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Hello! How are you? I hope you’re really well.
I am writing this from the sofa where I have an ancient laptop set up on a new, very handy little table thing. This, dear reader, is because I have done something peculiar to my knee and it turns out that Having A Sit Down is medically approved. Hurrah!
Also, I am wearing an attention seeking ortho-advised brace and find myself wanting to eat everything in the entire world as long as it comes on toast*.
(*Admittedly that’s not a huge change on the toast front).
It happened a couple of weeks ago and, hopefully, things are knitting themselves back together as I speak.
I’ve been scuttling around the house like a crab spider and to the delight of my neighbours, have taken to shrieking, ‘I’M COMINGGGGG,’ like a total witchy-poo whenever the doorbell goes. A massive shout-out to supermarket delivery drivers who have all been lovely with the shopping, and very cheerful and sympathetic. (Also, they’ve brought large stocks of things that will go on toast, proving that not all superheroes wear capes).
Ooh now, genuine question: how do you stop leg braces from falling down? Apparently they make them from something approved by NASA which may be the reason gravity has not been factored in. Leg sleeves (WHAT A HORRIFIC NAME) off the internet have been rubbish so I’m currently using a combo of Sweaty Betty leggings and a dog lead hooked up around my waist. (Attractive). Along with my new comfortingly thick socks I’m sporting the same kind of look as someone bravely having a go at climbing Everest in 1923.
So please, if you have the inside track on this sort of thing, please let me know how you keep the appendage up. Until then, I will remain yours ever, Droopy Drawers.
Unsurprisingly, I’ve spent lots of time thinking about all the mid-twentieth century novels I’ve read which feature a grumpy yet helpful housekeeper who keeps everything tidy and cooks all day just in case. This, I thought, is what I need in my life.
So, in the grand tradition of Coming Up With World Beating Business Ideas That I May or May Not Be Bothered To See Through (see September’s newsletter for previous MO in this area), I have come up with the quite splendid idea of a Home for Temporarily Dismayed Lady Authoresses And Their Friends.
Part old school sanatorium (like the ones rich people went to in Switzerland up a mountain near The Chalet School), part British Library (loads to read - obvs), and part modern-day spa only you don’t have to wear a toweling dressing gown in the daytime in front of strangers because I find that disquieting at best.
I’ll sit outside on one of those lounger beds, wearing a huge coat and a cloche hat and taking the air with a vegetarian health nut called Hugo who will be smoking a pipe. I’ll have seven courses for dinner (Hugo will languidly push around bits of celery while drinking crème de menthe for his lungs) and I won’t have to limp about with a hoover or even look at a microwave until I felt really quite well.
I think this sounds good. Please say you are with me on this. Everyone’s welcome. Please declare your interest in the comments below so I can guage levels of what advertising people call ‘appetite’ for this very realistic idea.
Thank you. Do stay tuned for more upbeat business ideas in future newsletters.
Writing Stuff
Onto actual author things and I’m really enjoying making up stuff that may or may not make it to the final novel, but is helping me get to know a new world. It’s lovely when you start ‘seeing’ it - buildings or meeting rooms, or the way a character raises an eyebrow and you know they’re going to be one of the ones you really like. Or you find a name for one that you really like, and just fits. In the rollercoaster process of writing, these are some of the best highs.
It’s started to happen - in a different time and place to my previous books, and means that now I can visualise it in a filmic kind of a way, I can motor on. There will be hold ups and breakdowns obviously, but the car is firing well at the moment which I’m really happy about.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of things I’ve done recently that were fun. Firstly, talking about Dear Miss Lake (available in good bookshops NOW!) with Meg’s Reading Room which was the loveliest chat. And here, talking with Adrienne J Clarke about being on Substack as if I know what I’m doing. Adrienne aka The Substack Coach actually does know loads (and if you’re thinking of starting up a Substack newsletter paying her to help could save you a ton of time re the baffling bits).
Also a quick plug for the Yate Library event in Bristol on 1 November which will be fun, gamy leg or not, and my online masterclass on developing characters (11 November) which is for everyone, whether you’ve been writing for ages or are thinking about giving it a go.
And good news for UK readers as Dear Mrs Bird is only 99p on Kindle during October. If you’re new to my writing via this newsletter, do give it a go, or please spread the word with anyone who might need a dose of cheer. (I think there may also be a decent offer on the paperback on Amazon in the US though I can’t be sure as I’m looking at it from the UK and sometimes it goes mad, but do give it a go if of interest).
Top Reads Corner
This month I’ve been reading lots of non-fiction as research for the new novel, but I can’t tell you what they are as it would completely give away the idea for the new book. Doh! But here are a couple of lovely novels I’ve managed to fit in as well.
