June 19th 2010

Well done to Get Published student June Crowe whose short story 'Wheel of Fortune' was published in the 19th June edition of People's Friend Magazine.

June 17th 2010

Congratualtion to Christine Webb whose poem was shortlisted in the humorous poetry section of the Marples Poetry Competition 2010. Christine is a member of the Get Published class.

 

June 10th 2010 

Didn't we have a lover-ly time, the day we went to... Brighton!

 Well, maybe not weather wise, since it was blowing a hoolie on the promenade and definitely wasn't a day for a paddle (shame!). Still, Elaine and I felt excited as we made our way to the Brighton promotion of the book 100 Stories for Haiti, held at Waterstones on June 10^th.

 We arrived very early in an attempt not to be late, heading off to The Lanes for refreshment at a lovely cup cake shop called Angel Food Bakery. (Well worth a visit, and the place that inspired my story Thinking outside the cakebox, which won the student short story 'Resolutions' comp at Christmas. See, there are ideas everywhere!).

 

 

Finally the time came to make our way to Waterstones, and as accustomed as I have been to public speaking in the past, the idea of reading out my story in a book shop was quite nerve wracking. I think Elaine was quite laid back, and even had time for a 'JR Hartley' moment when she asked at the counter whether they had Showing Your Dog, A Beginner's Guide! When the assistant realised Elaine was the author, she asked her to sign it. Ain't fame great?

The gathering, thin on the ground initially, grew until the coffee shop on the third floor was bulging at the seams. We met up with writer Linda Barrett, an old friend of Elaine's, who was also quite nervous. We huddled together at the back for security.

The evening began with an introduction from Jac Cattaneo, who organised and coordinated the evening. Martin Reed then presented Greg McQueen's piece One Morning, which tells of the day Greg woke up to a report of an earthquake in Haiti and decided to do something. Greg, who conceived and saw through the100 Stories for Haiti project, sadly couldn't be with us. He made some excuse about living in Denmark. I think we all let him off, seeing as he'd sent an encouraging message that morning via a podcast on Facebook!

Debz Hobbs-Wyatt, who handles the marketing for Bridge House, the publisher of 100 Stories, told us a little about her company's involvement in the project, then read her own story, Folding Paper.

There was a wide variety of different stories read, including Mugs by Tania Hershman, Linda Barrett's Updating Dora, and Lola Loves Loving by Martin Reed. After a break, Elaine and I read our stories (Waiting for Sarah and The Encounter respectively). Among the other stories were Jacob's Ladder by Rob Newlyn and Charlie Berridge's Wrong Direction.

A number of people took the opportunity to buy the books on sale, and so began a round of signings, including the writers signing each other's! Awkward when you're standing, trying to balance a bag and a drink, but we managed somehow.

After, a group of us went down the road for pizza. It was a good opportunity to talk to people who, up until that time, we'd simply shared book space with. We're all very different writers, from various locations, and it's great that we've been able to join together to do our bit to help the people of Haiti.

100 Stories for Haiti, is published by Bridge House Publishing and is available from their website http://bridgehousepublishing.co.uk, along with Amazon and Waterstones. It's also available as an e-book from www.smashwords.com. All proceeds go to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake.