This is simply a rag bag of tales of no particular significance, none of them are especially profound or important. If you find any deeper meanings in them, they are yours. The settings are many and various, including Edinburgh & Glasgow, there’s a look at the past, present and future. They are tales of love … Continue reading Notes from the Overground
Firstly, self-publishing is NOT vanity publishing, nor is it particularly difficult. Amazon and other online publishers take you through the process of formatting and uploading your book cover, text, blurb and the important bits like price and special promotions. Within less than twenty-four hours your book goes live. Of course, there are lots of companies … Continue reading Self Publishing and the Marketing Mountain
The dream for most authors is to be taken on by a literary agency who will secure a big advance with one of the major publishers – The Big Five – negotiate a film contract and manage their careers into the stratosphere for the rest of their natural writing life. Sadly, except for those already … Continue reading Agents, Publishers and Big Mistakes
I often wonder what happened to Mansour Ben Amer. His dark curly hair and deep brown eyes remain in my memory fifty-odd years later. But, in the days when we students were a rather wild and unpredictable lot, it is his gentle manner and perfect etiquette I marvel at. This in spite of his once … Continue reading Your Memoirs – “The Gentle Doctor”
I often wonder what happened to Miss McClure. When I was a teenager, she was a young teacher, with a love of tweed skirts and bad haircuts. Miss McClure taught Religious Education and she cemented my already developing doubts about Christianity. Clearly, that was not her intention when she confidently informed me that my disability, … Continue reading Your Memoirs – “A Memoir of the 1960’s”
I often wondered what happened to Pete, the best footballer in our junior school. He always made the school team and had the grit and skill, to be a professional. He was popular, and a great joker. The last time I saw him was in 1966. A Saturday afternoon, I was washing my old Ford … Continue reading Your Memoirs – “Pete Played Hard”
I often wondered what happened to John Lennon’s cousin. The Beatles toured extensively in the 1960s and played several Scottish venues. I was 11 in 1964, and already a huge Beatles fan, when my dad brought home a new work colleague for dinner. John Lennon’s cousin, he said. Excited beyond measure, I questioned him mercilessly … Continue reading Your Memoirs – “Signed Off”
With modern technology (and a degree in history research!) it is relatively easy these days to discover whatever happened to anybody. When I sat down to write this memoir it came as no surprise to me there was no-one, hand on heart, that fell into this category. The sixties were a very special era about … Continue reading Your Memoirs – “Realisation”
We’re deep into NaNoWrMo and if any of you are currently bashing out the draft of that novel that’s been festering in your mental filing cabinet, then I wish you all the best. The writing part of a book is the easy part. It might not feel like it when you’re sweating away over your … Continue reading A Publishing Minefield
Our current guest blogger for Autumn Voices is Angelena Boden.
“When humanity exterminates other creatures, it is sawing off the limb on which it is sitting, destroying working parts of our own life-support system.” Prof Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University My previous blog took the story in Ancient Anchors up to the Scientific Revolution. In the fourth and last section of the book Gaia takes us … Continue reading Sixth Mass Extinction
Many of my haiku moments are experienced visually and are expressed by me through photography rather than words. Journal 8 is devoted entirely to haiku photos. In this case they all relate to walks taken along the beach in Helensburgh during the time of Covid lockdown. One of the things about haiku moments is that … Continue reading Haiku Journal – 8
“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.” Anais Nin In writing Ancient Anchors, my next challenge following the character of Gaia was to create a narrative that … Continue reading The Meaning of Life from the Ancients to the Scientific Revolution
As I explained in my last blog, Ancient Anchors tells the story of the Earth and her relationship with her inhabitants from the Big Bang to the modern day…
in tall pine gloom October’s filtering sun forms pools fathoms down Behold the Moon There’s a movement in Tai-Chi called ‘Behold the Moon.’ You slowly turn your torso and extend both arms sideways at an angle of 45% with lower hand palm upwards and upper hand palm downwards. This morning, as I did Tai-Chi on … Continue reading Haiku Journal – 7
