Blogs

Hello everyone. I'm working on a larger story that will hopefully be a novel, called Almost Human. I posted the first draft of the intro on here for you all to read. I'm also working on poems, and other short stories. I hope that you all can read them. I'll be updating regularly. Thanks!

There was no calculus which, for me, was magical enough. Newton did not study mathematics or science, but natural philosophy. What was natural for him, was unnatural for me, although to be fair I did get a C grade at arithmetic. Using those well know variables of time, speed and motion Newton worked out how the planets moved, how gravity worked and how an apple fell from a tree. This was a ha-ha moment, because, of course, he wasn't sitting...

I couldn't mourn for the passing of someone, who did so much damage with regards to introduction of privatisation and anilation of the coal industry,ship-building and strong union; unfettered then, council house building stopped, apprenticeship....what is that. The system we have now has been built on the need and greed of people who can't, it seems, feel complete unless they own the best of everything from houses to cars to money in the bank...

Directed by Tom Hooper and an Oscar winning screenplay by David Seidler this is a story about a man that stammers and how he was ‘cured’ by the unorthodox Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush. I won’t be given too much away if I tell you that the chronic stammerer in question played by Colin Firth goes on to become King George VI. His father’s death and his brother’s marriage to Wallis Simpson puts him on the throne...

It's been a long day of sleeping, playing, eating, fluting, writing, posting, page refreshing, texting, commenting, tweeting, more page refreshing. It's been a long day. But it has been productive. My mom is fostering a dog right now. We already have three. This dog, apparently has "challenges." (He's a very strong, forceful dog) this dog is a pain in my butt, but his little face is just so cute. My other dog has been feeling rejected so I've...

Turn off Winter- turn on Spring. More light-more energy. More sun-more warmth and delight in nature. More love of life. Getting used to the longer days and more light. Can't hide anymore so the light streams into all the nooks and crannies of the mind through my eyes- so keep them open a lot. Don't want to hide so much anymore. Goodbye Winter depression. Hello I'm still alive..

Over the past two weeks I’ve been writing a series of short stories about running, six so far with another idea scribbled down in my notepad. I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve had to dig deep to find so many stories on the same theme, or simply because of the special relationship I have with running, but the inspiration for many of the stories comes from way back. My story about a presidential guard charged with protecting him during his...

I didn’t go for a run over the rest of the bank holiday, as I developed a cold. I am, let me repeat, a fair weather runner. Though I’ve run pretty regularly my entire adult life, but I do not run if it’s raining, in the snow, in the ice, or if I have a cold. My running is affected before I’ve any idea I’ve a cold coming on, it’s the first symptom. As you can see from my previous blog, I found the run a struggle, I was stiff, uncomfortable and my...

A fortnight's break from running because of the snow. Mrs Oblong comments that I write about running more often than I do it. Whilst this is true (a couple of running-based short stories this week) it's not exactly fair. My body is stiff and the wind is icy cold, I struggle to find the inspiration and can't get beyond a slow trudge. I feel my age. Not just the body feeling crap and frail, but some unstoppable part of my brain wants to complain...

Winter's Bone based an adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's 2006 novel of the same name. I had to look that bit up on the internet. Quite simply the film has pushed to the top of my must read books. Of course I’ve got must read books and must, must read books and books I’m ashamed I’ve not read (most nineteen century novels). Written and directed by Debra Granik, the film stars Jennifer Lawrence as a seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly Jessup, in the rural...