Reading and Writing

Except for editing and the final touches, I have more or less finished my Collins work (which incidentally is showing on the Amazon site although the information is not completely accurate at the moment). This leaves me free to concentrate on my VERY IMPORTANT MA assignment. To this end, I am currently reading What I was by Meg Rosoff having enjoyed her very interesting and Carnegie Award winning novel Just in Case.
I realise both books may not be to everyone's tastes but her style is mesmerising. She creates really interesting voices in her work which I really like. I'm also hoping to read some other texts- The World According to Humphrey, Finding Violet Park and others, in my efforts to widen my experience of novels in different genres and for various age groups.

As an English specialist, I am familiar with lots of books for the school age market but I'm toying with a few ideas for my assignment and I always find reading books helps me with my writing, so that's what I'm doing!! As Stephen King said in his wonderful book On Writing: If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

The Day The Earth Stood Still and Christmas Time

I am in the middle of my Christmas holidays (I use the term 'holidays' loosely as I have a ton of work to do what with my MA assignment and my Collins work and another potential publishing project). In the midst of this, I have managed to see The Day the Earth Stood Still which is a remake of the 1951 sci fi film starring Keanu Reeves, whom I have to admit having once had a crush on! Well the film was a bit of a disappointment, maybe because sci fi isn't my thing but probably more likely because the story wasn't very strong. Special effects were okay but the idea of an alien coming to Earth to save it from us humans whilst moderately believable, became unbelievable once he started to change his mind, and for me, the moment Keanu Reeves' character used his finger tip ( I kid you not) to fix a phone line, the film lost what little credibility it had.

Aside from film watching, I have been to visit some relatives and experienced crazy Christmas shopping fever. It is the Christmas season after all and shopping malls are crazy crazy wild, in case you hadn't noticed.



Amongst my shopping experiences is the Woolworths' Sale which I ventured into this week- to anyone thinking of going, a word of advice: don't. You wouldn't think the shop was closing down based on the discounts.

And what with all this time off, I have had time to consider things- life, work and everything, and I have come to the conclusion that sometimes you just have to go for what you want or in the wonderful words of Starsky and Hutch- just do it!

Christmas Spirit and the Changeling

I have succumbed to the spirit of Christmas and put my tree and decorations up! And now, in the spirit of Christmas - here are two jokes:

How did the snail keep its shell shiny? By using snail varnish.
How did the human canon ball lose his job? He got fired.

Both were in crackers, so don't blame me, if you don't think they're funny.

As for my writing- well let's just say that is on hold till the Christmas hols which are soon, thankfully.

In the meantime, let me post about the film Changeling which I went to see this week. My advice to anyone going to see this film is be prepared to be shocked and saddened. The film starring Angelina Joli and John Malkovich is an engaging and moving film based on true and shocking events in 1920s America.

If you've ever read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the situation Angelina Jolie's character faces will simply reinforce your understanding of how the medical profession can abuse its power and how women in particular were and (and may still be) at its mercy. This aspect of the film also reminded me of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. However the film is not simply about a woman's ill treatment at the hands of doctors. It is about much more than this- a mother's love for her child, her pursuit for justice in the face of adversity, police corruption and the abuse of power.... but I don't want to ruin the plot for you.

All I will say is despite the film being very sad and disturbing in places, it is well worth a viewing. Just take some tissues.

Power teaching and distractions

I am buried under a pile of paperwork and looking for distractions (naughty school child that I am).

Yesterday I went to see a play called The Actor's Nightmare by Christopher Durang, a short and funny play - sort of absurdist comedy, which made for an enjoyable evening.

Sadly today I am having to do paperwork and less than exciting reports for work. Why oh why do I have to do this???

Instead look what I found on you tube... useful for teachers and wildly entertaining! Check out POWER TEACHING!!

Fireworks

I am currently reading Before I Die by Jenny Downham and getting through some other writing for my MA, as well as working towards the Collins project I recently took on.


However, it was 5th November yesterday so I ventured to Guilford to watch the fireworks at Stoke Park, which were very good. I tried to capture a few shots and here they are!

Books. books and more books

I am currently reading Just in Case by Meg Rosoff- an interesting book, to say the least. Read it and you'll see what I mean.

