More than Writers

  The English language is a living thing.  Like a teenager loving then hating different singers and bands, it changes all the time, sometimes helpfully and sometimes not.  One of the biggest influences (apart from creeping Americanise, which I personally loathe) is computers.  Save Are you saved?  As Christians we all hope so.  But, as well as our souls, we have been taught to save our work – or face dire consequences, of losing it.  We started off saving on to floppy discs and the symbol on Microsoft Word still shows a floppy disc and then we moved on to memory sticks and cloud… Cloud No, it’s not just a white fluffy thing in the sky.  (Hold on the word ‘sky’ for a minute.)  To make sure that your work is properly saved, you might upload into the cloud… Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive… or OneDrive.  OneDrive used to be called 'Skydrive' until Microsoft realised there was a British television company called ‘Sky’, so they changed t...

  School’s out, even for us. No classes to drive to, no clubs to get home early for and no lessons to plan and print out. You’d think it would give me ample time to write, read and publish, but sadly, somehow, my days run out of hours just as much! My children struggle with unstructured time, and as they get older, this shows in different but equally tricky ways. So I’m still planning, plotting and printing. It’s where English comes in handy. It might be a lesson that I’m printing, but as I promised my kids they would have summer holidays as well, so no schoolwork, I can’t call it a lesson, can I? It can be a game, an activity, a puzzle, something to try out... The weather isn’t helping either. It’s raining one minute, which means my writing trick of putting my laptop in a cardboard box set on the garden table isn’t working. The next moment, the sun is out, boiling my laptop on my desk. Maybe I should put the cardboard box on my desk... I have made a little progress, as I sud...

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. I am firmly on the side of character in the character -v- plot debate. A well drawn character drives the plot. I care about what happens to the characters. If I don’t care, I am unlikely to read on. What makes me care?  I have to understand who they are, why they are acting as they are, and what they hope to achieve. I don’t necessarily have to agree with them.    Best villain of all time:  the Sheriff of Nottingham as played by the late great Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves . I almost wanted him to win! His “…and cancel Christmas” line always makes me smile though he rightly delivered it “straight”.    It’s a good rule of thumb to know characters don’t find their situations funny. It is for readers to decide if a situation is funny. Bear in mind the characters are caught up in the action of your story so won’t have time to do anything other than what they must to resolve t...

  By the time you are reading this post, by God’s grace, I would be returning to UK after a week in Turkey - a gift from our children to celebrate our Ruby Anniversary!   As I write this post from my Arnor De Luke Hotel in Antalya, Turkey, I remembered my first day in TRELLIS, our ACW poetry group. We were asked to compile a list of first times and firsts in our lives. I found that exercise so interesting and here are a couple of things I wrote down: 1.      First time to the US   -   2008 2.      First time a mother   -   1983 3.      First time a Grandmother   -   2015 4.      First time in Dubai   - 2015 5.      First time keeping snail pets    -   1968 6.      First time naming chickens   - 1970 7.      First time in Turkey   -   2023 8.   ...

I still occasionally get hand written letters and amazingly still write them too!  As I am visually impaired receiving a handwritten letter is something of a mixed blessing because of the struggle of managing to read it. Nevertheless, I love it because it makes me feel more connected to the person who sent it and I feel very privileged to read something that they've taken the time to write. As soon as the envelope is in my hands I start to formulate insights about the writer.  I've not even opened it yet but I quite quickly ascertain if they are an older or younger person, complex or simplistic, dramatic or cool and factual.  The very style makes that letter a reflection of the sender's character.  Thinking about this made me wonder how much our 'bigger'  writing - articles, stories, poems, devotionals, books etc, reveals?  What is the hidden text, the secret message that lies behind those stories, themes, written words and the way they are put together?...

Image: Open-Clip-Vectors on Pixabay I’ve recently realised that I have started ghost-writing.  I use the word ‘realised’ because I didn’t set out to pitch myself as a Ghost Writer, it kind of just happened.  “How can that be?”  I hear you say. This is not the first time that I have fallen into something, I became a Rap Artist when one was required for some drama, and this led to me falling into youth work, setting up a charity and eventually becoming CEO of that charity.  I am fascinated by the way one thing can lead to another when we are prepared to step out. So, how did I start ghost-writing?  At the start of this year, I stepped out looking for speaking engagements.  I had just had a triple heart bypass but was determined not to let that stop me, especially as I felt God was prompting me.  I first approached lots of Full Gospel Businessmen meetings to introduce myself as a speaker.  I also provided a poetry retreat workshop at a local Mona...

