Say It With Handwritten Words

    So, yesterday was Saint Valentine's Day, a day when lovers exchange gifts, cards and flowers.The occasion is a huge money spinner for stationers, florists and lingerie shops. But, do we actually need an overpriced gift, or card to tell someone how much we love them?

    What about just putting pen to paper and writing down how we feel about our lover. Forget the gaudy cards, text messages and the emails, heart felt handwritten words can express much more.

    Here are some words that were sent to my Aunt by her husband over 50 years ago. Following their deaths I was lucky enough to be entrusted with all of the hand-written notes they exchanged in their sixty years together. These letters I will treasure forever, just as they did. I hope you enjoy this little glimpse of a man's love for his wife.

    I saw her as an angel, fair with sparkling eyes of blue,

    With cheeks like blossomed roses, and lips of reddish hue,

    Her body formed like Venus, as graceful as a Queen,

    I never thought I'd find a girl, like the angel of my dream.

 

Can You Judge A Book By Its' Cover?

    When it's cold outside, there's nothing like sitting down to a warm meal. With the busy lives many of us lead, it isn't always convenient for us to stand over a hot stove all day preparing the evening meal for our families. Therefore many of us find ourselves reliant on the ready-made meals that fill the deep freezers in our supermarket.

   But, within the last two weeks in the UK we have been horrified to find out that many of our frozen beef products, definitely aren't what it states on the label. It all started when it was reported that several of our leading brands found horse DNA in the beefburgers they were selling.

    As they tried to get to the bottom of what was believed to be accidental beef contamination, the true extent of the unscrupulous practises within our food chain unravelled like the plot of a crime best seller.

    Firstly, it was found that meat pies supplied to our prisons and hospitals for consumption by Muslim prisoners and patients alike, contained pork. Then supermarket chains found that their ready made meals not only contained horse DNA, but the contents instead of being beef were actually horses meat.

    Whilst, some UK and many European residents have no objection to consuming horse meat, they do expect to eat the food of their choice and not be tricked into eating something that they don't want to.A full investigation is now underway and the source of the meat is said to be exported from Romania. One thing it does show is that you can't judge a book by its' cover, or believe what it states on the box, as it is in this case.

Music To My Ears

    I don't know about you guys out there, but I have to have music playing in the background when I'm working. I love listening to the radio, although there are times the conversation can get a bit annoying and that's when I decide to rummage through my old CDs.

    So, as an exercise yesterday I went through my collection and picked out ten tracks that would be suitable as a soundtrack to my forthcoming book. I've deliberately chosen dated tracks, I'll save the up to date ones for another day.

   Soundtrack for Salvation, No Kissing Required:

• New Kid in Town            The Eagles
• Angel Eyes                    Wet,Wet,Wet
• Yah Mo Be There           James Ingram/ 

                                               Michael McDonald

• Daniel                              Elton John
• Into Temptation                Crowded House
• Living on A Prayer           Jon Bon Jovi
• Close to You                   The Carpenters
• Hey God                         Vince Gill
• Mary's Prayer                  Danny Wilson
• Set Fire to the Rain          Adele 

    Have you picked out a soundtrack for your project/novel?

Character Building

    The first day I ever met my protagonist in my forthcoming debut novel, Dan, he walked straight into my life and introduced himself to me. When I told a relative this the other day, she instantly jumped to the conclusion that my fictional character was based on a person I had actually met.

    At that point, I had to explain that he is and always has been a figment of my imagination. That one day, well it was one night, he popped in my head and I new he was the one to take on the role of a lead man straight away. She was surprised to hear as to how I know him very well, warts and all. I told her that I love him to bits, although there are times he can be a real pain and I can get really annoyed with him. Especially, when I can't get him to do precisely what I want him to do in my books, .

   The look of astonishment on her face told me that she was questioning  my sanity, as I sometimes do myself. Therefore, I thought that some further explanation was needed as to how I go about building my characters, as I will now.

    They don't all enter my head in quite the same way and I certainly don't always take to them straight away. Some, surprisingly grow on me gradually, whilst others although they have parts to play within my story, I may never actually find them endearing. Just as in real life, we don't always take to everyone we meet first off, no matter how hard we try. It's also difficult for me to give all my players endearing qualities as demons are involved.

    She said that she now understands where I'm coming from, although there was a twinkle of suspicion in her eye. This is how my characters come about. How did you meet you protagonist and your other characters ? Do you love them all?

   

Push the Button

        Is being a writer a risky business? There is no possibility of us injuring ourselves, but we do run the chance of us losing face, or sustaining a badly bruised ego along the way. Therefore, there is a little risk attached.

    Especially now that we are expected to become involved in social networking. In theses days of blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, to name but a few, our souls' are bared to all and sundry.

    At the push of a button our stories, communications and personalities' are judged by people all over the world. At first by a few, then as the rolling stone gathers moss, the numbers multiply, resulting into hundreds and thousands.

    This is the reason why there are so many wonderful writers out there who file their finished manuscripts in a drawer to never see the light of day again.

    As my blog increases in viewing numbers, week on week and I await the release of my debut novel, that feeling of angst rears it's ugly head from time to time. So, if you were to ask me, if it's worth taking the risk to push the button? My answer is, yeah, most definitely.

The Great Escape

    The weather throughout the world in the last couple of weeks  has been all over the place. In the UK, as temperatures plummeted in some areas to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the wintry conditions caused transport chaos, as the airports and main roads closed. Now forecasters warn that floods are imminent in locations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland due to the snow thawing and the heavy rain that's replacing the snow.

    Across the pond in the U.S.A, 13 states face a deep freeze, with the temperature in some places dropping to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday.

    Then travelling down under to Australia the temperature there has reached highs of 50 degrees centigrade, with tropical cyclones and tornadoes causing destruction.

    Whatever weather  we're trying to escape, staying indoors on some occasions is advisable. For me that's when I settle down with a good book,escaping the world about me. Because, when I read a book I experience anything I want to. I can escape from the snow, to a sun soaked beach in a few minutes and if I'm too warm, I can relax my mind in a cooler place.

    What else other than a book allows us to do this ?

One Minute the Snow



The Next a Sun Soaked Beach

   

Ae Fond Kiss, And Then We Sever

     



Visit a loch

     Today, the 25th January, is Burns' day, a day that my fellow countrymen in Scotland celebrate more than our national day, the feast day of St Andrew on the 30th November. It's a day when we kill the haggis and drink copious amounts of whisky, to toast our master bard, Robert Burns.


Visit Oban and the distillery there

    Although I am partial to a plate of haggis, neeps and tatties, I have to admit that I do not partake any amount of my national drink, but I will toast the words of our national hero. The songs and poems that he wrote in his short life of thirty seven years will be sung and recited all over the world tonight.



Speed bonny boat to the Islands of Scotland

    To celebrate this day I've included some photographs of my wonderful country. I hope if you live elsewhere in the world you will visit us one day, because your trip will be memorable just as his words are. I leave you this week with an Ae Fond Kiss.

ST Columba's Cathedral Oban