According to this article , in 2019 just 26% of under-18s spent some time each day reading, and only  53% said they read books purely for pleasure. This is the lowest level recorded by the National Literacy Trust since 2005. Elsewhere in The Guardian , it was reported that, "According to a 2018 Author’s Guild Study the median income of all published authors for all writing related activity was $6,080 in 2017, down from $10,500 in 2009; while the median income for all published authors based solely on book-related activities went from $3,900 to $3,100, down 21%. Roughly 25% of authors earned $0 in income in 2017." As I've written previously , all writers have experienced a steady decline in book sales. There is so much free reading available online, including free books by the thousands just waiting to be downloaded. Consequently most writers, including traditionally published writers with established reputations and fan-bases, hold down conventional jobs as well. I...

If you're a poet or someone who enjoys poetry, and in the Wirral area, then here's a forthcoming event for you. Technically, National Poetry Day will be held on the 3rd October, but this event will be held a day earlier to fit around other activity events within the venue. This open mic event will run from 3pm till 4.15pm, in the lovely surroundings of the Chatterbox Tea Room within Oxton Grange Care Home, 51 - 53 Bidston Road, Oxton, Wirral, CH43 6UJ. The venue is located half way along Bidston Road, offers full disabled access, and has a car park to the front of the building. Several buses service Bidston Road from Claughton or Birkenhead, and there are bus stops very close to the home.

Rain over the Loch by Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour; 2018.  Here in Wirral, we've been basking under a fierce summer. England's seen high temperatures in the past, of course, and the news is full of excitable fluff about today possibly becoming the hottest day on record - remembering that British weather records date back to 1659 in the form of diaries kept by amateurs, which are now known as the Central England Temperature series. The method of recording the weather only became more standardised in 1914, however, and so it's from this more recent date that the Met Office measures its statistics.     Life drawing by Adele Cosgrove-Bray. Prattling about sunshine gives the media something to talk about other than the looming disaster of Brexit. As the countdown to the current government's B-Day (pun intended) looms ever closer, they're still batting ideas around in increasingly desperate attempts to sort out the mess their own par...

My brother-in-law, Andrew Hart, passed away on the 10th August.  He suffered a heart attack, following a stroke earlier this year.  His funeral took place on the 21st, at Southport Crematorium.  Andy was known on the northern club circuit for his singing, and in younger days for his musical contributions to Golborne Brass Band, The Philtones and the David Charles Dance Band. Rapid sketches of ducks and geese, August 2015. I was unable to attend the funeral, having started a new day-job all of nine days before this.  I've been talking to my sister Evelyn, though, and nagging her well-meaningly about eating decent meals and taking care of herself, making a joke of "sounding just like Mum". There's not much anyone can really say at times like this.  It's instinctive to want to fix things for the person going through an awful experience, but really all anyone can do is simply listen. So, I started a new job...  I'm still doing arts and crafts, and...

Today I'm happy to introduce horror writer,script writer (comics & graphic novels) and children's novelist Jasper Bark, who stopped by on his blog tour to share a few words. Jasper began his career as a performance poet then moved onto to writing plays, one of which was debuted at the Edinburgh Festival where it was nominated for a Fringe First award - despite some councillors calling for its ban . "The most unsettling thing was watching a bunch of the actors getting arrested for handing out leaflets for the show on the Royal Mile," said Jasper. "This is something you expect to see happening to dissidents handing out seditious literature in the former Soviet union. Not actors handing out flyers for a comedy at one of the world’s foremost international arts festivals. Some people really don’t have a sense of humour I guess." You also write books for children and is well known in the world of graphic novels. When did all this start and how do you ...

City Stories: Tales of Modern Liverpool ISBN: 9781310916939 Love, terror and 21st century life! From the heart of cosmopolitan Liverpool come nine thrilling views of modern living. Blood-drinkers, killers and secrets. Old sorrows and new beginnings. The light and dark of human life set against the glittering backdrop of a reinvigorated city. City Stories. Tales of life today. Featuring:- Tim Hulme William R Jones Caroline Hubbard Andy Siddle Jason Barney Jack Horne Adele Cosgrove-Bray Pick up your FREE copy today here! Other distribution outlets will follow over the new few weeks.

