More than Writers

As I prepare this post, I'm at my fortnightly writers' group meeting. As usual, before we went into our 30/45 mins of quiet writing time, we had a great discussion about various aspects of the writing life and our own experiences. The subject of technology came up and how one of our members would love to be able to just think stuff and it would appear on the page. His thinking moves much faster than his writing or typing hand, and he would love if all the ideas in his head could simply be poured out, ready to edit. We laughed about how if that happened, other words might appear on the pages too; a reminder that we need to get milk, or the thing we’d really like to say to someone but can’t. Another of our members has just broken her wrist, so at the moment she’d love to have that technology. We’re not too far from it though are we? With voice memos on our phones and dictation apps on laptops, we could easily choose to forfeit pen or keyboard if we really wanted to. Non...

According to the infallible authority that is Wikipedia, “ In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in a large differences in a later state .” Clear as mud?  I’m with you on that one. Even if the obscure wording of Wikipedia doesn’t enlighten us much, I think most people are familiar with the concept of ‘The Butterfly Effect,’ - the idea that a small, seemingly insignificant event can cause ripples and effects we could hardly begin to imagine. Ray Bradbury’s chilling short story, ‘ A Sound of Thunder ,’ approaches this concept from a more sinister angle.   It is 2055 and a time travelling company runs a commercial operation, taking groups of people back to the time of the dinosaurs to hunt them.   The three men who take the trip in the story are warned to shoot only marked dinosaurs and to stay on the path provided.   Failing...

Photo by  Daria Shevtsova  from  Pexels No words at all. Absolutely no inspiration. Nothing.  That’s what I had when it finally dawned on me that my post for this blog was due. By this time each month I’ve usually had quite a few ideas, chosen one, written, uploaded and scheduled the post. But this time round I knew I was flailing. That is, until I stopped and then thought: but  this  could be the post.  Because what do we do, as writers, when words fail us? I know how important pushing past writer’s block is. I am what is called a ‘jobbing’ writer, as I not only write books but have regular articles that I need to produce to deadlines. I have got all of those articles due in the next month either done or drafted. What’s left are two long-term writing projects. And one of them, in particular, has me rather flummoxed, which is not a state I am used to. I know that my dried-up mind is actually reflective of my wh...

Writing can be full of fun, hope, spark and mischief. But it can also declare the very depths of the human condition. I was reading an article written by a person who didn't feel church was for them because the songs didn't seem to reflect the wide realities of life, capturing only the hopeful and joyous sides of faith without admitting to the hurting. I know what they mean, and yet I've been heartened in the last few years to note many worship songwriters producing songs which share raw pain as well as turning to hope. And that's been reflected in the Christian writing community, as well - with many writers feeling able to pour out their rage, their sadness - their lament, at last, instead of donning masks and sticking to a saccharine kind of pretence about life with Jesus being all joy and no depths. But writing lament is difficult. It rips pieces from us as we plunder the depths of our own pain and sorrow, and leaves us exhausted, spent. It's ...

This time of year there are a lot of writers’ and illustrators’ retreats, open days and conferences happening. If you are sick, housebound or strapped for cash, as many of us are, it is easy to feel as though there is a great deal of fun passing us by, and maybe just as importantly, that we are losing out on opportunities to make friends, learn more about our craft, and even pitch our ideas to publishers. This is when I feel most grateful for the internet. Stuck at home, I can still send out words and pictures, stories and ideas to the world and play my little creative part. I can submit to agents and publishers via email, and enter competitions just by using my keyboard. It all seems miraculous, especially when I think how much harder all this must have been for someone in my position even as short a time as twenty years ago, when everything had to be typed or printed and mailed, and there was no way to chat with a group of like-minded people as I now can every day with the A...

It’s ironic, isn’t it, as a writer, to run out of words? But there are times when events overtake us and life becomes overwhelming, emotions beyond the limits of mere language. As a writer, and a Christian, where words are what I turn to for expression and connection, both to others and to God, these can be the times when this lifeline deserts me and I am left drifting out on a sea of feelings and circumstances on nothing more substantial than a Lilo. That’s when I need a lifeboat manned by other people. That’s when, like the crippled man on the mat, I need to be carried by others’ faith. That’s when I need other people’s words to borrow. It’s often songs that help. The added benefit of music, which expresses more than lyrics alone, speaks directly to my heart and lets me expel the anguish of helplessness and longing as I sing along. Often I find a particular song ‘fits’ so I play and sing it repetitively, holding on to its truths for dear life. Se...

By Rosemary Johnson The ACW Writing for Children Competition finished on Monday 30, September.  Seventy-three members and non-members entered.  A big thank you to all of you.  You will now be sitting on the edges of your seats waiting for the results of the judging.  As is usual with our comps, we have a very strong field.  On Tuesday (8 October) Nikki Salt wrote about discerning which children’s authors will stand the test of time and which won't.  By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35425227 The BBC did not rate the author whose books I read compulsively during my primary school years.  The BBC banned all her stories and plays from the air for thirty years because they were lacking in “literary value" and "such very small beer" and her dialogue “ both stilted and long winded".  Despite the BBC, she has sold 600 million copies worldwide.  She is the fourth most translated of all authors and the most ...