Hanging Around and other adventures…

The Museum of Illusions in London was hilarious fun

Hello

Welcome to my Autumn newsletter with a round-up of book news and what has caught my interest.

I’ve had some interesting times with The Allotment Sisterhood over the past few weeks including having a stall at the Tynemouth Book fair last Sunday. It proved pretty successful for book sales. Some people bought my novel and my first one, The Stand-Up Mam, which was great.

There is a new stockist – Bridge Street Books in Amble – opened by a great bookseller Fi McEwan-Thompson. It is a gorgeous space with tonnes of books, well worth a visit.

I’m having a break from writing although ideas are still sloshing about… A prize vegetable show and possible affair for one of the Allotment Sisterhood, who knows? 😊

This downtime has meant I’ve got back into reading with a vengeance! Recently polished off thrillers by Claire Mcintosh – It’s Not What You Think, Alice Feaney – My Husband’s Wife and Gillian McAllister – Caller Unknown. They all had me gripped. Very recommended.

I was down in London recently and had so many excellent experiences for very little money, which made them even better! The comedian Harriet Kemsley (from Last One Laughing, Season One) was doing a work in progress show at a tiny comedy club called the Bill Murray Theatre in Islington. Tickets were about £7 and it was such a laugh. I really enjoyed seeing her live, in a small room. Perfect.

Back in my school days I was a punk and saw loads of bands including the Buzzcocks, The Stranglers, The Damned, Siouxsie and the Banshees to name a few. The 100 Club in Soho was the famous place where The Clash and Sex Pistols played but I never got to go there or see them much to my disappointment. I went to a Russ Ballard gig while I was in London and it was a great trip down memory lane.

This was followed the next day by an exhibition of the artist Magritte’s paintings that was free. It has stunning work most of which I’d never seen before.

The other highlight was having a swim outdoors. I keep meaning to go in the North Sea but keep getting literal cold feet and never commit! Tooting Lido was £6 and an excellent experience. It was, however, 100 metres long and I’m used to leisure pools with the chance to do widths so it was quite a workout but worth it.

With the nights getting darker I’m loving watching TV. Celebrity Traitors – there are no words but wow, what an extraordinary and brilliant thing of wonder this series is. Enjoying every minute. Doffs cap to Richard E Grant…

The other programme making me laugh out loud is The Reluctant Vampire with the fantastic Lenny Rush. It is based on a book written by the late Eric Morcombe and his son. Very funny and Rush is priceless.

October is looking busy for me. I’m at an event at the Collected Bookshop in Durham on Saturday to hear about Bread Alone, a series of essays from working class creatives. This book is fantastic and sets out the struggle of making a living from writing, in particular, if you don’t have a monied background.  It makes very important points and encourages you think about how varied books on offer could be if diversity was built in to publishing around the world.

I’ve got a book event in Sunderland, my home city, to tie in with Halloween at Port Independent, Sunderland 6-8pm, Friday, 30 October. The Allotment Sisterhood starts at a Halloween lantern parade so this and the chance to talk about it where I grew up will be lovely. Tickets are free but best booked as space is limited. If you’re interested in coming along click on this link. Podcaster and lecturer Jay Sykes will be doing the interview.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and have a lovely, wrapped-up Autumn.