I’ve just finished reading South Riding by Winifred Holtby. I loved it and raced through all 525 pages at breakneck speed. It was a reading group choice and wasn’t in stock at Waterstone’s when I went to buy it. The girl behind the counter placed an order for me but when it arrived it was… Continue reading Can a TV tie-in change your reading?
Author: SusanEBarsby
Review: Melissa by Jonathan Taylor
It’s not a spoiler to tell you that the Melissa of the title dies at the beginning of the book – everything that follows is a result of this tragic occurrence. As she does so, all her neighbours experience a musical hallucination – most find it beautiful if perplexing, only a few dislike it. The… Continue reading Review: Melissa by Jonathan Taylor
Writing East Midlands conference
I spent Saturday in Loughborough. Not words I’m usually happy to utter but this was different – I attended Writing East Midlands’ Writers’ Conference at Loughborough University. It was a cold grey morning as we arrived and troughed down the refreshments, all clutching our cream and blue goody bags and piling into the auditorium. I… Continue reading Writing East Midlands conference
February reads
A short month and two books to read for reading group this month means I only read four books this month. 1984 – George Orwell and Brave New World – Aldous Huxley It was a dystopian double bill for reading group this month, though I can’t remember why. One line of thinking was that people… Continue reading February reads
National Libraries Day
It’s late, I know. My blogging has fallen off in recent weeks and I can only blame the day job workload and a stinking cold. But a quick few words because it’s National Libraries Day. My first library was a bus. A mobile library that came to the close where I lived. I on’t remember… Continue reading National Libraries Day
January – the read pile
A belated post but here’s what I read in January. Bill Bryson – The Road to Little Dribbling I once had dinner with Bill Bryson. I worked for Waterstone’s events team, he was on a book promotion tour and we had a two-performance night at Newark Theatre. We had a tight turnaround for food between… Continue reading January – the read pile
Slashing… and mortifying realisations
I’ve been tackling draft three of the book. This is the slasher one. I added about 7,000 to the word count with the second draft, filling in gaps, adding scenes and so on. I knew I would add to the word count – for one thing a character who was pivotal to the plot only… Continue reading Slashing… and mortifying realisations
American Housewife – Helen Ellis
Originally posted on The Writes of Womxn:
The women of American Housewife tell their stories in tales that range from between a page and forty pages in length. Some, anonymously, tell us about themselves: I shred cheese. I berate a pickle jar. I pump the salad spinner like a CPR dummy. I strangle defrosted spinach…
The broken pushchair by the back door or… writing with a family
I don’t know if it’s a current trend or coincidence but I seem to have seen quite a bit of chat about mothers who write recently. Some pieces have advice about finding writing time, others are just describing what it’s like and more still, ponder that it’s not the same for men. Practically all of them… Continue reading The broken pushchair by the back door or… writing with a family
The to be read pile…
There’s no real need for New Year resolutions when it comes to reading. I did set my Goodreads challenge as 50 books this year so we’ll see how I get on. The days of reading 100 books a year are long gone, but 50 is tough but not impossible. Anyway, here’s the current to… Continue reading The to be read pile…
Susan E Barsby 