Categories: uncategorized
Date: 23 January 2006 22:14:28
Hmmm where to start where to start.
a: am so up to eyelids in it that often I feel like I'm drowning nowadays. There just always seems to be so much to do, and so much that has yet to be done even though the deadline has passed and so much that I can't do but have been signed up for and the rest... Arrgh etc.
b: bearing that in mind I took on a new teaching post last week doing film and video credits. Was muchos fun, a good group to work with. Was offered it until July but think I may just do the next four weeks (the time they were in the most need) and leave it at that, which is a shame, because I enjoyed the people I was working with, but my mind is on def-meltdown-1 as it is.
c: Youth Arts Centre going great guns. Was working on loads of stuff for them this morning and then teaching and then back there for a meeting just now. Liked it loads, some things that have not been working (and subsequently eyes of blame have been turning towards me as if I should know all of the answers or have spotted all of the pitfalls beforehand) will be fixed tomorrow when I'm back in for (yet) another meetup, before coming home before going back for (yet yet) another meetup and then the music group....
d: the music group!! One of my bands, by which I mean one of the bands that I'm working with on a tuesday and am therefore very attached to and proud of the achievements of, has made it onto the running list for the Uproar event in Woking on Feb 15th. Basically Woking Youth Council, in association with the Borough Council and Surrey County COuncil have organised for a youth bands fest to raise funds for Woking Hospice. So anyway, am looking forward to this in a big way. Should be aces.
e: aaaaaaaand finally in news just in: Dr Sylver and the Repository of the Past could be seen heading towards the publishers yesterday in the finalised state. One more read through to make absolutely CATEGORICALLY sure there are no spelling mistakes and errors (and still there will be some I can guarantee it, I mean, hey, I'm an artist for a start). So it's being checked, cover's being finished (yay, another job) and hopefully I'll have a shelf date for you soon as. (incidentally was on Southern Counties again on sunday, which was nice, to talk about Uproar and the rest. mum came along - hi mum- and told me off at the end of it for talking about youth group more than book 2... Ah well, probably a good job she doesn't read this then...)
But, I hear you say in a well organised fashion, what of the reviews? Surely you can't hope to compete with the comment on your first book? Endorsements such as....:
'The characters are very realistic... It would be good to see this book used in mainstream schools which has deaf children integrated in, as the character of Charlotte will enable both the young deaf people to feel they have a book character they can relate to, and also enable young hearing people to understand some of the issues surrounding deafness.'
(tjjobson . Independent Reviewer - Amazon UK .)
'This is a stunning fiction début which leaves books like G P Taylor's Wormwood in the shade.'
'If you're a bookseller, stock this book; if you're a book buyer - buy it; donate a copy to your local library. But whoever you are, read it.'
(Phil Groom. Christianbookshops.org.uk/London School of Theology Books and Resources )
'a novel drawn from sharply observed reality', 'the foibles of growing up with disability are skilfully slipped into the normal narrative rhythm of the story and pleasingly not a kind of Trojan horse of political correctness'.
(Christian Herald 05.02.05. Simon Parkin.)
Brilliantly inventive and original storytelling.
(Jason Gardner, LICC.)
...don't come along every day do they?
Well, no, they don't. In as much as I've fallen down on this one, not chasing things anywhere near as much as I should have. Of the thirty or forty emails and ten copies I sent out only one review has come in so far, which is a bit tricksom because I'd want two for the way in which the back cover works... However the one that has come in...:
"A superb sequel that's every bit as powerful as Dr Sylver #1 - well worth the wait. Kercal's a writer who's clearly in touch with where teenagers are at: don't miss it!"
(Phil Groom. Christianbookshops.org.uk/London School of Theology Books and Resources )
...is very encouraging and heartening.. So that's alright then. A second would be good, as the back cover at the moment has a 'praise for Dr Sylver book 1' bit and I'd miles prefer a couple for book 2 instead, but, well, we'll see.....Everyone's busy, which is fair enough, so I don't know that anything'll come in in time, although I did say that last time...
Anyhow, so between a good meeting today and a good class to work with todays been pretty cool. Now to settle down with a glass of squash (throats been killing me! spent all day talking) and then to sleep.
Currently listening to: U2: Pop. Currently playing: Lumines. Utterly, stunningly good. Current socks being worn: Lord of the Rings ones that are, to be frank, very boring indeed. Currently prayer request: That the people I emailed today on youth work/book matters will get back to me positively would be nice.