Brought to You by the Letters A and Z

I came across this photo today on London Daily Photo and it looked so much like my own collection that I had to laugh.

I'm going to float the theory that the number of copies you have of this handy book is directly related to the number of years spent in London -- I've been here for five years, and I own five! The book's called the A - Z, and it's kind of like having GoogleMaps in your pocket. Each page shows a different cross-section of London streets, (almost) down to the smallest passageways. Simply put, if you live in London you need to have one of these.

I first realised the importance of having one when I was called out to supply teach in a neighbourhood off Edgware Road, central London. Just off the plane from Canada, I'd taken down the fastidious directions from the recruitment consultant, naively thinking: how hard can it be?

Well. After getting lost in the maze of streets and finally getting to the job -- horror upon horrors -- late, the consultant (fielding my increasingly frantic phone calls) suggested I get an A - Z. When I wasn't chasing after errant children, I wondered what on earth this A - Z was. Vowing never to get lost again (OK, I didn't really know how to get home), I popped into a corner store and asked if they had one. The man handed me a coil-bound Inner London edition, and my A - Z collection was born.

I'd like to say I never got lost again. But little did I realise that my super-sized Inner City London edition didn't cover far-flung environs like Harolds Wood and Ponders End, where I was shunted off to supply teach. My wanderings prompted another A - Z purchase, this time covering the whole of London.

A - Z number three was purchased in a fit of panic when I mistakenly thought I'd lost one. I just couldn't bear to hit the London streets without my faithful companion in hand. Number four was a mini-version bequeathed to me by a friend returned to Canada -- great to store in your hand-bag but not so great when half the streets seem to fall in the centre crack and you need microscopic vision to see anything. And the fifth? Well, you wouldn't want your car journeys to be neglected, would you? It's nesting comfortably in the glove compartment.

This posting (not paid, honestly!) has been lovingly brought to you by the letters A and Z. I'm telling you, never leave home without it!

Mutton or Lamb?

It's a rainy, dull day in London. Streets and shops are practically empty as people huddle inside their cozy flats. But for some, staying in just plain boring.

So... why not make your own fun? That's exactly what these teens did.

What's Next?

Now that my book is out and most of the launch hoopla's behind me, I've begun to focus on what's next. '24 Hours Paris' is, for the most part, completed (yay!) and as always, my goal of getting published on the fiction side comes to the fore. Of course I'm ecstatic to be published, period -- and even more so that it's something to do travel, which I've always loved writing about -- but I really really want to get my fiction out there, too.

It's ever-so-slightly embarrassing to admit that I've written five novels, none of which has been published. I've pitched two, put away two more to be edited, and I've just completed my fifth. It might sound depressing, but I can see I'm getting better. I feel more confident, too, about what I'm doing. So, it might take another five -- or ten -- novels, but I think I'll get there in the end. And if not, well... at least I'm enjoying the journey.

Cross your fingers for me!

Happy (American) Thanksgiving!

The blogs are alive today with the sound of clucking as Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. So to all the Americans who come across this post today... Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's what the confused Brits have to say about it.

All Marketing, All the Time

It's my new obsession: marketing! Time-consuming and humiliating -- sometimes. But mostly fun and exciting. I have to thank everyone who's helped me with promotion, from friends and family to complete strangers (and it's not over yet -- if I haven't hit you up for something, just wait!).

Today I'm over at Hell or High Water, talking about what I've learned in marketing my book.

Canberra Calling

It's been awhile since I've seen my name in newspaper print. I trained as a journalist and spent a few scintillating years working as an editor of a medical journal before bailing out and going into the wonderful world of public relations.

So I was eager to see a copy of an article I wrote for the Canberra Times (if, like me, your geography is questionable, Canberra is the capital of Australia). The article came out last Sunday and I finally got a PDF last night. Thanks to Mary and Peter Nelson, friends of my parents living in Canberra, I'll have a hard copy as soon as the post obliges.

In the meantime, here's the link!

Urban Travel Blog... Check it Out!

I'm posting on the fly today as I'm just on my way out the door to the pub (aka my writers' group in Marylebone), but I wanted to share this link with you. It's a new travel website, started by former Polish resident and now Barcelona-dweller Duncan Rhodes. The site aims to provide all the information you need about destinations world-wide, in just one page per destination.

I'm a recent contributor to the London portion of the site. If you get a chance, swing by and tell Duncan (and me!) what you think!

Just One Hour

Smitten by Britain recently held a competition to win a few copies of my book (thanks, Melissa!). Her question for entrants was: 'What would you do in London if you had just one hour?'

The answers were so great I decided to steal them for my own blog! Here are a few:

I would rent a helicopter and have them fly me over London for an hour so that I could take in the entire city from a pigeon's point of view !

