inject a bit more ooomph into it without appearing heartless. This is because without giving away the story of The Genuine Article too much it does have a couple of characters in it who face some difficult issues and squaring being sensitive with being funny can be tricky. I dont want to sound glib when Im writing about them but on the other hand I find it hard to write anything totally devoid of humour...and from the readers point of view theyre expecting a romantic comedy not a lot of hand wringing. ... 2011-5-19 16:37:34 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#94026 Slight departure today into the world of music prompted by the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday. Ah Eurovision. For a lot of people in the UK its a chance to have a good laugh or a drunken party someone I know has one based around the rule that you have to down the national drink of each country performing. I dont think anyone has ever made it to the voting stage and vodka seems to figure quite largely these days. Poking gentle fun at Eurovision is set in stone and first Terry Wogan and now Graham Norton have commentated accordingly. Its not surprising Eurovision has a whiff of those old fashioned Saturday night variety shows despite the amazingly modern staging and production values. But laugh or fall over drunkenly Eurovision is part of a lot of peoples TV heritage. I remember watching it when I was younger and it producing some memorable moments... Cliff Richard with his toe curlingly embarrassing dancing with a song I think was called Power to all our Friends Dana from Ire... 2011-5-16 11:16:13 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#93961 Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 2011-5-15 14:45:54 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#93743 If you look at my Welcome Page youll see Ive had a facelift if youve been reading my blog since the start you might twig that finally I have posted the photograph taken of me at the Woman amp Home shoot. Actually thats a lie Ive had to seek help to get it posted as I was defeated by my websites photo posting instructions. But there I am in all my glory... not bad for 107 eh So on from kind lighting and photographers to kind writers. Its been my experience right from the start that writers are a generous bunch not only with advice but also with their time and their encouragement. In the various groups to which I belong Romantic Novelists Association British Romantic Fiction C19 etc. there is an easy flow of help offered and taken. Its the same when Ive had cause to seek advice or support regarding short stories and Vanessa Gebbie stands out as a particularly positive example of spreading enthusiasm and knowledge. Its a worldwide trait obviously and if youre really interested ... 2011-5-12 09:48:08 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#93471 Went to listen to Maggie OFarrell on Thursday evening at the Hexham Book Festival. Shes a fantastic speaker very funny and self effacing. She was talking about writing in general and The hand that first held mine in particular and had a fresh take on quite a few things. One was the way children affect your writing she felt it actually improved it as she was more disciplined had to work in concentrated bursts when she could and was therefore less inclined to baggy spacefilling passages. She had some interesting things to say about the time shifts in her novels particularly in relation to the way we store or process information so that something that happened yesterday can seem a long time ago if we feel it is of minor importance and conversely events from the past can still have immediacy if they were traumatic etc. An hour didnt really seem long enough and when shed finished it set me thinking about why some writers can do this book festival thing and communicate with large audie... 2011-5-9 07:37:06 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#93186 Yesterday was my first reading event I was appearing at the Robinson Gay gallery with another writer Chloe Daykin as part of the Hexham Book Festival. It is a beautiful venue upstairs among the carved furniture and sculptures and about 25 people attended. I was fairly nervous and I know Chloe was too but it turned out to be a very informal event and I hope those attending enjoyed it. Chloe has a lovely poetic style and a wry outlook that comes across strongly in her stories and she also makes the books in which they feature. I read a cutdown version of Bonne Maman and two excerpts from Mr Wolfe. What did I learn from the event That its quite natural to fear that your flies are undone when youre standing up in front of people and that I should really always wear my glasses these days when reading. Also to make it clear to the gallery owner that I am talking about a piece of sculpture when I say Im a bit worried about your bust. I meant that I was worried it was on a plinth near the... 2011-5-5 10:16:15 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#92981 You were up at dawn on May day washing your face in the dew werent