jump into the void

Thank You Notes

2012-01-23T20:18:00.000Z

If you haven’t already written your Christmas thank younotes, don’t worry; it’s not too late. Here are some tips for writing theperfect thank you note. If you’ve already penned your Christmas thank yous, youcan apply these tips to birthdays, anniversaries, spontaneous-non-corporate-initiatedgifts, etc.

* I usually start in one of two ways:

1) by saying how great it was to see the giver on Christmas/my birthday/ etc and mention something that you did together: maybe you playeda few board games or went for a walk. If you shared a particular moment/ funnystory then refer to that.

2) If the gift was posted then I say that I hope they had agood Christmas/ have been keeping well. I then briefly say that I had a goodChristmas, it was quiet/ hectic/ a lot fun or I say that I’ve been keepingwell, and give any significant news.

You can skip this section if the giver is someone you see ona very regular/ daily basis or if it doesn't feel appropriate.

*Next comes the thank yous. I normally start this paragraphwith a simple thank you very much forthe… If you get stuck as to what more to say, then here’s what I do:

* If you got money or a handmade gift, skip to the nexttips.

Is the gift particularly thoughtful and suited to you? Ifso, say so. Talk about how useful/ brilliant/ fun the gift is. If you got abook, say how it looks really good, or that you love this author, that youcan’t wait to read it. The same can be applied to films, games or music (youlove this genre, you can’t wait to watch/ play/ listen). If you like the giftso much that you already started to read/ watch or play it, then say so and howgood it is.

If you got clothes, say how good the fit is, how the styleis just so you, how you’ve been wearing it non stop.

Whatever you got, praise it, let the giver know how wellsuited it is to you and how you’ve been using (or will use) the gift.

If your gift wasn’t all that great or you really can’t thinkof anything to say about it, then keep it simple, fill the note up with newsand extend the first section. Let the thank you be a simple “thank you forthe….!”

* Hand-made gifts should be especially appreciated becausethe giver has spent time and thought on your gift, as well as money. Complimentthe item, pointing out things about it you like in particular. Even if youdon’t like the gift, it’s polite to find something about it that you cancompliment. It’s a good idea to briefly go into your experiences with the gift.Eg: I got a handmade apron this Christmas (which I definitely did like!) andafter saying how much I liked the design and fabric, I said that I’ve beenwearing it each time I cook, trying to avoid splashing it too much because it’sso lovely.

* For those of you who got money or a gift voucher: let thegiver know how you intend to spend it (or what kind of book/ music/ John Lewisproduct/ gardening equipment you’ll get). If you haven’t thought about whatyou’ll spend the money on, now is the time to give it a good think. Before Igot into the habit of writing detailed thank you notes, I’d bank my cheque, themoney would be assimilated into my current account and I’d forget about it. Sotake a few minutes to think of something you really want. Then when you getthat item it’s that bit more special and the giver can feel their money wasn’twasted.

You can always put the money towards a moreexpensive item if you can’t think of something within the value of the gift.

If you’ve left it a while since receiving the gift and havesince spent the money, then you can let the giver know what you bought and howgreat it is.

* Finish the note off with something like have a good new year or I hope to see you soon. If you’ve gota date set when you’ll see them next, mention it. If the giver is someone yousee on a daily or very regular basis, skip this and just repeat a quick very many thanks!

And you’re done! Phew! It’s worth putting some effort into;your loved ones have spent time and money on you, let them know how amazingthey are.

This year I bought my thank you notes from Meticulous Ink, afine stationary company in Bath.I went for a lovely chicken design, letterpressed on 410gsm cotton card. Theenvelopes are lined with tissue paper for that added feeling of quality. Youwant the recipient of your note to feel like the amazing special person theyare, so it’s only right that you splash out and get the best quality stationaryfor them.

You can buy Meticulous Ink note cards via their etsy store,or give them a tinkle on the telephone 01225 333004.

Alternatively, make your own cards!

(Almost) All the Books I Read in 2011

2012-01-17T13:36:00.000Z

Okay, so I stole this post idea from Fucking Big Thoughts, ablog that is a lot better than this one, and also Andrew Worthington is abigger reader than I am because he has about 70 books on his list and I have 38.He is also a better writer*, and if I put two and two together I might learnsomething about how to become a better writer.

A lot of my books are children’s books, but then Itend to write YA fiction, so there.

I always grade the books I’m reviewing in the same way thatmy work was marked when I was at Uni – out of 100, but really out of 80. Anybook that gets a 70 or more gets a first; that means it’s really good. It isactually impossible to get 100. Should a book ever get 100, everyone would haveto stop writing because heavenly perfection would have been reached and the apocalypsewould be upon us. Maybe I’ll read something worth 100 in the latter part ofthis year, maybe that’s what the end of the Mayan calendar is all about.

* Judged purely on the quantity of stories published and the quality of the publications in which the work appears.

Escape – Oldham 42

Reaver’s Ransom – Diamand 65

Just In Case – Rosoff 56

How I Live Now – Rosoff 75

Breathing Under Water – Green 50

The Green Book – Patton Walsh 51

State of the Art – Banks 68

The Drowned World – JG Ballard 71

Farewell my Lovely – Chandler 80

What I Was – Rosoff 72

Bride’s Farewell – Rosoff 65

Roundabout – Lassiter 41

A Song For Nero – Holt 49

The Master and Margarita – Bulgakov 85

The Curious Incident of... – Hadon 46

Will Grayson, Will Grayson – Green & Levithan 70

Star – Singleton 63

Skaz, Skinny B and Me – Singleton 50

A Bear Called Paddington – Bond 69

Expedition to Earth – Clarke 69

Angel Kiss – Cassidy 41

A visit from the Goon Squad – Egan 76

Here Lies Arthur – Reeve 70

Anybody Out There – Keyes 15

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace... – Mishima 83

Leaving the World – Kennedy 08

The Temple of the Golden Pavi... – Mishima 90

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detetecti...- Adams 45

Eleven Kinds of Loneliness – Yates 85

While Mortals Sleep – Vonnegut 65

The Graveyard Book – Gaiman 70

The High Window – Chandler 82

Revolutionary Road – Yates 85

Exodus – Bertagna 66

Aurora – Bertagna 61

Zenith – Bertagna 57

Wild Abandon – Dunthorne 58

The Age of Arthur; A history... – Morris 55

Well, this is a list of what I remember reading.

Plus I read a few more Dark Ages history books, but I can’tremember the titles. I read a lot of shorts as well, and re-read stuff likeInstruction Manual For Swallowing (Marek. 83).

In conclusion, the best book I read in 2011 was The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Mishima rated a massive 90/100 - probably the most I've ever awarded a book before.

The worst book I read in 2011 was Leaving the World by Douglas Kennedy who rated 8/100. I was forced to read this when I joined a local book group. It was a horrible experience. Ordinarily I would've stopped reading it before reaching chapter 2.

Short Stories by Etgar Keret and Robert Shearman

2012-01-10T12:16:00.000Z

I got books for Christmas, mostly things that Adam Marekrecommended during the reading he gave in Bridport in November. So far I’veread Love Songs for the Shy and Cynicalby Robert Shearman, Etgar Keret’s The BusDriver Who Wanted to be God, I’m nearly finished The Girl on the Fridge by the same author, and I’ve read Apples by Richard Milward (this onewasn’t a Marek recommendation). What lead me to put Milward on my list was seeing this video of him doing a reading of his latest book. I liked that he transformed his head into a block of flats before doing the reading.

Both Shearman and Keret are amazing writers. I thinkShearman is the better of the two; his stories are subtle and pack a lot morepunch because I know there’s a lot going on in them.