Yesterday I received my copies fo the CGP books I co-wrote. I've already posted about the main one- the English AS Guide for all exam boards but my work has also gone into a spin off English AS Guide for AQA B, pictured below!

Rainman and new projects

Yesterday I went to London to watch Rainman a theatre production currently showing in the West End and starring Josh Hartnett and Adam Godley. I wasn't sure what to expect from a play that was based on such a famous film (the one starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman about an autistic man who is left a fortune by his father) but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought that, overall, it was extremely well done and, for me, Adam Godley stole the show. His performance as Raymond Babbit was outstanding- he definitely made the part his own, creating a character who was both believable and sympathetic. The reviewer in The Independent seemed to agree.

Of course Josh Hartnett was very easy on the eyes and his performance was good but I just thought Adam Godley had interpreted the role more, rather than relying on the film's depiction of the autistic Raymond Babbitt, where Hartnett seemed to have modelled himself on Tom Cruise's depiction of Charlie Babbitt. The opening scene also left me a little cold - had a Jerry Maguire feel to it- and I wasn't entirely sure it was necessary. However, saying that, the performance as a whole was really very good indeed, and for Godley, alone, it's worth a viewing. I give it nine out of ten and I would whole heartedly recommend you go and see it.

In the meantime, I'll be getting on with my marking and preparation for a new publishing project with Collins Education- more on that later!

READ ME

Soon to be available resources.... now advertising on National Schools Partnership's Website. The resources aim to encourage 11-14 year old (boys in particular) to read more and were produced by this company in conjunction with National Year of Reading.

The Read Me resources are free to the first 500 schools and I wrote two sections of these resources: This is me and Sport and me. They're all fantastic and I for one am going to be recommending these resources to my department.

New publication: CGP guide

Just a quick post today to let you know my latest co-written publication- CGP's AS English Guide is now advertising on the CGP site!

I'll let you know when the guide's in the book shops. It won't be long, I'm sure!

Den of Voice

I have just got the go ahead to do some work for National School Partnerships which is great.

And to top it all and really the main reason I'm posting is to tell you all about an event I went to yesterday. It was called Den of Voice and was held in a Guildford venue called The Boiler Room.

Den of Voice is an evening for poets, comedians, actors or anyone willing to take to the stage to perform his/ her work . Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending and seeing the acts. Mostly, poets read their work, and they launched an anthology of their work called Mustard. A friend of a friend - Frog (not his real name)- showed one of his videos and narrated a story. In all, the evening was entertaining and I am definitely contemplating attending again and reading some of my poetry. I will keep you all posted, if I do!

Latest MA news

Assignment update time - well after much research and consideration I have, I think, decided on my final plot. Without giving too much away let me just say that those of you who are interested in supernatural/ psychological/ crime thrillers might like my latest creative efforts.

Before I go any further can I just recommend some really good books- Radical Children's Literature by Kimberley Reynolds is fantastic. Robert McKee's Story is really useful and so too is How to Make Money ScriptWriting by Julian Friedmann. Mystery in Children's Literature from Rational to the Supernatural was also useful for me. I've also dipped into Syd Field's Screenwriting and read a number of fiction books like Coraline, Dead Gorgeous, Darkhenge and films like The Fog, The Others, The Haunting, The Village, The Sixth Sense and The Skeleton Key. So, yes, I have been busy. I am just writing up the assignment ready to hand in later this week. It's the finishing touches to the overall structure that I'm currently grappling with- if you're interested!

Once this is in I can relax, although I do have some inspection training to attend on Friday and a meeting for National School Partnerships on Monday... mmm... yes, I will relax, eventually.

Writing Progress: at play

My opportunities to post have been minimal because of my awful problems with the internet recently. However I am dropping by to fill you in on my writing progress.

I am presenty sitting in the university library reading for my next assignment. To this end I am reading Andrew Melrose's useful and informative book Write for Children and a whole host of other texts like Signs of Childness in Children's Books. I just wish I had more time to read. It would have been great to have done the course in a year without the constraints of work but needs must.

I've got some fiction books to read also. Amongst them Can you Hear Me? by Penny Kendal and The Leap by Jonathan Stroud. I'm in the middle of Henry Tumour by Anthony McGowan which I really can't recommend enough. It's fab so far and I anticipate a really sad ending.