you Or dancing along with the Morris Men No. Well shame on you. Theres something about May that lightens the step all that nature bursting into perfection the feeling that this year might be the year we get a summer. Actually I wasnt up either. It was OHs birthday the day before so wed had a good meal and a late night and we didnt surface very early. But we had packed a 15 mile walk in the Lake District under our belts earlier in the week which meant that I didnt feel the least bit guilty about not being out trilling and Hey Nonny Nonnying. Now though after all the hoopla of the Royal Wedding and his highnesss birthday the girls are returning to school and Im returning to writing. Ive had the second book back from Quercus with a big thumbs up but of course some revisions. A good editor should point out where things can be improved and Charlotte does in a lovely tactful way. Shes invariably right. Forgive me if Iv... 2011-5-2 21:46:34 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#92667 Dont worry that sounds a heavy title but its not really. Ive just had a couple of days where Ive been tussling with a short story that I thought I knew how to make better and then when Ive done it Im not sure theres been any improvement at all. Par for the course with some stories Im afraid. Some pop into your head and flow beautifully and you know theyre good. Others you have to grind out word by word and its as if youve spent so long on them you lose the ability to judge if they work or not. Never mind I can lay it aside for a couple of days and come back to it. I think really it may be that the viewpoint is wrong... too much is happening to the lead character and hes coming across as very passive. But then again not getting inside his head adds to the weirdness of the story which is what I want. See what I mean When I get really bogged down I usually wander off telling myself to get a grip and get something made of chocolate. The selfdoubts bit of the title is written a litt... 2011-4-28 09:07:49 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#92497 On Easter Monday we walked up to what we think of as our local a pub called The Feathers at Hedley on the Hill. Every Easter Monday they have a barrel race where teams of three people run up the not inconsiderable hill to the village carrying an empty beer barrel for the chance to win a full one. There is a childrens version too that is not beer related. Yesterday was hot here even walking up I felt tired and glowing so I did not envy those who were going to run it with barrel. This year at the pub there was also a beer garden a live funky band an Easter bonnet competition and al fresco versions of the pubs food. Were not talking sad burgers and limp sausages here. The Feathers has won the Good Pub Guides Northumbria Dining Pub of the year for the last four years and the charcoal cooked burger in a ciabatta type roll I had I would have married if my OH had not got to me first. What I admire most about the people who run the pub apart from the consistently wonderful food they cook... 2011-4-26 08:57:59 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#92368 In all the hoohah surrounding the publication of the book and the efforts to get people to know its out there and to buy it I havent had much time to write or to read. Easter is giving me the opportunity to do both. Im currently reading a short story collection by Salley Vickers Aphrodites Hat in readiness for the Hexham Book Festival where I will be chatting to her about them and her writing in general. Im also reading her bestselling novel Miss Garnets Angel and will try to acquaint myself with the rest of her back catalogue as well as take a peek at Penelope Fitzgeralds writing. Im ashamed to say I have never read much of her work but she was greatly encouraging to Salley Vickers after the publication of Miss Garnets Angel and I see one of the short stories in the anthology is dedicated to her. Im also reading... yes when I get started I really go for it... a collection of short stories by John Cheever called Vintage Cheever. I love the real sense he gives you of watching ordina... 2011-4-24 08:15:16 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#92190 Went to see Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Northern Stage last night and am still zinging with how brilliant it was. A collaboration between Northern Stage Director Erica Whyman and Sheffield Theatres Director Daniel Evans it seemed to get everything right. The setting made you feel as though you were in Marthas sitting room under assault as much as the actors and I loved the way each act opened a sudden dimming of the house lights and a sharp skirl of ice being dropped in a glass. And the acting my lord the acting. For those who dont know the play its a four hander with Martha and George the main protagonists locked in a fighttothedeath marriage thats portrayed in a way that draws both blood and tears. Over the course of one drinkfuelled late nightearly morning they rip further chunks of flesh from their marriage and from the relationship