I would make sure I was there on a Sunday so I could go to Speaker's Corner, after which I would go to the National Museum (I've never been and I've always wanted to), followed by a play at the Globe Theatre (the season starts after Shakespeare's birthday in May), and finish with a look at Big Ben and a pub dinner.


Kensington Roof Gardens! Its owned by Richard Branson and is THE most amazing place. We spent an hour there on a whistle stop tour last month and we loved it. If we didn't have a guide we would never have known it was there...as the name suggests, it's on top of an 6 or 8 storey building!


What would I do in an hour? Only an hour? Oh my gosh, I don't know how this little Canadian Country Mouse could possibly take in all that history, culture, and beauty in just an hour! I would either find the largest memory card for my camera and run around taking pictures of everything and everybody and then look and drool over the pictures in the comfort of my own home, or, more than likely I would spend the time in the Natural History Museum. Sigh.... heaven.... even if it was just an hour. Thank you for making me day dream!


Oooh I adore london! If I only had an hour I would go to the Borough markets and eat myself silly, then sit by the river and people watch while I digest all my amazing food. I have family in London and have visited there several times, but never, ever get sick of it. After Sydney, it's probably my favourite city in the world!


I would stand in the middle of Waterloo Bridge and take it all in. I can't believe I used to complain about that walk every morning before I moved to the US. It's breath-taking!


Living there anyway, I know that a free hour in London usually means sitting on the tube trying to get somewhere! I always like a walk through Petticoat Lane market in the Middlesex Street area. Best done on a weekend when it takes over multiple streets.


I would go to Rigby and Peller in Knightbridge and be fitted for a perfectly fitting, beautiful new bra or two, then stroll into Harrods food hall and smell all the wonderful aromas and buy a sinfully decadent pastry or some truffles.


I'm probably boring, but I absolutely love Charing Cross and its old bookshops, so I'd spend some time in the second hand book shops before bowing between the throne that is Foyle's!


Only 1 hr? I'd probably spend it the way I spent my first hour there - take the tube to Baker Street and wander around Regent's Park to enjoy the roses in bloom. ...Or maybe I'd grab a milk chocolate chunk shortbread and canned pimm's & lemonade from M&S, wander around St. Pauls and cross the Millenium bridge over to bankside for a quick stroll past the Tate, Globe, etc.


I have never been outside of South Africa, so the first thing I would do when I get to London, will be to go to Madam Tussauds and kiss Lady Di's cheek! I watched her wedding, cried when she died and would love to see what she looked like in real life! I would then walk the streets of London to look at all the old buildings in wonderment! Our country's oldest building, the Castle in Cape Town, was built only in 1666, so I really would like to see the architecture of the older buildings. Then, if I still have time, I would run to see the Rosetta Stone and Leonardo's paintings!

And Melissa recently gave me the Superior Scribbler Award (thanks - again!), which I shall now pass on to five other bloggers:
India Drummond
Sarah Eve Kelly
Tim Atkinson of Bringing Up Charlie
Deniz Bevan of The Girdle of Melian
Karen Jones Gowen of Coming Down the Mountain

The Rules:
Each Superior Scribbler I name today must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving bloggy friends. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

Harsh Reality

It's Friday and almost the weekend, so hey -- here' s a little reality check to get the weekend started.

According to this article, writing one New York Times Best-Selling book per year will keep you just above the poverty line. Well, no-one ever becomes a writer for money! Do they?

Weird British Things - Part Two

Thanks to all who commented on the last post! Karen had a good point -- sometimes it's better not to tell cabbies where you're going until you get in. That way, they have to take you.

And maybe mince pies are better with Devonshire clotted cream. I'm just not sure I'll ever find out.

Here are some more weird British things. Feel free to comment and let me know if it's just me, or if these things are indeed strange for most non-natives. (Last post on the weirdness, I promise!)

Toilets with a button on top - What is with that? I want a lever to flush, dammit. Not some button on the top.

Washing machines that open from the front - I find washing machines here, in general, so confusing. And don't get me started on the washer/dryer all-in-one combo!

Power outlets with on-off switches - I think this is a great idea. Plug it in, turn it on.

TV licenses - What, I have to pay to have a telly? And the funniest fact of all (discovered when I had to write the 'Life in the UK' test): if you're blind, you get 50 per cent off your license. What a deal!

Small, small fridges - I can't believe how big fridges are when I go back home.

Standing up in pubs - Please can we sit down? Why do I have to stand here awkwardly with my drink, even if there are chairs available?

Weird British Things

(Before I start my list, let me clarify that these are the things I found weird when I first moved to Britain -- and still do, in some cases. I'm not saying Brits are weird for doing these things.)

Mince pies at Christmas - Can anything be more disgusting than horrible stodgy pastry stuffed with squished raisins and dates. Blek.

