Alice Nuttall

TS: First off Alice, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we (always a good place I find). You’re at a party and you have to describe your book to a stranger. What would you tell them?

AN: Spider Circus started as a long series of ‘what ifs’. What if a circus didn’t just travel between towns, but between different worlds? What if a girl who’d lived an ordinary, boring life in an ordinary, boring village ran away and joined that circus? What kinds of things would she see? What dangers would she face? Spider Circus grew out of those thoughts, as well as some ideas that I’d already been working on. Out of all those different thoughts, I got the story of Lizzie, a girl who joins a circus that turns out to be even more magical than she’d expected.

TS: I loved the idea of *jumping* between different world’s and the circus that also moved between them. For me it reminded me so much of Diana Wynne Jones at her creative best. How do you feel about that comparison?

AN: I’m a huge fan of Diana Wynne Jones’ work, so being compared to her is a real compliment -her novels, especially the Chrestomanci series, have been such an inspiration to me.. In fact, I was a little worried that my work might be a little *too* like hers – I only read Homeward Bounders for the first time after I’d completed an early draft of Spider Circus, and I was scared people were going to think I was plagiarising! However, I realised that there are so many stories which explore the idea of parallel worlds (His Dark Materials, the Narnia books, the TV series Sliders, to name but a few) – I just had to make sure that my dimensionals’ journeys took them to different places than their predecessors.

TS: I really know what you mean about not wanting to be thought of as plagiarising. I’m writing a book that use Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer as a base and is inspired by Jones’ Fire & Hemlock but it is a different story. You’ve said that all your stories will be set in the same multi-verse – I like that! Did you want to elaborate on that? I assume the stories might be completely separate but with links…

AN: Basically, I want the best of both worlds – to be able to tell very different stories, but with a few subtle connections between them that people might pick up on. One of the less subtle connections is the village of Middlewick, where Lizzie lives; it’s also the location of my short stories, Free Gifts and Daisy’s Demons. I’ve got a few more stories that I’m planning to set there, and am currently working on another that reveals why strange things tend to happen in that particular village.

Characters are another connection; there are so many characters that I want to write about in greater depth. The sequel to Spider Circus will focus on Damien, and the third novel in the series will be about someone who’s currently a very minor character (although Lizzie’s still going to have a major role – she worked her way into the heart of this story, and she isn’t going anywhere any time soon!) I also really want to write a Doctor Scott story, I have a feeling it’d be a lot of fun.

TS: This all sounds like a lot of fun! And yes, I approve of having lots of inter-vaguely-conncted stories. Which brings me on to my next question… Just where do you get your ideas from, and how long do they sit in your head for brewing? What’s your weirdest idea for a story?

AN: I’m not always sure where I get my ideas from. Most of them just seem to filter in from the world around me – things I do, people I speak to, books I read, they’re all potential sources. Sometimes I get an idea and write the story immediately, in near-finished form -this happened with Free Gifts and Daisy’s Demons. Most of the time, though, the ideas sort of have to percolate in my head. I’ve had various ideas for the Shadows series kicking around since I was fourteen years old, and all that time of writing and rewriting hasn’t just helped me improve my style; it’s helped me sort out which of the ideas are worth hanging onto, which need changing, and which really, really needed to go.

As for the weirdest idea I’ve had… I’m kicking around the idea for a short story about a secret cloning project in Oxford, because I’ve noticed that so many of my friends from out of town seem to have Oxford doppelgangers. But I need to do a bit more scientific research before I can write that one.

TS: Interesting! I wonder what it is about Oxford as a place that makes so many writers create these alternate versions of it…? Lots of writers also create playlists for their novels now. Firstly, do you do this, and if so what might we find on the playlist for Spider Circus? Also, how does music inspire/effect your writing in general?

AN: I don’t make specific playlists, but there are various songs/bands I listen to when I’m writing. For action scenes, I listen to lots of melodramatic orchestral metal, like Nightwish. For serious/emotionally angsty scenes, I often listen to Dresden Dolls or various songs from musicals (my current favourite is “Let It Go” from Frozen). I have a pretty strange taste in music, my MP3 has everything from Disney songs and TV themes to metal and classical.

TS: Eclecticism is good in my book. An insight into the *real* Alice now. What little nugget would you like to reveal about yourself that your readers might not know. What makes Alice really tick?

AN: Ooh, that’s a tricky one… I’m a bit of an introvert (which is SHOCKING in a writer, I know), but, just to be contrary, my favourite hobby – other than writing – is going out and lindy-dancing with loads of people until the small hours of the morning. I’m very fond of debating things (not in the public, competitive sense, but in the “this is a really important social justice issue!” sense). And I like sitting in corners and loathe sitting with my back to a crowded room, which is probably a bit weird.

TS: I thought all a writer’s writing was the inner-extrovert of the introvert? And why would you want to sit with your back to a crowded room? Getting near the end now, and you’ve mentioned on Twitter previously that you and your uncle have been trolling each other for your entire life and that it his fault that I got kicked out of a wedding when you were two. What’s the story behind that?

AN: Hah, this is the story of my earliest memory. My uncle has always been a massive joker, and he particularly likes convincing people of silly things (for example, he once convinced my grandma that there were serious plans to lay the Millennium Eye down flat so people could use it as a roundabout). When I was two and about to go to this wedding, he told me that at weddings, people always shouted “SPEECH!” – but he didn’t tell me at what time (which I think was deliberate).

So, the wedding was underway, the bride had walked down the aisle, the vicar was about to start talking -and suddenly, two-year-old me starts yelling “SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEEEEEEEECH!” at the top of her voice. My grandma had to carry me out of the church because I simply would not stop.

TS: Great story! I hope you got your own back on your uncle… *grins* Not only content with writing your novels you’re also studying for a PhD aren’t you. How does the one effect the other?

AN: I study children’s literature and postcolonial literature – it both does and doesn’t affect my writing. I’m really interested in the representations of non-white characters in children’s literature, and read a lot of work by authors like Joseph Bruchac, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Malorie Blackman, bell hooks and others. That said, though, I didn’t sit down and think “I’m going to write a fantasy story with a black heroine!” – Lizzie just appeared in my head as she is in the book. I very rarely make decisions about my characters, they’re too strong-willed for that.