of their two guests Honey and Nick. If that sounds awful it is but its also funny and wry and moving. Sian Thomas as Martha was superb in all h... 2011-4-21 08:52:11 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#92028 Sorry for the gap in the blog but what with the fine weather and the charging around the local bookshops when I did sit down in front of the computer I found my eyelids forcing themselves together. And then yesterday evening we had the great Applying for Olympic Tickets event. Have to report that neither my OH or I came away with medals but we have sent off for a wedge of tickets that should we get them all will necessitate selling one of the children. Which one to be decided at a later date and highly dependent on TVFacebookRevisionActually Feeding the Cats or Loading the Dishwasher ratios this Easter holidays. OH was very good about pretending he did not want to see the Beach Volleyball even though he developed a sudden interest in it at the Sydney Olympics and managed to keep a straight face when we gals said wed like to see some synchronised swimming. I do hope we get something out of the many sessions we have applied to see and at least some events in the Olympic Stadium. I kno... 2011-4-19 08:07:19 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#91775 I had two things to celebrate last night and Im afraid I did it in style. Now I feel like I have been exhumed and I am very glad it is not my turn to do the school run this morning. Walking to the kettle is difficult enough and who knew the keys on this keyboard made quite so much noise The first cause for celebration was of course the book being published and my trip to Tescos with the girls was just fantastic. Yes I know the words trip to Tescos and fantastic are not often seen in the same sentence but it was lovely to see Wolfie nestling there on the shelf next to some big romantic hitters. I had a good chat with the lady who does the books and she told me that copy was the last one left which made me feel extra good even though the little voice in my head was saying they probably only had 2 in to start with. Later on a friend of my elder daughter rang to say hed gone and bought that last copy. Hurrah Indulge me for a second with the thought that on one day in one place I sold out... 2011-4-15 08:45:16 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#91700 Ok this is probably terribly uncool but I am sitting here grinning like a loon as I type this. It was November 2009 when I got the book deal with Quercus thats 17 months of anticipation. I could have had nearly two babies in that time if Id been quick and deranged. As it is my big baby is out there today and later on in another terribly uncool act I am picking the girls up from school going to Tesco and staring at Whos Afraid of Mr Wolfe on the shelves. I may even pick up a copy. I cant swear I shant sniff it though I have promised the girls I wont actually kiss it and inflict dhuh social death on their lives. Promises can get broken though cant they So if youre in Tesco today and see a slightly hyper woman fondling a paperback dont be surprised. And tomorrow I might be tempted to repeat the process in Waterstones and WH Smith and Asda and the local independent book shops. Best stay indoors for a while if youre of a nervous disposition. 2011-4-14 11:37:57 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#91641 Before I chunter on about myself Id like to alert anyone who lives near or in Newcastle to an event at the Central Library on 14th April at 6.30pm. A friend I have made through the Romantic Novelists Association Janet MacLeod Trotter is doing some readings from her latest book The Vanishing of Ruth and I urge you to go along because Janet is a very good writer with a list of books to her name she and her husband do a lively performance which at one point features him in a hippy wig and the story itself is a fascinating one and inspired in part by Janets own travels on a bus tour along what was known as the hippy trail during her gap year. There is also another good reason to nip along money from the sale of the book goes to the Do it 4 Don appeal set up to raise funds for the care of Janets brother Don who used to be a journalist on the Guardian and latterly worked for the Russell group of universities. He was knocked off his bike last year and suffered severe head injuries. ... 2011-4-13 12:53:26 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#91463 I am now probably as excited as it is possible to be without spontaneously combusting. The night terrors have abated more or less and now well now I just want to get started. I want to walk into a bookshop and see Wolfie on the shelves although I am a little afraid that I might be there for the tipping point when somebody actually buys it and then well then youll hear the explosion from wherever you are in the country. Great headline that would be though Debut author spontaneously combusts in bookshop. Fire sale starts 9am tomorrow. So took myself off to Tesco and Waterstones in Hexham today to introduce myself and try not to look either a. too eager b. too desperate c. like the book might be written on a lined A4 notepad in green ink. The people I spoke to were all very lovely and I did try not to laugh when the lady in Tesco asked me if it was a childrens book. Why wouldnt she with a title like that I did manage not to blurt Lordy lordy no. Not a childrens book particularly pages ... 