ETA: 27/01/2014

THE BRIGHT SIDE O' LIFE is now available to read in exchange for a donation!

What's it about?

One 'ordinary' family. One house.

150 years of census returns tell some of the story of the Bright family of 19 Lizard Court, London EC, as they bear witness to the highs, lows and changing face of London through modern history. The Bright Side of Life fills in the blanks and what the censuses don't say.

2001: Denny O'Toole doesn't understand why his parents insisted he come to the funeral of the nonagenarian aunt he hasn't seen since he was a child: what a tale he has to learn...

1841: William Bright, cabinet-maker, brings his family from Peterborough to the ancient borough of Finsbury under cover of darkness in the hopes of escaping a past nobody wants to remember, least of all his son Billy.

1891: Billy Bright, well-regarded patriarch and businessman. Tadhg O'Toole, the upstart young rival who would sweep assertive daughter Polly from under his control. There can be only one winner.

1941: With not much more than rubble all around, the O'Tooles strive to make it, one air raid at a time.

1961: William Bright O'Toole's own company demolishes the family home to build a housing estate.

1981: While some of the O'Tooles are ascending through the class barriers, what about the ones left behind?

What do I have to do to get the book?

It's easy. Donate here. You'll get further instructions about formats and how to get the file in the thank you email. You can get the book in PDF, .epub and .mobi formats.

What then?

Read. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. If you have feedback or comments, email me.
Recommend it to your friends, if you want. And to your relations and people you meet in the street.
Money goes to Radio Lollipop, hurrah!

What am I waiting for?

I don't know, what are you waiting for?

 

 

Previously on the Nanowrimo Challenge...

November is National Novel Writing Month and for the past few years, PPS' Clare Worley has been meaning to take up the NaNoWriMo Challenge: write an entire novel of at least 50,000 words in just one month.

This year, she's going to finally have a go, in aid of our charity partner Radio Lollipop.

She'll be taking sponsorship leading up to and during November, and (if she finishes), the book will be available to buy for your eBook reader/tablet with all proceeds going to Radio Lollipop.

That's not all. As well as donating massive chunks of her free time (and coffee bill...) to the project, Clare wants you to be involved.

NaNoWriMo is all about starting a brand new project from scratch and she'd like to crowd source ideas from the PRS for Music gang.

Send us your ideas and we'll pass them on. It could be a prompt for the story idea itself (such as A boy riding a dolphin on a Tuesday morning in the rain discovers a lost city of underwater dwellers who bear absolutely no resemblance to Jar-Jar Binks.... or The entire population of London is brought down by a mysterious plague with the exception of one Grateful Dead fan...) or ideas for characters, events, themes or motifs to include. Or indeed, turns of phrase, jokes and anything else you'd like to contribute.

Anything that's used (no guarantees) will be fully credited to the provider unless you ask to remain anonymous.

There are no restrictions but please keep it pretty clean to keep the final project as accessible to as many people as possible.

Clare will share her progress (or lack thereof) over the course of November, so keep your eye on the intranet or her dedicated blog!

Thanks for taking the time to visit this page and hopefully donate to this fantastic charity.