But first, I need to rearrange my study...

  Plus Ça Change…

  November 2013

  Last month, I announced a major change. I planned to abandon my day job at Read for Good, the Nailsworth-based national charity, to devote my time to writing.

  “I can’t believe you’re leaving Read for Good!” said some of my friends, knowing what great work it does, encouraging children to read for pleasure (Readathon) and making life better for children in hospital by providing them with free books and storytellers (Readwell).

  “I can’t believe you’re giving up a part-time term-time job – every working mother’s dream!” said others.

  It hadn’t been an easy decision. We’d always planned I’d give up the day job once my husband started getting his Civil Service pension, which happened in March. We’d reckoned without the objections of my 10-year-old daughter:

  “But it’s cool having a mummy who works for Read for Good!”

  No-one was surprised when, in the run-up to my last day at the office, I hedged my bets by cheekily appointing myself a Read for Good ambassador.

  That’s how it came about that during my first full week of supposedly writing full-time, I enjoyed not one but two excursions on behalf of the charity.

  On Wednesday 9 October, I was invited to join two other local writers, Katie Fforde and Simon Sheridan, on BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s excellent Chris Baxter Show. The DJ engaged us in a wide-ranging discussion of children’s literacy and publishing trends, giving me the chance to explain the work of both Readathon and ReadWell to a county-wide audience.

  The live broadcast took place not at the BBC’s studio, but in a temporary setting to which they’d decamped for the Cheltenham Literature Festival. It was hard to resist phoning someone on my mobile to announce with fake nonchalance “Hello, I’m in The Writers’ Room at Cheltenham Literature Festival...”

  To stop myself getting ideas above my station, I lunched afterwards at McDonald’s in Stroud. It seemed a good way to bring myself back down to earth.

  Two days later, on Friday the 11th, I was back at the Festival, this time in the Queen’s Hotel for Read for Good’s fundraising reception. My role was to chat up the guests, which included award-winning children’s authors and illustrators such as Nick Sharratt, Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre. Read for Good’s new patron, the actor and author Sir Tony Robinson, inspired us all with a passionate speech about the power of books for young people. He cited his own experience of bunking off school as a teenager in order to spend more time in the library!

  I did still manage to get some writing done last month, but I’m enjoying this ambassador malarkey. And that’s before I’ve even started on the Ferrero Rocher…

  By the way, I’ve discovered it is impossible to stack Ferrero Rocher into a pyramid as they do in the television advert (strapline: “Ah, Ambassador, with these Ferrero Rocher you are truly spoiling us”). I think they must have used Blu-Tack.

  Using My Powers For Good

  December 2013/January 2014

  When I talked last month about my appearance on BBC Radio Gloucestershire at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, little did I imagine that they’d be interviewing me a month later to mark the launch of my new e-book, Coming To Terms With Type 1 Diabetes: One Family’s Story of Life After Diagnosis.

  This self-publishing project has come to fruition very quickly. Mid-October, I was wondering how to mark World Diabetes Day, an occasion when I like to raise funds and awareness for the Type 1 Diabetes research charity JDRF, because my husband and our daughter both have this incurable condition. With the big day looming on 14 November (same day as HRH Prince Charles’s birthday – I wonder whether he knows), that didn’t leave me much time.

  Then I realised that by assembling relevant posts from my online blog and adding some new material, I could quickly turn out a little e-book to be sold on Amazon, with all the profits going to the charity.

  Cue a few long days and late nights in front of my computer, some strategic tweeting to persuade BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Justin Webb to write a moving foreword (because he also has a child with Type 1 Diabetes), and a downright cheeky request to Bristol-based assisted publishing services company SilverWood Books to provide an appealing cover. Well, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. And, hey presto, my beautiful little e-book came into being. Oh, the wonder of digital technology that allows speedy, easy self-publishing!

  Coming To Terms tells a coherent story of what it feels like to have your child diagnosed with a serious chronic illness requiring daily medical intervention. The book faces facts, but demonstrates that with optimism, positive thinking, and determination, it’s possible to rebuild your family life and move on.

  Early reviews have been enthusiastic, from families with or without the condition, and from medics too.

  “A lovely, uplifting little book, full of insight, wit and practical know-how,” says medical broadcaster, journalist and GP Dr Carol Cooper. “Beautifully written, a little treasure, as well as a ray of hope.”

  As Dr Cooper implies, the book’s not all doom and gloom. It even ends with a song in praise of the man who first isolated insulin for medical use to keep Type 1 Diabetics alive. “So here’s to you, Frederick Banting…” (to be sung to the tune of ‘Mrs Robinson’).

  If you’d like to read the e-book but don’t have a Kindle, download Amazon’s free Kindle app for your smartphone, tablet or PC. Type “Debbie Young Coming To Terms” in Amazon’s search box and it will magically appear, priced £1.99. After my last-minute rush, it won’t be a one-day wonder for World Diabetes Day, but permanently available, raising funds for Diabetes research all year-round. After all, for children with Type 1 Diabetes, every day is Diabetes Day. That’s one thing the digital age can’t cure – yet.

