Sharon Maria Bidwell

Much of the UK is currently covered in a blanket of snow. The strange thing is people seem to be finding it harder to cope this year even in my surrounding streets but the strange thing is we had more snow here last year. I’ve just said on a myspace friend’s page that while I appreciate how difficult it is, I can’t help thinking some countries must be laughing at us. I remember visiting Canada and when they talked about the temperatures and conditions they have to face, it made me feel embarrassed. I love/hate snow but I suppose that goes for most of us but I guess it’s not the snow so much; it’s when it turns to solid ice.

A friend of mine in Devon is snowed in and she only has six inches of snow. Trouble is she lives at the top of a great big hill and no way can cars get in and out of there. She’d walk round another way and take a bus…but no buses are running so she can’t get to work. She has food until Sunday, so I guess will be trudging into town on foot, hoping they’ve got supplies. They’re apparently short of milk in the shops there because of people stocking up. I appreciate why people are doing this but it leaves nothing for anyone else. If it continues I guess shops may consider rationing. Other friends of ours close to London tried to go to one of the large supermarkets the other day only to discover it was closing. They tried another and got told the same thing: closing early owing to staff shortages…so is it any wonder people are stocking up when they ‘can’ get into a store?

I’m thinking if we’re in for this on a more regular basis then it’s time we started investing in some proper snow gear, proper ’snow boots’ for one thing. I used to have a pair of boots that you could have walked across a skating rink wearing and not slipped.

Last night I ‘belated’ remembered I have pair of biker’s boots. I’m going to try them out later and see if they fair better in the snow than my normal boots do. Dear Husband had to go out walking the other day and I made him wear a pair of my ear muffs (not that he was complaining) but at least I gave him the plain ones, not the fluffy animal print ones that I have.

And the thing is as I was discussing with a friend the other day, it used to be we cleared our own drives, paths, and pavement out front. We didn’t just sit there expecting local authorities to do it. I can definitely remember my grandfather doing it, so why is it that street upon street you see all the snow just left where it is? There’s a good reason for it over here in the UK. Apparently, people are afraid to touch the snow on the pavement because if you clear it and someone slips they can sue you. So they’d rather slip on an uncleared bit then? Seriously, get a grip (no pun intended). This world has gone mad.

However, according to article on the BBC this isn’t entirely as clear as people believe. Apparently, there is a ’slim’ chance of doing this regarding the pavement, but your own personal land including your drives or paths are your responsibility and if someone slips because you haven’t cleared them, you’re just as at risk of being sued. For the full article read here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8443745.stm

I would be concerned if the law stated we ‘had’ to clear the snow because of those who are perhaps unable to do so. I appreciate the article says ‘do the neighbourly’ thing and help but is there such a thing these days?

I had plans. I had a schedule. I have no idea what has happened to these ‘organised’ things. I think I had an attack of ‘life’ as in ‘life had other ideas’ or ‘life got in the way’. It happens to the best of us sometimes.

Thank you to those who have sent messages in the last few weeks asking me when they can expect another work out there. I know little more than you do. I have a publication date for early February for “A Good Knight” from Changeling Press but that’s the only planned work at present. Not from lack of trying. This is one of those times when hold-ups behind the scenes have thrown everything to wind. If the storm settles I’ll let you know as soon as I do.

One thing for all would-be writers and interested readers to note is that when you submit to a publisher there is a waiting time. Then there may be pre-contract edits, or edits after contract, and then proofing etc. It all takes time and you’re not the only writer in a queue. It doesn’t matter how well your last book did, it’s often first come, first serve and you have to be patient. I’m not the first writer to feel you can grow old while being so very patient but there’s nothing that can be done about it. Short answer is I’m still working ‘behind the scenes’ and dying to start something else.

Yes, I had a rather strange but possibly fabulous idea over Christmas for my next story and I want to start work on it…I just can’t. I can’t because I have a list of things that need my attention first. Ug. It’s so damn frustrating. If they ever perfect cloning technology I could do with another one of me. (That’s a joke. I don’t want another one of me although it might prove interesting for the husband.)

In the meantime, I’ve got around to joining facebook. Anyone on there do a search for Sharon Bidwell and say hi.

For some strange reason all through 2009 I kept writing 2008. Maybe I was trying to claw back a year of my life but I don’t think that’s the reason. I think so much has happened to me in the last couple of years I had simply lost track of time. When you’re young the older generations around you tell you that time speeds up the older you get. You turn away in disinterest for only time can teach you how right they are. Yep, time has sped up in recent years and only partly owing to the fact I’ve been so busy.