TS: I love it when characters tell *Me* what the story is! This has been a really interesting interview, and I hope you’ve enjoyed answering the questions as much as I have asking them. What one last thing would you say to someone who was thinking of reading Spider Circus (and they should)?

AN: Ooh, that’s a tough one…my stories are so much part of me that I always feel like anyone who reads them has had a brief wander around inside my head. So, I hope they find it an interesting and worthwhile journey!

Spider Circus by Alice Nuttall

After an argument with her mother, Lizzie McCoy runs away and joins a circus – but instead of travelling to different towns, she soon finds that this particular circus moves between worlds. In her new role as wiredancer, Lizzie sees magic, dragons and predatory horses, and finds that the Ringmaster Jack is running more than just a show…

Biography

Alice Nuttall is a tea-swilling, lindy-hopping, perpetual student who lives in an attic in Oxford. She has been writing since she could hold a pen, and currently divides her time between working on her novel, finishing her thesis, and unjamming photocopiers.

• Spider Circus on Amazon
• Buy the book on Smashwords
• Follow Alice on Twitter
• Alice Nuttall Books on Facebook
• Read Alice’s blog

Today, we sit down with T E Shepherd, author of The End of All Worlds. A storyteller since the day he wrote his first word, Shepherd has written a tale about the bleak possibilities our planet might face in the not-so-distant future.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself.

A: I was born in 1973 and grew up in Lowestoft, Suffolk before moving to Cheshire to study a degree in Creative Arts. Having worked as an electronic production editor for science and academic publishers in Oxford, I now work as a Web and Digital Media Officer for a top modern university. I live in Oxfordshire with my wife Emma and our seven cats, four chickens and two bunnies and I’m different. I’m not your usual person. Lots of people can say that about themselves but with me it’s true. Just ask my wife! I only discovered how different in the last ten years when I discovered that I have Asperger’s Syndrome, which is on the mild end of the autism spectrum. In subtle, subconscious ways I think this does affect my writing. For someone who is, on occasion, somewhat clueless and inept in social situations, I have been praised on my dialogue. As a person I also have difficulty reading visual cues and body-language and consequently my editors often tell me I’m ‘telling’ too much when I should be ‘showing’. Show not tell they say and I have to really work hard to achieve that!

Q: How long have you been writing?

A: I’ve been making up stories for as long as I can remember, and probably writing them down as soon as I could. It was aged 9 that my Grandpa gave me a toy theatre that he had made and I started writing plays. My first play, co-written by my cousins Tracey and Judy, was a stage production of Star Trek for ‘play people’ actors and featured an exploding washing machine complete with real soap suds! My next was the infamous and endless Rome, for which I would sell tickets to my family and friends and sit them down in front of for entire Sunday afternoons. It wasn’t the greatest creation but one that seeded in me the fun of creating and sharing stories.

Q: What is The End Of All Worlds about?

A: At its heart, the story is about how we, as the human race, are changing and destroying our planet. It’s also a modern day saga pulling together different strands into this, so we get various explanations of what is causing the storms, and the fragile, erratic and dangerous changes in climate, geography and geology…

Q: How did you come up with the plot?

A: I have Icelandic cousins but it wasn’t until 2001 that I made my first visit to their country. I knew from the beginning that with a country so rich in folklore I had to write a story set there. In August of that year there was a story on the news of a girl, hiking with her family in the Peruvian mountains, who got lost. For a few days there were signs that she might have survived, but I cannot now remember what the final outcome of it was. That idea of beating all the odds and emerging out of the wilderness and back into civilisation was all I needed for the idea to sow itself in my brain.

Q: Tell us about your main protagonists.

A: The novel begins and it is Eleanor’s story, but she is only one of the three main characters in The End Of All Worlds. Eleanor is the artist with the passion for, and the belief in, the old legends of her father’s country. Ben is her brother with the background in science and the certainty of man-made climate science. Their cousin, Hanna is the bridge between them – the polymath with the science knowledge and the intellectual understanding, but the unswerving faith in her own country’s mythology.

Q: Did you have any specific goals when writing The End Of All Worlds? Any themes or ideas or concepts that you wanted to get across to the audience?

A: I wanted to write a good story, first and foremost, and through it bring out the importance and the truth of climate science. So for every mythological occurrence there is a scientific explanation. The story is one where the myths and legends of Icelandic folklore come alive in the twenty-first century. Eleanor sees, and talks to – wants to help – the huldufolk or the ‘hidden people’. These unexplainable events need explanations though, and those explanations are very relevant to our world. Think of Ben and Eleanor as the Mulder and Scully of Norse sagas.

Q: What do you feel are the most important aspects of a great book?

A: It has to be an engaging story, well-told. It also has to have the ability to be read again for a second, third, or fourth time, and to get something new out of it every time. A book with layers would be a great book in my eyes. Firstly, there has to be the story but then on further reading there should be levels to it that you can only get to as you yourself learn more experience more.

Q: Describe your ideal protagonist. What traits do he or she embody?

A: Eleanor, Ben and Hanna? I would hope that all three were my ideal protagonist. I like heroes to be those that fall into the story, and get caught up in the events, rather than who are born into it. Polly in Diana Wynne Jones’ Fire & Hemlock would be just such a protagonist, whilst I find Will in Susan Copper’s The Dark Is Rising to be – particularly in the later books in the series – a little bit annoying because his position as an Old One. I think that Cooper herself might have felt a bit like that too, as these same feelings are expressed by the other children in series.

Q: Can you tell me about the first thing you ever wrote? Was it a short story? Book? Magazine article?

A: I’ve already talked about the first story I ever wrote, but what I consider to be my first novel I wrote when I was 16. I remember being excited by the idea that I was going to defy convention and be published at such a young age by Puffin (or Penguin even?!) or Methuen Teens! My Dad’s secretary typed it up for me before I subsequently submitted it as both part of my A-Level English coursework, and, illustrated and bound for my Art exam. Ruins Of The Old was to be a four-part novel made up of individual tales involving the Greek Gods in human form, magic, with modern-day-Merlin, and an unusually evil King Arthur. Looking back I can see now how derivative it was of so many of my then favourite books. There were sparks of originality in it though, and I never say never to pulling ideas back out the draw and reworking then in the future.

