More than Writers

  As you will be aware, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (otherwise known as the COP26 Summit) begins in Glasgow today.   You may be familiar with the COP26 Goals .   Or you may be thinking ‘Boring’. But please don’t stop reading .  This is not going to be a smug lecture on how ‘we are all guilty’.  Industry and heavily industrialised countries, including China, the United States and India, must take their share of responsibility for the emission of greenhouse gases (principally carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) which are the driving force in climate change.  These greenhouse gases trap heat close to the earth’s surface and thereby warm it up, like a blanket. A certain amount of greenhouse gas is essential, as otherwise earth would be too cold to live on, but, between 1990 and 2018, greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 50%*.  This is the problem, and it is an urgent one. It is said that ‘young people’ care about the env...

Time is a funny thing, which probably explains the number of books about time travelling and time machines. It’s the way time crawls before something exciting happens. Anticipation is a lovely thing in my eyes, which made it so baffling when our children first arrived. There was no anticipation. None. No excited little faces before birthdays (also no four o’clock wakeup visits to check if it was their birthday yet!), no list-making before St Nicholas or Christmas. Over time, my children have all learned the art of anticipation, with varying levels of anxiety alongside it. Especially during the last couple of years, when predictability and control are up in the air, joyful anticipation has shrunk and is back to a wistful, “Who knows, we might be able to meet friends.” It will be November in a few days, and I’m excited as ever. It’s time for NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. The aim is to write 50,000 words in November. I have taken part the last few years and always made it. ...

  Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.  It was wonderful being back in London for an in-person ACW Writers’ Day on 9th October. It was great to be face-to-face with ACW members again.   I find days like this, and events on Zoom , uplifting and boost my writing, but there are ways to re-create some of that effect at home. Carve out time to write and guard it. Plan in advance how to use that time. You’ll get more done and that boosts productivity and confidence building. Never worry if you have ten minutes and that’s it. You can draft a flash story or the opening for a longer work.  Sometimes I use pockets of time to brainstorm ideas for future story/blog post ideas. It’s never wasted time because when I do have longer at my desk, I can go to my notebook, pick an idea I like, and get on with it. The “brain work” of coming out with the idea has been done and I’m not writing “cold”. Treat yourself to a new book , fiction or otherwise (a...

  STORMS IN WRITING! I discovered a piece of writing that I had crafted in response to Liz Carter’s post at some point in time, probably about a year ago! I believe I never posted it or did I?   She wrote about the dark side of her health and its effects on her life as a writer, while holding on to God and leaning on His joy to strengthen her! Do not ask me for the date. I unfortunately don’t know and I also then did not know how to find the blog post!!!   I have come a long way, I tell you! But re-reading through my response again, I realise that there is something which could serve as food for thought for us all as writers.   We could experience storms in various degrees in every stage of our writing: from getting the idea, making a start, completing the chapters, arriving at the last full stop to signify finish and then moving on to publishing and marketing. So, for example, there are ‘sale storms’, ‘review storms’, etc well, welcome to EPISODE 2 of my ‘NOTHI...

For my blog I am privileged to interview Ruth Leigh about her just published,   novel: The Trials of Isabella M Smugge which follows on from ‘The Diary of Isabella M Smugge.   I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading it and wanted to ask Ruth about what went into her writing such a sequel.   I found her answers really inspiring, making me want to try writing a novel myself (my lifelong dream!).   I hope  you’ll find the interview inspiring too. Ruth you’ve just published your 2 nd  Isabella M Smugge novel! Well done, that is a wonderful achievement.  I was so excited to receive my copy and got stuck into it straight away and loved it! How does it feel to hold book 2 in your hands and know that thousands of eager readers will be devouring it?   It was just as exciting as holding the first book! Although I was considerably calmer and less sleep-deprived the second time round. I was feeling a bit nervy, to be honest, as even though my husband, the fi...

