Dancing Floor film update

A must for September 9th in Hay-on-Wye! Support this project!

lynww's avatarLyn's blog

Gethin and Sita on the Dancing Floor Gethin and Sita on the Dancing Floor

So what’s been going on with the film?  After some successful previews of the pilot, we are now entering a new phase: finding finance for the feature film.  This means:

a crowdfunding campaign

a search for bigger investors

talking to Ffilm Cymru Wales

Jo Eliot (Hay Festival of British Cinema) and Roger Goodman (Llangollen Fringe festival) have joined me to help push this phase forwards.  It is great to have their support.  I am currently looking for someone to help me with the Crowdfunding campaign and other social media.  If you know someone, let me know.

We are planning a big event at Hay Castle on Wednesday September 9 to launch the campaign: there will be music, storytelling, info about the Mabinogion and about the film project, plus food and drink.  We want to invite our local community to get involved (not just…

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Writing an author bio that won’t date (much).

Josephine Corcoran has more valuable advice.

Take a read and take note! 🙂

Writing an author bio that won’t date (much)..

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A Life Is What You Get by Lynn M. Trowbridge

Article by Emma van Woerkom
It’sfront cover a wonderful moment when a book is finished. You close it, holding tight to a story that has captivated you within its simple card covers and the satisfaction of knowing something, or someone a little better for all your reading efforts.

For many, many years Lynn Trowbridge was the Chairperson of Hay Writers’ Circle. She telephoned us each fortnight to remind us to turn up and ‘darling, have you written something new’ was always the first point of discussion after the niceties of current health and family were confirmed. She always had something new, she always spurred us on –  she still does!

Now, no longer our Chairperson, but still our dear friend and keenest supporter, she has finally had the time to complete her memoirs. ‘A Life Is What You Get’ is the wonderful story of Lynn, as she notes – “an episodic series of (sixty six) unsentimental short stories” that everyone agrees, is simply hard to put down!

It spans Lynn’s early years as an orphan in a Dickensian styled ‘Children’s ‘ome’, her time in the WRAF, numerous scrapes, some lucky escapes, the years as a successful business woman, to more recent happier times living in Hay-on-Wye. Throughout these stories Lynn’s sense of humour and unshakable determination shine through. I mean, at ninety one years old, publishing her first book – now already in its third edition – she is still a force to be reckoned with, and she still asks me if I’ve written anything new!

Barbara Erskine, bestselling author of twelve novels, wrote “I enjoyed it so much. It is brilliant and funny, poignant and engaging, fascinating and I literally couldn’t put it down.”

Juliet Foster, Hay Writers’ Chairperson declared it, “a gripping story. A fascinating life so very well told. I could not put it down. At times I wept, at others I laughed aloud.”

Lynn is now enjoying the benefits of all her hard work.  5 Star reviews on Amazon.co.uk, her publication stocked in a number of Book Shops and various articles and reviews on ‘A Life Is What You Get’ in local newspapers and magazines.

Grab your copy, sit back and dive into a really good, gripping story – I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down either!

Review by Emma van Woerkom 2015

A Life Is What You Get by Lynn M. Trowbridge is published by Read Fox Books.
Paperback edition priced £6.99 – ISBN – 978 0993256400
It is available to buy from most good Bookshops or online at Amazon.co.uk

Click here to order your Amazon copy

G) BACK COVER OF BOOK1-page-001 (1)

Back cover of A Life Is What You Get by Lynn Trowbridge

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From manuscript to proof to print

This is an excellent insight for anyone involved in getting their work printed/published.

pauljstephenson's avatarPaul Stephenson

What surprised me in this process of putting a pamphlet together was the amount of work that would go into the stage between manuscript submission and the signing off of the final proof. It happened over over a week to ten days, by the end of which I worried I had really annoyed the production manager, Suzannah, and the type-setter/designer, Keith, beyond repair. Maybe I now had the reputation as one of the those people, those difficult customers that the Poetry Business would not want to work with again, those poets that make endless changes, the type of tiny back-and-forth amendments that send you round the bend, the slight modifications that drive other people crazy.

After I found out I’d won in early March, I opened up the Word document and the self-doubt crept in. I re-read the poems and thought: really? I closed the document. But then a fortnight later came…

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HAY FESTIVAL SELL-OUT SUCCESS AND ANTHOLOGY NEWS

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HAY FESTIVAL EVENT

What a great boost to our literary egos – our Hay Festival event was sold out and it was very encouraging to know that we could have at least sold half as many tickets again – if not more. Bravo!