Many of Keret’s stories are amazing. I think the stories in The BusDriver Who Wanted to be God are generally stronger than those in The Girl on the Fridge. I love Good Intentions, wherein a pro-assassinis hired to kill off the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, “the only good man I’dever known”, a man who saved the assassin from orphanage beatings in his youth.He can’t do it, despite his 100% success rate in previous jobs. The ending isparticularly strong, but I won’t go into it here. Keret’s endings tend to bevery open. I think his stories demonstrate how it’s fine to leave everythinghanging and unsaid, stories don’t always need a neat bow to round everythingoff.

What I really, really like about Keret’s style is that hiswriting is so minimalist and bare, yet so vivid. The last story in The Bus Driver.. is Kneller’s Happy Campers. This was adapted into a film called Wristcutters, a Love Story. (See trailerbelow) The story is by far the longest in the book and is divided intotwenty-six chapters, each about 300-600 words (his usual story length). Theentire thing is forty pages. Any other writer would need five times that totell this story – it’s enough to fill a feature length film. I think Keret iswhat I’d call a Conceptual Writer, by which I mean his stories are not reallydriven by character, plot or beautiful language, they are driven by an idea.The beauty of his prose is in its concise nature. Less is more, and therecertainly is less in Keret’s work.

Keret manages to make stories out of anything and everything.Sometimes I’m not sure he succeeds. Perhaps I’ve just missed the point, butI’ve tried hard to delve deeper into some of the weaker ones, and still haven’tmanaged to figure it out. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy his stories, I likethem for being little vignettes. I think what I’m trying to say is that I feelI could write a (weaker) Keret story without breaking into too much sweat, butShearman is totally beyond me.

Shearman’s work is so multi-faceted. The collection I read wereall love stories, yet not a single one could be described as clichéd or soppy.Most of them left me with a raw sadness (in a good way). They aresimultaneously uplifting and crushing. In the story Be of Good Cheer, Gillian is allergic to other people’s happiness.“I’d take her to the cinema, making sure that the film was suitably depressingfirst. But it wasn’t enough to see films about depressing subjects, aboutheroin addicts or holocaust victims. Good films, no matter how dour, were stillcuriously uplifting, sent a ripple of unity around the audience that quite madeGillian gnash her teeth in distress.” I think some of Shearman’s stories arelike that; though none of them could be described as dour, they’re all toolight-hearted in their tone for that.

As for Milward’sApples, it doesn’t really belong in this discussion because it’s from adifferent genre. Apples is wellwritten, but I couldn’t connect to the characters, they were all too far fromme and my life. I might talk about this in greater depth sometime soon becauseit did interest me in regards to teen fiction and reluctant readers. More onthat later.

Iron Pour

2011-11-30T18:43:00.001Z

Stephen Coles is a sculptor with an MFA from Alfred, New York State, and now has a studio on his dad's Dorset farm. A couple of weekends ago Mr Kite and I went over to help him with an iron pour. My role was pretty safe and easy: take photos. Everyone else was kitted out in full leathers and visors; sand and water easy at hand.

The moulds ready for molten iron

Pouring.

Exciting stuff! I think the next pour will be bronze; casting a mince pie among more practical things. More on that later.

Photographic Update

2011-11-13T12:25:00.001Z

Okay, so I realise that I've been pretty slap-dash about updating what's what over the past few months. So here's some pictures describing the last two months of stuff that's been happening, late october-november's adventures not yet uploaded/ included.

Cuthays Farm, near Axminster. Mary was interested in buying this dilapidated farmhouse and 28 acres of beautiful land. But it was falling down a little bit too much, and she wants more acres to plant her nut crops and forest garden. Still, it was very interesting to view it. The place wasn't connected into mains water, only having a well, it was all really well set up in an old fashioned and very sensible manner that we'd label permaculture nowadays, but then it was just good old normal common sense.

Cuthays fields with plenty of wild food.

Less wild food from Mr Kite's greenhouse, tomatoes grown by my fair hand. Still cropping right into late October.

Tay from Cherry Wood with puppy Kaia, ours for such a brief flash of time.

Kaia's dad is Pippin, and her mum is Mooty of Cherry Wood. Perfect parentage!

Kaia

Kaia lived with us for two lovely weeks before going on to a new home. We miss her! But I don't miss her mess.

This is the cabin before Kaia came:

And here it is during her stay. Very different:

My veg garden back in September. Love it!!

Walking near Mr Kite's place.

The River Stour.

My allotment in september

Volunteer

2011-11-08T12:19:00.000Z

For me 2011 has been a year of volunteering for things, gettinginvolved in the community etc. I unintentionally found myself as the presidentof my local WI; on the WI committee; a co-organiser of Storyslingers, mywriting group; a member of two other writing groups, plus a writers’ network; amember of a Local Action Group for a funding body; a voluntary press officer; amember of a reading group, and a few one off things.

Out of all these things, the only group that has given anything positiveback to me has been Storyslingers, and the writing network. The others havesimply piled stress onto me, demanded more than I am capable of, and eveninsulted me.

I now realise why a lot of young people don't get involved incommunity things; life is in too much of a delicate balance while you're tryingto establish a career, not living in your own house and with more money goingout than in. These community things are better for retired people who havesecurity, have already ploughed all their effort into their own lives andcareers and can comfortably give something back. I'm not there yet!

And if you ever come across some gullible youngish person willingto volunteer their time to help the community, please consider the fact thatthey are still learning, they are likely to be struggling financially, and thelast thing you should do is to rant your discontent at them.

2012 is going to be a year for me, for focusing 100% on my career,on spending some time with people of my own generation.

Web Serial Story

2011-10-03T11:33:00.000+01:00

I’ve started a new online story that’s available for all toread. The format is in a blog style, about a girl just starting Uni (artschool). Eventually I’d like to have it as an interactive story, with guestwriters, illustrators, photographers etc. But for now it’s just me on mylonesome.

The idea behind the project is that it’s in real time, sothe story is unfolding in parallel to real life timings. All the writing is rawand unedited. It’s a project to encourage me to write something very regularlyand get it out there without hanging onto it for years rewriting it and gettingbogged down in perfecting it.

I’m 4 blog posts into the story. Here is post (chapter) 1: http://uni-diaries.blogspot.com/2011/09/freshers-week.html

2: http://uni-diaries.blogspot.com/2011/09/kitchen-stories.html

3: http://uni-diaries.blogspot.com/2011/09/clubs-and-societies.html

4: http://uni-diaries.blogspot.com/2011/10/climb-club.html

2011-09-19T20:09:00.003+01:00

Intersection

2011-09-12T19:41:00.000+01:00

A new short story of mine has been published by the most excellent Pygmy Giant. You can read it by going here: http://thepygmygiant.com/2011/09/12/intersection/
It's less of a story and more of an intersection between two narratives that haven't been written, with some philosophy thrown in. I hope you like it!

You can read another story I wrote a few years ago that I also got published at the Pygmy Giant: http://thepygmygiant.com/2008/12/05/elder/

Let England Shake

2011-09-12T19:38:00.000+01:00

Dorset is a great place to live. We're surrounded by beautiful countryside, inspiring people and soul-enriching music and literature. I've only recently come across PJ Harvey, and now she's won the Mercury Prize I'm starting to pay her proper attention. After listening to Let England Shake, and then quickly downloading White Chalk, I can really feel Dorset in her lyrics and in the quality of her music.

When I write stories there is something I want to capture, and I think that PJ Harvey has managed to capture something very similar. I hope that someday I will be as eloquent as she.