  In Praise of the Tetbury Advertiser

  February 2014

  To mark the fourth anniversary of this column, I’d like to use this month’s slot to turn the spotlight on the Tetbury Advertiser and to praise all community magazines like it.

  Although the Tetbury Advertiser is well-known locally, not everyone realises its true nature. No, I’m not about to reveal lurid scandals behind the scenes. If that’s the kind of story you’re after, you’ll need to buy quite a different sort of paper – the type that exists to fill the pockets of shareholders by trading on people’s misfortunes.

  The Tetbury Advertiser is the polar opposite of commercial publications, carefully put together by hugely experienced volunteers for the benefit of the local community. Yes, volunteers. The Tetbury Lions registered charity produces the magazine for love, not money.

  As well as providing interesting articles by local people and community groups, the Advertiser offers affordable advertising and editorial opportunities which help local businesses attract new customers. Especially in these tough economic times, such low-cost, high-profile coverage helps keep some small companies afloat. (I’ve gained useful business opportunities myself from readers of my monthly column.) Magazine production also provides significant regular business for a local print company.

  And still it manages to make a profit – which the Tetbury Lions donate in its entirety to local good causes and charities. This profit does not come at the expense of readers, who receive the magazine for free. A free distribution policy ensures that the magazine is available to the entire local population, giving everyone the opportunity to feel a part of their community. No-one need miss out on being kept in touch with local events, not even pensioners on fixed incomes with no Internet access. That’s quite an achievement.

  Thus the Advertiser contributes significantly to the wellbeing of its readership in three important ways: helping local businesses remain viable, fostering community spirit and improving facilities and services. All three factors are particularly valuable in rural areas such as ours.

  One might be forgiven for wondering whether in this Internet age, when so many local and national newspapers are under threat, community magazines such as the Tetbury Advertiser might be an endangered species. I have evidence to the contrary. A few years ago, trying to discover the most effective advertising media for a private school, I did a survey to discover the best-read newspapers and magazines in the households of current pupils’ families.

  I expected national daily newspapers and glossy magazines to be their favourites – The Times and the Financial Times, perhaps, plus Country Life, Country Living and Tatler. As it turned out, the papers of which they were least likely to miss an issue were local community magazines such as the Tetbury Advertiser. I’m therefore not surprised that this publication has been gaining size, strength and readership from year to year, along with more colour, more pages and better quality paper.

  If I were in charge of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, the volunteers who dedicate so much time, all year round, to producing valuable community magazines such as the Tetbury Advertiser would not go unrewarded. And if Prince Charles, reading this column down the road at Highgrove, would like to take that as a hint and pass it on to his mum, that’s absolutely fine by me.

  Channelling Calm for the Dover to Dunkerque Ferry

  March 2014

  As I write this month’s column, I’m just 22 miles away from becoming the Tetbury Advertiser’s foreign correspondent: I’m poised to cross the English Channel. In a Force 10 gale.

  This morning, the idea of spending a week in February touring Northern France in our camper van has lost its charm. When we booked our passage in the dark days of December, far-off February seemed comfortingly spring-like. We knew we’d have to pack warm clothes to guard against the colder climate of a continental landmass, but did not foresee such storms.

  My parents phoned before we were due to set off yesterday, just after the lunchtime shipping forecast. My mother did not exactly suggest we cancel our trip, but I’m sure that’s what she was hoping to hear. My father, a former Royal Navy meteorologist, sounded positively excited on our behalf. The prospect of our trip brought back fond memories of his days serving on the HMS Belfast during the Korean War.

  He offered us the benefit of his advice. “Just close your eyes and think of the sea as rocking you to sleep.”

  That might have worked when he was in his navy issue hammock, but unfortunately our chosen ferry service, DFDS, doesn’t provide hammocks.

  “Tinned peaches are the best thing to settle your stomach when you’re seasick. Make sure you pack tinned peaches.”

  We have none in the larder, so I slip tinned pears and pineapple rings into my bag instead.

  “We are allowed to postpone the trip to the Sunday when the forecast looks better,” I tell him.

  “Oh, the swell will continue for days after the storm,” he assures me brightly. “That’s how it was every time we set off towards Korea, as soon as we were away from the shelter of the land.”

  After boarding the ferry late afternoon, Laura demonstrates how many cuddly toys she can fit into one small ‘Wanted On Voyage’ bag while asking what our crossing will be like. I try to frame the prospect as a positive adventure.

  “Think of it as crossing the Channel by rollercoaster,” I suggest.

  I know she’s just reached the age where she loves rollercoasters.

  “Will we go upside down?” she asks eagerly.

  “I sincerely hope not!”

  I’m thankful that the journey will be relatively short, until my husband recollects a memorable Channel crossing from his distant past.

  “Once we had to wait outside the port for four hours because it was too rough to dock,” he remembers. “We just had to ride the storm out at sea.”

  I try to banish images of the final scene of the movie The Perfect Storm.

