Reminiscing...

This morning I have been on a virtual walk...wandering through the once familiar lanes and alleyways of the internet...stumbling upon long forgotten but one time regular haunts.

It's too easy to be distracted by the very present, shiny, social media stuff. Twitter and Facebook dangle baubles that catch the light and sparkle brightly but oh-so-fleetingly. But of course as one glittering tweet fades the light bounces off to light  up another. They are like fairground candy floss...satisfying for a second but with no substance. Blog posts and writers websites on the other hand glow with a constant, gentle luminescence that can be overlooked as we dash from shiny to shiny. So today I have revisited and indulged in a few old favourites. 

One in particular I stayed at for a while - it kindleakindle a little spark which brought me back here to my own stagnant blog, searching for a piece of my own writing...I didn't find it and so I am posting here today, six years after it appeared on Richard Hearn's Geowriting site as part of the Brighton Digital Festival. 

If I remember rightly, the prompt was a boy in a yellow T-Shirt ...

This is what I wrote: 

I made my way from the station. Keeping to the narrow back lanes and side streets. Off the beaten tracks, away from prying eyes. I couldn't risk being spotted. That would raise too many questions, too many puzzled looks, the risk of discovery and repatriation. The last thing I wanted!

A movement at the end of the alley caught my attention.

A sudden breeze lifted the rubbish causing a mini maelstrom of old newspapers and Pizza Place fliers. I squinted against the tornado of dust and grit and saw beyond it, a small human crouching by the bins. He seemed as keen as I not to be spotted, and I couldn't help feeling that a less glaring choice of shirt might have helped him.

We looked at each other, warily.

Separated for an instant by the storm of paper until, as suddenly as it had begun, the wind dropped and the papers fluttered to the ground. One sheet came to rest in front of me. I looked down and saw my own face staring back. And underneath, the hideous human name.

I shuddered in disgust and shame. By the bins the boy stared at me. His eyes flickered to the paper at my feet and back up to meet my gaze. He nodded, the slightest, barely perceptable movement of his head and then stood and jogged quietly past.

Thankful of his understanding, I continued my journey leaving behind the poster offering a reward for my safe return. I hoped the human boy was as successful in his own bid for freedom.

You can find out about the project and read the other contributions from writers across the country here 

http://www.brightondigitalfestival.co.uk/

#AmWriting

I have been trying to get on top of this writing lark lately. Not very successfully, I might add. As always I have ideas but they never seem to transform themselves into words on a page...and I know!! the words won't actually write themselves, I do have to put some effort in myself. So I have taken myself in hand and am currently submitting to a number of regular challenges. As well as my old favourite Paragraph Planet, I am trying my hand at Three Line Thursday and Ad Hoc Fiction.


PP is a 75 word flash challenge. You can submit to it anytime, on any subject, as the

muse moves you, but your story must be precisely 75 words - no more, no less.

TLT is a weekly picture challenge. You have one day to submit three lines of no more than 10 words per line, inspired by the

featured image. Winners are announced the following Saturday. It's quite a challenge and the standard of entries is high. It is however a very supportive community of writers.

Adhoc is another weekly challenge. This one gives you a generous 150 word maximum, and the only requirement is that you must include the prompt word in your tale. Winning stories for Adhoc Fiction recieve a free chance to enter the longer Bath Flash Fiction Award.




In addition to all these I am also trying to write a poem inspired by science. That's not going so well just yet but it may get there. I have found my friendly scientist (I didn't have to look far to be fair, he's on my friends list!)and we have had a chat about why he thinks science is fab. Now I have a week to kick it into touch and string together some half decent words and ideas. It might happen. Watch this space!

Still small voices

As you may know, if you've been paying attention, I've been joining in with Last Line First, a flash fiction challenge run by Natalie Bowers.
The object is to write a story, in no more than 200 words, inspired by a single sentence - a last line from one of the previous week's entries.
The sentence is chosen by Natalie each week and it becomes the first line of the new entries.
It's a simple idea. Sometimes the sentence is an easy prompt, and an idea occurs to me almost straight away. Other times it takes a while for a story to present itself, and sometimes I find it impossible to come up with anything at all, but it's always fun trying. There have been some excellent last lines and I am amazed at the diversity of stories that sprout from the same sentence.
When I start to write I don't have a last the last line in mind - I just go where the idea and the story takes me. I seem, finally, to be finding my voice and, I think, growing in confidence - helped by the supportive words of encouragement from the other contributors.
I also seem to be getting good at last lines. This is a good thing since I hate the disappointment of a weak ending. So I am happy to say my latest offering was chosen to start week 16, which is also good, as it cheered up my bank holiday blues!

You can read my offering Stillness along with the other stories on Story Scavenger - Last Line First. Why not check out the latest prompt and join in? Make your still small voice heard...

Challenges

I've neglected my blog again.
Well, not quite true. I have been visiting it, like a sick Auntie in a hospital, and peering at the stats, and feeling slightly amazed that it is still breathing. People are still coming in and looking at bits of it. So I've been scrolling through the old posts to see what they looked at, and thinking I really should add something new. I have even opened the "new post" tab. And I have stared at the big white space and that blinking little cursor. "Go on!" it blinked, "Type something...I dare you! Type, type, type..." A flickering black line whispering its mockery. And my words dried up. My thoughts disappeared. It's like magic. Really, it is. Stage magicians can make a woman disappear. A blinking cursor and a blank screen can make a brain disappear. But this magic is not real. It's just a trick. A sleight of hand. The brain is still there and it is still full of words. All it needs is for some rogue child to pull back the curtain and reveal all to the audience.

