Thanks for visiting my blog. I am currently taking some time out to focus on all manner of other things, from finishing off uni coursework to savouring a new relationship. I will be back, in some form or another, so do check back from time to time. In the meantime, [...]]]>

Thanks for visiting my blog. I am currently taking some time out to focus on all manner of other things, from finishing off uni coursework to savouring a new relationship. I will be back, in some form or another, so do check back from time to time. In the meantime, have an awesome day!

It’s been ages since I did any jewellery making, partly because I’ve been mega-busy (hence the infrequent blogging) and partly because my mum is staying in my studio / guest room while she waits to move into her new house.

I used to do quite a lot, [...]]]>

I've already worn this pretty romantic piece several times

It’s been ages since I did any jewellery making, partly because I’ve been mega-busy (hence the infrequent blogging) and partly because my mum is staying in my studio / guest room while she waits to move into her new house.

I used to do quite a lot, particularly beadwork, which I find incredibly therapeutic. Beading a fairly straightforward way of creating accessories, with the main time and effort going into designing the right colour, pattern and texture combinations.

Anyway, for one reason or another I’ve not done all that much of it recently, but the other weekend a friend of mine had a jewellery making

These handbag charms were very reasonable, and will make great Christmas presents

party, a fantastic concept which is way more up my street than Body

Shop, Jamie at Home or any of those other “buy in the comfort of your mate’s house” parties.

We arrived to find the kitchen table set up with a rainbow of beads in all shapes, sizes, colours, patterns, textures and finishes, plus equipment and a price list, all provided by party host Sandy Beddington.

After general chit chat over drinks and nibbles, Sandy explained how the evening would work and we sat down to start creating.

The best thing about a jewellery making party is that you can play around with the beads, experimenting to find the perfect design, and you only need to pay for what you take away at the end.

What’s more, Sandy prices her jewellery per finished creation rather than per bead, so you don’t have to worry about lots of fiddly adding up as you go along.

Beading with people – something I haven’t done before – provided inspiring and encouraging, as I picked up ideas from others and was flattered by complements about my creations from the other girls.

I made this bracelet to match a dress I bought at Monsoon a few weeks ago

I finished the evening with two handbag charms and two bracelets for an

incredibly reasonable £13 – if I think about it, I’d usually spent that on an evening out at the pub, and I’d have

nothing to show for it at the end.

I’ve already worn one of the bracelets, and I’m planning on giving the handbag charms as gifts. Plus, as soon as I get my studio back, I’m going to brush off my beads and my jewellery pliers, and get creating again.

• If you’re based in the Bristol area and are interested in a bead party with Sandy, you can visit her website at www.framptonbeads.com

In August I spent an incredible week in the Swiss Alps with Oak Hall, my good friend Vicki, and a bunch of people who started out as strangers and ended up as friends.

I won’t bore you with the [...]]]> I know I’m about two months late posting this, but better late than never, right?

In August I spent an incredible week in the Swiss Alps with Oak Hall, my good friend Vicki, and a bunch of people who started out as strangers and ended up as friends.

I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of what I got up to, but I will say this: Switzerland is more stunning than I’d ever imagined, and booking an Oak Hall holiday was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, have a look at these…

• For more information about Oak Hall holidays visit www.oakhall.co.uk

But sometimes a book stands out from the crowd as being particularly good – or particularly bad – [...]]]> It’s rare that I write book reviews. I don’t read many either, mainly because I think the experience of reading a book is subjective and I don’t necessarily think someone else’s opinion will help me all that much.

But sometimes a book stands out from the crowd as being particularly good – or particularly bad – and spurs me to want to share my thoughts. I’m pleased to say that Anne Zouroudi’s latest offering, The Lady of Sorrows, is the former.

I’ve admitted before that I’m a fairly lazy reader and will more often than not choose an author I know and enjoy over one I may waste several hours on before I realise I just can’t get on with their work. But having won a copy of The Lady of Sorrows at CrimeFest – and having met and liked the author, who struck me as intelligent and good humoured – I couldn’t very well not give it a go. And this time I was rewarded.

