Lago d’Orta, Piemonte

A golden afternoon, light shimmering on the water.
Our post-prandial stroll arrested by the view -
A line of pontoons staple the lake to the shore,
Ancient forested mountains loom vertiginously,
And patches of terracotta dwellings
Huddle round tall bell towers.

You swim, I watch.
Easing your way from the warm shallows to deeper water,
Your pale skin stark against the inky green depths.
With a flick of your legs you dive underneath,
Bubbles wobble to the surface and break.
Later, stretched out to dry, droplets from your hair spot the sun-bleached wood.

That day, on the shore of the Lago d'Orta,
We were held by the warmth of the sun,
Soothed by the rhythmic slap of gentle waves,
Mesmerised by the movement of light on water.
It was still and calm,
We were restored.

Darjeeling Darling

‘Cup of tea?’

Please, and make it with loving laughter.

The ease of dusty sweepings I don’t deny,

A bag tossed carelessly into tepid water

And stirred to thickness with sweetened milk.

But are we not New Age tea drinkers, you and I?

‘We are. For you, I will make posh tea.

I will fly to Darjeeling,

Swoop down from an icy ridge,

To alight on a distant continent

Like a crested migrant on a burnished bush.

I will buy a golden packet, neatly folded, tied with string,

From the youngest estate, rare and tender,

And brew for you the choicest summer flush.’

You go.

I fill the kettle, remembering your exquisite flavour.

Yours is a light perfume, your leaves palm-rolled,

Best relished pure.

Beauty is soaked deep into your fabric,

Like tannin on a teacloth.

Will I taste your golden tips, unclouded?

Will I quench my thirst from your tender cups?

Will I drink again your heady muscatel brew,

Scalding my tongue on your boiling heat?

Here’s why you must return with tea in your luggage:

In truth it’s not the first flush, nor the second,

Not even the languid longing of oolong;

But when we age together,

The heart remains young.

Avoiding milk and sugar we will live forever

Cured of all fears,

Guarded by the ceremony of pot and leaves.

The idea for a poem can come from anywhere. On this occasion, it was the extravagant language on a packet of tea.

Andrew Shephard

The Story of Darkstone - Dave Rigby

The title – Darkstone - came to me first.

What I had in mind was something mysterious, something set a few years in the future, something about a powerful security service… I’d started writing fiction just after I retired. I had to unlearn my report-writing habits and think about plots, characters and dialogue. Two creative writing courses helped me greatly and the first short stories began to appear on my laptop.

Short stories gradually became longer stories. I wrote a couple of these before I had the Darkstone idea. When I started writing it in 2013, I had a rough plot in my head and a few character outlines. I never do much planning. I’m always eager, probably too eager, to start writing. The plot developed, more characters were added and I began to feel I might actually finish the book.

I’m a regular at the Yorkshire Writers’ Lunch, weekly sessions held in a Huddersfield café. We’re a group of writers who are, or have been, involved in Gale Barker’s creative writing courses. We talk about our writing, about reading, about trips and holidays, food and drink. When I mentioned Darkstone, people in the group asked me what I was going to do with it, once it was finished. I told them I hadn’t really thought about it, but I didn’t get away with this answer for long. Someone mentioned self-publishing, which I’d vaguely heard of, but knew little about.

So I decided to attend a self-publishing conference in March 2014. By this time I’d finished writing and editing Darkstone. The conference was organised by publishers Troubador, who do a lot of self-publishing work under their Matador name. That day spent in Leicester told me what I needed to know, in order to set off down the DIY publishing route. When I reported back to the Writers’ Lunch Group, they asked me when I was going to get started. I was hesitant. Then, Emma, one of our Group members, very generously offered to copy-edit and proof read the book for me.

This was just the stimulus I needed. She sent me a copy of the Darkstone manuscript highlighting her suggested changes. I spent a good while going through these and learning more about ‘show and tell’, ‘foreshadowing’ and ‘point of view’ in the process. At first it was difficult to respond to these comments. I asked myself - what was wrong with the original?  But I quickly realised just how helpful it was to have this objective viewpoint. Once I’d incorporated the changes, I re-read the book again, hunting for any stray errors that might have escaped our combined scrutiny. 

It was time to get a self-publisher lined up. I requested quotes from two firms – Troubador, as I already knew something about them and another firm, whose details I’d read about in Writing Magazine. Troubador provided the lower price and I made my choice.

Self-publishing is really a pick-and-mix menu. The publishers can do it all for you or you can choose to pay for some of their services and not others. You’re the one who’s paying and you’re the one who decides. They can do the copy-editing, the proof-reading, the conversion of your manuscript into a book, the printing and a whole range of marketing services – not to mention the production of an e-version!

In September 2014, I signed a contract for the preparation of my manuscript into a book format and the printing of one hundred hard copies. I dealt, mainly, with one person at Troubador, which was really helpful from a continuity point of view. They sent me proofs of the book which they’d prepared and my job was to read these through, mark any changes required and return only the proof sheets that needed amending. This process continued until all necessary changes had been made.

I told them what I had in mind for the front cover and the first proposal they sent turned out to be just what I wanted. We agreed the author details, acknowledgements and a blurb for the back cover. After a final check, I signed the ‘send to print’ form!

