More than Writers

“I may never march in the infantry, ride in the gallery...”  My youngest loves singing loud songs, and this made me think of a few things. One, he only likes belting out that song, because of the “Yes Sir!” at the end. He can also sing with a very sweet little voice, or with funny accents. Like multiple characters. It reminds me that I don’t have to make all my main characters annoying people. Some could be loud and obnoxious, or sweet and sly...Or just sweet. Two, it makes all the other words in the song slightly inconsequential. My son loves all things warmongering, and as he is very cuddly, sensitive and cute, I let him. For now. It also means he is familiar with the word ‘cavalry’, but somehow sings gallery. Even in the Netherlands they don’t let you ride your bike in a gallery. I know this for a fact. As he just loves the ‘Yes Sir’ bit, he really doesn’t bother with the other words.  We talked about this at one of our Zoom chats, how we can read a book, and simply skip the words

What do you like about author interviews? I’m fascinated by what makes someone become a writer (or realize they are one. The first person you convince you can write is you. I refuse to believe that was just me!). I also love stories of authors overcoming obstacles on their writing road. If an interview engages me, I take the view there is a good chance the author’s books will too. Next step is to check said books out. What would YOU want to get across in an interview?  Pixabay When I interview authors for my Chandler’s Ford Today page, I set open questions as I want a writer to take those and run with them. That’s where the stories are. Hopping over the other side of the fence, what do I get across when I’m interviewed? One governing thought that helps a lot is to ask myself what is in this for the audience? Can other authors be encouraged by what I say? Can you use your interview to encourage other writers? Pixabay I was once at a writing festival when a writer d

First, many thanks to Liz Manning for her challenging blog entry of 14 th  June,  Racism, Writing and How Do We respond? https://morethanwriters.blogspot.com/2020/06/racism-writing-and-how-do-we-respond.html This has been one of three occurrences which have drawn me, as Liz was, into daring to write on a topic that, I am ashamed to say, I know only very little. I am a white man, shielding: so at this time I feel particularly impotent as I am precluded from participating in any protests, even local ones. I have for a long time been one of the leaders of a small group called ‘Living With Integrity’ (LWI) which operates across two villages just North of Cambridge UK, trying to keep abreast of Justice issues. Yet I now discover I have had only minimal awareness of the issues, both historical and current, that have faced and face, black people here in the UK and across the world. I confess to being ashamed of this, particularly as the purpose of the LWI group is ·        T

One of the greatest commandments is 'Love thy neighbour', I wonder if that applies to my editor, I thought, as I stared at my email inbox where my MS had just appeared, bisected by editing lines and innumerable comments and queries.  My carefully crafted manuscript was to be taken apart, dissected, questioned and re written.   While part of me felt happy that my MS had been taken seriously enough to be given the 'multi operation' treatment, after all, it was surely better for it to be turned inside out and rewritten than it be abandoned in a mouldering pile in someone's inbox? the other part felt just a tad, well indignant?  violated?  (No I know I can't use that word, you don't need to tell me that's far too strong for this scenario, so I'll try to think of another but for the moment I'll leave it there!) But I can't help it, I DO feel violated.  I spent hours, days weeks and months writing this book, all with the purpose of inspiring ot

I feel very privileged to have spent the last two years writing up the devotions of a very singular lady, Dr Jember Teferra, an Ethiopian missionary. Jember was brought up comparative luxury in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city, as the niece of Haile Selassie. But with the communist revolution of 1974 she and her husband were thrown into jail as political prisoners. There, although suffering,   she devoted herself to encouraging and teaching her fellow Christian prisoners. She later published these devotions in a booklet entitled ‘the Beacon in the Slums’ and ‘the Prisoner’s Lantern’. It was in prison that Jember came to identify with the poor as she shared a mattress in a rat-infested prison. This was to change her life which she has spent since working in the slums of Addis Ababa trying to improve the lot of the poorest slum dwellers by caring for their whole needs from health and housing to education and employment. Her aim was to empower them to enable them to become ind

