I believe in a world meant for everyone
to live together happily in.
I believe in living a life of love,
sharing and making friends.
John Hastings
So do I, John, so do I.
Now that I am retired I enjoy watching TV – sometimes I even enjoy watching rubbishy TV – though I do concede that Rick Moody is right when he assers that any day that a person reads a novel instead of watching TV is a victory for all writers.
I have to admit I like doing both!
Novelists who churn out books year after year often talk of being able to do up to 1,000 words an hour. My trouble is that I can sometimes do the 1,000 words, but none of them are any good.
I am still at the being intrigued state over podcasts, though the promised BBC downloads are tempting me more and more to get myself up to date. Still, it is encouraging to think that books have not been replaced yet. There is nothing like the excitement of opening up a new novel; once the first paragraph has you hooked you know you are in for hours of pleasure. I like to ration out my hours, Him Behind the Wheel tends to read them at one sitting.
I am busy thinking about what might happen today. Many a published writer has said it is no use sitting waiting for inspiration. Judy Dalton said, waiting for inspiration is like sitting around waiting to meet people…….it is no use, you have to go out and meet them.
Trouble is I get tired too easily. Also, it is relatively easy these days to make a network of people online. There is an almost limitless treasure store of ideas for stories. How easy it is to get distracted.
PC, pencil, typewriter……dictaphone……whatever……
Just write.
(That is what I am telling myself anyway.)
I like what Alan Ayckbourn, the playwright said – I believe in the right to fail – that has a religious significance for me as well as the obvious. I always used to say to leaders in churches, Have a go, if it doesn’t work, at least we have tried.
So keep trying today.
What did you find in the fields today
you who have wandered so far away?
I found a wind-flower, small and frail,
I found a hill that was clad in gorse,
a new-built nest, and a streamlet’s source;
I saw a star and a moonlit tree;
I listened…..I think God spoke to me.
Hilda Rostron
Someone said that artists and writers have a special celebrity status, somehow above others. Nowadays I am not so sure. I would have thought that sportsmen and women held a special place in people’s affections. And what about the mere cult of celebrity itself? Though maybe that is why people like Wayne Rooney and Jordan have to try their hand at writing. Ghost or otherwise.
People who write about death call it the ultimate taboo, but it is amazing how many authors writing on aging say that death has to be confronted, before one can truly live. Jilly Cooper, says that sex is a difficult area for her to write about…..There are a limited number of ways………. Harrumph, think I shan’t go there. I prefer waterfalls, surf on beaches, meeting of souls and other hackneyed but well loved metaphors.
Actually, I find writing (or reading) about violence the hardest thing. And yet I love detective novels.
