Easter Gift Idea For Little Ones: Gifts Hub’s Personalised Books

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Catherine Balavage

We were bowled over by Gifts Hub’s Personalised Books for little ones. They come in a gorgeous presentation box, and the books are stunning. The book is personalised on the front and throughout. You can also include a personal message in the opening page.

Journey into the World with “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” Book

Personalised gifting group, Gifts Hub, make these books. We really loved the children’s classic, Journey with The Very Hungry Caterpillar Book. The children’s book is available to purchase on the group’s UK websites, I Just Love It and Historic Newspapers

This new edition stars international-bestselling and award-winning author Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, bringing the iconic caterpillar into the 21st Century for a new generation to enjoy.

Once the book has been personalised, The Very Hungry Caterpillar takes on the chosen name, resulting in the recipient becoming the star of the book. This creates a unique and personalised story for any child, as they embark on a special journey into the world.

Each page has been illustrated and written in homage to author Eric Carle, and his unique drawing and writing style can be seen on every page. Colourful, bold illustrations are teamed with large text to engage and entertain any reader.

The new book can be personalised with a child’s name, which features on the front cover and throughout the copy, and a message, which features on the title page of the book.

A bespoke, embossed pastel gift box has also been produced as a luxury presentation option which is included in the price with any purchase of the new book. The presentation box really takes the gift to another level.

The Personalised Journey with the Very Hungry Caterpillar (I Just Love It) and Personalised Journey with the Hungry Little Caterpillar (Historic Newspapers) books are available to purchase now for £24.99.

Gifthub also have:

Thomas The Tank Engine. A personalised edition of a classic railway series story.

Another beautiful book. Personalised on the front and throughout. This is a great story with wonderful illustrations by C. Reginald Dalby.

We can highly recommend these gorgeous books which are published by Signature Books. They are classic books with beautiful illustrations, all personalised to your child. Frost loves.

Writing a Series – the pros and the cons! – Della Parker

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Tracy Baines

As the next book in Della Parker’s Reading Group series fast approaches publication she shares on Frost Magazine some of the pros and cons she’s discovered creating and developing a series.

Publishers love them. Readers love them. But what about the writers? Is it easier or harder to write a series of novels? Or in my case, novellas? Well, I’ve just finished number five in my series The Reading Group, so here’s what I think. Hot off the press!

The Best Bits

You know the characters, so you don’t need to start from scratch for every story. In fact it’s brilliant to be able to develop the same characters over more than one book. You can get so much deeper.

When you really love a character – you don’t have to say goodbye for long.

Each story can (and should) still be complete in itself – readers won’t necessarily read the whole series. So you do feel as though you’re writing a ‘whole’ book.

The Most (er) Challenging Bits!

I’m one of those writers who doesn’t plot so I tend to put in throwaway lines and then find out why I wrote them later. Not the other way round. Why oh why did I mention in the February novella that Jojo (who stars in March) had already had three husbands? When it came to writing Jojo’s story my publisher suggested just the two might be better! Luckily there was time to change the facts in February.

Continuity is a nightmare. I keep detailed character resumes on everyone, but it’s still really hard to make sure I don’t change someone’s eye colour, or contradict the fact that I once said they loved Marmite or had size eight feet. Don’t even get me started on ages!

Once you’ve set a fact in stone – perhaps in an earlier book that’s already published – you can’t change it. So you have to work round it. This can be pretty, er, challenging.

My Top Tips

Keep spreadsheets for the timeline. It’s much easier to keep track this way.

Have a “photo” of your character as a visual prompt. I cut them out of magazines or junk mail that comes through the door. It’s an excellent use of junk mail!

Alternatively, pick a ‘character from a TV drama. This is brilliant for gestures.

I also keep information sheets for each character, which has things like, how many siblings they have (with names) the way they talk, (softly, loudly, not finishing sentences etc) and their favourite/most used words.

I also have a note of each character’s date of birth as it’s much easier to change a timeline when you have this information, than if you just have their age.

