I’ve finally caught up with my own writing after the five
day trip we had to the Isle of Man. That
was a lot of fun - if a bit hectic.
I spent the time there wearing my other ‘hat’ - that
belonging to the Babe Magnet’s PA as he set about launching his new book of
Yorkshire based short stories - Uncle Albert
- and the ‘one man show’ that goes with it.
We started off at the Henry Bloom Library in Douglas where there was a warm and enthusiastic crowd in spite of the rather chilly and damp
evening. As well as Uncle Albert stories
there was selection of ‘good bad poetry’ as requested by the publisher of Uncle
Albert, Linda Mann.
The lovelorn black ‘widower’
spider’s lament reduced Linda to tears – of laughter.
The next day was spent doing radio interviews - after we had found the Manx Radio Broadcasting
House high on Douglas Head above the town. It was still cool and blustery so this exposed headland was rather wild – I dread to think what it would be like getting
up there in the depths of winter! During
this trip was the only time we actually
saw any cat – in spite of the reputation the island has for breeding the famed
Manx(tailless) cat. This one had a fine fluffy tail so we missed out on the
Manx breed.
On Saturday morning
there was coffee and croissants
at the
Port Erin Arts Centre where Uncle
Albert once again regaled his audience with tales of Yorkshire, carol-singing, betting . . . and the ‘good bad poetry ‘ again –
with the Spider poem back
 |
'Uncle Albert' is introduced bt John Bethell,
Director of the Port Erin Arts Centre |
by popular request. There are rumours of the bad poems
appearing in a new volume of
Uncle Albert’s stories which is being planned for hopefully future publication.
This performance was
in the lovely Harry’s Bar in the Arts
Centre as part of the
Manannan Festival.
The event had a special – and unexpected – extra zest to it with the discovery that two members of the
audience had actually grown up in the village of Churwell where so many of the stories are set. So many of the references had a particular emphasis
for them.
Port Erin was where the Babe Magnet and I - together with the Offspring when young –
stayed back in 1987 so this was a nostalgic trip for us as well as a very
successful launch for the book.
Finally, reluctantly, we had to leave the island – just as
the weather was warming and the sun coming out - and all the new friends we made there and come
back home. But we now know that Uncle Albert and his stories (and very possibly the bad
poems too) will be appearing at some festivals here
 |
'Uncle Albert' spots some fellow 'Yorkies'
from Churwell in the audience. |
in the UK later this year.
So far, the list of venues is : Morley Lit Festival (Morley in its fictional
form being another of the places Albert’s stories are set ) on October 29
th
and Ilkley Festival Fringe on October 3
rd. There’s also the
possibility of Wakefield Festival - and
the Babe Magnet is running two courses
on the ‘Writing Local’ theme/Writing about Your Uncle Joe –
at AlstonHall in September and at Swanwick with
Relax And Write in October. ‘Uncle Albert’ won’t actually be there in person but there might be some bad poetry of some sort!
So now I’m taking off
the PA’s hat and settling down to my own
work - the ‘To Do’ list is l-o-n-g and
needs tackling. There’s my own Complete Romance Writing Course for
Writer’s Holidayat Fishguard in July and I’ll be joining Uncle Albert at Swanwick to
run another of the popular
Focus on Writing Romantic Fiction Writing Retreats.(If you’re interested you’ll need to make inquiries/book soon as the last I
heard this was almost full already.)
Incidentally, if you are a writer yourself – specially if
you write short stories - the Priory
Press are looking for new stories to
publish:
We are aiming to
publish a new collection of short stories on the lines of our previous Manx
collections, in particular 'A Tail for All Seasons volume 4'. The stories we
are looking for should have their own 'voice' and evoke the spirit of a
Yorkshire past or present. They should have a beginning, middle and end, be
well written, easily readable and just plain memorable!
And that’s enough of the PA stuff – back to my own latest
novel . . . . planning those courses . . .
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