Blogs

Yet again we've had lots of really good writing on the site this week - wonderful to read and difficult to choose between. Story of the Week goes to 'Afternoon Angel' by ice rivers, a combination of memoir, tribute, and mystery, beautifully written: https://www.abctales.com/story/ice-rivers/afternoon-angel Poem of the week is 'Buttershaw, South Bradford' by ralph, which skilfully merges the everyday with a dream of a different place and a...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09m6dq6/miriams-big-american-adve... You know the format, actress Miram Margoyles, a self-proclaimed fat, Jewish, lesbian old lady, travels across America finding out what’s what or who’s who or something intelligible to report or see. Here she visits a summer camp in Indiana. Stars and stripes and saluting the flag, hand on the chest at 7am in the morning, type of place. That’s how you build a nation...

Raglan castle in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales, was one of the last medieval castles to be built in the British Isles. Construction first began about the middle of the 15th century and was commissioned by one William Thomas, who was described as the ‘lesser son of a minor family’. He was, however, active in local politics and very attentive to the noble young ladies of the day, eventually marrying two wealthy heiresses in quick succession,...

Some of my past work is in the Womens' Library, currently housed on the top two floors of the London School of Economics. Back in the days of second stage feminism I wrote opinion pieces, book reviews, poetry and a short story for the Edinburgh Women's Liberation Newsletter and my pieces are in files on shelves in the open collection. I decided to photocopy them while they were still there. The Women's Library, previously the Fawcett Library has...

Ellie came calling. She’s 9 years old (going on 25) and is the middle child of our eldest daughter, Karen. Bright and chatty, she’s just recently began to take pride in her personal appearance after being very much a tomboy since babyhood. She alarmed me slightly when she suddenly announced that there was a hot boy she really fancies. Fortunately, it’s a teenage boy she sees on Youtube who plays some of the latest pop music. Her favourite song...

Last pick of 2017 very kindly chosen by Joe Lawrence: Tough, tough, tough, and I don’t mean my Turkey on Christmas Day! That’s how it was trying to award Story and Poem Of The Month for December. So many to choose from but there can only be one winner in each category. Poem Of The Month goes to Agnosticnun with Home, with family, with scars. https://www.abctales.com/story/agnosticnun/home-family-scars It’s a wish list for things that shouldn’t...

Cloudstreet , Tim Winton’s homage to his homeland in Perth Australia has been kicking about for a few years. Winton wrote an afterword in 2015. Sometime you find a book and sometimes a book finds you. The novel I’m rewriting has many of the features of Cloudstreet . If it ever hits the light of day…well, we’ll see. I’m not really sure who the narrator of Cloudsteet is and being a pretend writer I’m usually pretty good at hiding that kind of...

*Picture - Jarrolds! Leggings – Mad Activities! Outside the flat the world moves on. The city is crowded with shoppers, not entirely trusting a bargain, yet out for a good time on a Saturday Afternoon... Oh hey the radio announcer is at it again, reading this out as I think it out. Don't mind readers have a wonderful time! Every shop I went into seemed to have some interaction with the negative groups, in the clothes shop where I exchanged some...

2018; a new year, new beginnings. This is always the hardest part of the year to write; cold mornings, going to work and coming home in the dark. Inspiration levels are turned all the way to 11 on cyrogenic and distractions abound - I find it easy not to draft anything; only thumbnail sketches - pencil smears in my notebook. Every year, we start out with good intentions, only to watch them fall like nine-pins by the middle of the month. Sins are...