Posts Tagged ‘Mary Smith’
The Sunshine Blogger Award
Posted on: March 2, 2019
- In: Awards | guest posts | Writing
- 56 Comments
I was pleased to receive the Sunshine Blogger Award from Mary Smith of Mary Smith’s Place. Mary lives in Scotland and is a published author of No More Mulberries, a novel set in Afghanistan and a collection of short stories, Donkey Boy & Other Stories. Her non-fiction work includes a memoir of her time working in Afghanistan, Drunk Chickens and Burnt Macaroni and a couple of local history books: Dumfries Through Time and Castle Douglas Through Time. I wrote a review of her wonderful book, No More Mulberries here
The Sunshine Blogger Award is a peer appreciation award given to bloggers who are creative, positive, and inspiring, while spreading sunshine to the blogging community.
Thank you, Mary!
The Rules:
Thank the blogger who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions sent to you by the person who nominated you.
Nominate up to 11 new blogs to receive the award, and then give them 11 new questions – or cheat like I did and use the same questions 🙂
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or your blog
Here are the questions I received and my answers:
What was the driving force behind the creation of your blog?
When I published my first book, Amanda in Arabia – The Perfume Flask in 2010, my publisher suggested I get active on social media to help promote my book. She thought a blog would be a good idea. I had been thinking about starting one, so that was the push I needed. Nine years later I am still blogging and loving it!
What was your vision for your future in blogging/writing when you first started this blog? How has that vision evolved?
My vision for the blog was to create a place where I could write about dreams. Not just mine but other people’s as well. I like to feature people who have followed their dreams, writers, artists etc. Since I love to travel, and it is a dream come true for me, I enjoy sharing stories and pictures of my travels. I also feature posts about things I love like my family, my dog, food, books and my life in Spain. I think my vision of creating a place to share dreams has evolved into just that!
What age were you when you realized you loved writing?
I always loved to tell stories and write them down but when I was twelve I had a story published in a local newspaper. That was when I thought it would be fun to write stories for publication. It was very much later when I finally realized that dream.
How has your life changed as a result of the electronic age? Is it better/worse/the same?
It is much better. I never learned to type so using a typewriter to write stories took me forever. I really didn’t seriously consider writing for publication until we got a computer. Without technology, I would not have been able to move across the ocean to Spain. Because of social media, I can communicate with my family and friends as if we lived next door. I also love being able to connect with people from all over the world, many of whom have become wonderful friends.
What was the very last website you visited today?
https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/
If you could change one thing about your past, what would it be?
To attend university.
How would your life be different today if that one thing from your past were to change?
It would have given me more confidence and I would have met some amazing people.
If you have children, tell me…how did your parenting change from the time you had your first child until the time you had your last?
There are eight years between my two children so of course, I was more mature when I had my daughter. But I think my parenting was still the same. I loved my kids to bits but tried not to smother them. I gave them the independence they needed to be able to make it in the real world. I was also very busy so they had to do a lot of things for themselves, which didn’t hurt them.
Tell me about the funniest experience you’ve had in the past month.
I made a beef stew for hubby one evening. There was a little left so I put it in Dot’s dish on top of her kibbles. Next thing I knew she was busy sorting out her food. She made a pile of peas and a pile of carrots beside her bowl before she scarfed down the meat, gravy, and kibbles. Then she ate the peas, and then the carrots leaving the place spotless. It was so funny. I have seen kids separate their food but never a dog! She certainly keeps us entertained.
What do you have planned for the upcoming holiday season?
I plan to attend an Easter parade and festival here in Spain. Easter is a huge holiday here called Semana Santa (Holy Week) and is spread out over the full week. I wrote a post about it. https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/semana-santa-easter-in-spain/
I will also have an Easter egg hunt in my yard for our six-year-old neighbour. I just have to be sure Dot doesn’t get at them first.
If I nominate you and you have an award free blog, or if you have already been nominated for this award, please view the nomination as a compliment: you are under no obligation to respond.
My questions are the same as those posed to me.
My nominees of bloggers who spread sunshine and inspiration areÂ
Beth Ann Chiles at It´s Just Life https://itsjustlife.me/
Sue Slaught at Travel Tales of LIfe https://traveltalesoflife.com/
Pam Wight at Rough Wighting https://roughwighting.net/
Molly Stevens at Shallow Reflections https://www.shallowreflections.com/
Jacquie Biggar at https://jacqbiggar.com/
Jennie Fitzkee at A Teacher´s Reflection https://jenniefitzkee.com/
Stevie Turner at https://steviet3.wordpress.com/
Annika Perry at https://annikaperry.com/Â
Fatima Saysell at https://sayselltravels.com/
Joy Lennick at https://joylennick.wordpress.com/
Of course, anyone else who would like to join in is welcome.Â
More Books I Read This Summer
Posted on: September 20, 2018
- In: Books | reviews
- 52 Comments
I was pleased to see that everyone enjoyed my list of book recommendations, so following my previous post, I wish to share three more books I read and enjoyed this summer. I have included a children´s book as I believe everyone should read a children´s book once in a while. It is amazing what you can learn.