Yes, PJ Harvey does Dorset proud, and I get the feeling that Dorset does PJ Harvey proud.

http://jump-into-the-void.blogspot.com/2008/12/patriot.html

Listening to Let England Shake makes me think that no one who truly feels patriotism would chose to go to war, other than to defend their land. To attack another territory is about as un-patriotic as you can get. We need nothing more than this glorious land. No other territory can match it.

Current Project Research: collected massive attack shorts #2

2011-09-05T19:14:00.004+01:00

I'm working on a new Massive Attack short story based on the Atlas Air song from Heligoland. The story deals with extraordinary rendition, as does the song. In light of today's news I thought I would link to Massive Attack's Atlas Air and give a little mention to this short that I'm working on. It's still in draft form at the moment, but when it's readable I'll talk more about the story and research that's gone into it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14790034

this is an American and therefore slightly sensationalist version of the report:

See http://jump-into-the-void.blogspot.com/2011/05/current-project-research-collected.html for more info on this project.

Sci fi story published on Kasma

2011-08-05T15:22:00.002+01:00

A sci fi story of mine has been published by Kasma magazine. You can read it by following this link: http://www.kasmamagazine.com/beached.html

Enjoy!

Narrated Songs II

2011-08-02T17:08:00.006+01:00

Another narrated song. I prefer story-based narrative songs. This is more poetic. It's awesome either way. I love Boys Noize, and Jarvis Cocker is some kind of artistic genius.

more narrated songs here

Mary came to stay

2011-07-31T17:30:00.005+01:00

Mary visited us. She helped out in my allotment (did most of the work), we fired up the cob oven for the first time, she designed the outdoor kitchen area (awesome drawing skills), and then we went bat detecting in the woods. We saw soprano pips, noctule, serotine (I think), and lots of daubenton's over the river on the way back.

Elderflower champagne I made a few weeks back

Against 2.

2011-07-28T17:41:00.003+01:00

"The pessimistic, sceptical and narrow views of the English public, who stupidly adore the pretty-pretty, the commonplace, the soft, the sweet, and mediocre, the sickly revivals of medievalism, the Garden Cities with their curfews and artificial battlements, the may-pole Morris dances, aestheticism, Oscar Wilde, the Pre-Raphaelites, Neo-primitives and Paris."

garden

2011-07-26T15:24:00.006+01:00

The garden is looking pretty. We weren't going to plant anything this year, instead rest it because it's very low in nutrients. But I caved and planted stuff anyway.

The cabin

This is at the allotment a few weeks ago

Narrated Songs

2011-07-15T17:05:00.005+01:00

http://homepage.mac.com/alternativeman/sounds/songfiles3/theghosts/index.html

Ooberman's Honeydew - http://www.ooberman.net/wm/honeydew.m3u

Can anyone else think of any narrated songs: prose stories rather than spoken poems/ raps.

Jenny The Obscure

2011-06-23T11:27:00.002+01:00

I’ve been struggling a little bit over the past week with my (short story) writing. My shorts writing tends to be obscure, very niche and experimental. Whatever market these kinds of shorts of mine have, it’s very limited. So I’m almost wondering if it’s worth developing such stories. I think I will always write them because they help me learn and they inform my more mainstream novel writing. But I wonder if it’s worth sharpening them for submission to magazines and publications. I’m not sure I should bother showing anyone these stories at all.

Yesterday at one of the two writing groups I attend (the cliquey one), I read out one of my particularly obscure pieces that I am considering sending somewhere. It did not get a good reception. One member was actually quite rude about it. No one there understood the piece. Their reaction was ironic, given the meaning of the piece. I guess in some ways the piece was like a Buddhist Koan (sort of!) and they were reading it from a rational angle.

I think the story failed because it really needs to work on both a rational level and also on a deeper level. I’m still learning, but yesterday’s reaction was off-putting.

Murakami is one of my favourite authors. This is because you can read many of his stories on those two levels. When I first read Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World I thought it was amazing, but I only got hints of the deeper meanings. Since the first reading I have researched into Jungian theory, and now I see that Murakami’s story is very heavily influenced by Jungian theory, to the point that it’s pretty much a narrative version of the Ego/ Shadow/ Animus theory. I’ve also started to research into Semiotics and there’s stuff about that hidden in there too.

I’ve got a lot to learn and it’s pretty daunting. I have no teacher, so it often feels like stabbing in the dark and I feel that I won’t reach the levels I aspire to for a very long time and I’ll have to continue on in this same intense full-time level if I’m ever going to get there.

I think I will take Murakami’s words below to heart and accept that I cannot please everyone, but I have to make sure that those that share my philosophy really, really like it.

This quote is from Murakami comparing running a jazz club to writing a novel:

Even when I ran the club, I understood [that you can't please everybody]. A lot of customers came to the club. If one out of ten enjoyed the place and decided to come again, that was enough. If one out of ten was a repeat customer, then the business would survive. To put it another way, it didn’t matter if nine out of ten people didn’t like the club.

Realizing this lifted a weight of my shoulders. Still, I had to make sure the one person who did like the place really liked it. In order to do that, I had make my philosophy absolutely clear, and patiently maintain that philosophy no matter what. This is what I learned from running a business.

wedding

2011-06-15T10:42:00.003+01:00

Mr Kite's sister got married on Saturday. I think it was the best wedding ceremony I've been to. It was a humanist ceremony and they'd done all the boring legal registry stuff the day before, so there was no waiting around for dinner and fun. The whole thing was awesome, except maybe the DJ, who was less awesome.

Bride versus Groom in a tug of war. He didn't let her win. He has much to learn.

raaayyy! Free booze.

In This Garden

2011-05-27T11:44:00.003+01:00

The garden is coming along:

salad garden with peas, spring onions, rocket, mixed lettuce, spicy salad mix, winter puslane and red beet.

spicy salad. excellent in hummus sandwiches.

Jostaberry flower

blackcurrents getting some colour now

mustards have bolted, but the flowers look beautiful and taste good in salads too.

All in pots waiting to go into the ground.

A misty morning a week or two ago.

Current Project Research: collected massive attack shorts #1

2011-05-18T18:56:00.007+01:00

I’m currently working on a new short story project that has formed out of an experiment with a Massive Attack song. I was listening to my MP3 player and Babel came on random. Martina Topley-Bird’s lyrics are hard to decipher, but something in the song captured me and gave me a clear sense of narrative.

I tried to find the lyrics online, but most sites ignored the last couple of stanzas or clearly got bits wrong. After listening to it very loudly for a few hours I managed to basically figure out what she might be saying:

Say "it was her babel"
Said it was my babel
It was my babel
Tell all people

Now you know it's over
Rolling off her shoulder
You can take a lighter to the shadows and forget
Was it how she kissed you and then dismissed you
Was it purposeful and was it just to hook you in

Hallucinating, chasing, changing, racing
Breaking, hating till you lost it all
Well you lost your girlfriend, she was not going
Where you were going, you are on your own

He was quick to burning
He was slow to learning
Though his eyes were misted
He still kissed her when she cried
You did your best to replace her
You didn't up and leave her
You befriended the harsh way it ended
Now sleep tight

Hallucinating, chasing, changing, pacing
Bracing, breaking, if you lost it all
Was it all your good
Reachin into it
That lead you to me
I would have craved the love

I wanna be the one that should've said "Truth and not dare"
I'm running so far out of my head
This rain of heart that ripples my day
Can never said what was thinking, wait
Mmm...

So this was the starting point. Here are some other elements I wanted to bring in:

Semiotics/ Saussure/ Lacan

Misunderstandings/ Miscommunication

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Plus some other stuff. Despite all of these influences, it’s really a simple YA story that reflects the narrative that I interpreted from the lyrics. I'll post it up in a few months when it's sharper.

Now Babel is drafted, I’m starting research work on the next short; either Atlas Air or Splitting The Atom.

