ONWARD!

It is the August Bank holiday weekend, and there are berries on the trees and a feel of autumn in the air - together with that word sitting a week away on the calendar:  

SEPTEMBER!

I rather love this time of year. I like the feel of new beginnings, of exciting things that might just happen, of possibilities. It reminds me - even after so many years - of getting things in order, of buying new stationery, of starting a brand new unblemished exercise book,

By chance, I am staring at a clean blank page today: a page of yellow paper. This is the A4 book I will be used for my "three pages a day" writing exercise, an activity taken from Julia Cameron's famous if cult-ish "The Artist's Way" approach.



Mildly taken, the practice does help me: somehow it skims the top layer of everyday worries and frets from my writing head and I start to get a clearer picture of what I should be doing. 

But just how picky can you get? I stare at that new page but I am already slightly disgruntled. Why? My last three yellow page notebooks came from Paperchase a few months back. Writing in them was a comfortable pleasure. The paper was just the right feel under the hand - slightly rough so the pen never seemed slippery - and just thick enough so that my beloved green ink did not seep through. Yes, I write my three pages with a fountain pen.


However, this new notebook - also bought from Paperchase, but with another logo - is not quite as nice. The paper is thin and very slightly shiny. The pages don't feel satisfying and I'm thinking they may not stand up to being written on both sides. I'm even wondering if by now the shop might have restocked with better book stock.


I'm also wondering if I should rename this blog "The Pedant on the Page" . . .
  
But, hey, can't stay here all day. Other things to do: house stuff, various and tech-y things to battle: see below. Although I might be tempted to finish reading THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE.

It's an adult crime novel that's an interesting blend of "I Capture the Castle" as told by an engagingly vindictive young Marple. 


Or a chemistry-obsessed Harriet Vane? Flavia de Luce, the eleven year old heroine is a cunning piece of work and all the better for it. 

Finally, sorry, yes, apologies and all that. I know this blog has been quiet for a long time, even after all my last time promises. 

I dropped into a not-very-good writing place for a while, blah, blah, blah, ignore this . . . but I also got very cross when all the blogs I love and thought I'd linked to did not - somehow - connect here. 

My own Penny Dolan blogging was meant to be an easy way of reading all sort of interesting other blogs and something blooming well did not work! Grrrr! Will I let that defeat me? Ha! Only for a six months or so . . .

But I'm back here now so all I can say, quoting A.L.Kennedy,  is ONWARD!

WORLD BOOK WEEK 2014! A BIG HELLO!

I’m creeping back to this “Diary” with some embarrassment. I often think “I must update my own blog!” or “That’d be a such good idea to blog about!”

That’s when I realise the first of a new month is coming up and my blogpost is due for Awfully Big Blog Adventure.

Or I have a book to read and a review to write for Awfully Big Reviews, maybe with a new ABR rota to compile and send out to keep the whole thing running.

Or - suddenly - it is almost mid-month so my very own post for History Girls must be done & scheduled to appear on the 17^th of the month.

Or else there's something else that uses up words urgently waiting, like a revision deadline, or a particular talk to prep, or just getting on with some real writing . . .

All of this is enjoyable stuff so, please, this isn’t a moan. However , I'm left with so little time to visit and feed - let alone primp or pamper the pages of this poor neglected Diary. 

Except for a moment like this - WORLD BOOK DAY WEEK 2014 - when I feel the need to wave to a few people and schools.

So  here's

A GREAT BIG WORLD BOOK DAY WEEK HELLO

 to everyone at 

OATLANDS INFANTS SCHOOL, 

ROECLIFFE PRIMARY SCHOOL, 

and APPLEGARTH PRIMARY SCHOOL

as well as 

SKIPTON INGS

& CHRISTCHURCH PRIMARY SCHOOLS! 

Looking forward to meeting you all soon!

Ps. I’m also looking forward to calling in to my local Delivery Office sometime tomorrow. I need to pick up the parcel that couldn’t be delivered because whoever called used the door-knocker but did not try the bell afterwards, alas!) The parcel contains my author copies of this beautiful anthology, and I’ll be back to write about it soon.

PUBLISHING MOONLIGHT!

A good diary day today, because a pretty card arrived, signed by all the lovely people of the Stripes Team, aka Little Tiger Press. Thank you, everybody! Today is the official publication day for MOONLIGHT TALES and I have written one of the ten stories. 

