Groundhog Day

   

    Thinking of a topic for my twice weekly blog isn't always easy and today was one such hair pulling occasion. I spent a couple of hours reading magazines, newspapers and blogs in a hope for a glimmer of inspiration, but to no avail. Therefore, I decided it was time to throw in the towel and go chillaxe.

    My eyes and brain were sore with reading, so I thought I would watch a few hours TV. Searching through the listing magazine, only one scheduled programme caught my eye, but it wasn't on until 9pm. Michael Buble, to be exact. (Screams with delight). However, that was 7 hours away, meaning I needed to find something else to view.

    Surfing through the movie channels wasn't proving too fruitful either. Then I saw 'Groundhog Day' was on, checking the clock I saw that it was just about to start. Mmm, (scratch head). Should I watch it again? It's a film I did enjoy.

    Maybe not; I've watched it so many times now, that I feel as though I'm having a Groundhog Day moment every time I see the opening sequence. If you've seen the movie you'll know that each day when the main character Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray wakes up at 6 a.m, he relives the same day over and over again.

    At first he sees it as a way he can manipulate events, for his own personal gain. But as the day in  question dawns repeatedly, he fears that his life will be continually put on hold. Eventually, by changing his whole approach to life, he reaps his reward and awakens one morning to find that time has finally moved on.

    There are similarities here that could be applied to anyone's life, but I want to focus on a writers at this point in time. As an individual who hopes to master our craft it's important that we're not scared to tweak our work here and there. Learning by our mistakes as we go along, just as Phil Connors did. Without editing, or listening to advice from others, we will never take our projects forward and succeed in our craft.

   

   

Trouble Navigating

   

Canal boat on the Union Canal, Scotland

   At the beginning of this month, after a fashion, I've uploaded my profile on to the Goodreads website. For those who are now friends with me there, I can only apologise because it's all a bit gobbledygook to me and it's taking me a bit of time to get to grips with how the whole setup works. So if I'm meant to message you when you become my friend I haven't. Oops! Hi, I do want to be your friend and I am interested in what everyone has to say. Can you hear me grovelling?

    The thing is at present I don't have the time to sit down and navigate my way through every piece of the site. Yeah, I know I'm supposed to tell you what I'm reading. But I haven't even uploaded the books I've just finished, or about to read, never mind what I'm reading now. I'm trying to fit all this social media stuff in with my writing schedule and the writing takes priority. Eventually how it works will sink in and I'll be able to keep this ball up in the air along with the rest I'm juggling.

    Excuses now made, if you're not already my friend on Goodreads, why not? You can also join me on Twitter. Hopefully, you navigate through websites better than me and you'll click the button. Maybe I should hire the guy with the canal boat to do it for me.

   

   

Let's Talk Taboo

    Stopping kids accessing hard core pornography and other uncensored material, especially child abuse on the Internet is a problem for all parents. Parental controls can easily be bypassed, especially when children are more computer literate than most parents.

    A recent report has stated that children having access to certain types of pornography develops harmful attitudes and behaviours. Some believe that without the help of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter, the unsavoury matter will be impossible to deal with. So it's been great news that Google has pledged $4m to help tackle the problem and other Internet providers are putting other safety measures in place.

   It is also hoped that by adding a more rounded sex education to the UK school curriculum, inclusive of effective relationships which would include ones of the same sex, and safe use of the Internet, the world will be a safer place for our kids.

  It's a problem that won't go away and I believe education has a huge part to play. But parents and guardians can't solely rely on schools to educate the kids of the rights and wrongs. It doesn't matter how awkward a parent feels about discussing this subject it has to be done.

    That's where I believe literature can help too and I mean both non-fiction and fiction. A good book as we know can be a great conversation piece and is a great way to get a subject matter across. I know that whatever we do, won't eradicate the problem, but not talking about sexual exploitation certainly won't make it go away.

   

   

Race for Life

    At some point in our lives we'll be touched by cancer. Whether we fall victim ourselves, or we are effected emotionally by a relative, or close friend contracting the disease it will make a lasting impression on us.