We all felt very excited after the rigours of material selection, program planning and of course, so many of those weekly timed rehearsals!  The sun shone, coffee (and bladders) flowed and the Hay Festival site beamed magnificently, while we nervously waited to be taken to our venue…

Although, somehow, we did manage to misplace our official Hay Festival Minder, who after introducing herself, departed the Green Room via a side door never to be seen again! It was eventually left to a plucky audience member to abandon their seat, locate us, breach Green Room etiquette and finally fetch us to our stage ten minutes late, but ever ready.

Some memorable performances on the day and even better, a thoroughly attentive audience (sprinkled with new and old faces), who laughed and applauded in all the right places. Even the King of Hay, Richard Booth was in attendance – who could ask for more?

To close proceedings our Chairperson, Juliet introduced information concerning the forthcoming anthology ‘Pick and Mix’ published later this year by Read Fox Books, which will include a number of new and prize winning pieces by Hay Writers’ Circle. (see images below)

As ever, we heartily gave thanks to the Hay Festival for our very grateful inclusion in their inspirational program. Thank you.

Thus, we departed with more tickets in hand for other events – although, for the first time ever, roseless – perhaps our missing minder had other plans for them…

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Hay Festival 2015

bring you wellies 2a

***HAY WRITERS’ @ HAY FESTIVAL 2015***

NEW WORK  Event 173Tuesday 26 May 2015, 10am 
Venue: The Summer House • Price – £3.00 

Book your ticket now by clicking on the link below –

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THE LANDMARK TRUST – 50 GOLDEN YEARS

This weekend is a golden 50 years for The Landmark Trust

Why not take part in their celebrations by visiting one of their many iconic properties. Check out the following link to find the one near you.
http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/news-and-events/goldenweekend/

A few years ago, as part of my Heritage Lottery Fund Publication inspired by the North Somerset coastline, I wrote a piece on the atmospheric Woodspring Priory; owned and run by the Landmark Trust.  I used a romantic form to set the poem in as it really suited it’s subject so well…perhaps with some wishful gothic monks and bats too …

A huge thank you to the trust for the memorable tour of this building and their never ending work keeping such properties in use today. Enjoy!

DSCF7469 DSCF7479 DSCF7489

WOODSPRING PRIORY.

Between the unkempt orchard folds
Of fly-laced Summer, un-fleeced sheep;
White cow parsley in fisted clumps
Chokes-tight, bright water ditches deep.
As male broad-bodied chasers fly
Flaunting blue while their ladies sleep.

Far up a foot-worn cobbled track
Woodspring shuffles on limestone feet.
It’s tower rests upon salt flats
An aspect high, but in retreat
To bend beneath an older sun
As idols crumble in the heat.

Floors of flags repaired with grave stones,
Walls once dressed, damp age defrocks.
Cowl clad souls whose sacred hymn call,
Un-picks frail hinges, seizes locks.
While bats that roost your gothic halls
Chant to death-watch beetle clocks.

The cloister – gone. The stained glass stained.
Age defiled, but here you cling
To this blessed land which bears your name,
While Fate adjusts your reckoning.

By Emma van Woerkom ©2015

Don’t forget …

***HAY WRITERS’ @ HAY FESTIVAL 2015***

NEW WORK  Event 173Tuesday 26 May 2015, 10am 
Venue: The Summer House • Price – £3.00 

Book your ticket now by clicking on the link below –

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WORDS OF THE WEEK – HARE IN-SIGHT – PANTOUM POEM

Hare - Taken by ECvW 2015 above Clyro, Hay-on-Wye.

Hare – Taken by ECvW 2015 above Clyro, Hay-on-Wye.

Hare In-sight – Pantoum

And he thinks nobody will heed
Slipping out passed the pig-net curve
Hemming the field, folding his form –
In the furrow, flat as a seed

Slipping out passed the pig-net curve
I watch – whisker’s flicking the air
In the furrow, flat as a seed
While one eye hot-fixes the hill

I watch – whisker’s flicking the air
Hemming the field, folding his form –
While one eye hot-fixes the hill
And he thinks nobody will heed

By Emma van Woerkom ©2015

“A Pantoum is a type of poem with a verse form consisting of three stanzas. It has a set pattern within the poem of repetitive lines.

