Tag Archives: Margaret Graham

30 Days of Gratitude Day Eight #30daysofgratitude

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Today I am grateful for books. I have loved reading all my life. There are very few pleasures in life as great as reading a good book. My love of reading has also given me a career that I love, and broadened my view of the world. Reading is great for the imagination and it makes you smarter. Some of these books are written by Frost contributing editor Margaret Graham and some others were written by me. Margaret is a bestselling author for Random House so she is on another level. I hope I get there one day.

good books, author, writer, Margaret Graham, Catherine Balavage, bestselling author

Catch up on other days:

Day 1.
Day 2.

Day 3.

Day 4.

Day 5.

Day 6.

Day 7.

What are you grateful for?

 

Words for the Wounded Host Their Annual LitFest Literary Festival

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Words for the Wounded Host Their Annual LitFest Literary Festivallogo

Great excitement – Words for the Wounded which raises funds for wounded troops and veterans by creating  opportunities for aspiring writers and readers is holding its annual LitFest again on April 16th.

The WforW LitFest Day will be held as always at the lovely Downley Community Centre, School Close, Downley, High Wycombe HP13 5TR
10.00am to 5.00pm.

As everyone knows by now, the three grannies, Margaret Graham,  Jan Speedie (both Frost Magazine writers) and Penny Deacon absorb all the costs of the charity and therefore 100% of everything they raise goes to where it should.

Words for the Wounded Host Their Annual LitFest Literary Festival

The speakers this year are:  Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author and a patron of WforW –  Elizabeth Buchan talking about her work.

Words for the Wounded Host Their Annual LitFest Literary Festivalelizabeth buchanan

Jemima Hunt, editor and literary agent, and director of The Writers’ Practice with advice on editing your work and attracting an agent.
Tracy Baines, successful women’s magazine  short story writer with tips about getting published.

Catherine_Balavage_023
Further excitement as Catherine Balavage, blogger and editor of Frost Magazine will be joining the day to talk about blogging, running a magazine, and her various successful books.

Paul Vates, the brilliant actor, and friend of Words for the Wounded, will be reading from the work of our speakers.

Sharon Bennett will be displaying her art.

Cost £35 (which includes lunch with wine, morning coffee and afternoon tea)

For Tickets, send a cheque or postal order to: (cheques payable to Words for the Wounded)
Words for the Wounded
12 Woodcote Green, Downley, High Wycombe, HP13 5UN
Please include a SAE

Trains from London are frequent, and there are taxis for the 10 minute journey.

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch

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From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch
Frost was exceptionally pleased to be invited to the launch of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson. Yes, we had champagne, and yes, the eats were fantastic, and most of us wore masks, but it it was the occasion. It was such fun, and the ideal way to launch a book – a book which after all, could be life changing.

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch4
Frost’s Margaret Graham, duly masked meeting those waiting to buy a copy of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope

If you haven’t yet readthis guide which Dr Thompson wrote to help those with breast cancer, you should do so. She  explains the ins and outs of treatment, the questions to ask, and includes wise words on helping to prevent a recurrence. All this alongside her own journey to recovery from the disease.
From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch1 From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch2
Dr Kathleen Thompson signing copies of her books.

Frost is proud to include a further excerpt from this truly fascinating book.

Chapter 1

Let’s face it, cancer is what happens to other people. Poor souls, with the sword of Damocles swinging on a fraying thread over their heads, these are people who are inevitably going to die, and soon. Of course we feel sorry for them — we’ll send them a card, a basket of fruit, some flowers, but we certainly don’t have plans to join their exclusive club.

Well guess what? All of us have cancer cells in our bodies on a fairly regular basis, and more than one in three of us in the western world will experience some form of cancer during our lives. So I’m afraid there’s a fairly high chance of ‘us’ becoming ‘them’. Maybe you’re reading this because you’ve already joined the ‘club’.

