ADVENT CALENDAR - DAY 22

Today's challenge began with a sketch of a woman reading a book, with a child sitting beside her looking in another direction. That was enough to lead me into sketching out this story.

ON THE TOP DECK

It was years since Fiona had been on a bus, but Sophie wanted to go to Hamley’s so they’d taken the train to London. It was difficult finding the correct bus stop and then the wretched child had insisted on climbing to the top deck. Still, at least there were vacant seats up here.

Fiona took her phone from her bag and began checking her messages. They were mostly shared jokes and pictures of puppies in Santa hats, but she didn’t want to miss anything.

Sophie grabbed her arm. ‘Mum – look at the reindeer in that window!’

‘Careful!’ Fiona snapped, ‘You nearly made me drop my phone.’

Sophie turned back to the window, her lips trembling and her eyes moist.

Instantly Fiona was a child again, riding a bus with her own mother. Through the window she’d spotted a group of lambs leaping over a hay-bale, but her mother was too engrossed in her book to look. Fiona’s throat tightened now at the memory.

Slipping her phone into her bag, she put an arm round Sophie’s slender shoulders. ‘Let’s see how many Christmas trees we can spot before we reach Hamley’s.’

BACK TO THE GRINDSTONE

Well, I've had my month off so now it's back to the novels. The A-Z challenge gave my mind a break from thinking about plots, and I can return to my books refreshed. At least, I hope so.
I have one character to make more of a hero - he's a bit wimpish at the moment and we can't have that. Also the book itself was the first one I wrote years ago and, after reading lots of advice, I can see other glaring errors that need fixing.
Another book needs tightening up after which an agent has said she will look at it again, which is more positive a response than I have had for a long time.
So if whether you started following my blog in April or earlier, please keep looking in but don't expect a post every day!

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA

NO!! They can't get rid of it!
My childhood was spent looking up any question Pa couldn't answer in one of those huge books.
Pa bought the set - no doubt on the never-never - with a made-to-measure bookcase. Anything we (or he) wanted to know we would look up in the Enc. Brit. Yes, it was so much part of our lives that it had a nickname in our house. You could sit with a lovely red volume on your lap and leaf through, coming across all kinds of information you didn't know you wanted until you saw it.
I know the internet is quicker, but Google can't hope to match the Enc. Brit..

How I started writing

What starts us off on the writing road?
My spur was retiring from work and leaving the village where I had lived for 35 years. The shock to my system  was devastating.
Then my younger son asked, "How are you, Mum?" and I replied, "Bored."
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and write a book," he said.
Well, I started small. I wrote 40 verses based on the family's dolls and memories. I illustrated each one, and made up copies for family and a few friends. It was a marathon which I completed just in time for Christmas.
And then I was bored again. And twitchy - weeks of working on the project had kicked the author into life and she wouldn't lie down. So I wrote my first novel.
That was some years ago, and I've not stopped since, but those verses were the start of it all.
Written so that my children would recognize their toys, and in the hope that my grandsons would enjoy reading the book.
Look on "My writing" page for a few examples.

writing abroad

So here's the thing. I'm a writer. A good one. Unpublished. This is not a contradiction in terms, or blowing my own trumpet without cause. Many of my rejections have contained a personal comment praising my work.
  A couple of years ago an agent liked one of my books enough to sign me up, and copied me in on every refusal she got from publishers. "Liz writes well but..." was one common theme, and the other? "As Liz lives abroad, publicity would pose problems."
  Last year a literary critic read another of my books and wrote that it was "an extremely readable novel". I added his quote to a submission, but the reply was -  "Peter's recommendation counts for a great deal. Unfortunately we are only considering writers based in the UK."
  We can't afford to move back to England, so what's the answer? I wish I knew.