Part of the Union



Demonstrating for the NHS in Manchester

 It's a Bank Holiday weekend and all I've got for you is a repeat!  But it seems like an appropriate choice for May Day.  Here's an article my Trade Union, Unite, put on their 'Unite for Our Community' blog earlier in the year... 

If you’re a welfare rights adviser exasperated by programmes like ‘Benefits Street’, how do you tell people what life on Social Security is really like without breaching your clients’ confidentiality?  Stoke-on-Trent Citizens Advice Bureau Training Officer and former benefits specialist Sarah Honeysett thinks she has an answer – she writes what her colleagues have nicknamed ‘welfare rights lit’.

Sarah’s first novel, Severe Discomfort, follows a middle-aged couple’s fight to clear their names of an accusation of Social Security fraud.  Despite the subject matter, it’s an upbeat story with a good helping of humour, a light-heartedly naughty romance and a devious, hypocritical villain, but it also challenges many myths and stereotypes about benefit claimants and the Social Security system.  The unlikely heroes Lyn and Terry Walker wouldn’t dream of appearing on ‘Reality TV’ and no television company would be interested in such apparently dull people - but their circumstances are the reality for many working-age claimants.  They’re reliant on benefits after tough, responsible working lives and - at least at first - are well-supported by a benefits system set up to give them a decent standard of living, despite their disabilities.

“When I started work in the 1980s recession there was a lot of compassion for people who were out of work,” says Sarah.  “Since then, reality TV shows and documentaries such as Saints and Scroungers, On the Fiddle, Skint and now Benefits Street have painted a picture of a Social Security system open to abuse, with benefits supposedly available as a ‘lifestyle choice’. But the rules for claiming whether you’re a lone parent, unemployed or sick are very much tougher now than they were in the Thatcher years, and getting harsher still.  I hope this story will encourage people to take a more sympathetic attitude and think about how they would cope in Lyn and Terry’s shoes.”

Sarah has pledged the profits from sales of both Severe Discomfort and its sequel, Continual Supervision, to Stoke-on-Trent CAB.  Paperbacks of both stories are available from proper tax-paying bookshops, and Kindle versions are available from Amazon.

You can see the original article here - and read other news and views on how Unite is fighting for its Voluntary Sector members.
http://www.uniteforoursociety.org/blog/entry/the-other-side-of-benefits-street/

Re-covering

New cover for LC 'Episode Three'

A little creative project I promised myself was to replace the cover images on the Limited Capability serial ebooks, which began life with standard Amazon 'art paper' backgrounds.  I'm combining this fun project with the serious task of making the first corrections to the text from checking the prototype paperback - having recruited three eagle-eyed proof-readers to pick up anything I miss, I'm sure these won't be the only revisions!

Some covers will be fairly easy to find among my own photos - the atmospheric canal above being a case in point.  Episode One uses an image rejected from a selection I took for the paperback's cover (though that is also in for a revision) and I had much fun designing a brochure for a classy B&B establishment for Episode Two, when I should probably have been fine-tuning my 'Benefits for Older People' leaflet.  The firework display for Episode Five actually took place at the Shrewsbury Flower Show several years ago, while Episode Four's cover had to wait until the pelagoniums were blooming... 

Having re-read 'LC', it's given me something of a spur to continue the story and get back to work on the next (possibly last - but who can say?) volume of adventures for the Walkers and the Solent Welfare Rights Project, although I keep changing my mind about exactly how and when to start.  The best plan may be to leave that for a while, press on with the remainder of the story, and then consider how the beginning works from the perspective of the end.  Thinking back, Severe DIscomfort went through four or five different versions of its first couple of chapters before I settled on the final one, and that was only after completing the rest of the text.  So far, there's about a third to a half of the next novel done as a first draft, along with an outline for the whole story and odd scenes and episodes that have popped into my mind during random moments of gardening, which may or may not make the final 'cut'.  But I really do need to focus when I'm at the computer in the evening with time available to work on the book, and not get distracted by what's happening on Facebook.

In the last couple of days I have learned, through the miracle of 'Buzzfeed', that I am variously Wonderwoman (as indeed are three of my closest work colleagues), Galadriel, a Unicorn and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, should have lived in Renaissance Italy, the 1970s or Newcastle (as in 'upon Tyne' rather than 'under Lyme' - been hanging about in Daphne Randall's character too much while working on that short story!) and am also 16% 'stereotypically English'.  Actually, with a fair tally of Irish ancestors and the announcement that 'Cornish' is a now separate minority identity, that last one is probably not far wide of the mark!  Sadly, many of these fascinating insights into my soul are based on flawed or incomplete analysis, on the basis that there was no 'I don't know what the bloody hell you're talking about' option in the answers to questions about chic-flicks, celebs and hashtags, so I had to guess something. 

