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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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Publication, platform, promo: My reading and writing plans and aspirations for 2022

24/1/2022

20 Comments

 
As with embarking on a novel project, so with setting goals for the year ahead: there’s a sweet spot between restraining oneself within an inflexible structure and leaving it all to chance. Now I’m clearer about how novels work, I’ve become a carefree planner – or is that an organised pantser? Now I know – in fact, I’ve always known – I’ll get some stuff done to progress my authorial career, I’m happy to set myself a mix of concrete goals and airy-fairy aspirations each January and review where they’ve got me at the end of the year. So here’s an overview of where I hope I’m heading; I feel I have a better chance of achieving some of my aims since I discovered, two days into the New Year, that toxic positivity is a thing.
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Reviewing my reading and writing goals for 2021

31/12/2021

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We’ll remember 2021 as the year the rich countries rolled out their vaccination programmes, which should have zero overlap with my reading and writing, except that when I got my flu jab at my local pharmacy, I also managed to sell a book. So far, so serendipitous, but this post is about how I measured up against the goals I set at the beginning of this year.


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Halfway to my official target, I’m below where I thought I’d be

30/6/2021

3 Comments

 
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Reading isn’t a race, but when Goodreads invites me to set myself a target, and offers to monitor my progress, I’m happy to join in. For the past few years, I’ve aimed for 100 books, smugly confident I’ll sail across the finishing line before the trees shed their leaves. But not this year. Based on my stats so far, I’ll be lucky to reach my centenary by Christmas.

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Polish your words for a special flash fiction challenge!

27/1/2021

2 Comments

 
When I began blogging in 2013, I was anxious about trolls. I needn't have worried: Annecdotal is well below their radar and, in my experience, the blogosphere has been a welcoming and supportive place. Numerous bloggers have hosted my promo posts, including Sue Vincent. Now I have an opportunity to return the favour.

I knew Sue had responsibilities as a carer for her disabled son. What I didn't know, until a couple of days ago, was that in these tough times for all of us, Sue's circumstances have taken a nosedive. The blogging community has stepped up to help.


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One strand is a fund-raising flash fiction contest that kicks off next Monday. This post is part of the prelude which I'll let the anonymous ringleader tell you about in her own words:

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Have I swallowed a horse to catch a fly?

22/1/2021

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If I can't tell whether I'm coming or going, it might be because I'm doing both. Promoting my first novel while checking proofs of the next is making me dizzy, but there's a logic to it. I think.
 
 
My next novel is my best yet and I want as many people as possible to read it. In order to read it, people need to be aware of it, and the ideal way of bringing it to the attention of potential readers is through email. So I set myself the objective of finding 100 new subscribers by April.
 
 



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My reading and writing goals for 2021

11/1/2021

12 Comments

 
Did you ever get the feeling 2021 might not happen? We’d somehow be stuck in a 2020 Groundhog Day? Or were you the opposite, confident a new diary would create this worn-out world anew? Well, here we are, with some things as bad as ever – or worse: in the UK, with the new variant, hospital admissions are higher than during the first lockdown – but with the promise of life edging towards normal sometime this year.
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Meanwhile, we plod on, making the best of what freedom we have. For those of us who live primarily in our heads, the pandemic is no excuse to shirk. So, on the reasonable assumption I’ll survive to implement them, here are my goals and plans for the coming year.

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Out with the old, in with the new (once we’re all vaccinated, of course)

31/12/2020

6 Comments

 
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See what I THOUGHT 2020 would bring

Adieu 2020, you won’t be missed! Although we won’t be fully done with you until we’ve all been vaccinated (and for we poor Remoaners, until we rejoin the EU). Nevertheless, our internal clocks insist it’s stocktaking season: the time to review our successes and failures, to measure ourselves against January’s goals. Starkly unblinkered this year, we gaze back at what seems the Age of Innocence, adjusting our aspirations for 2021. But however we’ve fared, since the pandemic makes staying alive an achievement, we can congratulate ourselves on arriving here.
 
Amid the lows and lows, I’ve made some progress with my reading, writing and promotion, with some positives that wouldn’t have happened without lockdown. Let’s have a closer look!


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How would you answer the covid novel’s call?