Q: As I’m sure you know, many readers like to find their favorite authors on social networking websites like facebook and twitter. Do you have any social network links you’d like to share?

A: I have an online journal that I have been writing in for the last 10 years. It’s nice because I can limit the visibility of individual posts according to what I’m talking about, but allows me to keep everything in one place. I remember it becoming ‘cult’ reading in the workplace of a previous job. With the emergence of social media I think it really can connect you to you reaches in a way that you never could before. It has to be the writer themselves who tweets and posts on facebook and I do think it needs to be about more than books. You need to be able to see the personality of the writer there and not feel like it is one or more marketing executives posting as the writer. I can be found at http://twitter.com/shepline and facebook.com/teshepherd, and if you would like to follow a couple of other writer’s worth following, try www.twitter.com/rhi_lassiter and twitter.com/MHarrison13

Q: What do you think of the changes taking place in the publishing industry? With authors gaining more control over the creation and distribution of their work, what do you think readers stand to gain/lose?

A: More than ever the publishing industry are only taking safe choices: the work of ‘celebrities’ or authors already famous elsewhere or writers for whom they can attach a marketing spin. They pay these few individuals massive advantages when really they should be using half that amount to pay many, many new writers tiny advances in the knowledge that only a handful will be successful but that the ones that are will be genuinely, unexpected finds. With the rise of Indie Publishing there is a real chance for the democratisation of the publishing industry. Ebooks can do for writers what mp3s did for bands and musicians…

Q: Were there any other authors in particular that inspired you to pen your own novel?

A: I have perennially favorite authors who inspire me but the work of the late, great Diana Wynne Jones always tops that list. Alan Garner and Susan Cooper are always also firm favorites, and particularly with this book, Garner’s dark fantasy of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. I am not much fussed about sword and sorcery and other-worldly fantasty, preferring instead what I call real-world fantasy: stories that take place in the here and the now but where magic intrudes.

Q: And just for fun, favorite movie or television series?

A: Can I name a favorite movie and television series? Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise in which two people meet on a train across Europe, talk, become friends, talk some more and depart. And on television, Steven Moffat’s pre-Doctor Who, early 1990s children’s drama Press Gang, I love the way the language they use is so unrealistic and yet it feels so completely real. Brilliant.

Book homepage: www.words.shepline.com/books/end-of-all-worlds/
On facebook: www.facebook.com/TheEndOfAllWorlds
The End of All Worlds: Amazon UK | Amazon US

Author Interview – T E Shepherd

Today, we sit down with T E Shepherd, author of The End of All Worlds. A storyteller since the day he wrote his first word, Shepherd has written a tale about the bleak possibilities our planet might face in the not-so-distant future.

( read the full interview )

Book homepage: http://www.words.shepline.com/books/end-of-all-worlds/
On facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEndOfAllWorlds
Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0083XG35W 

The End of All Worlds
Amazon.com | Amazon UK

2. Apart from writing, is there any other career you would really like to have had a stab at?
I’m not sure if I would still want to have a go at this job, but if I looking back (and I’m loved my A-Levels and my degree), if I had the opportunity to go back and choose my education again, I think I would have liked to have pursued geography. I would have continued my writing and photography anyway and I think I would have liked to try something more environmental – a National Trust (or similar) warden. I think I would like to have a go at archaeology – in that I would like to help out at a Dig – but I think its probably too late for me turn that into a career.

3. What are your top 5 priorities in life?
Umm, to be happy and to help in my own small way to make those who are nearest and dearest to me happy. Beyond that, I really don’t know… I want to share my stories with the world in the hope that someone, unknown to myself, might, possibly enjoy reading them. I said that last one second, but these are not really in any particular order. I really do think the world can be a better place and so I want to do my bit. I want to strive to eat more regionally and seasonally, and make less of an impact on our precious and fragile planet. I’m not the kind of person who could make some big statement and have people listen but if I could play my part. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t travel far and see things away from our own doorstep, but we should make those decisions carefully. I don’t think that’s five things, but I think you get the general idea.

4. Do you think you’ve changed at all as you’ve got older or do you think you’re essentially the same person now as when you were, say, 20?
Definitely. I was thought when I was younger that one day I would meet someone to marry and share my life with, but I couldn’t have done any of that back then. I really do think that in this the internet has saved me. In a weird way, I guess I have to thank the pathetic little shit who bullied me at work 10 years ago. Without that I might not have investigated the possibility that I had aspergers and without that then Helen B. wouldn’t have worked out what the elephant in the corner of the room was and arranged for Human Resources to sort out my coaching with Bill, and my decision to put more of my personality out there within the confines of LiveJournal – a place where I have been able to write publicly, privately (I never have), to friends, or an ever more tightly locked selection of friends. I don’t think I had an ‘in person’ friend who, at the time, I could talk to about entering the world of online dating, but within LiveJournal, marbledwhite, rachel2205, mosskat55, nicotje and snugglebunnyjm amongst others really helped to hone my profile, and thus I met emej on match.com. Social Media too, have played their part. With Facebook I have rekindled friendships that in retrospect I should have had at school but due to who I was then and what I didn’t know, I didn’t. With Twitter I have manage to network with complete strangers in a way that, even now, if you placed me in a crowded room or at a cocktail party I would just slink into the corner and drink my orange juice too quickly… And I have got little bits of work that way, too. When people go on about the dangers of social media, and lack of privacy, I want to shout back at them about the good that social media does (and that you only lose privacy if you aren’t savvy enough to keep stuff back, or lock stuff down).