Well, I spent the Christmas holidays and New Year slowing down as much as possible. I read but didn’t write (although I did dream up a couple more story ideas and scribbled them down). I ate but not too much. I drank, not too much. I put my feet up. I visited family. I slipped and slid in snow that melted the very next day. I came home. I visited neighbours. I jumped around like a loony playing on a Wii console and was amazed it aged me younger than my years. I relaxed as much as I could on my birthday and welcomed the new year in with ambiguous feelings, probably because I really couldn’t get my head around that number of 2010. Yesterday (Sunday) I took the decorations down and wondered how it was possible I was doing so because it felt as if I’d just put them up. The poinsettia, which was a gift from a neighbour, is the only evidence of Christmas left.

Many of us in the UK also said goodbye to David Tennant as Doctor Who and try as I might I’m not entirely sure I can give the new Doctor a chance. He’s too young for me, which must prove my age. LOL. Jon Pertwee and to some extent Tom Baker were my doctors — and for those who understand the programme, each generation has their ‘own’ doctor. David Tennant gave the show a new lease of life that I doubt anyone else can, mostly usurping the doctors of my childhood. The final episode gave him a parting line that was eloquent for the actor and us as an audience. David loved playing the doctor and didn’t want to leave although it was his decision to do so but sometimes we have to leave good things behind to move forward to better ones. Likewise, most of the audience didn’t want him to go but gone he has and the thing to do is appreciate the good things while they are there. Tennant is one of my favourite people on TV and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what he does next. I’ve also got three hours of him in Hamlet to watch.

So, new year and that often means changes. I don’t usually make new year’s resolutions but this time I have. I have in mind what I want to do writing wise, holiday-wise…and the lovely experience of spending some quiet time with the one person most important to me in this world has made me determined to make more ‘home’ time, including time to get out for some walks, do some exercise, and sit down for a good home-cooked meal now and then. I do cook, almost every day, but I want to dig into my recipe books so every other Sunday it would be nice if it was a morning of freshly brewed coffee, some home-baked bread, or a nice dinner over a bottle of wine. We’ve been so busy in recent years, writing, working, moving, decorating, dealing with the unfortunate incidents life throws at you as well as some wonderful ones, we’ve forgotten what it’s like to do those things; the simple things. This is the year I want to remember.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Oh, and take a moment’s break to visit this month’s card at jacquie lawson. It did make me laugh so, as it’s simply so true:

Wishing you all happiness and peace,
Sharon x

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I also want to say whatever your religion, creed, sexuality, age, height, weight, eye colour…or anything else that someone could use to single you out, spare a thought for a moment for the things you have to be thankful for.

Yes, I’m serious. For many in some ways this has been a bad year. For some it’s been a terrible one. The truth is every year has its good and bad moments for everyone and all of us experience some years that are better for us than others. All we hear these days on the news is complaints regarding the recession. For those who have lost their jobs or their homes then I truly feel for them. Some lost their homes and even their lives this year right here in the UK owing to flooding. In some cases, these people cannot get insurance (or insurance worth having) through no fault of their own. They pick themselves up every time and struggle on while facing ruin.

Although 2010 will be a new year, January 1st is really just another day. Every day people face financial loss, financial ruin. They also face illnesses. They face the loss of loved ones. We’re all facing climate change no matter whether we believe it’s a natural occurrence or because humans have a detrimental impact on the environment. Most of what’s wrong with the world is owing to greed and selfish motivation. Yes, I do believe that. You can trace most everything back to greed. Even war is greed for land, greed for power, greed for dominance including a dominance of faith.

But I want to talk about the recession. We are most certainly in one. There are many reasons for this, too many to mention in a short blog. Some of that recession is down to debt, including personal debt. Many have survived for so long living on credit, not because they’re at fault but because it’s become a socially acceptable standard. I’m not insulting anyone. Just stop and think for a minute. Today’s society has certain expectations and often they are unrealistic ones. I’m remembering my grandparents. My mother’s parents raised three children. They were never able to afford to buy their own home. They both worked although my grandfather was the main breadwinner. They received no such thing as child benefit. In my grandparents’ day if you had children you looked after them without help unless it came from relatives. It was the parents’ job to feed and clothe their children. The state provided an education but the parents got their children to school and bought their school uniform sometimes at great personal cost and sacrifice.

They did the best they could and they did very well with very little. My mother and her siblings would not have dreamed of demanding a Christmas present, let alone something as expensive as a computer or game console as a given. They wouldn’t have expected anything and would have been grateful for whatever they received. They were happy to receive a single item, perhaps even a single item between them.

