Basking in praise

Today, I finally got my notification from the Winchester Writing Festival of my second prize in the First Three Pages of a Novel Competition.

I now have a catalogue of Piatkus books and can choose £50 worth. I’ll browse over that during the weekend. I also have a certificate, though it’s in the name of Jackie Luben. It should really be Jacquelynn, as because of its individuality, its my ‘brand’. However, I suppose that’s the problem with me mainly using the short form. Best of all though, is the critique from Adrienne Dines – coincidentally, her first name is the name of one of my important characters – and the comment from an editor at Piatkus. Believe it or not, I didn’t go in for this competition thinking I would win anything. I did it because on the basis of a critique I got a couple of years ago of one of my short stories, I made changes and submitted the story to a competition at Radio Southern Counties. It became one of the finalists, was recorded and won me £200, which I was delighted about. I am still awaiting the short stories I sent, to work on them.

However, let me indulge myself by quoting from the words of praise from the Piatkus editor and Adrienne Dines.

Piatkus (publishers):
‘You have an engaging narrative voice, and I was immediately drawn into the story. I though your writing was very clear and the pacing just right, and your ability to create an appropriate atmosphere was very impressive.’

Adrienne Dines (author):
‘This is a popular type of story – the unfolding of family secrets – and I wondered when I read the synopsis if the writer would be able to carry it off. There is an amount of travelling into the past, which if not carried out successfully, can leave readers frustrated and confused.

However, my fears were allayed on reading how Lady M (my pseudonym) handles the first three pages. We are brought right into the scene and the atmosphere is skilfully built, humming with suspense. Her physical descriptions of the house and its atmosphere are detailed – evocative images and well-chosen vocabulary. I particularly like the way this writer varies her sentence length to keep the pace just right.

Setting the story between Surrey and the West Country with an American heroine gives the novel broad appeal.
This writing is confident and I can see Tainted Tree being a page-turner if she can keep it up.’

Isn’t that nice?

Well back to other happenings.

The footpath has now been closed, 100 yards from where I live. Fortunately, they’re still letting us in and out. A few posts ago, I gave the Pirbright laboratory an incorrect name. It is actually the Animal Health Institute. From my limited knowledge – having friends who’ve worked there, over the years – they are very careful and people have to shower before they go out. My brother in law, who used to trouble-shoot computers there, said it was an absolute pain if you accidentally left something in the car, which you later needed. A shower was necessary on the way out, and then, of course, a second one, when the job was finished. They had the cleanest workers imaginable.

The Range Rover has gone. I think it’s going to be cannibalised for spare parts, which is a well-deserved fate for it. Instead we have this nice neat turquoise (or maybe it’s pale blue) van with a little light on top, so that M can pretend to be important and on a mission somewhere when he drives it. The garage who sold it to him have put compartments in the back, for plumbing gear, electrical, etc. This is presumably in the hope that he will start to develop orderly habits. But I wouldn’t put much faith in that. It will soon go the way of former vehicles. I may even give it a little warning – that its life of being cared for and nurtured is now over.