5. If you were given £5,000 to spend on yourself (i.e. not to be used to pay bills or for everyday things), what would you buy?
I talked in Rachel’s interview the other day of my honeymoon in 2009 to Eilean Shona. I loved it, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way, but it wasn’t the honeymoon that we had planned originally. Our original plan, and one that did get all the way through to the booking stage, was a safari through Namibia, staying in some fantastic places and seeing things that neither Emma nor I have ever seen before. But then I became unemployed for three months, and the recession really started to bite, and we couldn’t afford to go and do it justice. So if I was given £5000 then I would take us both on that trip – the same one with bespoke travel company, Audley Travel. If there was any left over after that? Maybe a new lens for my camera to take with us on the trip, and a new laptop for Emma (as she is currently without a properly functioning one of her own).

If you want to be interviewed, comment below, and I’ll ask you 5 questions, which you then post in your journal, whilst also asking people if they want to be interviewed.

1. If you could save just ONE object (i.e. not a living thing, assume they are safe!) from a fire in your house, what would it be?

This is a painful question for me considering what happened to my parent’s house eleven years ago. It’s horrible. Completely earth-destroyingly horrible and I don’t want to think about it. I think I am going to have to treat this like they do on Desert Island Discs when it comes to the luxury question and treat all my photographs (digital and physical) with negatives as one object and say that. Even when you lose everything else, photographs can help bring back the memories. But its still a horrible, impossible, question that I don’t like to think about. Think of your most prized belonging, then turn around and see another. Go upstairs and see another. A lot of stuff is replaceable, but so much is irreplaceable and to ask someone to choose just one. And so to the follow up…

2. Would you like to acquire any pets that aren’t cats?

I think, at the right time, in the right circumstances, we would both quite like a dog. But its impossible at the moment. It wouldn’t be fair on the seven cats, and whilst you can go out and leave cats, you need to be able to come home at lunchtime to walk a dog.

3. What’s your favourite part of Oxford?

It would be too obvious to say Jericho, but it is lovely and has a good feel to it. I love Little Clarendon Street, first thing in the morning, on a cold, clear, autumn morning. Or Brasenose Lane – don’t ask me why? Then there’s the university parks on a warm, sunny, Spring day, or the way you turn off the London Road in Headington and are suddenly in Old Headington with a distinctly rural, country feel.

4. What was your favourite holiday?

All these favourites. I find it very hard to pick favourites in anything. Maybe this is is because I find it hard to make decisions. The National Trust holiday to Bransdale Mill in the North York Moors is a perrenial favourite, as is my holiday to Estonia in 2003. I think that might have been part of a turning point in me. I made the most friends, I had the confidence to buy and wear my amber necklace. But my favourite? I think it has to be my honeymoon in 2006. Okay, so it wasn’t the Nambian safari we had planned, but it was perfect. Perfect weather, no rain to speak of, and our little red cottage on the private island of Eilean Shona.

5. What are you most excited about for 2012?

I’m looking forward to having a year when I don’t have to reapply for my own job. I’m also looking forward to the year that I self-ePublish my novel, The End Of All Worlds. I’m also very much looking forward to our holiday this summer to Iceland. My fourth trip to the country, but the first time that I will go full circle around the country, and I’m looking forward to sharing that all with Emma.

If you want to be interviewed, comment below, and I’ll ask you 5 questions, which you then post in your journal, whilst also asking people if they want to be interviewed. Do you see?

Yay, yay, and thrice yay!!

Edited to add: Not that today can be any more crazy but apparently a Newsnight crew are pitching up later at my parents house to interview my Dad. Tune in tonight for more…

In the end, it seemed to go really well, and I was pretty articulate most of the time. I don’t know whether this was as a result of me, in response to the HR request for ‘any special arrangements we need to make’ I provided them with a Bill-provided declaration of my aspergers:

As regards my interview I would like to notify you that I have received coaching for Aspergers Syndrome.

Asperger’s Syndrome has a slight influence on the way I behave, and interviews are naturally a little stressful, so these notes may be helpful to us all:-

– I may need a little extra time to process questions, so moments of silence may be helpful to me, although that does not mean I am not understanding -l just taking a little more time to arrive a response.

– Multiple questions, or confusing comments may be a little difficult for me to untangle – one thing at a time helps me no end.

– I may sometimes seem as though I go off at a tangent – it makes sense to me at the time and the most helpful thing an interviewer can do is to bring me back by re-stating the question

– I am a little bit likely to miss social cues, so if the atmosphere feels uncomfortable to you, or if I seem to be unsure of what is expected, just tell me what you expect me to do. This can feel a little odd, but I will grateful!

Nothing was said about this, and I didn’t feel that I needed to reiterate it, as I actually got the feeling that the message had, probably, got through from HR (it should have done), but I do wonder whether me knowing that they know something subconciously made me perform better? I don’t know. There are five other candidates who have been shortlisted, so we shall see what we shall see. Hopefully it won’t be too long.

The interview itself went okay, although I wasn’t really sure if the interview, coming from a related department, actually new enough about the job I would be doing to judge properly if I had the skills and competencies that I would need. Also, why has it come to this, that they you even have to have an interview for a two month rolling contract of a temp job?

At 3.30pm the guy did call me and I had to leap straight into interview mode, but when they call it an ‘informal’ chat, just what does that mean?

I think I did okay but as always these things are impossible to judge. I suspect though, that they might be looking for someone who is less the designer and more the hardcore developer and/or IT nerd – all together more geeky than me.

It seems like an intesting job, helping to create their new intranet site, and the the interview went surprisingly well so I’m really feeling quite positive about things… 🙂

Good luck Em! xx

It was very informal, conducted on sofas downstairs, and they seemed very friendly and unfazed by the categorisation of myself as a web designer who can develop rather than a web developer who can design. My prepared example of my favourite bit of code seemed to go down well. Afterwards they showed me upstairs to see the offices – so small that they even have a resident puppy to make a fuss of. It would definitely be a change from the large corporate environments that I have been used to but one that I would be interested in experienced. All in all, I left feeling quite positive about how it went.

Just have to wait till later next week to find out, I guess…

2. Yesterday I discovered that I had been shortlisted for interview for the (curiously entitled) Asset Management Coordinator position (?!!) at Pearson

3. My current boss is a really nice guy. However, boy does he yaffle. Now I realise that people in glass houses, really shouldn’t throw stones about things like yaffling, but there is also the old adage that what one finds irritating about other people is something that one is also guilty of. Anyhow, I’m not entirely sure how my boss does it, but he makes the most revolting noise when eating apples. I’ve had to whack my music on full blast to cover it.

