Oddest Book Title Time Again...

Like me, you may have thought the annual Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year wasn't taking place this year.

Usually it's in the spring, and the chosen titles get coverage in the national press as well as on The Bookseller website.

As it's been run later this year it could have easily been missed.

So here's the contenders- and the result below that.

• The Commuter Pig Keeper: A Comprehensive Guide to Keeping Pigs when Time is your Most Precious Commodity by Michaela Giles.

•  Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors.

• Nipples on my Knee by Graham and Debra Robertson.

• An Ape’s View of Human Evolution by Peter Andrews.

• Love Your Lady Landscape: Trust Your Gut, Care for “Down There” and Reclaim Your Fierce and Feminine SHE by Lisa Lister.

Now none of those titles really grabs me, but as I missed the shortlist announcement I haven't really considered how odd they are!

The Pig one, and the Lady Landscape seem the most bizarre...

Anyway with many of the previous winners having something to do with animals - "The Joy of Chickens (1980), The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories (2003) and Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop (2012)"; it really does suggest any vaguely odd title with an animal in will score highly.

So this year's winner was of course The Commuter Pig Keeper... with 40% of the votes. 

Runners-up were Renniks Australian Coins title with 32.7%, and Nipples on... with 13.9%.

Disappointingly the Lady Landscape title only received 2.8% of the vote. It was certainly odd, but perhaps the title could have done with a bit more work to improve its lucidity.

You may or may not want to read more, but if you do then follow this link over to the Bookseller website, or even better read the amusing views of diarist and administrator of the Diagram Prize, Horace Bent.

Odd titles just aren't as odd as they once were...

the winner...

image from Pixabay.

A Graduation Day...

A few days after my workshop debut I was over in Staffordshire at Trentham Garden for the graduation ceremony of one of my triplets- I've been forbidden to show anyone a picture of them in their gown and cap, so I've had to do some creative cropping of the photos my husband took on the day...

You can see more of the gardens on the website here. The estate is 725 acres...

Perseus and
Medusa Head...

(Outside of the Gardens there's lots of car parking spaces as there's a shopping village too.)

We had the graduation entrance tickets so we didn't have to pay the usual Garden entrance fee. But for what there was the entry fee seemed reasonable.

There's a lake and a statue of Perseus and Medusa that makes you feel very small when you stand beside it!

A bit of
Trentham Lake...

The statue is a 19th century copy in Bronze that was commissioned by the 2nd Duke of Sutherland. The 1550's original by Benvenuto Cellini is in the open-air Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence...

I did regret not taking my camera with me as there were so many things I would have taken pictures of. But hopefully I will get to visit again...

I loved the Italian Garden and although it's not totally 19th century with the planting, it has used the 'historic framework', so you do get the impression of how it looked originally.

There was more water too, with fountains regularly spaced.

Fountain in the raised
garden area...

Then it was time for the graduation ceremony.

Monday and Tuesday there was one ceremony per day, but Wednesday to Friday there were two each day, and we were attending the final ceremony on the Friday afternoon.

The honorary Doctor of Arts was being awarded to author and adventurer (among many roles) Major Levison Wood, in recognition of his work as an explorer, writer and photographer. He was born in Staffordshire but did his degree in Nottingham.

(How appropriate was that!?)

It was a long two hours watching all the students, but eventually it was over and the traditional throwing the caps into the air signified the end.

They've graduated...

It was a wonderful but tiring afternoon for all of us...

Leading My First Workshop...

I have survived.

Previously I've done short writing sessions for the writers' club- when needed- but never actually done a workshop for the evening meeting (it came out to about 90 minutes or so).

Of course all the fears and thoughts of inadequacy passed through my mind before the start, even though I'd been preparing the materials across the previous twelve days.

Flip-pads are
useful...

It was a simple mind-mapping exercise using a chosen image as the starting point to inspire the story idea and hopefully discover suitable characters.

All the images were mine from a variety of places over the last ten to twelve years. A few of them have even appeared on this blog.

When I was choosing which pictures to include in the workshop, I had two criteria; was it a good enough image, and how many ideas could I think of for each one. I ended up with forty pictures!

It seemed a lot, but there had to be enough variety. Some had only one central object, others had lots of scope for choice. There were animals, summer and winter scenes, plants, buildings and landscapes, street scenes, and random items.

A few pictures not chosen...

There were at least 16 people and they all found a picture they liked. Animals and landscapes seemed popular...

The members and visitors were engaged, and by the end of the evening when we went round the attendees, there were a variety of partial stories read out, many ideas, and a poem.

I've received some positive responses today from a couple of members, so I'm pleased.

Yes, there are a few adjustments I'd make if I ever did it again, but you only discover that when you've tried it.

A few more...