28/6/2020

8 Comments

 
History can’t have got the memo. The virus destined to put the world on pause has had us glued to the news: first with the exposure of right-wing government incompetence, then with the spotlight on racism we can no longer ignore. Whether this depresses or delights us, it’s hard to keep up. What’s the role of the writer – particularly writers like me with a tiny readership – in historic times? Should novelists switch to facts from fiction? Should we try to shape historic discourse or step back and observe?
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Appraising and reflecting on the old year’s authorial achievements and my aspirations for 2020

6/1/2020

10 Comments

 
Having posted my analysis of last year’s reading on New Year’s Eve, I’m back now with my audit of 2019’s writing and other authorial activities. What were the highlights? How wide was the gap between my aspirations and what I actually achieved? Where will I focus my time and energy in 2020? This time last year, I shared my fantasy goals to become a celebrity, write a series and win a major prize as well six more realistic targets where I haven’t done a whole lot better. Come and help rub my nose in the dirt!


Did I bring my short story publication count to 100 by the end of the year?

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Characters in conversation: Steve from Underneath meets Lisa Burton

12/4/2019

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I was rambling around the blogosphere in search of opportunities to promote my short story collection, Becoming Someone, when I came across Lisa Burton Radio. I must admit I didn’t immediately grasp what it was about, but when I did – Wow! Lisa is a robot created by Craig Boyack with a Thursday slot on his blog. Basically, she’s a fictional character interviewing other fictional characters on a fictional radio call-in show translated to text. Once I figured that out, I didn’t hesitate to ask if one of my characters could join in.
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Become a celebrity, write a series or win a major prize: My real and fantasy writing goals for 2019

21/1/2019

2 Comments

 
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If my smile in this photograph seems slightly strained, it might not be only because I’m not sure if the self-timer on Mr A’s camera is going to work. You see, although last year was wonderful in that Inspired Quill published my third book and first short story collection, it was also the year it came home to me how hard it is to get readers, irrespective of the quality of the book. It’s hard for everyone, unless you’re a celebrity, are writing a series or have won a major prize; so should I make those my writing goals for the year to come?

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Nationalism satirised: Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous & Perfidious Albion

15/1/2019

4 Comments

 
I’ve recently been reading two satirical novels about nationalism and social media, the first set in India, the second in the UK.

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Balancing promo, helping others and self-indulgence in an author blog

14/1/2019

6 Comments

 
Many of us do it, but what’s the point of an author blog? Is it to promote our writing, to pass on our accumulated wisdom or to indulge ourselves in a less pressurised mode of publication without worrying whether it gets read? Perhaps it’s all of these in different proportions varying according to who we are and who readers are and our priorities at different points in time. When the balance is right, blogging is highly rewarding; when it’s not it can be a frustrating chore.
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Now with more books than hands

30/11/2018

6 Comments

 
Out on the soggy trails near my home a couple of days ago, I fell into conversation with a man walking his dogs. Discovering he was a visitor to the area, I wished him better weather before he left. When he replied that there’s no life without rain, I was ready to play my part in a climate-change script. So I was surprised, and somewhat disappointed, when he said he’d tell me something that had been kept from people since the beginning of time.
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With gratitude on launch-day and beyond

23/11/2018

14 Comments

 
While our American friends have been stuffing themselves with turkey, we can all take a moment to appreciate what we have. With my short story anthology published today, I’ve a lot to be thankful for, not only for the fact of being published – and read – in this difficult climate for authors, but for the support from the blogosphere in the run-up to the launch. In Monday’s post – Becoming Someone is coming to an armchair near you!  – I shared the links to the first few stops on my blog tour; today I’m sharing a few more, along with a reminder of the party, where I’m putting my gratitude into action by donating to Book Aid International.
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Becoming Someone is coming to an armchair near you!

19/11/2018

6 Comments

 
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I’ve been so busy with preparations, I’d forgotten how it feels when that first box of books arrives. So I was especially touched when the delivery man remembered bringing my debut more than three years ago. If a man who doesn’t even know me could connect with that excitement, surely I could too. If that weren’t enough to celebrate, this is my 700th post!

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Not all may have prizes … but how does funding play a part in who enters the race?

16/10/2018

8 Comments

 
With the Man Booker Prize winner announced tonight, my fingers are crossed for Washington Black, although I’d raise a cheer for either of the other contenders I’ve reviewed (The Mars Room and Milkman). Right now, my thoughts are also with those authors who not only don’t succeed in dazzling the judges, but don’t even get the chance to step onto the stage.
 
You’re familiar with those email scams, aren’t you? Congratulations, you’ve won a prize! Just send us a cheque to cover administration costs, and we’ll deliver it. Feels good, doesn’t it? Until you wonder whether the winnings will cover your fees. But that wouldn’t happen in the literary world, would it? Awards are dispensed purely on merit, surely? No paying for prizes there?

