More than Writers

Ben Jeapes’ March post mentioned St Giles’ church in Oxford.  That reminded me of a favourite young adult (YA) book: Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge. After wondering what gems there were on our shelves to read or reread (while it is impossible to visit the library) I had just decided on this one when the author was recommended in the Woman Alive Facebook group. Unusually for me, I decided to analyse the book as I went along making notes after each chapter about how the story had developed, which new characters and what background information were introduced. This was back in March. I have already reviewed the book on Sue’s Trifles . In case you are particularly interested in my analysis, my notes are in the photos below. Towers in the Mist was one of the first YA books I read. It was published as a Peacock, a long gone imprint of the Penguin group. (Puffin was for children, Penguin fiction for adults, Peacock, YA and Pelican, non-fiction.) As a younger ch...

I find writing reviews hard work, for although I can remember what I read, to 'give a short overview’ is not my thing. It’s not the overview bit that’s tricky, it’s the ‘short’ bit. You see, to me 3,000 words is flash fiction. After a while, the talk or lecture condenses in my head. I will be able to answer questions about it, but when asked, “So, what was it about?” well, that’s a different matter. July saw four brilliant Writers’ Days. I mean, the days were brilliant. (The writers as well, but it wasn’t aimed at only brilliant writers. Total newbies like me were welcome too.) I would love to summarise those days for you. If that was my thing. I’m not a very emotional person, but somehow my reviews or summaries tend to rely on feelings. “It was wonderful,” I would say, “Such an interesting talk.” Don’t ask why, it just was. My book reviews on various sites have the words enjoyed , brilliant , lovely , or even amazing in them. I don’t use complex words like ‘ protagonist’ , ...

I can guess what you’re thinking. Surely reading shouldn’t be a challenge to a writer? Surely it is something we just do (and absolutely love)? We know we need to read widely and well, including contemporary works, to have a good reading diet which, in turn, will inspire our imaginations, right? To say nothing of the fact it makes sense to support the industry we want to be part of, right? So many of us became writers because of our passion for stories in the first place. I know I had a sense of wanting to give something back to the great big writing pool as a way of saying thank you for all the pleasure I continue to have from the books I love. Asking yourself questions about work you've loved reading may trigger ideas for your work. It always has for me. Pixabay That’s all true but reading should be a challenge to a writer. Why? Good stories, of whatever length, should encourage us all to “up our game”. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve written one story or one mi...

Have you encountered a YouTube video described as The UK Blessing? If you haven’t, I would urge you to watch it. It may not be your kind of music but do try and listen to it all the way through, so you catch the gathering excitement of the song. It has, in my opinion, been a marvel of the lockdown. As far as I can tell the song was launched just ahead of the lockdown. In early March a video called ‘The Blessing’ appeared on YouTube by Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes of Elevation Worship, Ballantyne (which I take to be Ballantyne in North Carolina). By the time of writing this (21st July), that video had attracted more than 21 million viewings. And more than that, it had given rise to an amazing number of ‘split screen’ performances of the song where singers recorded from their own homes or in a remote location of their choice. Then the individual singers’ and musicians’ offerings were cleverly spliced together to make impressive complete videos.  The UK version involves more t...

Walking the pebbled sandy beach, the lap and roar of the waves, the stiff breeze in my face, the warm sun on my back.  Staggering together down the pebble slopes, me theoretically guiding Marilyn but Marilyn holding me up as I lose my balance yet again.  Flat wet sand without a pebble in sight.  Releasing Marilyn's arm and seeing her run forward in the joy of freedom;  unguided, uncontrolled. Memories like bubbles; a moment in time, Goldie diving into the sea to catch ball, us paddling and trying to stay upright as strong waves tug our ankles; salty air on my lips as I try to finish reading the chapter to Marilyn before the rain comes.  Sitting on the bench gasping after climbing the steep slopes of our zigzag; the joy of hot salty chips and ice cream dripping into Goldie's eager mouth.  Memories, as fleeting as a ray of sun bursting through the black clouds, as insubstantial as the grains of sand flowing through my fingers.  Yet ...

So, here we are in high summer. Courgettes are multiplying faster than keen gardeners can pick, cook and eat them, apples, plums and pears are ripening on the trees, the combine harvesters are making hay while the sun shines and many of us are facing up to the fact that we won't be having a summer holiday this year. At least not in the traditional sense of hopping on a plane or ferry with a phrase book and plenty of sun tan cream in your hand luggage. That got me to thinking about the last holiday I had. It was in October 2019 and it was an absolute corker. Had I known that that would be it for quite some time, I would probably have padlocked myself to the table in my favourite cafe and refused to move.  Comme ci comme ça .   Last December, my blog took you through the streets of Erquy, a little Breton town by the sea. Shamelessly plundering my October half term holiday there for the second time (life is copy, friends, it really is), let me take you to the bac à marée ....