2011-4-11 13:26:49 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#91296 Six sleeps till Wolfie and positively absolutely my last weekend ever as an unpublished writer coming up. Im intending to keep busy. As I mentioned before this last drag up to publication date seems so long that Im stuffing the intervening days full of events to stop me mulling and fretting two activities I would definitely bring home gold for were they recognised Olympic sports. Luckily the weather is conspiring to help me get out and about and I have to say with the blossom on the plum tree merging into the sprays of forsythia right in front of my window spring is looking mighty fine in Northumberland. Theres that feeling of promise and possibility in the air I always feel at this time of year. If I could just track down which particular slug is chewing the tops off my daffodils I would feel at peace with nature. So this weekend has to include a walk somewhere a real one with walking boots and water bottles and hopefully a map. Not a saunter to the post box or the pub. Then Im ... 2011-4-8 12:57:43 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#91176 Yesterday evening was my book launch party in Il Piccolo in Corbridge and it was absolutely one of the best evenings of my life. And I wasnt even drinking for most of it. True in the hours leading up to it I could feel myself getting more and more nervous and the moment when I accidentally slammed the car boot down on the red heartshaped helium balloons was a bit of a sickner they all survived but as the first people came in through the restaurant door I knew everything was going to be all right. It was one of those evenings when everyone seemed up for it. Traditionally at these events your publisher or agent stands up and says a bit about you then you read some excerpts from your book and give people the opportunity to buy signed copies. We went off piste a little. Well whats the use in having the room stuffed full of Am Dram types if you dont make use of them So instead of me just reading I had Eileen Ian and Pat taking the parts of Ellie Jack and Edith and a few other charact... 2011-4-6 17:38:47 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#90784 First of all sorry to tell you this but the Wolf suit isnt going to happen. Yes I know but in the cold light of day and for once in my life taking advice from my OH I decided that lovely though both suits were they were not the sexy romantic image I was aiming for. Also as much as I racked my brains I could not think of anyone prepared to wear one. Standing outside a restauarant. In daylight. In an area where they knew people and had so far maintained the illusion that they were sane. Yup the honest truth is no one loves me enough to look that ferocious or that cute. Sigh. So if the wolf isnt causing me night terrors what is Well before I tell you I should perhaps explain that when I started with these blog entries I made a conscious decision that alongside giving you an insight into the person behind the writing I would try to be honest about the whole writing process as I saw it. I think thats important especially for anyone reading this who is trying to develop as a writer whe... 2011-4-4 21:11:46 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#90469 To the Drama Clubs produciton of Steel Magnolias on Saturday. Strange to come into the hall and turn right into the auditiorium rather than left to go backstage even stranger that OH and I sat together as normally either he is stage managing or doing lights or I am acting. It was nice though not to have those butterflies in the stomach as you hear the end of the preshow announcement about turning off your mobile phones which is the signal that the house lights will then go down and in a few seconds you will be on. Having said that there is always part of you wanting to be on the stage when youre not and maybe maybe if Im honest in among your wish that everyone does well is a little streak of jealousy that has you looking out for stumbles and flaws. Yes I know not a nice trait but scratch any other actor and I bet theyd tell you the same. Well the news is I had absolutely nothing to let that nasty streak of jealousy feed upon the cast were brilliant and the final scene had me gulping... 