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I’m not telling you

19/6/2018

8 Comments

 
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I’m in a children’s playground, awaiting my turn at the top of the slide. I sit, push off with my hands, and down I go. Wheeeee! There’s no-one to catch me at the bottom, but that’s okay. I sit and wait, scanning the faces of the grown-ups, wondering which one of them will come and claim me. It’s only as the light begins to fade that I get nervous. As the metal beneath my buttocks cools. That’s when I realise no-one’s coming, and get up to wander alone through the world.

This episode came to me the way my stories sometimes do: vivid, urgent and determined to be told. But this wasn’t fiction. This was a
metaphor for the origins of me.


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Every word counts #roughwriters #blogtour

12/2/2018

29 Comments

 
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A couple of months ago I was privileged to attend a meeting of a local writing group in their “invited author” slot. As well as speaking about my own writing and journey to publication, I was asked to set a writing exercise. Given that I’d inadvertently begun both my published novels with a character descending a staircase, it wasn’t difficult to find my prompt, to which the writers responded admirably. But, as a practitioner of the 99-word story, I thought I could give them a little more by modelling writing less.


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My writing year

28/12/2017

4 Comments

 
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My second novel published and significant progress on the third. Dozens of 99-word stories and a few longer short stories released into the world. Well over 100 blog posts and three articles published in print magazines. Lots I haven’t managed to do this year, of course, but those omissions will ensure I’m not bored in 2018. For now I’m celebrating another satisfying writing year.

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93% novels and 71% independents: My first 100 reads of 2017

30/9/2017

4 Comments

 
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Earlier this month, I met my “challenge” of reading 100 books this year. You can see them pictured above, beginning with my most recent read. Why not join me in reviewing the balance (or otherwise) of fiction versus non-fiction, type of publisher and percentage of translations versus English-language originals?

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A pilgrim’s progress through the dark side of digital: Broadcast by Liam Brown

18/9/2017

2 Comments

 

Take our deepest fears about our dependence on digital and stretch them. Likewise our suspicions of the social media and tech companies for which we work as willing slaves. Add a taste of accessible philosophy (what’s reality anyway?) and neuropsychology (how can we trust our memories when they are subject to distortion?). Now send a naive and narcissistic vacuous life-style vlogger on a pilgrim’s progress through the landscape and you’ve got a sense of Liam Brown’s highly entertaining third novel.


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How to write a negative review

18/8/2017

12 Comments

 
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You’ve read the book, and now you wish you hadn’t. You begrudge the time or money you’ve given to words of little worth. You hated it and don’t care who knows it. Which you are entirely at liberty to do. But before you give vent, do give a little thought to how to go about it. Read on for the who, how, what, why, where and when from someone who’s been both author and recipient of negative reviews.


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Two “novel” perspectives on tourism: Here Comes the Sun and The South in Winter

20/6/2017

4 Comments

 
Each of these novels provides a behind-the-scenes perspective on tourism, the first raging at the inequalities, the second poking gentle humour at those who mediate between traveller and native. Having anticipated some of the themes in a recent 99-word story composed before I read either, both, while very different from each other, are definitely my kind of book.

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Writing happy?

29/3/2017

8 Comments

 
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How to mark a 500th post? A normal person might host a competition or a giveaway to express their appreciation of their readers and blog followers. One such from the eminent Emma Darwin resulted in my first-ever guest post, on the topic of writer’s block, of which, almost four years on, I’m still immensely proud. But, having failed to plan ahead for today’s illustrious event, and with more than a nip of narcissism in my psyche, I’m stuck with celebrating myself. Look away now if that offends you: there’ll be more reviews next month.


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    OUT NOW: The poignant prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home
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    Fictional therapists
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    About Anne Goodwin
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    My published books
    entertaining fiction about identity, mental health and social justice
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    My latest novel, published May 2021
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    My debut novel shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize
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    My second novel published May 2017.
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    Short stories on the theme of identity published 2018
    Anne Goodwin's books on Goodreads
    Sugar and Snails Sugar and Snails
    reviews: 32
    ratings: 52 (avg rating 4.21)

    Underneath Underneath
    reviews: 24
    ratings: 60 (avg rating 3.17)

    Becoming Someone Becoming Someone
    reviews: 8
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.56)

    GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4 GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4
    reviews: 4
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.44)

    The Best of Fiction on the Web The Best of Fiction on the Web
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 3 (avg rating 4.67)

    2022 Reading Challenge

    2022 Reading Challenge
    Anne has read 2 books toward their goal of 100 books.
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    Annecdotal is where real life brushes up against the fictional.  
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    Annecdotist is the blogging persona of Anne Goodwin: 
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    slug-slayer, tramper of moors, 
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    author of three fiction books.

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