What's In A Name

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet (though I am not sure Romeo would have smelled all that sweet what with all the running around and so on he did, no matter what he was called), but our Dragon painting needs a name. And he will be just as awesome, yes, not matter the name, as will his friend, the girl who would rather be out on the moors with him than back at home (a role model for all of us), but still... a name AT ALL will make him easier to talk about.

My husband wants to call this painting 'Bob', which is, of course, a classic which must be seriously considered. However, if you have a different, less Bob-related name, then wander over to the Random Writers Facebook page, or to the Randon Writers  twitter, and suggest it by the end of Thursday 6th August. Not only can you name a dragon (a rare honour) or at least a painting of him, but you could get a mention in the acknowledgements of our anthology. It is just one step down from being made immortal.

Something Rich and Strange

You may remember that the Random Writers, or RASSSA (because why not make your group name into something that sounds like it should work with S.H.I.E.L.D. or The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?), put out an anthology a while back. 

A Seeming Glass was fun, albeit the kind of fun where it is hard and tiring and Matt and Jules both wailed 'Never again!' many, many times. So, naturally, our next anthology should be out at the end of this month. 

This one is called Something Rich and Strange and the cover reveal is up on the site now. It has been painted by Mat Sadler, a wonderful artist who Jules and I met and befriended at Uni in Welshy Wales, amongst drinking and karate and wondering how one place could contain so much rain.

It's been marvellous seeing the painting come along, and Mat has created a video of the process. Even more exciting for me is the fact that it is based on my story for the anthology, 'Walls'. 

You can even buy a signed print. I'm certainly getting one. In fact, I've ordered it already. Given that when I asked Mat to illustrate my last anthology story for me it set him off on the process of buying new painting tablets and changing his career officially to 'illustrator', I feel I should tell everyone about this. Also, it is a great painting. (And if I am claiming too much responsibility for Mat being so active with his illustration work these days, don't tell me. Just let me feel smug...)

In any case, this anthology is based around the idea that the ending of a fairy tale is really just the beginning. Or of an historical event. Or of a legend. Or of... Well, anything is really just a beginning, so we have taken various examples and written what happens later. 

Did I mention I'm excited? Because I am. :)

Flash

Last week, J. A. Ironside sent me a link to a blog which celebrates Flash Fiction. She'd entered a piece and suggested I give it a go. She also posted the link on our writing website, and a flood of fellow writing types poured entries, all under 500 words, into the people asking for submissions.

Well, today is National Flash Fiction day, and the pieces are being posted throughout the day. Mine is here, with a slew of good ones are. 

Check them out.

They show a huge range of topics, styles and themes. Some have got it down to much fewer than 500 words, which is, frankly, astounding to me and my long, sprawling prose. My piece for our next RASSSA anthology is a great deal longer than any of these! 

I could start blogs by exclaiming how long it has been since I blogged, but with the way my work-life takes over, I will be starting most blogs that way and it seems like impending repetition. Instead, I will, from the next blog, start by launching right in as though I have not missed a day of posting. It's the way I start many conversations - some part of me being sure that telepathy is a thing and everyone know the discussion I have been having in my head.

So, (and I can start that way, because I am not writing a piece for an English GCSE exam, so there) I went for a walk up a mountain today. It wasn't the intention. We are in the Lakes on holiday and we did mean to go for a walk - we didn't actually fall out of the door and accidentally take three collies out. Okay, two collies and a collie-cross (possibly - no-one is quite sure and she isn't telling). We meant to go for a couple of hours round the base of Blencathra.

It's just...we listened to some music from Skyrim before we set off, so we were already primed to see a track leading off up a hill and be overcome by an intense need to follow it.

I have to admit, I was not expecting the scrabbling or the snow.

At one point, we considered bouncing from side to side to see if that got us straight up the mountain, but on balance we decided we should stick to walking. Another time, I was certain we had come to the edge of the map, as I was stepping but not getting anywhere, what with how steep the scree slope disguised as a path was.

Sadly, we did not find any caves full of treasure.

We did make it to the tarn and got to watch my middle dog, the white and black border collie with a tail like a banner, go fishing for rocks. Usually, he loves people to throw things in for his, so he can swim out and catch them. As he generally accompanies this with high-pitched barks, and other people were climbing up Sharp Edge, not looking especially like they wanted to fall to their deaths at an unexpectedly sharp bark, we elected to leave him wading about by himself. He spent most of his time with his head under water, bringing out bigger and bigger rocks.

He did bark once. It echoed. A more impressive bark form him I have never heard. (No-one fell, so it was all good.)

My black and white border collie spent a fair bit of his time waiting for me to throw a ball from the ball-thrower - the ball-thrower we had not taken with us. The rest of the time, he spent gazing at sheep on other hills or guarding the back-pack from...I am assuming invisible spirits.

If we had turned back when we meant to, we would have missed all of that.