Not, initially, by a thrilling plot. If you want Indiana Jones-esque thrills then this isn’t the book for you, and I suspect I can say the same for the rest of Anne’s back catalogue. Instead what I loved from the moment I began reading was her delicious writing style. The book is crafted like a gourmet meal that you want to savour, relishing each bite rather than wolfing it down and racing on to the next one.

Which is not to say there’s no plot at all. Far from it. The forgery of a revered religious icon, the murder of a local man, the near drowning of a child and a terrible family secret make this an intriguing story. But Anne doesn’t rush to tell it. You get the feeling that if along the way she lost one or two readers with short attention spans, she’d shrug and carry on.

I admit I had one or two moments of impatience near the beginning when I thought, “Where’s the body? I’m a busy person, let’s get on with it!” But I couldn’t abandon such beautifully crafted prose, descriptions so vivid that I could practically see the sun sparkling off the Mediterranean, feel sun warmed pebbles beneath my feet, taste the cold white wine and the bitter Greek coffee.

I continued to read, enjoying the words and sentenced and paragraphs for what they were, and soon found that the pace was not slow but gentle, relaxing me as if I were indeed vacationing on a small Greek island. And if there were any lingering doubts, the arrival of Anne’s detective banished them entirely. Hermes Diaktoros is a fantastic character, well described by one reviewer as “part Hercule Poirot, part deus ex machina”.

I found him a very reassuring character, and one I don’t doubt I would get on with very well if he were to wander into my office and invite me to discuss philosophy or the opera over a glass of wine on his boat. That is another of Anne’s skills, creating characters who are rounded and real, who you can actually imagine meeting and who you remember long after you finish the story.

To conclude, I would have to say that Anne is a writer’s writer. She makes me want to pick up a pen, to hone my craft. Her prose is a delight, her characters uncannily lifelike and although the pace tends towards slow, it picks up where it needs to, and leaves you feeling like you’ve been truly pampered.

I’m in no doubt of what I’ll be taking with me on my summer holiday this year.

I had to laugh yesterday. I followed a link on Twitter and came across this list of writerly insults. Then later, a search for the BBC’s Big Read list of the nation’s 100 favourite books led me to [...]]]>

There are too many books in the world to waste your time on ones you don't enjoy

I had to laugh yesterday. I followed a link on Twitter and came across this list of writerly insults. Then later, a search for the BBC’s Big Read list of the nation’s 100 favourite books led me to this list in The Times of books not to read before you die.

In each case, writers and titles which for the most part are venerated by the literary scene were completely torn to shreds.

War and Peace, for example, was dismissed by The Times writer simply as “Way, way too long”, while Pride & Prejudice was held to be “Mills and Boon from the olden days, and really boring Mills and Boon at that”.

According to the list of insults, Joseph Conrad supposedly described DH Lawrence’s work as “filth”, while Vladimir Nabokov in turn is reported to have said that he “cannot abide Conrad’s souvenir shop style and bottled ships and shell necklaces of romanticist clichés.”

Usually, I feel guilty because I haven’t read a lot of the books that everyone is “supposed” to have read. Midnight’s Children. The Life of Pi. The Lord of the Rings (I did try with this, honestly I did, but I simply couldn’t get past Tom Bombadil and his bloody trees).

So you’d think that vitriolic outpourings like these would make me happy, that they would give me a sense of smug satisfaction and justification in not reading things just because everyone says they’re good.

But they didn’t. As I said, they simply made me laugh. The critics just sounded so terribly pretentious in their dismissal of the supposed classics – as pretentious as those who believe you’re no one unless you’ve read Virginia Woolf’s entire back catalogue.

The whole thing has confirmed what I guess I knew all along, which is that it really doesn’t matter what you read, so long as you get something out of it for yourself, be that entertainment, information or a challenge to your perception of the world.

There is no one book that has universal approval. Sure, take recommendations. Personally I’m compiling a reading list at the moment by asking everyone whose opinion I respect to tell me which one book they’d recommend above all others.

