tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28878370032651675592024-03-13T12:55:59.889-07:00The Kitchen Table WriterI am a published novelist and a teacher of creative writing. Every day, I write. I have created this blog to chart the progress of my new novel and to provide courage and inspiration to other writers. For me, writing isn't a mysterious, ivory-tower occupation reserved for the few. Writing is like cooking or riding a bike or dressing a child. Writing is as natural as breathing. It is a part of our collective birth right. If you want to write then you can. Anyone, anywhere, can.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-31301585866824125782011-06-29T05:27:00.000-07:002011-06-29T05:35:08.505-07:00Two book recommendationsI'm just back from teaching in Oxford. The students there are so great and I always really enjoy my time there. Recently I have read two really good memoirs. One is called 'When A Crocodile Eats The Sun' by Peter Godwin. I met Peter when we were both speaking at the Words by the Water Festival in Keswick three or four years ago but it's only now that I've got around to reading his book. I thoroughly recommend it - it is beautifully written and totally absorbing. The portrait it paints of his parents is deeply moving - two extra-ordinarily brave, resilient and good humoured people. It really made me think that the generation who are now passing away were simply very much better people than we are now. I didn't want the book to end. It also told me so much about Zimbabwe which I could never have got from newspaper reports. Do read it. The other book I would recommend is 'Deny The Stars' by Jocelyn Hurdnall. It's a very different kind of book but again totally absorbing. The story it tells is shocking and moving and Jocelyn Hurdnall's writing is honest and direct. The book is a fitting tribute to her extra-ordinary son and also reveals the very real horror of what is happening in Palestine.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-65791848141749215272011-03-07T06:34:00.000-08:002011-03-07T06:44:55.070-08:00Caitlin ThomasI am currently reading Double Drink Story which is Caitlin Thomas' book about her time with Dylan Thomas. I started reading the book with a certain trepidation because although I love and admire Dylan Thomas, I never think that I would like to have met him. In fact, I'm always annoyed by accounts of his and Caitlin's mad drunkenness. And I'm suspicious of writers who try to glamorise their so-called 'Bohemian lives.' I thought that this book might also be written in that vein. But it isn't at all. Not at all. On the contrary, Caitlin Thomas is devastatingly honest and emphasises again and again that her and Dylan's lives were horribly sad and fatally blighted by alcohol. I think I've seldom read such an honest book. Also this is a very well written book. Caitlin may not have had much experience as a writer but she had plenty of raw talent. Sentence after sentence sings. If only she had written more. But how could she with Dylan as a husband? Finally this is a very sad book because it is about wasted talent. But it is also sad because Caitlin never seems to forgive herself, and she should do, because she shines out of this book as an amazing woman - full of honesty, love and joie de vivre.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-51737463555133449642011-02-14T04:01:00.000-08:002011-02-14T04:09:28.445-08:00Memoirs againI'm still reading memoirs. My current recommendation is Eating Pomegranates by Sarah Gabriel. It is a memoir of a woman who has a genetic issue which means that she was always very likely to get breast cancer - and she does get it and survives, but only just. She writes her story so well and with such honesty. I could really understand this book and I think it could be helpful for anyone who is struggling with serious issues of life and death. I just started reading Gypsy Boy by Mikey Walsh. His writing is also wonderfully direct and unsentimental. But the book is a very hard read just because what happened to him is so appalling. I want to continue with the book because, after all, this is his life and he's been brave enough to write about it and so I should be brave enough to bear witness. But just for the moment I find the story too upsetting. I hope I'll get back to it soon.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-50800455870495082652010-05-10T09:36:00.000-07:002010-05-10T09:41:49.972-07:00More memoirsI just read A Grief Observed by C S Lewis. It is a famous book, of course, but I didn't get much out of it. Now I'm reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I'm enjoying it so much. It's a memoir of an American childhood and it is really a very interesting book. What makes it so fascinating is that the reader doesn't know how to judge, or where to place their sympathies. In essence, Jeannette Walls parents (particularly her mother) were people of very high principles who had many inspiring ideas about how life should be lived. And yet because they carried those principles to extremes they were the world's most terrible parents. A great read. I thoroughly recommend it.