CELEBRATING INDEPENDENTS

A very appropriate setting for clutching my Mother’s Day present bag after a great day with Uni friends Kay & Anna & my daughter…

Hello and welcome to March’s catch up.

I’ve loved so much of what I’ve seen and read this month and the common denominator was it was created by dynamic, independent people rather than mainstream routes.

The only exception was worth it. I saw Woman in Mind at Sunderland Empire, thanks to Northern Arts Review tickets. It starred Ramesh Ranganathan and Sheridan Smith. This play was about a woman’s sanity and how it can play out when you’ve unfulfilled desires. The two leads were as charismatic as I’d hoped they would be and the scenery, set in a garden was a treat for the eyes.

On the theme of women’s inner minds, I also had a blast at the annual celebration of women’s stand up at the Tyne Theatre with Felt Nowt’s Keep Standing Up, in aid of Rape Crisis. There was a roll call of impressive female North East comedians talking about everything from a smear test going awry to how life is like a Fab lolly and everything in between.

Before self-publishing The Stand-Up Mam I didn’t know anything about the indie publishing world and found it’s full of strong people, who are delivering excellent books. My friend Kimberley Adams is about to publish her fourth book, independently. She had an author talk at Prudhoe Library about her journey which was funny and inspirational. I’ve just finished her third book Love Beyond Lindisfarne. It was perfect, with characters you warm to and a plot to keep you thoroughly entertained.

I then read indie author mate, KL Crear’s novel, The Reinvention of Lottie Potts, about a midlife woman navigating challenges with wit and tenacity. Again, I really enjoyed it and galloped through the pages.

Another successful women’s novelist who is cracking on with her self-publishing is Carrie McGovern. Her latest book The Clause, is a romance and it was launched at the Port Independent in Sunderland, where she often writes. She was often hilarious and very inspirational. I loved it and hearing her be so frank about the whole process.

March ended with one of my favourite events, the Little Felton Book Festival, run by two amazing women Jen and Kirsty.  The fourth independent author, my friend Bill, writing as William Prince, was talking about his Tudor historical fiction series, which is like Game of Thrones, from the eyes of a young working class man. When he read an extract you could hear a pin drop.

My own second book is going to be self-published as I want it out this summer and as I’m getting on, I thought is it going to be worth the wait to hear back from anyone before I pop my clogs! Still no news on the agent I tried. If I did get an agent, there’s also the time for submission to publishers. When I decided to do it myself again I felt as if a weight was lifted off me.

I think I’ve now got a title, as the original Halloween Lanterns was too limiting, as people wouldn’t want to necessarily buy a book called that all year round. It is also not just about Autumn so I’ve plumped on The Allotment Sisterhood.  The cover design process is in hand and I’m excited for the next steps.

My start of the day without doom scrolling book at the moment is Nigel Slater’s A Thousand Feasts. He talks a lot about eating in Asia and particularly Japan. His writing makes you hungry and has a beautiful poetry about it.

Watching

I totally recommend How to Get to Heaven from Belfast by the creator of Derry Girls. This is great fun and a wild ride, as you’d expect and makes you want to visit Ireland.

The Guardian raved about a BBC series call The Capture which has passed me by and it’s now screening a third season. I’ve started from the first season and it is as good as they said. Gripping, great acting and plenty of unforeseen twists.

I’ve also started watching the Stephen Colbert show on You Tube. If you’ve not heard of him, he’s an American TV host who does comedy and commentary often about Trump.

The UK version of the American show Saturday Night Live has started and I enjoyed the few sketches which were on You Tube. There was a particularly funny one about the former Prince Andrew!

Side note – turns out I can levitate. The latest Duffer Brothers, of Stranger Things fame, TV series, called Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, was interesting! There was an obvious jump scare and I got so frightened I actually was out of the settee both up and horizontally… I never learn!

Have a lovely Easter if you celebrate it and Bank Holiday.