tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59685465076033754402024-03-13T04:38:23.511+00:00this writer's lifeTeresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.comBlogger297125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-2412370939285408012018-02-09T11:43:00.001+00:002018-02-13T11:27:29.977+00:00News<h2>
Fiction</h2>
In November, Fairlight Books published my short story <a href="http://www.fairlightbooks.co.uk/short_stories/10-minutes/things-i-have-learnt-about-jason-donovan/" target="_blank"><i>Things I Have Learnt About Jason Donovan</i> </a>on their website. This was a real Woop!Moment for me (pretty sure that's a thing) but especially so because I've been trying to get this particular story 'out there' for years, never sure if one of the reasons that editors / competition readers and judges were rejecting it was down to the fact it's about a real-life-still-living famous person. I did a bit of asking around for other writers' advice on this, but it was a grey area and hard to get clarity on it.<br />
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So when Fairlight Books said they wanted to publish the story but would need to consult a lawyer first in case it was libellous I was really interested and excited - and also it made me feel a bit glamorous that a lawyer was being consulted on my account (I'm very easily glammed). The verdict was that although there was one line about Kylie which could be libellous, the rest of the story was not. I reworked that line and at last - seven years after writing it - Jason Donovan was released into the wild. Of all the stories I've had published online I would probably say this is the one that has connected with people the most, which was so satisfying after all this time. <a href="http://www.fairlightbooks.co.uk/short_stories/10-minutes/things-i-have-learnt-about-jason-donovan/" target="_blank">Click here to read</a>.<br />
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And then... Matchbook literary magazine helped me get 2018 off to a really great start by publishing a piece of flash fiction, <i><a href="http://www.matchbooklitmag.com/stenson.html" target="_blank">The Route</a></i>, on Jan 1st. This is a super magazine run with a lot of love and it was a real delight to be selected and appear there.<br />
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Again, this story lead to some really nice feedback and connections with writers I hadn't 'met' before - mostly on Twitter. I love that about Twitter, and I like the longer discussions and threads that are part of the experience there now. This week I asked my fellow published short story writers what advice they would give to those just starting to send their work out, and the response was amazing. I had a great day dipping in and out of the chat. I'm @TeresaStenson on Twitter if you'd like to take a look.<br />
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And then... just yesterday I got the awesome news that I've reached the longlist in the <a href="http://www.barefictionmagazine.co.uk/2018/02/bare-fiction-prize-2017-results/" target="_blank">Bare Fiction Short Story Prize</a>. This means I'm down to the final 50 stories out of the 548 they received, so I'm very excited and happy about that. Judging is taking place through February and winners will be announced early March.<br />
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Ghostwriting and beyond...</h2>
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And in between those lovely nuggets, I've been flat-out busy with the ghostwriting projects I have on at the moment. I'm not sure how much I've spoken here about my work as a ghostwriter - it's a tricky one because I often have to sign non-disclosures so I'm limited in what I can say, but I can tell you that I love doing this work. </div>
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I have a couple of books on the go at the moment for very different clients, including someone who is well-known but... yeah I can't say anymore - sorry to be <i>that </i>annoying person. </div>
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So <i>what can I say</i>? I can say it's so interesting to write as someone else, and when I get into the zone and into their head, it's really thrilling and the words just flow. </div>
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I can say that putting a client's book together is like solving a huge puzzle, but I guess that is like writing a book of your own too. Plate spinning a-go-go. </div>
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There's actually so much more I could say, about ghostwriting in general, and I probably will do soon because it's such fertile ground. And I'm in the process of formulating my thoughts and findings and experiences as a ghostwriter because... </div>
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A really lovely thing happened at the end of last year: I've been invited to give a guest lecture at my old university about my life as a working and practising writer. Initially the idea was to give one talk about everything: short stories, ghostwriting, and anything else in between, but that's now evolved into two separate talks - so I'll talk about fiction in one session then a few weeks later I'll visit again and talk about my work as ghostwriter. I'll also run a couple of workshops after the lectures, which I'm really excited to do.<br />
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Oh and... when not writing, walking, talking, sleeping, tv-ing etc... I'm reading this book and drinking from this mug.<br />
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Hope you are well wherever you are, whatever you are doing, whatever you are drinking from.<br />
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<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-34293065160133663722016-06-30T10:17:00.000+01:002016-06-30T10:17:29.814+01:00Life... (dramatic pause) finds a way.Or, an "empty" shell you've had on the side of the bath for months finds a way UP THE BATHROOM WALL one night and delights and frights and delights you in equal measure when you wake up to see this:<br />
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My other half: "Do you think it was always in there or has another thing moved into it?"<br />
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I was tempted to leave it, just to see how far it might travel over the next few nights, but thoughts of it being hungry and probably not wanting to live on a bathroom tile took over. Also we're not allowed pets in out flat.<br />
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So we gently removed it from the wall to see the creature had retreated back in the depths of the shell, but some kind of special glue had kept it aloft all the other stones, a la Karen Jones' brilliant interpretation of the pic on Facebook: <span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A leader emerges. The stone people - and two potatoes - gather around and await their orders. The battle plan will be put into action soon. Death to the captors!</span></i></span><br />
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But we quickly silenced the shell creature and transported it back into the wilderness, well - a nearby posh garden.<br />
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Bon chance, petit escargot.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span>Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-35379683891373981112016-06-26T11:17:00.001+01:002016-06-26T11:39:28.327+01:00So, lately <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Hello blog – it’s been a while.<o:p></o:p></div>
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April and May were busy writing
months where I worked simultaneously on two ghostwriting projects (both autobiographies)
and a few other bits of freelance work in between. Since things have wound down
and one of the projects has been signed off (the other is almost completed)
I’ve been able to take some time to look over all those half written stories
and sprouts of ideas that have been laying low while my writing brain has been
engaged in writing for others.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since September I’ve written over
100,000 words as if I am someone else… I’ve captained a ship, been in the
Falklands, lived in a country hall, been married 8 times, lived in London
through the 60s and 70s, and travelled the world several times over. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And when I’ve written about these
experiences, I’ve done so with a deadline, usually composing 5000 words in two
days. A brilliant lesson in getting the words out, onto the page, so when I
have had time to write as me – the words seem to come faster, and easier, than
before. It’s certainly teaching me to be less of a perfectionist in those early
drafting days. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But it hasn’t all been work the
past few months. There has been nature too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It rained while we were in nature </td></tr>
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There was a family wedding, which
was quite restorative for me – catching up with the cousins I grew up with and
seeing my mum’s sister (the bride) happy and looking so lovely. I missed my
mum, but it’s ok to cry at weddings so I shed a few tears when I could. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The church (moody - it brightened up later)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just married</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'm in a hotel!"</td></tr>
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And some wonderful writing news – I
have a story in the final 64 out of the 1439 who entered the <a href="http://www.bathshortstoryaward.org/" target="_blank">Bath Short StoryCompetition</a>. The shortlist will be announced on Friday so here’s hoping I’ll go
further, but if not – wow, what a result already – I’m delighted. <o:p></o:p></div>