  Who doesn’t love a good story? As writers most of us love to read and love a well written story, whether fiction or non-fiction. We love a well imagined tale that grabs our attention. We can be moved by true-life stories -   good biographies or memoirs. We go to the TV screen, theatre or cinema to lose ourselves in an engaging story. We love good stories because stories are powerful. A quick search on the internet will tell you that stories are powerful when they connect with the audience in some way. As writers, particularly those of us who write stories, our aim is to connect with our readers. At least to get them interested enough to keep reading beyond the first page or two! We explored the power of stories at our recent writer’s retreat. In one of our sessions we looked at HOW good stories connect with an audience. These were our conclusions: Stories connect because 1.      They engage our imagination 2.      They engage our emo...

One figure who unites all branches of the Western Church, at least those that recognize the need for worked-out theology, as opposed to the do-it-yourself kind, is St Augustine of Hippo (354–430). His great body of teaching is of course fundamental to Catholic theology, but it was important for the Reformation thinkers as well. Augustine spent his later life, a full 35 years, as Bishop of Hippo in what is now Algeria, working tirelessly to build up the church. People at the time may have looked forward to a continuing growth in faith and the practice of Christianity in that area, as it was only natural to do. But there were dark clouds on the horizon. Rome, the greatest city in the western world and the centre of Christianity, was sacked by the Visigoths in 410. Then in the spring of 430 the Vandals, who were non-orthodox Arian Christians — meaning that they did not believe that Christ is consubstantial and coeternal with the Father — laid siege to Hippo. Augustine died on 28 August, p...

  Perseverance by Rebecca Seaton   Putting in the time. Perseverance is important to be able to deal with different situations we might find ourselves in, particularly unpredictable ones. In recent times, mind fullness has become more mainstream and we are encouraged to take action to improve our achievements and our well-being. But what does effective resilience, rather than just ticking that box, look like?   What does God say? Romans 5 tells us that suffering builds character and character, hope. Therefore, we have a motivation to persevere, as it helps us grow. Further to this, Galatians 6:9 says, ‘Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ This shows us that our perseverance is not for ourselves alone. Working in a challenging environment, there is a call to persevere in order to see success.   What does this look like? A significant feature of persevering, or demonstrating resilience, is...

  Next week, I will be spending time with my eight-year-old nephew while his parents are at work.  Last week, as he shrugged his rucksack on before leaving for school, he said to his Mum,  “I think I will be able to fit two water bottles in here, so I can carry mine and Aunty Memem’s when we go out”. He’d have water for himself, and some to give me, too. It reminded me of ACW. So many ‘share their water’ to encourage, and renew, and refresh others in their writing. Last evening, I spent time with Tracy Williamson. Whenever we chat, it is always a time of mutual ‘sharing of water’. As we discuss writing struggles and joys, and pray together, we leave energised and encouraged. Tracy’s next book, Unashamed , will be out in September. The title itself reminds us that we don’t need to be embarrassed. We can ask for help, and receive water that others have for us. Starting with Jesus. On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice...

  Luke stretched his arms up, yawned loudly and put down his pen. He glanced around the small room at piles of papers stacked neatly on the floor like ready soldiers. It seemed there never was quite enough time to write after a day’s work, let alone sufficient peace and quiet away from children and chores. Research and writing drove him like a mighty wind filling a ship’s sails. He couldn’t explain it. Yes, he loved his job and had been grateful for the opportunity to travel and meet people, but writing fired up a passion to do the best he could and perhaps leave a real legacy. It was a privilege to do it, if he was honest; he was certainly willing to burn the midnight oil to get another page finished.   Everyone had agreed that the project was exciting when he told them his plans and several friends had cheered him along and made valuable suggestions. As he had pored over the evidence, he had learned so much. The interviews over the past months had been precious and there w...

About a year ago, when introduced to flash fiction through ACW, I tried writing a parable for the first time. As a Biblical fiction writer, I thought the parable would be the perfect medium for combining biblical themes and shortness. Recently, I had another go, thanks to a challenge from the lovely Joy Margetts. I’ll share my efforts with you in a moment. Firstly though, what makes a parable a parable? Well, I'm not really an expert. I'm just going to share some thoughts here and you can agree or disagree as you wish. In my theology degree, we analysed Jesus’ parables from a literary perspective. There were three broad groups of parables, but also a surprising amount of variation, and no-one seemed to come up with a satisfactory solution to categorise or explain all of them. The Oxford Dictionary defines parables thus: A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels. Other dictionaries leave out the bit about Jesus, emphasising th...