Leap Year Travel

To think I wrote this four years ago ...

 

Douglas wrote a shorter version of this story for the Daily Telegraph ‘Just Back’ short story competition in 2013. He did not win. Another version of the story is included in Ywnwab! his first book by the Allrighters’ published in September 2013.

Leap Year Travel a fantasy journey — by Henry

 I am just back from the airport, standing at my front door, shivering in my new, warm-weather holiday clothes. I walk in and hear the cacophony of the house alarm. I think for the code 8532 or 8253? I press 8235 and all goes deathly still and quiet; I am home again, alone. My wife reached eighteen birthdays last year — yesterday to the day.

We are heading south — a familiar route. Our jet aircraft banks west and I see lakes and woods. Then we bank east and lose height very quickly, dropping in steps, as though in turbulence, air-frame banging, wings flapping. Down we go… fear rises as I see the terminal building to one side and we are still not down; a runway overshoot looms, so I tuck my feet under the seat, brace myself and close my eyes...“Please, God, no.” My prayer is answered, as with a huge roar, full jet power comes on again. The pilot, in a monotone robotic voice, says.

 “For safety, we are going around. We could not take the early landing slot. You will have a good view of Mont Blanc.”

 My peers converse in the seat behind.

“Scary.” I hear in a broken trembling voice. 

 Her male colleague makes a terse, sober reply. “Most unprofessional, failed to take the slot, he should not have tried, not even an apology for making us late.”

 I wholeheartedly agree. I feel my wife’s long, sensuous fingers holding my hand tight and draw my breath thinking of more intimacy later. Her magic still not dimmed by age.

 I change my watch for the hour time difference and worry about our train leaving in sixty minutes. We complete a circle, Mont Blanc is on the wrong side for me to see, and land smoothly all right second time around. We sit out of breath on the train to Brig. A comfortable hotel and good food await us. Cuddles and more at night and dawn in a net-curtained room, her still-perfect ivory skin caught moving in beams of new day sun.

The Glacier Express for Chur is not anywhere to be found in the main station. Departure is due in five minutes … we should not have dallied in bed. I start to panic … then see the narrow gauge track in the town square outside. We board, putting our bags in a luggage-van at the rear. We are off and soon mountain and valley scenery is running by, all grand and magnificent. At halfway the eating car is swapped from the westbound train. Lunch is adequate … poor exchange rate cost to be forgotten else troubling. Our train dives into gorges with fast-flowing rivers and is split into two before we reach Chur. When we reach Chur we find our two bags of luggage have gone to St Moritz.

  “Do not worry, dear, we are travelling on Swiss Railways.”

Even with communication in Swiss English I am not completely sure what I hope I have agreed with the helpful staff in the Chur platform signal station.

 We buy a shared toothbrush, paste and T-shirts and go to our hotel, enjoy rosti and steak followed by brief satisfying T-shirted sleep and more. 

At 8.00am we leave Chur’s large rail station and it’s yellow buses. The flanges squeal and the rack engages as we wind our way up the valley. The brochure picture of a red train going over a high viaduct into a mountain face with dark spirals inside is now real. Wow! — the reality is better than expectation. At St Moritz a miracle — by our carriage as it halts at our door stand our two bags on a trolley. Anxiety over Swiss English and Railways are now relieved.

We travel onwards, in fantasy, on the winter running Bernina Express over a snow-ploughed route through a high pass; then falling into warmer Italy, the snow soon disappears. We spiral around on rails and arches in another brochure picture and rattle through main streets to reach Torino for an enjoyable slow lunch, amble and a night’s rest in full night attire. Then to Milan and a coast train to cold Pisa. Few look at the amazing leaning tower. We enjoy a belated winter birthday celebration in front of roaring fires at the retreat and lots of good views while on rambles, both well wrapped up against the biting cold.

Of course all these delights took place last year. I am now going away again to somewhere warmer; booked specifically I stated to travel on the last day of February, alone. No cuddles this year unless my widow temptation fantasy matures.

I sigh; the queues for booking in are much longer than last year. I only have a single bag now. I eventually shuffle forward and reach the counter and the young lady with a name badge smiles; I feel a glow inside, she has a face similar to my daughter’s. Tracy Evans inspects my flight details and looks at me with a sad expression as though I might be her demented father.

  “Do you know the date today, sir?”

 I smile, my stress from queuing relaxed by her melodic, gentle Welsh accent. “Yes, my wife’s birthday — 29 February.”

She replies slowly. “I am sorry this year is not a leap year; it is 1 March today, St David’s Day.”

