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- First drafts: allowing the worm to navigate the soils of your mind
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Category Archives: Fiction
Writing isn’t just about having an idea – you have to know what to do with it
I’m sitting at the bar of a coffeeshop in Amsterdam, scribbling away. A man, standing next to me, gestures at my notebook and says: what do you write? I’m actually writing about my notebook, I tell him. Some people who … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Fiction, Memoir, Travel
Tagged Creative writing, editing, Fiction, Gabriela Blandy, how to write, Memoir, short story, travelling, Writer's block, Writing, writing advice, Writing process
18 Comments
The soft haze of mystery
The summer Jake turned fourteen, he caught a sudden glimpse of his aunt undressing – a roundness of flesh in between her body and arm as she removed her bra. His head fogged up, but through his blood came a … Continue reading
Trying to submerge a plastic bag with an air pocket
I have several recurring dreams. In one of them, I’m at university, faced with having to find a group to move in with for the coming academic year. But I’ve left it too late. Everyone has already made their plans … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Fiction, Memoir
Tagged Acting, denial, drama school, Gabriela Blandy, how to write, Interpretting dreams, Letting go, Lucid dreaming, Memoir, Osteopathy, Recurring dreams, Resolutions, short story, Tension, Writing
34 Comments
What we write about when we write
A sheet of A4 is pinned beside the bar. It hangs loose against the stone wall. There’s an image of a four or five year old in an orange sundress. I notice a plaster at the top of her arm. … Continue reading
The story of a room
Don’t believe anything you see. This is what the curator says as I enter the Whistler Room at Mottisfont Abbey – a line he repeats as more people come and go. I can hear the pleasure in his voice as … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, History
Tagged advice, Fiction, Gabriela Blandy, History, how to write, Memoir, Mottisfont Abbey, Norah Lindsay, Rex Whistler, Trompe d’oeil, Writing
13 Comments
Honesty, and how we might write
My thoughtful readers and all the pioneer bloggers out there have brought my attention to something. Firstly, the draw of honesty, and secondly, how we might write. Perhaps, they are the same thing. So far, my writing journey has lasted nine … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Fiction, Memoir
Tagged advice, breathing, Creative writing, drama school, fear, Fiction, Gabriela Blandy, honesty, how to write, short story, Writing process
21 Comments
Between two people
There are five or six girls, sitting on a bench in Christchurch meadow with notebooks on their laps. On the lawns behind are larger groups of students, in the city for the summer. Backpacks lie flung on the grass. I … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Memoir
Tagged Australia, Autobiography, Fiction, Gabriela Blandy, Holiday Romance, how to write, Love, Memoir, Process, Students, writing advice
16 Comments
Things that make us stand out
When John first sees Ruta Meilutyte swim, he thinks her breaststroke tidy enough for her to be one of the best swimmers in the world one day. She is a rangy, blond-haired twelve-year old, but there is something in the … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Memoir
Tagged Autobiography, Fiction, Olympics, Ruta Meilutyte, Sport, Swimming, Writing
5 Comments
Two Trees Entwined
Henry’s sons are rebelling in France. It is the year 1173, which began on a Monday and will see fighting from Scotland to Brittany. The land will watch man tearing himself to pieces, destroying much of what has been built. … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, History
Tagged Eleanor of Aquitaine, Fair Rosamund, Godstow Abbey, Henry II, History, Robert Southey, Thomas Delone, Writing
3 Comments
Swimming in lakes
The waitress must have been sitting on a small stool behind the counter because when I left my table to find the toilet, I only saw her head between polished yellow cups, a napkin dispenser, the small hand-painted bowl with … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Memoir
Tagged Autobiography, Lake, Stanton St John, Swans, Swimming, Writer's block
7 Comments
Gabriela Blandy - The sense of a journey 