In Person
Friday, December 19, 2003
Just had a meeting of my writing group for tired and lovely academics. We were writing in slow motion about eating mince pies, unwrapping presents, peeling potatoes, writing Xmas cards etc. I love this kind of writing...it's so interesting to listen to, even though it feels banale to write. It's also my best remedy for being stuck...just take a character and write about them doing anything in very tiny detail...like getting dressed, eating cake, catching a bus. The story is all there in the tiny little bits.
I keep thinking what a brilliant year it has been...I never expected to feel this healthy for so long and to enjoy myself so much. I have really loved writing this year...maybe because it's all got so much simpler since I have had a room in the English School, and had financial support from Northern Rock...or perhaps it's just getting older and knowing what I like.
I just got a copy of the new cover for Crocodile Soup from Penguin. I really like it...as if it's got anew outfit. It's completely different in atmosphere to the first cover and looks really new and interesting. I might even read it again myself! The new book has a title now, and I hope to finish it by mid January. The title is 'The Cure For Dying' and I was given it by the author Bridget O'Connor (who also thought up the title for Crocodile Soup.)
I've been to York since I last wrote this web log. I had to talk about life and work in a basement bar. I always think that most people in the audience have probably had much more interesting lives than me, but still, they all listened patiently to me waffling on. York was the last of a series of talks and readings. I feel rather proud of getting to all those events and not collapsing! Next year it will be all Red Spot Babies and I shall start thinking about another novel.
I am about to go off for Christmas, staying in a holiday house with my family. I hope everyone who reads this has a good time, and that your mince pies are sweet. Let's hope 2004 is a good year!Posted by julia @ 02:58 PM GMT
Tuesday, December 9, 2003
Oh, and I finished the story for the Big Issue...it's called The Nest and it will be in the mag this week, or next...
Posted by julia @ 02:11 PM GMT
I spent the weekend in Brighton. It seemed to me to be the most glittering, magical place, with the floodlit pavilion, and great swarms of birds around the piers. It is the perfect place to set a novel, with lovely street names, and such nooks and crannies! I ran a workshop with a wonderful group of women, who were bursting with creativity, then I did a reading, organised by The South and Arc Press with the Irish poet Tony Curtis, who read and spoke beautifully about life and poetry. It was a very happy weekend. It's funny, because just before I go to places, I often feel a sense of dread and fear, but usually I love meeting new people and doing new things. Brighton was particularly nice because my sister Josie and her family live there. Also, years ago I lived there, after I left art college. I had a job working in the Lanes in a jewelery shop, and my best friend worked as a lifeguard down on the beach. We spent a year writing songs and struggling with the women's movement, being bullied by older girls, and sitting in vast frightening meetings. These were the days when women would storm into ones house demanding that one renounced the penis (Actually, I said I would, but my friend refused). We went on marches to reclaim the night, and stuck up the locks of porn shops with super glue. Now my daughter is doing a project about feminism and violent action ! That's me, I tell her! I was climbing the gates of parliament, and wearing Chinese trousers! Anyway, being in Brighton brought it all back. It was such a chance thing, leaving the South to come up North. I just hitch hiked up the M1, and never left. I wonder if I would have written books set in Brighton?
Anyway, I have a new title for the latest novel, thanks to the writer Bridget O'Connor, who should get an award for her capacity to think up titles...(she also thought up 'Crocodile Soup.') It's 'The Cure For Dying' What do you think?
This week I am working on 'A Film In A Week' down at Live Theatre. I spent the morning loafing about the coach station watching the cameraman and director sorting out angles. In the end I got a bit cold so I came to my writing room. One day I will get behind a camera and make my own wobbly film! Still, it's exciting to have a short script made...even if it is only three minutes.
Otherwise, like everyone else, I am full of Christmas nerve endings, like a faulty set of fairy lights.Posted by julia @ 02:08 PM GMT
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