But I’m also reading a Famous Five mystery for the pure nostalgia value, a non-fiction book on why Nancy Drew is so awesome, and I’ll be starting Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go in a bit, for no other reason than a friend picked it as the first title for a reading group we’re tentatively forming.

So that’s why I laughed – because I realised how silly it all is. Don’t be fooled by the literary snobs who say you need to have read all the “greats” or the literary anarchists who won’t deign to look at anything but obscure titles no one has ever heard of.

Reading is, first and foremost, great fun. Everything is else is just academic.

Anyway, I didn’t want the piece to go to waste, so I thought I’d share it here. I wrote [...]]]> Ages and ages ago, I entered a short story competition. The results were out today and I didn’t place. Not that I particularly expected to; I just like using competition themes and deadlines to spur fresh ideas.

Anyway, I didn’t want the piece to go to waste, so I thought I’d share it here. I wrote it after I got back from Zambia, although it’s entirely fictional. It’s flash fiction (under 500 words) and the theme was travel.

Let me know what you think (you should be able to see a comments box at the bottom of this page) – as long as it’s constructive, I welcome all criticism!

***

Kabwata market

by Rin Simpson

Kabwata market (via guideforafrica.com)

“Madame, please, come over here.” A man with a cultivated smile gestures towards his collection of carved wooden animals and soap stone dishes. “Looking is free,” he assures me.

Already I’m taking a breath to argue – I’ve visited Africa many times, I have all the tribal masks and boot-polished statuettes I need – but as I glance up, something stops me.

I don’t know whether it’s a trick of the light, or my own imagination, but it looks like there are tears in his eyes. Still the smile never leaves his face.

Silence stretches awkwardly. Around us, vendors haggle with pink-skinned tourists over amounts that wouldn’t buy half a cup of coffee in London.

I am filled with vague, gnawing guilt. The heat makes the air shimmer and suddenly I want to be back in England, with its faceless high street chains and thriving commercialism.

“A bracelet,” I say finally, grabbing a gaudy creation. “I’ll take a bracelet.”

Fishing a note from my pocket I thrust it towards him, not sure how much it is, not caring. For a moment I think he’s going to hug me, but he just grasps my hand in his cool, dry one, and says: “What about earrings to match?”

My laugh escapes like a gasp and I shake my head, slipping the bracelet onto my wrist. It’s actually quite pretty, a riot of crimson and ochre and gold. It looks exotic against my freckled skin.

As I hurry towards my car, parked under the shade of a jacaranda tree, my heart is lighter. At the end of the road I turn and wave, but he doesn’t see. There is another woman fingering the tray of rainbow coloured beads. I glance down at my own sparkling treasure and smile.

When I logged on to Facebook this morning, I was greeted by this status update from my sister:

“Don’t usually repost this kind of batty stuff but: Your sister is your first friend in life. No one can understand your crazy family like your [...]]]>

I'm so glad my sister is also one of my closest friends

When I logged on to Facebook this morning, I was greeted by this status update from my sister:

“Don’t usually repost this kind of batty stuff but: Your sister is your first friend in life. No one can understand your crazy family like your sister. Even if you don’t get together or talk as much as you should, she will always remain your friend. She will hold your hand for a little while but your heart forever. It’s National Sister Week. Re-post if you have a sister you love with all your heart.”

Well, as you can imagine, I had a little moment when I read that. Ok, so she didn’t actually write those sentiments herself, but the fact that she was willing to plaster something so cheesy all over her otherwise rather cool Facebook wall is proof of her affection.

And it made me realise just how lucky I am to have her in my life. Because my sister and I didn’t always get on. As kids we had a laugh together but as we headed into our teens, hormones got the better of us and we began to argue and drift apart.

When I moved to university, I didn’t think to call her for a catch up or invite her to visit. We’d see each other in the holidays and that was enough. More than enough. And it didn’t occur to me that it should or could be any different.

The change came the year after I was married, when I was 24 and she was 21. We were due to go on holiday – me and my husband, another couple from our church, my best friend and her mate from back home, and my sister.