In short, they are a stupendous waste of time when you have ideas for at least two books running through your mind.  Or even if you haven't.  So I'm not doing any more of them.

Well, not once I've found out which Winnie the Pooh character I am...!

Parental Guidance





A great local Indy bookshop - Webberleys in Hanley

I never thought I could do it, but I have managed to write a short story for the 'Hot Air' competition, and wrapped it up almost 300 words short of the limit.  I'm not sure the title is right (in fact I know it's not) and I could do with a second opinion from someone unfamiliar with my previous stories to be sure it 'works', even if you haven't met the central character before, but I'm genuinely pleased with it. 
Since my last blog, I've had a couple more good reviews of my books and some very supportive and encouraging words from some new readers, having managed to encourage a flurry of free downloads last time Severe Discomfort was a freebie.  We still don't exactly have J K Rowling looking anxiously over her shoulder at the competition, but SD did briefly make the dizzy heights of no. 531 on the Amazon charts.  Sales look quite promising for this month - the biscuit fund might even manage chocolate ones when the next royalties come in!  I was tempted to set it as 'free' for tomorrow to mark Iain Duncan Smith's 60th birthday, but I have limited freebie slots and can't use them up too lightly with a new offensive on 'benefit fraud' apparently due soon, especially as it seems to be possible to post links on the DWP's Facebook page...

I got another compliment from an unexpected source at the weekend, when I was chatting to my Dad.  Despite leaning gently to the Left, The Da doesn't always seem to understand that benefit claimants are people just like him but with slightly less luck, and after an awkward exchange on the subject a couple of weeks ago, I'd decided to send him a copy of Severe Discomfort.  Surprisingly, as he's not a great one for reading, apparently he's started it; he went on to say it was well-written (without being prompted) and that, 'as there's such a load of old rubbish on the telly these days' he might well stick with it.

But there are some aspects of the story I can't see the old chap approving of at all.  For a start, he doesn't appreciate bad language.  While he may well have turned the air blue at work with his railway colleagues, he never used strong swear-words at home (unlike my late mum who, despite presenting a mild and respectable face to the world, could often be heard cursing some hapless kitchen appliance with the immortal words 'Damn and blast the stupid, sodding, buggering thing!'), so he'll doubtless be disappointed that they don't get asterixed out in the book. 

The last chapter is going to be trouble too, because if there's one thing guaranteed to get the remote control wielded at the TV, it's 'that sort of thing' in a film or drama.  I've even known disapproving tutting to go on during wildlife documentaries.  So if he gets caught up in the story and decides he'd like to find out what happens in the second part, I hope he isn't too offended by the 'naughty bits'!

Reshuffling

Some wit at the 'Turn2Us' benefits advice organisation made a nicely dry comparison between the repeated refusals of DWP ministers and senior staff to admit their errors when cross-examined by Select Committees and the classic Morecombe and Wise sketch in which Andre Previn informs Eric he's playing 'all the wrong notes', only for Eric to reply 'I'm playing all the right notes - but in the wrong order!'

I've reluctantly had to accept that my latest Solent Welfare Rights Project novel's first draft is in similar shape - a lot of the 'right notes', but not in the right order.  As my cast contend with the April 2013 'welfare reforms', there are a number of potential storylines to pursue with them and while it would be outrageously contrived to inflict every one of the changes from that date on principal characters, there are some key themes I simply must pick up. 

But my first draft leaves me in that 'if I was wanting to get to there, I wouldn't be starting from here!' position of the proverbial traveller seeking directions in rural western Ireland.  I have a series of light-hearted scenes written up almost to the point where I was tempted to release them as an 'episode' for another serial, but fun though they are, they're set too early.  To be realistic, the entire story needs to shift at least three months forward, which means my late summer 2012 events either have to be discarded entirely (ouch! - but sometimes necessary) or re-timed, re-written and recycled to happen later in the story.  British Summer Time may prove a hindrance with the prospect of long, gardening-friendly evenings (dream on, Mrs - this is North Staffordshire!) but I will set some targets to keep myself on track and at least make sure I jot any ideas for bit-part case studies or odd scenes down when inspiration strikes.

I can also borrow examples from my own training material, since I'm paid to write small episodes of fact-based fiction as part of my job (the CAB do get the time back - though as biscuits!).

Meanwhile, the proof-reading of Limited Capability moves into its final few chapters and the deadline draws ever closer for any attempt at the short story competition for the 'Hot Air' literary festival.  More news on that, and it's mixed; new names appearing include Antony Beevor, AN Wilson and Melvyn Bragg (who I seem to recall lambasting the Bedroom Tax on The One Show a little while ago, so he's one of the good guys!), but the sponsors include The Sun. 

I had hoped that would prove to be an April Fool, but apparently not - Hot Air's Facebook page 'likes' the notorious Murdoch redtop.  Give me strength!!