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See? But I am. Delighted.<o:p></o:p></div>
Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-27868127978464184862016-04-15T19:34:00.001+01:002016-04-15T19:36:15.510+01:00Where I am... and OVERHEARDSo I haven't blogged well and properly for quite some time. I am still here, writing, but not for myself at the moment - I'm deep in the process of ghost-writing two autobiographies. I've composed a few blog posts in my head - a really good one in fact about how I'm noticing the way ghost-writing affects my 'regular' creativity (in a mostly good way) and all the lessons I'm learning as I meet and write for some wonderful people, but there's hardly time for regular creativity at the moment let alone a blog about it. But I hope to share some thoughts with you soon.<br />
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HOWEVER there is always time to share an EXCELLENT overheard conversation. And this one is pretty special. As I sat in my local coffee shop today, working on someone else's story, this one infiltrated my ears.<br />
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Context: A man, perhaps 50 years old, is speaking to/at his friend 'Pam'. He is incensed.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Man: "I’m as good as Jean Michel Jarre and Kraftwerk. I play synthesiser, Pam. Fucking synthesiser! I know a thousand key combinations! Thank god I come from a musical background or I’d be up shit creek. I said to my dad, ‘I want world wide dominance with my synthesiser playing’. ‘You’ll get it, son,’ he said. But when will I get it, Pam? He said my playing would blow people’s minds!"</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pam, on her phone: "Ooh - fish shop opens at 4."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">and..... SCENE.</span></span></div>
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Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-35855998441457096452016-03-16T21:10:00.000+00:002016-03-16T21:28:51.226+00:00Catching up part 2: Stop fighting... now.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Here's what I tried to say on 2nd March, from my blog drafts folder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://teresa-stenson.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/catching-up-part-1-lost-time.html" target="_blank">(Go here for Part 1: Lost time)</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">2nd March:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWx_xxs56p_TuBENEP4eTj4nGJWo4mpGKkqQfQ2MP0Jc0ZN_aHUrW4U43YVukK2vpppZSSaZM64Eynr0LFtraIKVlmlXZVtnmn-CLE8q1G3xSIZf5nj-PCTIl1PH5P1xGNJBJ2_pU9Prv/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-16+at+19.41.05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWx_xxs56p_TuBENEP4eTj4nGJWo4mpGKkqQfQ2MP0Jc0ZN_aHUrW4U43YVukK2vpppZSSaZM64Eynr0LFtraIKVlmlXZVtnmn-CLE8q1G3xSIZf5nj-PCTIl1PH5P1xGNJBJ2_pU9Prv/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-03-16+at+19.41.05.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Ah. Okay. So. I could write a long post (actually I could create an entire new blog - have considered this) about body image, the wider societal issues, my own personal experience. But I stopped there when I wrote this draft because it is such a big subject, broad, wide, deep, easy, difficult, interesting, boring, essential all at the same time. All I will say then is that it's true - <i>I am so tired of fighting with my body.</i> </div>
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So I am working with it instead. I am being kind, loving and encouraging to it. That might sound funny but who cares - it's necessary and it's necessary for EVERYONE. I only have one of these things, and it's fucking good, better than I give it credit for. It gets me around, it digests my food, all kinds of behind-the-scenes stuff. And what have I been doing - I've been catching sight of it in the mirror and going, 'Oh god, really, you're doing THAT are you? With the skin and the lump there and the corned beef effect there?' </div>
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I'm not doing it anymore! It's bullshit. I know I'm being all sweary to make my points but I think it's helping. </div>
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If this at all resonates with you, try it. It won't be new information to you, of course - you've heard this kind of thing before, how you should pay yourself a daily compliment, love yourself etc. If that feels too far away from you, too ridiculous then fine - but really, let's stop with the fighting our bodies as a start. </div>
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Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-90774102538118992422016-03-16T20:58:00.001+00:002016-03-16T21:08:30.213+00:00Catching up part 1: Lost timeTwo months since my last post and two 'draft' blogs have been sitting on my dashboard waiting to be finished and published. Here's the first (I'll string this out by posting them separately):<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">22nd February:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikrgq8ukdHswtTjPXxDc0A_A5Pb6hlsLxmQzulNQz8ZinySD9RUAsNaRLijTwbRrKZ7aLbytXTmOnzDamVNIWz1oNJX1QwHO3tm3GSePvVvRzruw2xysCH92-rCS9DKBqWUsxA0B74LwJJ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-16+at+19.40.42.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikrgq8ukdHswtTjPXxDc0A_A5Pb6hlsLxmQzulNQz8ZinySD9RUAsNaRLijTwbRrKZ7aLbytXTmOnzDamVNIWz1oNJX1QwHO3tm3GSePvVvRzruw2xysCH92-rCS9DKBqWUsxA0B74LwJJ/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-03-16+at+19.40.42.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This was about how I use time, or don't use time (but I guess that is still a use of time?) </div>
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I was pissed off with myself for spending an hour before work surfing the internet (if people still say that) instead of writing, as I had set out to do. I got sucked and hooked into Facebook / Twitter / Buzzfeed quizzes to see how Northern I am (87%) what age I am according to my colour perception (18) what my name would be if I was born now (Caden). </div>
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I stayed pissed off at myself for just the right amount of time: enough time to realise I needed to not do that again, at least for a bit (am human). I reduced how much I go online rapidly for about a week and have since then, pretty much, gone by these guidelines:</div>
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- Don't check the internet first thing in the morning (eat breakfast with no distractions, write in notebook before going online)</div>
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- Don't check it last thing at night (most nights have a 'cut off' around 6pm) </div>
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- Be more mindful of social media use throughout the day (just gerroff it, luv)</div>
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<a href="http://teresa-stenson.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/a-month-without-facebook.html" target="_blank">It's not the first time I've curbed my use of FB</a> etc, and I feel like a bit of a fool for even having / needing these 'rules', but I console myself with the thought that we are living in an era no one expected (there was that one guy though, wasn't there, he knew it was coming), we're overloaded with information, connections, opportunities all just a click away. My brain hasn't adapted yet. And I'm just really nosey.</div>
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Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-65761300626434294232016-01-19T11:05:00.004+00:002016-01-19T11:05:58.394+00:00This week I am...<span style="font-size: large;">Reading... </span>Margaret Atwood's 'The Stone Mattress', a collection of 9 short fantastical stories - or 'tales' (the term Atwood prefers for these particular works) about revenge, mortality, ageing and looking back.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Listening...</span> to David Bowie, of course.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Working... </span>as a biographer on a life story project. The book is almost done and will finish around the 45,000 word mark. I'm in an interesting and privileged position to be listening to the stories and experiences of someone I never meet, and turning those spoken stories into something that works on the page. The next few months will bring more life writing projects, some of which I'll be having more creative freedom and space with, actually meeting and speaking with clients, building books in a more collaborative way. An exciting time.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Walking... </span>at speed on a daily basis to try to undo all the food of Christmas and New Year. Might take a while.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Preparing... </span>an application for the role of editor with the journal <a href="http://www.writingmaps.com/collections/the-a3-review" target="_blank">The A3 Review.</a> I ordered a bundle of issues to read in preparation, and they're wonderful.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZYCxQAkbP89ZF0dsZm9uXB4PWRn8gQPrIh6ARf4QHHNCziPaWGcZIg1Qdx4_0RenAv10sIZ6UTjWL239_OhUpROMLP1TxR5NH0zyo5tQwfHySrmd3LkxiHflclIf5bRY_cNXn6K3U1_6/s1600/100_1522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZYCxQAkbP89ZF0dsZm9uXB4PWRn8gQPrIh6ARf4QHHNCziPaWGcZIg1Qdx4_0RenAv10sIZ6UTjWL239_OhUpROMLP1TxR5NH0zyo5tQwfHySrmd3LkxiHflclIf5bRY_cNXn6K3U1_6/s640/100_1522.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Holding... </span>a hot water bottle, pretty much full time.<br />
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<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-25431416169937166242016-01-05T09:31:00.000+00:002016-01-05T09:54:43.642+00:00Why I've been away a while<div class="MsoNormal">
A week after my last post we lost a close family member.