The good news is, our bodies are very capable of fighting cancer. Indeed, most of the time cancer cells are destroyed as soon as they develop, much in the way that our immune system hunts down and destroys bacteria or viruses. Other times, the cancer sneaks through our defences, but even if it does, it can still be overcome. I say ‘can’ because despite all efforts, some people do succumb. To keep things in perspective though, many cancer sufferers live to a very respectable old age, and eventually fill up completely different columns in the ‘cause of death’ statistics.

Cancer is on the increase, and there are many theories as to why. So, what steps can we take to reduce our chance of getting cancer, or to help fight an existing cancer? I have some ideas for you inside this book.

But first, who am I? What qualifications do I have that would permit me to offer you advice in what could be an extremely traumatic time? I’m a medical doctor. I’m on the wrong side of fifty and divorced. I have two fabulous children, a loving extended family and some good friends. I’d always worked hard, but I was starting to ease off, take up more hobbies and enjoy myself — when my life changed.

Like you, I never thought I would get cancer.

As a doctor, I would sympathise with cancer patients and offer them encouragement from within my armour-plated white-coat. They were the patients, I was the doctor. Simple.

Even when my developing cancer crept into my consciousness, I ignored it, and my own advice.

Maybe it would just go away.

But it didn’t, and I had to face the realisation that my life might be cut very short. Then, on top of that, I had to negotiate my way through complicated highly-specialised medical treatments and, on occasions, challenge medical decisions. I found this extremely hard, even as a doctor, because I was also a vulnerable patient, and I was depending on other doctors for my survival.

Cancer taught me a great deal. Primarily it taught me that diagnosis is not a death sentence. People can and do survive cancer, most of the time. However, being forced to face the possibility of my imminent demise, I gradually learned not to fear death either. I also learned to appreciate every day of this wonderful thing called life.

I have a lot to share with you, so welcome to Cancer Club —whether you have cancer yourself or you know someone who has.
From Both Ends Of The Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson

Available from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Both-Ends-Stethoscope

 

 

 

Playmobil creates another winner by Margaret Graham

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At Frost we love Playmobil’s products. The company  seem to have a great understanding of what children want.

At Christmas we gave their long-lasting ‘alternatives to chocolate’ advent calenders. The children are still playing with the characters, happily creating worlds of their own.

We at Frost are really pleased then, to see the new Playmobil Gift Eggs for Easter 2016

This year there are four new themes:

Playmobil creates another winner by Margaret Grahammermaid

Mermaid with Seahorses

For those into football

footballWhat about the Pirate hunting for Treasure?

pirates

Our personal favourite is the Zookeeper and his alpaca.

PLAYMOBIL_4944_Zookeeper with Alpaca_Easter Egg.jp

Partly because one of us lived near an alpaca farm and the farmer would walk them along the cliff path as he took his family for picnics. Gorgeous.

PLAYMOBIL_4944_Zookeeper with Alpaca

One of these eggs will find their way into the lives of our little ‘uns  this Easter. Such a lovely time of year, and these eggs will go on giving pleasure until the figures can be added to next year.

All eggs @ £6.99 each.

 

http://bit.ly/PLAYMOBIL_UK

 

A remarkable hands on charity: Forces Support by Margaret Graham

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A remarkable hands on charity- Forces Support A

Margaret Graham was a Royal Naval service wife, back in the days of the Gulf War, and during that time was disturbed to learn of a girl on her service ‘patch’ whose husband was killed in the conflict. This young widow and mother of young children had to relinquish her service quarter in short order, and move into other accommodation when she was least emotionally and physically in a position to do so.

The council house she was offered was in shabby condition and the garden a jungle. It was the last thing this widow, and her children needed to face. If only Forces Support had been in existence then.

Frost Magazine decided to find out more about this inspiring charity and the work it does.