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-19195126839995876002010-04-21T14:50:00.000-07:002010-04-21T14:58:06.670-07:00MemoirsI'm still reading memoirs. I would thoroughly recommend 'Antigona and Me' by Kate Clanchy. (I actually teach with her but have never met her). I suppose that I really liked the book because Kate Clanchy is dealing with many issues I've dealt with myself so it felt like reading about a friend. But also the book is lively, touching and thoughtful. I also read a very good book called 'Relative Strangers' by Mary Loudon which is about a woman who has a schizophrenic sister. The writing is clear and intelligent and the book really bought home to me what a nightmare schizophrenia is. Am currently reading 'When Did You Last See Your Father?' by Blake Morrison which deserves all the praise heaped upon it. What is extra-ordinary about the book is that Blake Morrison's father is a really tricky and annoying character and yet the book is so full of love. Also it's a book which makes a very small story into an epic. Wonderful.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-31037507360405075262010-03-19T07:57:00.000-07:002010-03-19T08:05:06.628-07:00MemoirsI am reading memoirs at the moment. I bought five of them - The Mistresss' Daughter by A.M. Homes, Somewhere Near The End by Diana Athill, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby, Antigona and Me by Kate Clanchy and A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. I haven't read Joan Didion's book yet but I've read the other four. I think the one that I've enjoyed most is Kate Clanchy's book, closely followed by A.M.Homes. I was very disappointed by Diana Athill. The book is really very slight and doesn't have much depth to it. There are some interesting thoughts in it but altogether I find it strange that it should have won a major award. The Diving Bell is perhaps the most tragic of the books and there is some wonderful writing in it. And yet some how I didn't feel that I had come away understanding what that experience is really like - perhaps he couldn't find words to describe such hell and perhaps I should be grateful that he didn't try.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-11426294304639279222010-01-31T02:55:00.001-08:002010-01-31T02:58:54.970-08:00A book to readQuick book recommendation here. You must read 'Out Stealing Horses' by Per Petterson. It is about an elderly man living in a remote part of Norway who remembers events which happened in the same area after the second World War. It is wonderfully quiet and spare and thoughtful. The sort of book which it is hard to find at the moment. The sort of book which reminds you why reading and writing are important. After I read it I immediately went out and bought copies for a couple of friends.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-6720480899917207462010-01-19T17:43:00.000-08:002010-01-19T17:45:45.306-08:00Things going onFor me, there are many things going on right now. I've been commissioned to write a play for the Everyman theatre, I've got an article published in You Magazine, I'm having vague conversations with someone about writing something for television (not something I've ever thought of doing before) and also vague conversations about travel articles. Unfortunately the novel isn't really happening right now but I'm about to get back to it.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-58931482926879710102009-04-16T13:34:00.000-07:002009-04-16T13:37:51.533-07:00Laurie LeeLast night I met Laurie Lee's widow. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even know that he had a widow. But I was weak at the knees meeting her. For me, that's something I'll be telling my grandchildren. I felt some how that I was within touching distance of genius. Because Laurie Lee was really one of the great writers of the last century. Also one just knows from his poems that he was also a wonderfully kind and gentle man. Having met his widow, I'm now going to start reading some of his books again. I know I'll be inspired. I need that at that moment.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-55019500750852410682009-03-03T13:59:00.000-08:002009-03-03T14:03:08.460-08:00The two year crisisI'm having a crisis about my novel. I've been writing it for two years and I suddenly realise that large parts of what I've written are entirely off the point and need to be scrapped. I don't feel good about this. Except that I've been through this with three novels before. It always seems to happen. When I'm two years in I always realise that the book isn't about what I thought it was about. It's depressing but perhaps it is just part of the process - or my process, at least. And the main thing I've learnt about writing is - DON'T ARGUE WITH THE PROCESS. Arguing with the process wastes time and gets you nowhere. So I'll just keep going and hope that it comes right. I think that it will do but I get bored of waiting.