JaneShuff

Thanks, Raine.

Love the dialogue, Raine. Did you do that as you listened?

The I Remember is highly evocative! It’s turned into a piece about your Grandad, hasn’t it?

Oh my darling, that is so sad and beautiful, and I can almost see him in my mind’s eye. What a tender elegy, difficult to read, yes, but also utterly lovely.
I hope the eavesdropping and the time with the grandson have both been cheering. If nothing else, noting down the way small children talk is always a blast, I think.

Thanks, Bella. Tomorrow I’m spending some time in a coffee shop with my six-week-old grandson and a notebook and pencil. I’m hoping for some lightness and humour in my eavesdropping!

Appreciating hugs, tissues, tea, chocolate biscuits.

Wow. That was a tough read. But it has struck me how all of our I Remember pieces have been a tough read.Not in the same way, and not to the same degree. But that seems to be what we do, mostly, when remembering. I wonder why.

Hugs, Hilary.

I’m sorry this is a sad piece. Perhaps this has something to do with why I’m feeling emotional about my writing.

Feel like I’ve got here when everyone else is leaving…
It’s been a funny couple of days, hasn’t it? What with Ath’s comp and these ‘I remembers’ some unexpected emotions have floated to the surface.

This served as a reminder of the things we go through as children. It’s quite harrowing, in a way, although thank goodness for Glenn’s mum!

@Hilary – interesting question. I am pretty sure it would have turned out differently and I would probably have tried to make it funny.

Love the Scotsness of it (made up a word). The now, right enough, a wee bit.
My favourite bits of the I remember are the bus that didn’t come and his old hands cradling nothing.

I’ve used I remember for character, and I’m planning to do it again for my brand new novel in gestation.

I love this, Bella. I wonder – if you’d been asked to write about that incident without doing it as an ‘I remember’, do you think it would have turned out differently in other ways than simply not starting each sentence with that phrase? I agree it’s like a poem, and I especially like the line about Glenn’s mum who also ‘remembered’.

This is wonderful! I remember kissing a photo of David Cassidy which my friend had stuck to the mirror in her bedroom. (Donny Osmond was hers.) And there’s nothing wrong with wearing a bra AND a vest now – but there would have been then!

*passes round the tissues and a box of chocolate fingers*

I’m so happy that we’ve got together to do this course. Although it hasn’t (yet) got me out of a logjam with a current WIP it has inspired me to re-write a previous WIP in which I have faith despite no interest from agents. I’ve dived in and am loving the process.

I love these, too. I remember the specs vividly – I was made to have the pink ones although I thought the blue ones were (very marginally) better.

From a child’s perspective, this is quite a scary, stomach churning tale. Nicely evoked. I’m glad it had a happy ending.

There’s a big ouch in the middle there with the dentist! My teeth are aching at the thought of it. You really conjure up the childhood feelings beautifully (and painfully).

I’m with you on all that @Raine.

Aw @hilary that’s lovely! Sending you lots of hugs and tea!! I think the idea of being given prompts and free writing is such a liberating feeling, especially if other writing is proving a struggle. And being able to do so in a group makes the whole writing thing feel less lonely, I find. I know I have been really struggling with the urge to just…[Read more]