Landmark 2016

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LANDMARK 2016
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F orever scribbling ideas in notebooks,
on the back of receipts, and on an
endless trail of post-it notes around
the house, Penny Parkes had always
talked about writing a book. An avid
reader herself, she spent years attending
local literary festivals and creative writing
workshops before she finally took the
plunge and penned her very own novel.
“It was the overwhelmingly positive
feedback I received from various well-
established authors that gave me the
nudge to take my own writing to the next
level,” explained Penny. “Writing a novel
was one of those ‘one day’ aspirations
that could easily have been dismissed, yet
when I started thinking about it seriously,
the characters began developing in my
imagination and there was no going back.”
Based in the fictional market town of
Larkford, Penny’s debut novel Out of
Practice is a romantic comedy, following
the lives and loves of four rural doctors
and their families. “The joy of writing
about Larkford is that I can pull together
all of the best bits from my favourite
places. You might recognise the pastel
buildings of Cirencester, the Georgian
mansions of Bath, or the Cotswold
stone cottages of Broadway. In Out of
Practice, I wanted to capture the light and
shade of a rural doctor’s life, the humour
and the heartbreak, and to explore the
issues faced by the rural community.
Certainly there are a few eccentric
characters that are a joy to write!”
Before transitioning to become a full-
time writer, Penny Parkes completed a
BSc (Hons) in International Agribusiness
Management at the Royal Agricultural
University in 1996, and, after a short stint
as a Researcher for BBC Countryfile, set
up and ran her own film location company,
Location Seekers. Penny spent the next
five years travelling around the UK and
Europe, facilitating locations for films, TV
series, and magazine shoots. “At Location
Seekers, the property owners were the
clients and we negotiated on their behalf.
It was the organisation of these shoots
that I found incredibly rewarding.
“My favourite movie location was The
Visitors, which was filmed at Lydney
Park Estate. There was a huge amount
of set building and it was wonderful
to watch the countryside transform.
Likewise, filming Vanity Fair with BBC
Drama was fabulous. They took the
Regency streets of Cheltenham back
in time and it was beautiful to behold.”
In 2001, Penny decided to sell the
company and concentrate on starting
a family with her husband Sam.
As a writer, balancing work and family life
can be tricky, but Penny’s found the perfect
solution. “I’m unashamedly a term-time
author. I find that committing to getting the
words down every morning, before getting
distracted by life in general, is the most
effective way to work. As long as I have
copious amounts of caffeine, and a certain
amount of peace and quiet, I’m happy!”
Her advice for budding authors is not
to be tempted to think that writing ‘The
End’ means the hard work is nearly
done. In reality, it’s just the beginning. “It
sounds obvious, but the first step towards
publication is to write. Finish the manuscript
and put it in a drawer for a few weeks,
before going back with an objective eye
and an editing pen. Finding an agent who
will approach publishers on your behalf is
extremely competitive, and you only get one
chance to make a good first impression.”
Despite her first book being weeks away
from hitting the shelves, Penny is as
busy as ever. “Out of Practice is only the
first in the series, so you’ll often find me
scribbling away in one of Cirencester’s
coffee shops. I’ve been pretty strict with
myself about imagining where the series
might lead, but I might have picked out
a few locations already – just in case!”
Newly published author Penny Parkes tells us how her debut novel Out of
Practice grew out of the charming Cotswold towns she knows and loves.
Name: Penny Parkes
Course: BSc (Hons) International Agribusiness Management
Class of: 1996
PROFILE
Plenty of
practice
MORE
FROM
PENNY
HOT
OFF
THE
PRESS
Penny writes a regular
column Notes from
the Cotswolds for
You can also find her on
Twitter @CotswoldPenny
Out of Practice is available
as an e-book from
23 May 2016, and as a
paperback from 28 July.