One of the tiny frogs currently in our garden.  An army of tiny frogs has invaded our garden.  The photo above shows just one of them, sitting on our block-paved drive at the side of our house, which gives a good idea of just how small they truly are.  They're so cute!  We have to really watch where we're putting our feet, there're so many of them.  It's as well that we have no chickens at the moment, as the eggs would be so full of reassembled frog that the eggs would start hopping. Our roses have been fabulous this year.  Not so our raspberries, which tasted vile and quickly went past their best.  My attempt at growing garlic ended in a shrivelled disaster, and I suspect that the sun has been too fierce for the shoots to thrive.  The rosemary cuttings have taken well to their new spot in the far border, however, and the broom looks ok too.  The big box of wild flower seeds that I sprinkled round the borders has produc...

I have long been fascinated by other creative people's workspaces.  Photos of them offer glimpses into how that person works.  Whether it's a chaotic tangle of prompts and tools of the trade or a minimalist super-tidy area, I enjoy peeping into their world.  Here's mine, tucked away in the corner of our dining room:- Click on the image to view it larger.     There is a collection of forty photos of the workspaces used by well-known writers, poets and artists here  which I enjoyed looking at.  I'm tempted to start a series on this blog, posting photos of other people's workspaces.  If you would like to take part, email me on ACBwrites@aol.com .  

  Introducing Morgen Bailey!   Today, I'm joined by Morgen Bailey, who has agreed to share some writing tips.  At Riverside Writers, new members often ask about the best ways to go about learning their craft, having been left bewildered by a huge array of 'how to' books which trot out vast lists of Dos and Don'ts.  Here, Morgen keeps things simple.   Based in Northamptonshire, England, Morgen Bailey is a prolific blogger, podcaster, editor/critiquer, Chair of NWG (which runs the annual H.E. Bates Short Story Competition ), Head Judge for the NLG Flash Fiction Competition and creative writing tutor for her local council. She is also a freelance author of numerous ‘dark and light’ short stories, novels, articles, and very occasional dabbler of poetry. Like her, her blog, http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com , is consumed by all things literary. She is also active on Twitter , Facebook along with many others (listed on her blog’s Contact page ). ...

If you're wondering why the ticket, pictured above, calls last night's event at Bebington Library "Valentine Stories" even though it's nearly a month late, it's because the original booking was delayed, apparently.  The event brought together members of four of Wirral's writing groups:  Riverside Writers , Wirral Writers , 3Ls and Ace of Scribes, (who don't seem to have a website). Once the good-sized audience had settled down with glasses of red or white wine, or orange juice, and a plate offering sliced Swiss roll and little sponge cakes had done the rounds, the readings began - and the next two hours were filled by a diverse and interesting collection of stories and poetry. Fellow members of Riverside Writers, Tim Hulme and Peter Hurd, both read stories.  Tim's also a member of the 3Ls, so he already knew many of the people there.  My contribution to the evening was Sally , a 1,000 word urban fantasy/comtemporary fiction piece ...

Azalea in flower in Stapledon Woods on Caldy Hill I've got into the habit of incorrectly referring to the woodland covering Caldy Hill as Caldy Woods, when it's actually called Stapledon Woods - named after the sci-fi writer William Olaf Stapledon.  I've only just learned this!  I knew he'd been born in Wallasey and lived in Wirral somewhere, but to find that the very woods where my fictional "last prince of the Caldy fae" AKA the Peacock King lives.  (How can he be a prince and a king at the same time?  It's a long story...) I find this bit of synchronicity really exciting.   It was Olaf's books which first introduced me to sci-fi when I was in my very early teens.  I read Odd John, and went on from there.  And here we are, with me placing some of my stories in the very woods named after him! See my photos of Stapledon Woods here .    

Austin S. Camacho is the author of five novels in the Hannibal Jones Mystery Series and two in the Stark and O’Brien adventure series. His short stories have been featured in four anthologies from Wolfmont Press and two others, and he is featured in the Edgar nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey. After thirteen years as a soldier, Austin continued writing military news for the Defense Department, then he continued as on air anchor for the American Forces Information Service. Today he does public affairs work for the DoD agency. Discover more about Austin Camacho here .   

