Frocktober

Bamburgh beach in all it’s Autumn glory

Well … October has been a blast and I’m not talking about the wild winds of Northumberland.

The month got off to a lovely start when I went to London to meet other writers to celebrate the Comedy Women in Print (CWIP) awards coming up in November. They were a great, funny bunch as you’d expect and the CWIP founder, actor and author, Helen Lederer had a good chat with everyone. I won a bottle of champagne in the raffle!

My wardrobe taste is usually not a cause of concern as I rarely have to be smart these days, but I’ve had dress stress this month thinking about what to wear for the awards. Hope I’ve nailed it but if I manage to take a photo of my outfit you can judge.

When I was in London I saw the stage version of a Studio Ghibli film My Neighbour Totorto. This production was one of the most incredible things I’ve seen live. There were so many animated wonders such as a field of swaying corn and giant animals, it took your breath away.

We also visited Crystal Palace for the first time. The view of the city of London was impressive, and a shock, as it rose up in the distance from normal rows of houses.

One of the highlights of the area was Cooper’s Yard, a series of independent art studios. It really is a small world, one designer, Sally Kelly who produces stunning fabrics and prints, said her mother came from Sunderland. Then a customer in the shop said her daughter was at Roker beach in the city that day, as she was studying at Durham University. A lovely co-incidence.

Back at home I’ve been talking about The Stand-Up Mam on BBC Newcastle with fellow CWIP shortlisted author, Yvonne Vincent.  Presenter Anna Foster made it all very stress-free, thank goodness.

Now I’m cracking on to get a submission package ready for my new novel, Halloween Lanterns, to see if I can get an agent or publisher. Maybe doing this in the appropriate, spooky month will be in my favour.

I’ve been to a few writers’ events this month. The first was with the former Sunderland MP and investigative journalist, Chris Mullin, who had a host of great tales about his time in Westminster. There were stories of mistaken identities and a good pinch of self-depreciation and humour.

The Newcastle author Lucy Nichol had a launch for her new, self-published book Girls to the Front at the Bridge Hotel in Newcastle upon Tyne. It sounds good fun and combines girl bands, punk music and a good bit of mayhem.

Like buses you can wait for launches and there are two at once. Zoe Richards gave a great talk about her new book Tell It To The Bees at Jesmond Library last week. I really enjoyed her first novel Garden of Her Heart and its heartwarming themes and looking forward to reading this new one.

As if this wasn’t enough – I’ve been lucky enough to go to two more celebrations of creative women in October as well as the CWIP evening.

My old workplace the North East Chamber of Commerce organised a women’s event with Women of the World in Durham. The speakers spoke with passion about the need for support for women to be the best they can be. One of the points they raised was that some girls are reluctant to have families as they see the workload of their own mothers. Good quality and cheaper childcare would be a huge help.

Then on Monday there were yet more impressive women at the inaugural Rose Fisher award for North East, working class, female playwriters. The biographies of the winner and shortlisted women showed how much talent is up North but also the importance of nurturing it. Well done to Alison Carr who won.

Thanks for reading this and I hope you have a great Autumn.