4. Eeep! It now seems that I have not one but two interviews next week. A small web design agency in Oxford, at the interesting address of the Old Slaughterhouse want to interview me. I’m not sure if I’m exactly what they are looking for, but I’ve answered their supplementary application questions honestly, and they still want to interview me, so here goes.

5. Crap! Apparently my oil leak is going to mean a new head gasket at some horrible expense, and they can’t do it until after Easter now. Double crap!

2. A blustery day, but beautiful. Following my interview, I stopped off at the supermarket to do a quick shop, and then at the John Lewis-esque garden centre outside of Bicester for a few bedding plants and some instant colour in the garden. Then I had a house viewing to see at old Langford Village. Three bedrooms, gas-central heating, south-facing gardens – on paper it ticked all the right boxes but somehow, just didn’t feel right.

3. The man from Quadrant arrived and took me through the value of the house. He latched onto my interest in books, and enthused over his collection, and his mum’s collection of Folio Society collection. In the end I got my figure, which was about what I was expecting, and that the plus points to my house are the garden and orientation, the wood floor, and the situation. Onwards to my next two valuations…

Still, at least I’ve got to work at a time that means that with the extra time I put in on Wednesday and Thursday, I won’t have to stay late tonight to make up my money.

Currently I’m gearing up for another interview tomorrow morning. This time a web design job in the Summertown area of Oxford. I’m actually managing to a fair amount of prep considering the lack of information I know about the company (they don’t have a website – yet!). But then again 2Degrees is quite a unique thing for google… plus it helps (possibly, if we are right about this and we are not barking up completely the wrong variety of tree) to have a dad who is quite big in the business of climate change.

2. Timing is a wonderful thing. I left a bit early so that I knew I would get to the vets alright. I got back to the car, and was about to plug my phone into the car when this number I don’t know started to ring. I answered. It was only the agent from Cream – one of the agencies when it comes to web/creative jobs! I’d slung in an application for a job the other day, and she was phoning to find out a bit more about me before submitting my cv in to the company. Yayy, go me! Every time that I have previously applied for a job via Cream, its come back with ‘your cv is interesting but our clients are looking for people who have worked in design studios’ answer.

3. I got home just after 5 o’clock, to discover that Arthur seemed to be (encouragingly) a bit more perky. I also missed by seconds another call from Claire at Cream. Hrmm…? I was about to phone back when she phoned my landline. The company, Clere, based in Newbury would only like to inteview me. They were offering tomorrow, but that’s just a little too soon, so the interview is next Tuesday. Looking up the directions on google, it looks like a 53 minute commute without traffic, so pretty nasty from Bicester every morning. But if, once I’d got any kind of probation over and done with, I moved, then Abingdon would come into the frey – or somewhere like that. It’s not like Emma and I haven’t been talking about future, and that would necessitate a move anyway…

2. Today is my 5 Month Anniversary being with Emma. It’s funny to think how we’ve been going out for a whole summer season. It’s not been the summer I would ever have imagined I would have, but it has been one of the coolest…

3. I have another interview lined up for next week. Back at T&F this time it’s for an eProduction Editor job – basically some kind of quasi print and online position. Nice thing about this one is that its one where they approached me.

4. I’m on the cusp of completing the revisions to chapter 12 of That Novel, thanks to some productive lunchtimes. If I remember the rest of the story from then on it, then I should begin to pick up speed again. I always knew that Part Two was going to take some work (ie. there was some absolutely atrocious stuff there!)

5. One more week and I’m holiday (at last). To be precise, I’m currently working my last Friday in September (now that’s got make one feel good). Tomorrow, I shall head into town to pick up the last remaining bits and bobs for The Return to Wasdale: 10 years on…

2. Reason for bussing not biking it? An interview. Another one at Taylor & Francis for two Production Editor jobs. So how did it go, I hear you say? You’ve just asked the question that I really hate answering. I think it went well. I think I demonstrated the right kind of skills/experience, and yes, in answer to the question: what makes you think you can do this job? (or words to that effect), I used the words “because I’ve done it before” which I think was quite succinct of me. And I managed to talk around the slightly odd recent job history (with the short spell as PE) quite naturally, and they seemed to buy it (having heard already about the Singapore and Wiley business) so that’s good. They seemed interested in me as a person, and I seemed to be able to talk well with them, so *fingers crossed* I guess…

3. Spoke to my mum tonight. Apparently they’ve had a postcard delivered to them for me. They didn’t say who it was from and they’ve put it in the post again now, but apparently it said across the top that ‘HOPE THIS GETS TO YOU OKAY ITS THE ONLY ADDRESS I HAVE FOR YOU’ which does somewhat leave me wondering because I didn’t live at my mum’s current address for that long. Curiouser and curiouser I have to say.

4. Apropo of this and the fact that this years Summer Party is literary themed and set in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, does anyone know where I might be able to get adult-sized Ravenclaw robes and ties?

5. There should be five things on this list, and it has been very windy today. No rain, though…

Apparently it’s the same old story – not enough experience…

2. I split my head open today. Okay, possibly slight exageration, but whilst putting away the shopping away, I managed to headbut the doorframe on the way to the fridge. Ow-ow-ow it hurt! I think I might have also uttered a small expletive. It felt really bruised so eventually I went upstairs and had a look in the mirror to find a slight split – about 1cm long – in the skin on my forehead! Ow!!

3. After my interview I gave the agency person a quick call to say how the interview went and I did speak to the person in question. Then I set off home calling in at the supermarket on the way home. Upon leaving the shop I discovered a voicemail message left at 4.52 from the agency person with a message to call them. I did, they weren’t there, so I have to wait until tomorrow. But the person at T&F said they would let me know by the end of the week. 50 minutes would be a bloody fast turnaround for either a yes or a no?!! Agh, no use fretting I guess…

After sorting out a few bits and bobs, I headed into town on my bike, picked up my prescription and then dropped my bike at the shop to have its mudguards fitted. Whilst that was happening I did a bit of shopping, looked around some shops, and posted off Battlestar Galactica, episode 18, to Louise.