MOONLIGHT TALES is a "seasonal anthology". It’s a collection of stories that can be read by grown-ups to five to eight year olds but a book that can also be read by older junior (KS2) children on their own. I have written stories for several of these winter anthologies and always find it a pleasure.

For a start, wintry weather always makes for a wonderful setting, filled with uncertainties. Will it, or won’t it, snow? Will the snow bring peril or pleasure? How dangerous will the dangers be? Will everyone reach journey’s end? And will all the preparations - for whatever kind of feast or event – be done on time? It’s also a season where a writer can include moments of beauty or delight or kindly feelings.

 However, as a writer, there’s also the fun of not knowing what the other stories will be. You know there will be this or that animal. Early on, when you send in an idea or two, the editor will tell you that “owls” or “kittens” have been taken so could you go for your other suggestion. 

But even then, you don’t know what genre that other animal’s story will become. A real-life story? An animal fantasy? A retelling of a tale or legend?  Or more? (No need to be afraid: these collections never include horror and I can’t recall any ghosts either.) While I'm writing the story, I remember the bright faces of the seven and eight year olds I meet on school visits, all eager to tell me about their pets and favourite animals.

There’s a second kind of curiosity about the finished anthology. Being included in these winter anthologies feels like being at a secret party: each anthology will have stories written by authors that I know. 

As soon as my author copies of MOONLIGHT TALES arrived about a fortnight ago, I turned to the index and looked down the list of names.  

Aha! I spot Linda Chapman, Caroline Pitcher, and quite a few more.  

Not very, very, very best friends, of course, or I’d have known they were working on the anthology already, wouldn't I? 

But certainly really nice writing friends that I meet once or twice a year, and sometimes email. Now I can discover how they angled their story and what animals they choose. What a pleasure!

Finally, there's one last thing that makes writing for these anthologies such a delight. The stories are rarely specifically "Christmas" tales, in a religious sense, but the anthology is probably bought for children around this time.

So I like to imagine MOONLIGHT TALES  - with my very own story, hooray! – being posted to faraway young relatives, or given to nieces or nephew or grandchildren or next-door neighbour’s children. I think about the anthology being slipped into stockings or pillowcases as an extra surprise on the Big Morning.

I do know MOONLIGHT TALES won’t be the Most Stupendous Gift Ever but I do like to muse on the book bringing its own precious reading moments. I imagine the stories being read to calm a child after a too-busy day, or the book being used as a read-together after hours of screen-time, or a one-more-story alongside a mug of hot chocolate after a winter walk.

MOONLIGHT TALES won’t bring me writing glory. But being part of something nice to enjoy when all the fuss of the holiday is over? That’s fine by me.

SURE AS EGGS IS EGGS! The Story of a School Visit

Ah well, Bank Holiday Monday’s over and done. My head and notebook are still full of everything I saw when I was visiting London last week. But that’s for another post..

Instead because the Big Back to School Week is almost here, I’m looking at diaries. So this post seems a good space to mention the good eggs.  

Eggs?

Yes, eggs!  Read on!

 I rarely write in detail about any schools I've visited as an author - for a mix of reasons - but I've decided I must use this resurrected blog to tell you about the good egg school, and how very pleased and hopeful that author visit made me! 

For a start, the school buzzed with busy, happy learning. It was a village school, tucked deep within the Yorkshire Moors. Sounds idyllic?  Yes, but rural schools can have their own particular problems. Village school children often return to isolated homes, where they spend long hours on video-games or in front of the tv or computer. A child’s only company may be their siblings. Busy working parents may not have time, travel-time or money for the range of outings possible in cities. Additionally, rural children may grow up meeting very few people outside their own small and remote community, yet that is unlikely to be where their twenty-first century life will lead them, or even their secondary school years.

Yet, because this particular school recognised the need for enrichment, for widening the children’s interests and experiences, they involved the children in music, art and craft. They brought in all sorts of speakers and activities. This school staff chose to give their children the real experiences – not just “interactive white-board experiences” - of the wider world. 

Each year, the children were taken to the theatre in the nearest seaside town and the oldest children went down to London by train for an overnight stay. The staff saw such outings as a way of developing the children’s future independence and knowledge.

