Over on Frying an Egg there’s a new mini-writing challenge. Have a look – have a go!
Archive Page 3
I followed up two work days in London this week by going along on Wednesday to a matinee at the National Theatre where Shaw’s Major Barbara has been playing. It was wonderful to be reminded of how very witty Shaw is but most striking was the extraordinary relevance of the theme and the ethical dilemmas at the heart of the piece. Barring the obvious period features, it could have been written last week – and all the more shocking for the fact of the unresolved (unresolvable?) nature of the said dilemmas.
This production, though not neglecting the personal crisis of Barbara herself, somehow placed the larger issues in the foreground.
Grab a copy from the library and see what I’m on about. (Once a teacher…)
Saw the Globe Theatre’s touring production of The Winter’s Tale today in an outdoor matinee in one of the Glasgow University quadrangles. Blazing sunshine alternated with rain, and brollies went up and down. The cast personfully rendered the piece in spite of the scenery having been demolished by the previous day’s storm. We were spitting distance from the action and heard every word. And what words. From poignant – ‘I’ll queen it no inch farther but milk my ewes and weep’ to pithy ‘It is a bawdy planet’.
I am frequently moved not only by the drama but by the commitment of actors who for no great wage, give themselves wholly to the performance. You can’t fake it when you’re so close to your audience. That troupe would go on to give an evening show. I hope the weather wasn’t too unkind.
Check out Frying an Egg – the dedicated mini writing blog. A new challenge has been posted.
I’ve started a new blog dedicated to our stories and verse. It’s called Frying an Egg. Your contributions appear there but you have to register in order to comment. I’ll experiment with the best way to manage it, the plan being to issue a challenge roughly once a month. I could invite some of you to be contributors and then you too could set the monthly writing ‘trigger’.
I recently entered a very short poem (8 lines) and very short story (60 words max) in a competition. (details on Frying an Egg). To do that, I pruned two existing pieces, a poem and a story, reducing the former by 4 lines and cutting the story to about a quarter of its length. I had thought they were quite economic but they benefited from this drastic surgery, demonstrating yet again that I’m seldom finished when I think I am! That said, one can tinker too much. It’s a judgment call.
The main point of Frying an Egg is to have fun so let’s light the gas and get cooking!
The dramatist Jules Horne has a fascinating page about what she calls ‘particle fiction’ and has embarked on a year of writing a story a day based on the intriguing system she explains here http://www.texthouse.net/2007/12/about-particle.html
So if the bug is biting and you want a new source of triggers, have a look!
or a poem. I know it’s not tomorrow yet but I may not get to the keyboard in time tomorrow so here’s the challenge I promised you. (Who said threatened?) Many years ago I overheard an elderly and very genteel lady say, ‘She was just frying an egg, when she expired!’ She uttered these words in an accent which Scottish readers will know as either Kelvinside or Morningside and vous autres, just think ‘elderly genteel posh’.
Contribute a tiny story, not more than 100 words in the comment box. Go on just for the hell of it!
One of the most common bits of advice for writers is to carry a notebook everywhere to capture any shiny bits of language or glittering ideas. I usually have at least some paper to write on but I don’t collect gems as often as I could. I just love those snatches of conversation you hear in passing and some of these I have used as a starter for 10 so to speak. A recent one was ‘It was the tailor’s dummy that was the last straw’. I’ve used that to create a very short story. If you’d like to read it click microsoft-word-the-tailors-dummy I’ll have a similar challenge for you in a day or so!
I have a new format for my WORDS in ACTION newsletter. If you don’t already receive it and want to subscribe, click here to find the sign-up box on the website home page.
Reached again for Julia Cameron this morning – never fails. No wonder ‘The Artist’s Way’ is a classic. I simply quote these challenges:
‘What dream are you discounting as impossible given your resources?’
‘What payoff are you getting for remaining stuck at this point in your expansion?’
I’ll show you my answers if you show me yours! OK I guess that means I have to go first so here’s one answer to the first question.
I am discounting the possibility that I could make significant money from writing so I accept other work which limits writing time. (Yes, I know all the rational arguments one way and the other but it’s about the unconscious assumptions and fears much more than it’s about beancounting -though you have to do some of that too.)
There! Your turn now.