The pattern in each stanza is where the second and fourth line of each verse is repeated as the first and third of the next. The pattern changes though for the last stanza to the first and third line are the second and fourth of the stanza above (penultimate). The last line is a repeat of the first starting line of the poem and the third line of the first is the second of the last.” – Writers’ Glossary – Pantoum definition.

Don’t forget …

***HAY WRITERS’ DIARY DATE – HAY FESTIVAL 2015***

NEW WORK  Event 173Tuesday 26 May 2015, 10am 
Venue: The Summer House • Price – £3.00 

Book your ticket now by clicking on the link below –

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*****DIARY DATE – HAY FESTIVAL 2015*****

Article by Emma van Woerkom
*****DIARY DATE – HAY FESTIVAL 2015*****

NEW WORK  Event 173Tuesday 26 May 2015, 10am 
Venue: The Summer House • Price – £3.00 

Hay Writers’ Circle

A reading of new work by the Hay Writers’ Circle. All the writing will be specially penned for this festival performance, or recent prize winning pieces. Everything is guaranteed to be new and debuting at Hay Festival 2015.  A range of poetry, short stories, fiction and non-fiction pieces willing to tempt the heart or tickle the ribs! Come and start your Hay-day with us in the Summer House.

Book your ticket now by clicking on the link below –
https://www.hayfestival.com/p-9744-hay-writers-circle.aspx

Also this year one of our talented members, Jenny Lees has her own event at Hay Festival.

Jenny Lees

Event 254Thursday 28 May 2015, 11.30amVenue: Good Energy Stage

A conversation with the owner of Pearl Island Arabians based in Herefordshire, one of the most successful stud farms in the world, breeding from pure Bahraini bloodlines. She talks about her work with horses and her racy novels in the Seven Bands of Gold series, which recall the bestselling tales of Harold Robbins. Jenny is a member of the Hay Writers Circle. She talks to Corisande Albert, producer of the Horsetales documentaries.

Book your ticket for Jenny’s event by clicking on the link below –
https://www.hayfestival.com/p-9785-jenny-lees-talks-to-corisande-albert.aspx

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WORDS OF THE WEEK – Poems by Anne Riviere and Emma van Woerkom

2012-05-02 22.49.14

SEPTEMBER VOICES

by Ann Riviere ©2015

“I hate the Autumn.”

“Oh, don’t say that.”

“I do say that.”

“The senses are so sharpened.
the sights, the smells, the sounds.”

“Where I live, the senses are blunted
by the dread of Winter.”

“The colours are more vibrant, more brilliant
thank in Spring, the sky, a richer blue.”

“I don’t seem to notice much change here.”

“The sun, pale yellow in midsummer,
now casts a beam of gold across the land.”

“The sun here hides its face in shame
behind the highrise towers.”

“The scent of final roses, or burning wood
in new-laid hearths.”

“No roses here and wood fires are forbidden.”

“The whirring wings of geese, arriving from the North,
the falling note of the dove as he prepares for Winter.”

“Pigeons sometimes peck at crumbs,
And sometimes coo.”

“A walk along the hedgerow, ripe with berries,
jewels of black and red and blue.”

“A pavement dash to catch a bus.”

“And the trees, oh, the trees, so many words
already written in praise of their beauty.”

“Once there was a little tree in our street,
but vandals came and cut it down!”

“it is a time to harvest, to rejoice to celebrate,
I love the Autumn.”

“Oh, don’t say that.”

“I do say that.”

“Try to understand, it breaks my heart to hear the joy you feel
While I am trapped in this grey place.
Yet in my head is a far off dream
that one day, somewhere I, like you, will stand and
say how much I love the Autumn too.”

Blackthorn-blossom-and-thorn-APRIL

May 2015 – Haiku Sequence 

by Emma van Woerkom ©2015

One blackbird’s new song
Heaven in the May Flower.
Stars falling to earth.

When the mountain stirs
heaving it’s deep roots; crashing!
Lament for Nepal

Stone awakes – Stone sleeps
Beneath rubble miracles –
buried in our dreams

I’d hand you blossom –
so beautiful and fragile
Sunshine for all hearts

Stars falling to earth –
Heaven in the May Flower.
One blackbird’s new song.

Please support the Nepal Earthquake Appeal  – use the Disasters Emergency Committee DEC website to make a donation – http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals/nepal-earthquake-appeal

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