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-71897732125617872732009-02-03T14:07:00.001-08:002009-02-03T14:12:13.280-08:00Slog - and inspirationI'm writing pretty regularly at the moment but it's a slog. I do find myself wondering whether it is worth it. I'm still so far from finishing my book and I don't know whether it will get published. I've had two published but that isn't necessarily a help in getting a third book published. But then something happened which helped. My mother turned up with some DVDs she got from some charity shop. Amongst them was the Jeremy Irons / Anthony Andrews TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. I watched it and I just loved it. I've seen it many times before but it doesn't get less engaging. It includes Jeremy Irons reading quite a few sections from the book. The language is so luscious, the sense of love and loss so strong. It sent me right back to my desk. If there is any chance I could ever write like that then I that is enough reason to keep going .....Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-15100051402393054912008-12-23T13:40:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:43:46.446-08:00WebsiteI am finally about to have a web site and this blog is going to be attached to it. Or at least I hope that it is. It has taken me about three years to get someone to set up a web site for me. It could have taken about a week. I also think that no-one will look at my web site but maybe I'm wrong. I hoped that this blog might put me in touch with other writers and it hasn't really done that but I've enjoyed it anyway. Probably the web site won't do that either. Ah well ..... writing is a solitary profession, I suppose. I'm looking forward to getting back to my book after Christmas.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-38860252573195756932008-11-27T08:49:00.001-08:002008-11-27T08:52:15.970-08:00BusyI haven't written much on this blog for a very good reason. I'm writing very intensely right now. Actually, that's not true. What I'm really doing is planning. And that is what I need to be doing. I'm the kind of person who can always cover sheets and sheets of paper with writing. That's both a blessing and a curse. The reason why it is curse is because I spend too much time writing and not enough time thinking. It can be good to write without thinking but at some point you have to stop doing that ..... and think. So that's what I'm doing now. Re-writing the plan for my book again and again and again. It feels like nothing is being produced. But actually something is happening. I'm getting to know the world of the book much better. And I'm really hoping that I'll reap the benefits when I start writing again. We'll see. Maybe this book will still take about fourteen drafts .... as the others have done.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-88934176123513297722008-11-02T13:17:00.001-08:002008-11-02T13:25:00.511-08:00RantAs a writer and a teacher of creative writing, I'm constantly following friends and ex students through the process of trying to get their work published. And I get angry, very angry. These people are treated so badly by agents and publishers. The truth is that agents and publishers generally know very little about writing - after all, they haven't written anything themselves, have they? Frequently they don't actually read the work which is sent to them. But this doesn't seem to stop them handing out advice which is frequently just plain, old fashioned Wrong. Sorry, but I have to say, there are a lot of cheap and ignorant people working in the agent / publisher world. I say all this now because I've just seen someone being treated particularly badly. She's got herself an agent but this agent has a) failed to read the whole book b) advised her to change the title from the very good title she had chosen to an appalling trite title and c) advised her to take out of the book those parts of it which are 'difficult' (but which are in fact the best bits of the book). Frankly, I want to ring this agent up and shout at her. Aspiring writers are really in a bad position right now. There is more or less nowhere they can go to get good advice. So instead they fall into the hands of unscrupulous agents and publishers .... and they believe what those people say .... which they shouldn't but how can they know that? I hate having to watch this happening.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-3427911977502732762008-10-19T14:44:00.000-07:002008-10-19T14:46:48.456-07:00FrustrationI've just realised that it is two years since I started on this novel. I've worked hard on it during cerain periods. But overall I haven't done enough. I'm not being sufficiently focused and I'm allowing far too many distractions to creep in. My husband and I are going away to Italy over next weekend and after that, I've decided, I'm getting down to work in earnest. The only thing that really matters in my life is writing. It is the only thing I want to do. And I'm not doing that. I feel so frustrated. So I need to get on with it .... soon.