Forces Support is the only UK charity that provides a unique type of practical support to families bereaved throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

The charity was established in 2010 by Bill McCance. Bill had searched relentlessly for a charity to provide practical assistance for the wife of a serviceman killed in Afghanistan and was amazed that this type of support wasn’t available anywhere. Strongly believing that practical maintenance work around the home and garden was vital and should be readily available Bill’s only option was to set up Forces Support.

pic 1Before & After 2 (2)

Since then the charity has already carried out over 300 support projects for bereaved military families including for nearly 70 of the 453 families who lost a loved one in Afghanistan. Forces Support carries out projects for partners, children and the parents of the bereaved.

Initially the jobs were relatively small, decorating a room, putting up shelves or tidying the garden, jobs that the lost hero might have done themselves.  As word spread the projects have grown in size as the needs of the families became more apparent.

pic 2 Before & After1 (2)

Much of the charity’s work these days is carrying out garden improvements. A number of the families lose all interest in their garden and they become overgrown, neglected and a reminder to them of how they aren’t coping with their loss.

Forces Support team go in and makeover the garden for them, relaying patios, replacing broken fencing, laying turf and creating flower borders. The transformation can be quite spectacular. For many of the families Forces Support create a remembrance area with an arbour so that the families have a quiet special place in which they can sit and remember the person they have lost.

“We are so proud of the work we do for these families who have lost not just a member of their family but a hero too. The feedback we receive is so heart-warming and encourages us to keep going and growing. Many of the families report that the work we do goes way beyond just the practical nature of the work … but how it has significant benefits in helping them cope with their loss and aid their healing”, says CEO Bill McCance.

pic 3 finished from above

A study carried out by eminent specialists in bereavement study recognised the significance of Forces Support role in this field and identified their work as fulfilling a need and created a new form of bereavement care called Restorative Coping Bereavement Care.

Already the charity has carried out work for the families of Lee Rigby, the young fusilier who was brutally murdered in broad daylight in London in 2013, for the parents of LCpl James Ashworth VCone of only 14 to receive the Victoria Cross since WW2 and for the family of Lance Corporal Liam Tasker, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011. His dog Theo died on the same day following a seizure.

Rob Fellows, Head of Major Gifts, commented “Readers can follow the progress of the projects on our active Forces Support Charity Facebook page, where we have 112,000 followers. Already we have aided many bereaved military families but there is still much for us to do and we always have a waiting list of families to help. We welcome donations, large or small, from anyone who’d like to support us helping more bereaved military families.”

 

www.forcessupport.org.uk

rob.fellows@forcessupport.uk

www.facebook.com/ForcesSupportCharity

 

 

Dr Kathleen Thompson shares some excerpts from her enormously helpful book, From Both Ends of the Stethoscope

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Frost asked Dr Kathleen Thompson if she felt like sharing some excerpts from her enormously helpful book, From Both Ends of the Stethoscope.

Here is the first in a series of excerpts, and an invaluable read for everyone. Who knows, after all, when we will need to support someone with cancer, or even face a diagnosis ourselves. I can remember standing outside Ascot races one day last year with Kathleen, rattling collecting tins for three cancer charities. Many people stopped, and gave, because they had relatives with the disease or indeed, were, or had been sufferers themselves.

Since her brush with the disease Kathleen has lived life to the full, and perhaps with even greater gusto before. She has climbed Kilimanjaro, cycled for charity in southern India, and taken up ballroom dancing with a vengeance, (she has recently qualified for Blackpool – be still my beating heart. I intend to try and go to cheer her on). All this as well as continuing in her profession in medical research, writing a regular medical column for Frost, and best of all, writing about her own journey with cancer – From Both Ends of the Stethoscope which is full of sensible advice. The woman is a powerhouse, an inspiration, and the most amazing fun.

However did this happen to me?   by Dr Kathleen Thompson

From Both Ends Of The Stethoscope by Dr. Kathleen Thompson book review, health, breast cancer,

The nurse asked me to lie on the couch by the ultrasound machine.