First-class and second-class post - Seriously, what is with that? Even the post must be sorted according to class?

Windows without screens - Leaves can blow in! Bugs can circulate! Windows need screens!

The Queen owns it all - Even if you buy a flat (in London, anyway), after 999 years it reverts back to the Queen.

No tax! - Now this I love. OK, there is tax, but at least it's rolled in to the price.

Tell the cabbie where you're going before you get in - Once you're in, they can't refuse your fare so you need to flag them down, then lean through the window and then tell them where you want to go.

More to come in future posts!

Publishing Terms

I love Twitter. Not only is it a brilliant distraction when you're facing 200 pages of editing, but it also provides interesting little tidbits from sources around the world. Today I found this, courtesy of agent Janet Reid.

These are my favourite bits.

ADVANCE: A secret code signalling to the marketing department whether or not to promote a title.

AGENT: An intellectual property and contract law specialist who is unable to pass the bar.


AUTHOR: A large class of individuals (approximately three times as numerous as readers) serving a promotional function in book marketing or providing make-work for editorial interns.

AUTHOR BIO: A piece of creative writing whose length varies inversely with the attractiveness of the person depicted in the AUTHOR PHOTO.

AUTHOR PHOTO: Pictorial fiction. Authors always choose photos that emphasize that quality in which they feel most deficient.

AUTHOR’S DISCOUNT: A penalty charged authors who are unable to wheedle sufficient masses of free copies, purportedly for the purpose of promotion, from their editors.

B


BOOK DISTRIBUTION: An elaborate system testing the commitment of readers by making sure they cannot obtain specific books too easily.

BOOK REVIEW: A recycled press release offered to publishers by newspaper and magazine sales departments as an inducement to advertising.

C

COMMERCIAL FICTION: The notion of publishing as a way of making money.

COMP COPIES: A publisher’s entire inventory, according to the urgings of his friends and colleagues.

COPY EDITING: A phase of publishing that requires little or no budget, is considered of slight importance, and may be omitted at the option of the publisher.

COPYRIGHT: A concept invented by lawyers as a hedge against unemployment.


D

DEADLINE: An item that exists to be renegotiated and revised. In his famous paradox, the Greek philosopher Zeno proved that deadlines can never be met.


E

EDITOR: A writer with a day job.

F

FANTASY: An author's sales aspirations.

FOREIGN MARKET: The part of the country outside New York City.

FOREWORD: A blurb that is placed between the covers of the book to compensate for an unmarketable author.

FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR: An annual international exhibition of artwork on paper.

M

MAINSTREAM FICTION: The pretense that there is a group of readers who can be reached through writing that is sufficiently unspecific as to exclude no one.


N

NOVELLA: A short story that has not been edited.

P

PLAGIARISM: Research.

PRINTER'S ERROR (PE): An error made before a book goes to print.

PUBLICATION DATE (PUB DATE): A sliding holiday based on the phases of the moon.

QR

REJECTION LETTER (FORM): A condensed restraining order serving to justify requests for SASEs.

REJECTION LETTER (PERSONAL): A formulaic literary genre, premised on justifying not reading or misreading a manuscript, in which the narrator grossly exposes both deep character flaws and an absolute blindness to them.

ROYALTY: The glamorous heads of large publishing houses, also known as GLITERATI.

S

SALES REP: A roaming bookstore employee retained as a buffer against publishers and authors.

SELF-PUBLISHING: Tattoo art.

SHELF LIFE: Bookworms.

SHORT STORY: A story that is seldom short enough.

SPINE: Once an essential aspect of any book, spines are no longer found in the publishing industry.


U

UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY: A biography in which there is no trace of original writing by an author.

UNIVERSITY PRESS: A business predicated on obtaining materials from scholars without compensating them in order to sell the same materials at high prices to scholars.

UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPT: A manuscript that can’t sell because it includes too few salacious solicitations.

VWXYZ

WORK-FOR-HIRE: Migrant labor.

WRONG FONT: Comic Sans.

Jump n' Jazz

It was a wet, windy and generally miserable weekend in London. But there's a certain pathos to the wind-strewn streets, and weather aside, we managed to get in a lot of London love.

The Man's Egyptian cousin was visiting London for the first time and we wanted to show off our city. After pointing out the typical touristy sights, we dragged her off to the theatre - we'd scored a great deal on tickets to Jump from lastminute.com (£10 each!). It had been ages since we'd been to theatre - way back in August - and I was really looking forward to seeing a production that had received rave reviews.

If you like martial arts and slapstick comedy, you'll like Jump. I like neither and while I was pleasantly entertained for the first five minutes, I quickly found myself feeling bored. But The Man and his cousin enjoyed it, so I suffered in (sort of) silence. For me, it was like dim sum: you can eat and eat and just never feel full (fine for dim sum, but not so good for theatre).

