A long term

An update is long over due so here I am at long last. It has been a long and busy term with work both here and overseas in a wide range of schools.

Early in the term, I completed  an English departmental review for a secondary school in London alongside my usual line of work, before heading out to the Gulf to complete some work for Cambridge Education in a whole host of schools, ranging from kindergartens up to secondary schools. This was for about two months, during which time I managed to go to Dubai where, amongst other things, I went up Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Having been up the CN Tower in Canada, it was good to be able to compare experiences. I also visited the Dubai Mall, where I saw the longest single piece of acrylic (as featured in the Guiness Book of Records) which, if you've not been and seen, houses an enormous underwater zoo full of sea life which you can literally see as you shop in the mall.

Alongside all of this, I've carried out some work for Hodder on their WH Smith brand English books which have been given an overhaul and are currently being relaunched. Most are due to be published the other side of the new year, so look out for them!

Overall, it's been a good term with its fair dose of expected and unexpected challenges along the way. I don't wish to sound like an aging sage but it's always fascinating to work with different people, young and old, not least because you gain useful insights into human behaviour and indeed psychology. I don't think I'd go quite as far as to say ( as some might and indeed have) that the more people I meet, the more I like my dog - for a start I don't have a dog, but it's certainly the case that the more people I meet the more it reaffirms for me what's important.  

This Christmas break, I'll indulge in a bit of welcome creativity, and hope that I don't take quite as long as I have this time to post an update again.

Firsts

This term is proving to be a term of firsts. I experienced my first ride on a helicopter earlier this month when I packed a bag and headed South West.  It was my first visit to Penzance where I was staying at this gorgeous hotel before flying to the Isles of Scilly to deliver training at a through school.

Landsend was also a first - I visited for the first time and went to the 'last house in England' while in Cornwall. 

From there I headed up North to Grantham- again a first, where I did some more work in a school and stayed in a hotel that claims to be the oldest inn in England.

I received my royalties recently and although it wasn't a first, the figure was. It's great to have some positive firsts once in a while.

Writing galore

I'm currently working on some material for WH Smith's own brand books which are undergoing a revamp with some additional titles being added to the collection. I'm about a quarter the way through what I currently have, but am sure there will be more to come.

As far as ye old fiction goes, I've also been working on some, although I need to dedicate some extra time to this... I'm reserving part of the bank holiday weekend for this.

With a busy term ahead I need to set aside time now for some much needed creative writing. Whether anything will come of it, only time will tell!

Gorgeous sun and writing

Well the sun is out and that certainly makes for a change! About time too.

I'm currently working on some redrafting of the Challenge English series which is at this moment in time being re-enlivened. I will also be doing some additional work for Hodder before settling down to some fiction writing over the summer. A week ago that word- summer had become meaningless but - now that the sun is out, it is starting to look like a summer!


With that in mind I am about to don my sunglasses and hit the road!

A debut novel review

I've just finished reading Jackie Marchant's debut novel I'm Dougal Trump and It's not my Fault. I read it in one evening from start to finish and really enjoyed it. The fact that I was able to read it so quickly is  testament to how entertaining a book it is. The curious creature in the shed that the main character is told lurks there, kept me reading but so did Dougal's funny, at times laugh-out-loud, antics, which were entirely believable.

The book is well written and although initially you may question some of the language, the voice of the main character Dougal, develops into a really distinctive and entirely believable one. He's obviously a bright but clearly misunderstood young man!! And you can't help but like him. Presented as an accident prone, mischievous boy who is forever having to prove his innocence, poor Dougal moves from one laughable disaster to another, hounded by his friends and sister, blamed by his parents and teachers.

A very relatable book for children. I'm sure many boys and girls will enjoy the book which is aimed at readers of  9+, and I whole heartedly recommend it. It's beautifully presented with lovely illustrations and lots of handwritten and scrawled notes which add to the authenticity of events.  Macmillan's website for Dougal Trump will give you a taster of what's to come ... this and the book are sure to grab young readers' attentions, so I'm certain we will see more of Dougal in the future, and I look forward to reading more from Jackie. A great and entertaining debut novel.

Jude's Travels

My last week has been a roller coaster of travel and talk. I was in Liverpool one day, Birmingham the next and finally in Aberystwyth, as part of work for OSIRIS Educational. I visited a few schools in the process, one of which was Penweddig School in Aberystwyth which is a Welsh medium school, where I delivered training on Literacy across the curriculum, particularly in relation to the more able and to boys. With it being a Welsh medium school, the English department and school have their work cut out for them so I hope that my training provided them with at least a few ideas or models of how literacy could be developed further.

