Back to Business

 

Ann and Rob here at Words & Images UK hope you are all keeping safe and well. We’re hoping too that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, and we can now move forwards and get back to business!

With very little happening in the outside world these last 15 months or so, we have been following the Government guidelines, staying home and social distancing. 

We have been working remotely, however. This article which appeared in The People's Friend Special during lockdown was on the talented Little Miss Miniature who we'd met and interviewed at a Miniatura Show before Covid. 

We've also been busy producing a series of articles for Collector’s Gazette magazine. The series was called Toys through the Years. Starting with toys from the 1940s, we covered the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.  Luckily, our years of photographing toys through enthusiasts’ collections and toy fairs etc., has resulted in us amassing a large stock of great photographs of toys from all of those eras. So, we were able to get these six double page spreads done and dusted!

Through lockdown, we’ve also managed to get articles published in Dolls House & Miniature Scene and on-line magazine B-C-ing-U (every single week!). 

As authors, we’ve also been busy writing fiction. You may remember our thriller, The Bitter End, published by Bloodhound Books, which became an Amazon Best Seller when it was released in 2018. (Pictured right). So many people wanted to know what became of our characters, that a sequel was soon on the cards. We're hoping that before too much longer you'll be reunited with Paul, Sally and the terrifying Lamia who possessed the witch Petronella in The Bitter End; and some fascinating new characters you'll by dying to meet! Watch this space!

 

 A fun thing to do, during an ease in restrictions, was to create another Lazy book.  Lazy, King of the Castle is our fourth book in our children’s picture book series about Lazy, a British Bulldog cuddly toy. 

We also have: Lazy’s First Christmas, Lazy at the Garden Centre and Lazy at the Motor Museum. Check them out – if you have pre-school children, they will love them. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lazy-King-Castle-Ann-Evans/dp/B08T43TY78

To write this book and get the images, we ventured out to Kenilworth Castle, where true to form, Lazy got into all kinds of mischief. But, best of all, we did find time to have a cream tea! My first one since the start of lockdown!

 

As a reminder – if you have an upbeat story, a fascinating hobby, an incredible collection, or even a charitable event you’d like us to write about, get in touch. We always aim to get our stories published either in a traditional print or on-line magazine; alternatively here on our blog.

 

Email: ann-evans@btconnect.com

 

Catching up!

So, there we were interviewing a member of Followers of Rupert about that loveable character Rupert Bear celebrating his 100^th birthday this year, when Ann got a slightly woolly feeling settle over her and a sudden impulse to go and play in the woods. 

Luckily, she was back in time for tea and in time to write up her article on Rupert for Collector’s Gazette magazine. It will be out in the March 2020 edition, in good time for Rupert’s special birthday party in Warwick over the August Bank Holiday period.

Ann and Rob – who stays safely behind the camera… Did I say safely? Well actually, Rob is the one usually getting into precarious spots to get the shots he wants. But on this occasion, he was perfectly safe in Rupert’s Nutwood garden.

He also stayed safe when we had another encounter with a large walking ‘talking’ creature not so long ago. This was a nine-foot-tall Wookee of Star Wars fame. Chewbacca was meeting fans at the MCM Comic Con event which we like to go along to twice a year.  The hairy giant took a break from a photo shoot to be interviewed.

His rather mournful grunts, groans and growls all seemed to look the same in Ann’s shorthand notes, but reading between the lines, he said he was enjoying the show but looking forward to getting home, putting his (big) feet up and having a mug of hot chocolate.

While we’ve been a bit remiss about blogging recently, that’s just because we’ve been up to our eyes in writing for different publications. Amongst the activities, we’ve been meeting people who build and race remote control boats, plus we’ve attended toy fairs and model railway events, all for Collector’s Gazette magazine. 

We’ve been talking to amazing miniaturists who make all kinds of highly detailed doll’s house miniatures that have to be seen to be believed. Those articles are for Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine and Miniatura. If you don’t know about Miniatura – check it out. Their Spring Show takes place in March at the Birmingham NEC – don’t miss it!

We’ve also been writing about Hounds for Heroes and the Cinnamon Trust for The People’s Friend’s magazine. And lots of other events for our weekly slot in on-line magazine, B-C-ing-U. We’ve also been doing some restaurant reviews – I know, a dirty job but someone has to do it! Plus, some motoring events and the amazing Tanks, Trucks & Firepower Show, which is always so exciting!

So, as we get into 2020, we’ve already been out and about, writing, taking photos, doing interviews, as well as being on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire's Brody Bunch Show a number of times. And we’ve been busy writing books – but more on that next time.

Happy reading and writing everyone!