Never throw anything away that’s related to character. So if you cut a scene from your novel, keep it as information. You’ll still think of your character like this, even though the scene is no longer there.

To sum up…

So to return to the question I asked earlier – do writers love writing a series?Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but this writer certainly does! I’ve enjoyed every minute.

The Reading Group April is out on 30 March.

The Reading Group Summer Holiday is out 27 April.

You can preorder both now.

The Business of Books: The Feeling’s Mutual

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Jane Cable

The Business of Books: The Feeling’s Mutual

Jane Cable muses support from other writers

I had a very interesting conversation on Thursday. At the Romantic Novelists’ Association Cornish Chapter lunch we fell to talking about how best to market our books. None of us felt we had a firm grasp of what worked and what didn’t, but all the same I was adamant that doing something was better than doing nothing.

Take the RNA’s #TuesNews initiative. On Tuesdays a number of us (probably about a hundred or so of the full membership) retweet each other’s posts carrying the hashtag. As a result our Twitter feeds fill with the latest news from romantic novelists, some blatant promotion and some a bit more interesting, but we do it to support each other. And actually, for readers and bloggers with an interest in the genre it’s a good place to find out what’s going on in the world of romantic fiction.

You also come to ‘know’ the regular retweeters and interact with them in other places and in other ways. Writing can be isolating and it’s good to know there are people around you sharing the same experiences, even if it’s in a virtual sense. Whether or not there are sales to be gained from the exercise is perhaps less important than the feeling of being part of something larger.

I belong to a number of groups of writers, formal and informal, and all have their own character. The No 1 Author Buddy Ladies on Facebook has become a real place for mutual support. We have just over 100 members covering multiple genres and writers at different stages of their careers help each other out. We celebrate when someone has their first deal, help them to see the wood for the trees with potentially dodgy contracts and chip in on all sorts of subjects from naming characters to helping to promote special offers.

All the same it’s still helpful to meet other authors face to face, like at the Cornish Chapter lunch. The problem is that finding mutually convenient times for meetings is hard, and even local groups need to be flexible. Take Chindi Authors – formally Chichester Independent Authors and now rebranding as Celebrating and Helping Indie Authors with a stronger online presence and virtual meetings. Chindi has always existed primarily to help with publishing and marketing indie books and to gain real depth of experience across all genres we needed to extend our reach beyond the confines of our corner of West Sussex.

I still have a hunch that the authors you support the most are those you actually know. Certainly when setbacks come they are the ones you turn to for advice and – let’s face it – sympathy. Although when I recently parted company with my agent because she didn’t rate my current manuscript my loving husband cracked open the champagne (literally!), it was author friends who provided solid advice and shored up my wavering confidence in my work.

In the digital age writers can’t afford to be isolated and selfish with their time and a large number aren’t. I suppose there are those who are, but we simply don’t know them. There is huge generosity out there, such as JoJo Moyes on Twitter offering a week in her holiday home for an aspiring writer to work in peace and Chindi Authors pulling together to raise almost £1,000 for Words for the Wounded.

The world of publishing is getting tougher and it’s up to writers to work together to make the best of it. So if anyone is reading this in a lonely garret – reach out – you’ll be surprised what you find.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd.

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Margaret Graham

Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY Tuesday 2nd May – Saturday 3rd June 2017 

Out with the diaries, please. Following a sell-out, award-nominated run at the White Bear Theatre, Keith Stevenson’s comedy Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. transfers to Trafalgar Studios this May.

Things could not get any worse for Mitchell, who just lost his girlfriend, his apartment, and his job. With nowhere to go, he answers an ad for a roommate and finds himself in a West Virginia countryside motel with JD, an affable hillbilly of mysterious origins. Soon JD’s neighbours – curmudgeonly Flip, meth-head Marlene, and her hot-headed boyfriend Tommy – have all but taken over the tiny room. When the zany group find themselves in a hostage situation, Mitchell must decide to save himself or join this dysfunctional family and let his freak-flag fly.