I suppose it could be worse.  It could have been sponsored by the Daily Mail...

One Big Dilemma

Aspiring author down in 'that London.'

I'm trying to decide what to do about what could be a marvellous opportunity.  Or alternatively, a spectacular waste of time and money.  I've no idea which, but I have an uncomfortable feeling that if the opportunity is presented to me, it'll be because the latter guess is closest to the truth.

Enough riddling, though.  The dilemma is whether to try and hastily knock the last rough edges off of 'Limited Capability', the paperback doorstop of last autumn's ebook serial, in order to enter it into a competition, or allow myself and my 'proof-reading' team of friends time to get it just right. 

With the book almost 600 pages long, proof-reading isn't a task to be taken lightly.  I've had the advantage, not that he might see it that way, of having a housebound husband recuperating after a foot operation to read my copy too as reading text aloud, especially after you haven't seen it for a few months, is a really good way to track down the bugs.  It's not just that the text needs the odd 'typo' zapped.  Already, I've found a few lengthy sentences that don't flow at all well when read aloud; since they are dialogue, they'll need restructuring to ensure that they do.  I'm sure my CAB colleague Tina (who is both proof-reading and, I trust, spotting legal errors) will notice that twice at least I've referred to the 'Personal Capability Assessment' when I mean the 'Work Capability Assessment' (the former being the now redundant 'medical' for Incapacity Benefit, the latter the test for Employment and Support Allowance).  It may not matter to many readers, but I bet Dick Francis didn't misname bits of tack when writing his horse-racing thrillers nor Hilary Mantel send Thomas Cromwell off to the Globe to watch The Tempest.

And I'm not really satisfied with the cover.  I think I need to re-align the image on the front and definitely adjust that on the reverse to make the text more legible, and tackle 'the mystery of the vanishing apostrope'.  I wonder whether to include a 'by the same author' list inside the first title page, or whether that looks pretentious with just two earlier non best sellers to my name, or the 'blurb' for the earlier books at the end of this one.  In short, there's a lot to do to get this book right and I only have a week to deal with most of that and submit my entry if I want to be considered for CompletelyNovel's 'One Big Book Launch' event, where ten selected writers will get the chance to share a central London venue, with the obligatory wine and nibbles and, hopefully, a few movers and shakers from the publishing world.

Now if this really is a great opportunity for self-publishing authors to get noticed by the big guys, thus getting deals and publicity beyond their wildest dreams it'll be very heavily subscribed and, if I am successful, it will be a reflection on the quality, potential and relevance of my work.  If it isn't, and the only entries are a handful of the most confident CN authors rather than the more talented, I'll be in with every chance of winning a place, but for what?  It's the 'Big Book, Little Book' competition from last summer that makes me wary.  Five authors had the chance to be featured on a blog's 'Self-published Sunday' slot; four of us won the opportunity.  As they say in the USA, 'you do the math.'  And it had no impact on sales either.

So, on balance, I think I'll probably pass.  If it is a success for the people involved, hopefully CN will do similar events in future and I can have a go with a completely fresh story, not the equivalent of  The Empire Strikes Back for the rebels at the Solent Welfare Rights Project.  With a little luck and perseverance, 'Limited Capability' might be good to go in time for Stoke's literary festival in June and as it doesn't open with the villain being compared to the Daily Mail I may yet blag a mention in the local paper.  In the meanwhile, at least I've finally plucked up the courage to send my dad a copy of 'Severe Discomfort'.  But that's another story...

Hot Air and Homicide

There's going to be a literary festival in Stoke-on-Trent this summer.  Exciting news, isn't it?

Well, it seems not.  So far the stories the local paper have printed in anticipation of the event and for World Book Week have attracted few comments, and those somewhat snarky - a photo of Stoke City superstar (and former Saint) Peter Crouch, reading with local children, elicited only rude remarks about the school and incredulity that Crouchy could read.  It's a crying shame, because Stoke-on-Trent has a lousy reputation for educational attainment and a sense that the community is getting behind this idea might help to dispel that.  But it's early days, and with just over three months to the event, I need to consider whether I can use it to promote my own literary efforts.

Opportunity number one is the writing competition announced by the Sentinel.  A chance to show off my skills in a short story competition, no less.  And sadly, no more: a mere 1,000 to 2,500 words.  A hundredth of the wordcount I usually reach telling a tale.  By my standards, 1,000 words is practically Haiku, a mere tweet.  Still, I could have a go - I even have an entertaining idea for what I could use as a theme.  I'm just not sure 2,500 words will enable me to do it well enough.