2011-3-29 13:19:34 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#90201 Sorry a particularly incoherent title for this blog entry. Havent really been able to talk in a straight line since a padded envelope arrived on Thursday. Inside were two copies of my book. A book with my name on it and a spine and consecutive pages and everything. The book looks wonderful sexy and bright and exciting smells wonderful too though you probably wont think about buying it for the smell and my name is picked out in glitter. Think of that... who needs your name in lights when you can have it in glitter So when my elder daughter came home we had a good leap around both of us holding a copy of the book and then we cleared a little space on the book shelf and set them up there and agreed that yes they did look just like real books. Hurrah. Hot on the heels of this came the interview in the local paper with photo. I expected to be somewhere on the inside pages next to the young farmers drama and the Tynedale Music festival with bearded judges. But no. Front of second s... 2011-3-25 21:36:21 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#89908 Well today its 24 days until Wolfie is released into the wild and Ive done my first press interview with our local paper and posed for the photographer in the windy surroundings of the Abbey. As my OH said graciously two old things together. Youll be proud of me that I bit my lip and did not mention anything pointedly about ancient erections. I can only hope that Tony the photographer is a whizz with the Photoshop as at that time in the morning my face hasnt settled. I did think as I put on my slap and lippy using the rear view mirror in my car I was parked at the time that I could have done with all the assembled help of the Woman amp Home photo shoot to add that bit of extra glamour and take away some of the wrinkles. Now Im meant to be sitting here writing more Press Releases to those papers in places where I have lived in the pastworked in the pastonce bought a bun in the local bakers. So Bath where I grew up will get one and possibly WestonsuperMare where I was born though f... 2011-3-22 21:43:08 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#89492 While Im waiting for Quercus to come back to me with their comments on the second book Im concentrating on local PR for Wolfie of which more in the next blog and on short stories. Some of these stories are aimed at magazines and some at competitions. I am going to have another go at the Bridport this year and possibly other biggies like the BBC short story competition and Ive been looking back through some half finished stories to see whether any of them can be knocked into shape and polished by the time the various deadlines come around. Having a break from a piece of writing seems to improve your ability to be objective about your own work and I must remind myself of that when I leave things to the last minute and then congratulate myself on managing to get them done. They would no doubt have been better if Id written them put them away for a while and then had another refreshed look. I dont know whether putting some distance between you and your beautifully crafted piece ma... 2011-3-18 19:21:15 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#89260 Getting into this writing lark has opened up a series of firsts for me and last night was another one. The Romantic Novelists Association Northumberland Chapter think Easy Rider bikes pink leather and sequins had a Girls Night In at Amble. Organised by the lovely Lynne from Morpeth Library it was held in the Wellwood Pub and I enjoyed it immensely hope the 18 or so women in the audience did too. I was one of six writers on the panel and answered a variety of questions ranging from How do you organise your writing to What inspires you to Does your other half read your work Were all totally different writers Mills amp Boon contemporary romance historical sagas nonfiction etc. so there was a nice range of replies for people to listen to. The members of the group who were not on the panel kindly womanned the selection of books that were for sale. I dont have any copies of Wolfie yet but I took along some of the Booklovers Appreciation Society the anthology of short stories in w... 2011-3-15 14:39:52 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#88866 Lots of good things have happened to our Drama Club going to the Edinburgh Fringe making it to our 60th Anniversary but one of the best things that ever happened was Mike Fry. Mike was a drama teacher at Haydon Bridge High School and I think Im right in saying that the first time we as a Club encountered him was at the Tynedale Drama Festival. Although I wasnt there I remember my husband coming home and telling me about this incredible guy who had been positive and encouraging about all those who had performed and who made you believe that well really there wasnt very much in life you couldnt just go straight out that minute and achieve. Luckily the appreciation was mutual and he not only joined our Drama Club but with all that enthusiasm encouraged us to try new things. New things like Shakespeare and Chekov and he acted alongside us in plays and accompanied us to the Fringe. Sometimes his vision for a play seemed so great and the task so huge that you coudnt beleive he was goin... 2011-3-9 18:56:09 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#88480 Just a reminder that there is a little envelope sign at the bottom of every instalment of