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WELCOME HOME, MANDY!!!!

So great to have you back. I have been wondering how you’ve been getting on. I know a lot has gone on for you.

I’m pleased you’re engaging with your draft. It’s rough, that point int he process!

Power to your elbow…

Looking to a Brighter Future

Me old bones ache, Vee, sitting here hour-on-hour, gawping at you in that hospital bed. Look how quiet you are; how still. Niver would’ve stayed so still in the old days, hey? Specially when we first met, at the rockabilly café, remember? Shaking the floor dancing and, later, rocking the back of my old Cortina, you sh…[Read more]

@raine Hello! Yes, I think I’ve solved it, though it would help if everyone could just accept that in the first few chapters of my novel, Thursday becomes Friday without anyone sleeping 😀

@kazg Hello to you too! I’m feeling a bit of second book pressure, mainly because Home had the USP of a child’s voice and this one doesn’t have that so I’m…[Read more]

@libby I didn’t for a long time (esp with Twitter) and now I have, it’s hard to switch off from it as it is addictive. But I think I’m learning to manage it better to get the best bits out of it without the worst bits dragging me down.

@janeshuff I’m sorry you and your family have been through a similar thing. It does change everything. I hope…[Read more]

Hello @skylark! and everyone else! How nice to see you all here having a chat. Exciting about your second book Mandy, I’m sure it’ll be a cracker. Are you feeling any of those second book pressures after a successful book 1? I loved Jessika so much – in fact there is a wonderful book shop here, my local one luckily, called Brunswick Bound. They…[Read more]

@Raine I like that quote (it reminds me of the fake George Orwell one). Whether it helps or not is a different question, but as Joseph Conrad pointed out, ‘action is consolatory’.

@skylark I’ve been following your family’s journey when you’ve posted on Facebook and I can’t begin to express my admiration. The strength conferred by love is…[Read more]

@libby my take on it has always been that the laxative story is apocryphal. I think you’d have to ingest an awful lot of the stuff to have any effect, and the diffusion of the oil in the exhaust would make that difficult. One version I heard was that there were all sorts of things likely to have a laxative effect on pilots of that era – alcohol…[Read more]

Hello @skylark my lovely. Great to see you venturing back in. I’m not a big presence here, but I do love being able to come in and know I’ll find friends. Hope the second draft continuity glitch is resolving itself. Who needs continuity anyway? I think most things temporal should be banned from novels. Really, why do days of the week need to…[Read more]

The Brexit Blues. Ugh. Yes. And the Climate Change existential fear. And the daughter-entering-teen-sexual-harrassment-age dread. I tell you, grown men eyeing up a twelve year old girl makes me very VERY stabby.
But, yes, Brexit and the fundamental damage to our society that seems to have come about have had (are having) an effect on my general…[Read more]

Thanks, @Daedalus. I’ll read the article with interest 🙂
I can use castor oil as a bit of sensory detail in my novel. It was just that I know the smell of linseed but can’t remember the smell of castor though tins of Castrol were ubiquitous during my childhood, as was the smell of oil in general.

I suspect the laxative story was probably…[Read more]

It must have been an awful time @skylark. We have been through a similar experience with our youngest grandson and it has changed everything particularly for his mum. But how wonderful that both you and @daedalus found writing helped.

Hi @Libby – I can recommend trying to channel the emotions from current affairs into writing, although I think you have to be in a reasonably strong state to do it. It can be hard to write anything much when life has you beaten down.

Ah, oil in biplanes! I don’t know about linseed oil, but castor oil was a very common lubricant for early…[Read more]

I’m very sorry you and your son have had to cope with a cancer diagnosis, @skylark.

I’ve never signed up to any social media and so far haven’t felt tempted. Not just the polarised views but the amount of time it can take up!

I’m glad you were able to translate real life into other real life, as it were, @Daedalus . Sounds a very successful strategy.

BTW, please can I ask you a question about linseed oil in biplanes? Was it used or have I imagined this? If it was, presumably pilots and passengers would have been able to smell it?

I know that Brexit and politics in general has had an impact on my writing because I found myself getting more and more sucked into arguing on Facebook and Twitter and that, I have come to realise, is the worse kind of political discussion because there is never any nuance. It is all so polarised. But I found it hard to switch off from and it…[Read more]

I agree that the political situation over the last few years has been difficult and distracting. I suspect it has affected both my writing and my mental health.

I can name one effect Brexit has had directly on my writing. On the night of the referendum, I had run out of time to finish the William the Conqueror novel I was co-writing with…[Read more]

You have got the premise right @Libby although I don’t think the two soldiers are despatch drivers. To me it just came across as unlikely that only two low ranking soldiers would be sent to cross miles of dangerous territory with no particular plan and little chance of success but maybe it was supposed to show how useless, confused and uncaring…[Read more]

@bellam Happy new year to you, too.
Those rifts are very deep and go way beyond mere viewpoints. Because of various issues that I won’t mention here, I don’t expect to see any healing in our society for the foreseeable future.
I wish I could share your optimism, but I can’t.
Good luck with your writing.

@Richardb Regarding politics, I did…[Read more]

What a wholly satisfying tale Libby. Thank you.

The Future (399 words with title)

I awake dry mouthed and tight headed but without the regret usual to such mornings. Sunlight warms the floorboards and in the lane outside my lodging a song thrush rings out his tunes as if he sees something new.

Last night in Sedham’s rooms, while enjoying his Madeira wine and Spanish sherry, I drank down S…[Read more]