Cooking in the Woods

2011-05-10T10:41:00.005+01:00

Myself and Mr Kite went to the woods over the weekend to cook for a bunch of hungry woodworkers who were learning how to make stools using green wood, shave horses and pole lathes.

The kitchen.

the workshops

log cabins/ campsite

we slept in this one.

The bath area (in progress). The bath is heated by a fire underneath.

Kukaw!

2011-05-02T13:55:00.004+01:00

A story of mine titled Kukaw! has been featured on the excellent lit blog Cherrypicked Hands. Read it by clicking here. There are lots of other amazing literary things over there, mostly poems, and also an amusing email exchange.

It's the first Shaftesbury Arts Centre Creative Writing Group* meeting today. I am a co-organiser of the group along with awesome fantasy/ sci fi writer Jennifer K Oliver who initiated everything. We've got an amazing programme lined up for the group, there will be biscuits, and we will learn things. I'll link you to our website when it's in operation.

*working name. It'll be shorter and punchier when we think of a shorter and punchier name.

workshop poem

2011-04-21T18:34:00.003+01:00

I went to a writing workshop in Shaftesbury a few weeks back. We did a lot of freeflow stuff, which is when my writing is at its best. I have a fear about poetry. I don’t understand it at all. But we had to write a poem based on the theme of spring. The leader of the workshop really liked my poem. I’m unable to judge it, since I don’t understand poetry. I think I’d like to edit it and give it a better structure.

+++

(I've taken the poem down for now because I want to work on it and send it out someplace)

Holiday on the Moon

2011-04-13T15:27:00.005+01:00

It’s all hectic around here at the moment. The garden and allotment are very demanding of my time. My writing is taking a holiday on the moon.

It's raining, so perhaps I might have some time to sit at the computer and tap out some words?

Article in Living Woods Magazine

2011-04-06T12:03:00.004+01:00

Living Woods magazine published an article of mine back in January. Mr Kite lent my copy out to his friend and I have only just got it back now. So here's a scanned copy of the article. Enjoy!

I recommend Chantry Cottage courses. They've all been excellent so far.

Now I'm off to sow more seeds. Yin/ Yang beans, Cardoon, Clove Pinks, Mallow, Sage and Dianthus; all beautiful and edible!

Overbearing / long skate

2011-04-01T11:05:00.003+01:00

I entered the Terry Pratchett first novel prize ages ago. I didn’t win it. They haven’t announced who’s been short listed yet, though they should have done yesterday. I didn’t expect to win; my novel didn’t quite match the criteria for a start. It was well worth doing. I got a 126000 word novel written in four months. Since I submitted it I’ve been editing and doing some retrospective research, checking that what I’ve written is accurate, or at least knowing it’s inaccurate. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but this novel is probably the nearest to being in a decent enough shape to consider sending somewhere.

Aside from novel research and edits I’ve been writing a short story featuring longboarding. The spark point for this story is with this blog post

wherein a longboard dancer pulls slick moves to the beat of an inferior version of Prodigy’s Omen (love that song!)

spring

2011-03-30T11:18:00.003+01:00

I've been putting seeds into pots with compost and watching them grow.

Blonde maraicheri lettuce just coming up.

The same lettuce a week or so later.

Red Orache. I've never tried it. I look forward to tasting it in a few months time.

Crocus

snakeshead fritillary

An apple seedling. Mr Kite and I just planted 82 fruit trees down at Mountain Cottage in corfe mullen, Dorset. It's mostly apples, but cherries, plums, pears, quince and medlars too. They're all a lot bigger than this seedling.

So if you want to see our lovely fruit orchard why not book a yurt and stay down there for a night or two. It's an amazing place. http://www.mountaincottageyurts.co.uk/Welcome.html

Recipe

2011-03-11T12:52:00.002Z

Here's a recipe I made up yesterday.

The LAG funding group I'm a part of has just put a 'temporary freeze' on funding all new projects. The government are abolishing RDAs and centralising everything with DEFRA.

The Big Society is fast becoming an oxymoron.

(the day after) Pancake Day

2011-03-09T12:01:00.003Z

I couldn't get online yesterday, so this post is a belated.

Recipe for Spiced Pancake avec Bean (Mr Kite's invention)

For the pancake:

110g plain flour

pinch salt

2 eggs

200ml milk mixed with 75ml water

2tspn garam masala

2tspn tumeric

1 tspn ground coriander

sieve flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Break the eggs into the mix, or blend. Add milk and water gradually. When all the milk and water is added, slide a spatula around the edge of the bowl to incorporate any stray flour. Add the spices and whisk until smooth.

(Note: These pancakes seem to take slightly longer to cook than conventional pancakes. The spices seem to slow the cooking down. Allow about 5 mins per pancake, but ultimately you decide when they're done.)

for the Avec Bean:

(pancakes to be cooked during the Avec Bean cooking time, or if multi-tasking is impossible for you, after. Ensure the bean mix is kept warm while the pancakes cook.)

1 red onion- chopped

2 cloves garlic- chopped

1 red pepper- chopped

2 courgettes- chopped

mushrooms- chopped

ginger- sliced. Smallish quantity.

chilli powder- 1tspn or less

tinned tomatoes

tinned mix beans

150g mozzarella

coriander leaf

basil

Fry onions for 5mins

add pepper and garlic and fry for further 5mins

add courgettes and ginger. Fry for 5mins

add mushrooms. Fry 3mins

add the herbs and spices and tomatoes and fry for 5mins

add beans and fry for a further 5mins.

Add the mozzarella 30 seconds before serving.

This recipe can be adapted and changed for variety.

Serve with spicy pancakes.

skate beautiful

2011-03-02T15:25:00.002Z

I saw this on Mary's facebook page and had to watch it a few million times. It's a beautiful flowing dance, like glossy tumbling water.

I have this thing about the human body in motion. Parkour, gymnastics, dance, capoeira et al.

What I especially like about this video is the fluidity of it.

Maid Marian and a Song for Nero

2011-02-24T12:08:00.004Z

I just finished reading Thomas Holt’s A Song for Nero. I picked it up because it’s a historical fiction told in a modern style with a few deliberate anachronisms and a contemporary flavour. My own novel I’m working on is a light-hearted anachronistic historical fiction. I’m trying hard to find published novels following that sort of principle.

Song for Nero was easy to read with a good concept. The light-hearted style made it a much more enjoyable read from other historical fiction. The characters were strong and well described. The whole ambience of the story put me into that time in history without alienating me.

The book was excessively long considering nothing much actually happens. It was over the top to the extent that though I guess a lot of stuff did happen, it seemed to be negated by the OTT barrage of stuff that I couldn’t relate to. All the mishaps that occur bled into one another creating a spiral of repetition. Despite such a formulaic repetition, the characters never learn from their previous experiences. Though Galen does seem to develop towards the end, I felt character development was thin on the ground. I had no reason to root for the characters because it was never made clear what the characters actually wanted, other than to be in a different situation.

Having said all that, I did enjoy reading it. I just felt it came so close to being an amazing perfect book, but it never quite connected, never quite filled its potential.

Has anyone out there read a good historical fiction in a similar vein to A Song for Nero? I’m talking modern language, no excessive description into intricate historical fact, a lot of deliberate anachronism, tongue in cheek and chilled out? I’m talking Maid Marian and Her Merry Men but in adult novel form. If anyone can suggest something similar (that isn’t the book I am writing) then point me that way.

