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About

I started writing for a living when I was taken on as a junior reporter on a weekly newspaper. I had a bike and a desk with a typewriter that was as big as a small car. At the end of my first week I got my wages (twenty two quid) in a small brown pay packet, about two pounds in expenses (for lunch while reporting a story on Drayton Snodsbury Womens’ Institute) and, get this, a copy of the newspaper for free. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Years went by, I got taken on by a national newspaper and life on the Street of Shame was everything that you see in films, only more bonkers. I loved it.

Then my husband and I decided to adopt two children and about two months after that all happened I discovered I was pregnant. Now, 20 years later, we have four kids and two grandchildren, and although we have our ups and downs, sometimes I still think I’ve died and gone to heaven.

I’ve also had some Mills and Boon novels published (under the name Sally Carr) and I’ve written some children’s books too (under my own name).

I started writing this blog because I wanted to write about writing, but I have to admit, that I soon realised I’d much rather write about the people I meet and the odd things that I’ve done.

Welcome to my blog.

 

one-lovely-blog

I won this One Lovely Blog award in September. See my thanks to Jools who nominated me, and my onward nominations in my post, called Thank You.

sunshine-award

 In November, Jennifer Windram nominated me for the Sunshine Award; thank you Jennifer. My onward nominations are on the post called, surprisingly enough, Sunshine Award.

 

Discussion

57 thoughts on “About”

  1. Impressive resume but from my viewpoint, I love your photo the most. Nice to meet you.

    Posted by The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap | February 24, 2015, 6:01 pm
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    • Thank you. Unfortunately, my alter ego is no longer with us. She was probably the most exasperating, ridiculous dog you would ever wish to meet, but rather endearing, too.

      Posted by elainecanham | February 24, 2015, 6:24 pm

  2. Wow! Your work is impressive!! I am currently writing a novel while staying at home with my crazy children!! I love your site!!

    Posted by mamalisa4 | December 6, 2014, 6:36 pm
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  3. Much thanks for the FND follow, Elaine. 🙂

    Posted by First Night Design | November 11, 2014, 9:01 pm
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  4. Hey Elaine! I have nominated you for The Beautiful Blogger Award. I expect you are quivering in excitement! 😀 You don’t have to accept this award, but I would love for you to pop over to my blog and come celebrate! There will be imaginary champagne and lots of glitter! http://insidethelifeofmoi.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/my-big-fat-award-ceremony/

    Posted by amandalyle1986 | November 3, 2014, 8:55 pm
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    • I love imaginary champagne! I’m not sure about the award (don’t mean to sound ungrateful) but I’m very flattered that you should have thought of me. I really admire your blog. And I’ll certainly come over!

      Posted by elainecanham | November 3, 2014, 9:22 pm

  5. Hooray! And Huzzah!

    Posted by naptimethoughts | October 8, 2014, 7:29 pm
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  6. Hahaha just go to my page, lady.

    Posted by naptimethoughts | October 8, 2014, 7:02 pm
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    • That was a very medieval instruction, NTT. Thanks very much for the nomination. And I’ll accept with thanks, because I can surround myself with fantasy. Now, get thee to thine own page, while I think of some big fat lies…..

      Posted by elainecanham | October 8, 2014, 7:28 pm

  7. Umm… I don’t know how to “ping”.

    Posted by naptimethoughts | October 8, 2014, 5:59 pm
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  8. Thanks for visiting my blog. I’ve been enjoying reading your stories here.

    Posted by The Penguin | October 6, 2014, 2:55 pm
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  9. Gosh…somehow I do believe I’ve totally missed saying thank you for following my blog! Am really sorry…you seem to have found me at a point when I’m right in the middle of a double relocation and I haven’t been as attentive to checking in on my blog as I should’ve! However, I don’t even believe I got a notification from WordPress which is even more strange…maybe they are relocating too, huh? Anyway, I much appreciate the follow and I have enjoyed my little romp around your blog and hopefully, I’ll be back on here regularly soon and we’ll keep up with each other! Thanks again!

    Posted by A.PROMPTreply | August 11, 2014, 2:51 am
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  10. I won The Spouse a minor prize (Liz Taylor’s Poisonous perfume) in a Mills & Boon contest down here once.

    Sadly I could never brag about it …

    Posted by Argus | July 4, 2014, 9:39 am
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  11. Hi Elanie, I really enjoy your blog and wanted to let you know I nominated you for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Thank you for your contributions and great content for writers. Great stuff, all the best to you!

    Posted by Cassie | June 6, 2014, 4:13 am
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    • Hi Cassie,
      Thanks very much for the nomination, and I’m really flattered, especially as its my second nomination in two days, but as I said to Mara (below) it just takes so long to do these things, that I’m just going to have to say no. Thanks again!

      Posted by elainecanham | June 7, 2014, 11:08 am

  12. Hello there! I took the liberty of nominating you for the Versatile Blogger Award. It’s my way of appreciating your work 🙂 If you’d like to accept, you can read how here, http://maraeastern.com/community/awards/versatile-blogger-award/, but it’s perfectly okay to ignore this if you’re not an award person.