Neil Gaiman addresses an audience of university graduates in this interesting video, in which he talks about creating good art, writing, self-belief and the changing face of distribution.  Watch it here:  http://player.vimeo.com/video/42372767?color=ffffff   

I enjoyed this video interview with Amanda Hocking.  She seems a very likable lady, and down-to-earth despite her huge success with ebooks.   

Adele says:  Welcome to the first of a series of guest blogs written by a diverse array of interesting people.  This installment is from author and poet Nick Armbrister .  If you would like to contribute to this blog, feel free to contact me via email at ACBwrites@aol.com and write Guest Blog in the subject line. Nick Armbrister writes:   2011 has been busy for me; I released 5 books on www.lulu.com/spotlight/nickarmbrister of poetry and fiction stories. I could pick out one important book of the five but to me, all five are important. One is a huge poetry collection covering my fifteen years of writing poems ( The Complete Nick Armbrister Poetry Collection ), two others are short story collections. One is erotic stories ( Take It In Your Stride , a series of erotic adult stories) and the second normal ones ( Heart Of The Country Short Story Collection ). Finally there are two fiction novels in my Juniper’s Daughter series ( Juniper's ...

"...We offer "singles" for 99 cents and five story collections for $2.99 (which brings the per story price down to 60 cents.) And we offer ten story collections of the singles for $4.99.  Think of albums in music. A single song is 99 cents usually, but albums with that song on it are more. Same thing in short stories and books. The story should be both ways to give readers choices." - Dean Wesley Smith This excellent interview with Dean Wesley Smith, Joe Konrath, Blake Crouch, Scott Nicholson and David Graughan explores the exanding market for ebooks, which type of ebooks sell well and why how to offer readers more choice. Read the interview:   http://www.fearnet.com/news/interviews/b23910_short_stories_ebooks_discussion_with.html   

I've just read Sherrilyn Kenyon's biography on her website, and what a story that is!  It apparently took ten years to get her first novel from her  Dark Hunter series published, and her determination and tenacity throughout her difficult life has been amazing.  Many others in a similar situation would have given up.  Kudos to Sherrilyn! Read it here: http://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/about/history/

"In the winter of 2010, the ...romance novelist Nyree Belleville suffered the same fate as many a scribe — she was dropped by her publisher. The most any of her 12 spicy romances, penned under the name Bella Andre had earned was $21,000. "So, out of sorts and feeling blue, she sat down one morning and figured out how to self-publish... A few weeks later, she checked her account. She had sold 161 copies. She’d made $281.  She put her other old book online and figured out how to place both on other e-readers. The next month, her royalties bumped to $474. Giddy, she self-published a new e-book in July. She made a jaw-dropping $3,539." Source:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/novel-rejected-theres-an-e-book-gold-rush/2011/04/09/AFZdqb9F_story.html

A strong sense of time and place saves Hate: A Romance by Tristan Garcia. Ten years from now this author, who was only born in 1981, may well rank among contemporary greats. Certainly clear intimations of better things to come are woven throughout this novel. The novel is told through Liz, who describes herself as a tough, uncompromising journalist. Her lover, Leibo, is a married man who, like nearly all married men, has no intention of leaving his wife and children - though for years Liz seems oblivious to this, so maybe’s she’s not as hardnosed as she imagines. She introduces Willie and Doumé who first become inseparable lovers then later bitter enemies. These three men flit in and out of her Parisian life at their convenience, with Leibo sometimes in her bed, and Willie and Doumé sleeping on her couch and raiding her kitchen then moving on when something better comes along. Why does Liz tolerate this? Simply, she loves each of them for the dramatic, vivacious characters that...

"Dementia needs the same type of concentrated research as was put into tackling HIV in the 1980s, Sir Terry Pratchett claimed yesterday.  The author said despite the large number of sufferers, the world 'does not take much notice' because it was a series of 'small tragedies' played out behind closed doors. Dr Donald Mowat, a researcher at Aberdeen University and co-ordinator for Alzheimer’s Research UK’s east central Scotland research network, said, “Dementia is not a normal part of ageing – it is caused by brain diseases we can tackle, but we need more investment in the research that will give us answers.” Source: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2127563?UserKey = Four years ago, my father died following a long and cruel battle with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.  Watching the steady disintegration brought about by these and similar diseases, which tend to get bunched together under the umbrella term 'dementia', is an exp...