Staying at my mum’s house overnight, ready to drive to the coast the following morning, my sister and I somehow got into a fight. Or perhaps fight isn’t quite the right word. It was a discussion, but one filled with high feel and which – in our usual style – was undertaken at fairly high volume.

At one point my mum tried to interject, but we quickly stopped her. Both of us knew that this was an important conversation; something was happening which had needed to happen for a long time.

What we realised was that we were still looking at each other with the eyes of the past. I treated her like the nightmare teen that she had been, battling depression and making everyone’s lives a misery. She still saw me as the unconfident, bullied bookworm who couldn’t look after herself.

All that changed in one conversation, as we promised to leave the past where it belonged, and start afresh. And we’ve never looked back since. In fact, I really can say now that I agree totally with that sentimental statement my sister posted on Facebook today.

Who else but a sister knows you so well that just a look can transmit a thousand words? Who can have you in stitches with a word that means nothing to anyone else, who understands the hurts and the trials that have made you who you are, and who will tell you the truth even when it hurts but defend you to the very last?

It’s easy to take for granted something – or someone – who is always there, but it’s worth stopping every now and then to really appreciate our blessings. And in my case that blessing is a beautiful, talented, fun-filled, intelligent sister who may drive me crazy sometimes, but who I love wholeheartedly and whose love for me I am fully certain of.

Happy National Sisters Week!

I don’t know about you, but I find showing my writing to other people quite a nerve-wracking experience. Not my journalistic writing – if that still concerned me I’d have given up long ago. No it’s my fiction that I’m shy about. Sharing that is like [...]]]>

I find sharing my work quite an emotional process

I don’t know about you, but I find showing my writing to other people quite a nerve-wracking experience. Not my journalistic writing – if that still concerned me I’d have given up long ago. No it’s my fiction that I’m shy about. Sharing that is like sharing a little piece of my heart.

Which is probably why I felt like a teenager on a first date when I went to the Pitch An Agent afternoon at last month’s CrimeFest. Having submitted the first 3,000 and a synopsis of my book a month prior, I had three 10 minute pitching slots, each with a different agent who represents crime fiction authors.

This was it, the moment when I would find out whether it was worth pursuing my dream or giving it all up as a lost cause. Because while fiction is subjective, if three industry experts tell you that you’re rubbish then you have to figure that they’re onto something.

No love for lingerie

David Headley of DHH Literary Agency

First up was David Headley, owner of Goldsboro Books and DHH Literary Agency. I didn’t have high hopes for this one, as my book – going under the working title of Mystique Sequin – is a blend of crime fiction and chick lit and therefore not something that would appeal to most men.

My instincts proved spot on. David admitted that he found the setting of the first scene (a yet-to-be opened lingerie shop) rather off-putting and felt I had immediately alienated all the male readers. True, I thought, but then I never expected to attract male readers. And anyway, it seems to be a fairly well established truth that the greater proportion of crime fiction readers are women.

We said our goodbyes and I moved on, pleased that he had at least been positive about my actual writing style, and sat down with Camilla Wray from Darley Anderson. Camilla was much more positive, particularly about my characterisation, and seemed genuinely to love my teen character Rosie, the protagonist’s daughter.

Too slow a start

Camilla Wray of Darley Anderson

Camilla echoed something that David had said though, which was that in 3,000 words very little happens. And it’s true; the book is quite gently paced. On the one hand, this is something I personally like as a reader. The day-to-day life of interesting characters is just as entertaining to me as a high-octane storyline.

However, as we talked I realised that introducing a body right at the beginning of the book would make the whole thing a lot more exciting, and would also allow me to bring in the police character much earlier, which would improve another relational aspect of the story.

Camilla agreed, and we parted on a positive note. Although she admitted that she usually takes on writers who on more on the psychological thriller side of crime, she agreed that I should send my full manuscript in as soon as I’d made the changes we talked about.

Decide what you’re writing

Broo Doherty of Wade & Doherty

Broo Doherty of Wade & Doherty was my next and final audience. She was the most positive of the lot, and was very complimentary about my writing style, which was such a relief. But she echoed the other two when she said that I need to decide what I’m writing – women’s fiction or crime fiction.