Last week I took some time out in Enneagram-land, courtesy of an excellent online course run by the Scargill Community. As you may know, the Enneagram is a personality assessment tool, with the aim of gaining deeper self-knowledge and spiritual life insights. As you respond to a series of statements about yourself, your answers guide you down a path towards one of nine (“ennea” in Greek) categories, identified by a number and a descriptive name. I am still a beginner in this process, but I did learn some interesting things during the course. Not all of them comfortable, but mostly enlightening. Here are just two observations: Firstly, much as I expected and wanted to, I couldn’t quite squeeze myself into the criteria for Number 4, “The Artist/Romantic”. With my poetic aspirations, I was hoping to indulge a long-held secret urge to swan around in extravagant scarves and frilly sleeves, pausing only to languish dramatically on a threadbare chaise longue. Alas. (I may be exaggerating ...

  Let me begin by saying what an absolute privilege it is to be able to write this, my first blog for More Than Writers. I only joined ACW at the beginning of the year, but to be honest it already feels like I’ve been here years! I have loved reading the MTW blog from the moment I started receiving the links – thank you for the encouragement, creativity and laughs. When I found the ACW it was as if I had found the ‘long lost family’, that I didn’t even know I had. I have always loved writing, and have written in many forms over the years. It was only when I unexpectedly became a published Christian fiction writer that I discovered the ACW. I didn’t know any other Christian writers, and it was heaven sent provision to find people who understood the language peculiar to writers. Who understood the frustrations of getting words onto the page, the ins and outs of editing, publishing and marketing. From my first nervous attendance at WORDY CHAT, friendships have formed which have ke...

  From Spare Oom to War Drobe by Katherine Langrish is a brilliant book, and for people interested in children’s writing or in C. S. Lewis it is a must. Langrish, as a nine-year-old, adored the Narnia books and believed fervently in the real existence of Narnia. As an adult and a successful published writer of fantasy for children and young adults, she is still an enthusiast for the books, but with the more mature and critical appreciation of someone who has worked in the same genre and has researched and thought deeply about Lewis’s enterprise. Her great achievement in FSOTWD is to retell the story of each Narnia book (in Lewis’s preferred order), without tediously rehashing them. Instead she makes her way lightly through the narrative, viewing it with both her nine-year-old eyes and her adult eyes, comparing their impressions, and showing us both the magic that lasted and the magic that tarnished, together with the reasons she ascribes for its success or failure. The result is t...

  The Writing Process: Celebrating by Rebecca Seaton Look, I made this! My mini-series draws to a close with ‘Celebrating’ which really combines many of the elements of the writing process I’ve already discussed, but particularly sharing and advertising. The Bible says, ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.’ (Romans 12:15) If you have been sharing the process then your friends and early readers have suffered the process with you, so let them also embrace the result! I think we sometimes hold off on this because we want to demonstrate humility and don’t want to seem to be elevating ourselves above others who have been less successful. However, if we acknowledge the role of God and other people in our writing journey, we are not doing this. In addition, our success may be an inspiration to others, especially if they know that we have had doubts and obstacles to deal with along the way. How can we do this? Tell people! My process is very simple. At any...

During the summer, I went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition. There were some stunning images. I was with two of my nephews, and most of the pictures took on lives of their own, as we created stories from them. One picture was of a big cat walking on a fallen tree across a river, and we talked about whether it was trying to get from something or to something. Josiah (8) said, ‘We could write a story about this. You write a bit, then I’ll write a bit, etc’. So we are. In case you're wondering, the cat is trying to get away from something. I think. It was last time, anyway, but these things can change... Josiah is very keen on books. For him, both writing and reading are things to be enjoyed together. But what about times when, despite ACW and all the support it offers, we feel as though we are going it alone? ‘Writing is a lonely job.’ – Stephen King Another photo at the exhibition was of a dolphin leaping out of the water. I said to the boys, “look at tha...

  Speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.                                            Eph.5:19         Thank you to those useful and encouraging comments made about Part 1 in September. It was good to hear from a songwriter in our midst.  When I started writing on this theme inspiration came thick and fast enough to two, if not three blogs which was fortunate as being away, I need to post this one in advance.    Over the years the Lord's Word even in song has the power to touch my heart.  In times of trouble, He leads me to songs relevant to my circumstances which have brought me to off-load my burden.  In praise and worship, peace flows bringing me to His refuge, His resting place and where His love, releases faith, trust and assurance that He knows and i...