  Still in lockdown but with more freedom in sight, I am struggling to climb out of my happy default mode of slobbed-out hedonism with a not-too-painful scaffold of discipline. So what does that look like? Spring cleaning and decluttering were well under way before the virus hit. That was because we were expecting doggy (and tortoise) house sitters for Easter – until Cyprus was cancelled. The good thing about a backlog of cleaning is that it makes a difference. Trips to the ACW Facebook page showed a spectrum of opinions on whether this was a good time for writers. The jury was out. Where was I? Did I even ask the question? Without taking stock I slid into couch potato mode as if I'd been training for it all my life There was some tinkering with blogs and other short pieces of writing and, oh yes, my long promised website / blog launched:  benedictunravelled.uk .  Scary, even exciting. But buried deep for two years has been the 'book'. Easy to believe in its huge pote

We have to be careful what we do with words. In particular, we need to be cautious before we explain a word in terms of its apparent constituent parts, in the belief that they are the key to its significance. We should always check the linguistic facts first! If we don’t, we can create fake news.  Let me first share a popular but unsound pseudo-etymological explanation. I’ll introduce it by putting forward a similar but entirely invented case that I think you will immediately see is absurd. Suppose someone expounded the meaning of redeem by suggesting that it was from re- ‘back’ plus deem ‘to judge’, as if ‘redeeming’ meant ‘reversing a judgement’. After a bit of thinking and maybe a bit of research, we would correctly point out that redeem doesn’t contain the word deem , but instead is derived from the Latin word redimere ‘to buy back’ (from which we also get redemption ). This Latin word has no connection with the native word deem , a relative of doom , which originally m

Being an Imperfect Example  by Rebecca Seaton Broken - but still my favourite pan!     When you look at other writers, do their achievements seem beyond you? Maybe you find yourself comparing your own work and its flaws stand out in stark contrast to their successes.    Being imperfect isn’t a hindrance to success, development or influence – sometimes it can even help.     Imperfection doesn’t mean failure – look at the people Jesus spent time with:     Peter –where do I start? Despite walking with Jesus, experiencing significant events including miracles, he still thought the best way to deal with the soldiers in Gethsemane was to chop an ear off! Then he denies Jesus three times, the very thing he just said he wouldn’t do. Yet Jesus saw him as a leader, as someone just right to build the early church.     Zaccheus was so flawed that he was despised by his community. He cheated and stole and was ostracised as a result, yet Jesus saw him and said, ‘Zaccheus, m

Yesterday, as part of a service I watched online, there was a lovely moment where the children of the church were videoed talking about their dads. One of the questions they were asked was ‘What do you like doing with your dad?’ One child said he liked it when his dad let him hold his model aeroplane. I may be making an assumption here, but I guess it’s a special plane. It was clearly a treat for the child to be allowed to hold it. Today, my nephew, Josiah, turns seven. A few weeks ago, his younger brother, Micah, turned five. As part of the online celebrations for Micah’s birthday, we watched a video of him as a baby arriving home from hospital. We saw little Josiah’s delight at being settled far back in an armchair and allowed to hold his baby brother. What about God? What does God give us to hold? Perhaps book ideas, article ideas, fingers that flow freely over a keyboard. It’s a privilege to hold these things for God. In the video of Josiah holding Micah, we saw that

“Let the name of the Lord be praised  both now and evermore.      From the rising of the sun  to the place where it sets the name of the Lord is to be praised.    The Lord is exalted over all the nations  his glory about the heavens.”     Ps.113:2-4    This photo was taken at the end of May.   What a glorious time!   I wrote my daily blogs under the gazebo, when hot dipped in the pool, where, with a small float device, I manage six strokes across the circumference!   Casa Johnson on the Bristol del Sol became our holiday destination.   I took two days off and enjoyed reading another author’s writing.   Today, the verse of scripture that comes to mind is “the Lord rains”…oops reigns! I have read UCB’s Word for Today since its inception.   When Bob Gass. its author died, I remember thinking I’d like to do something like that.   Only a week ago, I realised the Lord had heard that as a desire of my heart, because throughout lockdown that is exactly what I’ve been doing.