Writer and actor Keith Stevenson comments, It warms my heart that this little story set in Appalachia has received a universal response from people of all colours and creeds in places like London and Los Angeles. They come to the theatre and a little over an hour later they walk out feeling better than they did coming in. They’re buoyed by a fortified hope that goodness and kindness still have a shot.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. became a cult hit amongst fans following its six month highly acclaimed run at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles in 2012 – audience members returned again and again to watch the show. Fried Meat re-opened later that year with the festive sequel A Fried Meat Christmas. Then, in the summer of 2014, Stevenson thrilled audiences yet again with the third part in the series, The Unfryable Meatness of Being.

The three plays were revived in December 2014 and December 2015 as The Fried Meat Trilogy. Stevenson who originated the role of JD in Los Angeles, hails from Keyser in West Virginia – the hometown of the actual Fried Meat Ridge Road.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. is the first ever show to transform Trafalgar Studios 2 into an end-on space.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd.

Tuesday 2nd May – Saturday 3rd June 2017 Monday – Saturday 7.45pm Thursday and Saturday matinees 3pm

@TrafStudios, #FriedMeatRidge @FriedMeatRidgeRdLondon https://www.friedmeat.co.uk/

Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY

www.atgtickets.com/venues/trafalgar-studios

Tickets are available for £30, £25, £20 from the Trafalgar Studios Box Office and http://www.atgtickets.com, 0844 871 7632

Dare Devil Rides To Jarama

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Margaret Graham

I have just written of the Spanish Civil War in A House Divided so know its brutality and hardship, but also the ‘mateship’ of the International Brigades.

So this play is of interest to me, and probably to you.

Following a successful UK tour marking the 80th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, Dare Devil Rides To Jarama comes to Tara Theatre for a limited run. Based on the experiences of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and the powerful political forces that engulfed 1930s Europe, Dare Devil Rides to Jarama asks why so many ordinary people made the extraordinary choice to leave family and livelihoods and fight in a brutal war so far from home.

When Spaniards rose up to resist General Franco’s military rebellion in 1936, it was an inspiration to millions of people worldwide. Their heroic struggle alerted the rest of the world to the threat of fascism. Dare Devil Rides To Jarama commemorates and celebrates the contribution and sacrifice of the Volunteer International Brigades, including two and a half thousand from Britain and Ireland.

Compelling and humorous, Dare Devil Rides To Jarama focuses on the contrasting lives of Clem Beckett, a Lancashire blacksmith and famous star of the speedway track, and Christopher Caudwell, a renowned writer, poet and philosopher. Both men were killed together at Jarama in February 1937, having become friends as members of the British battalion’s machine-gun company.

Through stirring song, poetry, movement and dance, Dare Devil Rides To Jarama captures the raw passions and emotions of the time. Musical direction is from acclaimed folk singer and squeeze box player John Kirkpatrick.

Dare Devil Rides To Jarama

Ages 11+

Tara Theatre, 356 Garratt Lane, Earlsfield, London SW18 4ES

Tickets are available from www.tara-arts.com or 020 8333 4457 at £13.50.

@townsendprod, #DareDevil

East London at Dawn Photo book by Anthony Epes

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Catherine Balavage

One of Frost’s favourite photographers, Anthony Epes, had released a stunning photo book. We highly recommend you get your hands on a copy.

For over a decade photographer Anthony Epes has shot many of the world’s iconic cities at their most peaceful time, dawn. This month marks the publication of a collection of his photographs from one of his most explored haunts, East London.

East London at Dawn is a collection of images showing the city, for the most part, empty and devoid of its usual flood of people. Of those who are awake, most are working, preparing the city for the day before the streets are inundated by the crowds. The subject therefore becomes the city itself, absorbed in the light of sunrise.

The light of a sunrise comes in many forms: the play of light dancing over street art on an ancient crumbling wall on a summer’s morning; a dark stormy daybreak as it wakes over one of the many industrial estates; the wintery midnight-blue sky filled already with the glow of lights from the skyscrapers and cars cramming the streets on the race to work.