I have sampled Holiday Inns in both Liverpool and Birmingham and a rather lovely hotel in Wales which really was beautiful, so beautiful in fact that I am intent on finding a reason to return there!! It's only been recently renovated to its former glory and is currently offering a few good deals. I would highly recommend it for a relaxing break, where you can be assured of excellent service and a good night's rest in beautiful surroundings. I'm not a stranger to Wales but had never been to this part of the country, and unfortunately did not have time to fully explore it. This is reason enough of course to return and stay again at Nanteos.

This week is not quite as hectic with work but I am still travelling - up to Manchester for the Children's Book Festival and then have some more work in London later in the week. I'm looking forward to going up to Manchester and keeping my fingers crossed, but I hope to enjoy myself regardless of the outcome at the Commonword Children's Diversity Writing Prize Award Ceremony.

More on my writing and reading next post, particularly in relation to some work for Hodder. Until then, in  words akin to those of a famous Sci Fi character, this is Jude Ensaff of the Travelling Circus signing off.

Writing and more!

Yes it has been an age since I last posted but a MILLION and one things have happened in this time, none of which will form the basis of my post. Instead this will: I recently spent several weeks overseas reviewing education in local schools in Abu Dhabi as part of work for Tribal Education. I was one of a team of individuals who was monitoring progress made by operators out there towards KPIs. The work we were monitoring was part of a 10 year project that the government had initiated to improve education in Abu Dhabi to world class level. I enjoy it each time I go for many reasons: it is fascinating work and rewarding to see the change over time, and of course the warm weather doesn't hurt.

I also recently worked for Pearson Education writing some web material for an A level text linked to their new York Notes which I will tell you about in due course along with another two projects linked to them and another publisher which are in the pipeline.

Genius

If you've not yet come across this amazing website dedicated to Caine Monroy whose arcade is just so elaborate and ingenius it will make you smile, I wholeheartedly recommend you watch this and you donate at least a dollar or a pound to his college fund. Watch it. You won't be sorry!

Diversity and Prizes

I found it interesting to read this article in the Guardian today which links with the real reason I am posting: I thought I would share the news that I have shockingly and rather excitedly been shortlisted for the Commonword Children's Diversity Writing Prize. Cause for celebration methinks, so off I trot to spread the happy news. 

A quiet novel

What is a quiet book? Someone used this term a while ago to describe my writing and since then I 've contemplated exactly what this means? I think the term is highly subjective but some people would say as indeed Jan O'Hara does in her wonderful post on this topic that a quiet novel presents us with well drawn characters and beautiful prose that remind us what it is to be human. Others suggest that quiet novels are character rather than plot driven. I personally love books that remind me what it's like to be human and yes, I'd say I do try to create well drawn characters and yes I'd like to think my prose is beautiful but I'm not sure my writing is entirely character driven. However my research into this term 'quiet novel' has highlighted that quiet books aren't necessarily the ones that marketeers find easy to sell or promote -perhaps because they offer something that goes beyond the public face of books or perhaps because they speak to the private in us all and maybe because they aren't  easy to describe. I don't know, I'm just guessing. I think these buzz words can become meaningless after a while.

But here's another buzz word- high concept. High concept novels are apparently what sell. So what's high concept? Well apparently unlike the term suggests, these books aren't necessarily sophisticated (don't shoot me down) - this is what I read somewhere- and they are pretty easy to describe in one attention grabbing sentence: I'm thinking girl meets boy who turns out to be vampire. Or something along those lines.

Personally I think there's much merit in a quiet novel and as Jenny Bent says sometimes readers' tastes differ from publishers... which leads me to believe that quiet books do indeed sell if they are published.

Writers like Elizabeth Laird writes lovely books in this vein and I'd say some of Jodie Picoult's novels are also what we might describe as 'quiet'. Rather than being about fast paced adventure and constant drama her novels are about human interactions, feelings and universal themes. And as one reader of Jan O'Hara's points out, the queen of writing- Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, could well be described as a quiet book. Some of the works that we might call classics aren't what people might define as high concept but rather they are more about characters, perhaps even quiet. Perhaps this is what makes them timeless?

For me, after reading up on this subject,  I'd define a quiet novel as a book that tells a story about normal people in an extraordinary way, so I take it as a compliment when my writing, rightly or wrongly, is likened to a quiet novel because for me that's praise indeed. And I reckon I'm in good company if it turns out to be the case that I do indeed write quietly.

Now shush I'm writing. 