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-7539307148010210632008-10-08T14:14:00.000-07:002008-10-08T14:21:02.497-07:00The Society of AuthorsAs I've moved back to England I'm trying to meet some writers. I've never really known any writers before because of living in a non-English speaking country. As part of my socialability campaign I joined the Society of Authors and a couple of days ago I went to one of their events. I have to say that at first sight it didn't look promising. Anyone who thinks that authors are a glamorous bunch is sadly deceived ....... But then I finished up meeting all sorts of interesting people. I think that most of the people who turn up to the Society of Authors are second rate writers. The big name people don't need to be there. But what have I got to complain about? I'm a second rate writer myself - or that is how I would be classified by others, even if I don't accept that classification myself ..... Anyway, the point is that second rate writers are really some of the most welcoming and kindest people around. I think that their lives are generally so miserable (no pay, no reviews, being treated like dirt by agents and publishers) that all they can do is band together for comfort. But that's fine by me. I could do with some comfort too. And I think that I've found some!Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-60200451759880498932008-09-30T03:07:00.000-07:002008-09-30T03:15:15.425-07:00Meeting my readerLast week I went up to London and met the lady who reads for me. She is so, so good! I thought I'd talk to her for a couple of hours. Then I looked at my watch and four hours had passed without me even noticing. My reader sees a hundred things that most people just wouldn't see. I think she's a much better editor than most publishers and agents. I pay her for what she does but it is worth every penny. However, the strange thing is that the main things which she says are things which are very basic and which I know all about ..... But still (as I write my fourth novel) I need someone to say them to me. Basically she's making two points which are - dramatise, dramatise, dramatise. And cause and effect .... Because this, then this. Because that, then that. I know all that. I say it to my own students again and again. But still it takes someone astute, who is looking from the outside, to show me the ways in which I'm not following that advice. It is strange business, writing. But I'm now fired with enthusiasm about the book. I aim to get a new draft completed before Christmas. That will be difficult but I'm determined. Thanks those who have commented on this blog!Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-36162986190933949492008-09-18T13:36:00.000-07:002008-09-18T13:41:20.142-07:00Not very interestingThe strange thing about writing is that it isn't very interesting. Or at least it isn't a spectator sport. I am writing properly again now and it is great to get back to it. But it's quite hard to describe what I'm actually doing. I just sit at a desk and ask myself questions - that's all it is really. And it is the same day in and day out. I don't go anywhere and I don't meet anyone. My publisher and agent don't contact me. Occasionally I switch the printer on and print out a section of the book so that I can read it through. That's about as interesting as it gets. And yet hundreds of people want to be writers - or at least they tell me that they do. I think they must have a misguided idea of what writing is about. I'm not really sure that it is a desirable thing to do at all.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-52286110994340595312008-09-10T04:48:00.001-07:002008-09-10T04:50:08.369-07:00Working under strange circumstancesAt present I am working - or reading through my book to be more precise. There is no furniture in the house at all but there's a window seat I can sit in while I read. I'm continuing to find the book better than expected. (Not good, you understand, just better than I thought). I also really want to talk to someone about it now. I want to know how another reader would view it. Maybe next week I can talk to my reader or the week after. Then back down to the real work.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-51636120144277863452008-09-07T03:30:00.000-07:002008-09-07T03:36:31.499-07:00Reading through the bookI've finally found time to start reading through draft 4 of my new book. I need to do this in preparation for discussing it with the lady (a professional reader) who is currently looking at it for me. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It reads better than I expected. I can really see how much the work I did earlier in the summer has improved it. Having said that, I've only read the beginning. The chaos doesn't start until later. But all the same, it made me feel quite good to read it. This week I'll have time to read some more of it - sitting in the new house which still has no furniture. At least, the heating is on which is definitely needs to be. The whole of our area of the country is threatening with flooding. Everyone has got water through their roof, if not actually in their house. It seems to have been raining since the beginning of time and there's no sign that it will stop soon.