Tag: The Whitstable Pearl Mysteries

Julie Wassmer: Libraries have a Special Meaning for me | Creative Differences LIVE

I speak to Julie Wassmer, author of the Whitstable Pearl Mysteries and screenwriter on shows like Eastenders in a special episode, recorded LIVE at the Staines Library Hub as part of the Escalate Arts Festival.

We Discuss: 

How Julie’s TV experience affected the Whitstable Pearl Mysteries

Using dictation and writing by hand

The role that libraries played in Julie’s writing journey 

And much more! (And there’s a lovely bit with some horsies) 

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube (best choice for the horsey bit)…

LINKS

https://juliewassmer.com

A huge thanks to Emily Stay-Newton for production assistance, to Kai Stay-Newton for the edit, and Dominic Currie for the jingle. 

And a very special thank you to the team at the Staines Library Hub, Susan Dinmore at Surrey Arts and everyone who came to the recording on the day. 

Support the show: 

Visit https://markstaycreativedifferences.com/

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Buy my books here: https://witchesofwoodville.com/#bookshop

And there’s more about me at: https://markstaywrites.com/

Son of a Beach

It’s been a fun week with a trip to the beach at Whitstable to interview Julie Wassmer. I had hoped to get some lovely audio atmosphere with waves lapping on shingle and gulls screeching overhead, but the tide was out so I had to settle for a gentle breeze buffeting the microphone. Fortunately, Julie is great fun to chat to and she told me all about working on EastEnders, bumping off the locals in her novels, and why all writers should live in fear of a cup of tea and bacon sandwich. Listen here.

I finished the John Yorke Story for Screenwriting course. 16 weeks of pretty intense work. Was it worth it? Check out my thinkings over here…

I also got to visit Hachette’s new warehouse in Didcot. While this may not sound like everyone’s idea of a fun day out, I did get to ride on one of their pickers, which went some 25 metres in the air and the queues were shorter than Disney…

Also, if anyone’s concerned that print books are on the decline, this vast palace of storage and hi-tech distribution should allay those fears. This place was built to pump books out into the world and they’ve left plenty of room for expansion.

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I finished a short story this week. It’s a prequel to The End of Magic in which we meet our antagonist. My agent Ed read it and enjoyed it, though he did have one note: “Maybe the humour could be a little less lavatorial…? But that’s probably my shit to deal with.”

I do seem to have a thing about bodily functions… What do you say? Should I take this crap?

Also, I’m going to be on the new Dominic King arts show on BBC Radio Kent next Tuesday 12th at around 8pm. He asked me to put together a montage of voices from the podcast, which I did, but I’ve also made a “Guess the voice” quiz, which you can play here…

Till next time!

Mark