Getting home, I discovered that Sophos had responded to my email. I have been unnsuccessful for both. Whaaaatttttt????!!!!!!! I’ve phoned them of course, and they say they are going to get feedback sorted for me. This, I really, wasn’t expecting. And its the kind of news to really put a downer on my day. And a downer on my day, it did put.

Thankfully Emma was able to lighten my mood when she dropped in for the evening after work. We went for a wander in the park, and I cooked her tea of grilled vegetables and pasta, in an olive oil, oregano and balsamic vinegar dressing, and the sun shone it was lovely.

The ‘Big Finish’ was last night, and this episode is an altogether quieter affair constructed purely around a single character embarking on a new life with viewers wondering about what format the next series will take. How many of the actors will reprise their roles? Will the much loved theme turn return or will it be it remastered for a new generation? Will the series return for a new season, even?

So today was Super Tuesday, otherwise known as ‘Two Interview Tuesday’. The first, a second at Sophos for the two jobs I applied for there, and then the second, a hastily-agency-arranged interview, at OUP at the ungodly hour of 5pm for a 6 month contract as an XML Production Controller. I think they both went quite well, and I am now trying not to think about either of them. In between going to them, I wandered around Waitrose in Abingdon dazed and confused muttering bleughh to myself…

My head is just a mixed up mess of things today.

It’s next Tuesday morning. Good job I don’t drink to excess otherwise I might have to curb any excess at my leaving do!

Not one, to cross bridges before they’re hatched or count my leopards, I’ve also applied for a couple more jobs today and chased up some others. :=

It seems though that OUP don’t want me for that dream Children’s Book Designer job…

Arriving was a little weird. Drawing into the car park there were a load of staff outside in running kit and numbers on their back. Apparently they were competing in a ‘Challenge Day’ to decide who would represent the company in a Microsoft competition thing. Anyway I arrived, and duly got shown into a room and given my test to complete. There was a essay type question to describe the main differences between writing for print and the web, then a proofreading exercise and an html test. Got that finished and the HR lady took it away upstairs for Petra, the Head of Web/Marketing, to look over. Five or ten minutes she arrived and interviewed me, but it was more a chatty kind of interview rather than a grilling.

She was interviewing me for the job I applied for, Website Administrator, and also for one that I didn’t, a Content Editor. It transpired during the interview that I was basically overqualified for the Admin post, but ideal for the Content Editor position and a perfect fit with the right experience. The second half turned more to a general discussion of me as a person and my interests and hobbies. Two of the people who are required to help her make the final decision were not available this week and so I would need to be invited back for a ‘half hour’ second interview after the 30 April, and so whilst I’m not going to let up crossing those fingers, I am hopeful that I might find ‘something’.

Sadly though I probably won’t be in a postion to have got a job in time for my leaving – on 30 April – and so able to go out in a blaze of glory with a fat redundancy cheque and a good new job with a decent payrise. Still, one can still dream…

It’s going to be a long night.

1. Yesterday I sent an en-masse email invite around just about everyone who I’ve ever worked with inviting them to my leaving drinks/meal two weeks yesterday. Using the Microsoft Outlook voting buttons I cunningly provided them with two ways of saying Yes and no ways of No. *grins* I also provided them with five reasons why they should come along:

• You want to wish me well in whatever direction my career takes me
• You want to try and ensure you get an invite to that book launch
• It’s a Monday and nobody ever has plans for a Monday
• It’s payday, so about the only day of the month when there actually is cash in the bank
• You want a really good reason to stay in Oxford until the May Day celebrations in Oxford the following morning

New Media Project Coordinator
New Media
English Language Teaching Division
Oxford

We are looking for two experienced Project Co-ordinators to facilitate the development of new media products for the English Language Teaching Division.

These roles will involve supervising the creation of versioned product from existing material, as well as taking ownership of the development of small-scale projects. This will involve managing budgets, creating schedules, co-ordinating internal and external testing, liaising with editorial teams, and managing external developers.

Familiarity with Director/Flash and web technologies, and cross-platform testing are essential. Good communication and organizational skills are required together with proven new media project management experience. Experience of working in an educational environment would be an advantage.

The salary offered will be in the region of £20,000-23,500 depending on skills and experience. OUP offers a full range of supporting benefits.

Anyway today was my interview for the Producer job. Seemed to go well, no deaths of silence and not too much (I think) in the way of umms and errs. In the end it will come and down to me measuring up to their project management requirements (which admittedly I don’t have much formal, corporate, experience of doing). It’s a bit annoying that because:

a) project management is the latest buzzword around the place, but if you are in a job that doesn’t currently require it, even if you have the skills how can you show you have demonstratable formal experience of using it.

b) it’s not as if project management can be considered as exactly rocket science. You plan, you prepare, you implement, and you review; and at each stage along the process you do a bit more of all of it (if you encounter a problem, doubly so).

If I don’t get this job (and I hope I do) then I shall definitely have to use some of the time in these consultancy meetings to find out how they can help me get over this conundrum. After all, they do say in the letter, that they will put every effort into retraining and redeploying me within the business (makes me sound like a chess piece!!)

Thomas

As promised, just to get back to you on the Web Producer role which we discussed earlier in the week. I can confirm that you will be interviewed ahead of any other candidates for consideration of your suitability for the role and will be assessed against the requirements of the job only. The recruiting team will only consider other candidates if your application is unsuccessful.

Clare will be in touch in due course to arrange a time for your interview. Let me know if you’ve any further questions.

All the best

Duncan

2. What does ‘contentment’ mean to you?
Being with people (and pets too) who I love, and who love me. Being in a position where I can afford to live ‘comfortably’ without working unduly long hours or coping with stressful situations. Being in a position to help people when I can. Being able to do the things I enjoy doing, deriving pleasure from it, and, when it comes to my writing, giving pleasure to others.

3. What three things (apart from the obvious things like food, water, shelter) would you hate to live without?
My imagination, trust and honesty, and tolerance.

