A Summer of New Experiences

Before September becomes October and the days get properly short, I wanted to look back on a few of the things I did this summer with a view to reminding myself that I am able to set anxieties aside and push myself to do new things.

KUGB Karate Summer School

At the beginning of August my son and I travelled to the University of Lancaster so we could stay the night on campus ready to wake up bright and early for the first karate training session at 8 a.m. the following day. As it was a fairly long drive, we listened to the audiobook Slade House by David Mitchell in the car, and it was so absorbing it felt as though we were there in no time. (By the way, if you’ve read it, I would love to know what you think of its ending.)

It was great seeing friends from the club at the student hall of residence in which we were staying, but as it was late – and we were hungry – we quickly got back in the car to pick up some fish and chips from the nearby Morecambe. As I used to watch Morecambe and Wise as a child (and in some ways my late father reminds me of Eric Morecambe) I really liked the idea of eating fish and chips on the beach and then strolling along to see the statue of Eric Morecambe. By the time we got to Morecambe many of the chip shops were shut but, thankfully, we managed to get some chips, a sausage and a pie from a shop that was a few minutes away from closing, so we got to eat our dinner on the promenade overlooking the beach after all. We didn’t quite get to the statue, but we drove by it and gave Eric a wave!

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get much sleep that night (I seemed to miss the window of opportunity for falling into a deep sleep) so by the time the alarm clock went off I was pretty worried about how I’d get through the 8 a.m. and midday training sessions on only a couple of hours of dozing. Coffee helped, of course! But also the fantastic atmosphere in the dojo. Everyone, from the white belts to the most experienced black belts were incredibly focussed, and being among other people giving it their best, helped push me to stay awake (!) and try my best too.

My First Worldcon

Actually, I’m still rather dazed from the experience of attending and being involved in such a huge con. And it was in Glasgow – which is miles away from the Midlands! Thankfully, from attending smaller conventions, I already had strategies in place for not feeling too overwhelmed: concentrate on what I need to do (panels, launches etc.) and then make the most of spending time with good friends. Whenever things got a bit too much, I took myself off for a wander to look at the local architecture, or strolled around the art display (which is equal parts soothing and inspiring). Of course I felt like I’d missed out on seeing many, many good people and attending interesting panels, but it’s important to accept that you really can’t see everyone and do everything. Thankfully, the con organizers made a lot of the panels available to watch on catch-up, which has been a great way for me to see panels I would’ve liked to attend had I been able to clone myself three times over.

Pilgrimage

For me, the word ‘pilgrimage’ conjures up an image of medieval monks toiling up a vast hill. So when my children and I were invited by our parish priest to take part in one, I was a little anxious – I half-expected us to be hiking for the day while dressed in brown tunics! However, that didn’t quite happen. Instead, I drove us to the Church of Our Lady of Egmanton in which there is a shrine to the Virgin Mary, who supposedly appeared to a woman in the twelfth century in the local Ladywood. The shrine and interior of the church are beautiful, and I very much enjoyed the incense-infused service and the mention of Carl Jung’s thoughts on the Assumption of Mary in the priest’s sermon. (Readers of my own writing will know I’m a big fan of Jung.)

Boat trip around Meganisi

For many, summer holidays are solely for relaxing, and I’m definitely the kind of person who would happily spend a week simply reading, swimming in the sea and going to restaurants. However… my kids want to do stuff. (Outrageous!) Honestly, I thought that driving around the narrow, clifftop roads on the Greek island of Lefkada was exciting enough, but they wanted to explore the many remote beaches and islands by boat. My husband was pretty enthusiastic about the boat idea too, so before I knew it we’d hired a motor boat for the day, been given some basic instructions, and were setting off. I know very little about boats, so I have to admit to being pretty anxious about our expedition. I mean, what if we ran out of petrol, or the motor broke and we were just… floating there! (If you’ve read my micro short story collection, Waterlore, you’ll know I have a healthy respect for the perils of the sea.)