I'll leave you with a quote from Freud: 'The creative writer does the same as a child at play.'
Well, I knew there was a reason I liked writing!

Broadband shmoadband

Last day with the kids today then inset tomorrow and then oh joy of joys- summer time! I am a bit annoyed at the moment as my broadband service has gone kaput at home and my providers are being pretty feeble about sorting it out.

I'm looking at other providers and see that Orange seems to have a pretty good deal going but I may just go for BT as their service is likely to be good and reliable. I also considered Sky but I shall make a decision shortly then hopefully be back on track!

First thing to do with my holiday is sort out my last MA assignment for the year. Then I plan to relax and enjoy what little summer weather we have here. You got any plans?

GCSE YORK NOTES ON JOURNEY'S END

The GCSE York Notes on Journey's End that I wrote are No 2 best seller in KS4 Education books on Amazon.... Guess that's a good thing. But will it equate to any money? Now that's the question. Judging by my last royalties I don't think I'll buy the house in Monaco just yet.

SEX AND THE CITY AND WRITING

Yes... I am one of those women who has succumbed to seeing the new Sex and the City film, out now in the UK. The auditorium was full of females and the odd smattering of males and I went to a cinema that had wonderfully roomy seats and leg space so the experience was a comfortable one. The film was what I expected - and I enjoyed it. Cheesy in places, unrealistic in others and honest just where it needed to be.

It was two hours of escapist fun that was just what I needed. Tomorrow I have some serious writing to get down to as I write the third section for CGP's revision guide.

Summer is here and the weather is gorgeous so this weekend the bike I bought a few weeks ago has been out for a ride. I can't wait for the holidays. Aside from the fact that I fully intend to make the most of my new purchase, I am so wanting to write FICTION. And I will have a whole six weeks to do just that- bliss. And read. I miss reading for pleasure.

I just miss time - time to do things that I want to do so I cannot wait for the summer holidays. Four weeks and counting!

It is late and I ought to be in bed but I am feeling remiss for not blogging so here I am once more. On the writing front, I am doing some reading for my next MA assignment and I am contemplating another section for CGP's English AS Revision Guide.

My editor for the three Challenge English KS3 texts, Ged, has entered Steve and me into the educational writer's competition. I doubt we'll win as I imagine the competition will be pretty fierce but these things are always worth a go. You got to be in it to win it! I was also told about another competition for fiction- scripts in fact- which ties in with my current MA module and looked really interesting but, alas, the deadline is really soon so I'll be saving that one possibly for next year.

For now I thought I'd post images and talk a little about the KS3 Challenge English books seeing as they are the books of the moment.




The three KS3 Challenge English books are part of WHSmith's range of books which include KS2 and KS3 Practise, Revise, Challenge, Test and Quick Revision. The ones Steve and I wrote are aimed at the more able, the gifted and talented KS3 students (so ones in Years 7-9) who need and would enjoy a challenge beyond what would normally be encountered in school. The books aim to enrich students' understanding and experience of English.

The books are divided into reading and writing sections addressing skills loosely based on the National Literacy Framework, so things like creative writing, essay planning and writing, researching material, comparing texts, context, irony and satire, form and meaning in poetry and the writing triplets, to name a few, are addressed. Both Steve and I teach so the books are structured with the student in mind. Each unit in the reading and writing sections is divided into Get Started, Practice, Challenge and How did I do? moving from sentence and word level to text level work.

There are useful glossaries in each book and a wide range of extracts and interesting activities. All for £4.99! They should be available in your local WHSmith.

Bank Holiday

Happy bank holiday weekend one and all! To those anywhere other than the UK this may make no sense. It's actually sunny for once so I shall have to make the most of that. Methinks a long walk is in order. Then perhaps the cinema or theatre.

That and a bit of writing will make for a relaxing weekend.

This week I have received two free holiday vouchers as a result of my obsession with those ridiculous scratchcards you get in papers or magazines. I'm suspecting there may be a catch somewhere but for now I'm considering when to go to Disneyland Paris for two days and when to go on my Mediterranean cruise for four.