Mrs Lorimer’s Quiet Summer by Molly Clavering
Many thanks to several of you for recommendeding Molly Clavering’s hugely enjoyable novel about a middle-class writer and her grown-up family. Published in 1953, it may be loosely based on MC and her good friend D.E Stevenson, and while I don’t know if this is true, it doesn’t really matter as this is a cheery, fun novel where nothing too awful happens. Hurrah.
Author Mrs Lorimer’s children take it in turns to have challenges (mostly self-induced) which cause worries, and it rather brilliantly has perfectly healthy middle-aged people (Mrs L can’t be much more than fifty) exhausting themselves after a hard afternoon judging cake in a tent. Love it! Someone sprains an ankle and is carried up and down stairs by a lovely young man (Note to self: up your game, Pearce) and several people have a dilemma over making friends with a family because their surname is Smellie.
I realise that this novel may have been at least part of the inspiration for my Temporary Home for Dismayed (ie quite tired) Lady Autheresses. Mrs Lorimer would fit right in with me and Hugo, and jolly welcome she would be while she was about it. Good fun.
An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
Jacqueline Wilson is quoted on the front cover as called this novel ‘A masterpiece’ and I am no one to disagree. Set in London just after WW2 and published in 1955, it really is beautiful. You can absolutely see the world as you reading. It’s so very good.
An Episode of Sparrows is my current read so no spoilers from me, but it’s the story of two spinsters, a hidden garden and probably the most wonderfully written group of children you’ll ever find. I’m about half-way through and it’s holding my heart in a vice-like grip. If things don’t end well I won’t be able to cope, so if you’ve read it please don’t give it away in the comments, but do let me know what you think. I bet you’ve loved it too. Highly, highly recommended.
Vintage Enthusiasm of the Month
This month VEOTM could very easily be re-named My Greatest Regret because I did not purchase the most brilliant Staffordshire flatback I have seen in an age. Disaster.
I love a SFB, mainly the very mass produced ones which while painted by hand, must have been done by some poor ancestor of mine on piecework who was paid thrupence per thousand so had to work at the speed of light. You know the ones - they’re supposed to be someone important, or terrifically in love, or about to go into battle at Waterloo, but their poor little faces actually just look bamboozled at life.
Look at these little guys! Brother and sister? Engaged but having second thoughts? It’s so hard to tell. I love them.
I saw the chaps in an antiques emporium the other day but as I am easily led, having taken a photo I was persuaded to go to lunch with my friends. Big mistake.
Reader, we did not return.
I am gutted. Wouldn’t it just be SO cheering to see them settled happily on a desk? So at peace with the world, so resigned to whatever might happen next. We could all learn from that for a start.
Anyway, moral of the story - if there’s a top bargain to be had, do not go to the vegetarian café first even if it is really nice.
Happily (blimey, this section is an emotional rollercoaster), I’ve bounced back by going directly to eBay where I am currently in a closely fought* auction for the following jaunty looking couple:
(*only me)
Magnificent, I think you’ll agree. Obviously the fella on the left is compelling enough (his tiny feet!) but it’s his friend that takes the lead in this story. Born part spaniel, nevertheless she is ready to grab life by the horns. She is brilliant.
I’m not sharing the link with you as quite frankly, I don’t want the competition. Currently standing at £10.78 + postage, I will report back next month to let you know if I’ve won. Wish me good luck. I know you’re with me on this.
Where Things Are Mostly Cheerful
And finally, just a couple of lovely things I’ve found this month - both a comfort.
First off, Cyberjammies have a sale on and I found these jaunty dog bottoms for £16.00. Cheerful! And they’re wide enough to go over a leg brace. (Niche sale point, I realise).
I also bought the most comforting tweedy socks from Just Sox on Etsy which are beautifully handmade and perfect for autumnal lolling. (They have mittens too which rank high on the comfortometer.)
And events wise, at the end of last month I saw Matthew Bourne’s legendary Swan Lake which I’ve seen before but this was even better which I didn’t think possible. Breathtaking. The tour’s coming to an end I think, but The Red Shoes is booking now (also brilliant) and if you’re in the UK MB’s Sleeping Beauty is currently on iplayer. Vampires and faeries - sublime. I love how the company is almost always on tour (internationally too) as it means you have a good shot of seeing them without having to spend a fortune getting into a giant metropolis. Hurrah.
Right. That’s about it for October. I hope you’ve enjoyed this Note of Cheer - please do drop it a like below if you have or leave me a comment for a chat, and I’d love it if you could share this with friends so I can spread the word. Thank you so much.
See you in November where I promise I’ll try to be less boring about knees!
Until then, take care.
AJx
I really look forward to your monthly notes of cheer. I do hope you are beginning to feel a little more mobile now. On the other hand loafing on the sofa is very good therapy. I also love your book recommendations, and my husband and i have now read ALL the Masie Dobbs books. Everyone should read them👍
I definitely want to book in to that San ( as they called them in Enid Blyton ) with you - although there might be some brisk matron who insists on giving us beef tea at regular intervals. I think gin and it would be far more therapeutic.