Human After All

2011-02-09T20:55:00.006Z

Something to listen to while reading:

I have just read The Drowned World by J G Ballard. What particularly struck me about the book was within the postscript. Ballard comments on the fragility of society/ status quo. Ballard discusses how living through a war allowed him to see society as a construction. This idea is central to The Drowned World. Kerans refers to the structured society that Colonal Riggs represents as being unreal, a construction. Kerans, Beatrice and Bodkin are sharing the same dream, their consciousness collectively aligning with an ancient archetype, regressing mentally as their new world regresses to Triassic conditions.

The point I would most like to hold on to is that society is a construction, easily broken. I heard somewhere that civilised society is only three meals away from anarchy. Nothing in our day to day lives is actually real and it is all subject to extreme change. Resilience is the ability to roll with changes, embrace them and shift to the pattern of change.

The book I am currently reading is What I Was by Meg Rosoff. Rosoff is easier to read than Ballard, being a children’s writer. Her stories are simple and comfortable where Ballard’s are complex and sophisticated. There is something that is linking these two stories together and entwining myself within the folds. Finn is a boy who lives in a shack on a tidal island. He is wild, (partially) disconnected from society’s rules and constructed existence. Finn’s life is based in the facts and reality of living, of catching enough crabs to eat and sell, of collecting wood for his fire, on the act of being alive.

In Rosoff’s first book, How I Live Now, we meet four siblings with a similar unreality (disconnection from society’s rules).

I can relate to Finn and Edmond and Issac et al because I too wish to live in such a manner. I don’t mean total disconnection, because that would be rejecting things as they are now. I mean a partial disconnection, a state in which I exist as part of society but not expressly reliant on it.

I strive for this simple existence that acknowledges the fragile unreality of society. I want to be resilient, able to accept changes, to accept a total change of regime if it came to it. But I have been brought up in this society and have been conditioned by it. I often feel a sense of vertigo, as it were. I feel like What the hell am I doing? I have hardly any money, no security, no future path cleared ahead of me. I should acquire these things!

But these things are all so fragile. There is no resilience in them.

This brings me on to Sci Fi as a genre. The Drowned World is a science fiction novel. It is very different from the sci fi I have been reading recently, in that it accepts the fragility and temporal reality of our world and society. Often science fiction assumes our society will continue indefinitely far into the future and beyond the confines of this world. I disagree with this. We are not resilient enough. Our planet is subject to huge changes and the situation in The Drowned World is a lot more plausible than many sci fi situations. We are not all powerful. We are just successful animals enjoying a peak.

All animals have a limited capacity. We do not expect a dog to be able to compose a poem or discuss the intricacies of quantum physics. Why then do we expect the human species to have an unlimited capacity? Ages ago there was something on Radio 4 that discussed the limits of human comprehension. Martin Rees suggests robots will be the key to overcoming our biological limitations (though does not go into how the robots will be manufactured or fuelled if fossil fuels were to run out).

The lecture is extremely interesting, especially in relation to writing science fiction. It is neither disparaging of speculative science nor is it fanciful.

To listen to the lecture please follow this link. It’s well worth it, especially for sci fi geeks.

Lastly, the above ideas can be linked to the short story by Kurt Vonnegut entitled Tom Edison’s Shaggy Dog, the premise of which greatly amuses me and which I would like to take on as fact.

Farewell my Lovely

2011-02-03T11:16:00.001Z

I read Farewell my Lovely the other day. Raymond Chandler’s style is smooth and on the ball. Despite these books having been written in the 40s, they read with a slick freshness rarely found in even the most contemporary of books.

Sure, there are times when I have no idea what the hell is going on, but that’s all cool. It all makes sense in the end. There are some beautiful one liners in there. Chandler’s metaphors sing.

Philip Marlowe is everything I’d want from a PI character. He’s a real man, he’s no pansy. Marlowe’s tough, he knows how to use a gun and he can hold his liquor. When it comes to girls, he’s a smooth player. But he’s not invincible. He admits it when he’s shitting himself because whatever crazy situation he’s in is scary as hell. What I like most about Marlowe is that he doesn’t take himself seriously at all. It’s what pisses all the cops off. He takes on these cases with a nonchalant kind of Who Cares attitude, jokes his way through it and winds up solving the entire thing before the cops even get nearly half way there.

So on Radio 4 there’s a Raymond Chandler season. It’s about to start. I’d better wrap this post up so I can listen. Why don’t you take a look at it too? If you’ve never read any Chandler I’d say go for it.

Million way of drum

2011-02-01T19:21:00.005Z

There are drums in the novel that I will call my ‘first novel’, even though I wrote five or so novels before it.

The novel is set in the dark ages. There’s a character who is into music, big time. He’s a funky drummer:

A number of my friends and acquaintances are members of a band called The Magic Drum Orchestra (who have a cameo in the aforementioned novel). I love their vibe.

Magic Drum Orchestra - Drop It (Like A Funky Muppet) by jopparelli

You know I love Samurai Champloo. Well if you didn’t, now you do. There is nothing that’s better, in my opinion. It cannot be topped. This is one of my favourites from their soundtrack.

I think I already linked to this crazy drummer dude from Ireland. I’ll link to him again.

Hell yeah!

Rocket Mantastic

2011-01-27T13:58:00.011Z

I’m busy writing some sci fi stories for Darkmechanic aka Dan Morison. Apart from Kurt Vonnegut’s awesome sci fi, I’d not really read much in the genre. If you had to put me in a box, you’d shove me into a hippy box and I would've woven the box out of willow. I like growing organic vegetables, I spin wool and want to live in a wood and I think the Earth is A-OK. I invest in the Small is Beautiful idea. I wear second-hand dresses and funky tights. Science is not my religion.

But I’m enjoying writing sci fi stories probably more than I enjoy writing hippy stories. I think having a distance from something allows you to approach it from an interesting and un-pressured outsider angle.

This is a small bank of a few interesting sci fi things and also my favourite sci fi author talking about short stories:

My friend Emily’s girly sci fi robot short story:http://makingeggs.blogspot.com/2011/01/fenella.html

Kurt Vonnegut gives some sound advice, which I can’t help but to ignore. Writing is too personal. There’s no rules. Much respect to Vonnegut though, and I agree with much of what he suggests.

The State of the Art

Rocket Mantastic.

http://www.danmorison.com/

Nujabes

2011-01-21T14:47:00.002Z

I want to buy some Nujabes music, but can't find where sells it for a more reasonable price than £80. Anyone know where I can get hold of some?

I'm writing short sci fi space and robot stories. I read one out to the new writing group I attend. The writing group is predominantly attended by women 'of a certain age' (70+). I'm not sure they really caught the vibe.

They're trying to take my history away from me

2011-01-20T16:59:00.003Z

The allotment is about twenty minutes away on foot, through field and woods. On my way back I stopped at Kite’s Nest hill and looked out over the Blackmore Vale. First I saw a muntjac, which I’d never seen before. Then I saw two cows madly chasing after a fox. Cows can run really, really fast.

There's a lot of rolling farmland and a few scattered houses, most of which ugly. I imagined what the land would have looked like with less human interaction. The human race is very arrogant. It made me think of a lyric in a Levellers song “Got to move these mountains because they’re standing in the way. It’s in the name of progress, son, we can make it pay.” We’ve lost our place in our world and we’re playing at God. What is all this “progress” for?

Here is the song.

Some other lyrics that strike a cord with me are:

Is this just some small price that we have learned to pay for your social insecurity,

They're trying to take my history away from me.

I feel that way often, that these politicians are trying to take away our history, to rip apart the story of my life and force me to conform to something totally separate from the land and my origins. There is another Levellers song that relates to this; Sell Out.

Do I belong to some ancient race?
I like to walk in ancient places,
These are things that I can understand.
I don't believe in your modern way,
Don't care about the things you say,
Your policies have failed the test of time,
'Cause you sold them down the river.