I've also had a few social invitations of late which is lovely so I shall have to get my diary out and pencil them in. I've been a bit of a social recluse of late... must be part of my grand plan to become a mad writer??!!

As far as my MA goes I'm currently reading Mamet's Three Uses of the Knife and need to dip into Kundera's The Curtain. I'm looking forward to reading this as I enjoy Kafka.

CGP have also asked me if I'm available to contribute another section to their English AS Revision guide, so I'll be working on the Origins of English section also.

In all, a busy time... if you get a chance read Candy's latest post on age labels on books- interesting debate.

The Apprentice again

I watched The Apprentice yesterday in between feeling nauseous (which has been the situation a few times the past couple of weeks. Must be coming down with something or seriously stressed!) and I was disgusted again at the way human beings can behave.

Okay, last time I watched the programme and Jenny rounded on Shazia, I thought she just had a problem and was looking for a scapegoat, this time I'm beginning to suspect something more sinister.

Sara? What had she done? Then the others went along with it. It really deeply saddens me when I see grown supposedly intelligent people being manipulated and behaving in a gang like way on the basis of what some have said can only be racism.

I didn't see the whole programme so I can't make a full judgement but from what I've read on message boards (yes, I have been reduced to reading messages about The Apprentice and I have no problem admitting this!) she made some interesting suggestions for cards that were just dismissed for no apparent reason.

Having been on the receiving end, in the past, of ignorant and, sadly- in some cases- bigoted people, I can well understand Sara just going quiet. Shock, disbelief and complete incomprehension may well have played their part in her reaction. Why try to change the minds of people who clearly can't think straight?

I will forever be amazed at how individuals less credible than others think that simply because of the colour of their skin, their accent or cultural heritage they are better. The very fact that they feel the need to behave so abominably, rounding on people to deflect attention from themselves, exposes to me their absolute inferiority and inadequacy.

How on earth can we be in the twenty first century and things like this happen?

Tag and the Odyssey

So I've been tagged which means I have to pick up the nearest book and write lines 6-9 for you all before bothering five unsuspecting people with this task, then post a comment on Candy's blog- she tagged me! So here goes:

I'm at my desk at home, and my rather messy desk (those of you who know me will know how messy my desk can get) has several books on it, but the nearest one is the book I am part way through reading: Simon Armitage's verse adaptation of Homer's Odyssey, which isn't half bad. It's pretty good in fact. Page 123...lines 6-9 read:

...and there on the front of his face was a...
ODYSSEUS: A what?
EURYLOCHUS: A snout-
not a nose but a snout and out of his mouth

I'll leave that with you to figure out. Okay so who shall I bother that Candy hasn't already?

Jon, Jez, Nicky who's on honeymoon and will probably not do this, Jason Evans who will probably be way too busy, Anne Frasier who will be equally or more busy and let's try Kaleb! I've tagged six- I know!! I have a feeling very few will do it... but c'est la vie. Okay off to Angela's blog now to comment and to let all those poor souls know that they have been invited to waste fifteen minutes of their lives on this.

The Marathon

Well, I have spent an age writing my creative piece and my rationale for my MA, as well as putting all the bits and pieces together and retyping a section that the computer swallowed! It was a bit of a marathon!

Fingers are now firmly crossed that it hits the mark.

It's a beautiful sunny day where I am and I will probably go for a walk to enjoy it. When I woke up it was drizzling and I thought of all these people!

Anyone running or watching it?

Cooking, cleaning, writing and finding an agent

I said that I would post more often now that I am on 'holiday' and so I shall! I have finished my pages for the CGP book and hopefully I won't have too much to amend. Now, I can concentrate on reading those picture books and other research books and actually writing my MA assignment.

I have a few books on my list still to read: Children's Minds by Margaret Donaldson and The Seven Basic Plots (apparently there are only seven) as well as a whole host of picture books.

Today I cooked a curry and a biriani. It being the holiday I am doing all the things I never get a chance to do like cooking and cleaning! Last week I cooked a chickpea stew and some seasoned chicken for my sister and her family following one of the recipes from the Arvon week. I'm not sure where they get their recipes but they're pretty fab.