Anthony connects us to the atmosphere of sunrise in the city and takes us on a unique exploration of the places in East London that fascinate him. From the stark brutalist architecture of the Balfour Tower, to the misty banks of the Thames with Canary Wharf rising up in the background, to the vibrant edgy street art that appears and disappears at random, to the imprint of new communities, foods and cultures that make up this ever-changing part of London.

Anthony’s interpretation of the city at first light is a spectacular and engaging journey through this special part of London as we see it in its transition.

Accompanying the photos, evocative quotes about the area will reveal the experiences of people who are regularly up at this time.

East London at Dawn is inspired by Anthony’s previous books and exhibitions on Cities at Dawn, including Paris, Venice and Istanbul. In this collection he has captured the rejuvenating energy and beauty of sunrise as well as the ever changing atmosphere of the streets of East London, the layers of history and mix of cultures, as well as the few people who are up at sunrise.

East London at Dawn has been published in association with Leman Locke, and is available exclusively at the hotel and via anthonyepes.com

Book details

Limited edition of 1,000

£35

Hardcover, cloth-bound, embossed cover

80 pages

Words by Diana Bird

About Anthony Epes

Anthony Epes is a fine art photographer whose work has featured in BBC World, CNN Photo, French Photo, Hyper Allergic, Time Out, Atlas Obscura, BBC London, The Telegraph and many other publications.

He has published four photo books, including London at Dawn and Paris at Dawn, and is currently preparing to launch further installments shot in Venice, Havana and Istanbul.

Anthony grew up in California and has been based in London since 2000.

About Locke

Locke is a design-led aparthotel for those who want to challenge the status quo, and experience the unique and authentic. Designed for travellers for whom a bed and shower in a shoebox isn’t enough, Locke immerses you in its neighbourhood’s culture through spaces that connect you to a community of like-minded locals and travellers.

– 168 studios and suites at Leman Locke, London

– 72 studios and suites at Eden Locke, Edinburgh (opening June 2017)

15 Leman St, Whitechapel, London E1 8EN

http://www.lockeliving.com/

Idle Women of the Wartime Waterways by Milly Adams

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Margaret Graham

Saturday 15th April – Saturday 5th August 2017  7.30pm – The Cruising Association, 1 Northey Street, Limehouse Basin, London E14 8BT

2017 marks the 75th anniversary of The Idle Women – the nickname for the women who manned the working boats during WWII. Now, 21st century ‘Idle Women’ – former Worcestershire Poet Laureate Heather Wastie and writer/performer Kate Saffin – will be recreating their journey, from London to Birmingham and back to London via the Coventry coalfields.

I’m definitely going to this because a novel of mine on just this subject will be published in September, so I know a lot about their fascinating stories.

Stories?

This double bill tells of the young women who took on the challenge to manage a pair of boats and 50 tons of cargo. Isobel’s War is a solo play written and performed by Kate Saffin based on the experiences of the wartime trainees. Isobel doesn’t think that rolling bandages and serving tea in the leafy suburbs of Oxford counts as proper war work, then she spots an advertisement and encounters a world she didn’t know existed. Idle Women and Judies is written and performed by Heather Wastie – it started as an audio piece (commissioned by the Canal & River Trust) based on the wartime memories of three women. Wastie has now added a collection of short poems and songs celebrating the work and adventures of the women.

By the beginning of WWII, the inland waterways were in decline. However, the war brought a brief renaissance as boats were a more economical means of moving war materials and supplies. But, whilst there were plenty of boats, there weren’t enough good crews. The Women’s Training Scheme taught young women the basics of boating over two three-week round trips (London-Birmingham- Coventry-London). These women then did their best to replace the men who had been called up.

On completion of their training they received their national service badge imprinted with the letters IW – Inland Waterways. After the war they were nicknamed the Idle Women and they have been known as such ever since.