I will hold back a little here in the specifics of what I say because this loss
is not just my own, but my partner’s. It was a sudden and intense experience,
and the swells of that loss, and those left behind, are still felt now. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
November and December were spent collected together with my
partner’s family, mostly indoors but sometimes out in open spaces where we
tried to breathe, make sense, and feel the person still with us. We lit fireworks
and Chinese lanterns. We have become very keen on candles. We’ve dug out old
lamps and bought fairy lights and even some of those pretend battery powered
candles for when we’re asleep. I’m not sure if there’s something in this
seeking of light (it’s not that we’re avoiding the dark) but it seems to bring
comfort. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is hard when faced with such a sudden absence of life to
not expect more of it to occur. So in and amongst processing this we hold on to
each other a little tighter, and feel gratitude for what we have. We remember
and contemplate on the person we knew and loved, and what they brought to us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-9eRcFn2j7Zl4broz-FkaOwJ9BooDy81y05YsPaGStSf7kDryApAcLFCOJBo01AoG2VGJnOTynREAZYu5Ao0AZpYNgEBZEqubL6HrmqomRsaySzpQZJbrqRoG7K0ekEOaACgE_jHU5t9/s1600/caw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-9eRcFn2j7Zl4broz-FkaOwJ9BooDy81y05YsPaGStSf7kDryApAcLFCOJBo01AoG2VGJnOTynREAZYu5Ao0AZpYNgEBZEqubL6HrmqomRsaySzpQZJbrqRoG7K0ekEOaACgE_jHU5t9/s640/caw.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cawthorne Park, Barnsley</td></tr>
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Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-68462251593976755882015-10-24T21:59:00.002+01:002015-10-29T14:13:02.137+00:00ten thoughts on a Saturday evening(Inspired by <a href="https://josephinecorcoran.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Josephine Corcoran's post</a> 'Ten thoughts on a Friday evening'. The first thought here is a direct reference to Josephine's.)<br />
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1. After a day of work, sipping a glass of wine whilst <i>not</i> cooking (beyond warming up some pitta bread) is a great pleasure. But I do like drinking wine <i>and </i>cooking. Tomorrow night I'll have a glass while I make a lentil dhal, which is one of my favourite things to make. But tonight it was nice to warm up some bread, throw some hummus and falafel onto a plate and wonder if I'd get lynched if I went back to the place I grew up for having such a poncey tea.<br />
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2. I had some crisps with my wine as a kind of 'starter', which made me feel better about the poncey tea.<br />
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3. I watched <i>Corrie</i> as I ate my poncey tea which really helped me to feel more down to earth.<br />
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4. I love <i>Corrie</i>. Five times a week (and not restricted to the broadcast times, thank you modern technology) I get a really happy feeling as I sit or lie down for 22 minutes to enjoy an episode. It's funny and well scripted. It's genuinely funny. Mary is my favourite. If you watch it and if you know me well you might understand why I like her so much.<br />
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5. Every so often, someone will hear that I watch certain TV programs (I also watch Big Brother) and say something smart like, 'Oh I thought you were <i>better</i> than that!' Of all the judge-y snobby attitudes I dislike, this is in the top 5 worst ones. (I'm not sure what else is in there yet - another blog post? but I know that I'd put grammar snobs in number 1.) Like what you like! Enjoy what you get pleasure from, for whatever reason. And please don't call the things you like 'guilty pleasures' - doing that just succumbs to and validates the judgements of others.<br />
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6. Happy Halloween! I bought these lights just a few hours ago. They're from Sainsbury's, they're battery powered, they cost £3.50 and they are ESSENTIAL. That's my head and eye at the top. Tilt your head to the right or it looks like my fringe is a beard.<br />
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7. I have a new job and it is a writing job. It's really nice to be able to say that! I'm working as a ghostwriter (that's even nicer to say) writing people's life stories from interviews they've given. It is really a fantastic job, interesting and rewarding - and hopefully it will lead onto and into other things... I'm doing it for an organisation at the moment, but am hoping, and planning, to be working for myself in the future. I want to help people tell their stories - it makes total sense for me to do that, for a variety of reasons. Maybe that is also another post. <i>If you'd like help writing your story - get in touch - my email is in the 'about' tab up there.</i><br />
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8. I only have one story out being judged at the moment - and it's at the <a href="http://www.costa.co.uk/costa-book-awards/costa-short-story-award/" target="_blank">Costa Short Story Award</a>. Six winners are due to be announced in November, which is very close. But 'Winners announced in November' is vague - that could mean <i>the end</i> of November. Which is a whole month away. It probably doesn't mean that, and I'm not saying this to elicit a 'Oh you never know!' response (I actually have that, naturally) but wouldn't it be amazing if writing competitions always kept their Twitter / website / blog up to date with news of how close they are to contacting the winners or shortlisters? They must know we check any kind of news resource daily (hourly) to see if anything has been announced. Just a snippet of news, an indication, would be excellent. And it would be respectful - then we can send our work elsewhere, with confidence, and not in a sneaky way.<br />
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9. In a bit I'll watch another episode of <i>Corrie</i>, then retire to bed to listen to a radio program. This is where I should say something about being boring, or 'this is how I rock a Saturday night!' or something else that I don't really mean. I guess we're back to thought number 5. When possible I try to fill my time with things I love doing, and these are the things I really want to do right now. The radio program, as I'm sure you're eager to know, will be <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qtnz/episodes/player" target="_blank">Word of Mouth</a> with <a href="http://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Michael Rosen</a>. (Josephine mentioned Michael in her list too, so that's a nice bit of synchronicity.)<br />
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10. This is probably the best video I've ever seen on the internet. (Yeah, even including all the cat ones.) (I KNOW!!!!) Thanks <a href="http://www.vanessagebbie.com/welcome/" target="_blank">Vanessa Gebbie</a> for sharing this on FB. This lady dancing, and the last line, and the timing of the last line and the song that comes on next... all comprise and make for one joyous, life-grabbing, life-affirming experience.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UE7Qa0DAJ8s" width="420"></iframe><br />
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Be happy! Like what you like! Write your thoughts and share in the comments, or leave a link to your blog in the comments. Happy Saturday. (Or any of the other 6 days in the week when you could be reading this.)<br />
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<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-72044434548210798852015-10-17T10:30:00.002+01:002015-10-17T10:30:20.085+01:00Excellent surprise... to find myself on the back of this book. I knew I had a story in this collection, but I didn't know until my copy arrived that a quote from it would be gracing the back cover so beautifully.<br />
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Thanks, <a href="https://hourofwrites.com/" target="_blank">Hour of Writes</a>.Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-63535778540843909852015-10-05T11:50:00.000+01:002015-10-05T11:50:42.992+01:00Announcing the winner... of the names-in-a-hat style competition to win a signed copy <a href="http://www.emmapass.com/" target="_blank">of Emma Pass'</a> latest novel <i>The Fearless.</i><br />
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Thanks to everyone who RT'd to help spread the word about Emma's letter to her teenage self which we posted here a few days ago as part of <a href="http://www.ukyax.com/" target="_blank">UKYA Extravaganza</a>.<br />
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All of your names were put into <strike>hat </strike> lovely porcelain pot (on account of being unable to find my hat this morning).<br />
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Here I have captured LIVE the moment of picking the name. Get ready...<br />
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SO - congratulations to Helen Grant. If you haven't already, please let me know your address by direct-messaging me on Twitter or email me (see contact tab up there).<br />
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Thanks y'all - and to Emma too.<br />
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Back soon with good writing news!<br />
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<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-47098184200797126742015-10-01T09:00:00.000+01:002015-10-01T09:09:25.950+01:00Emma Pass writes a letter to herself<h4>
Please welcome Emma Pass, award winning YA author, both to the blog and to the series of letters-to-our-younger-selves. </h4>
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Emma is here as part of <a href="http://www.ukyax.com/" target="_blank">UKYA Extravaganza</a> - a nationwide event celebrating books for young adults and the writers behind them. </h4>
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<br />When I volunteered to host a YA author I knew I'd ask my writer to write to their teenage self, and luckily Emma took up the challenge with gusto, penning a terrific letter of advice which speaks not just to herself, but to any aspiring writer.</h4>
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<br />Emma is also very kindly giving away a signed copy of her latest book <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17338059-the-fearless" target="_blank">'The Fearless'</a> (nominated for the <a href="http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/carnegie/" target="_blank">Carnegie Medal 2015</a>) to UK readers. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is leave a comment on this post by midnight Sunday 4th October, or RT any of the tweets from Emma and myself about this blog and the giveaway. All names will be out into a hat and I'll do a 'taking-a-name-from-a-hat' video post early next week.</h4>
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Over to Emma-now speaking to Emma-teenager - who desperately wants to be a writer. </h4>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Dear Emma (aged 13),</b> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So you've decided you want to be a writer.
