12 September
SfEP conference 2018
It rained all the way down to Lancaster on Saturday; it rained all the way back to Ayr on Monday - plus it was pitch dark - but in between the days were made bright and cheerful by the SfEP annual conference. No, let me be more accurate. By the people attending the SfEP conference. This was my first conference for about five years where I was not attending as a director. It was certainly less stressful as a result. I even enjoyed being at the AGM for a change. It was good to catch up with the office ladies; and with the council members; and with several folk that I only ever get to see once a year - at conference. And of course I meet some new people... who I probably won’t get to see until next conference. But the SfEP conference is all about the people who are there, all happily chatting about commas, full stops, cricket... well, I was, anyway. Also, while I was there, my daughter-in-law produced twins, so my grandchild total has tripled. I’d better do a separate post about that, or I’ll be in trouble. As usual, the conference workshops and seminars were well constructed and presented. I was particularly impressed with Maya Berger and her session on erotic editing: not just the content, but keeping control of a room of slightly embarrassed giggling adults. And John Espirian’s session on LinkedIn has revitalised my plans to set up on the platform. One day. Finally, some kind people bought As They Grow Older, which you can find out more about by clicking on the writing links elsewhere on this site. Thanks to all of you. I hope you enjoy the stories and/or give me some feedback! See you all next year.
28 July
SfEP Guide
I stood down as an SfEP director last year. I thought I’d done my bit, getting all the online courses going and bringing in lots of fee income as a result. But almost as soon as the annual conference was over and I was free!… ha! ha!… free!... I was asked if I’d write an SfEP Guide on Proofreading Theses and Dissertations. So I did. It’s all done now. It’s printed and available on the SfEP (now CIEP) website. Fame, but no fortune.
21 July
Wanderings
At long last I have decided to collect the best of my short stories into a collection. Working title = Wanderings. While writing the introduction to this putative volume, I was vaguely surprised to realise that the collection will span some forty years of writing, beginning with ‘Waiting for Breakfast’, which I wrote in 1973, and finishing with ‘The Thirteenth Shelf’, which I wrote in 2017, and which was published in Supernatural Tales in 2018. No doubt I will make it available on Lulu and on my online bookshop in due course. probably next year. Watch this space!
18 July
Scottish Summer Meet
We are not long back from Aberdeen, where Dylan competed in the Scottish Summer Meet, a national competition to which you have to be invited - and to be invited, you have to be in the top 20 (in your age group) for whatever race you are competing in. Dylan was invited to seven races, and competed in six. His target was to reach one final: in the event he reached five finals and won a bronze medal. It was a well-organised event, and for the finals sessions, swimmers were introduced individually. Here’s the proof, and another photo to prove that Ivy and Iwere there:
08 July
Catching up
I realise to my horror that I’ve been so busy proofreading and editing that my site has got sadly out of date. I’m trying to put that right now. There’s a lot going on over the next couple of months (July and August 2018) and I’ve deliberately reduced my editing intake; I plan to update the site and get on with various tasks connected with my writing. More about all that later. What’s happening over the next couple of months? Well, we are taking Dylan up to Aberdeen where he will be competing in the Scottish National Summer Meet. Only the top 20 (for each race, in each age group) in Scotland are invited to attend, and he had invitations for seven races altogether. He’ll be competing in at least four of them, so that’s another blog coming up. After that we go down to London for a few days, mainly to see Phantom of the Opera. Ivy and I saw it more than a decade ago, but for Dylan it will be a new experience. Another blog, methinks. And then at the end of July Ivy’s younger brother, his wife and two children are coming over from China to visit. They’ve never been to the UK before, so they’re planning all sorts of trips. Speaking of which, I ought to write a short note about Mao Mao, Ivy’s niece. I’ll put it on my to-do list.