 Douglas started this story with an idea about the awful prospect of turning up at an airport a day late, which is a recurrent nightmare he has about travel. He thought then about leap years, added details of an actual flight to Switzerland where they overshot the runway in Geneva, another train journey where luggage was lost and put an overlay of loss of a dear partner to support the arrival a day late.

Of all his creative writing Douglas likes putting together short stories the most. Indeed his longer books under the Allrighters’ name are made up of many short stories linked together.

Open http://www.amazon.co.uk and search on Ywnwab! to find Kindle and paperback versions for sale.

November 2015 Reflections

Hello Everyone,

As the dark nights draw in we thought it about time to produce another post to confirm that our writing and reading for pleasure is still carrying on five and a half years after we started in June 2010. 

After completing our target of million draft words in January 2014 writing drifted into the marsh of self-editing and restructuring until June 2015 when a new start was made on finalising GEMINI. Changing tenses and using Auto Crit to improve the text allowed completion of a revised First Gemini Story-book which we are much happier about than previous drafts of the Gemini story.

Work started this month on the Second Gemini Story-book.

A recent distraction from this task came in the form of composing a 5000 word entry for the Bridport Prize in May 2016. The idea for this coming from a read of the anthology of the entries to the 2014 Bridport prize. We thought we could do no worse and probably better than the entries in 2014. Our previous competition entries produced mixed success largely we think because the thinking of the judges is not in tune with ours. We are making an attempt to narrow the gap and the entry will be an introduction to the strange fantasy life of Henry Cross, this time with his grand daughter Daisy. Writing the story to date is continuing to prove a delight.

Since June 2014 we have contributed posts to The Independent Publishing Magazine each month up to October under the heading Writing and Reading for Pleasure. Following changes at TIPM, perhaps a change of direction is necessary although we understand our contributions are still welcome. 

We are well on target this year to have read and reviewed over 100 books including two special readings of near final drafts of fellow self publishing authors.

Good reading and writing to you all.

Douglas and Alexander

Further on round the bend

Monday 1 June 2015 is the fifth anniversary of the Allrighters starting to write. Our thanks to all those who have helped make the last five years an interesting and enjoyable time of writing, reading, web activity and limited publishing.

Our apologies for not posting a regular update on this blog since February. Our main web activity has been concentrated on a monthly web post on the TIPM web site under the "Writing and Reading for Pleasure" heading. Click for TIPM 

Our TIPM June post annouces a change in direction in a new push to complete our million draft words and publish as e books on Amazon. On reflection, we have been in the doldrums since completion of our million words in January 2014. Some rest and reflection has been no bad thing given the relentless daily writing between June 2010 and January 2014.

Reading activity has continued over a wide range of fiction and non fiction books.

We met up with Tony Riches in Wales two weeks ago and provided a content structure for a video he has constructed for Calvin Hedley’s book Turning-Point.

Click for book 

Click for video

Good reading and writing to you all

Douglas and Alexander

Maybe I have turned a corner?

After reducing my medication I feel much better and more my old self assisted by red wine and verboten foods in moderation. "But you will shorten your life by doing so." I hear the medics cry. Then I feel perhaps a shorter full life is better than a long half life? Time will tell. I have started to clear out, what a soul destroying task it is too ... but all those things I have kept and keep turning over will this time have to go. It is surprising how many rolls of drafting tape, sellotape and other rolls of carpet tape etc I have accumulated when consolidated into one box. First law of clearing out is to stop buying. 

Shame also about all those great writing thoughts I managed to note down but now I read the notes ... or those where I can read my writing and think "what was all that about?"

Good news more writing this last week the best for three months after reading Alice Orr's book on loan from the library.  No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript That Sells - Hardcover – 28 May 2004

Not that going the traditional publishing route is one for me at the moment. Some comments in the book inspired me after a three month gap to dust off LOOK - NO TOUCH and write a synopsis. Amazing, I recalled all my story I last touched last June and managed to bridge a few gaps and improve the story line. Then a new starting page ... not sure if it is any better than the last one but at least I am getting back into the creative writing and editing groove. I have read somewhere writers should take a rest from time to time and based on my experience I think it is good advice.

Also working away at draft TIPM monthly posts. The bookshops topic is proving interesting but time consuming. Drafting a post for March about the actual buying and purchasing decision process. For those who have battled rejection and finally got their book in hard copy in the book shops the last stage is critical ... getting your book picked up and purchased. 

