More than Writers

Image by NomeVisualizzato from Pixabay My eldest sister handed me a small batch of letters yesterday. I’d written them to her between November 1980 and March 1981, during my first year at university. I was studying for a degree in English Literature, and she was doing teacher training. Both of us were experiencing romantic troubles. My sister doesn’t know why she kept the letters – she had unearthed them unexpectedly, as can happen when you’re rummaging through some obscure corner in the house – but she said how much she liked them and how well written they were. I began reading them with some trepidation – not that there’s any insurmountable trauma in my past, but I felt disconcerted at the thought of encountering my 18-year-old self after a gap of some 44 years, especially my 18-year-old self suffering from a broken heart. I needn’t have worried. I liked my younger self. Goodness, she sounded so very young, and naïve in some ways. But she was articulate and expressive. ...

                                                                                Picture credit: Microsoft - free I started contributing to More Than Writers in November 2022, so if my arithmetic is correct, this is my thirty-fourth input. I also try to read all the other submissions and comment when I can, so it has become a valued part of my routine. This month, though, that routine hit a bump in the road. In keeping with the usual order of things, I opened More Than Writers on my laptop one morning only to find the anti-virus software doing what I pay it to do and warning me ‘not to surf here - suspicious site.’ I should hardly be surprised. ‘ Suspicious ’ is certainly one way of describing some of my efforts! Undeterred, I turned to ...

  I recently went to a well known phone/computer shop, with a view to purchasing a watch. However, I was drawn to an area of IPad’s and Laptops, and decided to look at them instead. I was greeted by a lovely shop assistant, who had a beautiful smile and was very warm and welcoming.    She showed me the IPads, that I was interested in, and went through the various details on each one. It didn’t take me long to decide on the one I wanted, especially as it had the latest magnetic keypad which made the whole IPad look and feel like a mini laptop, it was very lightweight, a 13” screen which is perfect, not too large and not too small, and I could use it just like a mini PC. I told her that I wanted it for my writing.    She was very interested and my partner told her about some of the things I had written about, in particular the book about my mother’s miracle in the ambulance.   We  got chatting and found that we had so much in common. It felt like we...

  The beginning of August brings one of my favourite times of the year – the start of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest performing arts festival with over 3,000 different shows taking place throughout the month.       As you can imagine, it’s busy, noisy, and often crazy, and Edinburgh locals are firmly divided into those who love the Fringe and those who hate it. I love it! After being deprived of live theatre for eighteen months during the pandemic, I try to take every opportunity, and this month provides an amazing selection along with lots of creative inspiration.       As I browsed the Fringe brochure, it also struck me that there is a lot it can teach us about marketing which is also applicable to writing.       Make it stand out – With over 3,000 shows, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. People often make a quick decision about what to see based on the publicity. In the same way, despite bei...

  Are you aware that the words you write and the sentence structure you use can say something about you? I’ve been learning about grammar recently through reading articles in the Writing Magazine and from BBC Bitesize. Things I never remember learning in school, such as the active vs the passive voice. [ The passive voice puts the object is placed before the subject. For example: I kick the ball (active) / The ball was kicked by me (passive).]   Mind you, I left primary school unable to identify a noun from a verb, which was only resolved when learning French and German at secondary school. I’ve also been learning about myself through the phrasing I use. When I write personal journals or reflective blogs, I notice I use ‘but’, ’yet’, ‘however’, ‘while’ and ‘therefore’ a lot. These words reflect the constant dilemma working in my head to consider different perspectives and what actions to take. The use of these conjunctions also means I often string a lot of clauses toge...