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-24777738672206542962008-08-26T03:11:00.001-07:002008-08-26T03:14:26.108-07:00Taking a breakIt's strange. I've spent the last ten years writing continually. And then I start writing this blog and - due to a very complicated house move - I have to stop writing for a while. So suddenly I don't have much to say. Except that I'm planning a thousand writing projects in my head. And I've identified the room in our new house which is going to be my office. My son is going to be at school 8.30 to 3.30 so I'm going to get up early, make my lunch before he goes out of the house, switch off the phone and write for all that time. Or that's the plan .... Except it can't just be a plan. It has to be what actually happens.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-53079233245341971172008-08-14T10:43:00.000-07:002008-08-14T10:50:18.066-07:00Edinburgh FestivalI am in Edinburgh at the Fringe Festival. It's fantastic. My husband and I come most years for three days and we see six shows in a day. It's always freezing cold and raining and we eat bad food and get too tired. But it's fantastic! What I love about Edinburgh is that it is truly open. Anyone can put on a show here ...... And consequently there are shockingly bad shows going on. But the energy here is fantastic, the creativity, the sense of liberation. So many people in such a small space all thinking and talking and questioning. In my mind I've now got one hundred books and plays I want to write. Well, actually, I always have loads of ideas anyway but coming here has certainly increased my resolution to work harder and get more down on paper. We are taking the night train back to London tonight. I'm exhausted. But thank you Edinburgh Festival! You demonstrate that not everyone wants to sit and watch TV all the time!Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-36208193507887036092008-08-04T13:36:00.000-07:002008-08-04T13:41:49.962-07:00The Women's RoomI am not writing at the moment because we're in the process of moving. However, I am reading a book called The Women's Room by Marilyn French. It is a famous book, a classic of the feminist movement. I have had it on my book shelf for years and never really fancied reading it. I imagined that it might be a rather tedious feminist rant. I couldn't have been more wrong. It's an amazing book. I don't think I've ever read anything so honest in all my life. It tells the stories of so many women and the reader recognises them all. And it absolutely refuses to offer any solutions to the questions it raises. It does ramble in bits and it is repetitive - but it is still an extra-ordinary good book and a gripping read. I haven't quite finished it but I'm nearly there. I wish I could write something that captures so completely the messy, difficult, compromised nature of life.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-67028012562543647112008-07-27T13:55:00.000-07:002008-07-27T14:01:20.970-07:00Hooray!A few months ago I wrote my first play. It's actually an adaptation of a short story which I wrote a year ago and which was published in an anthology by Cinnamon Press. Recently I sent the play off to nine different theatres. I wasn't really expecting that anyone would put it on but I hoped that it might at least get a reading somewhere .... Anyway, I just had an e-mail from the Royal Court in London (one of the very best theatres in the UK) and, although they rejected the play, they did make some very positive comments about it. I needed that. It will supply me with the energy to write another play. In this business, even a few words of encouragement are rare so I'm making the best this!Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887837003265167559.post-72145760685969456072008-07-16T13:34:00.001-07:002008-07-16T13:40:09.707-07:00Draft number 4I'm desperately trying to get the fourth draft of my new book finished before I leave Belgium in four weeks time. I'm writing in the morning and packing in the afternoon. Once I've finished the draft I'm going to send it off to someone who reads for me. The book is not actually in good enough shape for anyone to read it but I do need some feed back even at this early stage. Mercifully the lady who reads for me (for a well deserved fee!) is someone whose view I trust absolutely. She is also someone who will be able to see through the mass of cliche and melo-dramatic rubbish which is currently on the page to the thoughtful novel which (I hope) is hidden away there somewhere. I am already looking forward to being able to talk to her about it. Writing a novel is so horribly lonely. It's also really bad for your mental health. I don't know why I do it really but I can't stop.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02472729169216109749noreply@blogger.com1