I thought I saw a note on a blog somewhere this week that the UK book readership at nearly 3,000 people per million population is higher than most other countries. Waterstones have nearly a million titles on sale in their best sellers listing. So with a UK population of some 64m that makes c 21,000 readers ... no something is wrong here.

I see Jeffrey Archer's smiling face in the national press and his dulcet tones on radio so I know he has another book out and a bonus with an announcement about another two books to come in his current series. At 74 he is still writing all by pen and pencil so hope for me yet. For successful marketing look no further. I will ring the BBC when my next book is ready for sale ... "Douglas Burcham, The Allrighters who are you / they? We do not do interviews with unknowns." Perhaps I need to do something notorious to get well known and then publish a book.

I see and chuckle about a some sample sentences from extracts from eight books competing for the Folio Prize.

"Our house was taken away on the back of a truck one afternoon in the summer of 1979." 
Miriam Toews All My Puny Sorrows

I used to think that my father had been assigned to us by the government. This was because he appeared to serve no purpose."

Akhil Sharma Family Life


Good reading and writing to you all.

Douglas and Alexander

 

 

Update and Review of 2014 and aims for 2015

Being the 25^th January it is appropriate to quote Robbie Burns – ‘The best laid plans of mice and men’  as amended by later authors.

In my case the last thing I expected in my planning for 2014 was to be seriously unwell from the end of November 2014. Nothing like this will happen to me I had assumed … oh dear. Well maybe this is an overstatement as the illness has not been the problem only the various side effects of seven pills to be taken per day afterwards. After taking no pills and poisons on a long term basis in my previous three score and ten years this has come as a shock to me and my systems. These gave me problems of being a zombie for far too much of my life during the last two months in not having either energy, inclination or clear mindedness to write much or live a life as before. All the red wine bottles also await a restart!

Hopefully I am now climbing out of the pit.

The highlights of 2014 were

• Completion of a million draft words in January 2014 averaging 759 words a day since 1^st June 2010. The major disappointment is how little physical space a million words takes up. Apparently William Shakespeare wrote just short of a million words. The million word target proved a very good method of writing and also a major distraction to being hung up on publishing. I commend having a stiff target to new writers after they make a start - my first rule of writing

• After starting down a path of editing and converting my draft words into 18,000 word novellas at a rate of one per week I found this lacked the same spontaneity as clean sheet creative writing. Editing and restructuring and also filling in gaps for later is proving a painful process. The weekly target has not been achieved.

• Being able to make a regular monthly post on Mick Rooney’s TIPM web site.

• Finding editing software – the original version of Autocrit being great to use. Unfortunately, this version has now been discontinued and I am looking for others to use.

• Continued membership of my local writers group The Inkplotters. www.leamingtonspawriters.org.uk

• Continued contact with fellow writing travellers - Tony Riches, Mary Tod and Calvin Hedley. Reading draft copies of Warwick and The Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham by Tony and Turning Point by Calvin and making comments were a special bonus. Tony has sold very well with his e book versions.

• Attending the Matador Self Publishing Conference and CPI Printers Experience Day were very interesting and also following these up with TIPM reports.  I followed the latter up with the visit to a local modern Litho press owned by a friend.

• A major step forward was a decision to proceed from the spring of 2014 under the overall aim of Writing and Reading for Pleasure which has taken all pressure of publishing more off my back. This is not to say I will never publish anything more.

• An unpublished letter about HS2 being selected by the Daily Telegraph for their 2014 book selection which meant I have at least been published by independent selection of my writing, however small, and have published something in 2014.

• 123 reviews were posted on Amazon of books read in 2014, and books read in previous years found while browsing my own bookshelves. Read many books both fiction and non fiction about the WW2 conflict with Japan. The Prisoner List the stand out non fiction book. On Fiction Life after Life by Kate Atkinson and The Silkworm by aka J K Rowling proved great reads. On semi fiction based on their strong technical backgrounds Regeneration by Pat Barker and The Children Act by Ian McEwan.

Plans for 2015

My life has changed and I will have to accept this. Whether I can return to something near the energy and mind clarity levels pre November 2014 remains to be seen. At least unlike my father who was dead within three months of a similar diagnosis I have been saved by modern technology. My writing aims for 2015 are as follows.

• Keep improving the quality of what I write. I have realised that writing like learning to sail takes a long time and learning is endless.

• l will carry on printing off and amending draft novella versions of the 60 odd books making up the million words and additional new creative words written post January 2014.

• I will try and publish something in 2015

• I hope I can continue posting on TIPM each month under the Writing and Reading for Pleasure banner.