No More Mulberries
by Mary Smith
No More Mulberries is a story of commitment and divided loyalties, of love and loss, set against a country struggling through transition.
British-born Miriam’s marriage to her Afghan doctor husband is heading towards crisis. Despite his opposition, she goes to work as a translator at a medical teaching camp in a remote area of rural Afghanistan hoping time apart will help are see where their problems lie. She comes to realise how unresolved issues from when her first husband was killed by a mujahideen group are damaging her relationship with her husband and her son – but is it already too late to save her marriage?
A Marriage of Convenience
I Am David
David’s extraordinary odyssey is dramatically chronicled in Anne Holm’s classic about the meaning of freedom and the power of hope.
Winchester Writers’ Festival
Posted on: September 9, 2018
- In: Books | Dreams | Inspiration | Writing
- 52 Comments
In November of last year, I was a guest on Sally Cronin’s blog where I was asked to list two things on my personal bucket list. One of them was to attend a writers’ conference in Europe. A writer/blogger friend, Mary Smith, suggested I check out the Winchester Writers’ Festival, which I did. In June I attended this 38-year-old festival held at the University of Winchester with 300 other attendees, providing 50 talks, readings and workshops. I had a great time and thought I should share what I learned while there.
Entrance to the University of Winchester
I arrived Friday evening in time for dinner where I met other authors over stimulating conversation. Later I attended a talk by James Aitcheson who discussed researching and writing historical fiction which was interesting.
I stayed on campus and found my little room to be comfortable. I felt every bit a student.
My digs for the weekend. My room was on the second floor.
The next morning, after a good sleep and a hearty breakfast (there were even vege sausages!), we listened to the keynote address with Patrick Gale interviewed by Judith Henegan, Director of the Winchester Writers’ Festival. This prolific writer of 15 novels and counting, spoke about “A Life in Writing”. He offered some great advice and this is some of what I took away from the entertaining and informative discussion.
- Write in ink first
- Use setting as a character
- Place defines a person
- End with a glimmer of hope and leave some things unanswered
- Remember the reader in the second draft. (are they seeing and feeling what you want them to?)
- Children are good to have in a novel as they disrupt, are indiscreet and honest
- Readers respond to recognition
- Cut out unnecessary stuff, remove anything that reminds people that they are reading
- Learn to write by reading
- Time is a good editor
- Dialogue is good but can slow down the action. It’s OK to use reported speech sometimes
- Readers rewrite the book when they read it
I bought his book, “A Place Called Winter” and he signed it for me. He was very interested in the fact that I was raised near the area in Canada where the story takes place.
For the remainder of the day, I attended a number of workshops. One by children’s author, Patrice Lawernce, on “Whose Voice is it Anyway”. She discussed making your characters sound authentic by listening to how people talk and being perpetually curious, knowing their backstory and culture and getting under the skin of your characters.
Another workshop on “Creating a Picture Book”, was facilitated by Andrew Weale. He explained that you have to think visually as you write, write a lot, then pare it down to a few words as you let the pictures talk. Picture book stories can be generated by asking unusual, quirky questions.
“Twitter For Writers” by Claire Fuller gave me a few more ideas on how to maximize my time on Twitter. “Myth, Mystery and Magic” with Sarah Mussi reminded us that goodness wins in the end with examples through the ages. The hero should have a flaw, even if it is a good flaw like being too kind etc. The excellent dinner came with a guest speaker, Helen Dennis, who gave an animated talk about her route to success as a children’s author.
Sunday was an all-day workshop, “Casting the Spell of Place”, with Lorna Ferguson. I loved this as we were given prompts with time to write and share our work. A few points I took away with me.
- Cut out unnecessary details of description to avoid making it sound like a travelogue
- Don’t make lists
- Think of the reader and what effect you want to create
- Setting can create mood and atmosphere and help with plotting
- Location often takes the character out of their comfort zone
- It should transport the reader out of their ordinary world (armchair travelling)
- It should create a perception of the culture
- Description needs to be broken up with dialogue and action
- Be careful of information dumping, it will pull the reader out of the story
- If it doesn’t work, try a different setting!
Another point that came up which was very helpful for me and my stories is that a character can’t always have someone help them. They need to solve their own problems, sometimes in an unfamiliar location.
We were given a list of quotes. I love this one. Place is paramount. Annie Proulx
I also had two one to one appointments with authors who looked at the first chapter of Amanda in Holland and gave me great feedback.
With limited luggage space, I only bought two books, (amazing for me!) and an Elizabeth Bennet tree ornament to remember my time.
Elizabeth Bennett Christmas tree ornament
Charming bench on the grounds of the university
One of the many great buildings on site, the Business School
Staying in a historic city, meeting other writers and learning more about the art of writing made this a perfect break for me and just what I needed to continue with my writing. Thank you so much, Mary Smith, for this suggestion. Check out her interesting blog and wonderful books.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-/entity/author/B001KCD4P0