Saturday 15th April – Saturday 5th August 2017  – The Cruising Association, 1 Northey Street, Limehouse Basin, London E14 8BT

Tour dates

@alarum_theatre, #TheIdleWomen

Check out ‘2017 Dates’ on http://www.alarumtheatre.co.uk/

Writing About My Experiences With Autism to Help Myself and Others

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Frostie

This week is the release of my book Look Into My Eyes which is about my experiences as someone who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and also my experiences professionally from around 20 years working with those who have autism, their parents/carers, employers and supporting professionals.

I was diagnosed with ASD a couple of years ago. Following my adult diagnosis I felt compelled to try to learn more about myself. Until I sought diagnosis I wasn’t a fan of labels. I understood that they could be helpful, but I was also aware of people being treated as the label and not as a person, and some of these people would end up doing the same to themselves, viewing themselves as a label, not as a person.

What led me to seek diagnosis was that I was facing workplace discrimination which I felt powerless to tackle. It was making me depressed and suicidal. It was only when I reached this point that I decided if I had a diagnosis then I would get occupational health support to improve my situation at work. It took almost a year from visiting the GP to receiving diagnosis. In my work with families I had often encountered parents who had a negative view of the expected future for their autistic child. In many cases I could see strengths in these children that the parents weren’t noticing because they were dealing with the problems everyday like violence or challenging behaviour. They had sought diagnosis because of problems the child was having, so when they were told “your child has autism spectrum disorder, it is a lifelong condition” they often heard “the problems with your child will be there for life.” Many of these parents didn’t know much about autism, and hadn’t focused on the strengths their child had, so part of my role as a family worker was to help parents recognise these positives, and help them to learn how to work with the strengths whilst teaching their children how to handle the challenges.

After getting diagnosed I felt that I was in a unique position to help others. Due to working as a psychological therapist and family worker I had better insight about myself as a starting point than most, and I felt if I wrote down about myself I could look objectively at what I had written as if the writing on the page was a client, giving me an opportunity to gain greater insight and understanding. I thought if I wrote a book like that going through my life from birth to present day I would be able to write something which shows what the world is like from within the mind of someone with autism, as well as saying what I, as someone with autism, find helps me, what doesn’t help me, and what I think would be helpful around the different issues I’ve faced at different stages of life. I would also be able to share tips and strategies from a professional perspective, and my wife kindly wrote a chapter about her experiences being in a relationship with someone with autism.

I found the process of writing the book insightful, giving me greater understanding about myself. I have also had many people say how helpful it has been for them to understand why I am the way I am, and many readers have commented how the book has helped to give them a look inside the mind of their child, helping them to better understand their child, and given hope to them about what their child may be capable of in the future if their skills are channelled and they are helped with the challenges they face.

About Me

Dan Jones is author of parenting books including Sleepy Bedtime Tales, which includes 11 bedtime stories to be read to children to help them sleep, and additional tips and strategies for helping children sleep, Relaxing Tales for Children, which is 11 stories to be read to children to help them relax. The stories in these books are targeted at 4-7 year olds. Dan is also author of Look Into My Eyes which is an autobiography through the lens of Asperger’s Syndrome, that includes an extensive chapter of tips and strategies for parents/carers, teachers, friends, employers, and those with autism spectrum disorder, and a chapter written by Dan’s wife about being in a relationship with someone with Asperger’s. Dan has almost 20 years’ experience working within child and family support.

Website: www.alt-solutions.org

These links are for the books mentioned and direct people to their local Amazon website:

Sleepy Bedtime Tales: http://apn.to/prod/1517364248

Relaxing Tales for Children: http://www.apn.to/prod/1539976882

Look Into My Eyes: http://apn.to/prod/1542551196

Frost Magazine

Books and Lifestyle

Monthly Archives: March 2017

Easter Gift Idea For Little Ones: Gifts Hub’s Personalised Books

Writing a Series – the pros and the cons! – Della Parker

To sum up…

The Business of Books: The Feeling’s Mutual

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd.

Dare Devil Rides To Jarama

East London at Dawn Photo book by Anthony Epes

Idle Women of the Wartime Waterways by Milly Adams

Writing About My Experiences With Autism to Help Myself and Others

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