More than Writers

About ten days ago, I wrote a short piece for the ACW Flash Fiction Group, reflecting a pet bugbear of mine.   Here is the story below, which I entitled  The Organist’s Wife, but  before you read it, l et me explain.  My husband, Bret, is a brilliant church organist, but there is one conversation I dread whenever I attend musical events with him.   ‘Are you musical?’     She tilts her head to one side, sure she knows the answer. ‘No.’  ‘But you’re Peter’s wife.’   Would she ask Posh Spice if she played football?  ‘I think you’re just being modest.’ ‘No.’  This woman, whom I’ve never met before, has been annoying me from the moment she walked in declaring in a loud voice, ‘Music is my religion’.  I’m itching to challenge her, especially as we’re in church, but during my own husband’s organ recital is hardly the time. ‘You play an instrument?’ ‘No.’  ‘Maybe you sing?’ ‘No.’  I press my fingers agains...

  Goldie at the highest waterfall in the Netherlands We’re staying in the Netherlands again, drinking in the warm weather and Dutch food. It’s been more than a year since staying as a family. I have been a couple of times by myself, just to see my parents, as my mother has been diagnosed with health problems. Staying in the Netherlands is always filled with memories. Like taking my children to the huge outdoor pool, joined by my best friend and her children. We used to go to this pool when we were teens, and we agreed that the noise and smell is still exactly the same. The area around the pools has changed a little, but when you close your eyes, you can hear the same shrieking voices, the splash of someone jumping off the highest diving board and the chattering voices of hundreds of people. If I were to write a book about swimming pools, that would have to be the essence of the setting. I spend a little time with my mother one afternoon. We walked along a smooth path to the hig...

 Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. My thoughts have turned to competitions as I’m judging again for a Scottish writing group soon. I also enter various competitions regularly.   The big advantages to entering competitions, from a writer’s viewpoint, are:- They get you used to writing to deadlines. They get you used to following rules. I’ve been amazed at how many try to get away with not doing so. Hint - it never works, folks.   If you are listed or win, you have something fabulous to put on your writing CV, website, newsletter etc. From a judge’s viewpoint, can I tell how much (or little) editing people have carried out on their piece? Yes! When at least one thorough edit has been carried out on a story, there won’t be things like character names changing half way through the tale (it happens) or line spacing changing for no reason (it happens). Spelling and grammar will have been checked (and checked again).  I find it use...

IT’S MY NAME ON THE BOOK! This post is a new awareness and a light shed on writing for me and maybe for you too. Two weeks ago, my 7 grandchildren spent a week with us at our home. It taught me a very big lesson.   I had prayed against accidents, costly mistakes and had prayed for favour, God’s blessings and increased GRACE. Yes! Grace in particular.   After it all, I knew God had given me increased grace. It was like running a crèche:   I had attended to different needs, personalities, gender and ages. The youngest is 3 and the oldest is 10.It was a huge success because of God’s Grace. I realise that in my writing journey, in its early stages, I didn’t ask for God’s grace with understanding and knowledge as I did with my grands.   I may have been unconsciously concerned with the glory of my name on the book, seeking my glory and not God’s - on thoughts of my writing out living me like Shakespeare!! What a large trap to fall in – To exchange God’s glory for our...

I was reading in the Song of Solomon today and a verse stopped me in my tracks: 'My lover spoke and said to me, 'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one and come with me.' (2:10)   'Arise.'  He was calling me.  'Arise, Tracy' look up from what you are doing, turn away from the things that are holding your attention.  Will you put them aside, just for a moment?  I've come to be with you.  I want to talk with you, to share my heart and for you to share yours.  Arise.  Come be with me.'   In the poem the beloved is already in a place of attentive listening and that is why she hears her lover calling her.   But the question came to me, am I already in a place of attentive listening?  Do I expect to hear His call to arise?  When I see how His words were so full of tender, intimate love 'my darling, my beautiful one,' do I expect Him to have that same longing in His voice when He calls me?   Through these beautif...

Image by  Ryan McGuire  from  Pixabay Children in playgrounds shout comments, “Ah, you’re nothing but a rotten banana!” They mocked, jeered and blew raspberries at you, but did the combination of raspberry and banana make you feel like a fruit salad? Of course not. There is a saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Many of us were brought up on this saying and the line, “Big boys (& girls) don’t cry.” Both of these comments are lies, which damage and we are all allowed to cry. It helps me to stay sane (some may question that statement). The damage caused during our youth is like a seed. We bury them deep within our psyche, where they take root, propagate and shoot into the beast that we know as ‘imposter syndrome.’ You tell yourself that your writing is rotten, just like that banana. Maybe you have only recently started writing and you feel more like a bitter, green banana. You ask yourself on an almost daily basis, “Who ...

 Readers of a certain age might remember a sit-com starring Ronnie Corbett, where the phrase ‘Language, Timothy!’ was used repeatedly to comic effect. Well this post isn’t about that kind of ‘language’, even though my husband is called Timothy…  Still from BBC Sitcom 'Sorry!' I love watching my small grandchildren grow and develop. They are both in the stages of learning everything at an exponential rate, including how to speak and to read and to use the language they are assimilating. In their case it will be English/Welsh combined probably; by far the best way of learning a second language! The 3 year old was slow to speak, but now he is making up for lost time. He can have an almost ‘adult’ conversation with you, hears and remembers everything said in his hearing, especially the things not meant for his ears, and can ignore instruction at will. He can tell you emphatically the difference between a 'digger' and an 'excavator', a 'backhoe' and a '...

  Apple Trees and Explosions by Rebecca Seaton   Story Structure   There are many ways to tell a story but structure has to be there first. We also need drama or nobody continues reading, so here’s how we can cunningly combine both.   Explosions   The title got your attention, didn’t it? More than if I’d called it effective structure and plotting. Nobody watches Eastenders to see people drink tea and help each other, viewers want the bust-ups and revelations. However, if they happen every two minutes, it has less impact. The same is true of any writing. So plot your explosions, like hand grenades dropped into the work, finishing with a big blast near the end. Maybe your character needs a small detonation to get going, or to make a critical decision at the midway point. A big event, whether physical or emotional, could be just the key they need.   Apple trees and constant growth   As constant explosions are a bit much they could ...

author's own photo All fiction is a form of escapism ; be it a novel, a film, a short cartoon or a soap opera. We read or watch to bury ourselves into a world that isn’t our own. To have a break from our lives. That doesn’t mean we don’t learn from fiction, quite the opposite. As former children’s laureate Anne Fine says,   Living your life is a long and doggy business... Stories and books help. Some help with the living itself. Some help you just take a break. The best do both at the same time. We may recognise something of ourselves in a character or situation; gain compassion and understanding for someone with very different priorities or experiences to ourselves. Or contemplate how we might cope if we were pushed to the extremes that are more often found in fiction than in real life (thankfully). The escapism comes in different forms. Fantasy and sci-fi offer alternate worlds, completely removed from our own reality. These styles of writing can offer a lot for Christian...