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 |   A tentative blog to test the temperature. |
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Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end. So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.     |
| What’s With This Present Thing? I am currently reviewing at least one short story or poem a day, for reasons to do with 7-day badges (psychology works). In the course of all this, it has become apparent to me that there is a trend in WdC newbie work. More and more of them are writing in the present tense. Now, I’m not against writing in that tense - I’ve even been known to do the occasional piece myself. But I do find it interesting that so many new writers are attracted to it, apparently at least. To me it seems that writing in the past tense is easiest and, in the early days (if I can cast my mind back that far) the idea of telling a story in the present never crossed my mind. And that was probably because none of the books I read at the time were written in that tense. So what makes young writers gravitate in numbers to the present? Is it because they don’t read enough old time literature to have become used to the past? Or maybe the schools don’t deal with such things as writing in different tenses? Perhaps there’s something in the air and the culture is experiencing a shift that I can’t possibly understand due to my advancing age? I’d really like to know and, if anyone has any thoughts on the matter, I’d be interested to know. Until I begin to see the point in it, I will continue to advise young writers against spending so much of their effort in the present. A whole book written thus is a pain to read and even a decent length story can become quite tiresome in it. It just feels so natural to me to write in the past tense. Word count: 292 |
| Dominik Dudek I haven’t done a music post for a long time so, when I discovered a rather good Polish musician today, I thought it would be good to share him (or rather they but I don’t know the young lady’s name) with my good writer friends (up to you whether you read that as good-writer friends or good writer-friends). Hence this post. The song is catchy, the lady’s voice is interesting, and he seems to have good taste in which songs to record - I’ve listened to several now. Anyway, let me know what you think. Word count: 94 |
| A Story in a Sentence A black leather glove shucked hastily and lying in the passage to a desperate bedroom. |
| The Value of Newsletters I read WdC newsletters. And I would recommend that you do too. Read as many of them as you can, get them sent to your email, and participate in commenting when appropriate. It’s surprising what can be learned from doing so. One of the less obvious things is that you find out about contests and challenges you’ve never heard of before. Only this morning, the first day of 2025, I found, through a newsletter, an interesting thing called The Bradbury. Attracted by the unusual name, I had a look and discovered the contest I’ve been needing all the years of my WdC membership. It’s for short stories, one a week. That is one heck of a tall order. But I need that kind of spur if I’m to achieve even the semblance of productivity. I need pressure! And this is the kind of pressure that I need, but know it will force me to deliver the goods. That may not be the kind of thing for you but read newsletters and you’re bound to find all sorts of thing just as interesting. And, in case you like the sound of it, here’s a link to "The Bradbury"  .Word count: 197 |
| Things to Learn from Cats - Part Three I freely admit that when I started this series, I had only two points to make. Fortunately or otherwise, I have come up with a third. Yesterday I was thinking about cats and I realised that they may be the only animals apart from us that box. Not the carton type of box but the punching with a fist kind. I’ve heard that kangaroos can do the same but I think that may have more to do with the their ability to kick extremely hard. Cats punch in the same way we do when we step into the ring under the Marquis of Queensbury rules. You may be thinking that, when cats bash each other about the ears, they’re trying to injure each other with their claws. But they’re not. I’ve been punched in the face by a cat and the claws are always retracted for this. They punch for the same reason we do - in play. Google funny cat videos on YouTube and you’ll see just how often they thump each other in this way. There are always rules of engagement when animals of the same type fight each other. Some of them are equipped with lethal weapons of attack or defence and survival of the species decrees that there should be limitations put upon disputes between creatures of the same persuasion. And so cats will punch each other in play or contest, but never with claws extended. What do we learn from this? Just that we share with them the strange tendency to hit each other with a fist. It’s a thing so rare that it may even be possible that the sport of boxing arose from someone watching a couple of cats thumping the daylights out of each other. Word count: 292 |
| Reflections in a Carnival Mirror - 2 The hardest thing about story writing is coming up with a story. |
| Things to Learn from Cats - Part Two Cats will take on prey only if it is much smaller than themselves. This is not an indication of cowardice. They are built for ambush, the emphasis being on speed and agility with all excess weight stripped away. As a result, they are lightly muscled and fairly fragile, with slender bones that could easily be broken in any tussle with an animal of similar or greater size. In contrast, the dog is made for the chase and has strength and stamina built into its frame. Its preference for hunting in packs also means it will happily take much larger prey. So it has a completely different outlook on life compared to the cat. But the cat’s way is not to be sneered at. It suits the animal and ensures the risk of injury is kept a minimum. In the same way, we need to be circumspect in our meeting the challenges of daily life. It’s no accident that the saying, “Choose your battles well,” is such excellent advice. We may be able to take on enormous opponents when operating in concert but, when alone, we do better to lie in wait, having the patience to stay still until the moment favours us. Word count: 202 |
| Reflections in a Carnival Mirror - 1 Sometimes the gods smile upon us. And sometimes they just laugh and point... |
| Things to Learn from Cats - Part One I’ve often pondered on the uses of cats. No doubt they were first kept around for their rodent catching abilities, thereby protecting humanity’s grain supplies, but there’s more to it, I’m sure. Their therapeutic functions, for instance. It’s no coincidence that, when you’re feeling low or ill, a cat will insinuate itself into contact with you and pretty soon you’ll feel much better. So they have their uses. And yesterday I realised that they have an educational function too. I began to make a list of the things we can learn from them. 1. Cats are predators. But they’re not the top of the tree, the apex predator. We can gather this from the fact that a cat will have many places to sleep and will move randomly between them. This can only mean that they have fiercer enemies to be wary of. The more unpredictable they are, the less subject to ambushes and unpleasant surprises they become. We, however, are omnivores. As such, we are inevitably a compromise, having to be reasonably efficient at both hunting and gathering. The really interesting thing is that we’re the apex predator, as evidenced by the fact that we sleep in the same place every night and don’t care who knows it. Which is an interesting attitude to take when you’re a pink (or brown), naked creature without claws or predator’s teeth or ability to run fast. The only thing we have going for us is that we are good at inventing technology to surpass all those fangs and claws and the like that other predators have. We’re an experiment to see if a compromise between meat and vegetation eater can become the apex predator purely through intelligence alone. And, if we ignore that it looks as though intelligence might be the thing that’s going to bring us to extinction in the long run, it would seem that we’ve been successful. So that’s a lesson we can learn from cats. The reason they stick with us is that they’re betting on us winning the race race. Let’s hope they’re right. Word count: 347 |
| Thanksgiving Today is Thanksgiving in the US of A and my thoughts turn to this matter of being thankful. I guess we all have reason to be thankful and I’m no different; I’m not unaware that my life has been mostly free of terrible disasters and crushing circumstances. In fact, the truth is that I’ve led a remarkably quiet and inoffensive life. There have been moments that seemed earth shattering at the time - you don’t move between three continents without a certain amount of drama, after all - but in retrospect these are no more than fodder for anecdotes to impress any willing ears. So I’m thankful that my life has been so ordinary. I’m told the Chinese have a curse reserved for their worst enemies: “May you live in interesting times.” There is a lot of wisdom in that. Word count: 138 |
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