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Sandra replied to the topic Class 3: Writing Exercise, Raine. in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoHeartbreaking. Those inconsequentialities so poignant and the “plucking a sunripe fruit from a tree, pressing it against your cheek for the simple joy” such a vivid recollection of the good. Yet my impression is she got out – had the strength of character to get out – much earlier than many.
I’m wondering if she posted this, though? -
Sandra replied to the topic Class 3 writing exercise "I don't remember", Sandra in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoThanks Raine – son has been quite insistent about making space for himself! It’s his father who keeps eluding me, despite him having to be MC (apart from the usual duo of Luke and Baz)
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Raine started the topic Class 3: Writing Exercise, Raine. in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoI had a go at the breakup letter. Not edited much because I wanted to keep it untouched, to see what came out without tinkering, if you see what I mean. Anyway, here it is…
Dear John,
Funny that, isn’t it? Your name being John, and the fact that I never once thought I’d be writing to you like this. Like all those women.
Do you remember the…[Read more]
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Raine replied to the topic Class 3 Writing Exercise "I Don't Remember" – KazG in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoSuch a good series of thoughts, Kaz. So potent with the sheer physical bloody (pun intended) inconvenience of being female, and the subtle tension of having to acquire this knowledge and make the knowledge invisible too. And as for pre-teen daughters getting oggled. OH MY GOD THIS IS HAPPENING AND I WANT TO KILL ALL THE MEN EVER. Beautiful though,…[Read more]
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Raine replied to the topic Class 3 writing exercise "I don't remember", Sandra in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoOoooh *noice* seventeen year old son voice!! So much in there – family tension, big family belonging & identity conflicts; and lust and some highly dodgy goings on. So cool. Can son be in your book as well as father?
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Raine replied to the topic Class 3: Writing Exercise, Bella in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoLove the contrast between formality and impropriety in the first, Bella. Created a lovely sense of the ambiguity and desire, and an unreliable narrator too, me thinks. Nice. 🙂
The second letter – is the writer very young? It’s quite disconcerting and definitely sounds like the voice of someone too young to really be processing their own…[Read more] -
Raine replied to the topic Craft Seminar Class 3: Character 2 – Inner Lives in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoI have had no time/mental capacity for this at all. But finally made time to read the Burroway chapter the other night & found it interesting. I quite liked the simplicity of the quote questioning whether a story has changed the character – ”What is visible now at the end of the story that wasn’t visible at the start’
Also loved the language in…[Read more] -
Raine posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago
Do I win the prize for latest monthly comp entry, or will someone slip under the wire and steal my dubious honour?
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 4 months ago
OK, late and rather unedited entry, soz! Content warning for miscarriage.
Tomorrow I Will Rise.
Tomorrow I will rise. I will smile and talk with friends and I will be braver than I am today. Tomorrow I will rise. Next week I will laugh. Next month, next month I will bleed.
Today, I count your futures, each possible thread, each vine and…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Class 3 Writing Exercise "I Don't Remember" – KazG in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoThanks Kaz – this inspired me to have a go at fleshing out a new character from an unexpected viewpoint, as well as bringing memories of my own then ending with an adult viewpoint. That endless circle, eh?
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Sandra started the topic Class 3 writing exercise "I don't remember", Sandra in the forum
Andrew Wille's DIY MA course 6 years, 4 months agoI don’t remember my parents laughing together.
I don’t remember my father being silly; his ‘jokes’ always cruel or intending educational.
I don’t remember being shy at junior school because of how many cousins there were there.
I don’t remember, until this year in sixth form, being just me, and not one of ‘the Duncans’, but neither do I re…[Read more]
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Raine posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago
Ok, so I have just sent off A Thing. So am freeeee. MOnthly comp and MA course on the agenda… 🙂
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Well done! What’s the thing, if you don’t mind my asking?
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Ah well, nothing now, apparently. Was revised version of TIOU that publisher requested. But they’ve replied saying they’ve closed their list.
Hey ho. Would have been nice if they’d told me.-
Back in the bin I go.
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Oh FFS! That is utterly shitty and so unprofessional! Surely if they requested it you bypass their closed list status? My agent had closed her lists when I sent her the thing she’d requested a year earlier and she still took it. That is RUBBISH and I am furious on your behalf.
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Do they know it’s the thing they requested? I mean it wasn’t just a standard response?
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No, they know. I replied to their last email saying ‘don’t worry if it takes a few months. We’re not going anywhere.’…
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Well that sucks massively. What a shabby performance
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That is utter crap! Seriously unfair.
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Seriously unprofessional too, imo
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Agree 100%
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I would say unbelievable, but – sadly – I can believe it. It is truly appalling behaviour that wouldn’t be tolerated in most professions. It is no surprise that so many people, good writers, are turning to self-pub. I’m so sorry, Raine. Can you name the guilty? Quite understand if you don’t want to.
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John S Alty replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 4 months ago
Hi @skylark, good to see you’re back.
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Sandra posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago
“Why I write” – excellent piece by Emma Darwin to be found here: https://slowculture.eu/2020/01/23/why-i-write-vol-15-emma-darwin-holland-house-books/?fbclid=IwAR14kjZ9Q4U1G3vwQK39IJ83x21FIyG-Nyu1H6PCQ2DXQ2p2Y10EMtXPIVY
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Thanks, Sandra. I must buy one of Emma’s books. I keep meaning to.
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Her ‘Not a book about -‘ is excellent on the difficulties of writing, and ‘The Mathematics of love’ one I aim to re-read annually. Time I re-read the other one …
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Shame on me, I haven’t read either of the novels, but yes, ‘Not a Book About…’ is excellent. And in this blog Emma, as usual, hits the nail on the head. That last bit, ‘To Be Heard’… yes, absolutely. After I resigned myself to ‘A faint hope of being read, maybe just a silly dream, but still…’ becoming ‘No hope’ my motivation drained away.
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Janette replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 4 months ago
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]
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Raine replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 4 months ago
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]
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Raine replied to the topic Brexit dismay in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 4 months ago
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] -
Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 4 months ago
What a wholly satisfying tale Libby. Thank you.
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Sandra replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 4 months ago
Still here also (and elsewhere!) and glad to say one 2019 resolution was fulfilled by my self-pubbing the first three of my ‘Love triangles with murder’ series, so now I’ve got book 4 to a near-beta read stage and begun book 6.
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Janette replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 4 months ago
*waves frantically* Hello Mandy! Great to see you here. Yes, it’s much quieter here now, and though I guess some ex-cloudies peep in from time to time, there aren’t a lot of partakers atm. Only 4 entries for last month’s comp for instance, and so far the same for the winter short story comp. Such a shame, but hopefully things will improve.
As for…[Read more]
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