I’ve been reading about John Lilburne. If you don’t know who he is, you really ought to. Maybe schools don't teach kids about him because he saw a problem with the government and democracy as it stood at the time and he violently stood against it. At the time the printing laws were very strict. Lilburne printed his views on freeborn rights and was imprisoned, flogged and nearly executed for it, several times. He and his fellow agitators would not be intimidated. They fought for what they believed in and they broke the law to do so. If he and his Agitators hadn't fought so hard for our rights then maybe it would still only be rich male landowners who could vote, we'd not have religious freedom nor freedom of speech.

A lot of stuff has changed since then. A lot of stuff has stayed the same. Interesting.

Elation versus Panic

2011-01-19T17:19:00.002Z

This is a freewritten short story called Elation versus Panic:

There she is, standing at the apex of the roof, looking down at the pavement, slick and wet below. The rain slaps around her, cold with a hint of almost-snow.

She closes her eyes and sees rainbows spiral out with jangling stars, shapes of hazy distinction and skidding glitchy sounds.

People below her gather and shout. She opens her eyes and looks down at them gesturing with panic. They think she is going to jump. She is not interested in jumping, only in looking and feeling. Sensation rushes like a beautiful buzz.

People are always asking what why who when?

She doesn’t care about these questions. All she cares for is the rush, the changing unfixed unmeaning sensation.

She likes their panic. She shares her rush with them. They interpret it with panic. Panic or elation; they are all sensation and they all put notches of experience onto our souls.

Ever the optimist

2011-01-18T17:40:00.001Z

A pre-Christmas photo. The clothes didn't dry for some reason.

Dada Poem

2011-01-12T14:56:00.002Z

I was making bookmarks from old maps and books and music sheets found in a charity shop. I cut out random chunks of text from the book (a Sharpe book by Cornwell) and arranged them in no particular order. This was the result. I am yet to finish making the bookmark.

Short Story Idea Bank 2

2011-01-07T11:46:00.007Z

Idea bank 1 is on the previous post. I am generating ideas for a short story, laying out the pieces of the jigsaw and taking a long look at the pieces before moving them into place.

Mike is like a Philip Lorca diCorcia photograph. On the surface he seems spontaneous and concrete and real. Take some time and you will find Mike is highly constructed, a master of illusion, far from spontaneous or real.

Appearance ideas:

Androgyny and make believe.

The creation of a persona to form the constructed illusion behind which s/he hides.

It is the shoes of this photograph that interest me. The pose is also interesting, being very closed and shielding.(These two images are by Vladlena Sevelova.)

Character theme ideas:

Mike is a Rubik’s cube master. Some similarities to Brain from Brick. (Image from Rian Johnson's excellent Brick Novella.)

Theme idea generation:

It's unfortunate that when we feel a stone
We can roll ourselves over 'cause we're uncomfortable
Oh well, the devil makes us sin
But we like it when we're spinning in his grip

Short Story Idea Bank 1

2011-01-05T16:24:00.006Z

I'm gathering material, ideas and research for a short story.

When the ego has been made a "seat of anxiety," someone is running away from himself and will not admit it.

"The State of Psychotherapy Today" (1934). In CW 8: The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche. P.360

So far as we know, consciousness is always ego-consciousness. In order to be conscious of myself, I must be able to distinguish myself from others. Relationship can only take place where this distinction exists.

"Marriage as a Psychological Relationship" (1925). In CW 17: The Development of the Personality. P.326

Hysterical self-deceivers, and ordinary ones too, have at all times understood the art of misusing everything so as to avoid the demands and duties of life, and above all to shirk the duty of confronting themselves. They pretend to be seekers after God in order not to have to face the truth that they are ordinary egoists.

"The Visions of Zosimos" (1938). In CW 13: Alchemical Studies. P.142

The foremost of all illusions is that anything can ever satisfy anybody. That illusion stands behind all that is unendurable in life and in front of all progress, and it is one of the most difficult things to overcome.

An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (1949). Foreword by C.G. Jung. In CW 11: Psychology and Religion: West and East. P.905

I have a month or two to write the short story, so I will add to this ideas bank over the coming days and weeks.

Resolution

2011-01-04T21:46:00.009Z

Today I took down the Yule decorations. I’d been putting it off because I liked the sparkles and ivy. Now they’re down I feel refreshed. The cabin looks somehow fresher and cleaner.

I was proud of my wreath this year, having employed my basket making skills to make a proper and well-constructed wreath.

The refreshing of the cabin and the rituals of discarding the shrivelled and old Yule decorations is applicable to myself.

It’s the New Year, at least in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. I’ve decided to set myself goals for the next six months rather than the entire year. The summer has a tendency to sap my focus and I never seem to reclaim it before the year’s end. This time Mr Kite and I intend to plan goals up to our annual summer bbq party and no further. At the summer bbq party we’ll make goals for the remaining six months of the year. I intend to make goals at the start of each month as well. We’ll see if this works out…

I got the Msylexia diary for Christmas. I highly recommend it to female writers. There’s tons of writer geared stuff like a submissions diary, loads of blank spaces for notes, monthly inspirational stuff, a basic directory of the year’s key literary competitions, festivals, events and journals, a place to note what books you’ve lent and borrowed and slots at the front & back inner pages for loose notes.

I’d really like 2011 to be a key year for my writing. I have a first novel draft I’m happy with. I’d like to send it to agents and publishers this year. I’d like to sign a contract. Accepting that goal and writing it for all to see is the first step.

Wire music

2011-01-03T16:56:00.005Z

I listened to a really inspiring radio 4 documentary yesterday. I recommend you take a listen before it expires:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x338l

The documentary about the unearthly sounds that wires make when vibrated by the wind and other weather, such as sunlight and rain. What initially hooked my attention, aside from the insane sounds coming out of the radio was this little background story: "As a young boy he [Alan Lamb] was introduced to the music of the wires during walks with his sister and their nanny, who showed the children how to press their ears against a telegraph pole to 'hear the sound of the world'."

This audio is an example of the sort of sounds the vibrating wires make. The second audio below includes human interaction, which I think I prefer. CreativeComplex-WEATHER-MIX by TheWIREDLab

Listening to the radio program will give you a more detailed experience.

What I find interesting about these sounds is that they sound like chaos. There is something primal about them. When I listen to these sounds I feel a better understanding about the chaos that surrounds me, and I acknowledge that chaos is beautiful and therefore doesn't need to be brought to order by human beings.

The sound artists involved in the project at Wired Lab are taking their experiments further by interacting with the wire themselves by vibrating the wires with their voices, hanging objects from the wires and such:

WIREDLab-PROGRAM-MIX-96k by TheWIREDLab

Take a look at the Wired Lab website and listen to the radio program while its still online (for the next 6 days). http://wiredlab.org/wires/audio-recordings/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x338l

I hope everyone had a good holiday period. I certainly did :D

zero one nine nine II

2010-12-02T18:08:00.008Z

story deleted.

----

(modified) image from here

Zero one nine nine

2010-11-24T17:54:00.009Z

story deleted.

---

1,2,3 excuses

2010-11-10T12:54:00.002Z

My silence can be explained by the following things:

1) I have been writing a novel.

This is an illustration of a main character.

2) I've been making jelly.

This is spiced apple jelly and it tastes like sweet christmas and delcious boiled sweets. Good set, good clarity, good taste. Full marks.

3) I have been helping Mr Kite spruce up our cabin. I have essentially moved into the cabin and now only return home every few weeks or so. Pictures to follow.

Winter came yesterday. I am going to go and walk in it.

Sour Grapes

2010-10-13T11:43:00.005+01:00

This song describes almost everything that I think about spiritually. I'd recommend reading the lyrics rather than watch the video. The lyrics are written below, (though not every word is certain.)

