I was into my sixties when I began writing. Most successful writers took half a lifetime to hone their craft. Us silver scribblers have less time to smooth out those wrinkles in our writing that identify an apprentice wordsmith. This blog is about my own writing wrinkles. (You may prefer to call them laughter-lines but … Continue reading Laughter Lines
Christmas Starts Here
’Twas the night before Christmas when Santa’s new elf, in the vast, silent workshop, sat all by herself. She’d been fetching and carrying, sent to and fro making tea, running errands – the least of the low. And she’d mucked out the stables, not noticing that daft old Rudolph was munching her new elven … Continue reading Christmas Starts Here
Switching on the imagination
I sometimes feel that, as a fledgling writer, my advice on here is rather like the blind leading the blind (excuse cliche ). With that in mind, I share these thoughts from our writing group’s blog.
A spectacular Fenland Sunrise One of the most beautiful sunrises I have witnessed
Reading is a means of switching on the imagination. The pictures drawn in the mind, the voices heard and the drama that unfolds can be as real to a reader as anything encountered in life. In many ways it is a better reality, one that is acceptable on the reader’s terms, limited by what they want to take out of it or see within it.
As writers we grope around for the switch that lights the imagination of our readers. The words though must first paint pictures in our own minds, we are after all the first reader. Hopefully these pictures will be seen in the mind’s eye of our readers. We know they will see different pictures to ours, pictures on their terms. The voices too they hear will have different accents to the ones in…
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Leaving Us
‘What’s this on the carpet? Digger’s thrown up. Go on girl – in the garden.’ ‘What’s she been eating?’ my husband asks from the sofa. As if I’d know. ‘This is clear bile, but there’s a patch of something brown as well.’ I go to get water and paper roll from the kitchen, where I find … Continue reading Leaving Us
Danny Boy
As previously reported, I entered the recent 24-hour short story contest run by Angela Hoy's Writer's Weekly. com (https://24hourshortstorycontest.com/ ) – just to see if I could. Thinking up stories on the hop isn't my strong point. As promised in my earlier post, the story is reproduced below. On the date of the contest, (around 6pm … Continue reading Danny Boy
Fred’s Legacy
We bought a pre-loved camper-van. We’d travelled up by train. The owner’s dog had crept inside and wouldn’t come out again. The lady planned to emigrate. She’d shown us both around, watched carefully by Algernon, an indeterminate hound. . Embarrassed, she said, ‘Take him too. ‘He won’t cost much to feed. ‘He can’t come when … Continue reading Fred’s Legacy
Tell It Like It Is
Dialogue can be tricky. If you want to make your characters’ conversations sparkle, there is plenty of good advice on the internet. But first, tidy up basics, like punctuation and speech tags, that can distract from your brilliant banter. This is a checklist to help you dust off your dialogue ready for that final polish that … Continue reading Tell It Like It Is
Goblins and Trolls
When goblins denigrate your work, and trolls belittle every line, Don’t even try to understand the labyrinth of their twisted minds. Trolls delight in others’ pain – seek to destroy, not to create, And leave behind them worms of doubt that stir your fears and feed on hate. Picture Henson’s Labyrinth creatures – … Continue reading Goblins and Trolls
Sticks and Stones
Remember the old playground chant? Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me. Sadly, it’s only true in the physical sense; harsh words from those we love or trust often hurt, but unkind criticism from those who don’t know us should be another matter. Us beginners need to arm ourselves … Continue reading Sticks and Stones
Inspiration Perspiration
My biggest writing challenge is thinking up stories. I read blogs and comments from writers with stories springing like weeds in their heads, jostling to be told. My head is a cerebral wasteland where few shoots flourish. After decades of neglect, my imagination seems to have withered. Advice from bloggers and magazine articles includes keeping … Continue reading Inspiration Perspiration
Another One I Made Earlier
I've just added Postcard from Malta to Commaful – a quick read with pictures. Photo by Artur Roman on Pexels.comThis was my response to a short writing group challenge at a time when we had other tasks to complete around Where the Wild Winds Blow, the anthology we are about to self-publish. Our responses to … Continue reading Another One I Made Earlier