My rogue children currently come in the form of two challengers. They have crept in and twitched back the curtain.
First and most public is Natalie Bowers who started "Last Line First". A weekly flash writing challenge that I am trying to keep up with. I am failing miserably at it, but it's fun! I was fortunate enough to have a last line intriguing enough to be chosen for the challenge in week 4. Hence my lovely badge of honour which you can see on the right (Unless you're on a mobile device, in which case take my word for it, it's lovely!). We're on week eight now and I have just submitted again. (Told you I was failing at it!)
My second challenger is not quite so public, a personal challenge from a friend who pokes me, tuts at me, scolds me and makes me write. He fires random challenges to make me think, make me seek out the words and thoughts and find a way to get them onto the blank page. I don't always do what he tells me, but I do listen. He might not realise that, so hopefully this will serve to let him know his scolding is doing some good!
You can read the fruit of his four word challenge here, if you're so inclined and feel free to leave a comment.

The hardest part is often just daring to put a word - any word - onto the white page. Once a word is on there the page is not so white, not so blank, and not so scary. And if it turns out to be not quite the right word, I can always replace it with another...and another and another...and before I know it I've written something and there's a new post on my blog. Watch this space. The words are flowing again and Auntie Blog is feeling better.

A Quiet Thought

I have been catching up with posts from National Flash Fiction Day. It's taking me a while, because there was such a lot going on and so many good stories to read. I was busy with a poetry project so we didn't celebrate the day in Hartlepool this year, and as time was tight I didn't manage to join in any of the online activities either. While I was rummaging about in the many blog entries my name surpisingly popped up with a story I submitted back in 2012. I had completely forgotten about it. The prompt was the phrase "Just say yes". It's not bad, even if I say so myself. Makes me wish even more that I had managed to write something for this year.
Anyway, for your delight and delectation, I thought I would share it again here. (Spotted a typo in the original would you believe!)
If you'd like to read more flash from this year's #nffd then look here:  http://thewrite-in.blogspot.co.uk/?m=0

Just Say Yes!
She heard the question. The words were clear, the meaning quite plain. It didn’t seem to be a trick question. She hesitated, wondering. What if he didn’t really mean it? What if he was just being polite. People did that. Asked things because they felt they ought, not because they really wanted to. Or what if he wasn’t really who he seemed? He seemed nice, polite, interested. What if it was all just a front, a cover for a darker, less polite, dangerous person? Someone interested for the wrong reason. What if she said no? Would the darker person she feared reveal himself or would he just walk away? Would she regret it? Was it really worth the risk? It would be so much safer to simply say no: to walk away from him.
Inside her head one thought fought its way to the top, pushing aside all the doubts, all the “what ifs?”. A quiet thought.
Just say yes, it said.

A short short reprieve.

I was clearing out files and emails today and came across this very short short. I think it was a National Short Story Day Twitter challenge.  A story in a tweet. I kind of like it (I'm starting to say that a lot, lately), so I thought I'd share it before it was consigned to the recycle bin. Who knows maybe one of these days I'll develop the idea behind it. I'm pretty sure there was one...

She entered the room, a silence fell.
The kind of silence that screams through your soul.
That says 'From this moment, life changes".

Comments and suggestions welcome. Feel free to develop the idea if you have any inkling as to what happens next, or indeed what has gone before...

Back on the review trail

It's been a while since I had a night out at the theatre for Spikemike's blog. So was pleased to get the call for The People's Theatre's season opener. As always the front of house staff gave a warm and friendly welcome.
This is the first draft of my review. The final version can be read on Mike's blog.

Our Day Out
The People's Theatre kicked off the new season this week with an adaptation of Willy Russell's "Our Day Out". Performed by the youth theatre under the direction of Mark Buckley, this adaptation has been transferred from 70s Liverpool to 80s Newcastle. A shrewd move, saving the young cast and the audience from any dodgy scouse accents, and giving the wardrobe team plenty of scope for big hair and shoulder pads!
As expected from Willy Russell this is a play full of social commentary and humour. Can a day out from school make a difference to a bunch of kids with few or no prospects? Can the attitudes of staff towards them be changed?
A fine balance is needed between the hopelessness and the humour. Over do either and the play wouldn't work. The humour pierces the pathos of the kid's situation, and some well delivered speeches tackle the social issues of class  prejudice, and academic snobbery.
There are some demanding speeches for some of the characters in this play, and they were delivered with conviction by the young actors. Notably where Miss Kay tries to convince Mr Briggs of the value of a day out for the kids who have so little else to look forward to, and when Mr Briggs persuades Carol away from the cliff.
Other performances of note are the Bored Girls - who manage to maintain their sullen bored expressions throughout, even on the rollercoaster! And the two Madonna clones, besotted with the trendy young teacher! We all knew girls like that at school!
Overall this is a fine production and an great start to the season. I look forward to seeing some of these talented young actors in future productions.