Opportunity number two is to promote what I already have and the fact that, all being well, I should have a 'new' book (the paperback of Limited Capability) ready to 'launch' in time for the event.  It'll take a clever bit of marketing and a massive chunk of luck to get the Sentinel interested in novels that fly against their usual line on Social Security issues, by casting alleged benefit cheats as the heroes and a fraud investigator as the villain (not to mention that infamous reference in the preface to Gary Pike as 'the Daily Mail in human form').  But it may be that raising an issue that always gets the comments flying in on real life stories is the very thing to get people interested in a literary festival who would otherwise think it's not for them.  If, that is, they can get past the fact that Severe Discomfort and its companion volumes take place 250 miles away, apart from Stoke-on-Trent's cameo appearance as adopted home to the redoubtable Geordie feminist Daphne Randall.

Opportunity number three is to attempt to catch the attention of any literary movers and shakers in town for the event.  I think I can safely rule out David Starkey as a potential patron and my writing seems to have little that would recommend it to Joanna Trollope.  There's always talented local crime writer and self-publishing success story, Mel Sherratt, though.  I have considered getting in touch with her before, but it's difficult to know how.  I'm sure high-profile writers get sick to the back teeth of being pestered by 'fans' wanting them to read their own work, and I haven't even got the feeble excuse of being a fan.  That's no criticism of Mel's writing; I simply don't read crime novels, just as I don't tend to get into police procedural TV shows or series.  Or gore, violent crime or serial killer-themed writing or films generally.  And if there is a polite way of striking up a conversation with a writer that begins, 'I haven't read any of your books and they're not really my thing, but...', I haven't worked it out yet. 

But perhaps there's a thriller waiting to be written on whether a small city like Stoke-on-Trent big enough for two fringe-haired former housing officers with literary ambitions?  "With the city's first literary festival approaching, a charismatic local crime writer seems sure to be the star of the show.  But an ambitious and jealous older rival, hungry for success, has murderous plans to steal the limelight..."

Not really, of course - even Iain Duncan Smith isn't really in mortal peril from me (not while my archery kit is buried away in a spidery corner of the loft, at any rate), so Ms Sherratt can surely rest easy.  Mind you, as a story it could be a proper page-turner, but it'll definitely take me more than 2,500 words to tell it! 

Over to you, Mel?

Proof

On Tuesday, I came home to find a chit advising that a parcel had been left with our neighbours.  It was either the maincrop potatoes for this year, or the proof copies of the paperback of 'Limited Capability'.  It was indeed four copies of 'LC'; with the book of the serial weighing in at 577 pages, the taters would probably have been lighter!

I still remember the strange thrill back in January 2013 of opening a neat parcel and finding within two paperbacks with the title 'Severe Discomfort' and my name on the front.  They were the original proof copies of my first book, hot off the press!  I was pleasantly surprised with the quality, that the cover design (home-made) seemed to work and that there were 300 pages of real words inside, all written by me.  Aided and abetted by a trusted friend who had rashly agreed to proof read a copy for me, I slowly worked through the glitches.  Correcting the indentation, which was too deep; culling the excess commas - though with hindsight, I should have taken an equally tough line on the exclamation marks.  Adding the odd sentence, taking out a word here and there, re-ordering a line or two.  Between us, Anna and I caught most of the typos, though a couple slipped through the net. 

The calculation error in Lyn and Terry's benefits escaped detection for months, despite the book being read by both friends and strangers from a benefits background, until my colleague Tina reminded me of the 'Enhanced Disability Premium'.  Sadly, by that stage the book was in general circulation and it would have been prohibitively expensive to correct it.  So we'll have to leave it that the DWP miscalculated and diddled the Walkers out of about £15 per week (that sort of thing does happen, you know).  I thought I had done a more thorough job on the original manuscript of 'Continual Supervision', but when the two proof copies arrived with the spring in their tidy cardboard box with that delicious new book smell, in no time at all I was spotting hiccups, and sure enough a sheet of further corrections arrived from Hampshire in due course.

So I hold out little hope of 'LC' being trouble free.  I've already promised I'll take a tough line on those exclamation marks, and having read the first couple of chapters I really must spare a blameless character's blushes and correct his (my!) miscalculation of ESA at the 'support group' rate for 2011/12.  There's also something peculiar happening with the apostrophes on the back cover 'blurb' (which I recall being a problem with the first proof of 'Severe Discomfort') so I'll probably rewrite it to take them out, as a glitchy cover lets a book down badly.  I may need to adjust the font or print size to make the blurb more legible - or adjust the picture behind it.  The colour scheme has turned out a more browny-red than I intended too, but it still works so I may leave that as it is.

Whatever I do, I mustn't rush and overlook corrections, but I mustn't dawdle either.  Last year, I missed the chance to launch 'Severe Discomfort' during the Eastleigh by-election, when Lyn and Terry's home town was suddenly centre stage of UK politics.  In June, my adopted home of Stoke-on-Trent is holding a literary festival, but stories about it in the local paper have largely failed to generate debate and comment in the way that, say, court reports about people accused of benefit fraud tend to.

I may just have had a cunning plan..!