4. If you could be someone else (alive or dead), who would you choose to be?
I’m not sure if I’ve ever really thought about this. I’m happy being me, despite my faults! You say, someone else alive or dead, so can I have a fictional character? If so, then Ethan Hawke’s character Jesse in Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. The character is about the same age as I am, and shares the same interest in the world, why things tick, enthusiasm as I do … plus of course he gets the girl in the end (Julie Delphy)…

5. What is your biggest regret?
I try not to live my life with regrets and if-only’s, however, I would say that I do kind of wish that I had made more of the opportunities to be the more of the person that I am now when I was at university. I’m not perfect by any means as regards shyness and self-confidence, and out-goingness, but I am a whole lot better than I used to be. If I’d learnt the things about myself 10 or 15 years earlier, just think where I could have been now…!

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal.
3. You WILL update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

On the rumour mill, I have heard that apparently one of my interviewers (we shall call him Edward, the UK Production Director) thought my presentation was very good, and that my interview technique is much improved an polished. What that means, lord only knows, but I obviously put on good show.

Whatever the result of this, I’m glad I did it. I have learnt some valuable new skills, and done something that I have never done before, and I should feel very proud of myself.

I also have an interview for the Electronic Editorial Office Coordinator job which I applied for just before Christmas. Tomorrow, I am going to have a Manuscript Central demo by a friend and colleague (on the Social Committee), and then on Thursday I have a phone meeting booked with Bill to discuss interview technique.

So what was that about letting the grass grow under your feet?

My new home will be with a window seat, which will be different, and possibly encourage my plants to grow a little more, but it will only be temporarily. In June, the whole department is having a bit of a shuffle round and so no doubt I shall be nestled somewhere new (again).

I have now found out which journals I will be getting. My partners in crime will be BIJ, BOJ and ZOJ – and yes, if you say them correctly they do sound characters on a kid’s tv show. These are the Biological, the Botanical, and the Zoological journals of the Linnean Society respectively.

Lots of new species launches and so embargoes on the online copy. But I don’t get to worry about online ‘cos I’m going into print! ^__^

But I’ve been in that position for five years, and although my job has not been exactly the same for more than one of those five years, it still is basically the same job. Almost every day for last five years (with a brief hiatus about a year ago) I have received some electronic files for a mathematically absurd astronomical journal, whacked them through some automatic process, nursed them through some manual one’s and co-erced them live on the web. Do I really, if I’m honest, want to be doing this in five years time.

At my interview last week, I was brutally honest when asked what my career plans were. I said, if you told me what I would be doing in five years time, five years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. Doesn’t mean I’ve regret anything. I’ve learnt alot, and not just technical skills. I’m still learning. The prospect of change is still scary though…

Yesterday? I was high. I was light-footed and grinnng inanely. If people who haven’t been trusted with the information I should not be telling, haven’t guessed what’s up, they must be blind. Somethings gotta be up with Thomas – they’ve had to have seen it.

Today? Today’s been different. To take this new Production Editor job I’m having to take a small pay cut, and I don’t get a huge salary to start with. When I was going into all of this, I thought that I might have to take some kind of paycut, and it seem like a factor. Not now though. That really isn’t important to me. Yes, I won’t be able to afford so many dvds, might need to tighten my belt hear and their for a while, but we won’t be forever, and truth is there’s a whole lot of people worse off. Really, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t feature in the equation. I’m excited for my new job, and the next month and a half are going to seem like a year or more. I’m giddy with excitement for it, and I’m looking back. It feels whole-heardedly right.

Plus, of course, they chose Me! And if that doesn’t make you all giddy inside, what will? Me! They chose Me!

Oh … my … god…!!!!

And they now expect me to concentrate on my day’s work?! Yeah right! Just write today off won’t you. I’ve got more exciting things on my mind…

Woo-Yayyyy!!!!!!!

In the end it was okay, I fluffed my way through a couple of questions surrounding CPR but I demonstrated the practical side okay. I now have a little Red Cross badge – I doubt I’ll ever wear it… *grins*

However I am now tired and exhausted by today. What I really want to do is have a nice peaceful day tomorrow – go back into work, keep my head down and mouth shut, and do my work. But I can’t. I have to gear myself back up for my interview. Worse? It’s timed for 12 till 2 so you can guess what my stomach is gonna being saying about that!!

I want this job too! Still, at least I had that chat with Tina about it on Saturday and got my secret weapon planned… ^__^

Is it to early too say, roll on the weekend? By chance…

Although I promised that we would be able to let you know the outcome of your interview today, I’m afraid that some circumstances have changed in the last 24 hours that will mean that we cannot finalise our decision until Friday. It will be necessary for us to discuss our plans with the HR department and the only available time is late tomorrow afternoon.

I realise that this keeps you and the other candidates on tenterhooks a little longer, for which I offer my sincere apologies.

It was very nice telling me what they have (seeings as I was expecting to hear today) but really I think they should have told me less!

My head tells me that I should put of all this to the back of my mind and get on with things until I hear something… of course my heart is telling me something quite different. Butterflies are now in my stomach, and anxiety fills my thoughts. What does it mean?!!! …and then as I just manage to put it from my mind … and then you hear a bit of gossip…

Eeek!! Wish me luck, won’t you…

solitaryway has mentioned recently, being dependent on a small red wirebound notebook […] writing in it madly – and this brought to mind my stack of A6 size, 0.5cm squared, spiral-bound notebooks that go back to 1991 (I have carried one with me without fail everywhere I have been ever since). This said, I realise now that in recent years, I have not been filling my notebooks with the plethora of writing, story notes and poetry, as I once did. Throughout the Alsager Years I was in daily contact with fellow writers and living and breathing words, whereas in recent years, I have been a solitary voice amongst people who read, yes, but who don’t themselves write. That is, until this last year…

In tinyjo‘s answers to my interview questions she writes about what LiveJournal means to her:

The other point here though is that the reason that this works for me is that it’s a conversation. I’ve never been able to keep a private diary – it just feels strange and almost pretentious. […] It’s not just going out into the void. I love to be able to get comments on my posts and as I take other perspectives on board and discuss new ways of seeing a situation that is also helping me to find new ways of thinking about/dealing with it and my emotions.