• Putting all my hard copies, paper cuttings and electronic files in some better order looks an overwhelming task but one which is necessary

May I wish all writers and readers a successful and productive year.

Douglas and Alexander and the other fantasy Allrighters

Allrighters November Post

Hello everyone

Lack of a post for a few weeks does not mean there has been no activity.

Events

Tony Riches has published The Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham as a follow up to his successful book Warwick. I read and commented on both these as a beta reader.

Authors Online went out of business on 7 11 14. Shame as now one fewer all services self publisher to choose from.

One of the good writing contacts I made through Authors Online was Rodney Dearing from New Zealand. Sad news, I found out he lost his battle with cancer in July 2014.

Writing

Stop, start, progress on editing and restructuring. Good progress on the first book of Look – No Touch converting it from a draft which pleases me to one which may if I decide to publish please a reader. This appears to be the basic difference between what I have written in my draft million words and where I need to end up. Because I know all the stories in my head I need to restructure to convey that information to readers in each freestanding book despite them being interlinked.

Shakespeare story submitted for local writing group Christmas competition. Took far too much time.

Reading

Some good reads.

Freddie Forsyth Fist of God nearly went to the charity shop unread but I read the first few pages and then carried on. Interesting technical background of first Gulf War and Gerard Bull overcame my current thriller fatigue.

Pat Barker’s Regeneration. Viewing the horrors of WW1 from the diaries and writing of real characters.

Purchases

Amongst others - Hard copies of books written by three of my writing contacts so supporting their efforts - MK Tod’s Unravelled, Angela Petch Never Forget and Nick Roteman’s Auburn. I have read the first two as e books but it is nice to have the feel of their books in my hands. Nick's book has an explosive start! He has a good track record of shocking and surprising his readers.

Disposals

Pursuing my idea that for every book I buy - two must go - several bags of books have gone to the charity shops.

Posts

Another post on TIPM this time about a Welsh Book Buying Shopping Spree click to go to TIPM November

Other posts in draft Advent Thoughts and a Visit to Waterstones with a £500 book token.

Good writing and reading to you all.

Douglas

Winter cometh ...

I always start thinking about winter when football is played in August. At least this year September was good in middle England and Wales - dry and sunny, good to be alive kind of weather.

Made some good progress on the editing front running through some 30 small booklet format drafts of some 18,000 words each. Amazed at what I had written yet again. The full extent of the time I to commit is dawning. Ten years more or from when I started in 2010 perhaps to complete 900,000 words of fiction and 100,000 words of non fiction plus an undefined number of short story books. It is clear my writing which started as a series of scenes and short stories being joined up cannot now be changed fundamentally. I am not worried about this as the 18,000 novella format suits my capacity to work on these booklet chunks. I have decided to make each self contained with a beginning middle and end, although most will interlink through the characters and stories running back and forward.

Met Tony Riches in Tenby with his wife. Nice to meet Tony in the flesh after over a year of exchanging e mails and reading his Writing Desk blog. Click here

Purchased far too many books while in Tenby - three new and twenty one used - priced from 10p to £7.49 each. Many have already been recycled having been read or started and found to be not to my liking. This the subject of November TIPM blog.

Another TIPM post in October with contributions from writing friends. Click here >>  October post TIPM

Attended local writers' groups  The Inkplotters' - see www.leamingtonspawriters.org.uk and also the Bardstown Writers Group in Stratford upon Avon as a guest. I continue to find the task of preparing 1,000 word contributions for reading out aloud at the Inkplotters' useful writing practice in extending the scope and quality of my writing.

Finished reading "A Little Aloud for Children" and Pat Barker's "The Ghost Road" these two the best of recent reading. I seem to have forgotten about other books I have read in the last month including some on Kindle ... so not memorable. I am currently enjoying Ian McEwan's "Children Act", with its wonderful description and law background, and am also finding Pat Barker's "Regeneration" an informative read about WW1.

Best Film watched for some time ... "The Body" with sub titles from Spanish. Great ending and wife LOOKED a real a tease. 

Most shocking event is self publisher writer Russell Blake's encounter with a hurricane in Mexico. see posts 28 9 14 and 4 10 14 click here >> Russell Blake Blog 

Too little too late still EBOLA. Despite all the assurances I fear in six months time it may be out of control across the world especially if it mutates. This has been coming for years and if one sees the insanitary slum conditions on TV in which the people live in West Africa it cannot be a surprise. Even the poorest people in the UK have clean water and sewage disposal. 

Sorry to end on a dismal note. I write and read on ...

Alexander