    Posted by Mara Eastern | June 5, 2014, 7:15 pm
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  13. glad to meet you and I look forward to peeking in on your blog each week – 🙂

    Posted by y. prior | May 17, 2014, 8:16 pm
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  14. Privileged to know you. Write on.

    Posted by awax1217 | May 10, 2014, 1:31 pm
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  15. Congrats on making good choices in life to enable you to follow your dreams. Aww… if only the rest of us did 😉 Wishing continued success and thank you for visiting my blog.

    Posted by klparry | April 28, 2014, 5:30 pm
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  16. Just to let you know I performed the Sunshine Award task at last. Also, dead impressed you created Mills and Boons – the hours as a kid in the local library getting fresh ones for my granma – this was always done by checking the picture on the front, never blurb or title: nothing medical or ‘suggestive’, and often it just boiled down to me and my brother taking a pile off the shelf and sorting through, saying ‘Not seen that miserable cow before’ or ‘She’s had that, it’s the woman in the funny cardigan’. Oh, the memories…

    Posted by whistlesinthewind | December 24, 2013, 3:50 pm
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    • God that made me laugh. I went right off one of the books I did, simply because the artist made the hero look like somebody I worked with, who was a real drip. Have a great Christmas (but nothing in it that’s medical or suggestive, natch).

      Posted by elainecanham | December 24, 2013, 4:15 pm

  17. Thank you for your visit. Tea next time? 🙂

    Posted by ZQ | December 22, 2013, 3:05 am
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  18. Just finished reading two of your stories, ‘Out of the mouths of babes and grandmas’, and ‘Lunchtime in the park with Jeanie’. Loved the whole razor sharp naughty grandma scenario, I think we’ve all at least known someone like that, very funny indeed! And the ‘Lunchtime in the park,’ story, was really getting into the tale of the old man and his memories of his wife, I really didn’t see the angry phone resignation coming at all, was a really nice touch – wasn’t by any chance the same boss you called in sick to when your friends from France arrived?.. (only joking).

    Many thanks for taking the time to comment on my ‘Cold Callers’ story, was very much appreciated!

    Posted by echoesofthepen | November 28, 2013, 1:18 am
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    • No,. it was all completely fictional, except for the park. Nobody in their right minds would employ me in an IT department. The boss I rang in sick – he was most definitely real.

      Posted by elainecanham | November 28, 2013, 9:16 am

  19. thank you for the follow:)

    Posted by melissataggart87 | November 22, 2013, 9:40 pm
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  20. Elaine, I’ve added you to my WordPress Community Blogzone (blogroll at FYTD)…Thanks for visiting and opening the door for me to visit back and enjoy your writing, humor, and thinking.

    Posted by MikeW | November 14, 2013, 7:36 pm
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    • Thanks Mike, that’s really nice of you. I enjoy reading your blog too. I’m no runner, in fact I think I was a three-toed sloth in a former life, but I like your tales and seeing all the places you go running in; they look so wild and interesting, very far removed from the rather tame countryside around here.

      Posted by elainecanham | November 14, 2013, 10:48 pm

  21. Hi Elaine,
    I’ve really enjoyed your posts, so I’ve nominated you for the Sunshine Award!

    You can check out the details on my blog:
    http://jenniferwindram.com/2013/11/04/the-sunshine-award/

    Posted by jennifer Windram | November 4, 2013, 4:31 pm
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  22. Thank you so much for liking my author blog and for your visit. Lovely to have you there and I look forward to getting to know you here and over on mine. Good luck with your writing and editing. i will pop in again now that I now you are here. 🙂

    Posted by Jane Risdon | October 18, 2013, 7:21 pm
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  23. Thank you so much for visiting and following me 🙂
    It means a lot to me 🙂
    Thanks again 🙂 🙂
    ~Ankush

    Posted by ankushmehta | September 28, 2013, 5:47 pm
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  24. Many congrats on your accomplishments. You’re good !
    Good luck.

    Posted by lifeconfusions | September 24, 2013, 9:07 pm
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  25. Thanks so much for visiting and liking my blog! I have read many Mills and Boons in my teenage years, not many Americans have heard of them though- a serious gap in education I believe!

    Posted by samhitarhodes | September 22, 2013, 4:52 pm
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  26. Very impressive record. I think writing romantic fiction well is much harder than people realise

    Posted by countingducks | September 20, 2013, 12:51 pm
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  27. Hi Elaine. I really enjoy reading your blog posts – I love your style and the fluidity of your writing. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. It’s a ‘pay it forward’ kind of award, showcasing blogs to other bloggers. You say a little about yourself and nominate around 5-7 other blogs you like for the award. You can see how it works on my entry here http://awritersnotepad.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/one-lovely-blog-award/ . If you want to join in, just copy the logo to your own post.

    Posted by Jools | September 20, 2013, 9:40 am
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    • Wow, thanks Jools, I’ve just posted my piece for today, so I’ll post on that tomorrow. (Which has the added advantage of meaning that I don’t have to think of something new to write about!). Good luck with your book

      Posted by elainecanham | September 20, 2013, 10:09 am

  28. Oh my goodness! You have my dream career! Thanks for taking the time to visit and follow my blog. I really appreciate it. 🙂

    Posted by wordsbyannierose | September 17, 2013, 1:07 am
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