the blog and if you want to leave a message Id love to hear from you. Ive written for a living for years but whenever I sat down to write more creative stuff for my own enjoyment I would look at the screen ten minutes later and still find it empty. Im convinced some of that is because I hadnt found my voice at that point I know that sounds very arty and quite a long way up my own bottom but there you are. I was trying to write something hefty and literary and the inspiration and the voice just wasnt there. Spin forward to 2007 when I stumbled on Richard Armitage not literally Im not that lucky. He was playing John Thornton cotton mill owner in the BBCs adaptation of North and South and at one point he was on his knees talking to his mother and he gave a sigh a kind of heartbroken vulnerable soldieringon sigh and something went ping. I heard it distinctly in my head and whereas it mig... 2011-3-5 14:44:46 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#88349 Writing the book is about two thirds of the story. Publicising it is another hundreds of books are published each week in the UK so from the moment yours toddles out with its little virginal pages youre fighting to make it visible. For those of us who were brought up not to show off blowing your own trumpet is something that has to be learned. So in the spirit of this I am reproducing a comment made by someone who Quercus showed Wolfie to. They were neither insane drunk or paid money to give their opinion and I reproduce it here to do with what you will. I personally am having it tatooed on my left thigh to flash at people in the street. This story is great fun...reminds me of Helen Fielding so I imagine will be a great success. Ok commercial break over.... 2011-3-3 14:31:33 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#87870 Seems kind of apt to be writing about this on Oscars Weekend ok I am saying that with my tongue firmly in my cheek. I always had a certain idea about Amateur Dramatics and it was a fairly curledlip one. People too old for the parts they play a succession of middlebrow plays featuring French windows and farcical situations wobbly scenery. Now I know that all of these things are true but not universally true. It is possible to take part in Am Dram as we luvvies like to call it and never see a French window or a farce or a fly that you darent brush against or it will fall on you. Sorry few too many fs in that last sentence. Im not quite sure how I got involved in the local Drama Club I think they jumped on my OH when we moved to the village as hed worked backstage in the Belgrave Theatre in Coventry during their summer youth theatre sessions I got welcomed in as the matching bookend. At first I just pootled around doing costumes and making tea but then one heady day I got the part o... 2011-2-26 20:54:44 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#87314 Sorry Ive been MIA but had to get that second draft finished before half term and have managed it even though it did take an allnighter when I tripped literally up the stairs at 6.30 as the birds were singing. Am now in that lovely place all writers will recognise between when you have submitted your work and when you get feedback. For a few days I can be the best writer in the world before the reality check comes in. Funny how all those displacement activities that seemed so attractive when I was meant to be knuckling down to writing I mean I even looked at the kitchen cupboards and thought I might scrape the top layer of scum out of them give me strength have now reverted to their rightful place way down my list of priorities. Scrubbing the grouting in the bathroom with a toothbrush my husbands hes none the wiser will have to wait till my mother in law next visits. Just read that back and sounds as if Im going to get her to do it rather than thats when all the backlog of housewif... 2011-2-19 16:25:05 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#86781 Second draft of second book has been taking up a lot of my time this week and Im a bit panda eyed from the late nights meeting the early mornings. The second book is set in Northumberland and has my usual twists and turns but by the end of the first draft I had written a doorstopsized book which needs to be trimmed and tightened up and tuned and all those other words beginning with t that I have made a list of and am currently getting the cat to sit on. And doing all these t things to the book means being objective and not selfindulgent with yourself about letting some stuff go. Some people call this kind of editing murdering your little darlings but I prefer to think of it as not clouding the narrative drive or distracting from the story of two people falling for each other. I write romances after all not travel guides to Northumberland so some of my lovingly crafted descriptions of the countryside are now sitting sulking in another computer file. Perhaps I should offer them to the ... 