‘The doctor will be here soon.’

A tall man with white hair walked through the door and smiled. He sat down next to the machine.

Looking straight into my eyes, he spoke. ‘The problem is, we’ve seen a lump on your mammogram. So I need to look at it with this ultrasound.’

Very gently, he pulled down my blue gown and exposed my breasts. I flinched as he squirted a blob of cold gel onto my skin. He pressed the ultrasound probe onto the blob, and moved it slowly over my right breast for a few minutes. He pointed to the fuzzy image on the small screen.

‘This is the lump — it’s about 2cm wide.’ His voice was quiet but firm. ‘Do you see the irregular shape, and these little bright flecks? These are worrying.’

He looked at me as he said this. His blue eyes offered sympathy and strength.

The screen looked like an ancient TV with a lousy reception. I couldn’t make out any lump—but I understood ‘irregular shape’ and ‘worrying’ well enough.

‘I see you’re a doctor. Where do you practice?’ he continued.

‘I was a paediatrician, but now I work in drug research.’

‘Oh? Interesting.’ His smile morphed into a serious expression, ‘I need to take a biopsy of this lump. We have these neat little things now.’ He held a small black box between his finger and thumb.

‘I’m going to press this box over the lump, then push this button, and a needle will shoot out and take the sample. It’ll make a loud click, but it won’t hurt, because I’m going to numb you first.’

I lay on the couch in the semi-darkness, watching him fill a small syringe with local anaesthetic. The cold wall, pressing against my left arm, forced me to concentrate. Everything was unreal — surreal. What was I doing here? I’d only come in for a check. My left hand gripped the coarse material of the hospital gown as if it was a survival rope. My right hand was visible to him and the nurse, so I forced it to relax.

Lifting the small syringe towards me, he injected the anaesthetic into my breast. It stung, but I hid the pain with a smile. ‘No, it doesn’t hurt. It’s fine. It’s a lovely day outside. I don’t expect you’ll have much chance to enjoy it, stuck in here.’

Somehow I controlled my voice — but tears were streaming down my face. I hoped the darkened room would hide them.

Then, a loud click shattered the quiet. He’d taken the biopsy, and he was right, it hadn’t hurt.

‘Well done. All finished. Nurse will pop a dressing on for you. Then she’ll take you to see the breast surgeon. Good luck with your research work.’ And he was gone.

On an otherwise unremarkable spring day, my life had just changed forever.

 

Excerpt from:

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9935083-0-1

E book ISBN: 978-0-9935083-1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q

 

 

Gillian Holmes, (aka The Editor) Responded to Frost’s Request for Help Writing a Synopsis

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Synopsis: A brief summary of the plot of a novel, motion picture, play etc. by Gillian Holmes

Meet Gillian Holmes – literary editor By Margaret Graham1

 

A very talented friend of mine sent me the synopsis of the novel she was writing for her Creative Writing MA. Her tutor had sent her away with a flea in her ear, and she came to me with no real idea of what she’d done wrong.
As a veteran of synopses of nearly twenty years standing, I saw immediately that she had made a very common error. Namely, she’d forgotten what a synopsis is. She thought she needed to show her thinking behind the book, and give the reader a flavour of what was to come. Consequently, she had managed to give far too much information, while also giving too little.

How is that possible?

 

  1. She wrote a lot about her main character, while neglecting the plot.
  2. She had included lines from the book, but with no context, they were irrelevant.
  3. She had tried to illustrated the themes in the book, but neglected the plot.
  4. She had tried to illustrate the humour in the book by describing the occasional amusing scene. But she’d neglected the plot…

 

Do you see where I’m going here? So when you sit down to write your synopsis, always remember that  this is not a creative work, so don’t try to be too clever. Clarity is everything.

 

So what do agents and editors want from a synopsis?

