Tag: The Dorset Museum

Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Am about to head off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again. Lady has been catching up with some of her pals. Am busy writing and editing. Two CFT posts for you this week too, see below for more. Photos from The Dorset Museum and their Jane Austen – Down to the Sea exhibition were taken by me, Allison Symes.


Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

8th August 2025 – 1st post – John Puzey

Busy day. First up is my first post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I share a post about John Puzey’s library event coming up on 16th August. He will be discussing his new book, Captive Audience (Authors Reach Limited). John is well known in my area as a member of the Chameleon Theatre Company too. I hope the event goes well. Full details of time etc in the post.

Author Event – John Puzey at Chandler’s Ford Library – Captive Audience – 16th August 2025

8th August 2025 – CFT post – Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester

My second post for Chandler’s Ford Today is Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester where I review my recent visit to a special exhibition at The Dorset Museum. The exhibition called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea was enlightening. I share more of my thoughts as to why in the post. If you do get a chance to go to this, I highly recommend it. The exhibition is on until 14th September 2025.

Mind you, I plan to go back to the museum anyway later in the year because it holds a wide range of other interesting exhibits which I didn’t get chance to see so a return trip is definitely called for. (For one thing, I wouldn’t mind visiting the Thomas Hardy room here).

Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester

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8th August 2025 – third post – Two year Writers’ Narrative anniversary

Another post here tonight sees me, along with the rest of the Writers’ Narrative team, celebrating the second birthday of this excellent magazine. But don’t just take my word for it. Why not check it out?

It is written by writers for writers and is packed full of interesting articles and amazing tips. See the link below to the most recent issue. (There is a subscribe link inside the magazine itself and it is free to subscribe to so nothing to dislike there!


Lady was pleased to see her other best buddy, the Hungarian Vizler, today. Nice time had by both.
There will be two Chandler’s Ford Today posts out from me tomorrow. See above for both links.

One is to flag up a local author event. John Puzey (who will be known to many in my area as a member of The Chameleon Theatre Company) is having an author signing event at the Chandler’s Ford Library on 16th August to discuss his book, Captive Audience, which is published by Authors Reach Limited. The post shares full details. All are welcome. Brief blurb below.

Behind the wire and the watchtowers, three prisoners of war begin their journey to fame. An adventure of escapism and escape, set against the backdrop of war-torn Italy and the lure of post war stardom.

The second post will be my usual one for a Friday and I’ll be sharing Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester where I’ll review the recent exhibition I went to see. That runs until 14th September 2025 and if you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. Links for both posts up tomorrow.

Lady got to play with her best buddy, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, today so all well there.

Writing/Character Tip: Can you summarise your main character in one line? Why not give that a go? It helps you get to their “essence” and is a good way, when you read your story back, to check that is coming out in your tale as you would want so your character makes the maximum impact on your readers.

It will show you too why you want to write this character up. There should be something about them which “nags” you to write their story up after all. If they grip you, they will grip your readers but that essence will show you why they grip you in the first place.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Friday Flash Fiction are currently running their annual two week competition which ties in with the Edinburgh Festival. So I am sharing the link here to the 100 words story page so you can have a wonderful read. I have submitted a story this week but no names or comments here until the competition is over. But do enjoy the tales. I have had a fabulous read and am sure you will too.

In other news, and an update to an earlier post this week, I did manage to get my 750 word story submitted, just ahead of Swanwick. 

Hope you’ve had a good day. Not bad one here.

Had a lovely time at yesterday evening’s ACW group I go to most months. Was pleased to put in the word for Writers’ Narrative too! You can’t always know when marketing opportunities come up and some of the best ones are by word of mouth. I also put in a good word for the Authors Licensing and Collection Society (ALCS). Both WN and ALCS are worth checking out but you need not just take my word for it!

Flash Tip: Another advantage to the tight word count flash demands is you haven’t got room for any waffle whatsoever. So words like whatsoever would automatically be taken out of any flash fiction story of mine! You do get better at spotting words which aren’t really needed (and really is so often another one!).