But the jazz concert the next night more than made up for any theatrical disappointment. It's the London Jazz Festival this week, and we got some of the last available tickets. We didn't know what to expect from the two bands who'd be performing, but from the description of 'demonic' and 'wailing' instruments it certainly looked interesting.




Trio VD.


Trio VD took to the stage first, ripping into their instruments. If the Devil listens to jazz, I'm sure this is his preferred band. It was painful, it was beautiful, and it was astonishing that three musicians could produce such a glorious cacophony.

The trio was followed by the even more disturbing World Sanguine Report, fronted by gravelly voiced Andrew Plummer. Slightly extreme for my tastes -- especially his on-stage vignette featuring a seagull whose guts spilled all over a Leeds suspension bridge -- but you had to admire the talent.

And all too quickly, the weekend was over, our guest returned to Liverpool, and London readied itself for a whole new week ahead.

Sloppy Signs

You know it's a slow news day when the ever-exciting Evening Standard comes out with a story about apostrophes gone awry.

Apparently errant signmakes are confused and signs are paying the price. Is it Bott's Mews or Botts Mews? Bishops Bridge Road or Bishop's Bridge Road?

However will the world keep turning? Click here to read more.

First Timers

The Man and I are waiting to go pick up his cousin from Euston. She's in Liverpool doing her PhD for the next few years, and this will be her first trip to London.

I love introducing first-timers to London. When I first moved here, I had a steady stream of visitors to show around. Now, it's slowed considerably but The Man and I have the patter pretty well down. He introduced me to many aspects of the city when I first came, and he does it very well.

It's kind of hard to remember back, five years ago, when I arrived. I'd been in London before, but I still didn't know much about the city. I landed early one morning in May, and after settling into my flat in Highgate I headed straight to Camden Town to drink in the atmosphere - the buzz, the noise, the sirens and even the rubbish seemed so... London. I wandered down the street, past the market stalls, and I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Later that day I walked through Highgate Woods and across Hampstead Heath, still unable to believe I was actually going to be living here.

I still feel that way even now. I fell in love with this part of the world, met and married my husband here, and all things being well, I'll hopefully soon be a citizen.

And that's why I love showing people what I now consider to be my city.

London in the 1920s

Recently featured on BoingBoing and sent to me by Jason (thanks, Jason!) this is a wonderful colour film shot in 1927. Some great shots of London almost a century ago.

The Wonderful World of London Place Names -- Part 1

When I first moved here, I used to spend hours reading the Tune map and marvelling at all the strange names. So I thought I'd share the joy - and the reality - of my favourite London place names. Here's the first instalment.

Kentish Town (Northern Line)
The vision
For some reason, this evoked thoughts of a quaint village back in medieval times, with maids dancing around a fire and small thatched cottages.

The reality
A fairly grim, noisy and tightly packed cluster of flats and shops sandwiched between Camden Town and Highgate. No maids to be found anywhere.

Cockfosters (Piccadilly Line)
The vision
Need I say anything, really?

The reality
A tidy, orderly suburb with rows of white houses and... nothing really spectacular!

Shepherd's Bush (Central Line)
The vision
Fields with sheep, and one bush where the poor shepherd takes shelter when it showers.

The reality
Busy and noisy with giant roundabouts and now with the biggest in-town mall in Europe! The shepherds have long since fled.

Whitechapel (Central Line)
The vision
A white, er, chapel.

The reality
Wide, busy roads lined with kebab shops. More mosques to be found than white chapels.

24 Hours London: The Book Trailer

I know, I know: you're probably all sick to death of hearing about the book. But really, I think you'll like this. The Man and I spent 17 hours last week filming as many locations as we could get to, and I think London looks absolutely amazing!

Thanks to my lovely husband for persevering through horrendous technical details to produce such a great finished product (if I do say so, myself). Watching this trailer really makes me fall in love with London all over again.

The Day After

Well! What a great launch day; lots of exciting things going on! Great entries below (congrats to Brit in Bosnia); some nice reviews; and most exciting of all, seeing my book on the shelf!

While I trotted up to Notting Hill Gate (where I'd hit up the manager previously) to see my book, the lovely Prospera Publishing team headed over to Daunt Books in Marylebone and Standford's in Covent Garden. And here's what they found!

Daunt Books. I love how my book is blocking out the one behind it!

Squeezed in but holding its own at Stanford's.

(My book was on the shelf at Notting Hill Gate Waterstone's, too, but I'm too lazy right now to download the photo.)

And the Winner Is...

Chosen by a very high-tech method of drawing names out of an empty cupcake box (decadent, I know)....

Brit in Bosnia!

Email your address to marshawrites@gmail.com and I'll send you the book plus T-shirt! And with the ongoing postal strikes, you should have it just in time for summer.

Thanks to everyone, again!