Anyone share my frustration with the media during the COVID ridden last few months? I thought we could have done with more 'we'll meet again' and less daily diet of doom. Given the global emergency, there was some amazing stuff going on. But apart from the antics of the legendary Captain Tom (now Sir Tom) the news circus seemed to revel in subjecting us to a barrage of grief. Of course there were mistakes and we need to be made aware of the facts. But whilst journalists seemed to go out looking for trouble, they tripped blindly over all those amazing acts of kindness springing up from the grass roots. I only realised the scope of these when the BBC popped in a short programme about our hidden heroes of lockdown. More of that please! Much more! Like the brilliant stories of heroism from the VE Day screenings. They continue to inspire even now. Could it be that as christian writers we need to turn things around? People do want to read about the positives. Are we in danger...

In about 1888, Vincent van Gogh painted a picture with a difference. It was called Self-Portrait as a Painter.* He didn’t just paint himself sitting or standing; he painted himself painting himself . The action he was doing was itself the subject: it was a mirror event; a reflexive or recursive activity. The Selfie: photographing oneself photographing oneself... Self-portraiture is one of a fairly limited set of things that can be done recursively. You can carve a carving of a carver carving. You could (I suppose) make a cake in the shape of a person baking. More usefully, if you were a blacksmith you could use your forge to make an instrument used in the forge. Among the things created on the first Sabbath eve, the ancient Rabbis listed ‘the tongs made with tongs’. It was an acknowledgement of the philosophical problem of recursiveness in the context of manufacturing: if to make tongs you need tongs, how were the first tongs made? But there is one realm in which recursi...

Who Rules Your World by Rebecca Seaton Impact of a leader: My paternal grandad is still an inspiration today.     I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership lately. What makes a good leader? How and why do people become leaders? As Christians, we have a very unusual example of leadership in Jesus. He commands yet serves, has incredible power and authority but is able to be vulnerable, even to the extent of given his life. Other examples of leadership in the Bible show different facets of leaders – whether it’s the powerful Romans and Pharisees or more human leaders like Moses and David. What role do leaders play in our writing? Leaders can provide context: This is very important in world-building. As a fantasy writer, my kings, queens, religious leaders and politicians, and the way other characters approach them, demonstrate the kind of world people live in. However, I think the same is true of other genres. The police hierarchy is often crucia...

I apologise in advance for any typos in this blog. My hair, having been through the ‘getting in my eyes’ stage, is delighting in its current ‘obliterating my eyes’ status. Why, you might ask me, don’t you get a haircut? Ah. I live in Leicester. I see you nodding now. Yes, I am still in Lockdown. In relation to the current Leicester Lockdown, a local man in the news said: ‘We’ll just have to watch while everyone else goes to the seaside.’ Perhaps, as writers, we sometimes feel in lockdown.  We don’t seem to be moving.   We just have to watch while everyone else goes to the metaphorical seaside of contracts, and books, and publishers, and articles. Last week, in an online bible study group, I began looking at the book of Colossians. Paul wrote to the Colossian Christians while he was in prison.  He was in lockdown.  He was going nowhere, while the world outside him carried on. And yet, he knew what was happening in the world out...

"May the God of peace,  who through the blood of  the eternal covenant...equip  you with everything good  for doing his will, and may  he work in us what is  pleasing to him." Hebrews 13:20 & 21  When I wrote my June contribution to this blog, my  'Food for Thought'  blog was ending it's second series of forty consecutive days. Despite a week off between two series, I was beginning to feel the strain.  In publishing the final one, I so desired to bless the Lord I used a YouTube video of Matt Redmond singing '10,000 reasons' at the Royal Albert Hall and felt submerged in unspeakable joy. Three glorious days followed. We had a brief vacation at Casa Johnson on the Bristol del Sol, dipping into our small pool where the temperature rose to thirty-three degrees.   It was ice creams at 4.00 pm, dinner with Sangria at 7.00 pm.  Under the gazebo the temperature was still thirty degrees, so n...

I have a folder full of story starts, sentences I like the sound of, and ideas I've picked up here, there and everywhere. I rarely if ever delete anything I type. I've a host of 'draft' blog posts. Just because I couldn't finish something, it doesn't mean the beginning won't come in useful some day. My current major WIP, one I've been working on for  two and a half years, has a separate document with all the sentences and paras I've cut out. I'm pretty sure I'll find a use for them someday, if not right back in the manuscript they came from. I'm grateful this was a habit I was taught early on in my writing life. I was encouraged to think of every unused sentence as potential raw material for the next project. I often read though my folder of 'stuff' and find an old gem that works in something new. In fact, just the other day, I found a notebook with pages of thoughts and even a couple of first draft stories, all ready to be ...

2 Corinthians 5:18 It is God who, through Christ, bridged the gap between us…   Qualitative research is all about listening, gathering words and responses to questions and then pondering and presenting the answers. Hermeneutics enters this field of social research to say that a voice is important to God. He sees. He hears. He has written.   As a researcher I am incredibly nosey. I have had the privilege of learning to listen to  questions/answers about why people do what they do. When studying for a masters in Social Policy I was taught there are strict ethical standards to guide me in ways of gathering responses. These standards are to engender respect for humankind.    Below I’ve listed a sample of some of the standards I used for a recent paper on Female Baptist Aid and Development Workers in Disaster Relief:   Ethical   Standards for Interviews of Baptist Women Working in Disaster Relief   1.      Each interviewee will...