I've also been giving more thought to getting an agent. I need to get sending out my manuscripts again. This year's been pretty hectic what with the MA and one thing or another that I've not done as much of the old sending out stuff as I'd wish. Still, now that it's on my mind I'll get to it.
There are a couple of competitions I want to enter as well but more on that another day.

Easter Time

A belated Happy Easter to you all.

As I write I am located in my sister's study in Wales, with my niece standing next to me and my nephew practising piano!!

I spent the past week in Shropshire at the Arvon Hurst centre with sixteen kids and another teacher from my school who is also a very good singer musician. She was resident entertainer!

For those of you who don't know, Arvon runs wonderful courses for adults but it also welcomes school visits and so it happened that sixteen selected students got to go on a residential creative writing course led by award winning novelist Linda Newbery and fantastic poet Dean Parkin, with a mid week visit by the award winning playwright and actor Tim Crouch. How lucky were they??? They had a fab time- got loads of writing done and really benefited from the course. (That'll be £50 please Arvon! ;-))

My entire week was spent supervising them and helping them to cook and wash up dishes. I did indulge in a little writing but only a little. This week I intend to do lots more.

However, I am also currently working towards a text book for CGP as I mentioned before- an AS English Revision Guide, in fact. I'm authoring one of the sections- the one on Varieties of English.

I have an assignment to do for my MA - a picture book text so I have spent some time reading a few- books like The Gruffalo, The Whisperer, Mouse Look Out and The Book Eating Boy. I shall let you know how I get on in due course.

How the other half live

Okay, loads to catch up on. I've been really busy with one thing or another. I am currently working towards a book for CGP - the educational publishers which I'll tell you about at a later date.

I've also been sorting out the final details of a residential creative writing trip I've organised for sixteen  students at my school. And, I've been reading up on writing picture books and on teaching and learning.

Last week I went to see There will be Blood at the cinema - the film starring Daniel Day Lewis. It was interesting rather than enjoyable, as parts were pretty gruesome. The sound track was really eerie but the landscape and acting were great. Overall it was good but I couldn't watch it again. It creeped me out too much!

On Friday I met a friend in London and we went to dinner and then to a place called Tamarai which was really beautiful inside but seriously expensive. After paying £15 to get into London I then paid £15 to get into the place and drinks were ridiculously expensive. We met a couple others there but I had to leave early to get the train home so was it worth it? Not really!
It's really aimed at the rich and famous and as I'm neither I couldn't really get the full benefit of it. There was a minimum spend policy for sitting at a table and that was £250! Yep. £250.

Seriously. You'd have to be rolling in it to spend that much, surely? How the other half live.

I'm off on my residential next week so won't blog for a bit, although I have been pretty poor about it recently. I promise to update more often over the holidays. Till then have fun!

My Saturday

Hasn't it been a beautiful day? What a contrast to the stormy winds and wet rain we saw yesterday afternoon! Well, I for one, took advantage of the weather and headed off for a glorious walk at Virginia Water Lake.


In fact today, I walked round the whole lake for the second time- that's about 5 miles- so I was mighty pleased with myself. En route I took some gorgeous photos. This is a waterfall known as the cascade which apparently dates back to the 1700s. Beautiful isn't it?


This totem pole can be seen in the grounds of Virginia Water Lake. There is a history to the pole as it was given as a gift by British Columbia to mark the centenary of its founding. It measures 100 feet and weighs 21 tonnes.


The Virginia Water Ruins are also on site but other than that I know very little about them. They are under reconstruction at the moment.


In addition to my walk, I have been preparing an assembly for Monday on homelessness - a topic which I feel quite strongly about , and been deciding how to go about doing my MA presentation on Michael Rosen's SAD BOOK.

Catch Up

Let's catch up. Since I last posted I have written the first draft of a picture book as part of my MA. It's called Mervyn the Magic Martian. I've also read Michael Rosen's SAD BOOK, which is a deeply touching book and I have started to do some research into how children read.

Besides that, I have walked round a huge lake on a cold morning, won at bowling and been thrashed at it and seen the film Definitely Maybe . It's a bit of light entertainment which, with a certificate of 12 and because it was only showing at 6 p.m at my local cinema, attracted quite a few youngsters in the audience. As if I don't have enough to contend with in term time!!

