juliachalkley

Inspired by Art

High time I came back to writing a blog. I’ve spent too long head-down in serious work – making progress on the novel that took third prize in March and helping to get the new shower completed at home. Blogs are fun to write, and I’m in the mood for more fun. What else I’veContinue reading “Inspired by Art”

That Scottish Drama

Interesting times at the Scottish Association of Writers’ Conference 2024. Half of the awards were announced on Friday and half on Saturday, with the winners of the short form writing being asked to read out their work to the assembled crowd. That’s enough to put you off entering the competition in the first place. YouContinue reading “That Scottish Drama”

Now you (don’t) see it…

March and April have been busy times, though looking back, it’s hard to see what I was doing. Writing, yes; doing all the peripheral jobs for Himself as he worked on replacing the shower; taking the first batch of seedlings from the propagator and setting them up in pots in the unheated greenhouse (and thenContinue reading “Now you (don’t) see it…”

Quick, March

I am still hammering away at the 29 Plays Challenge, which leaves me not a lot of time for much else. It hasn’t been so inspiring this year. Partly because the briefs are repeats of previous years’ briefs, and there’s a one in five chance of picking up a brief I have already written aContinue reading “Quick, March”

One More Time

As February rolls into view, I have those three little words on my mind. Twenty-nine Plays Later. The good people at The Literal Challenge have been running this marathon write-in for ten years, and they have decided that ten years is enough. Once more, and then no more. Initially, they said they were keeping itContinue reading “One More Time”

For Max

Today would have been Max’s nineteenth birthday. Two years ago today he and I walked up the garden together. He leapt up onto the raised beds, followed me around and ran back down the garden with his tail straight up in sheer joy. He hasn’t made it to nineteen. I left a lantern burning overContinue reading “For Max”

Self-Defence for Gardeners

There’s been some long gaps between postings this autumn and winter. So what have I been up? In brief – a lot of writing, a most enormous amount of wall-building and not enough gardening to save us from a Zucchini Tsunami and the Giant Monster Squash. The wall in question is the second wall forContinue reading “Self-Defence for Gardeners”

Gone

This isn’t the post I intended to write tonight. I’ve just heard that the famous sycamore tree at Sycamore Gap has been cut down. Deliberately, and not for safety reasons; as an act of vandalism. A sixteen year old boy has been detained for questioning tonight. Not making any guesses as to whether he wasContinue reading “Gone”

This Is Danny

I haven’t been allowed to say anything about this up to now. I was shortlisted for the 2023 Jane Austen Literary Foundation’s short story competition. Didn’t win – the story that did was very clever and a touch spooky, whereas mine was pretty clunky (it was a last-minute substitute for a much darker story thatContinue reading “This Is Danny”

Just Another Day in Paradise

We had a few days in Ironbridge recently, visiting all the places we didn’t get around to last time. Including places we didn’t realise existed (like the street named Paradise – we visited Hell in Norway some years ago, so this was the logical destination). This time, we headed for the Jackfield Tile Museum andContinue reading “Just Another Day in Paradise”