2011-2-12 11:49:31 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#86132 You cant write for a living for any length of time without understanding that you need to develop an extra layer of skin. I went back over my writing diary recently which sounds grand but is often a piece of tearstained paper with one or two word entries such as Japan Festival or Sheep Story scrawled in blood and thought what I found might give some encouragement to those who sometimes feel a little crushed by the feedback they receive. Come back from meeting with agent and editor in which they say lovely things and the sun is shining and all is right with the world. Next day an envelope with my handwriting on arrives... wey hey.... what is this Ive won a competition Story accepted by a magazine It is yet another rejection from a magazine Ive been trying to crack for a while. This time they only took a week to decide I was not for them. Last time it was a couple of weeks. Conclude I must be getting worse. Stomp off muttering didnt want to be in their magazine anyway.Enter My... 2011-2-3 16:50:44 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#86129 Was delighted to find out Id been successful in my application to distribute 48 copies of Life of Pi in Northumberland on March 5th as part of World Book Night. I said I wanted to give them out to school children as I loved the way the book provides no easy answers about what is reality and what isnt as well as the fact its so imaginative and so beautifully crafted. Now I need to think of a way of drumming up publicity and encouraging the young people to take the books. Was thinking about a free Pie with each book but that may just be because I was up late last night polishing my next book not literally we have staff for that kind of thing here at Osmond Towers. My friend Donna designer of this site had got Love in the Time of Cholera which poses something more of a problem. Perhaps we just have to go round and offer to fit unsanitary plumbing in everyones house. 2011-2-3 16:38:26 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#85683 Writing isnt a dangerous job well not unless you like to use your laptop in the bath while its plugged in but it can do strange things to your body and your mind. Ill draw a veil over the sideeffects that sitting down hunched over a computer can have on your posture your stomach and your ahem backside. Yes I know I shouldnt hunch Im trying to stop otherwise by the time Ive finished my second book Ill be a shoein for that Notre Dame guy. And those are only the sideeffects that you can see not getting enough exercise and sitting scrunched up can also slow down certain bodily functions where else do you think the expression writers block comes from Its the things writing does to your mind though that are more fascinating. Funny incidents are no longer things that happen and then flit out of your brain you write them down and think how you can work them into a story. You notice someone with distinctive physical or personal characteristics you make a note. You hear a particularly af... 2011-1-28 22:16:17 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#85212 Rumour has it that Barbara Cartland used to lie on a chaiselongue swathed in pink chiffon dictating her books to a secretary. For most writers the reality is more downtoearth looks ruefully towards full ironing basket on which cat is managing to sleep and shed hair at the same time but once in a while something happens that makes you believe you might be on the Glamour Fairys list of deserving causes. The phone rang and it was Sharon at Woman amp Home magazine they have been incredibly supportive since I won the short story competition and extremely generous about publicising my writing. Would I Sharon asked be prepared to take part in a feature showing what had happened to seven women who had previously been in the magazine It would involve a trip to London having my hair and makeup done help from a stylist to choose some suitable clothes and a photo shoot. I dont know if there is a period of time shorter than a nanosecond but I took it to say Of course how kind. Or I may hav... 2011-1-22 13:12:35 http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk/page7.htm#85210 I thought Id leap right in with Northumberland as thats where I live and because its been in my thoughts a lot recently as my second book currently under production is set there. I should admit that I am not a Northumbrian nor even a northerner by birth but come originally from the West Country sharing the distinction with John Cleese and Jeffrey Archer of being born in WestonsuperMare. Try not to get too excited there at the back. My first stop in north east England was Gateshead where I spent a lot of time trying to make my southern ears understand the accent and the neighbours probably thought I was deaf due to the frequency with which I said Pardon Just when I was making sense of everything I moved out to Northumberland and have been here ever since. Describing a place to people who may never have visited it is always difficult youre bound to let your own feelings spill out and sound evangelically tubthumping. So its perhaps safer to say... 2011-1-22 12:15:05