Thankfully, none of my fears were realized and we had a brilliant day of “parking” (I’m not quite up to using boating terminology yet) near small, secluded beaches, having a swim and then eating a snack. My husband loved making the boat go as fast as possible and I have to admit to shouting Wahoo! several times as we speeded around the beautiful island of Meganisi, which is just east of Lefkada.

By the end of the day we were all tired and sunburnt, but I’m really glad we hired the boat and got to have what ended up being a wonderful experience.  

Ride and Stride

My husband and daughter had a great time taking part in an event called ‘Ride and Stride’ last year (this is a sponsored walk/cycle around churches to help raise money for the Nottinghamshire Historic Churches Trust and your own local church) so wanted to do it again this year. My son was especially keen to join them, but I wasn’t sure if I could manage a 14 mile hike. I mean, the last time I walked such a long distance was when I was doing my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award – which was back in the last century!

Thankfully, and no doubt in great part due to my ongoing karate training and my everyday short walks, I DID manage the 14 miles and I felt immensely proud to have done so given how I am definitely more aware of the aches and pains associated with a body that is no longer so, ahem, youthful.

What I particularly loved about doing the walk was stopping and resting at the 9 churches, which were all beautiful and spiritually restful places in their own way. And as I’m a big fan of stained glass, I got the chance to see many wonderful – and very different in style – stained glass windows.

Writing an academic essay

Obviously, I don’t find writing fiction a challenge, but non-fiction (especially academic-type essays) I do find challenging. However, having edited the anthology The Utopia of Us this year, and being keen to spread the word about 2024 being the centenary of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (which inspired the anthology) I put myself forward to write an essay about Zamyatin and the writing community for the British Science Fiction Association’s magazine Vector. This one really pushed me mentally, because in academic writing there is a huge amount of research and fact checking to do. It’s about having a HUGE body of material to sift through, deciding on what angle to take, and to then structure a cohesive and logical narrative throughout the essay. Which is tough!

The Vector editors have been most helpful with helping me to polish my essay, for which I’m very grateful, and I’m looking forward to seeing my essay in print in the forthcoming 300th issue.

University Open Days

Visiting universities on open days was, again, something that I did last century, so to be going with my daughter, who is due to take her A Levels next year, is rather strange (but good). Recently, we visited Oxford University to have a look at some of the colleges, as well as the physics department. It was absolutely wonderful to spend the day with my big girl looking at the beautiful architecture, chapels, and libraries, and treating ourselves to delicious food (as well as visiting the wonderful stationery shop, Scriptum), but also very weird to think that in a year’s time we may have one less person living in our house! However, as my daughter’s still considering her plans for next year, I will, for the time being, enjoy the open days and not worry too much about my daughter leaving home – sob!

Being shortlisted for two awards and (almost) becoming an Amazon bestseller

Okay, so technically, I haven’t pushed myself out of my comfort zone to achieve any of these things, but it’s certainly been a new experience to have my books a) shortlisted in both the Rubery Book Awards and the British Fantasy Society’s ‘Best Newcomer’ award and b) to have Umbilical peak at number 3 of the science fiction anthology’s category in Amazon, but I actually do find it a bit difficult talking about these things. I feel it’s big-headed of me to mention shortlistings and sales rankings. That said, I’m also aware of the great many challenges that small, indie presses have in promoting and selling their books, so I feel as though I have a duty to help them get more eyes on my books. So I think that kind of appeals to the conscientious side of me i.e. talking about your books = helping your publisher.

After next month’s Fantasycon and my son’s 14th birthday (how is this happening? I was sure he only started school the other day!) I should have a lot less on. Introvert-me is very much looking forward to the cosy and relatively relaxed calm of autumn and winter but, also, I really need some quiet time to get down to writing my novel. Fingers-crossed I can push myself to get to The End by the close of the year.

Lastly, for those who like to do their Christmas shopping early, I wanted to say that NewCon Press (the publisher of Umbilical) is currently offering a generous 40% discount to anyone buying 3 or more titles from the NewCon Press website. Just apply voucher code Birthday24 at the checkout. Bargain!