Friday 22 March 2013

Romance Reader!


Please come and say hello to me over at the Romance Reader – and go in for the draw to win an e-book of The Doctor’s Decision.

Speaking of romance… Been reading through one of my teenage diaries. Oh dear. But some things never change, “I was fed up, so wrote out a plan for a story with maps and drawings. I’m getting my petitions off tomorrow.”

Amazing how many girls I went to school with who were catty big-headed bitches and nasty cows and how many boys were gorgeous with wonderful brown eyes/beautiful blue eyes etc etc etc! And how many times can one 14 year old think she’s fallen in love?

One thing that does become very obvious is that I had one really good friend, even if I didn’t realise it at the time and I’m glad to say she was about the only person I never moaned about.

I had a bit of a lament about my bus fare to school going up from 2p to 3p and was pleased with the pouffe I got for my mum from the Green Shield Stamp shop! Then there was the day the school truancy officer came round and told my mum I was playing truant with my mates. So she called me out to prove I was at home. He took one look at my swollen black eyes and said she should keep me home for the rest of the week (I’d had a head on collision with my dog the day before and come off worst).

I was lucky that he’d chosen that particular time to check up on me, although I was caught a few months later.

I complain about one friend coming round and “always ruining my mum’s pens”. Your guess is as good as mine.

And I’ve realised that my parents bought me an Adler reconditioned office typewriter for my 15th birthday, not my 16th as I’d always thought (“Oh, well, nearly 15 – getting old.” – Did I really write that? I’m afraid I did).

I saw Monty Python at the pictures. Don’t remember it. I do remember going to see Steptoe and Son though. I “blew” 75p on a trip to London and paid 45p for typing and Dutch evening classes. I spent £1 on make up for myself and two of my friends. Were things ever really so cheap?

One thing I do know – reading through my teenage diaries, I would never want to live through that again. Although things did improve the following year when I met my husband!

Don’t forget to visit me at Romance Reader! I’d love to see you over there.


51 comments:

  1. You thought 15 was getting old and I thought people should be exterminated at 30. I wish I had kept my diaries. I've got a school one where we had to write about each day and do a picture to accompany it. Those wax crayons have stood the test of time. I went to an all girls'school so it was all cattiness and bitchiness and not a good looking boy in sight. The Headmistress wuld have chased any away.

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    1. I don't think I could have handled an all girls school, Lynne. I bet your school diary is interesting - wish I'd kept my old school books :-) x

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  2. Fantastic memories, Teresa.
    I wish I'd hung onto my diaries. I rarely kept them up, but I recall that the few entries I made were extremely melodramatic and often about friends who had hurt my feelings or whose luck I envied. I don't think I was ever satisfied.
    I would hate to go back and live it all again, but I would love to read about it. x

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    1. It is nice being able to read about it, but I can't help feeling sorry for teenage me because looking at it now from outside, I can see I was being manipulated by someone who was pretending to be a friend. Oh to go back in time and put myself straight about that - and yes, it was a very melodramatic time in our lives wasn't it :-) x

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  3. I have all my teenage diaries - most of which are full of my undying love for a certain dark haired, green eyed boy called Sean - who never succumbed to my fifteen year old charms! It also mentions how on cross country runs, my best friend and I would run back to my house for a cup of tea! Teenage angst? You can keep it!

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    1. Oh, those cross country walks - I mean runs! We used to make our way back to the shop and buy ice creams :-) x

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  4. Love it, Teresa - you should mine the diaries for writing about angst-ridden teens!

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    1. They may well come in handy one day, Rosemary :-) x

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  5. OMG Teresa over 2000 works published...this is beyond anything I've heard so far....so impressing. Regarding diaries...I would prefer to keep silent on the subject...they were cause for severe mortification...:))

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    1. Thank you, Petronela. I think we are probably all mortified by our teenage selves :-) x

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  6. I think I'm very glad I didn't keep my early diaries. I use notebooks now because I know I will start the year with good intentions and then go for weeks without writing anything. Such a waste of good diaries.

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    1. I've done that now and then, Maggie - used notebooks instead of diaries. I think I started again because I got a free one and it was so pretty it seemed a shame not to use it and the habit stuck :-) x

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  7. Mine seem to be full of trips to the dentist and grumbles about colds and upset stomachs. No changes there, then! Fancy meeting your husband at 16. How wonderful! I didn't even snog a boy till I was 17. I had an inferiority complex because of my ginger hair and glasses and didn't think anyone would ever want to kiss me, boo-hoo! I sure made up for it in my twenties!

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    1. It is so sad that you had an inferiority complex - I'm glad you made up for it later on (and I think ginger hair is gorgeous) :-) x

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  8. Hi Teresa, you have some lovely items there, no wonder you write such good stories. In That's Life this week, (where my letter is on the letters page) there's also a page where they call it 'teen diaries' A few people have entries similar to yours, with a photo of them then, and now. They pay lots for these, you could send yours. There's a drop down box on their website.

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    1. Thank you, Sue. And thanks for the info about That's Life :-) x

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  9. Brilliant post, though I'm definitely puzzled about how one can keep 'ruining' pens! I used to keep a diary, and kind of wish I'd kept them, but it was probably filled with very similar stuff!

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    1. It's weird isn't it, Karen. Maybe I've always been a bit weird about stationery and pens etc :-) x

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  10. Girls can be so horrible to each other, can't they. My daughter still thinks she's been scarred for life by hers!

    How fascinating to have schoolgirl diaries. My grandmother kept a diary all her life, and the childhood ones make wonderful reading. I could never keep up a diary.

