Pulling myself together

My mood is much improved this week, thanks in no small part to some major-league pruning and tidying in the garden. Basically, we've been editing the long border that runs from the pond to the shed and it looks much better. There's nothing like a physical labour in the sun to raise the spirits.

Work is picking up, too. Today I've edited an article about Russian military aircraft, finished a piece on a tourist destination in Staffordshire, taught a yoga class and noticed that I get a mention in Writing Magazine as judge of the H E Bates short story competition. Have you started on your entry yet? You have until 3 December to get your entries in. I'm in the current issue of Spectrum, too (the magazine for members of the British Wheel of Yoga).

Elsewhere, nerves are building ahead of the charity concert on Saturday, raising money for Cransley Hospice and Headway East Northants. My nails are filed short, my ukulele is tuned and I'm ready to rock!

A writer's week

I'm struggling to come up with a cover image for my new  yoga book, so I went over to see the publisher for a bit of a chat. While I was there, it was pointed out to me that I'm in the May issue of Writing Magazine (pictured), which was a nice surprise. I'm part of the Subscriber Spotlight and I hadn't noticed!

I'm also in the spotlight locally, because our new bookshop has a display of local authors' books, including mine. I'm in the window with Alan Moore!

I'm just waiting for Radio 4 to invite me on and I'll have a hat trick!

How's your week been?

This should have been posted on Friday...

... but time got away from me. I've had several reasons to celebrate in the last week or so. First off, it was number two son's birthday, which we celebrated with champagne and apple crumble. Odd, do you think?

I am Star Letter in the November issue of Writing Magazine, for which I am to receive a copy of the WAYB, which is definitely worth having.

I was highly commended in the Birmingham Lit Fest flash fiction comp, for which I receive nothing, but my story will be online in due course. I'm going to the festival on Saturday, as it happens.

Most astonishing of all, those of you who have been following my staggering steps as a fledgling artist will be as surprised as I was to learn that my Pollock piece (details here) was judged to be the best in the exhibition. I know! I went along to the Rooftop Gallery on Thursday for tea and cake, where I was given a potted rose and a certificate. I'm that chuffed!

Book 'em, Danno.

Today is the first day of a free online course on 'Forensic Psychology: Witness Investigation' that I'm doing via FutureLearn. This fabulous website offers loads of courses from respected providers on all sorts of subjects. I'm doing the course primarily for fun, because I'm a bit of an armchair detective, but also because I thought it might provide useful background for short stories.

As writers, we are told that we must get our facts right or readers will be quick off the mark to correct us, and nowhere is this idea stronger than in crime writing. Writing Magazine has a regular column called 'Excuse me officer [sic]' through which people can ask a real-life copper questions relating to police procedure. But how much do average readers know? How many inaccuracies would they spot?

My police training (ahem) has been done entirely through TV. I'm pretty sure that if it came to it I could wield an ALS to find fluid-based evidence and decipher a splatter pattern; but after only few hours on my FutureLearn course, I can already see that much of what I thought I knew is wrong. I thought that if the forensic evidence was there, then we had 'im bang to rights, gov'nor, but no: the course material quotes an analysis of cases, such that where wrongful convictions were subsequently proven 23% of them had relied on forensic science. 'It is common for crime dramas to portray forensic science as being completely accurate and reliable, but often the techniques they show owe more to science fiction than they do science fact.' Amazing!

Which leads me to wonder whether writers need to be quite so pernickety in their research. If we're already being led up the garden path, does it really matter if we get the caution wording slightly wrong, or detain someone for questioning in a manner not compliant with PACE? In fiction, isn't the story the most important element?

Police, camera, action!

So while my son and his band The Divisional were out on Saturday night playing a gig in town, I was watching the previous night's episode of Castle. (Yes, I know how sad that makes me look, but it's a guilty pleasure.) In case you haven't come across this gem of American TV, the premise is that Richard Castle is a crime writer who has managed to get himself attached to the police department of the implausibly glamorous Detective Kate Beckett. He 'helps' her to solve crimes.

Well, this week's episode was about the death of the singer in a rock band and was full of scenes of musicians and drugs, musicians and guns, musicians and unscrupulous managers. Gulp! Not much to worry a mother there, then!

Meanwhile, in the May edition of Writing Magazine there is an interesting article by police trainer Ian Sales on how the real police force operates. There is also a mock scenario like those used to train real detectives. What would we readers do in that first 'golden hour' after the discovery of a body? Can't wait for next month's solution to see how I've got on.

I enjoy a bit of TV detection. The trouble is, the more episodes you watch, the easier they become to solve - e.g., in Midsomer Murders the culprit is always the first famous actor you see. Once you've worked out the grammar of the show, you can forget about following the plot and just let the story unfold in a warm, comforting way.

Not that I could write one, of course!