You're sure about that, right? Because it's <i>not</i>
going to be easy. At all. There's still time to change your mind if –</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OK. OK. I can see I'm not going to be able
to convince you to do something sensible with your life. So let me offer you a
few pieces of advice:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">It's not going to be easy. Yes,
I know I already said that. But it's not. You've got this secret hope that the novel
you're writing now is going to get published. It's won't. It's going to take
you – are you ready for this? – twenty years. Yes, you heard me right. And
you're going to doubt yourself over and over again<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> But there's only one way through it. Keep writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Don't get frustrated. You know,
deep down, that the stuff you're writing isn't very good, but you can't get
better by skipping the crap – you have to work through it. Keep writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Don't let other people
discourage you. That English teacher who laughed at you for writing a 30 page
thriller when he told the class to write stories for homework? Don't listen.
He's a frustrated luvvie who's bitter no one's spotted his genius and offered
him a part on the West End stage yet. And that careers advisor who, a few years
later, will tell you no one ever makes a living doing something creative?
Ignore him. He's got a mullet and an earring. Even in the late nineties, that
wasn't cool any more. Keep writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Learn from other writers. Not
just the ones who write stuff that's like the stories you think you want to
write, but from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all </i>of them<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i> in every genre. When you reach your
early twenties, you'll pick up a book which will take you in a surprising – but
rewarding – direction. Keep reading.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Don't throw anything away.
Those stories you've given up on after ten pages – those half-finished novels
that dwindled into nothing – you don't know when you'll come back to them. In a
year or so, you'll write a story that will come in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very </i>handy in another 18 years. Keep everything.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Don’t think it gets any easier if
you do get published. It doesn't. There will be tough times ahead even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after </i>you have a book on the shelves.
But things have a way of working themselves out. Keep writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Write the stories <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> want to write. When you've fallen in
love with something you've written, it will show – and when you haven't, that
will show too. So why waste time on stories you don't care about? Keep it real.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US">8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Don’t give up. You'll get
there. Keep writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Lots of love,<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Emma (aged 35).</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvoqgQp2-v8VBSDShfrK8ekajdfMg8V7fFQLtKCqerN6nMp5wv0t5LvVirXoeh8Lrh0XS3mwqbrFS4wcTFz9NaWQDUbNMx8elg5s0can3_7S9FngI3I4wDxacL_ReoiSTCEyaPx304uFLA/s1600/Emma+Books+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvoqgQp2-v8VBSDShfrK8ekajdfMg8V7fFQLtKCqerN6nMp5wv0t5LvVirXoeh8Lrh0XS3mwqbrFS4wcTFz9NaWQDUbNMx8elg5s0can3_7S9FngI3I4wDxacL_ReoiSTCEyaPx304uFLA/s320/Emma+Books+2015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Emma Pass has been making up stories for as
long as she can remember, and wrote her first novel when she was 13 in maths
lessons with her notebook hidden under her work.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Her debut novel, ACID, was published by
Random House in 2013.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It won the 2014
North East Teenage Book Award, was shortlisted for the Doncaster Book Award and
a Silver Inky Award, longlisted for the 2014 Branford Boase Award and nominated
for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Her second novel, THE FEARLESS, was
published by Random House in 2014, and was also nominated for the Carnegie
Medal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Emma lives in Derbyshire with her artist
husband and crazy greyhound G-Dog. She owns far too many books and dreams of
having her own library one day. When she's not writing, she runs workshops in
schools and community settings and a young writers group for Writing East
Midlands. In 2013 she helped found the popular <a href="https://authorallsorts.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Author Allsorts blog</a>, and she is
co-organiser of the UKYA and UKMG Extravaganzas.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>For more on Emma:</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Visit her website: <a href="http://www.emmapass.com/">www.emmapass.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Stop by her blog: <a href="http://www.emmapass.blogspot.com/">www.emmapass.blogspot.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Follow her on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/EmmaPass" target="_blank">@EmmaPass</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Look her up on Instagram: @EmmaPassAuthor</span></div>
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Like her on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/EmmaPassAuthor">www.facebook.com/EmmaPassAuthor</a></div>
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<h4>
Thank you so much, Emma. And good on you for showing that English teacher and careers advisor that you can make a living from doing what you love. Oh, the photo you chose to share with us at the top of your letter: perfect.<br /><br />Now readers - please say hello in the comments and your name will go into the hat to win a signed copy of Emma's latest novel, <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17338059-the-fearless" target="_blank">The Fearless</a> </i>(offer only available for UK readers - sorry international friends. Say hello anyway, though). </h4>
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Competition closes midnight Sunday 4th October. Good luck!</h4>
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Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-44612926128958764992015-09-24T09:45:00.000+01:002015-09-24T09:45:26.339+01:00Oh hello- it's been ages since my last post. It was a different season! I can just see myself back then, all full of summer and picnic expectations. I think we managed to have one. Now we're well into September, the days are long enough, the light is beautiful, the air is calm. Feels like breathing out.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, some things that have happened between July 27th and now:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- As always, I've been writing short stories and sending them out<br />- Stories submitted: 4<br />- Stories rejected: 2<br />- Stories still out there: 2<br />- Good news! A hit - I found out I was a semi-finalist in CARVE Magazine's Short Story Contest<br />- I attended two lovely weddings<br />- I met my best friend's new baby girl<br />- I worked mostly in my cinema / bar job<br />- Tried to make cinder toffee, FAILED, something to do with temperatures, really claggy, stuck to everyone's teeth<br />- Baked choc chip cookies twice, SUCCESS both times, boyfriend's mum said they were better than the ones she gets from Marks and Spencer (high praise)<br />- I put about half a stone on (cookie / wine / take-away related)<br />- My fringe isn't what it used to be<br />- I read some great books: The Good Son by Paul McVeigh, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans<br />- I got into guided meditations - all of which I found with searches on Youtube<br />- TOOTHACHE (cinder toffee related)<br />- Corbyn Mania<br />- Applied for a few writing-related jobs<br />- GOT ONE<br />- Really excited about it<br />- Will be doing it alongside my other jobs for now<br />- I'll post about it soon, once I actually start doing it</blockquote>
<br />
Just this week I started back at my job at the university, which I love doing, and like I said at the start of the post I really relax into September, it feels more like New Year to me than New Year does.<br />
<br />
Hope things are good with you. <br />
<br />
<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-55157555680563700962015-07-27T14:04:00.000+01:002015-08-07T09:53:34.099+01:00that time I got lost in the Austrian Alps<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When I was 14 the most ambitious school trip
our teachers had ever organised was organised. No more Thwaite Mill! Goodbye
Eden Camp! We were off ABROAD. To AUSTRIA. To SKI. If we had a spare
£400. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">My family didn't, but you could pay in
installments, and my Dad, who I didn't live with, was keen for me to experience
new things so he proudly passed £50 a month to me until the trip was paid for.
My mum footed the bill for a hired ski suit reminiscent of my early 90s shell
suit, but with goggles and a beanie on top. I was kitted out and mega excited.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Thing is, I have no idea why. It was
like I'd had a personality transplant. The buzz about 'going to Austria' was
phenomenal, I got so wrapped up in it all I didn't stop to think about how
utterly rubbish I was at any physical activity and how unsure I was of my body
at that age. The social aspect of the trip was far more important. What clothes
we'd take for the evening activities. Who was sharing with who. Making mix
tapes for the 24 hour coach journey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So yeah turns out I was a terrible
skier. I had been the toddler who took ages to walk, the ten year old
who couldn't climb out of the swimming pool without being hoisted, the last
person in my year to learn to swim, the champion of the 'sausage roll' in gymnastics class
(lay on your side, roll as gracefully as possible along a smelly mat). All this
historical evidence! Along with that, all my old body fears resurfaced. I
was an overweight child but I'd recently lost my 'puppy fat' from a mix of
puberty, five salads a week and an unhealthy interest in going for a
poo. But it didn't matter that I was a size 10 now, I couldn't – or
wouldn't let myself – ski. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I could snow plough very well though. For the
uninitiated, this involves pointing the front of your skis together and
going as slow as a milk float. Really, it's a braking manoeuvre. But it
took me three days to master that – before then, on any kind of a gradient, I
was zooming past the rest of my group and our instructor Markus (pink ski suit,
all the girls fancied him in the way fourteen year old girls fancy anything),
hearing their distant cries of "Snow plough, Teresa!" until I'd just
give up and throw myself on the ground to stop. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I was a constant source of worry for Markus.