    Off now to,look up that link.

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    1. I think what happens in our teens, particularly the early teens, can have such a big impact on the rest of our lives. I bet your grandmother's diaries are treasured :-) x

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  11. I stopped keeping a diary when I realised my mum was reading it. I was mortified.

    Fascinating to read snippets from yours, though.

    And fab interview at Romance Reader.

    xx

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    1. I never managed to keep up a diary but don't need one to remember the teenage angst!
      It's snowing. I'm going to find out from my friend who has kept a diary most of her life - including a note of the weather - how many times it's been cold, snowing, windy and freezing cold on 23rd March! Come on Spring - SPRING!
      Wow Teresa. Knew you were prolific but over 2000 works -that's impressive indeed. :o) xx

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    2. That must have been awful, Suz. I would never read someone else's diaries. I'm sure my mum never read mine - I don't think I'd be here to tell the tale if she had ;-) x

      Sue, It'll be interesting to hear from your friend about past weather! Just had a quick look at some of mine and no mention of weather, just chickenpox, viruses and trips to the woods so assume the weather must have been "normal" :-) x

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  12. PS Meant to say brilliant interview at Romance Reader :o) xx

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  13. Wow that was so interesting! I've never kept a diary but seeing snipits from your make me wish I had.

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    1. It makes me wish I'd kept one all my life instead of just now and then :-) x

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  14. My best friend kept a diary when we were teenagers. She wants me to hurry up and become a famous author so she can sell it to the press. I keep forgetting to break in and steal it - thanks for reminding me.

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  15. Hi Teresa,

    Ah yes, I got a glimpse of the teenage diaries of several of my adoring lady fans, way back in my high school days in Vancouver. It was so embarrassing to read, "Oh my, Gary is the biggest hunk in high school, I want him to marry me!" And, "Gary is the most gorgeous looking guy I've ever seen! My heart skips a beat whenever he is near!" Okay, I made that up.

    Some interesting recollections, Teresa. "And now for something completely different", I shall end this comment abruptly and for no apparent reason.

    Right, one last thing, stay warm this weekend. Blasted snow!

    Gary :) x

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    1. Sounds like an extract from one of mine, Gary!

      What is this "warm" of which you speak? I have only a vague recollection of it, but I hope you are staying it :-) x

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  16. You playing truant?!?! Jamais!! LOL!!

    It's brilliant you kept your diaries of when you were a teenager! I'd think I tried to keep one too but was so self conscious abour writing anything in one that I didn't bother in the end! Take care
    x

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    1. Yes and usually on Wednesday afternoons - double PE!! Say no more :-) x

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  17. I used to love sticking those Green Shield Stamps in the book. I wonder what the petition was about.

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    1. They were great weren't they, Joanne :-) The petition was probably about seals or anti-vivisection. I belonged to the Animals' Vigilantes back then and spent a lot of time gathering signatures on petitions or writing letters (so I suppose I didn't just think about boys all the time!) :-) x

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  18. Thanks for being on Romance Reader, Teresa. It was a lot of fun!

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    1. Thank you for having me, Maria - I really enjoyed being there :-) x

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  19. Glad to meet you from romance reader! Newest folloer, hi!

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  20. Absolutely. There were good things about being a teenager - everything was so new and exciting - but I would never want to experience that level of insecurity again. for me, things improved as I went out of my teens.

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    1. Yes, there were good things too :-) But like you, I'd never want to go through that again :-) x

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  21. Thanks for sharing your diaries with us, Teresa. It took me back - I remember those Green Shield stamps, having to stick loads in the books and the taste of the glue. You've inspired me to go and look out my old diaries - I seem to remember recording what I had for school dinner a lot, usually chips and beans. Not very healthy but we weren't so concerned in those days.

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    1. Chips and beans were about the only thing school dinners couldn't mess up, Kate :-) Green Shield stamps probably tasted better than some of the stuff on the school dinner menu :-) x

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  22. I worked where we gave away GS stamps, and kitted out my kitchen with pyrex,as a newlywed! Burned my diaries before we left UK. They depressed me, and I really didn't want to take that darkness with me. Girls were so cruel at school!

    BTW. I am returning home to UK in June. For good. Will be staying in your neck of the woods for a few weeks, with mum. Will be doing a bit of walking the beach for inspiration, for novel four. Goodness knows where we will go from there but definitely leaving Cyprus. Oddly, if you notice my blog announcing the decision, it was way before the crisis hit. My guardian angel must have known!

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    1. We used to do Green Shield stamps in Parsons when I worked there, Glynis. I think quite a lot of places did them - and you could get them for petrol as well couldn't you?

      Bring some sunshine with you when you come back and I'll look out for you on the beach!

      Your guardian angel certainly is doing her stuff :-) x

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  23. Your diary entries are a hoot! Teenage angst - what would we do without it! I'm sure you have some great material here for one of your fab short stories, Teresa! Caroline x

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    1. Thank you, Caroline. It seems to prove it's true that you only remember the good times. I don't remember being as angry as that, but I clearly was and having read the diaries, I understand why :-) x

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  24. Loved your interview by Maria at Romance Reader. Thanks for sharing!

    ~Nas~

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  25. Your teenage diary was a lot more interesting than mine, I'm sure. I remember recently reading on one page, 'I'll never forget what happened today'. I have no idea what it was that did happen, but it can't have been that exciting or I'd probably recall it.

    Going to read your interview now.

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    1. Ah but it makes you wonder, doesn't it, Deb :-)

      My current one seems to say most days "Took Indy for a walk, snowed, got cold!" - a lot x

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