My grandmother washed her family’s clothes by hand. She rubbed clothes over a glass scrubbing board in a bowl of soapy water, rinsed, and then wrung it through a wringer, finally hanging it out on a line to dry. In bad weather lines of washing would hang from the ceiling of the kitchen. The kitchen was often the hub of the home. It was where the main fire was for they had no such thing as central heating. The rest of the house was cold. I remember my grandfather drawing patterns in the ice on the window telling me Jack Frost had been by. If they wanted a bath they heated water on the stove to use in a tin bath they would pull in front of the fire. The toilet was an outdoor affair where in winters far worse than we see today they would have to take precautions so that their backsides didn’t stick to the seat while they sat there. This ‘in’convenience was in the back yard. It wasn’t a garden. It was mostly a concrete yard with one fenced off area where my grandfather would grow vegetables. This wasn’t a hobby; it was a requirement because they couldn’t afford not to. My grandmother would make heartwarming stews with few provisions and yet I have this vivid memory of these stews, which always contained butter beans. I loved those beans.

I know, it sounds as if I’m two hundred years old and this is some Victorian melodrama but you would be wrong. I am talking less than 40 years ago and no, my grandparents weren’t poverty-stricken or peculiar. They were normal, hard-working people. They didn’t expect much in life because they’d never ‘had’ much in life. They never had the opportunity to go abroad and having a family holiday at the seaside was an untold luxury. We’re in a recession and while I’m not belittling the ill-effects anyone has experienced, I think it’s too easy to forget that so many do not know what true hardship is. It’s too easy to forget how quickly life has changed for most of us in a very short time. People complain when they don’t have more than one holiday in a year. Television? Some houses have one in every room. My grandparents never saw television until my uncle brought one home. Theirs was one of the first houses in the street to have one because of the job my uncle did. Even then, televisions were black and white and only three channels. They were incredibly expensive. Now they are throwaway items too easily chucked out not because they’re faulty but because everyone wants the latest in technology. Mobile phones? My grandparents didn’t even have a phone. They didn’t own a car. Even when there was a bus service if they could walk the distance, they did so because buses cost money and money could always be used elsewhere. In their day, they would have been mortified to buy anything on credit and yet nowadays credit has become a way of life. I’m happy to say I know people who prefer to teach their children that if they want something they cannot always have it immediately and need to save for it.

I’m not suggesting we should want to return to such times or even look back on them fondly but I do think we have a lot to learn by them, especially the younger generations. Too many of us have been too used to a life of plenty for so long we’ve forgotten how easily such things can be stripped away from any one of us. We’ve forgotten how to be grateful. We’ve forgotten how to recognise the truly important things in life and if nothing else that is what this time of year should be used for. We should spare the time to acknowledge what we are thankful for, or should be.

I’m very pleased to announce a story acceptance for a m/m alternative history with some humour tale of one good night with a very good knight. More sometime next year but ‘A Good Knight’ will be coming to Changeling.

The 17th Annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award goes to author Jonathan Littell has won the 17th annual Bad Sex In Fiction Award, for some hilarious passages in  his novel The Kindly Ones. However, some of the sentences aren’t as good/bad as they’ve been in some years and this is a translation from the French, which can affect some meanings. It’s also difficult judging for oneself when reading these lines out of context. Read more on the book and the award at BBC News.

Cringe worthy? Spiteful? Personally, I think it would be a fun award to win and as they say, any publicity is good, although I’m not sure that’s always entirely true.

However, this year I wish to announce my own contender/winner even though it’s for a book published some years ago:

“She kept a secret spring surrounded by sweet moss, and there he was refreshed.”

And the winner is…

Stephen King for this line in his 5th Dark Tower novel ‘Wolves of the Calla’. It does read slightly better in context but made me roar with laughter so unless that was his intention (and even if it was) this has got to be a dodgy euphemism if ever I heard one. Otherwise, I love the Dark Tower series and am finally getting to read the whole thing through. Love the character of Roland but my hero is Eddie.

One thing’s for sure, I’m going to have to think more clearly when constructing such sentences.

I’ve just finished reading ‘The Book of Lost Things’ by John Connolly. Probably better known for his crime novels, this may seem a peculiar departure for the writer but if so it is one he more than adequately explains in the last quarter of the book, which is dedicated to discussing many of the underlying themes and stories that have influenced him during his life, including their origins and a delightful reintroduction to and inclusion of some of these stories themselves. He incorporates these into the book expertly and chooses a style that is very reminiscent of the rhyme and rhythm of those fairy tales that for most of us were a first introduction to story-telling.