As with all Puscifer, Tool or APC songs the lyrics are very open to interpretation and are definitely tongue-in-cheek. I have interpreted them in my own way.

Mary, if you have time to look at this song and the lyrics I wonder what your thoughts are on the matter and whether any of this links to the teachings at the Zendo? The same goes out to any interested readers.

And the angel of the lord led me
Into the belly of the holy mother
A chamber black as pitch
But I felt no fear, only comfort,

For I was as a child in the womb
And she begged me
"Hear through yonder portal
Which looked upon the heavens,
And behold! a morning angel"

She ascended slowly from far beyond the horizon,
Her light like a heavenly finger pointing the way
And on yonder wall she traced for me a path
Which led me five directions, eight winters to east,

And behold!
As my feet landed firmly
Upon the final winter of the second storm
There appeared before me a heavenly star

A holy virgin, the bringer of life and breath
And she spoke unto me saying
"Fear not the movement of the heavens above or the earth below
For change is what we are, my child.

Righteous are those
Who look up and sway with the wind,
Who look down and dance with the shifting of the soil,
Who swim with the movement of the tides

Who seek the truth around them
And discover that we are
And have always been in paradise.
The reflections of heaven on earth. Amen!'

And she spoke again saying
"Know, my child, that there is no devil seeking to conquer the hearts of men.

No evil, save blind faith, ignorance,
And the desire for the unprepared
To blame others for the devastation
Left in the wake of change

Change, my child
Change is in the heavens
Change is on this earth
Change is all around us

And we are reflections of the divine,
We must roll with these changes,
For we are these changes.

Eyes wide open,
We must look upon
The heavens as a mirror.
Wide awake, aware, deeply breathing

And when the shit comes down, my child,
You will be there,
A true and holy survivor
To inherit the kingdom of god.

You will rise above the crumbles of the unprepared
To greet the new day,
To drink from the sweet fruit of the vine,
The water of life, the blood of the risen Christ, my child.'

'Go now, son,
Tell them all.
The ignorant, the blind paw by dogma,
Blinded by faith, the doubters, the nay sayers.

Tell them all, child,
They can not see
The kingdom of God,
They can not see paradise
Unfold before them

They can not drink
From the chalice
Which holds the blood of Christ,
The water of life,
Until they get right with Jesus.

Until they get right with Jesus.
It's always gonna be
Sour grapes with you, boy,
Until you get right with Jesus. Amen!

Welcome, Mary of the woods.

2010-10-05T12:43:00.005+01:00

Regular readers of this blog might recall the mention of a girl called Mary, who crops up in the occasional post here and there. Her first appearance is in this old post from last year: http://jump-into-the-void.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-saw-osprey-just-other-day.html

Mary has just finished a 6 month stint living in a yurt and cooking in the woods for students of greenwood working. As I might have previously mentioned, I occasionally help her, or whoever happens to be cooking in the woods.

Mary has left the woods for the streets of Southampton. Yes, a very stark difference there. For the next three years she will be studying for a degree in Environmental Sciences. She is wary about this, as she knows this is time spent away from learning crafty country things. But she will be learning in depth, important and interesting things that will go on to help her understand more about the world that surrounds us and our place and duty within it. While she studies into these things, I will continue to make jam, spin wool, weave baskets, sew quilts and knit ponchos. Plus all the other literary stuff I am working on. We will share our thoughts and what we have learnt and experienced here. Together we will learn the best of both worlds and stay in contact while she lives in the city and I live in the country.

Mary and I are both interested in things of a spiritual nature. She was in regular attendance of a weekly meditation group before leaving for Uni. I was not because I am stubborn. But we share many of the same ideas, and perhaps we will continue to discuss these things via this blog.

Mary likes to read weird self-help books recommended to her by her weird older brother. I hope she will continue to tell me about them, because in general they are hilarious or insightful or a bit of the both. I will endeavour to occasionally review any particularly good or particularly bad fiction or non-fiction I come across. In many ways this blog will not be changing much, but I hope it will change a little for the better.

There is no guarantee we will both update very often, and maybe not at all. Mary will be very busy, and I am working very hard on the aforementioned novel http://jump-into-the-void.blogspot.com/2010/09/linc.html But if we manage to post anything, it’ll be good. So keep your specs peeled for interesting, insightful and immature dual blog posts.

Recipe for a cold

2010-09-25T20:46:00.007+01:00

Recipe to make you feel nice when you have a cold:

2 tbsps elderberry syrup

A generous splash of brandy (or 2)

Hot water (mug of)

A splash of lemon juice

A sprinkle of sweet spices such as Cinnamon

A tiny amount of honey

Put it all in a mug. Taste it, if it’s weak tasting, add more elderberry. Add more honey if you like it sweeter.

And some good music

Linc

2010-09-16T18:41:00.005+01:00

So I'm writing a new novel, this time adapted from a comic book script I wrote a while ago and did nothing with. The novel will be illustrated. I will enter it into a contest, though don't expect to win. Having a deadline (31st December) is something I have never had to be strict about. So this is a chance to try and write to a real deadline.

Here is a visual taster.

This is Linc, a wannabe Knight too lazy to earn his place on the roundtable. He quickly finds himself thrown in the deep end when his path crosses with vengeful Tarmigan Fae, a girl who cares only about finding the mysterious mage who murdered her family seven years prior. With nothing much else on, Linc joins her quest.

Produce

2010-09-01T13:13:00.004+01:00

The garden wasn't very productive this year due to a general lack of nutrients. We need to fertilize the soil before next season. We did however get some produce. Our new fruit bushes were great. Shame that the birds thought so too. We hardly ate a blueberry between us.

Blueberry flowers in the springtime

Ripened in the summer

The two we managed to eat (after having put some netting up around them)

Courguette's were in glut, and still are. Here's the first couple along with a cake I made using some of our chickens' eggs, wild strawberries growing in the garden and last year's strawberry jam.

All our berries went into a delicious summer tart

To make a summer tart:

Simmer the berries for a while, then add a little sugar. Make some pastry, blind bake it and then pour in the cooked berries and put into the oven until the pastry is cooked.

Dorset Bear

2010-08-17T11:53:00.004+01:00

I made a new bear for Mary's birthday: Dorset Bear! She's wearing the flag of dorset, on a ribbon around her neck is a mammalian skull found on a walk, as well as a beaded necklace that can double as a bracelet for Mary.

Happy Birthday Mary!

Parkour

2010-07-31T17:14:00.003+01:00

When I was little I played around in a gymnasium. I was an amateur gymnast. Ten years on and I still like to play around in gymnasiums. A mixture of injury, apathy and the summer holiday gym closure has meant that I’ve not been to gymnastics for over three months. Until the gym opens again I’m having to satisfy my need to watch guys do crazy stuff via the medium of youtube:

Also, some drawings I have made of parkour:

I am writing a novel for teenagers that incorporates parkour. The last drawing is of a main character in that novel; Scott. Watch this space for further info.

Scott Heim

2010-07-23T11:14:00.003+01:00

I’ve now read two of the three books written by Scott Heim. I watched the film Mysterious Skin before I read the book, simply because I did not know it was a book until after having watched the film. Brady Corbet spoke about the book in the dvd extras section. The film had really got to me. Not only the amazing performances of Joseph Gordon Levitt (my favourite actor) and Brady Corbet, but for the way it was filmed, the subject, everything about it.

So I read Mysterious Skin. The film is very close to the book. The book is more in depth, and in some ways I think the film is more successful than the book because it holds things back that the book delves right into. The film is certainly the subtler of the two. However, I found Mysterious Skin to be an awesome read. The way the vantage points flick between characters really worked, in my opinion. Heim’s style is cool. It’s rare for me to find novels that are actually cool, that can contend with films, TV, music. Don’t give teenagers shit like Twilight to read, give them stuff like Mysterious Skin.

