The edits are done, my friends, and all is well. Let us return to the Rockery Metaphor.
Healthy, much less gappy, and still the odd weed that needs to go. Nearly there.
(Also: someone who came to the house asked ‘who had done my rockery for me’ which I took as a huge compliment, both to my rockery-construction skills and my ability to write a book. My visitor may not have meant the latter, not knowing the full metaphorical importance of the rockery.)
In other garden updates, many of you have expressed interest in the extent of Harris’s digging ambition. Here is the (filled-in) hole complex. If you look carefully, you can see the edges of the previous hole complex, just behind.
At the weekend, I added another bag of bark mulch and liberally doused it with Jeyes cleaning fluid and dried chilli flakes. Harris is now keeping away. I am getting a lot of greyhound side-eye.
Fortunately for me, Harris has more pressing things on his mind than the ruthless smothering of his digging talents.
Such as - how oh how oh how do you go from this one day:
To this the next?
One walk everything is deep and wavy, and then, 24 hours later, the VERY SAME PLACE is short and stubbly. It’s a puzzler and no mistake. Harris stood and thought about it for seven full minutes before we could move on.*
I’ve added to the schedule for Zoom writing workshops in September and October - you’ll find those here, along with details of how to book, and bursaries for any writer who couldn’t otherwise afford to attend.
Having run a few workshops now, I’ve decided that the maximum participant number will be 4 rather than 6, so everyone has the time and space to ask questions and to share anything they want to.
Currently there are workshops on Plot, Character, and Dialogue. Let me know if you’d like to see any others.
In other updates-for-writers**-
I have space to take on one new mentee in August, for either six or twelve sessions. People sometimes think mentoring is for when you’re stuck or when you’re finished a manuscript, but I often work with writers at a very early stage in a manuscript - maybe even an idea that they have, and no words yet - and writers who are mid-write and feel stuck, or uncertain, or as though their words aren’t quite doing what they want them to do.
If mentoring might be for you, hit ‘reply’ and we’ll make a (no-obligation) plan to talk.
(This seems like a good place to say congratulations to my mentee Kay Wilson, who has been longlisted for the 2025 Funny Women In Print prize - read about her, and her fellow nominees, here.)
Manuscript assessments and edit slots are full until the autumn, so please let me know if you’d like to go on the waiting list, or if you would like to book a slot for November.
You’ll find details of the work I do with writers at any stage of their careers here.
More than 2,000 readers have reviewed THE SECOND CHANCE BOOK CLUB on Amazon, and most of them seem to like it a lot! Hooray!
If you are someone who has reviewed - here or elsewhere - thank you. If you are someone who has said to a friend, or your neighbour who reads a lot, ‘I think you might like this’ - thank you. If you have bought my book*** from a shop, or borrowed it from a library, thank you. If you’ve posted about it on social media, thank you.
Around publication time, I tend to get myself into a spin about the enormity/foolishness of the writing life. My mind (often via that most effective of media, the anxiety dream) considers the sheer volume of books in the world, and the futility of adding to that volume and imagining that anyone will be interested.
Of course, what my brain forgets is that the world is full of people like me - people for whom a new book, by an unknown author or a beloved one, is one of life’s Best Things. And people who love books, love to talk about books. So truly, thank you, if you have talked about mine****.
(People sometimes ask me how I feel about bad reviews. Honestly? I don’t mind. I used to. Now I realise that I cannot please everyone, in the same way that not everyone pleases me. And though I personally won’t be going out of my way to give one star to - to pick a name from the ether - Charles Dickens, I absolutely respect the right of readers to express themselves.)
This week, I’m going to be doing some manuscript assessment, some edits, and readingreadingreading. I’m not in love with my current book, so I’m not going to talk about it, but by next week I should have some recommendations for you.
Until then, my friends, be well,
Stephanie x
*Other things that perplex Harris: what happens to the dead things that he finds on walks, brings home, and lies reverently in the middle of the garden, only for them to disappear while he is eating his breakfast; why can’t he have delicious cheese for every meal; why are parcels that come to the house not always for him?
**I was going to try to make UFW (Updates-For-Writers) happen, but I think it would be more of a ‘fetch’ than a ‘BMB’. (If you do not understand these reference, please watch the original Mean Girls film immediately, and you are welcome. BMB, as I’m sure you know, is my Beloved Mr. Butland.)
***not just my book. anyone’s book.
****or any book that you have loved.
Thanks for this Stephanie, really appreciated. x