More than Writers

  I love the end of year/start of new year days. It’s fun to say to the kids, this is your last bath, you won’t have one for the rest of the year, or threaten with no more puddings for the rest of the year… Then there are all those new diaries you just have to get. Plotting ones, journalling ones, too pretty to use ones… Then there are the hard parts, the looking back and seeing the grief and heartache of the last year. Exactly two months ago my very special mum passed away, and that grief has been knocking at my door every day in odd moments, unexpected and rather unwelcome. This year has been harder, knocking me down more than I ever imagined could happen to me, but God has been closer and more gracious than I imagined as well. Our day to day lives have changed enormously, and slowly I have started to recover a little energy and I have a few beautiful new notebooks lined up for projects, although one or two may or may not be too nice to write in… In the Netherlands, till ab...

  Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. It’s amazing how quickly twelve months go by, isn’t it? It seems only five minutes ago I was writing my January 2025 piece for More Than Writers .  I used to stay up to see the New Year in but don’t now since I realised I appreciated sleep more! There is a lovely old hymn which has the line “the storms may roar without me”. Indeed, they can, and the New Year can come in without me being about to witness the year change at midnight! What is promising about a New Year is it is a new start. I don’t make resolutions. I do take time out to review my writing life and then work out what I’d like to achieve (or make progress towards achieving) in the next twelve months.  A review of where your writing is at can be a great motivational tool, even if you have nothing published yet. Why? Because I’ve found the simple act of writing down what you would like to achieve means you are more likely to do something to...

Image: Wikimedia Commons We spent Christmas this year with relatives who live on the East Coast in Clacton-on-Sea. The main festivities are now over, and we have entered the fallow week between Christmas and New Year, when the old year has gone, and the new is yet to come.  I like the concept of a fallow or in-between time. It puts me in mind of medieval peasants ploughing their strip of land in preparation for planting the next year’s essential crop, the food they needed to survive the harsh months of winter.  Seeing as I have no actual land to look after, I will traditionally spend some of this time having a good old clear-out with my daughter, who loves to organise. It will result in taking a car full of surplus possessions to the Hospice shop. I guess a clear-out is a bit like preparing the ground for a new crop. Or is that stretching the analogy too far?  Image: author's own Our hotel room in Clacton overlooked the sea, so we had the privilege of being able to see th...

  Do you keep a diary? Or three? Currently all my dates are on my kitchen calendar. Bit big to stuff in my handbag. Although I have been known to do that on occasion when I used a slimline one. I have bought a 25 /26 diary which I’m trying to carry with me. Sadly, remembering to do so is very trying.  I was thinking a week or two ago about getting organised for next year. Only thinking you understand, one absolutely cannot rush these things.  After a suitable period of deliberation I pulled up my big girl pants (note to self… don’t forget to sign up to Slimming World in January – their invitation to come back came last week but I really couldn’t be cheeky enough to turn up for the first time on Christmas party day).  A few restorative mugs of coffee (and maybe a glass of even more mind building wine) later I decided there was no time like the present (no, not talking about SW). I pulled this year’s Myslexia diary off the shelf. An amazing resource which I am as...

Growing up as a child, I marvelled at the magic of Christmas, yet now, having been a Christian for nearly 40 years, I realise that the Nativity story has become distorted. The story is now a blend of Scripture with tradition, legend, and artistic imagination. Let’s break down some of the major ways the Christmas story has been distorted or mythologised: 1. The Setting: A Stable vs. a House Traditional image: Jesus was born in a stable with animals around Him. Historical/Scriptural reality: The Greek word used in Luke 2:7 is kataluma , often translated as “inn” but more accurately a guest room or upper room. Many scholars believe Jesus was likely born in a lower room or courtyard of a relative’s home in Bethlehem, where animals were kept on the ground floor—hence the “manger.” It wasn’t a separate barn in the middle of nowhere. Implication: The cosy, romanticised stable is likely more an artistic convention than a historical fact. ...

