More than Writers

  Mary Wesley who published her first book for adults aged 71. But here I am, aged sixty-seven, with numerous short stories and flash published, also articles and book reviews, yet still no book.   I thought it would never happen.  I don’t believe that God promised me, Rosemary Johnson, a book deal.  He promised eternal salvation to all those who loved Him, which is more important.  Of course, I was frustrated.  Every time I passed the members’ bookstall at ACW writers’ events, I felt myself to be a failure. Nevertheless I made myself understand that there many other ways in which my writing skills can be used for His glory, preaching and writing intercessions in church, in supporting my local Foodbank and in managing the ACW website.        Then just last September a hybrid publisher, who I will call Fred, accepted my novel,  Wodka or Tea with Milk,  for publication.  At last, oh at last.  Almost sixty years after that little girl me made getting published her ambition.  However, it h

  Sometimes you find yourself doing things that you’ve always claimed you’re hopeless at. Like editing, or in this case walking up Pen y Fan, in the Brecon Beacons. I’m not a keen walker, and my children only walk because they don’t have many other options. Which is why we now have a dog. Goldie loves walking, the kids love Goldie, so we all end up walking. A few weeks ago, I had a child-free weekend, the first one in ten years, so on Saturday, I decided to take Goldie on a proper hike. She is young, and therefore limited in how far she should/could walk, but Pen y Fan was something I had heard about a lot. I looked into it, and as the weather up high was expected to be great, Goldie and I set off Saturday morning towards the Brecon Beacons. Welsh hills always remind me of Rosemary Sutcliffe's books, especially when covered in mist. That Saturday, the sky was blue as can be, but still, there is something about hills without roads, looking still and mysterious. Pen y Fan is a wo

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Where there are writers, they will fall either side of The Great Debate.  To Plan or Not to Plan, that is the question - whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to work out a outline or to accept sometimes you’re going to box yourself in because you didn’t (otherwise known as a sea of troubles).   With apologies to W. Shakespeare, late of the Parish of Stratford-upon-Avon. I wonder how many drafts he did but suspect the fact he had deadlines helped him focus. I plan. I don’t plan everything. I need enough to get me started, whether it’s a blog, a flash fiction tale, or my columns elsewhere.  I knew from the start of this I would misquote Shakespeare for what I hope is humorous effect. Am not sorry. Am sure he would be delighted to know he still inspires writers - that’s my excuse. I have only abandoned two short stories. I’ve been writing for over 25 years. That isn’t a bad return rate but why did this happen at all? I hadn’t t

  Regret, Resentment, Pride or Nostalgia?             BY OLUSOLA SOPHIA ANYANWU It is interesting what kind of bizarre thoughts come in to one’s mind. As I watched the coronation of King Charles 111, such filtered through my mind, reeling through scores of years ago, the way a random kite is sometimes seen in the sky. Thoughts about what other countries who had deposed of their own monarchies might feel or think. Regret?     Resentment?     Or nostalgia. Whatever!   The ceremony birthed a fable told in black communities about the dog and his mother. This is my embellished version from my creative pot. A long time ago, there was a very severe famine in the land of the animals. They decided to have a meeting to find a solution to the food scarcity. Leaving their mothers to look after their families, they gathered in a big open space pondering for hours without a solution. Then the tortoise came up with the solution… All the animals hastened back home to carry out the tortoise’s ‘br

I was feeling a little stumped as I came to write this blog.  The MTW posts I'd read recently had been so good, I didn't know what on earth I could add?  I decided to do a rather silly thing - I picked up my bible and dropped it on the desk telling myself that wherever it fell open, I would use something on that page to inspire me. It opened on Luke Chapter 1 and I thought, O dear!  But as I read the first few verses something did jump out at me.  Luke's words about why he chose to write his account of the life of Jesus:    'it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.'  Luke started writing because he could, in his mind's eye, see the face of someone he loved and wanted to communicate to.  Theophilus, whom he described as most excellent.  He wasn't writing just for the sake of adding another written work to his portfolio.  He was writing to he

I am always fascinated to watch a Domino topple challenge.  It can take many days to set up intricate patterns in order to watch a few minutes of breath-taking cascade.  Each domino piece is carefully placed in order to hit the next one and make it fall.  What would happen if the first domino fell too far away, nobody bothered to topple it, or it toppled in the wrong direction?  There would be a great anti-climax and disappointment. The same anti-climax can happen in our writing when we face rejection from publishers, magazines, competitions, critiques, etc.  Like the Domino Masters, you have painstakingly laboured over your creation.  Some of you may not have even started writing your manuscript, you just keep putting it off. We all have a domino to push of some kind or another.  This week, I pushed a new kind of domino, as I took part in a local arts festival.  I have made several attempts in the past to be accepted as part of the Nailsworth Festival but was always turned down (I