In so doing he initially confused me, not because I failed to understand his intention but because as a writer I couldn’t see the market from a publisher’s point of view. Clearly I enjoyed it and I could envision many adults doing likewise, yet initially I could see this being a book publishers often reject as seeing ‘no market for this sort of thing’. This isn’t a book for children, although it is a book that children of a certain age could read and probably gain from reading; however, I agree with the author that an adult will likely read this in a very different light to that of a child and this makes ‘The Book of Lost Things’ perhaps one of those novels that requires re-reading at a different stage in your life, possibly for the young adult and then as a mature one. I was pleasantly surprised to come across such a book because of the writing ‘rule’ that dictates if the lead in a book is a child then it is a children’s book.

This is most definitely a book for adults to enjoy, not solely because of the surprisingly bloodthirsty content. It’s amazing how many of us forget how dark, foreboding, and just plain bloodthirsty those old fairy tales that we grew up with and loved so well actually were. I didn’t need the book’s additional sojourn through the world of fairy tales to know that in some versions of Sleeping Beauty she awakens while giving birth, or the wicked queen in Snow White is made to wear red-hot iron ’slippers’ to dance in until she dies, just as I know that in Cinderella birds fly down to pluck out her stepsisters’ eyes. Fairy tales have always held great interest for me and have influenced my work. indeed, my erotic romance ‘Rose Light’ is a retelling of ‘Cinderella’, abate one where I had to heighten sexual content to satisfy the publisher but one which I intend to one day restore to its original form for another market. So nothing about the content of Connolly’s book surprised me. I was amazed to find a book published that kept to the traditions of these stories and celebrating their content, of change, of choice, of triumphant, abate in an often gruesome way.

Ultimately the strongest depth and substance to the book is grief and loss and how it changes us, becomes a part of who we are and, like stories, influences our lives; yet overall because this is a ‘fairy tale’, it resonates in the way all good stories should.

Yep you heard me. I am not writing. That is I am but I’m not. I have many personal edits to do and other things to get done including some additions to the website but I am not writing anything new until the new year…which when you think about it isn’t that far off but it was still a difficult decision. It shouldn’t have been. I mean I still have lots to do but trying ‘not’ to write can be difficult for a writer. I had to accept though that I need some sort of break, so as we’re not going away until Christmas to visit family and I’ve had no time to read lately — no really! NO. TIME. AT. ALL. — I made a difficult decision. I would do editing. I would do other ‘writing-related’ projects but I wouldn’t write anything new.

You have no idea what a relief that decision was. I feel as if I can breathe again. I’ve got some sorting out to do in the house and I want to read and when I’m not doing that I’ll be editing and when not editing, I’ll be reading. How’s that for being decisive? Which isn’t really like me at all. There are stories calling to me but I must ignore them. I must, I must! I’m useless, aren’t I? LOL. But I’ve made myself a promise and it’s one I mean to keep.

I don’t know why I’m making such a fuss really. It’ll be January before I know and I’ll be wondering if I had a break from writing at all! And yes, I know I’ve been ‘fairly’ quiet this year but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing.

I shouldn’t be here. No, I really shouldn’t! I have so much to do. Why is it that we look forward to going away and yet when we return we at once need another holiday? I’ll tell you, it’s because there is always lots to do and when you’ve been away you’re often playing catch-up. I’m not sure there is such a thing as catch-up. I’m not sure it’s possible for me to have a day where there’s ‘nothing’ I could find to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s at work or at home, it’s always the same. You return to all the things you have to do and all the things you didn’t get done while you were away.

I have some writings to do. Not exactly ‘official’ deadlines but lines none the less, invisible, drawn in the sand. I’ve made promises to work as fast as I can and that I can keep to, although how fast is fast is all relative according to Einstein. I have things to do on my website. I have housework to catch up on. I have things to sort through. I still have many of parents’ belongings to made decisions over, things to order, more work to do in the house. So…life as normal then. Sigh. Oh…and Christmas. Yes, as much as I love decorating for Christmas there are times when a magic wand would be nice!

I am happy to report that we had a very nice week away. We went to Stratford upon Avon, otherwise known as the home of Shakespeare. We went to the theatre. We walked in the sun and the rain. We saw butterflies. We poked our heads into the quaint Shakespeare houses, had too many meals out, went shopping, visited Warwick Castle and Batsford Arboretum.

I’m equally happy to report that we’ve booked our main holiday for next year. We’ll be going to Germany via Belgium but more on that closer to the time. And maybe by then I will have ‘caught’ up with everything.