He had to accompany me on the ski lift every time we used it (I'd fallen
off several times) but things really got tricky for him around day 4 when
I went missing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Yes, that's right: MISSING. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We'd all finished skiing for the day (aka
best time of the day) and were making our way, on our skis, on snow, back to
the Lodge. I was, as always, at the back of the group but I knew the route
we were taking, until I fell over (not uncommon), disorientating me a bit and
making me miss a turning. Two of my classmates stopped to help me up,
which was nice, and I thanked them and confidently pointed ahead to the direction
we needed to keep going in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Turns out I was wrong, and as we skied
down on an unfamiliar slope, we couldn't see anyone from our group, nor the pink
of Markus' ski suit. We'd been told explicitly that if we ever found
ourselves alone without an instructor we had to get off the snow as
soon as possible - not for our safety, but for insurance purposes - so we found
a road where we could de-ski and walk back up the hill, alongside the slope
we'd skied down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We knew the name of the place we were staying
and managed to ask a passerby for directions. Soon we recognised we were
in the right neighbourhood. Phew. It wasn’t long until we were turning the
corner of the road where the Lodge was, to see our classmates cheering on the
balcony as we came into view (second best moment of the
holiday).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We'd probably only been gone an hour - but
the nervousness about what the teachers would say was immense. But in fact, on
our walk towards our lodge they came out to greet us and almost fell on us with
happiness – clearly they were imagining the shock newspaper
headlines. There was also a small search party out looking for
us, which consisted of Markus and our passports. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Some of my friends
actually cried at the end of the trip when our coach revved up to take us home
(first best moment of the holiday) but all I can remember is the relief. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If I could go back in
time to my fourteen year old self, I'd love to tell her not to worry about any
of it and trust herself, and her body, a little more. Something to remind
yourself (well myself for sure) at any age, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-63551942890845423882015-06-21T20:45:00.001+01:002015-06-21T20:45:38.053+01:00End of Lost at Sea ... or at least a pause from it.<br />
<br />
I was blogging about my Europe trip to have something good and useful to blog about . When I started it I had a pitch out at Mslexia to write a series of blogs for their website about my teenage diary keeping. I thought if I wrote something relevant here it would maybe go in my favour if they happened to look me up to see if I was worth a punt.<br />
<br />
Anyways - it didn't work out - Mslexia didn't go for the blog series I pitched - and also I don't feel that the Lost at Sea blogs are doing much for me or for you - so I'm shelving that for the time being.<br />
<br />
I miss blogging so will be back soon, with something - hm - I want to say excellent - it might just be sorta ok - but that's ok - it just won't be about That Europe Trip.<br />
<br />
I might pursue the teenage diary idea I had here - alongside usual general (excellent) blogging. Might might might.<br />
<br />
- Hope things are well with you -<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-50843071346090007182015-04-24T21:05:00.000+01:002015-05-09T21:21:43.671+01:00Lost at Sea - Part 2<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="line-height: 150%;">This is the story - or the bits of the story, the put </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">together</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> recollections - of a trip across Europe I took in July 2001. I was 20, naive, </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">resourceful</span><span style="line-height: 150%;">, terrified, full of hope and travelling alone. You can read part one </span><a href="http://teresa-stenson.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/fragments-of-solo-holiday-part-1.html" style="line-height: 150%;">here.</a></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'd never been on a plane
before. Growing up, our holidays were always to near-ish seaside towns never
more than 90 minutes drive away - Skegness, Mablethorpe, Bridlington – and we
didn’t have a car so we’d be dropped off by a relative who’d come back for us
the following Saturday. There’d be me, my mum, my Nana, my cousin, a couple of
aunties, and we’d stay in a flat for a week and have late 80s / early 90s fun (on
the beach with our buckets and spades, bingo, slot machines, talent
competitions…) Different trips and journeys to this one. </span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Two things stand
out </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">about</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> this going-on-a-plane thing. One, I was at an actual airport – a big and exciting place I’d only imagined
until now - and I was at the bit where I had to be x-rayed (customs? I still don’t
feel at one with the terminology). Anyways, the Security person, officer – she
was female, and she asked if anyone could have put something in my bag without
my knowledge. I still had it on my back – my huge big rucksack bought a month
or so before by my best friends in support of my journey. They sewed my name on
it too, ‘Tree’ (short for Teresa) next to a lovely big tree, rooted the ground
(ironically) ‘So you don’t forget who you are’. They may not have said that. It
just feels like they did.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So could anyone
have put something in this massive bag without me realising?</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I glanced back
at it and said, ‘Um, well, I’ve been wearing it, so I can't really tell, so yeah,
someone could have put something in there.’ It just seemed best to be honest about it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Security officer
customs lady sighed. ‘OK, I’m going to ask you again. Is there any chance
someone could have put something in your bag without you knowing about it?’</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I scrunched my
face up. ‘Um…'</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She gave me a look.
