The View From Here - Best Weblog Awards 2008

To end on a high note, The View From Here Magazine, the literary blog to which I have regularly contributed news and features over the last quarter of 2008, is shortlisted for the 2008 Best Weblog Awards.

It made the final ten in the 'Best UK Blog' category. Other blogs in this category include, Melanie Philips from the Spectator, Created in Birmingham which last year won the MediaGuardian Award and Neil Clark .

(Update: Jan 15, 2009 - TVFH came sixth, in the category Best UK Blog 2008.)

Fellow contributor, Kathleen Maher, is further shortlisted alongside the likes of Neil Gaiman and Nathan Bransford, in the best literary blogs category.

Voting is just a two-click process - no registration required. First click on the link, then click on the voting buttons for the poll in which you wish to vote. The polls are open through January 12. You can vote once every 24 hours! To read more about the contest and other notable entrants, click here.

Monday news: 85th post and time for Reflection

I have reached my 85th post today, since I began in March. As we come to the end of 2008 and approach the start of a new year, I have paused for reflection. I have come to the conclusion that the more I blog, the less I write. The more time I spend reading and learning from other writers, the less I spend reading my stack of books-to-be-read. So, I have decided to take my leave of the active writing-blogging community, and say a big thank you to all those who have read and commented, encouraged and informed me, in my brief foray in blogging. I don't intend this to be a negative decision, against blogging in any way. Much more it is a positive affirmation, that I want to write other material. The Amateur Book Blogger's scrapbook is just being temporarily shelved.

As the book quiz result told me, "All you wanted was a nice cup of tea when some haggard crazy old man came into your life and told you it was time to do something with yourself. Now you’re all conflicted about whether to stick with your stay-at-home lifestyle or follow this crazy person into the wild." So I'm off into the wild.

I'll continue to follow many of your sites, news and keep up to date with many of the goings-on of the literary world, through new found friends and resources, but not blog myself. This will give me a little more time, which I want to commit to my own writing.

It's been a very difficult debate - on the one hand, by blogging I write something, regularly. And I have the opportunity for feedback and sharing with other writers. But on the other, as a full-time Mum, I have very limited time for writing. I have increasingly felt my first call of writing-duty was to blog, and if that was the only time I had writing in the day, then I made no progress on other projects.

My WIP fiction, is at around 40,000 words. And has been like that since March. The time has come to get back in and finish it. And it is thanks to Mike French, Paul Burman, Patricia Wood, Becky Ramsey and many others whose own writing and energy have inspired me, that I want to drive it over the finish line. It will more than likely become that 'first novel' which lies in a desk drawer and backed up on the hard drive, never to see the light of an editor's desk. But I know that I must complete that first book, before I can get started on number two. And however many more it takes, to get published. Because, as I approach my mid-thirties, and the start of a new year, I realise that every day is a gift. We have no idea how long we have in good health, and if we have dreams we want to achieve, we'd better get on and make them happen. No one else can do it for us.

Still plenty of great reading over at The View From Here. Currently my news holiday postings include guest posts from Becky Ramsey, John Siddique, Jonathan Stroud and MG Harris. Plus a tentative yes, from Bernard Cornwell. These, plus other new books and stories make up the Twelve Days of Christmas Series. And the team's favourite books of 2008 are posted too, on the main page. Certain to be lots of interesting things going on in 2009 there for sure.

What's going to happen in publishing in 2009? Daisy Frost has a great tongue in cheek view of the London scene. I'll be interested to see what happens to the Plastic Logic Reader, Kindle & co and digital books. What will happen to Borders? Will the Google Book Agreement go global? Will there be significant publishing house restructurings or mergers? Will the no-returns policy finally be phased out? What will China showcase at the Frankfurt Book Fair?

So, it's not goodbye, for I will still be around. More of an "Auf Wiedersehen". A very big thank you to all who have stopped by over the last nine months. And a very happy & healthy 2009 to you all.

Book Quiz Fun

This is just too good not to try.

Lizzy’s Literary Life pointed out this great six question quiz, which then defines you (I know, labels, boxes, and so on, but it's just for fun) as a book.

Apparently, I’m The Hobbit! by J.R.R. Tolkien.

"All you wanted was a nice cup of tea when some haggard crazy old man came into your life and told you it was time to do something with yourself. Now you’re all conflicted about whether to stick with your stay-at-home lifestyle or follow this crazy person into the wild. While you’re very short and a little furry, you seem to be surrounded by an even greater quantity of short folks lately. Try not to lose your ring, but keep its value in perspective!"

So true right now. I wonder if all the books would fit somehow, but perhaps not, as I can't really feel the same empathy with 'You’re The Things They Carried' by Tim O'Brian, or Lewis Carroll's 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.'

Just for fun.

Seven Fun Facts - About Me

Stella tagged me, so here's my seven fun facts, why not? Mind you, fun is relative, and so since I've never done this before, I'll not try too hard to be funny, just not too serious.