In addition to this, I've just spotted that two of my resources are now advertised on Classroom Resources- How to give a Presentation and Maximising Personal Impact.

I'm sure there's more to tell but I am a little tired so I'd best turn in.

Distinctive Writing

Well what can I write in 10 minutes? That's how long I have before I have to go to my MA class. We've started back and today is the day I get the mark for my first module assignment. Gulp. I'm keeping my fingers and every other crossable item crossed that I've got a good mark.

In any case, even if it isn't, I've been assured these things are subjective. Don't you just love friends? I'm very very lucky because I have some fantastically supportive people around me at the moment, but a wise person once said you get back what you put in, and that goes for relationships and friendships too, I guess.

Looks like I'm in a reflective quasi philosophical mood today. Perhaps that' s because I went to see Sweeney Todd at the weekend- the film showing at the cinema, starring the delicious Johnny Depp whom one of my closest uni friends absolutely adores. If you like blood and gore, this film is for you. I felt sympathy for Sweeney Todd at the start of the film because of the terrible things that had happened to him but by the end his actions really distanced me from him and I lost all possible sympathy. The film was well made; it was highly stylised and I could appreciate its artistry but I'm not sure I'd say I enjoyed the film.

UPDATE:
I got my first module marks and I am so excited to say I got a distinction!!!

I wonder if I will be able to repeat that in my next module? I worked hard enough on it so I am mightily pleased at the outcome. We are now studying word and image - picture books, and so far things have proved to be as interesting as always.

Getting some balance

Yes, I know I haven't posted in a while and I wish I could say it's because I've been busy writing but I can't :-(

I have been busy working and having a life, as far as I can. Today I ventured to the gym where I managed to get onto a cross trainer for twenty five minutes, treadmill for ten and cycle for ten. This is in contrast to last week when I made the mistake of going on a Tuesday and could get onto absolutely nothing except the cycle.

Recent explorations- besides the gym- have been to various pubs for meals. The Keystone Pub in Guildford serves a nice vegetable kebab in pitta if ever you are in the vicinity and Bar Ha Ha there does some quite good food too.

I shall have to see where else I can go this weekend and keep you all updated!

I've also been working on some sample pages for an educational publisher with the view to possibly doing some work for them. I start back at Winchester next week so am enjoying my last few days of freedom before the old slog starts up again. To be honest, I'm actually looking forward to the diversion and the forced opportunity to write fiction again!

Work life balance

This week has been a busy one. There's an awful bug going round at work and we have had to cover several people who have been off. Sadly, today I succumbed to the bug and slept for most of the day. That's after going to bed at 8 o'clock twice in the week. I feel a bit better but I seriously need to get a better work life balance. It doesn't make fighting off bugs any easier!

That's what all of my current training is all about. I hope someday in the near future to be able to enjoy more of a balance.

I am so looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Tomorrow I want to go swimming if I am feeling up to it and then I am enjoying an evening out before my Sunday which looks like it will be meditation and a pub lunch with friends. Hope I feel up to it all.

Index fingers

I am suffering from repetitive strain injury on my two index fingers. Why you may ask?

Well, I am not a touch typist and I have been madly trying to finish my MA assignment. I predominantly use these fingers and the strain is starting to take its toll, so I am now resorting to using my two middle fingers to type. I really need to learn to touch type!

I have been staring at the screen so much that yesterday I felt seriously dizzy. My head feels like soup because I have done so much reading for this task. No one can accuse me of not giving it my all. It is my first module assessment!

But I am a wee bit stressed because of it. I nearly broke the card reader at Tesco when I punched in my pin trying to pay for my shopping...

'There's something wrong with this,' I said as I punched on the number nine key for the third time with no success.
'Press harder,' the cashier said.
So I did, and yes, you guessed it, the key came loose and fell off.
'Oh no I've broken it,' I said. Then laughed slightly madly just because of the day I'd had (how insane must I have looked?) and and yes, there was a queue and yes it was those damn index fingers again.

Stress affects my sanity.

So, I'm calling it a day, now. Still not quite completed the assignment. I have a feeling I may be driving it to Winchester Sunday evening, rather than getting it in the post in time for Monday.