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Posts Tagged ‘ivp’

Shoes to Nottingham

Posted in Books, tagged , , , , , , , , on 12 June, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I took my new shoes to Nottingham yesterday. I’m pleased to report that the shoes performed pretty well at the IVP sales meeting. My feet were comfy enough and I didn’t need to change into my slippers immediately I got home.

It was great to see my editor and meet the IVP sales team and tell them a little about The Ministry of a Messy House. I got to meet most of the people in the office too and saw how the process goes through from editing and artwork through customer services and finance through to the boxes of books being packaged for sending out.

Anyway, just in case  you’ve not already seen the pics on Twitter, here are the shoes:

Purple shoes

They came from Brantano for a bargainaceous £13 and were accompanied by a swished dress from the Proc Trust Minister’s Wives conference and a £3 cardie from my favourite jumper stall on the market. Seemed like an appropriately authory outfit. All authors are impecunious, aren’t they?

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Blogging Bonuses

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 10 June, 2013| 2 Comments »

When I started a blog I didn’t have any big aim. I just had a few stories to tell and my mother kept on telling me that she thought I should share them with a wider audience. And I reckoned that there weren’t that many columnists out there telling the story of inner city life whilst actually living it. Nor that many Vicar’s wives telling the story of what happens when you live somewhere that is seen as a first and last port of call in the storms of life. So I just started telling my stories, way back in May 2008.

But since I began blogging, and people I wasn’t actually related to began to read it, I have had the opportunity to spout a few views over at Lou’s Women, an occasional column at the Express and Star, our local daily paper. And then last year, I was asked to propose a book idea to IVP after I talked a bit about my blog at a conference and suddenly I’m going to be an author. Tomorrow I have to go to an IVP sales conference in Nottingham to enthuse about my book. I had to get new shoes because I only have smart boots, trainers and scruffy sandals. So I’m already pleased about going.

A few months ago, because of the blog, Hannah, a curate’s wife, asked me if I’d review her handmade prints. I was a bit busy with the book when she asked, but you should check out her site all the same, cos the prints are lovely.

MP900341336And then, just a few weeks ago, I had an email which I initially thought might be a scam. But then I saw the official-looking email address. It was from a marketing person at the Lawn Tennis Association. And they very kindly offered me a couple of free tickets for the Aegon Classic which is on at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham all this week. We are going for Ladies’ Day, which is on Thursday and is raising money for Ladies’ Fighting Breast Cancer. I am taking Dreamer, our Familes and Community Worker, and we are going to have a girly day just a few miles away, but in a rather different world to our normal inner city parish life. We are looking forward to seeing some great ladies’ singles tennis and getting in the groove for watching Wimbledon on the telly in a few weeks.

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Book News

Posted in Books, tagged , , , , , , , on 29 April, 2013| 2 Comments »

Still a mess

Still a mess

A few updates on the book which has been occupying me pretty well for the past four months. And looks like taking up my time for a few weeks longer…

1. The title has changed! It’s now

The Ministry of a Messy House:

Grace in place of guilt

My favourite other option was ‘Another Fine Mess’ but we thought that we might miss those who were’t Laurel and Hardy fans.

2. The book is going to have illustrations by the wonderful Ian Mitchell. I’ve seen a couple of rough drafts and am pretty sure he’s set up a surveillance camera in the Vicarage.

3. I wrote over 36,000 words for the first draft and flabbergasted myself by submitting it pretty much on the deadline. Now I’m editing and writing an introduction and a few other bits to go with the main manuscript.

4. I am writing this blogpost as a distraction activity from the editing and writing I should be doing. Of course.

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An Excuse, But An Exciting One

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 29 January, 2013| 10 Comments »

Only two blogposts this year. But my excuse isn’t the normal one of parish busyness and personal incompetence, although those things are obviously a factor in the emptiness of this site so far in 2013. But the main reason, I think, for bloglessness is some other writing I’ve been doing. And so far nearly 4,000 words of writing (of approximately 40,000 I’ve agreed to) for the BOOK I’ve just signed a contract for!

After my three minutes of fame talking about blogging in a seminar at the Midlands Women’s Convention last October, I was approached by an editor from IVP who asked me if I’d consider writing for them. So I thought about it, put a few ideas together, and suddenly I have a deadline at the end of March and a very tidy kitchen. Of course, housework becomes much more attractive when I have something more pressing and important to do…

Vicarage messThe working title of the book is Messy Ministry – mess being just about my top specialist subject, though ministry rather less so. So do please pray for me as I write to my deadline. Pray for my kind editor who will have to wrestle with the words I write and make them coherent (I’m already discovering that writing chapters is not entirely the same as a whole bunch of random blogposts strung together). And pray that I’ll be able to encourage everyone who wants to do ministry but finds that mess keeps on getting in the way. It’s a scary but exciting project and is proving a challenge for all of us in the Vicarage.

And if anyone would like to suggest helpful ideas for the book I’d be extra specially keen on that too…

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