Eyebrows as high as they could go.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was getting it
now. I had to say NO. So I said, ‘No?’</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She nodded and let
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second standout memory of my
first-time-going-on-a-plane experience came as we took off. This was the moment where I suddenly realised what I was doing. As we speeded up along the runway, going faster than I had
ever gone before, at that miraculous moment of taking off, of soaring, I filled
with tears, and for the first time I asked myself why I wasn’t doing this with
a friend. But it was too late. I was on my way to Amsterdam, on my own as I had
insisted I wanted to be, with no booked accommodation, just a rough route I
wanted to take, and a plan that I’d be in the south of France about a week and
a half later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">… more soon … </span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-62315281005164501812015-04-19T18:27:00.003+01:002015-05-09T21:21:29.484+01:00Lost at Sea - Part 1<i>When I was 20, I spent a month travelling across Europe on my own. Last week I started writing about it, responding to a writing prompt "Lost at Sea". The whole trip was a bit of a mixed experience, and my expectations were so out of sync with the reality. So looking back on it is interesting, and maybe useful. I'll share some of the reflections here over the next few weeks. </i><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;">At 20 </span><u style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;">I was
naive enough to tell people I was going ‘to find myself’</u><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;">. Luckily I had
enough self awareness to deliver that phrase with sarcasm and knowing, but I did believe it
on some level. I believed I would have a deep and wonderful experience. That I
would meet interesting people, eat good food, drink wine in street cafes, speak
French, take deep breaths on mountains, not care if I missed a train, not plan
too much, be free and easy and only decide where I’d go next on a whim. I did
all of those things. But what I didn’t have was peace as I did them, and so I
didn’t have a deep and wonderful experience – I was sometimes lonely, even when
I was with people; and I was sometimes afraid, even when I was safe.</span></span><br />
<u style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;">I wasn’t
scared of anything external</u><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;">, not really. I didn’t think anything bad would
happen to me, like being mugged or kidnapped (and it didn’t) and before I went if
anyone questioned my judgement (on her own, a young girl, no mobile phone, hasn’t
booked her accommodation, in unknown places, etc.) I’d say ‘bad things can
happen anywhere,’ and feel extra mature about my outlook. I remember a few
people (Mum, Nana, Grandma etc.) asking with worried brows, ‘But can’t you get
anyone to go with you?’ I was aghast – </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;">of
course I could</i><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"> – if that was what I wanted, but I didn’t. I’d had this idea,
I’d bought a couple of guidebooks, a return flight to Amsterdam, a train pass,
an incredibly heavy timetable showing details of ALL trains in Europe that summer,
and I went.</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36pt;">(... more soon...)</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-787126668905044892015-03-15T10:11:00.001+00:002015-03-15T10:11:26.053+00:00good rejection<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Had a lovely rejection from <a href="http://www.granta.com/" target="_blank">Granta Magazine</a>. I've even been bragging about it, using it as an anecdote: "Yeah, got rejected by Granta..." etc. Badge of honour. I knew it was a long shot sending something to them, so when they replied with - </span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Thank you for submitting [story title] to our magazine. </span><span style="background-color: white;">We read it with interest and enjoyed it, but ultimately decided that it was not right for our pages. Please keep us in mind for your future projects."</span></span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- I was pretty happy. I felt like one of those gameshow contestants who hasn't won but they've had a lovely day out. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was nice for them to say I should keep them in mind for future projects. It means sub again, right?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because about a year ago, I sent something else to different magazine, who also rejected the story but also in a lovely way: </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;">"While this particular submission isn't quite what we're looking for, we were very impressed by your writing. We hope you will feel encouraged by this short note and send something else in the near future. </span><span style="background-color: white;">We look forward to reading more."</span></span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was really heartened by that. I thought - ooh, they're eager. I'll strike while the iron's hot! 10 days later I sent them something else. Alas, twas too soon. They didn't want it, and they asked me to leave it at least a month next time. I felt less like a gameshow contestant and more like someone who's been dumped and has been asked to give the other person space. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I'll wait a respectable amount of time before trying Granta again. Don't want to come on too strong.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-67693788910941995662015-02-16T11:26:00.002+00:002015-02-17T14:26:14.781+00:00a month without Facebook<i>This isn't one of those gloating posts about how improved life is without Facebook. I hope. If it is, tell me - I'll delete it.</i><br />
<br />
But because this is my blog and I write about myself here (big head) I can tell you that having a break from Facebook has been a key ingredient in - but not the whole picture of - a really productive month or so.<br />
<br />
I like FB but, as I said before, "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I am also a bugger for getting lost in it and that can make me feel a bit lost from myself."</span><br />
<br />
Have any of you ever 'deactivated' your Facebook? I have, several times (sometimes for years at a time) so I was ready for what FB would do. Once you click that button to leave, it does its best to make you stay by showing photographs of you having a great time with various people on your friends list. It tells you these people will miss you. It names them. <i>Siobhan will miss you. Ian will miss you. </i>etc. Only a lot of the photos it showed me this time were with people I haven't interacted with in ages, so it wasn't that effective. FB needs to update this algorithm (that's the first time I've ever used the word 'algorithm' - no idea if it's right). I still would have deactivated, but I would have liked in that moment of going to have paused and reflected, with sadness, 'Yes, Ashley WILL miss me.'<br />
<br />
For me, life without FB is easy. For something that can take up hours of my week (or hours of a day, even), it actually leaves no hole. Sure, my friends will be having funny conversations without me, and after a night out I don't get the 'Oh god let's see the photos/videos' moment (or maybe that's a positive), but really - I find it's what-you-don't-know-you-don't-miss. I might reactivate at some point. I probably will.<br />
<br />
But this Facebook-less month has succeeded in making me feel more connected. I'<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">ve written more, read more, and made more story submissions than I ever have in a month. Looking back at my submitted stories records for the past year, I averaged 1-2 submissions a month. But this January I made 5 submissions, and have made another 2 so far in February. A few of those were new stories, a few were rejects which have been edited and polished, and one was a pitch for a commission for a blog residency at </span><a href="https://mslexia.co.uk/" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" target="_blank">a magazine I love</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">. I sent work to </span><a href="http://www.granta.com/" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" target="_blank">an oh-so optimistic place</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">, and some to a new magazine </span><a href="http://brevitymag.com/" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" target="_blank">I discovered and really really like</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">And I wrote something for radio, for the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3rg0TYwrP43PLwL7S1jqVwC/submission-guidelines-2015" target="_blank">BBC Opening Lines</a>. I also researched the kind of stories they go for, and found <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/4lzjSdbLWJHvGbRKJxGMPrX/emily-baker-and-me" target="_blank">this gem</a> from Claire Fuller. Because my time online hasn't been dominated by looking at social-media, I've had the impetus to follow links to short stories to read with my morning coffee, instead of FB news feeds. I'm just making my way through <a href="http://paulmcveigh.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/read-6-of-longlisted-sunday-times-award.html" target="_blank">the 6 stories</a> which are available to read online from The Sunday Times Short Story Award. So far, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/referees" target="_blank">The Referees by Joseph O'Neill</a> is my favourite, but I also really liked <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/05/ways-2" target="_blank">The Ways</a> by Colin Barrett. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I've been reminded how useful, and sobering, and inspiring, it is to read the stories that are winning the big prizes. This year's Costa Short Story Award winner, <i><a href="https://www.costa.co.uk/media/281769/Fishskin-Hareskin-for-website.pdf" target="_blank">Fishskin, Hareskin</a></i>, by Zoe Gilbert, is just amazing. </span></span></span><br />
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But my increased productivity hasn't just been down to no Facebookin. I'm pretty sure that the news I had at the start of year about my shortlisting in the Magic Oxygen Literary Prize (<a href="http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk/2015/02/oxygen-literary-winners/" target="_blank">the results</a> were announced at the weekend- I was awarded a 'Highly Commended' prize), and the longlisting at <a href="http://www.barefictionmagazine.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bare Fiction</a>, have been useful pushes / prompts / confidence nudgers.<br />
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And then there was just the sense I had that I wanted to get some stuff done. So stuff is getting done. Hope your stuff is too.<br />
