Blogs

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 11 Aug 2017 It's been a wonderful week on the site for life writing and I struggled to choose the Picks for this week. Among others, Jolono's beautiful 'Dad was Old School' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/jolono/dad-was-old-school ) and Elsie Katz's uncompromising 'Memories of Working In A Hostel...' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/elsie-katz/2002-05-my-memories-working-ho... ) will stay in my mind for a long time...

It's been a wonderful week on the site for life writing and I struggled to choose the Picks for this week. Among others, Jolono's beautiful 'Dad was Old School' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/jolono/dad-was-old-school ) and Elsie Katz's uncompromising 'Memories of Working In A Hostel...' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/elsie-katz/2002-05-my-memories-working-ho... ) will stay in my mind for a long time. In the end though, Story of the Week...

I read this book in two sittings. It didn’t take me long. For those of you that don’t know Mitch Albom is ‘Author of the international bestseller tuesdays with Morrie ’. For those of you that did know, but forgot, it’s tagged below the author’s name on the cover. I’ve read tuesdays with Morrie and I can probably tell you the plot, Mitch Albom goes to visit this old guy called Morrie on a Tuesday, and then one of them dies and it’s not Mitch and...

Picks for the month of July very kindly chosen by Helen Richardson/Philip Sidney: July warmed us up for summer with an influx of sizzling writing, so to choose two outstanding pieces has taken considerable deliberation. In the end I've gone with gut feeling and chosen two pieces that took me somewhere new and showed me a different way of living. Story of the month is, Point Blank Range, by TJW. TJW creates a distinct voice that takes us into the...

Marathon day on Sunday. Dad's funeral in North London in the morning followed by the family gathering immediately after. Then one of my oldest friends is getting married in the afternoon in Bournemouth! Mum knows my friend Ruth and has kindly agreed that I can get on the 16.39 from Waterloo and enjoy part of Ruth and Paul's wedding reception. Tickets and accomodation booked and I have been given time off work. Travelling from Exmouth to London...

Story of the Week goes to ashb for 'Tane'. It's a multi-parter but it's only just started and the parts are all short, so just the right time to get reading - it's fascinating so far! Our Poem of the Week, according to Fatboy74, came about because his telly stopped working, and it's so good I think he should keep it off from now on, and concentrate on writing more. Congratulations to both: https://www.abctales.com/story/ashb/pool-restart-4 https...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lily-Poole-Jack-ODonnell/dp/1783522356 31 st July 2016, Lily Poole finally stumbled word wearily over the finishing line and hit the paying book market. Eleven months later, I finally got a copy of the print used on the cover of Lily Poole framed and hung on the wall facing me in the cupboard in which I write (yes, I’m writing this in a cupboard, I’ve always been weird that way). The cover is perfect. A beautiful piece...

I’ve written quite a lot, just lately, about my doomed attempts to buy a steak pie from a local café (see here , here and here ). The continued absence of this comestible, despite it featuring prominently on the Specials Board, seems to me to be redolent of a societal longing for something that used to exist, but no longer does. Alternatively, it could just mean that they can’t be *rsed to change the Specials Board. Anyway, it seems to me that...

Poetry Monthly – August Hello all and thanks to people who contributed to the Poetry Monthly theme for July – Where I Write. As usual, quality and range was impressive. Here are some poems to go back to: https://www.abctales.com/story/ewan/random-access-memory https://www.abctales.com/story/linda-wigzell-cress/writing-move https://www.abctales.com/story/rhiannonw/written-where-0 Now, on to August. Picture this - I’m sitting in a swing seat in a...

Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was the zeitgeist book of the seventies. Like Harry Potter but for adults it came with its own mythology. The reader can study pre-production notes between James Landis who commissioned the book for the publishers William Morrow and Robert (Bob) Pirsig. In a note by Bob Pirsig dated June 15, 1973, the author admits to anxiety and moots changing the title of the proposed book from Zen and...