ABOUT ME

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Morecambe, Lancashire, United Kingdom
In the mornings I’m a Nursery Cook, the rest of the time a Writer. Been writing for decades: short stories, plays, poems, a sitcom and more recently flash fiction, Creative Writing MA at Lancaster Uni and now several novels. Been placed in competitions (Woman’s Own, Greenacre Writers and flashtagmanchester) and shortlisted in others (Fish, Calderdale, Short Fiction Journal). I won the Calderdale Prize 2011, was runner-up in the Ink Tears Flash Fiction Comp & won the Greenacre Writer Short Story Comp 2013. I have stories in Jawbreakers, Eating My Words, Flash Dogs Anthologies 1-3, 100 RPM and the Stories for Homes anthology. My work’s often described as ‘sweet’ but there’s usually something darker and more sinister beneath the sweetness. I love magical realism and a comedy-tragedy combination. My first novel, Queen of the World, is about a woman who believes she can influence the weather. I’m currently working on a 3rd: Priscilla Parker Reluctant Celebrity Chef. Originally from West Midlands, I love living by the sea in Morecambe, swimming, cycling, theatre, books, food, weather, sitcoms and LBBNML … SQUEEZE!

Sunday, 3 February 2013

My Writing Space and the Blurb for Queen of the World



This my writing space. I love my beautiful oak desk, bought with money from my grandmother. It nearly fills the bay window in my living room and is where I write, think, read, email, tweet, eat and also where I procrastinate - watching TV, seeing the neighbours go by and keeping an eye on the sky.

This week I’ve reached the stage where I’m finally about to submit my novel, Queen of the World, to agents. I started writing it in October 2010 from a 500 word story that wanted to be longer. The first two drafts weren’t written at this desk. They were written at a rickety table from my uncle Bob’s garage. Much of the editing and procrastinating happened at the new desk. And maybe – just maybe - there will be more editing to come.

Everything will be ready to post/email on 9th Feb. ‘All being well’ and ‘touch wood’ as my mother would say. Anyway, I thought I’d put the short synopsis or ‘blurb’ here …

Queen of the World is a literary-commercial contemporary novel full of tea, toast and tidying, of cloud-watching, time, memory and coincidence. Marjorie Queen is an ordinary woman, except for influencing the weather. Reunited with Hugo, the boy she loved at fifteen and spent thirty-seven years believing dead, she realises her abusive stepfather lied to her. Hugo’s now an artist creating temporary mythical creatures from natural materials. Will Marjorie help him with his last ambitious piece?



My plan for once all the sample chapters with their accompanying synopses and cover letters have been posted? I’m going to get out another short story that wants to be a novel and the few notes I’ve done and start work on the second one.

This week I had a photo and story published on 330 Words called Footprints.
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4 comments:

  1. Lindsay3 February 2013 at 07:25

    The bit that required hard work and talent is done and now it's the time for hard work and luck. So good luck, loads of it, Sal.

    Love 'Footprints'.

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  2. SAL PAGE3 February 2013 at 10:01

    Thanks Lindsay. Wise words. I'm trying to think in terms of maybe getting at least one rejection that has some comments in that show its been read ... rather than anything more far fetched that I won't dare mention. Hard for anyone with an imagination, isn't it?

    Sal

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  3. Stella3 February 2013 at 12:18

    Good luck Sal with the submitting, the desk looks great in the photo as it does in real life :)

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