In fact, she seemed to be urging me towards the former, and I have to admit that in the past I’ve been much more inclined to write that sort of book. The novels I’ve written (ok, started and then given up on) have tended to feature women discovering their pasts and falling in love.

But in recent years I’ve become much more interested in the crime scene (‘scuse the pun), and am determined that I’d at least like to try to make it in this genre, even if later I turn to another. For one thing, crime writers are an awful lot of fun, as CrimeFest and Harrogate have taught me!

Lessons learned

By the end of the afternoon I was exhausted, but I had learned three very important things.

First, I can write. I said this to a friend and they looked at me like I was mad, saying, “But surely you knew you could write?” Well you’d think so. But a lot of very bad writers “know they can write”. I was just thrilled to have the confirmation that I’m not totally deluded.

The second thing I learned was that you can be good at some parts of the writing process and not at others. I’m pretty good with words, I think. I can use them to create atmosphere and believable characters, and I have a feel for the natural rhythm of a sentence. But I’m less good at storytelling elements like plotting and pace. Luckily, this is something that can be worked on.

Which leads me on to the third thing I learned: I need to start again. The ultimate conclusion of the day was that although I could write a new murder into the start of my book, doing so would involve a complete rewrite. And frankly if I’m going to do that, I’d rather just start again with a new story.

“What a waste!” I hear you say. I disagree. I’ve learned so much from the 50,000 or so words I wrote of Mystique Sequin, and I’ve got a good bunch of characters to relocate to the new book, which I’m calling The Body In The Basement for the moment.

I’ve not actually started writing yet, because I’ve decided to plot this book much more heavily than the last one before I get going. I recently interviewed MR Hall and he admits that he knows pretty much exactly what’s going to happen in every scene before he writes a word. I figure that if it works for him it may well work for me.

So there you have it. A mixed afternoon that was exciting, encouraging and educational. If you have the opportunity to pitch your work like this, I couldn’t’ recommend it more. Yes, it’s scary, but it’s so worth it.

If you’ve pitched your work – whether in person or on paper – I’d love to hear about your experience. Comments and links most welcome!

For those of you that don’t know, there have been two exciting craft magazine launches this year: Mollie Makes and Handmade Living.

Both publications are fabulous in their own way. Mollie Makes is pure gorgeousness. It contains some of the most delicious, inspiring imagery I’ve seen in a long time, and is uber [...]]]>

My new addiction...

For those of you that don’t know, there have been two exciting craft magazine launches this year: Mollie Makes and Handmade Living.

Both publications are fabulous in their own way. Mollie Makes is pure gorgeousness. It contains some of the most delicious, inspiring imagery I’ve seen in a long time, and is uber cool, appealing to the modern crafter.

It’s like the pretty, popular girl you wanted to be at school. Unfortunately, it can have the effect of making you feel a little boring in comparison. But nevertheless you still want to hang around with it.

Handmade Living doesn’t have quite the same wow factor, but I’m thoroughly enjoying it none the less. It actually made me go “ooh, I could do that!” more often than its rival, and had a few really interesting articles as well as the projects.

If I had to pick one, I’d say I liked Mollie Makes better, purely because it’s just so pretty (yes, I know I’m shallow), but in fact it was Handmade Living that actually made me head into the studio and make something.

This was the feature:

And this is what I made:

I tried to photograph it on my arm but hand just looked freaky! I’m pleased with the bracelet though, and I think the friend whose birthday I made it for liked it too.

There was another feature in the buttons section which showed how they could be used with fabric and cardboard to make cards.

I’m not all that confident using fabrics, but I had a stash of felt, a box full of my late gran’s old embroidery silks and some left over heart shaped red buttons from the bracelet, so I decided to test my hand sewing skills to make this engagement card:

It’s not perfect, but it was a first try – and I think that couple who it went to were touched that I’d made something.

I’m planning on doing a few more over the summer though, testing out some different designs, because I really like the effect and it’s so easy to do.

So, what marvelous creations have you all been making recently? I’d love to see them!