  So if my copy for this column turns up a little late, that’ll be because we’ve been shipwrecked and I’ve resorted to old technology to submit it. But not to worry, I’ve got an empty Cotswold Spring water bottle in the van that I can use to send my message. I’m just hoping it has a homing instinct.

  Postscript: our scheduled 10am departure on the Saturday morning was delayed till early evening. DFDS bumped us up to the 8am crossing instead – which left around 4pm. The reason for the delay? The ferries had been stuck out at sea for not four hours, but 10 hours, awaiting conditions sufficiently calm to let them dock. By 4pm, thankfully, all was calm. And my tinned pears and pineapple stayed in their tins. Phew.

  All Booked Up

  April 2014

  I’m writing this month’s column entirely surrounded by books. No change there, my husband would say. But the spring always sees extra boxes of books arriving in the Young household, thanks to two special events.

  The first of these took place last month: World Book Day (www.worldbookday.com) on 6 March. It’s celebrated by schools in many ways, from dressing up as favourite book characters – especially fun when the staff join in – to running a Readathon sponsored read (though you can actually do either of those all year round).

  This year, I set up a second-hand book sale at my daughter’s school, selling donated books and well-worn school library rejects. Most sought after author? Enid Blyton! The children went home happy with their vintage finds, and the proceeds were sent to the fabulous ReadWell charity to buy books for children in hospital.

  I was also one of several adults to share their favourite children’s book with pupils. Mine was The Adventures of Teddy Robinson by Joan G Robinson (there’s nepotism for you). I too had a nominal connection with the book, as the little girl in the story was called Deborah, and Teddy Robinson looked very much like my bear.

  But what I love most about World Book Day is its inclusiveness. Participating schools receive free £1 book vouchers for every pupil to buy special £1 World Book Day books. Thus even the poorest children may buy a brand new book, sometimes the only one they’ll receive all year and the only encouragement they get outside of school to read for pleasure.

  When I worked at the children’s reading charity Read for Good (parent charity to Readathon and ReadWell), I heard heartrending stories of kids whose parents wouldn’t allow books in the house or who destroyed any books they brought home. What tragedy or trauma must have triggered such anger and hatred?

  That job also made me realise that many families do not appreciate the power of books to change lives. One young mum told me proudly, “We’ve only got three books in our house, and one of those is the Argos catalogue”. I didn’t dare ask what the other two were.

  So whenever I find myself cursing the overflowing shelves in our house, I stop and count my child’s bookish blessings: she is growing up in a house full of books, in an area well-served by wonderful public libraries and independent and second-hand bookshops. Not that my household needs more children’s books, because I’ve salvaged a lot from my childhood. My daughter’s current favourite book at bedtime? My old Sue Day Annual, about the same vintage as me.

  But now it’s the turn of adults’ books to gain the spotlight: look out for World Book Night on 23 April. I’ll report back on that one next month. So now I’m off to collect another box of books...

  Well, you can never have too many books, or too many chocolate buttons.

  On the Run From Books

  May 2014

  I welcome the arrival of May with a sigh of relief, as it heralds the completion of a project that has preoccupied me since November: the launch of a new book, which I’ve co-authored with the writer and poet Dan Holloway. It’s called Opening Up To Indie Authors, and its purpose is to build better relationships between self-published authors and the traditional book trade.

  Tetbury’s own book trade, in the shape of Yellow-Lighted Bookshop proprietor Hereward Corbett, gets an honorary mention in the book, the launch of which has taken me far beyond Tetbury. At the start of the school holidays, we pointed our camper van east as I’d been invited to speak at the Cambridge Literary Festival. The venue for my talk was the exotically-named Divinity Lightfoot Room in St John’s College. I thought Divinity Lightfoot would make a great name for a Bond girl, so I was slightly disappointed to discover it’s actually just the name of a lecture room in the College’s School of Divinity.

  Two days later, I was taking the stage at the London Book Fair, officially launching the book along with Dan and our editor Orna Ross, founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors. (I’m Commissioning Editor of that organisation’s blog.) I admit it was a very small stage – more of a window-box, as one reporter put it – but it was exciting all the same. The huge scale of the Fair made me wonder afresh how any bookstore proprietor chooses which books to stock.

  I also admire Hereward Corbett’s knack for so often bringing to give talks in Tetbury authors who are on the cusp of becoming bestsellers or have just had their book chosen as BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week.

  Then it was back home to collect a big box of books from the library. Just what our house needs, more books...

  Fortunately for the state of my overcrowded bookshelves, these books will soon be on their way out again, destined to be thrust into the hands of random strangers.

  Well, not quite random strangers – but, as part of the World Book Night initiative, I’ll be giving them to adults who don’t normally read books, to encourage them to enjoy reading. It’s a bit like the World Book Day event for children, but for grown-ups. World Book Night kicked off in 2011, and, to my delight, I’ve been a designated book giver every year. Being able to give away free books, paid for by The Reading Agency, makes you feel like Father Christmas, and recipients are always grateful, especially when they realise there’s no catch.

 

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