Writing Today

The state of writing today is an interesting thing to consider. Where exactly is writing headed? I think we are in an age of emails and electronic text. Ebooks are aplenty so what does this all mean for traditional publishers? Will ebooks replace paper books? Apple has joined the market in ebooks and Amazon too offers an easy programme to create kindle books so is this the death of the traditional books that we all know and love or is it all hype? I'm not sure anyone has the answer to this but I certainly prefer flicking through real paper pages to looking at a screen, and I'm sure there are many of us who do.

Margaret Carey Foundation

Whilst writing my last post I came across a charity which offers interesting opportunities for prisoners to engage in projects that provide them with skills and that provide much needed support to those in need. The extent to which such charities or workshops exist or actually run in the increasingly over crowded prisons of today, I do not know. All I know is that I don't believe prison is the answer to today's ills. Brandishing everyone with the same brush is I am sure most would agree a crude form of self regulation for society. In the same way that one would not use a detention system in school time and again for every student if it wasn't working, surely society should look at the way it deals with apparent criminals.

Some might say that locking people up and forgetting about them will not solve society's problems. It will merely exacerbate them. Reform and genuine engagement and care are what cause change. Punishment may result in obedience and submission but genuine care, education and opportunity  have been shown to motivate people to change.

Writers' Forum and Educational Writing

Those keen writers among you may well subscribe to or buy the magazine Writers' Forum . Well, in the May edition, which is out now at W H Smiths, there is a two page spread on how to break into educational writing. I am happy to say I'm one of four writers who features here, having been interviewed about my educational writing. I'm really happy with how the article has turned out.  Although my blog isn't listed, my linkedin presence is which will point people towards here.

As my advice says, for those wishing to break into educational writing- don't expect to make a living from it and make sure you enjoy it.

Having had some less than happy news recently, I was pleased to see the article in print and hope it's a sign of more positive things to come for everyone.

Animal antics

Well it's been some time since I last wrote, so I thought it was probably about time that I did. A couple of weeks ago I went into London to watch a play which had rave reviews and was described as quirky and funny. As it turned out, the play wasn't really my cup of tea. In fact out of five stars I'd probably give it one if that. Lots of people were there and it was a sold-out show more or less and quite a few spectators were laughing, but I think I and the two people I went with must have had a different sense of humour to them. I won't name the show but what I will say is that it consists of two men dressed as if they are going to bed. My advice if you are considering going is DON'T!

The evening was not a complete loss as an executive decision was made to leave. It's one of the few times I've actually left a show midway through. A lovely meal followed but the  highlight of the evening came when I spotted this rather unusual sign near a building site.... yes.. look again... Pied Piper springs to mind...

... which led me to consider the sorts of signs there are for strange wildlife in the UK and perhaps in the world. It seems to me that a sign consisting of a bridge with a number of rats on it is highly unusual and I for one have never seen one before. But then I came across this.....

And this... which just goes to show you learn something new every day.

Dickens` Bicentenary and the House of Commons

Today I attended the launch party for the What the Dickens copyright resource in which I was involved at  consultation and review stage. It was commissioned by the ALCS and was written as part of a joint venture between ALCS and National Schools Partnership, and was in fact the second such resource commissioned by ALCS and linked to copyright- the first being Copywrite which I wrote for NSP in 2010.

Today is of course Dickens' birthday and the resource was a way of marking Dickens' bicentenary but also a way for the ALCS to raise awareness about copyright infringement and the hot topic of Educational Exceptions.

Educational exceptions are proposals to copyright law currently being considered by the government which would mean that copyright protected work could be used without individuals having to seek a licence or permission from the copyright owner.

Educational writers are justifiably up in arms over this proposal which would have huge implications for their income, which, for most of us, is not huge, as it is.

The launch of the resource was held at the Terrace in the House of Commons and my invitation came from Jim Dowd MP, and I actually managed to chat to him.

He's an officer in the All Party Writers' group and obviously a supporter of copyright, hence his link with ALCS.

During the two hour event, he gave a short speech as did John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons and a representative from the Dickens' museum.

John Bercow was comical and engaging- a very good orator who entertained the assembled guests. The lovely setting steeped in history, the atmosphere and meeting a few new people, including Sue Penney and the lobbyist from the Incorporated Society of Musicians made for a pleasant break from everyday life. I also chatted to a fellow reviewer of the resource Ruth Brocklebank and fellow writer Chris Corin.

It was my first visit to the House of Commons and what a lovely occasion to go. It really was a beautiful setting for an important day. 