'Well, I don't think it's funny.'  The first voice was a bit rusty, maybe not used to being used that much. The second voice was a lot younger. 'You've got no sense of humour, that's your problem.' 'I like to say things as I find them,' the first voice insisted. 'And I say they don't wear socks.' The announcement was met with silence, so the first speaker repeated: 'No socks. Dirty feet in dirty sandals. You've got to get it right.' 'Well, all right,' the second voice said. 'But it wouldn't rhyme.' 'Humph!' the first voice snorted. 'Rhyme, fal-de-lals, artistic nonsense.' 'Do you call a sky full of angels artistic nonsense?' 'Ah. There you have me. I must say He can put on a good show.' First voice sighed with loud contentment. 'And that was a good show. Glorious. Glory... ' 'Don't sing!' second voice said quickly, urgently. 'Oh, don't worry. ...

  You know when you’ve proof-read something so many times you’re no longer actually reading it? It’s so familiar you know it inside out and are convinced it’s as good as it can be. Then it appears in print in a magazine or on a blog, and all you can see is ‘there’ where it should be ‘their’ (or another silly typo). The misplaced word jumps out at you like it was written in a large, bold font and underlined in red. And you can’t understand how you ever missed it. Just me? I doubt it. It’s amazing how easy it is to miss the little mistake. But what about the bigger things we miss? I’m in the middle of writing a YA novel. It has Christian themes and Christian characters, but faith isn’t the main focus of the narrative. At the minute, I’m a bit bogged down. The beginning is written, the end is planned out, it’s just the sticky middle that is causing problems. I need to dig my main character out of a bit of a plot hole and find a more subtle way to introduce an apparently i...

  RISKY BUSINESS When I was a child, one of the things that we use to do was play the board game Monopoly. The whole family played. We would start on Christmas Eve and the game usually ended on Box Day at some point. Board games can often give you insight into someone character. How competitive they are or their attitude to risk taking. (Useful tool for a writer). One of my brothers always bought the railway stations and utilities rather than houses because he wanted a steady income and knew he would get it because of the supply/demand for them. Another brother went for the expensive properties figuring that if he got in financial difficulties – which he often did because he over stretched himself when playing, he could sell without losing the whole portfolio. Interesting one is now a commercial banker and the other a solicitor.   The banker was the one who went for the stations and utilises while the other Pall Mall and Regent Street properties. What is your attitud...

I had routine appointment with my GP a couple of weeks ago. I’d not seen this particular doctor before. When I walked into the consulting room, her back was to me, and she was reading my notes on the screen. I realised she was saying something but, being deaf and also unable to lipread the back of someone’s head, I didn’t know what she was saying.  I moved in front of her and asked if she realised I was deaf? It’s not an unusual question for me to ask, I don’t mind that people often don’t realise. But the doctor was mortified that she hadn’t known. She apologised, repeatedly, and checked my notes. Eventually, she came across the word ‘deaf’ hidden in amongst other text. She could’ve known, but the word wasn’t easy to spot. Immediately, the doctor wrote this note for the administrator:   ‘ Could you kindly put the hearing impairment in capitals on patient’s high priority reminder, and in first part of homepage. Thank you. Easy to miss. ’   My note...

  Hello everyone. I hope that you are well. Christmas is nearly upon us, and my brain is scrambled. After a period of illness many years ago now, I always speak sternly to myself before the Christmas Hoo-Ha begins and say that it is a miracle that I am here and I will enjoy it and not get too het up about everything that goes on. And, every year I fail.  So, taking into account that finding the time to think, write or create anything meaningful has been impossible, I thought I would share with you a story that my father told me many years ago that has the most tenuous connection to writing and then leave you to your own devices. Apologies if you have all heard this before. A moth and a mouse were the best of friends. They would go everywhere together. They would spend Saturdays shopping, drinking coffee, trying on shoes and wondering if they could get away with a sequinned kaftan. If the mouse sometimes became a bit frustrated with the moth who, with the ability to actually fl...

So Long, Farewell: A Final Post from Natasha Woodcraft It's been my privilege to occupy the 20th Day of More Than Writers month with you for the past two and a half years. In that time, you've journeyed with me through the highs and lows of publishing two prayer journals and a novel, writing numerous blog posts, moving to a smallholding, acquiring about 30 animals, setting up a new Christian publishing company, selling books, giving away books, failing to sell books – and figuring out how to praise God through it all. What a ride it's been. Finding Creative Corners When we first met in August 2023, I was writing about "Cooking, Crabbing and Creative Corners" – stealing 15 minutes at the laptop during the school holidays and starting my day with God at 6am before the chaos began. 'Finding creative corners is difficult when life is chaotic', I wrote then. 'Yet these precious moments are what keep us going, what define the difference between existing ...