The 2013 World Creators’ Summit

The Summit was held in Washington DC, June 4 & 5 and being packed with musicians and songwriters was a dynamic and vibrant conference. Writers were in a minority at this one.

The business bit

Click here for an outline of who was there and what went on 

The main conference hall

I was there with Barbara Hayes, ALCS Deputy CEO and Janet Anderson, former UK Minister for Tourism, Film and Broadcasting at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Janet spoke on the panel Orphan works – Balancing access and creators’ rights. I spoke on the panel Who benefits from the business of digitalbooks? 

 With Jean-Michel Jarre

The Washington bit

Washington is a wonderful city. So much space! We took a boat trip down the Potomac to Alexandria... 

Watergate from the Potomac

Alexandria's famous cupcake shop

...had a guided tour of the Capitol... 

and got within photo distance of the White House before being shooed away by security guards. 

I also found the wonderful Museum of Unnatural History, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills. I only wish I'd found it sooner and been able to spend more time there.

Would I go back? Like a shot. Nowhere near enough to time to see all there was to see.

Editing in the sun, International Rescue and the Hood’s revenge

Wonderful to sit out in warm sunshine for several hours with a heap of paper to edit. Better still without a heap of paper to edit, but needs must.

The cat initiated a game of International Rescue. She was the Hood, leaping from the long grass with murder in mind and baby frogs in her sights. I was the various Thunderbirds flying to the rescue, scooping baby frogs back into the pond.

The Hood might be thwarted but never defeated and eventually retreated to the beck. I edited and forgot about cats, Hoods and F.A.B flying craft.

Then the Hood in feline form flew out from the beck clutching a baby rat, streaked into the house pursued by the dog and dropped the rat which ran for cover and got away. The message was clear. For every baby frog rescued, a live rat will be added to the household.

It’s not like the cat to think outside the box (she prefers to sleep inside the box). Now night closes in with the cat in her favourite place, the dog asleep and the rat making itself at home behind the skirting board.

Hastings, the sand! It gets everywhere

Having been watching ITV’s excellent adaptations of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, I found myself in a position to quote the Belgian detective today as we walked on the beach.

Beautiful sunshine, just a bit of a breeze. The tide was on its way out leaving us to walk either on the sloping stretch near the top of the beach – pebbles but dry sand – or the flatter sandy bit which tends to mini quicksand when the sea has just left it.

Not that we were going to disappear up to our necks, but it has a way of seeping inside the shoes.

First time this year we’ve seen people in the sea, though they had to battle through surf and wade a long way out to be deep enough to swim.

The title is a quote and not a location. Not Hastings at all, but East Yorkshire.

The Public Woman

The Public Woman by Joan Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was not without reservations when I picked this one up and began to read. I had no doubts it would be well-researched, would cover ground that needed covering, say things that needed to be said and I knew that all in all I was going to be in sympathy with its general message, but I wondered if it might be hard-going. Would I feel preached at?

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. It was riveting. It was fact-heavy and fascinating. I was captured from the opening paragraph of the introduction. Sure the subject matter is pretty heavy, but the treatment was deft and enthralling. I had to make myself put it down at the end of the Intro to get on with my day job, but I’d finished it by the end of the following day.

The opening chapter on modern narcissism gives a fascinating insight into the lives of some celebrity women (without patronising them – there’s a refreshing change). The chapter on FGM is grim – it couldn't be otherwise – but it’s a stark and badly needed reminder that this is a global problem, not someone else’s. It was interesting to see certain press cultures laid bare from within, elements from the Leveson enquiry that didn't make it to public consciousness. And in amongst the many cases quoted, I was pleased to see a detailed exploration of the appalling case of Amanda Knox, crucified not only in an Italian court, but also in the press in the UK and USA; all this not only in the absence of evidence against her, but in the face of evidence that backed her innocence of the crime for which she was convicted. Shades of the conviction of Edith Thompson. Thompson’s conviction for murder was essentially censure for her extra marital affair. Knox’s was disturbingly similar, but this is the 21st century, for heaven’s sake, not the 1920s.

We've come a long way, but Smith provides a timely (and extremely well written) reminder that we've a long way yet to go.


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And a cat called Tomate

L'Auberge by Julia Stagg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book came labelled as Joanne Harris meets Clochemerle. It's a long long time since Clochemerle and I can barely remember it, but I love Joanne Harris, so this had a lot to live up to. Did it make the grade? Yes, I loved it. The Websters, the English couple who fell in love with a small part of France and wanted to make it their future, find reality hitting them in the face with the minutiae of French politics. Papon, the Mayor, makes a superb baddie but he's a 3D person, not just someone to boo every time he steps on to the page. The various facets of village life play out beneath the often unseeing eyes of the Websters who struggle with everything from the language to building regulations. Each member of the cast brings his or her own surprises as the different strands of everyone's life weave in and around each other towards the denouement, but don't think you know what's coming - there's a wonderful final twist. It's beautifully observed and written, and I'm not surprised to learn that tourists go looking for Fogas believing it to be a real place.
And the icing on the cake for me was the cat called Tomate. A real Joanne Harris touch.

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Gnat-brained people and frog spawn

I had a guy ring the other day to tell me he could sort out my computer problems.

I put on my credulous voice and said how wonderful, what should I do?

He said was my computer logged in and online?

I said, yes, it was right there in front of me.

In fact, it was upstairs and off, but he was being a lying bastard so I thought why shouldn't I?

We had an interesting exchange where he told me what to type and what to click and we got as far as:

Him: ‘Now there should be a box come up on the screen.’

Me: ‘Oh yes, there it is.’

Him: ‘What does it say inside it?’

Me: ‘Uh... it’s hard to see without my glasses. Is it some numbers you want?’

Him: ‘Yes, yes, that’s right. Can you get your glasses?’

I was going to read him a lecture about targeting vulnerable people and how would he like it if it were his elderly mother/granny etc? 

But in the end I just got fed up, so said, ‘I'm bored with this now. If you think I'm going to hand over data that lets some total stranger control my computer, you have the brain of a gnat.’ And I hung up.

On the up side, there’s frog spawn in the pond.

Writers getting creative with pub tables

The Flying Ducks met in Beckwithshaw: first Thursday of the month, a date I usually have to miss through work commitments. Spring sunshine, masses of crocuses making Harrogate look very Spring-like. It was even quite warm out of the wind, but the breeze when it hit was an icy reminder of why there is still unmelted snow on the verges.

I first attended these meetings years ago when they were held at Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate. From those days many of the same faces remain and there are as many new ones. And still a good attendance, about two dozen this time. It’s quite a logistical challenge getting that many people round a table in a pub, but being a creative group we find creative ways to manage it. I was sitting in the wrong place for taking photos, but there’s a bad one above anyway. There’s a better photo here on Facebook.