Technology: a wonderful thing

Isn't technology wonderful? I'm sitting in my study staring at my laptop and speaking. You'd think that my hands would be speedily typing away but that's because you don't realise the wonder of technology. Today I received a gift  which I'm currently using to write this blog. I wonder if anyone will guess what it is and whether they themselves have purchased such a piece of technology... because as far as I'm concerned this is AMAZING and is going to save me an inordinate amount of time. That's once it gets used to my voice. And it might just save me from repetitive strain injury too.

No prizes for guessing what I'm talking about! It's safe to say that today I'm a happy bunny.

Utopia

I thought I would post about a vist I made recently to a school, with my writer's hat on. Now if I actually had such a hat it might have looked like the one below. As it was, I had to make do with a metaphorical one.

I was visiting speaker at Reading Oratory Prep School in Berkshire on the 16th of January and I have to say I had a lovely day working with pupils and students, talking to staff and running workshops on writing and more. In all, I saw groups of Year 4, Year 6, Year 7 and Year 8 students.

I shared with them some of my own writing and got them to write their own wonderful masterpieces. I was particularly impressed with some of the Year 6's efforts who, in the style of my 'Three Gusts of Wind' winning entry from the Halloweenfest competition at South Hill Park, created spooky talking tales which they delivered with gusto.

They really are a lucky bunch of young people to have so many committed teachers and a Head of English who writes himself and who encourages their creativity. I was kindly given a copy of their own publication which they self published. It's entitled My Utopia and it includes some of the students' works of creative writing. 

There are so many interesting pieces in the book but one of my favourite poems is written by a student in Year 8. In rhyming couplets, the poem describes the sense of triumph the speaker  feels when scoring a try in rugby. Just goes to show that a poem can be written about absolutely anything. Talk about encouraging boys to write. 

It arrived!

My Masters certificate arrived today in the post.  I'm just trying to decide where to put it.

None of my other qualifications are framed but something tells me I should place this in a frame so it can take pride of place in my study.

It's not every day I get a Masters or a Distinction for that matter!

Just dropping by to let you all know that the resource What the Dickens is now up for all to see and use. I was involved at consultation and review stage in this project which was written to mark Dickens' Bicentenary, as part of a joint venture between National Schools Partnership and ALCS. The resource links with another resource I wrote entitled Copywrite.

You can read all about both at the ALCS page dedicated to the resources.

The What the Dickens resource is due to have its launch party at the House of Commons Terrace in February. I may be abroad when it happens so I am not sure I will be able to attend.  It's sadly one of two launch parties I may have to miss in February, but I shall be thinking of all those who attend if I am unable to do so!

Out now! Literary Eye Macbeth

I am delighted to tell you all that copies of my GCSE literature guide entitled Literary Eye Macbeth are now available on the Cross Academe website, along with many others, for you to buy.

Teacher notes are also available as fully explained on the site...so if you are studying the text, teaching it or just want to know a bit more about the play then why not order yourself a copy of the guide?

I hope you enjoy the read!

The Big Society

Having received my Samsung Galaxy Note today I have been having a field day playing with it and its various applications. For those of you who may be unaware the Note is a monster of a phone that is absolutely amazing- I've included a link and an image just for you.

In my adventures into Android world I came across a very interesting You Tube video all about the Big Society.


Fair's Fair- the name of a project that the Runnymede Trust undertook to examine  people's attitudes to The Big Society at a local level makes for interesting reading and the You Tube documentary makes for interesting viewing.





Until today I did not know of this organisation's existence but now I know that the  Runnymede Trust is an independent think tank which aims to promote racial equality. Its name derives from the famous landmark area of Runnymede - a short distance from me where the Magna Carter is said to have been signed. As the trust states on their website:


'The immediate effect of this legal document, meaning ‘Great Charter’ in Latin, was to guarantee the liberties of the King's free subjects and to restrict the absolute power of the ruling monarch.


The charter has since formed the basis of the constitutions and statutes of other countries in the English-speaking world. Extending well beyond its original purpose as a definition of the limitations of royal power, the Magna Carta is the cornerstone of many ensuing historic legal documents, such as the Human Rights Act. In fact, with the Royal Assent of the Magna Carta, human rights and equality were granted official legal protection in Britain for the first time.

A right to equality in law and under public policy has, since that day, become an intrinsic part of what it means to be British.'

Following my earlier feelings about modern Britain I suppose the last sentence struck a chord which is why I felt compelled to share this discovery with you today.


I hope it provides readers with some food for thought, while I go off and play with my new phone!