But this is the purpose of the first edit after all – to get rid of wasted words and to ensure the story makes sense. Then it is a question of polishing up and proofreading. I see these as three distinct stages. All have a purpose. All help me make my stories as good as I can make them.

Hope today has gone well. One thing I will especially look forward to at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which happens soon (hooray!), is getting to take part in writing exercises.

I enjoy these things and know I will end up with some draft flash fiction pieces from them. Nothing to dislike about that! I have polished up some of my stories from these things in the past and had them published (CafeLit and I can think of at least one which will be in my third book, Seeing The Other Side, due out next May).

So is there a point to writing exercises?

Definitely!

Fairytales with Bite – Going Away

In your magical setting, do any of your characters go away to do what we would know as Continuing Professional Development? If so, is it compulsory they do this (annually maybe) or is it a volunteer thing?

I am about to head off for a few days of writing workshops and courses. It is a big highlight of my writing year. Not least because I get to meet up with writing friends I only see online for the rest of the year. So what would be the equivalent in your setting?

Wouldn’t necessarily be writing of course. Is there a fairy godmother school somewhere where said godmothers can improve their craft work? That could be fun to witness. Certainly I could see potential for humorous stories there. Also would there be a social side to this and what would happen there?

So where would your characters go? Why is the location for the courses etc the one which has been picked for this? If magic is flying about, you could see the point of setting workshops etc nowhere near any major populations!

Could be some fun stories here.

This World and Others – Workshops and Courses

Linking with Fairytales with Bite above, which workshops and courses would your characters go to? Would they have any choices or are there specialist ones they absolutely must do on a regular basis? Who runs these? What standards are expected of the courses themselves and how would your characters qualify to get to go to them at all? Is there the magical equivalent of OFSTED or any other body which holds educational establishments to account here?

Who decided there should be magical workshops and courses? What led them to that and do they teach them? What obstacles did they have to overcome to persuade others learning like this was essential (as not everyone would see the need. Sadly not everyone sees the need for education, especially for women, even now).

What do your attendees make of the courses they go to? Could one of your attendees learn something at one of these courses which will change their lives, for better or for worse? How would that play out?

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

As I’ve shared the August 2025 edition above, please find below an older issue of the magazine.

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Postcards Home and Authors/Story Links

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to friends from Swanwick for taking some images of me signing books etc at a previous Swanwick. Also thanks to Adrian Symes for taking a photo of me holding Creativity Matters.
Hope you had a good weekend. Had a lovely trip out to see a Jane Austen exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester with editing colleagues. Good fun and a fascinating place to visit. Want to go back as I didn’t get to see half of what was there. The Austen exhibition was good too. But oh how tiny the waists were back then!
Meantime back at home, Lady has got to see her two best buddies for the first time in a few days so all is well now. Part 3 of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side came out over the weekend on CafeLit too. Link given below. All go here but in a great way!

Facebook – General

It’s my turn once again on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Postcards Home and set a few exercises for people to try. Hope you have fun with them. I especially hope the ACW Flash Fiction Group gives them a go!

Hope you enjoy the post. This is an apt topic for me as flash fiction has been known by many names, including postcard fiction.

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Lady has had a lovely day. She played with her two best friends, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. All is well in their world!

As promised the other day, I thought I would give a quick reminder now to say I will be quizzing Rosemary Johnson about her new book, Past and Present (Bridge House Publishing) later this week. There is an online book launch via Eventbrite, hosted by Bridge House Publishing, on Friday 1st August from 7.15 pm (UK time). The event will last for an hour. Hope to see you there.

Marketing Tip: Whenever you are sharing information about your latest story or book, think about what is in this for your readers. This is where sharing an odd story or two is handy because it makes perfect sense to say hello, this is what I write, and then share a sample of it. Nobody minds a free sample. If you have an author newsletter, it is a useful thing to include as part of that.

