Friday, June 24, 2011

Tweet time

These two little love birds were hiding out in my veggies and I didn't have the heart to separate them.


Well, hullo there strangers!

I've been a busy wee bee - more on why another time - but I was lucky enough to go to the launch of the latest issue of Sport a while ago (can't believe it's taken me this long to blog about it!) where the winners of the Unity Books competition, The Long And The Short Of It, read from their stories and launched the book of the same. 

Cover art by Anastasia Doniants.


The competition was for stories under 1000 words or over 10,000 words. Emily Perkins introduced the winning pair and asked them lots of interesting questions about how they write and what they write, and why, before asking them to read. 

First up was Kirsten McDougall who read with understated humour and perfect comic timing her story "Clean Hands Save Lives". It was a very deserved winner, a real stand out story, and ended, for me, just perfectly.

Emily asked some more questions and then Lawrence Patchett read from his long story "The Road to Tokomairiro" which made me wish I had entered with one of my historical fiction pieces. Lawrence paused for another chat with Emily before giving a second reading and afterwards I got the mic and asked a question of my own - whether the winners thought there was such a thing as a competition story. I mentioned how there seemed to be a rise in writers offering tutorials or courses in "how to write winning stories". Interestingly, all the writers said they didn't think a competition story should be any different from any other story - that your best work should be the aim of any writing, regardless of the venue or outcome.

I met Emily Perkins - again - afterwards and asked her lots of questions which she was lovely enough to answer even though I was gabbling my words terribly - nerves, I might add, not falling down water - and I had a chat with the very talented and similarly shy Anastasia Doniants who is responsible for the cover art on the book and who very kindly offered to give me advice on my latest project. Enough, enough!

And so, to show my love for my bloggy faithfuls - and a welcome hug to any newbies - I'm giving away my sole copy of "The Long And The Short Of It"  - signed by both winners and Emily Perkins - and Anastasia Doniants - to the first person who can guess which of the following songs I won a gold medal for singing in my school talent competition, age12:
1) Like A Prayer (Madonna)
2) Walking in the Air (written by Howard Blake, popularly sung by Aled Jones)
3) Where'er You Walk (Handel)
4) I Think We're Alone Now (Tiffany)

Good Luck!



24 comments:

steven said...

rachel . . . i'l go with walking on the air. i like the film so much i'm not thinking with my head at all. steven

Rachel Fenton said...

The Snowman is one of my all time favourite animations, Steven - my brother was a dead ringer for the boy, so much so, he thought the film was about him!

Anonymous said...

I'm going to giggle very hard if it was Tiffany!

Rachel Fenton said...

Donna - can you picture me giving it some skip dancing and big hair shaking! Hair brush mic anyone?

Kirk said...

Like a Prayer, only because it's the sole one I recognise, though I have HEARD of Handel and Tiffiny.

Rachel Fenton said...

Handel and Tiffany in the same sentence - who'd have thought? :)
I have a cracking dance to go with Like A Prayer, Kirk....

The Divorced Lady's Companion to Living in Italy said...

I thought the same thing! About Handel and Madonna rather. I wonder if she likes the Messiah! Or could dance to it?!

Rachel Fenton said...

Which is your guess then?

Anonymous said...

Madonna? If I could sing then I would have done something by Kylie Minogue. Madonna would have been my second choice :)

Rachel Fenton said...

Helen - I'm always up for a bop to Kylie - either pop lady, actually - they should duet..

Talli Roland said...

Like a Prayer! Like a Prayer!

Love those birds!

Leslie Morgan said...

I can't imagine how I missed that you had a post up! Asleep at the wheel, I guess. Those are some pretty sweet little spud birds!

The Sport launch sounds like wonderful time well-spent. I wish I knew of such events locally, but I am afraid I exist in the desert both literally and figuratively.

I'm going to guess Like a Prayer ~ for all kinds of reasons, but we shall see when you reveal it.

Good to see you post, Rae.

Rachel Fenton said...

HI Les, thanks for swinging by - I'll be catching up shortly on the sat nav route.

Interesting that the majority of people guess Madonna...

Rachel Fox said...

Hilarious radio playlist suggestion.. mash-up anyone? x

Rachel Fenton said...

But surely you'll throw a guess, Rachel?

The Divorced Lady's Companion to Living in Italy said...

It could be the Handel?? Very curious to know which one it was. Any snaps?

Penny said...

Heehee, love those veggies, making life complicated fore vegetarians! Penny x

Rachel Fenton said...

At last - DLC, your powers of deducement are second to none! You must surely be a detective!?

Hurrah! Congratulations - drop me an address in my email and the book will wind its merry way to you!

(No photographs exist of that day - thankfully - I seem to recall I had a rather severe hair cut at the time...)

Rachel Fenton said...

Penny - my husband be that vegetarian - hence the birdies sprouting wings on the sill!

I love scrutinising the veggies for rogue cuties!

The Divorced Lady's Companion to Living in Italy said...

Lovely! Can't wait. I think I'm less of a detective than a fan of Handel rather than Madonna. Severe hair cut? Explain. I'm guilty of a rocker feather cut at thirteen!

Teresa Stenson said...

I LOVE those potatoes (? is that what they are?!) (no - course not - they're love birds, duh Teresa).

I would have opted for Tiffany. Was that a school in Barnsley? Surely not... he he.

Teresa Stenson said...

PS - reminds me a little of this blog - http://bella-de-la-ro.blogspot.com/ - she has a whole collection of photos called 'Faces in unexpected places' - including some good ones on potatoes.

Rachel Fenton said...

DLC - I was nicknamed "Gerry" (among things) - on account of my hair helmet!

Hopefully you'll enjoy the fiction.
If you can Handel it! Ho hhum...

Rachel Fenton said...

Teresa - they are a kind of spud.

I was rather an oddity - something of a conundrum to my peers - at my comprehensive, I must concede. Quality, eh, lass?!

Thanks for the link - will check it out...