 

  1. They want 1500 words or fewer.
  2. They want an elevator pitch – a couple of lines that outlines the concept. The concept is a very strong consideration for all agents and editors, so make it snappy and memorable. For example, let’s take a recent bestseller – The Husband’s Secret. A happily married woman with three children discovers that her husband murdered a young girl when he was a teenager.
  3. A brief summary of the plot, key moments, key events, and main characters so they can see the arc of the story and judge whether the structure seems sound – leave out complicated sub plots, it will only bog you down in unnecessary detail.
  4. The end – and that means the end. Don’t hold anything back, this is not a cover blurb.

 

And that’s it. Easy peasy.
If you’re wondering about my friend, I sent her back to rewrite her synopsis several times. But it was worth it. She got an A for it in the end.

Gillian has been an editor for mainstream publishers for twenty years. Now she runs her own editorial agency.
To contact Gillian:  gilliansholmes@hotmail.com

 

 

Early Chapters by Gillian Holmes of The Editor | Get Published

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Meet Gillian Holmes – literary editor By Margaret Graham1

Frost is delighted to have an editor of Gillian’s calibre to help aspiring authors. It’s particularly apt, because the fundraising Independent Author Book Award, run by www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk is open for entries until 6th March 2016.

 

Last year’s winner, Jane Cable, is now represented by the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency as a direct result of the competition. Felicity Trew of the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency is judging this year’s Award.

 

So over to Gillian:

 

Early Chapters

 

It’s tough being a writer, and we editors appreciate that. I have never written a book – if you don’t count the half-written romance with a Daniel-Craig-as-Bond-type hero, but the least said about that the better. So all writers who have the tenacity and commitment to complete a novel have already earned my full admiration.

 

However, on the other side of the coin, having worked as an acquiring editor, a reader for literary agents, and a reader for competitions, you can appreciate, I’ve probably read more than my fair share of opening chapters and synopses. And sometimes I stop within half a page. It sounds brutal, but when you have a lot of manuscripts to read, you simply don’t have the time or the inclination to read on to see if it improves.

 

So here are ten tips to help you catch the eye of the judges.

 

First the Don’ts:

 

  1. Please do not, and really I mean this, open with a dream. Ask any editor/agent/reader. There is nothing more irritating than to be pulled into some action, only to find it’s not real. Can I add here, do not ever use dreams as a way to move the plot forward. Please.
  2. Do not open your book with backstory… if we don’t know the characters, how can we be interested in their backstory?
  3. Do not start the book with a minor character. No matter how good the writing, as soon as the reader realises that the character they have been reading about disappears by chapter 2, they will give up.
  4. Do not open with your character doing mundane stuff – getting ready for work, having breakfast, unstacking the dishwasher, going out the door – because although you may think it’s a great contrast with the explosive action that comes later, the reader may never know that. They’ll have given up just as your character is locking their front door.
  5. Do not mince your words. Starting any book with exposition and/or long descriptions of the character or location can be mind-numbing for the reader. Dive in, all will reveal itself as the book unfolds. Speaking of long descriptions: watch out for flowery language and too many adjectives. Having to wade through paragraphs of wordy prose before you even get to the story is frustrating and time-wasting.

 

Now the Dos

 

  1. Give the reader a snappy opening line that immediately intrigues.
  2. The submitted chapters should be the very best they can be, so I would suggest you hire an editor/copy editor. It can be an expensive business, but do it for just these three chapters in the first instance. It makes a huge difference to the reader, and could give you some useful advice for the rest of the book.
  3. Keep the pace moving and don’t get bogged down in irrelevant detail.
  4. Introduce us to your characters – the reader needs to be invested in them from the start.
  5. If you’re sending a prologue as part of your first three chapters, make sure it’s relevant and interesting, not just a convenient way to give backstory.

Soon I will be giving you some hints on writing the synopsis.

 

 

gilliansholmes@hotmail.com

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk
http://www.carolinesheldon.co.uk