More than Writers

I often like to take time to reflect and reset around my birthday in mid-September. I take time to be grateful for welcome changes but also reflect on the reoccurring goals and desires that still seem too distant. I try to identify the blockers for these and how they can be addressed. It’s felt like the last 18 months have been a time of review and reset. It’s a big birthday this year, so maybe that’s appropriate. We moved house in January 2024 which also meant I had to start the transfer of my medical support. Among that was an end of a short-term job and an autism diagnosis in February 2024. I started one job in July 2024 which ended February this year. Since then, I’ve been managing issues with our own house in Bristol that we had rented out. Navigating these changing circumstances have been challenging, so it’s no surprise that I cover some of this in my More Than Writers (MTW) posts in the last 14 months along with what is blocking my impetus to write poetry. Thankfully August...

Much of the advice I have received on editing is along the lines of ‘get it all down on paper (or the screen) and then do all the editing afterwards’.   And when people have said this, I have nodded absently.   But the truth, Dear Reader, is that I don’t do this at all.                I can certainly see the benefits of the get-it-all-down method.   It saves time and the writer avoids falling down unnecessary rabbit-holes, editing wording and ideas which later on are deleted.   It also allows him/her to develop a perspective of the whole story straight off.   Obviously, a perfect writer would have planned his/her stories so well that he/she would already have that perspective before he/she started writing, but, hey-ho, I’m not perfect – are you? I can see that the get-it-all-down method may work well for shorter pieces, such as flash, but I wonder how get-it-all-downers cope when writing longer works.   When...

  First of all, apologies for missing my slot last month. It actually took me more than a week to realise we had passed the 30 th … The holidays have been good, and filled and manic and painful, but I have learned a few interesting things which I would love to share with you. Holidays have been trying and exhausting, although the fruits and blessings afterwards have always made them worthwhile. Going anywhere with four children who are all dysregulated in different ways for the duration is draining, but afterwards, they invariably look back with fond memories. This year, it was no different, although now they’re bigger, the fallout felt bigger too. Or maybe I’m just getting old! The Lake District was gorgeous as it was last year. The weather was beautiful, the caravan spacious and comfortable, and Goldie had a wonderful time swimming every day as labs do, but the weeks felt beyond hard. I went for a long walk with Goldie one day. I had guessed from the map and comments about ...

Image Credit:  The photos were taken by me, Allison Symes, at the wonderful Dorset Museum in Dorchester. I recently had the joy of going out and about with editing colleagues to visit Jane Austen - Down To The Sea . This exhibition, held at The Dorset Museum, Dorchester, explored the author’s links with the sea.  My initial reaction was to remember Lyme Regis, The Cobb, and the famous scene from her novel, Persuasion , which is my second favourite Austen book. Nothing can top Pride and Prejudice for me though Persuasion is close. I always think of the book when I visit that lovely part of Dorset. I was pleasantly surprised to discover Jane Austen had many more links to the sea than I thought. The exhibition runs until 14th September 2025 so if you get a chance to go to it, do go. I found it fascinating. The exhibition also showed something of the society Jane lived in, as well as commemorating her work. Some items were on loan from Chawton where she lived for many years. ...