For me, I’ve found that LiveJournal has put me back in touch with writers and as a result the amount of my creativity has increased. Earlier this year I found myself pacing myself with soulsong and her novel, and more recently with the daily wordcount of siren_songs. I’ve also found amongst the community a number of fellow, practising (and even published) writers with whom I discuss online and by email/instant messenger, plot, character, and style, the development of my writer. It’s a useful place to critique our own and other’s work, and keeps my writing.

I’m glad that I’m no longer on my own. I’m glad I’m not still in that vacumn.

They had a National Trust brochure lying around on the coffee table and an article about working holidays that they offered, doing interesting things like helping out on archeological digs and drystone walling, habit management and the like. Sounded like fun, so I sent away for the brochure. After days of perusing the options I settled for the lake district (never been, always wanted to go) and doing drystone walling (sounded different and fun). I booked on the holiday for a week’s holiday on the 5 September, and I can remember getting really nervous about what it would be like – will the other people be nice – will I enjoy it … in short, I was petrified!

Then there was the little bit of drama and panic as to whether I would get to my holiday. A week before the off was the death of Princess Diana, and the world went crazy – at one point I thought they were going do something stupid like cancel the trains, or stop them mid route thus calling delays and cancellations, as I would be travelling on the day of the funeral. As it turned out, everything was fine, although it was an interesting day to be travelling. It was very quiet everywhere, and you could tell that everyone new what was happening but they weren’t mentioning it – at all. And then on the last bone-shaker of a train up from Preston to Millam, there was a drunk wandering up and down the carriage, singing the late princesses praises and everyone else on the train was trying desperately not to make eye contact with him. And then the minibus pickup was late because our leader couldn’t get to the shops to buy our food till they opened at 2 o’clock.

But I digress… my fears and agitations were unfounded. The leader was a tad strange, but his assistant was sound, and my fellow ‘vollies’ were a good bunch of people (there was Katherine, Rebecca, Catherine, Ewan, Cameron, Pamela, Sheila, Paul and Ian(??), and me. I had a good time, and I enjoyed it, and went back the following year and did two holidays. In 1999 I volunteered on two (including the infamous Yorkshire holiday and acted as assistant leader on another one. The year after I led one, and vollunteered on another, before branching out in 2001 for the first of my Iceland holidays…

Why do I do it? Comparitively speaking (and yes even the international ones) they are cheap holidays, and being a single person they are the kind of holidays I can go on alone. I get to meet new people who are fun, entertaining, friendly and interesting. I get to help out do something good the environment, I get some exercise, and to learn new skills – but mostly I get to see and experience new places.

This last reason, is probably now, what keeps me doing it. I’ve not done an NT holiday since September 2002 now – I guess although there’s the heck of lot of the British Isles that I haven’t seen yet (I would like to explore the conservation angle in Ireland and Scotland for example), the uk based holidays have now had me working in most different types of places and tasks. There’s a sense of been there, done that, I want to see the world now. Working in Iceland was great – I got to do something a bit different in an incredible environment and you have native guides who get you to see so much more of the country and the culture that you could ever hope to see as a ‘regular’ tourist.

Estonia was similar, but there, the whole conservation thing is still in it’s early days, so there was more of an emisary role of leading the way in this country, showing the people what to do, and in return they show us the real country.

2. Clearly your travel experiences have influenced your writing – do you ever write about ‘ordinary’ English people and their everyday lives? (I call this genre ‘ suburban fiction’, and it’s one of my favourites
Flyht – Regency England meets the 21st Century, The Mill – Old English magick in upstate New York, Blood & Fire, and (the yet) untitled Estonian novel … I see what you mean. Yes, it does that look that way doesn’t it, but I do write about ‘ordinary’ English people. dreamscholars was a drama series I wrote between 91 and 92 about a group of college students studying film, and euroJournal, it had other European characters in it, and it was set in La Rochelle, but the main cast were mostly UK (or had links to the UK) and the stories were going to be quite ‘English’ and ‘ordinary’ too. Riverhouse was a English novel too, all be it one set in the terrifying aftermath of a bloody civil war set in the not so distant future, and used (not many people know this) the term ‘New Britain’ before a certain Mr A Blair had even thought of it.

Right now, in Thomas Shepherd’s age of novel writing, I do seem to be enthused with writing ‘foreign fantasy’ novels (for want of a better term, and to be honest, I’m not sure why that is. This said, 1999’s The Mill may be reworked in the future, and that was about everyday lives of ‘suburban’ people in a ‘rural’ setting. And then there’s my idea for a blogging drama/film but that’s still in the early days gestation.

3. You’re English. Do you drink a lot of tea? If so, how do you take it? If not, why not?
I’m not a big tea drinker, just like I’m not a big coffee drinker. I do like both though. I used to take them both with milk and two sugars. At different times with each, I was standing by the sugar bowl and thinking, I wonder what it tastes like with just one sugar, then a few weeks later, what does it taste like with none. And that’s how it remained for years. Until this summer. It was in Tallinn, on a glorious sunny day and we were having a cup of tea outside a cafe (actually I think it was an Indian resturant?) and they brought me the tea in the form of a glass mug of hot water and a tea bag. I dunked the tea bag and it looked so nice, and then when I added the milk so uninviting. So because of how it looked (irrational I know) I tried it without milk, and liked it. I’ve since tried coffee black, and so that’s how I now have them both. Both black. Both real…

4. Have you ever had an, erm, ‘paranormal experience’?
Short answer, no. Long answer, what makes you ask?

5. What was your most embarrassing moment?
Ooh, tough question. I’m not sure really – and not because I’ve never had any – I’ve had more embarrassing moments than I count, usually resolving around me not *getting something* in conversation, or coming up with the *right something* but a few minutes after everybody else/somebody else has said it. But hey, what do I care, that’s me – and the people who matter seem to like me nonetheless for it, so…?!!

You know the drill by now, if you want to be interviewed by me or you want to ask the questions…

Kelly says here that her questions weren’t very good. I disagree. They are very good.

I just hope that my answers live up to them! *grins*