The end, the stripes, the ways to help

Approximately-weekly news, #91

Before we begin, Harris the greyhound has generously granted permission to anyone compiling a photo dictionary. If you don’t have an entry for ‘flat out’ yet, voila:*

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Before we begin, part 2: some announcements.

• The paperback of A BOOKSHOP SUMMER is now out in the US! Here’s the Behemoth Retailer link, and it’s also in stock at Barnes and Noble, where it’s listed, charmingly, under ‘Clean and Wholesome Romance’. This makes me smile because I tell you, off the page Johnny has got some serious moves, and aunt Maria swore like a sailor.** America, you know what to do***, and thank you. Thank you too, and very sincerely, for the almost 1,000 reviews for the e-book so far.

• And if you’re in the UK, please come and see me interviewing Caroline Quentin on 14 September. (Yes! That Caroline Quentin!) You can buy tickets here and if you’re not nearby, you can pre-order the book - about the joy and nurture of interacting with nature - here.

• If you’re in the UK and thinking about buying yourself or a loved one some Lost For Words Bookshop merch, UK postage is free this weekend. (And if you would like a Lost for Words Bookshop badge, just reply to this email with your address and I’ll put one in the post to you.

• Writing services are pretty much booked up until February 2027. I do have space to look at one manuscript (assessment or developmental edit) in October, and to take on one mentee. I also have a waiting list, as things inevitably move around. Take a look here and then drop me an email for a no-strings discussion.

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Right! Now we have done the ‘before we begin’ bits**** let us get on to other news. First and foremost, I have reached The End of the new book.

I had finished a full first draft in mid-May, before Alan became unwell, and returning to it after he died has been, not exactly comforting, but absorbing. And something to absorb my thoughts has been most welcome. So has sitting at my desk: the studio, where I write, has always been my space, so it is a straightforward place to be. Being in the house is more complicated. It’s warm with memories and the love with which we built our home; it also contains a thousand little ambushes. If you have grieved*****, you know.

I sent the rewritten manuscript to my editor yesterday. At this point I have zero judgement as to whether a book is any good or not: I’m too close, I’ve focussed too hard, and inevitably I will have given way too much attention to some bits and entirely underdone others. This is okay. This is part of the process. I am 100% cool and fine with this and absolutely not on the brink of calling my agent to try to get my entire career vanished.******

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While we wait to see what my editor has to say, shall we amuse ourselves with a bit of vintage Past Me, and some of my dictation software’s best mishearings?

Very well.

Past me, take a bow. (Sigh.)

And if you forgive Past Me that, allow me to present exhibit B:

She understands that here, in something something, with something something, is her mother’s something.

I can’t even. (Clearly.)

As you know if you’ve been here for a while, I wrote a lot of the first draft of this novel longhand and then dictated it. You may also remember that the dictation software had a few issues with Loveday (variations including Love A, Love They, and Lovely). I found these too, in the rewrite:

• ‘high disease’ instead of ‘Heidi says’

• ‘contra Tom’ instead of ‘contretemps’*******

• ‘centre of the tension’ instead of ‘centre of attention’, which I don’t hate.

• ‘rest fight’ instead of ‘respite’, which is absolute poetry, no?!

This week’s permission:

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You have permission to trudge onward, when trudging is the best you have in you.

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Knitting!

As is about to become clear, this year I joined a self-striping yarn club (this one). The yarn is beeyooteefull - soft and smooth with perfect colour saturation - and I have made socks:

And a hat, which comes in two stages:

The sock pattern is out of my head. The hat is viral knitting hit******** Musselburgh by Ysolda Teague, and it’s such a pleasure to knit: easy, a bit magic, and zero-waste, which is a big benefit for someone who has so many teeny balls of leftover yarn that primary school teachers run away when they see me coming.

I’m also working on a sweater, but that’s coming on exceedingly slowly, largely because I am on the sleeves now and every time I think about knitting it I get a bit defeated by the fact that arms are, in knitting terms, seven miles long.

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When my beloved Mr Butland died (I wrote about it here), a lot of people did kind and lovely things, and a lot of people asked, with great sincerity, what they could do to help me. And with a few exceptions (let’s go for a walk, could you please help me put his coats out of sight, I could use a hand with the garden), I didn’t know.

Now I know what you can do for your grieving friend. Put their name on a random date in your diary, five weeks or nine weeks or twelve weeks from now, and when you come to that entry, check in. Text them to say you are thinking of them. Suggest a cup of tea together. Ask if they want help with anything (there are some jobs, like taking things to a charity shop, that would be impossible to even think about in week zero but important four months on).

Or, contact them today and suggest an outing/event a few weeks from now. On Saturday I’m going out for afternoon tea with friends who booked it in with me on the day of Alan’s Celebration of Life, six weeks ago. I’ve got plans in September, in October, in December.

I am so very grateful for the forethought and consideration of everyone who is checking in and saying hello and putting things in my diary. It means such a lot. Though I am busy and buoyed by all of the love and life that BMB and I shared, I cannot begin to convey the depth and breadth of what it is to be without him.

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I had a lovely time in London a few weeks ago. I went to this exhibition, and here is my favourite sun.

Until next time, my friends, be well.

With love and gratitude,

Stephanie x

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*Harris says, you’re welcome, and he will take a gratuity in cheese

**or me. I can be very sweary.

***almost everyone who contacts me from the US adds a PS/comment along the lines of ‘I did not vote for That Man’

****That second one’s bigger than I thought, tbh

*****I should say ‘if you are grieving’, shouldn’t I? Because I don’t think it stops.

******Obviously, I am not.

*******ngl, quite tempted to write a character called Contra Tom into my next novel

********Yes, non-knitters, this is a thing