During the school day, as I was rather busy, I didn't have much time for idle observation. However, I did see something I haven’t seen for years: school pets! Happy school pets. Those three guinea pigs were the most charming, socialised and well-cared-for pets I’ve ever met, totally comfortable in the children’s arms.. I think I heard rumours of giant snails elsewhere, but I didn’t go searching . . .

Now for the main thing! What I really want to mention was their whole-school initiative., known as "Forest School.” You can find out about it, in general, here at the The Forest School Association

Each term, every school year group makes visits to a designated wooded area nearby, and follows a seasonal programme. This was not just a lazy walk in the woods. During their primary years the children would be involved with such activities as:

Story-making

Constructing “fairy houses”.

Identifying natural materials

Story boarding using natural materials

Using natural materials to make art.

Tracking in small groups.

Studying the living creatures and animal inhabitants.
Constructing dens

Constructing experiments

Identifying plants and trees

Studying maps and landscape features

Cooking outdoors, from marshmallow kebabs to making and lighting fires.

Reading Books, both non-fiction and fiction, on related topics - from the Gruffalo to Stig of the Dump..

Record-keeping, as well as various forms of account and diary writing.
And real LOG BOOKS – made of split logs, string and laminated paper entries.

Wish I could have taken a picture.
And there was much more I didn’t have time to find out about. 
Think amplified Andy Goldsworthy with much much more attached!

What I particularly noticed was the effect on the children’s body language and behaviour. The children seemed friendly, confident and generally at ease within the school and classrooms. They did not seem to jostle for territorial space and for teacher’s attention. They did not “agg” each other. They did not seem full of stress..

When I commented on this, the teacher explained that the Forest School programme gave children opportunities to show and value a wide range of skills and abilities, far more than those required by a restricted classroom setting. I also felt, as the day went on, that the Forest School fitted in with the school’s whole philosophy of education.

Certainly, such stuff costs, so the school is constantly fund raising to help the pupils. I felt very honoured to be the chosen “author experience”, and hope the children and staff enjoyed the sessions as much as I did. It is also a brave stand at a time when many schools are cutting out anything but OFSTED requirements - yet this programme had been closely matched against those needs. Yes, it was a very very good day!

Over lunchtime, I watched the children playing in “their” field and clambering on the climbing frames. I was told about the school garden and observed the fat brown hens running about in their grassy pen. I must admit it was wonderful to be there, and I almost wished I wasn’t working just to spend more time observing and finding out about this hopeful style of education. 

However, teachers, school staff - and children - are all busy people and the day passed and as I left I was presented with a dozen eggs, laid by the school’s hens.

And over the next few days, as those twelve good eggs turned into an omelette and more, they reminded me of a really cheering day, one that I’m smiling about again right now.

Wishing you all a good September,

Best wishes

Penny

PS.. Rather sadly, I’ve heard of urban schools who might have been just as interested if their nearest woodland hadn’t been dangerously full of drug-taking detritus and similar health hazards. So very, very sad! Nevertheless, it’s good to share the happy stories too, despite everything.

HELLO AGAIN!

Yes, hello again! 

Now my holiday's over, I’ve checked my diary - and it's mid-August already. It's almost SEPTEMBER 2013, and the start of the new school year. 

Suddenly I feel a shudder of anticipation, a tingle of tension.

Suddenly I feel an odd need to rush out and find a new geometry set, one with all its plastic pieces and a working compass and a pencil with what seems like poor quality lead for drawing with, or so it seems.

 
  

Even though I haven’t used a geometry set for decades, and may not have been able to, even then.
 
The glorious end of August teases with its Bank Holiday weekend, but the days call for urgent positive action. Yes, come on, come on, you!  Hurry up! The lazy days are almost over!
 
This is a time to take stock, to get organised, to make plans for the year ahead.  The days grow bracing, invigorating and purposeful, and so on. If you let them.

I admit that I enjoy this fortnight almost as much as I enjoy January's New Year. It's a time for pretending that the purchase of new stationery will bring a whole personality change.A time for hoping that the emptying of cupboards and re-ordering of filing cabinets might bring a clear, creative, psychic space. These are days when one can half-believe in the resurrection of dreams and intentions. 

So, in this cheery postive spirit, I dared to glimpse at my long-ignored Penny Dolan Diary once again. Aaaagh! I saw a Silent Blog, an Unattended Page, the Very Ghost of a Social Presence. How had so much time passed?