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<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-7758570637581647682015-01-24T16:52:00.001+00:002015-01-25T09:14:52.130+00:00Faces / close but / diariesThe lovely people at Magic Oxygen have made <a href="http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk/2015/01/shortlist-gallery/" target="_blank">a gallery</a> of all their shortlisted writers' <span style="font-size: x-large;">faces</span>. See that photo of me there on the right, with the rather red lips? Well they've gone kind of BLACK in the version in the gallery. I used to wear black lipstick - or was it dark blue - when I was fifteen and a 'Sweaty' - that meant I listened to Nirvana instead of dance music. The gallery also has info about the other 19 writers I'm shortlisted with, and it's nice to be amongst such a fine bunch. Have a look <a href="http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk/2015/01/shortlist-gallery/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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I entered <a href="http://www.barefictionmagazine.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bare Fiction</a>'s Flash Prize a few months ago, didn't get on the shortlist and had already enjoyed marking an X next to it in my submission diary (photo of that in <a href="http://teresa-stenson.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/shortlisted-deactivated.html" target="_blank">last post</a>). But I had an email yesterday to say I did make it onto the longlist of 30 out of 461. One of those '<span style="font-size: x-large;">close but</span> no cigar' moments, which bring a mix of feelings. Ultimately good ones, though. <br />
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On my days off I've been enjoying a bit of time with my teenage <span style="font-size: x-large;">diaries</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>- here we are together.<br />
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For ages I've been meaning to get them into some kind of chronological order, so now each one (there are over 70) has a small white sticker on the front saying when the diary started and ended. I rediscovered some stories I wrote back then too - horrible stories - mostly about love. Two characters, Megan and Jake, plague nearly everything with their smug creative relationship. Jake is always playing the piano and Megan is always off somewhere writing poetry.<br />
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Although I'm a writer and my other half is a musician I absolutely do not accept that I have somehow forced a life path identical to the way I thought it would be when I was 14. No. No. No.<br />
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Oh crap.<br />
<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-25310974181940493812015-01-09T18:13:00.000+00:002015-01-09T18:21:40.887+00:00Shortlisted, deactivated<b>New Year's Eve, daytime. I say to Mario:</b><br />
<i>"This is the first year since I started sending writing out that I haven't had anything published or shortlisted. But that's ok. I mean, it's how it works. Ups and downs. Ebbs and flows."</i><br />
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<b>CUT TO</b>: New Year's Day, morning. I open my emails, this from <a href="http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk/2015/01/molp-2015-shortlist/" target="_blank">Magic Oxygen Literary Prize:</a><br />
"Dear Teresa, Your story 'Waking', has made it through to our shortlist of ten..."<br />
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<b>GET THIS</b>: The email was sent at 11.59am, in the very last minute of 2014. Funny, huh?<br />
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Goes without saying I'm mega happy about this. A great end to one year and a boost of a start to the new one. It's a story that started out as a flash a few years ago, then took on a new life and more words and various edits, has been sent to quite a few publications / prizes and got nowhere...<br />
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<b>EVIDENCE</b>:<br />
<span style="text-align: center;">Here is a photo of my Rejection Section 2014</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7shcZmm2hONlzlBppR6yPS7ks0ZDiUg0YHZ1EHrfeFT5hmZoZaXqfHAnY1dI-fBLKkxcQzZHbpE4QJ5qGjFt5D0hAJTFQc5v2tBqT8waoSEdDPqtPtKDtJtv2jxNVq-7-v2NtoPq1haB/s1600/Photo+on+08-01-2015+at+15.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7shcZmm2hONlzlBppR6yPS7ks0ZDiUg0YHZ1EHrfeFT5hmZoZaXqfHAnY1dI-fBLKkxcQzZHbpE4QJ5qGjFt5D0hAJTFQc5v2tBqT8waoSEdDPqtPtKDtJtv2jxNVq-7-v2NtoPq1haB/s1600/Photo+on+08-01-2015+at+15.47.jpg" height="513" width="640" /></a><br />
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It's a bit blurred but I can tell you the word 'Waking' appears 4 times, so that's how many times it went out last year.<br />
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Note all those crosses. When I hear (or don't hear) a piece of work hasn't made it, I have to say I enjoy making those little crosses, they're cathartic. It's like the end of hope and the start of hope all at once.<br />
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So, fourth time lucky (probably double that if I checked how many times I subbed it in previous years). That thing has happened where a particular reader / judge has read it, and it's risen to the top of a big pile (800 entries). It might even now win a prize. I won't know if it has until mid-February, but it will be published in an anthology, and just being in the last ten is a wonderful feeling. I will, of course, keep you posted.<br />
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<b>I have also deactivated Facebook</b> ('What, all of it?!' a friend quipped when I announced this to him a few days ago.) No, just my account, as I have done before, when the fug of Facebook gets too much and I need a good soul clean. I am a fan of Facebook, I love and appreciate many of the people I talk to on there but I am also a bugger for getting lost in it and that can make me feel a bit lost from myself.<br />
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So I've done a bit more Tweeting in the past few days, but I've also written a lot more, and read a lot more, and felt more peaceful. GOOD.<br />
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<b>No big end of year post,</b> but I will say 2014 was the happiest year I've had in a while, maybe because I got a fringe cut in my hair ('bangs' in some parts of the world). Myself and my fringe wish you nowt but good stuff for the year ahead.<br />
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<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-22553342429289350992014-12-09T11:05:00.000+00:002014-12-09T11:19:06.479+00:00Tips for Customer Service Workers Part 42: My Till is Going Slow<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><i>One of my day jobs is in customer service. Sometimes I write about it.</i> <br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><u>Extract from The Customer Service Workers' Handbook </u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><u>Part 42:</u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><u>My Till is Going Slow </u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Potential Settings:</span> Anywhere
which uses a single line queuing system, such as fast food restaurants / ticket
booths / coffee shops / supermarkets / banks / virtually any retail</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Keywords: </span>transaction,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>inconvenience, technology</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Scenario</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Your till is taking longer than it
should to process a customer’s transaction. There is just you operating the
tills, and you have a queue of people waiting to be served. This has happened
before and you know it’ll just take a few minutes for the till to kick into
life and catch up, so there’s no need to call a colleague or a manager for
assistance. But you have in front of you a customer who is having to wait
anything up to an extra three minutes for their transaction to be completed,
not to mention the line of other customers who are also being affected by this
three minute wait. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">How can you best deal with this situation? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
First things first: Apologise and
explain to the person you are serving that the till is being slow. This is
easily done by saying, ‘Sorry, the till is being slow’. Most people will accept
this and wait patiently, but some may not. The most common customer response to
your apology is: ‘It’s okay,’ but you will know by the tone and style of
delivery whether or not it really is okay. The main thing to look out for is
looseness or tightness. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Looseness: the customer smiles as
they say ‘It’s okay’ and they are relaxed enough to lean on the counter with
one arm and perhaps even engage you in conversation external to the business
you are conducting. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Tightness: everything about the
customer is tense, in particular their shoulders, neck and face so that when
they say ‘It’s okay’ they do it without opening their jaw. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What to do if the person you are serving is visibly annoyed
by having to wait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Be careful here because the stony
atmosphere they are generating might make you talk more and say ridiculous
things. A common trap to fall into is to suggest the till is having a bad day.
While it’s true that this approach would be welcomed by a friendly and easy
going customer – one who might even take personifying the till a step further
and say, for example if it’s a Friday: ‘It must be ready for the weekend!’ or
if it’s a Monday: ‘It must have had a big weekend!’– a lot of people are just
not susceptible to this kind of play acting and will look at you like you’re
filth if you even try it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Saying ‘Sorry to keep you’: should you or shouldn’t you? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
This is a good, although risky, way
to phrase an apology. It’s risky because if the person is feeling ‘kept’
already, you will either highlight this feeling inside of them and make them
more of an indignant prisoner, or – and this is the hope – they will see the
idea that a human keeping another human just by a small delay in the
transaction process is ridiculous and they will feel some shame at their
behaviour towards you so far. If this happens, they will redden and say, ‘It’s
okay’ again, but this time they’ll mean it and you will feel the self-worth
shift back into your body. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Note: If your customer is friendly
and finding the whole delay process a bit of an adventure, saying ‘Sorry to
keep you’ might lead them to exclaim ‘It’s no problem!’ and laugh loudly. This
will infuriate the people who are waiting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Keep your focus on the till or the person you are serving. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Do not catch the eye of the
customers waiting in the queue. Most of them will be wearing an expression, and
doing things with their body language, chosen specifically to let you know how
much you are inconveniencing them right now. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Examples: pursed lips, arms folded,
eyes staring directly at you. They will be shifting their body weight from one
foot to the other more than they need to because this lets the other people in
the queue know how inconvenienced they are right now. There will be at least
one person tapping their foot. In some cases, there will be some muttering,
including the sound ‘fff’. However, there will be some people in the queue who
are fine with waiting either because they are enlightened or they don’t have
much on today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What to do if the person you are serving isn’t annoyed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