    I know in my grandparents day it was seen as a certain death sentence. Unfortunately for some of us it still is, but because of the wonderful research that is conducted by organisations such as Cancer Research UK, lives are being saved, or prolonged.

    Things are tough in this world when most of us are feeling the financial pinch, but it's important that we don't forget charities. Without our donations it will be impossible for them to continue with the work that they do.

    A close relative of mine is taking part in the Race for Life this weekend in Dalgety Bay, Scotland and he has been busily fund raising with his work colleagues over the last couple of weeks. The event itself, raises money for the charity but importantly it also increases awareness of the disease itself. This particular fund raiser takes place overnight, in various locations throughout the country because as Cancer Research UK reminds us, the disease itself never sleeps and all communities are affected.

    If you would like to find out how to donate, take part in fund raising events, or information on the disease itself, please click here www.cancerresearchuk.org
   

   


   

Fictional Father Favourites

    Father's Day has been and gone for another year. My own father and father-in-law have now been dead for some years but nevertheless they were in the forefront of my mind when the day dawned.

    With the commercialism of the day hard to escape, I started to think about fictional fathers and role models in some of the books I've read. I came up with this list of my favourite ones, yeah, some aren't perfect, but like any father or male role model in real life they have an important part to play.

• Mr. Bennett     - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 
• Robert March - Little Women by Louisa M Alcott
• Atticus Finch  - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Clay Spencer  -  Spencer's Mountain by Earl Hamner
• Bob Cratchett -  Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• Mr. Micawber-  David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• Charles Ingalls- Little House by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
• George Bailey - The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern  

   How about you, do you have any fictional favourites that come to mind?

The Gaudi Way

  

Barcelona,Spain

    Writing to me is all about drawing pictures with words and visiting beautiful places is something that I find stimulates my creative juices to no end. Yes of course reading does, but I don't know if it's because I write fantasy that I find that visual experiences just seem to have the edge.


La Sagrada Familia, Roman Catholic Church

    Barcelona, Spain is one such city that really is a fantasy author's dream, well this fantasy author anyway and it's all down to one man Antonio Gaudi. Gaudi was a Spanish architect who had great vision and his designs fill the streets and parks of Barcelona. Two such places are La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, both sites demonstrate the man's creativity.

  Work commenced 1882 on La Sagrada Familia and still continues to this day

 

 

Street in Barcelona

    I hope you enjoy the pictures of his creations, some I know have already influenced some of my writing. Does visiting new places get your mind racing?

Mosaic Dragon at the entrance of Park Guell

The Mind House in Park Guell

 



Doric Columns and mosaics in Park Guell

 

 

Birds Nests area in Park Guell, stone carved to imitate tree trunks

 

Gaudi's Home now a museum in Park Guell

The Harsh Reality

    Today the British government is unveiling their plans to celebrate the centenary of the Great War on August 4th, 2014 and they have announced that children will lead the way in remembering the 10 million men who lost their lives. With children from every school in England, travelling to the First World War battlefields to pay their respects.

    Now, the fact that kids are getting involved I'm sure won't meet with the approval of everyone, because of the bloodshed and the brutality that took place. But war unfortunately is part of all our lives, whether in the past, now, or in the future.

    This week in the book world Suzanne Collins and Walter Dean Myers, National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature, took part in a discussion with regards to writing for younger readers about war. Both feel that children need to be educated on the hard facts of conflict and I personally agree.

    If children aren't informed, war as we are all aware can be romanticised. Children, especially boys can be led to believe that running off and fighting is somehow a cool thing to do, with horrific consequences. We see this now in Syria, where young boy soldiers are taking part in atrocities, as has happened in Somalia.

    Of course boys being lured by war is nothing new and my own grandfather ran off at the age of fourteen to enlist in 1914. Luckily for him he was found out to be underage before he actually reached the front line and by the time he was able to enlist, which he did, the war was coming to an end. Otherwise, my family history would be a whole different ball game and I wouldn't be writing this today.

    Children should be respected and by giving them every piece of information we have available, they will be able to make informative decisions in later years. If that decision means that they go off to war, when they are age to do so, they go off to war and God bless them. But, sweeping it all under the carpet and not discussing it will not protect our kids, in my opinion it will only harm them.