When fifty books arrived at my front door, at the end of January 2015, I had to contain my excitement as I slowly removed the outer packaging. Yes, they were all there and yes they looked great. It was a relief when my first reader reported back that the book was readable and he hadn’t spotted any errors! Of course the questions from the Writers’ Lunch Group haven’t stopped. Now it’s all about marketing – but that’s another story!

Darkstone is available now from Troubador and from Amazon Just click the link!

Songs in the Key of Ella

I love it when my big brother, Eric, sings to me.  He must love it too, because he does it lots.  Sometimes I join in and sing with him.  Then he says, ‘don’t interstruddle me!’, which I think means he prefers me to listen.  Here’s the one he did the other day:

          Georgie Porgy went to Gloucester

          In a shower of rain.

          He stepped in a puddle

          Right up to his middle

          And frightened Miss Muffet away.

I don’t know about you, but I reckon he’s been sellotaping those words together like he does with his bits of paper. 

*

Mum sings to me too.  She likes to do it while she’s rocking me:

          Lu-la, lu lu-la,

          Lu-la, lullaby.

          Lu-la, lu lu-la

          Lu-la,  ...      (no matter how hard I try, I can never catch the ending.)

*

Dad’s songs are a bit more upbeat.  His favourite goes something like this:

          Hello Ella Ella

          Hello Ella Manuela Ella

Neither of us knows who Manuela is, but hey, it rhymes.  This one goes faster and faster until one of us smiles.  If Liverpool has just won, he makes me smile.  If Liverpool has just lost, I make him smile.

*

Here’s a little song I wrote about my brother’s baking skills.  You’ll probably know the tune.  It works quite well if you march along to it too:

          The Grand Old Duke of York     My Brother Made a Cake

          My brother made a cake

          With playdough he had found.

          He squished it into a pancake shape

          Then he lay it on the ground.

          And when he was done he declared,

          “A cake for your wedding, come, see!”

          And there, as my ‘groom’, on the top of the cake,

          Stood an Obi-Wan figurine.

A La Carte

February saw the first anniversary of the Yorkshire Writers' Lunch Blog.  Let's take a look back over the first year and taste just a sample of what has been on the very varied menu.

As an appetiser, we could hardly do better than 'Are you a Scribbler, a Typer or Both?'  (Inez Cook, 12 May).  Whether you are an experienced author, an aspiring writer or an avid reader, this thought provoking piece tickles the taste-buds.  It makes us reflect on why we use the medium we do when transferring thoughts to paper or screen.  And it causes us to think about what is gained or lost by whichever we choose.  A perfect introduction to our writers' fayre.


The fish course has to be 'The Fish Market' (Emma Harding, 18 May).  Here we are not only offered a choice from clams, squid and many more fruits de mer, but, via the wonderfully descriptive writing, we can smell the salt of the sea and hear the song of the market.  This is fresh fish indeed.

So to the main course.  For hearty appetites, there is the four part 'Ork' (Richard Wells, 21 July, 8 September, 8 December, 12 January).  This is appetisingly dark food which compels us to dive into the bowl and let the author take us into his world.  The first instalment leaves us hungry for more and the remaining pieces do not disappoint.

Or, as an alternative main course, we might sample another substantial dish, but one which has been prepared by a number of chefs.  'Gilbert's Birthday' (Annabel Howarth, Inez Cook, Suzanne Hudson , Emma Harding, 2 to 23 February) has ingredients which, from the first mouthful, pose a mystery.  You know the kind of dish - one in which you can taste but not quite identify the particular flavours which make it special.  They take a while to develop on the tongue.  And then the secret of their origin is revealed...but not quite.

For those who love continental food, my final recommendation for main course is of German origin .  'Discovering Berlin' (Clair Wright, 15 June) is a tapestry of a dish. It offers glimpses of a foreign capital but also depicts the recent past sharing the same plate as the modern day city.  City breaks are often rushed, but this dish should be savoured slowly.

I don't know about you, but I don't have a sweet tooth.  So, for dessert, the bittersweet 'Butterfly Brooch' (Suanne Hudson, 23 June), is a perfect choice.  From the first spoonful, this piece evokes empathy in the reader.  You simply know from the first verse that you have made the right choice and the ending, as with all exquisite desserts, is deeply satisfying.

As we take coffee at the end of the meal, the conversation may turn topical.  The poem 'One Hundred Years On' (Virginia Hainsworth, 4 August), published on the blog on the day of the 100th anniversary of Britain declaring war on Germany, prompts us to digest the meaning of past events and to reflect upon their relevance to today.  A fitting end to our meal.

However, we do need a way to justify consuming all of those calories and so must work them off by a little exercise.  ' Le Tour de Huddersfield' (Andrew Shephard, 7 July) finds us donning our lycra and letting the writer do the pedalling.  His writing tears at our muscles and makes our hearts pump agonisingly as our vicarious bike ride reaches its conclusion.  It had done the trick.  It has worked off our meal - but leaves us hungry for more. 

So, here's to the next twelve months of the Writers' Lunch Blog.  What will be on the menu over the forthcoming weeks?  Two of our regular contributors have published longer works (ebooks and a paperback), so maybe there will be some spicy morsels to tempt us or something to wolf down and satisfy our growing appetites.  Who knows?

Bon appetite!