The friendly and relaxed customer
will probably be chatting to you as they wait. Be aware that if you indulge in
conversation with this person, the people in the queue will think you’re just
pissing about. Be sure to interject your chat with serious stares at the till,
and even if it’s not necessary consider looking around the back of the till as
if you are solving a problem with the wiring.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At last! The till has caught up and completed the
transaction. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
How the customer exits this
situation, and how you bid them goodbye, will depend on their behaviour during
the last 3 minutes. If they maintained their annoyance it’s always nice to be
extra nice to them in the hope that you will highlight their not-niceness. But
don’t hold any hope for this. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
You can use ‘Sorry to have kept
you’ as you greet each of the customers who have just had to wait. Once again
you’ll most likely elicit the ‘It’s okay’ response delivered with or without
sincerity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Your till is now operating as it should. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Congratulations, customer service
worker, you can go back to working to full capacity<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with maximum efficiency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">If you enjoyed that, why not try this previously published extract from The Customer Service Workers' Handbook:</span><br />
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
<a href="http://teresa-stenson.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/he-or-she-is-just-not-that-into-you.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: normal;">He or she is just not that into you: the disengaged customer - rude on purpose or by accident?</span></a></h3>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
</div>
Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-41740975833445521672014-11-06T08:06:00.000+00:002014-11-06T08:06:25.657+00:00How To Take A Selfie<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you think you look good today? Best take a selfie to
check.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is it a good one? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes. Fantastic. Post to all social media outlets with
caption ‘just chillin’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No. Do another. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is it a good one? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No. Do another. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is it a good one?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No. Do another. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It must be the light in here. Close one curtain. Put that
nice ambient lamp on. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ruffle your hair. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Think about how sad you felt that time you saw a dead baby
bird on the pavement and it made you write a blog post about the cruelty of
life. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">YES: hold that face. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But now think about how sexy you felt that time you went out
with damp hair and the wind gave you the best blow dry you’ve ever had and when
you stopped to look at the wedding dresses in the wedding dress shop window you
caught a look at your reflection and your head looked FUCKING ACE. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now add that feeling in. That’s it. Do your SADSEXY face.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is it a good one?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wow that’s really not what you were trying to communicate at
all, is it. Do you really look like that? Go to your favourite mirror and do
SADSEXY FACE in it. Looks better in the mirror. Get your camera and take a
photo of your reflection.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ooh wait - turn the flash off.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh and also light a candle and put it in front of the
mirror. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">DO NOT GET THE CANDLE IN THE PHOTO THAT’S TOO MUCH. You just
want the mood of the candle. The glow.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ok. Now take the picture.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is it a good one?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hm. It’s ok. It’s quite hazy. Quite arty. Ooh, arty is good.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Or maybe it’s wanky. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Point is even though it’s just a suggestion of your face it’s
VERY natural and VERY effortless. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PERFECT. Post to all social media outlets. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-56461563832521319452014-10-09T14:35:00.002+01:002014-10-10T07:39:35.661+01:00just so you know,<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am still here.</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The past
month or so has seen work life speed up and writing life slow down. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I've felt disconnected from the writing side of myself so to balance
things out I had a pull to revisiting some non-fiction. It's done the trick. I feel connected again. <a href="http://teresa-stenson.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/dear-diary.html" target="_blank">Once a diarist always a diarist?</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This particular bit of writing started out as <a href="http://teresa-stenson.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/some-of-my-old-penpals.html" target="_blank">a letter for The Letters Page</a>. They didn't accept it for publication, but I see why now. It was quite rushed, I had more to say than I could in 500 words. The version I've written this week is twice that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, a good experience.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But writing about real life opens the door to the old inner critic. She wants to know why I'm writing this. What I'm going to do with it. Because it's quite personal, you know. Are you going to put it in your blog? Might do. Why would you do that? Attention seeker. No, not that exactly. To communicate. To share. Share what a weirdo you were when you were eight? What if (insert person who might judge you negatively) reads it? Well so what. I'm not that bothered about what that person thinks. Aren't you? Why you thinking about it then? Seriously, fuck off now. You're such a drain. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">etc.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I will likely share the letter with you in the next few days. Check back soon.</span></div>
Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5968546507603375440.post-13740372764544233132014-08-07T16:29:00.001+01:002014-08-07T16:33:23.309+01:00There's been a lot of catching up lately. <br />
<br />
Family visiting us, friends who live far away stopping by.<br />
<br />
Then my best friend, Claire, got married just this weekend (she's been preparing since she was 4 years old; the rest of us since Andrew proposed back in Feb 2013). It was a lovely day. Romantic, fun, exhausting, happy. Here we are. <br />
<br />
<img alt="" class="spotlight" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/1546400_10152196481261441_3362644987662442459_n.jpg" style="height: 447px; width: 546px;" /><br />
<br />
<br />
A few days later I attended a funeral. My Aunt Audrey, who was my Dad's sister, died last week. She was the youngest of three. My Dad and his other sister, my Aunt Edith, have already passed. So Audrey was the last of those Stenson children, and in that way the last close link to my Dad. But I'd only seen her occasionally over the last ten years or so, and usually at other funerals unfortunately. Isn't that the way? You see people at funerals and vow to meet again soon at a less sad occasion. We didn't manage to.<br />
<br />
My Dad died when I was 16. When I was just getting to know him, or appreciate him. The last time I saw him we were talking about music I think (we didn't have the same taste then, but there'd be some cross-over now) and he told me he was a mod in the 1960s. This was possibly the most exciting thing I had ever heard. He then went upstairs and rooted around his wardrobe, coming back down with a mint and cream paisley shirt he'd worn in the 70s. It was 1997 and I was all about flares and collared shirts and long beads and anything alternative - earning me two nicknames at school: 'Indie Girl' from the cool 6th-formers in the years above me, and 'Sweaty Betty' from the townies in my year group. I <u>WAS</u> Indie Girl. And after that I was extra-original-authentic Indie Girl with my mint and cream paisley shirt.<br />
<br />
<br />
It always felt weird for me around my Aunts and my Grandma after Dad died. Because I knew I was their last link to him, and it made me feel uncomfortable, and odd, and scared in a way. I'm not sure why. Pressure, maybe. No one did anything wrong, just the circumstances. Just the way it felt back then. Overwhelming. <br />
<br />
There are just a few Stensons I know now, pretty much just Edith and
Audrey's children,
my older cousins. But I can count on one hand how many times I've seen
them in the past ten years. Despite this I feel a sense of unity
of when I do, and I hang on to them a little tighter when we hug, maybe
because - it's back to links - they are my only physical link to Dad, their Uncle.<br />
<br />
At the funeral I got to meet one of my Dad's younger cousins for the first time and I asked him for any stories, any memories of Dad from when he was younger. He remembered my Dad being tall with a deep and booming voice. It was enough to bring a little physicality to memories that can become still over time.<br />
<br />
Some photos of photos, so not great quality. Here I am with my Aunt Audrey. It's 1984, I'm about 3 years old.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi397fYkaAVfeRpAMkvuAofY3mUDquIzJC6gfXlOpAZQveZZkkYr7B0F6sYbmoeFkk-IWTj-llcY26kKFzVCGy3w-foNpZTwRJo16mjafaFogsDHfUnRAs7Opsb-YWJq93PfXNjtcwBsoLP/s1600/Snapshot_20140807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi397fYkaAVfeRpAMkvuAofY3mUDquIzJC6gfXlOpAZQveZZkkYr7B0F6sYbmoeFkk-IWTj-llcY26kKFzVCGy3w-foNpZTwRJo16mjafaFogsDHfUnRAs7Opsb-YWJq93PfXNjtcwBsoLP/s1600/Snapshot_20140807.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And here's my Dad, in the South of France with his girlfriend (not my Mum) sometime in the late 50s, or early 60s. He's around the age he was when his cousin remembered him as tall, with a deep booming voice. (Perfect for singing Elvis covers, which he did when I was a teenager, in a band with his friends. Sooo embarrassing, I thought. Not now.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjglPfUCMBlA7B_csMmwZb8BkirNlQxb8GA0obEnPEr1D1sRpZelF5-IQmV1rD4pgf6tU5QUxOtJBo8WPb8PFL-MvloB8JyksSIO4PqFMVEiNJ4h7AlvDm0HpZ58OTa93EnR01WN9YupUKK/s1600/Snapshot_20140807_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjglPfUCMBlA7B_csMmwZb8BkirNlQxb8GA0obEnPEr1D1sRpZelF5-IQmV1rD4pgf6tU5QUxOtJBo8WPb8PFL-MvloB8JyksSIO4PqFMVEiNJ4h7AlvDm0HpZ58OTa93EnR01WN9YupUKK/s1600/Snapshot_20140807_2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Friends, a wedding, families and memories. A week of connections, really. <br />
<br />Teresa Stensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17027879292470220383noreply@blogger.com3