So enjoyed my trip to the Dorset Museum yesterday. Didn’t even see half of what they have there so a return trip is called for. The ticket from the museum lasts for a year so I hope to take full advantage of that. Pleasant run on the train too – and useful writing time of course. Will shortly be getting on with flash fiction Sunday today, naturally.

Writing wise, will have a busy week ahead with plenty going on the blogs front. Plus I will be sending out my author newsletter again on Friday (and taking part in Rosemary Johnson’s book launch for Past and Present the same day so Friday will be fun but busy).

Also it is almost time for the next edition of Writers’ Narrative so do look out for that too. You won’t be short of reading material this week!

Glad to see it is almost time for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again. So looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: If you can get to writing events, be they online or in person, a one day thing or longer, try and go. One huge advantage to them is you get to meet other writers. Not only do you make friends, writers share information with each other all of the time.

You never know when (a) that could prove useful to you and (b) what you can share will prove useful to someone else. The writing community is generally a hugely supportive one and it is lovely to be part of it.

Was on my travels today down to Dorchester to visit the Jane Austen exhibition at the Dorset Museum. This was called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea and looked at the great author’s links with the coast. I met editing colleagues here from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP). A great time was had by all and I plan to write more about the exhibition for Chandler’s Ford Today soon.

Talking of which, a huge thank you for the fabulous comments which have come in on Esther Chilton’s interview yesterday.

Next week’s post will be a review of the play of Notes From A Small Island, which was performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company this week.

Next week will be busy too as the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will be meeting on Wednesday. Plus I’m also looking forward to Rosemary Johnson’s online book launch for her Past and Present collection on Friday. Host is Bridge House Publishing via Eventbrite. Will repost the link in next couple of days. Have done so above.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady has had an especially nice day as she got to play with Bear, a wonderful Aussie Shepherd, who is the nearest thing she has ever had to a boyfriend.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow on Zoom. We’ll be looking at the theme of summer. Plenty of good ideas to come from using a season in your writing. For one thing, they make an excellent backdrop.

Flash Tip: When you have a theme to hand for a story, take some time to jot down as many possibilities from it as you can think of. There will be more than you think. Play Word Association here. What you come up with may well generate words to put in a story, even the basic outline of what a character might see or do in your story.

For example with the theme of summer, you could think of things like tennis (story set against that back drop perhaps). You could think of ice cream (lovely old soul looks for a favourite flavour for someone he cares about) and that is just two basic ideas from two words associated with the theme.

Am sure you could come up with many more. Have fun!

It’s Monday. It has been hectic. It’s story time once again but this time I’ve produced something a little different. The program I use to produce my videos was unfortunately down when I needed to use it for my usual weekly tale though I am glad to say it is back up and running again.

Having said that (and given I have other writing commitments today), I took a story, recorded it on Zoom and have uploaded that to YouTube. Hope you enjoy my Work To Rule read by yours truly.


Flash Fiction Sunday is with me again so am looking forward to cracking on with that shortly.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom next week.

And now it’s time for part 3 of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. Hope you like the latest selection of tales.

Getting out and about on the train, as I have done today, gives great opportunities for discreet people watching. I have occasionally heard intriguing snippets of conversation I have put my own spin on to create stories. The original speakers would genuinely never know.

This is true for any kind of prompt – it is what you do with it which transforms it into something with exciting story possibilities. The prompt is only ever to get you started, which can often be the difficult bit.

Goodreads Author Blog – Authors and Story Links

By the time I post this, I will have returned from a Jane Austen exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester. This was called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea and looked at her links with the coast.

Confession time – I was only aware of the one link, that being The Cobb at Lyme Regis. It is a major scene in Austen’s Persuasion. I’ve not read The French Lieutenant’s Woman which I believe also uses The Cobb as a setting.

I do always think of Persuasion whenever I visit Lyme Regis though.

The exhibition was an eye opener, fun, and I am so glad I went. So if a favourite author of yours has an exhibition on, why not check it out? They can be another way of helping you enjoy even more from the books you love. That has to be a good thing!

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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