David Essex in All the Fun of the Fair

I went to see All the Fun of the Fair yesterday, at The Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London. If you're a David Essex fan it’s an absolute MUST.

When David first appeared on stage, I wanted to ‘woop woop’ as you do ... but nobody else did, so I thought I’d better behave myself and settled down to enjoy the show.

I think to fully appreciate All the Fun of the Fair you have to like David’s music and you mustn’t expect too much in the way of effects. It is a lovely story with fantastic singers and actors; Christopher Timothy plays Harvey, and the up and coming actors Michael Pickering, Nicola Brazil, Susan Hallam-Wright, Cameron Jack and Tim Newman were a pleasure to watch. The show made me laugh and cry and I would go again tomorrow and watch it all over.

David Essex remains an extremely talented, lovely man who is growing older gracefully. He’s who he is today because of yesterday, but doesn’t claim to be the heartthrob he once was – except he still is – if you know what I mean! I’ve loved his music since ROCK ON reached number 3 in the UK charts in 1973 - (when I was three months old ;-)) And I have bought all his new stuff too – being a die-hard fan and all.

Oh and now the exciting bit! I met him after the show. Oh yes indeed. I had my photograph taken with him too! And as he walked away, he turned and eyed my hubby's shirt.

‘I’ve got one of those,' he said. 'Tesco Finest.’ It was! Well not Finest, Cherokee - but close enough.

As David zipped up the Charing Cross Road, I realised that’s what's so great about him – his ability to be just like everyone else.

Get It Write Blog Group

The ‘Get It Write’ blog group is almost a year old - bless its cotton socks!

We presently have 13 members, but because the criteria is that we only have to post ‘something’ four times a year – we need to increase membership. So we are opening the doors to anyone who may find an on-line writing group beneficial.

A Bit About The Group


We are mixed bag of members; some of us are published, some not; some of us are qualified, some not, some are completely new to the writing game, some not. We are Womag Writers, Poets, Article Writers, More Literary Types, Chick-Lit Writers... etc... etc...

The idea of the group is to put a maximum of one piece on the blog per month (and a minimum of four pieces a year)for critique by other members - it can be any form of writing. Additionally, you have to be prepared to critique the work of any writer who has taken the time to critique yours.

It’s a little like a face to face writers’ group, gone cyber!

If you are interested in joining, do email me (my email address is on my profile) or comment below with your contact details and I will contact you. I will need to ask you a few questions about yourself – purely for the security of the group.

Please respond quickly if you're interested - as I will need to cap membership at 18!

Thanks

Edit: 27th May 2010 - We now have a full house of 18 members. But I will keep a waiting list, if anyone else shows an interest.

Is my NOVEL too short?

Is my novel too short, officer?

Yes, it jolly well is! Much too short, in fact! 12,000 words too short! And I’m arresting you for claiming you’ve written a novel, when in fact you haven’t. It’s a novella.

Charming!

A novella is a short novel.

Oh, okay. But I want it to be a novel. Trouble is I’ve edited it for the final time, and it’s ready to go. Oh yes, indeed!

Except it’s not, is it? Because it’s too blinking short! *do police officers say blinking?*

No wait – but it is a novel. Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan is under 60,000 words.

But you’re not Ian McEwan, are you?


Well no, but Wikipedia told me a novel is anything from 40,000 words upwards.

Ah, but I’m a member of the writing police and I know everything. Now what exactly are you going to do about your sadly lacking word count?


Well I guess I could look at my cast and add a little more characterization, a little more depth here and there. I've noticed, too, at the very end of my novel, I’ve summed up some of the lesser known characters with too much telling – so I could show those bits with new scenes.

Yes, but the thing you don’t want to do is fill your story with too many unnecessary words and sentences that do nothing to move the plot forward.


Righty ho, then - off to make my story a little longer - back soon!


Okay, so that’s the novel news! What else have I been up to?

Well, I’ve had a fistful of short story rejections. In fact I’m *this* close to giving up on Take A Break! But then something drives me on. Perhaps it’s the lovely paper they write their rejections on!

On a POSITIVE, I SOLD my FIFTH story to Thats Life! Australia – I so love that magazine! I also had a wonderful email from Jill Finley at The Weekly News, who is back after maternity leave (many congratulations to her!) giving reasons why she didn’t buy my story but saying she would love to read more of my stuff - YAY! And I received a similar letter from Woman’s Weekly with the same kind of comments. So I’m getting there – slowly – slowly - slowly - quick - quick - actually no, just slowly!

Peter Kay The Tour That Doesn’t Tour, Tour.

What is it about Peter Kay that makes us feel, even in a crowd of over 20,000, he’s only talking to us?

‘He must have been sitting in my living room or hiding in the dresser, to know so many anecdotes about MY life?’ I thought, as I watched him.

Oh, yes, did I not say? I’ve only been and seen him live! Oh YES indeedy! And before I go any further, I must tell you he was blummin’ brilliant!

So how did it happen? How did I find myself perched in the eaves of Manchester Evening News Arena, last night? Well I’ll tell you... and most of it is TRUE!

It began when Peter announced,‘I’m doing a tour, that doesn’t tour’ at Manchester Evening News Arena. Now I’d been a member of his website since he first mentioned garlic bread, so I was sent an email telling me I could buy a ticket three hours before they go live. I didn’t consider Manchester is three hours away from where I live, but what’s six hours in a car compared to seeing the best comedian of all time - LIVE!? So I booked! Got tickets! YAY! And then he announced other venues, other dates...oh God, there were venues in London, just down the road. Still, I thought, I’ve got a ticket – mustn’t complain!

So the day arrived. 29th April 2010. And we set off. Nan sat in back clutching her multi-pack of Curly Wurlys for the break, a smile bigger than a Cheshire Cat that she was going to see her idol. No, not Peter – Rick Astley, she’d loved him since, ‘Never going to give you up,’ played at her aerobics class in 1987. That was before she had all that trouble with her hip.

Anyway, we set off at 2 p.m. ‘Should be there by six, latest,’ said my hubby, munching on a Wagon Wheel. (There not as big as they once were, are they?’)
It was about 6 p.m. his eyes took on that demon look he gets, letting us all know he’ll kill anyone who says. ‘We’re not going to get there on time, are we?’

But we did! Get there, I mean. One oil spill on the road, twelve traffic jams, a torrential downpour that made visibility horrendous and our youngest asking ‘are we there yet’ on repeat, we arrived five and half hours later. FRAZZLED. Nan jumped from the car, bursting for a wee, and we eventually arrived in our seats just in time to hear Rick Astley melodically telling us he hadn't given up on us.

How, after all of that, Peter Kay managed to make hubby cry with laughter, is beyond me. I was in absolute stitches too, of course – as were the whole audience!

So, if you haven’t got a ticket – and there are any still out there – I’d recommend you get one a.s.a.p!

Keep up the good work, our Peter – you are a little ray of sunshine!