1. I'm the same star sign as Mark Twain and JFK.
2. James Anderson, the first man to lay transatlantic cables in 1866, was born in 1824 in the same town as I was.
3. I am thirteen centimeters shorter than Jennifer Lopez.
4. I love Christmas pudding with custard. This is an exciting month for me.
5. One of my all time favourite fictional characters likes nothing better to eat than snozzcumbers.
6. My husband is six inches taller than Bjorn Borg, doesn't play tennis, but has the same nationality.
7. I'm a Mum of two and a third. (WIP)

Book Club Bonanza - Lottery with Patricia Wood

Aloha! So last night was our Book Club's meeting about "Lottery". And the author, Patricia Wood, joined us from Hawaii via skype video conference, to talk about writing the book, its themes, answer and discuss our questions, and share a privileged sneak preview to the prologue of her new book on the way.

At the risk of sounding too fawning, we all thought it was wonderful. Thank you to Pat for taking the time and effort to talk to us, and in her words, "completing the circle" of her book writing process, having reader feedback."You have an idea how you want people to feel when they read it. You can't create art in a vacuum. To have the dialogue, between author and reader, there is nothing greater."

The book addresses a broad range of themes, society's values and prejudice, and the power of unconditional love, narrated from the unreliable point of view, of thirty-two year old Perry, whose IQ is 76. "You have to have an IQ of less than 75 to be retarded. " The story centres on what happens to him, how he is perceived by others and the decisions he makes, after the key catalysts that trigger the action-packed story: his Gram dies and he wins twelve million dollars in the State Lottery. It's funny, it's sad, serious and easy reading. But don't let that fool you into thinking it's insubstantial. The more you delve into the relationships between the characters and Perry's perception of them and theirs of him, you are forced to examine your own prejudices and values. The relationships are all beautifully crafted, authentic and serve to make us question: What weighting to we give to intelligence, beauty and wealth? What do we value in life? What makes a family? "My name is Perry L. Crandall and I am not retarded. Gram always told me the L stood for lucky."

Well last night, we were the lucky ones, to have access to Pat's insights, wisdom and humour for an hour. Her friendly, open manner made everyone feel at ease and able to speak, despite our initial nervousness before the call - "the author herself (stunned silence), what will we say, will we ask daft questions, she'll have heard it all before, maybe I should have re-read it again, what about that bit about..." all unfounded. Afterwards, we all agreed she ranks high up on the list of people we'd love to share a drink and a chat with, and you could talk about anything.

So, with that in mind, here's a thank you toast. " May your success be as deep as the ocean, and your troubles as light as its foam."

Thursday thought: Book Reading on Decline in Germany

Youth and adults alike are reading less, reported the study by the Stiftung Lesen in Germany today. It is the third such study, carried out by researchers since 1992, of the reading habits of more than 2,500 people over 14 years of age.

Eight years ago almost 1 in 3 read between eleven and fifty books per year, now it's only 1 in 4. Stefan Aufenanger, the scientific director of the Stiftung Lesen, spoke of the "disappearing opportunist reader".

What remains almost unchanged, are the extremes: the number who read zero books remained steady at a staggering twenty-five percent. Three percent manage more than fifty books per year. It's the middle band of average readers, which has declined.

Despite the fact that more people indicated they felt reading was 'important' it seems to be missing for many from an early age. Forty-five percent of 14-19 year olds, say they never received a book as a gift as a child. in 1992, seventy-two percent said they had.

The number of books per household has also fallen.

What is interesting to me, was the stronger emphasis in non-German native households on reading. Thirty-six percent read a book once or frequently a week, eleven percent daily. " German migrants form a new reading 'middle-class' with a significant education potential", summarized Andreas Storm, Parliamentary secretary for Education and research.

My Thursday thoughts: I wonder what impact audio books has had, and whether they were included in the study, or whether it refers only to hard copies? And if only paper formats, who is reading what? I wonder if it reflects other countries' reading trends?

What's Up Doc?

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon...

Whilst the Christmas preparations have moved up a gear, my writing slots have become fewer and further between, so apologies for the long absence.

I'm cheered to see The Bookseller report that the UK book trade enjoyed its busiest week of the year last week, with sales passing £50m for the first time, as retailers report what was described as a "genuine uplift" in trading.

However, the tale at HMH seems to have taken on a twist, following the widely report hold on adult fiction acquisitions, the senior vice president and publisher of adult trade books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has resigned.

As I've spent much of the last week preparing advent calendars for friends and family, I enjoyed a laugh at the literary stocking fillers over at Vulpes Libris.

I've also had some family time which included watching the film of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the first time. I'm interested to see the documentary reported by The Guardian coming up in 2009, which claims to reveal a new third level of meaning hidden in Lewis's writing, medieval cosmology. "This is a piece of Lewis which has remained untouched for 60 years – it blows the dust off, brings him into the light of day with Dawkins and the neo-atheists Pullman and Hitchens," he said. "It's fresh Lewis, as if he was standing up in the debating chair saying 'this is my worldview'. Lewis's stance was incredibly different to that pushed by [today's] bleak populist view."

Although December will be a down month for me, whilst I manage the home front, I just want to share what was in my post box today all the way from Australia. Two discs of exciting ideas for an upcoming book trailer I might be involved in making in early 2009...watch this space.