More than Writers

                                                                    This post was prompted by two things. One by my love of the work of Stephen King, and two, by the blog post written by Jane Clamp back in January . That seems so long ago now.  About a year and a half ago, I started reading The Stand . At 1, 200 pages long, it's an epic read. It's a tale of good vs Evil. Mother Abigail against Randell Flagg. God vs the Devil. Yes, it's about a plague. A plague very similar to the flu. I wouldn't blame you if you stopped reading now, but I hope you won't. I was hesitant whether to write on this, yet at the same time, it's certainly topical. The main reason I wanted to post though was to show that their is a lot of light amongst the horror in this book. I'll admit that about halfway though the book, I was...

I wrote this a year or so ago but I don’t think I ever published it. I would be very interested in your thoughts. I watch a father walk his son to school. They make a lovely picture. The small boy, chatting away like a little sparrow, trotting to keep up with his dad’s longer strides. Nodding and smiling in response, the man trusts his dog to guide them along the busy pathway and stop outside the school gates. “Bye, son.” The man’s hand brushes across the top of the boy’s head, his sightless eyes full of love. “See you later, Dad.” I write this attempting to avoid the word ‘blind’ not because it is in anyway shaming or disparaging but because I want to paint a description of the man and his character and not his disability. In fact, why should I even mention ‘sightless eyes?’. I want my readers to know this man is an amazing dad in spite of his visual impairment. But, what I wrestle with is this: why should I even mention it? By not mentioning it, I...

It’s not often I post a photo of myself in a blog. Especially not one about writing. However, it does tie in with my topic today. As I write this, it is Microcephaly Awareness Day and people around the world are being asked to wear yellow in support. My friends’ daughter has microcephaly, so I stepped up to the plate and rocked yellow. However, this did get me thinking about the books I not only read, but write. How diverse is our, or indeed my, writing when it comes to including characters with disabilities?  In my case, in my Fergus and Flora Mysteries, Flora’s sister has Down Syndrome and Fergus has severe asthma. This was never a deliberate effort to include disabled characters, rather the characters wrote themselves. It seemed natural and the characters are all the better for this. In fact, Bella, the girls with Down Syndrome, is crucial when it comes to solving the mysteries. In my Cass Claymore Investigates series, Quill, one of the main characters, has dwarfism. This...