If this was a real world diary, I could blow away dust and dried-up spider skins and maybe a crushed petal or two. But the blogosphere doesn’t carry such mementos, not yet. Yet the diary’s pages are opened, and here I am, staring at the blank screen again. 

I haven’t been totally idle, people. I’ve been busy with writerly projects and visiting various schools, from Stockton to Sussex. 

I’ve even spent time away in India, storytelling and talking about books at the wonderful Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival in Delhi. 

I’ve been blogging elsewhere, too: posting on the History Girls blog, writing for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure.

 


I've been looking after the rota for Awfully Big Reviews, ABBA’s partner blog, and reviewing there, of course. Not totally silent, not quite.


But now I’m back here, standing in my uncomfortable new start-of-term shoes, with some hopes of getting the Penny Dolan's Diary rolling again, even if in a rather random way - so watch out for a few thoughts, grumblings and mumblings.

As a few good friends often say: "Onward!"

WORLD BOOK DAY GREETINGS!

I am currently rethinking this old blog of mine but will not bore you here. However, before the big and as yet unknown shift, I want to say hello to some of the lovely people and places visited over the last month and a bit.













So here – ta –da! - are the hugest of greetings to everyone at:

Armley Library!

Farley Junior School, Leeds!

Christ Church Primary School, Upper Armley, Leeds!

Waterloo Primary School, Pudsey!

Holy Trinity Primary School, Cookridge!

Barmby Moor Primary, Pocklington!

Bolton-on-Swale St Mary’s Primary School, Scorton, Richmond!

St Roberts Catholic Primary School, Harrogate!

St James Primary School, Allerton, Bradford!

I've had lots of nice World Book Day times and hope you all did too. Thank you for welcoming me, looking after me – and I hope you enjoy my books too.

Happy Reading!

www.pennydolan.com

Musing and Ranting: The Bright Light of Technology?

“Use Powerpoint!” That was what I’d heard from so many people: writers, teachers, artists and various publicity people.

So I set to work. I collected an interesting set of images to act as background to some of the moments in my book, A BOY CALLED M.O.U.S.E.

The set included photographs old and new, landscapes and people, coloured pictures and black & white drawings. A whole variety of visual images, in fact. I wanted to illustrate, through the range of source material, how many different moments can be gathered together to inspire a book and to show that these were mine.

When I talk about my book, I don’t – honestly! - just show the slides and drone on. And on. I stop to ask questions and involve the children. I narrate some parts of the novel and read short extracts most dramatically. If there’s time, I play a game or two. When the whole thing works clearly - and it has, it has - the sessions are very good.

However, when - once or twice - this hasn’t worked, the feeling of disappointment is for more than myself. I get cross too, especially as the “not-working” has never been because of a faulty memory stick or problems with the computer itself. It’s been a problem that I hadn’t expected, not in schools now, and it has inspired this rant: the quality of the available light

Travelling around, even with advance notice to the organisers, I have at times ended up with projector lamps and lenses so grimy with age that any subtle or complex images seem faint. How do the schools and the pupils manage, now that so much is done via the interactive white-board? Is this wealth creation for the opticians?

I an sure this is definitely not the bright white light of technology. It is the ageing, uncared-for end when the projector beam seems to be drenched with nicotine.

Not only but also there is the matter of the screens. How they vary! I have met vast wonderful double-screen systems as well as some opposites: a narrow section of grubby off-pink wall or a screen made up of paper taped together. And this is without any conflict caused by daylight streaming directly in to the space.

Get a mix of these factors – say, a dim light plus a tiny blemished screen and a large dining hall and the Powerpoint just doesn’t work. It is not wonderful. My carefully illustrative images end up too faded for the audience to see. This is not quite the cutting edge of modern technological provision I’d expected.

Add in another few crinkles in the circumstances. Now I once believed that the organisers know and understand the space they have given me, as the venue may not be free for me to enter until the last moment. This can be when the technology person rushes in to set things up and I glimpse something of what my audience will be facing on the “big” - not the laptop - screen. It can also be the moment when the eager audience is arriving and the point when the Show Must Go On.

When there’s clear, bright light projected and a good wide screen ahead, my collection of images works very well. When there isn’t, both heart and eyes fail.

I have had the wit, at such times, to revert to Plan B and step out of the Powerpoint. Yet it’s not always easy to slip in a flash of light from a talk with a fixed running order into the freer form of author talk.

But, unless those bright lights start shining, it’s back to my old, bold style of session I’m heading.