I'm doing my best to cultivate the twin habits of Determination and Indifference, a tip I picked up from The Writer's Book of Hope (which isn't as banal or patronising as the title suggests). I've always had more than my fair share of Determination. Call it obstinacy, cussedness, what you will. For those who believe in that sort of thing, I'm a Taurean, so bullish by nature. Indifference is another kettle of cats. It means not minding when people reject your stories, not investing too much in the submission process, caring enough but not too much what other people think of your writing, so that when the inevitable rejections come along, they don't dent your resolve or, as happened to me countless times in the last three years, stop you dead in your tracks. There's the added bonus of being pleasantly surprised by success, when it shows its face.

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The day has finally arrived—my book trailer is finished and ready to be viewed! I have posted it on my website at www.chrysalispress.com in the Media Room under “Book Trailer.” It is also posted on Reader Views Kids website at http://readerviewskids.com/reviews_previews.html.I will also post it on youtube.com (you will have to search for it under “Laura and the Leprechauns”) and on my myspace page which is myspace.com/ambertkingston. The part I played in its creative process was lots of fun but it was so difficult to wait for the more difficult and exciting parts like animation and sound to be completed. Now I see that my patience paid off. I am very happy with it and I hope that you will be too. Happy viewing!


Sincerely,

Amber

Paul Torday is the award winning author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and now The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce.

Pull up a seat and listen to me chat to him about writing and his new book ...

In what way did writing your new book differ from your experience of writing Salmon Fishing in the Yemen?

When I wrote ‘Salmon’ I never for a moment thought it would be published so I wrote it without any consciousness of the difficulties of sustaining a multi-voice plot using e mails and letters. When I wrote the ‘Irresistible’ book I was far more aware, and more apprehensive, of the pitfalls of trying to write a novel.

Where you nervous after the huge success of Salmon Fishing, that the 'difficult' second book would be received well?

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Well, it's finally here - the launch day for Thorn in the Flesh which you can buy, if you'd like to (and you'll need to click through to the full post for the links), from Goldenford (which is better for us!) or even from Amazon UK - though naturally they haven't changed the status from "Pre-order" yet. Sigh. Don't wait up then ...

Here is the blurb, to whet your feminist, criminal appetites:

Kate Harris, a lecturer in her late thirties, is attacked in her Surrey home and left for dead. Continuing threats hinder her recovery, and these life changing events force her to journey into her past to search for the child she gave away. Can she overcome the demons of her own personal history before time runs out?

“a novel about the elusive nature of memory, and about truth” (Marsha Rowe, Co-founder of Spare Rib)


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This morning, I was lucky enough to spend forty minutes picking the brains of a leading U.K. literary agent about what's right and wrong with the current manuscript of my crime novel. Absolutely invaluable, not least because she said many positive things about my writing while being brutally (her word) candid about the problems with plot and structure. She was keen to stress that this was a subjective, personal response to the ms, but honestly? Everything she said resonated with me. And a lot of it fell under the general heading of Gems for the Aspiring (Crime) Writer. So I'm going to share an edited version of her insights, in the hope it will be of value to others.

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My new novel arrived today.

It fell in a lump into my mental lap, rather as I imagine telepathy would happen if it did, just as I was scooting round a particularly tricky little pair of mini-roundabouts by Brockley Station. (My fellow south east Londoners know exactly where I mean.) I was on my way to Goldsmiths to lead a seminar, and my students were very tolerant of how long it took me to wrench my mind away from the new novel towards John Donne and Allen Ginsburg.

Of course it's not really a hand-me-down from the Muse, though I do see why it's so often describe in those terms.

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I went for a nice long walk the other day. It was one of those glitteringly bright afernoons, with the sun casting a golden glow over the grass and trees. I saw my first blossoms of the spring - so beautiful. And there were a pair of tiny blue tits dancing round the bird feeder yesterday, which was gorgeous. But the most amazing thing I have seen of late is the incredible sunset that painted the world a soft peachy hue the other evening! It was so radiant that the tree-trunks turned a rich red and the sky was a venerable pallet of pinks, apricots, golden and pale yellow. I would have loved to photograph it but unfortunately that day, I didn't have my camera. It really was splendid and it touched my inner soul! Honestly, it had to be seen to be believed!


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Having spent the last week and more battling with a rather vicious cold, a five-day long headache and wildly fluctuating temperature – hot sweats giving way to shivery chills, only to return again a short while later – I have had much cause to bless the creators of such modern marvels as the ‘Kleenex Ultra Balm Tissue’, ‘Solpadeine Headache’ tablets, eucalyptus and menthol inhalations and the soothing ‘Strepsils Extra’ lozenge. After dipping into one of my latest literary purchases (this week’s vital statistics: Books bought from a shop - 12; Books on order - 3; Books expelled to make room for newcomers - O), Nigel Cawthorne’s fascinating The Curious Cures of Old England, I have also spent quite some time being actively grateful that I was lucky enough to be born in shiny, new England, rather than the old, slightly mad version he describes.

Had I been suffering from similar ailments a few centuries ago, I would have found the local quack recommending the application of cabbage or lettuce leaves to alleviate my headache; admittedly not quite as bad as the Tudor solution of gargling mustard, or the rather disturbing 18th Century tendency to tie a piece of used hangman’s rope around your skull, but surely not nearly as effective as paracetamol. (In the 19th Century hangman’s rope dropped out of favour, only to be replaced by snakeskin - honestly, I’m not sure which would be worse.)


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Feel very spiky today and hugely on edge – no doubt due to the all-consuming worries about tomorrow’s launch of Thorn in the Flesh. I’m now worried I might have too many people coming and am severely up to my limit of 35 in the venue. Let’s hope that none of them decide to bring an unaccounted friend, as if they do no doubt Godalming Museum will beat me with twigs and throw me out. I hope to God it goes all right and people don’t notice the joins. Of which there will be many, I’m convinced. I also really don’t know how I’m going to get everything set up and sorted out in the hour before it starts. That is, without lying down, chewing the carpet and weeping. And that’s only if I think it’s going well …

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Yesterday's visit to St John's was terrific. Really enjoyable, and great to see some familiar faces (including Miss Wallace and Mrs Moyes!).

We wrote short stories inspired by picture prompts and some seriously good work was produced. Seriously!

I've included a couple of the prompts below - if you end up writing anything inspired by one, do let me know; I'd be delighted to read it...



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