We Disappear is just as good. I couldn’t put it down, and like with Mysterious Skin, the style was cool. Obviously it was less harrowing than Mysterious Skin. I did feel that We Disappear went deeper than Mysterious Skin, and Heim had got a little better at writing, his style more honed. I felt We Disappear outwitted me at times, kept me on my toes, whereas Mysterious Skin didn’t, perhaps partly because I already knew how it ended, having seen the film first.

Both these novels are examples of fresh writing, vibrant/ interesting characters, gritty subject matters. For this reason I think they are good for young people to read (17+). Heim’s style is flawed. It is by no means perfect. The characters in Mysterious Skin alternate the narration, but each chapter has the same narrative voice, despite the fact that different characters are narrating from chapter to chapter. This didn’t bother me, because their different personalities were crisp and obvious enough from their actions, rather than their narrative voices. Heim tends to over explain some parts, gives the reader too much detail sometimes. But again, I think this is part of what makes the books cool. They are not perfect, they are rough around the edges and that suits the subject matter and the audience.

Basket and Book Fair

2010-07-18T17:55:00.005+01:00

In May I made another willow basket, this time using a different weave that I forgot the name of already. It came out better and larger than my first basket and now stores my knitting. The first basket has become a rollag container. (Wool spinners will know what I'm talking about.)

I've recently attended a third basket making course, this time making a frame basket. That was a lot harder and the willow dried out in the hot sun by the end of the day, loosing pliability. I managed to finish it and will post photos up as soon as I take some.

Today I cycled to Stourhead because there was an antiquarian book fair on there. I bought three books:

Man and the Land. Part of the New Natrualist series. #31

I just bought a rug loom from a local old lady. I have no idea how to use it. Perhaps this book will tell me how.

Hopefully this will help in the coming months!

Pince-nez

2010-07-13T15:28:00.006+01:00

I was in the bookshop a few weeks ago and spotted a book about Trotsky. On the cover was a photograph of Trotsky as a young man. Like so:

I know next to nothing about Trotsky, but the photograph of him as a young man grabbed my attention. I suppose you could say that I got the female equivalent of a hard on. What I especially liked about his appearance was the pince nez glasses.
I couldn’t get that photo out of my head. I bought the book and wrote a story about a young Trotsky impersonator.
(You can read the story here.)

A week or so ago Mr Kite and I were in Shaftesbury and he spotted a couple of pairs of pince nez glasses in the window of a charity shop. They were beautiful objects. I really, really wanted them. So I bought them. And now I officially collect pince-nez glasses. Here are photos of the first two in my collection.

These fold up.

Marathon

2010-07-07T17:07:00.003+01:00

Marathon runner
Doing well
Loses the path
Another strays too
They're both confused
But make friends
A friendship that lasts
Even better than
Finishing a marathon

London Philharmonic Orchestra: Shankar, Glass, Adams

2010-07-07T12:14:00.003+01:00

Last week I went to London to see David Murphy conducting three pieces, Shaker Loops (John Adams), Violin Concerto 1 (Philip Glass), Ravi Shankar’s Symphony world premiere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB0wHIC0NS0

It was incredible stuff. I can’t really put it into words. Listening to it live is very different from a recording. Firstly, it was quieter than I had thought it would be. When I listen to Philip Glass in my headphones it really drills into me (in a good way). But live it’s different, it is more distanced and therefore refined. The emotion of the piece is a lot more prevalent live. It’s like watching a film or reading a book where you really relate to the main character and that character is going through all sorts of stuff that really gets to you, so you can really feel how that character feels. The solo violinist was Robert McDuffie. The passion in his performance was intense. I can’t explain. I’d love to be his next door neighbour, listening to that every night as he practices.
As I was listening to the concert I was thinking about life and humanity. Now, I really don’t think humans are all that. We’re a plague upon this earth. When I listen to music like this I think about how it could be performed three hundred years from now, when electricity is no longer feeding our collective habit. I can hear the beauty in humanity when I listen to this. I don’t often hear it. There is craft here. This music is the product of human hands and minds. I feel this is different from electric-fed music where the sound has been taken through wires and into machines that have not been built by people, but other machines.
This sound comes through the musicians, the composer, the conductor, the instrument makers. No wires. Nothing but human hands and minds and hearts.

Ravi Shankar’s symphony was his first and a world premiere performance. It had never been listened to before. Anoushka Shankar played the Sitar. She spent the better part of an hour sat on the floor in what would have been an impossibly painful position for me. The sounds were a marriage of the east and west. I loved to hear such classical Western instruments making such a vibrant Eastern sound. The Sitar is an instrument that holds an intense power, far more powerful than western instruments. It’s like hearing the voice of the gods. To me the sound is a lot more refined and spiritual than western instruments, even western instruments making eastern sounds. The piece sounded like freedom, connected into a lighter sort of realm than Glass or Adams. Anoushka spent her time bopping to the rhythm, something that doesn’t really happen in other symphonies. There was clapping, the use of human voice (but not really singing) both of which really added a level to the music that broke through the mind/ body barrier that I think western composers have. By this I mean, you could feel a rhythm that makes your body feel connected, want to dance, want to move in time with the sound. That is not really present in Glass or Adam’s, at least not as obviously.
I can’t really relate what I mean. This music moves beyond the realm of written language.

I think I am hooked. I think I will go again to see classical performances of this kind whenever possible. The tickets were a hell of a lot cheaper than any other music gig I have ever been to (£16 for a fairly good seat. You can get them as cheap as £9. Compare this with Audioslave, who I saw years ago at a cost in excess of £30 and it made me semi-deaf for a week).
I love that what you hear at the concert is unique. It will never be played in that exact same way again. It is transient. Transience is beautiful because life is transient.

Confessions of a Young Trotsky Impersonator

2010-06-30T12:50:00.003+01:00

He had the appearance of a young Trotsky, the same square jaw, dimpled chin, piercing wolf eyes, thick lips. He wore his hair in a mess of waves above his forehead, an almost-bouffant. He even wore pince-nez glasses. It was the glasses and the hairstyle that I found attractive. I knew next to nothing of Trotsky, let alone his appearance as a young man.

It was my colleague, Ruben, who first approached him and commented upon the likeness. As we sauntered towards the counter at the back of the café, Ruben paused by the table, cocking his head and sliding his eyes down to meet the young man's . 'Is there much call for a Trotsky impersonator around these parts?

'Enough,' said Trotsky's likeness.

Ruben slipped his hands into the pockets of his brown corduroy trousers and arched his back. 'Well yes, I suppose this is a fairly likely place, you being in a pokey academic café in Cambridge and all that. I suppose the University employ you to add a certain realism to their lectures, or something like that?'

The man neatly placed the book he was reading down upon the tabletop. He flicked his eyes from Ruben across to me. I was fascinated by his pince-nez glasses. Light grey pupils dilated a little behind the lenses. He prized his eyes from mine, slowly as if it took him great effort to do so. 'Something like that,' he confirmed to Ruben and then peered back at me.

The intensity of his stare quickly became oppressive. I blinked and stammered, 'I like your glasses.'

The pause was long enough to be obvious, but too short to enable a new line of conversation. 'Thanks,' he replied, totally deadpan.

'They're not a fashion statement, Julie,' Ruben scoffed. 'They are a tool of this man's trade.' He left no room for a comment. He swooped his attention back to the young man, chin raised. 'You do a good impression, even in your lunch hour.' He was using his patronising "I am very impressed" voice. 'The sobriety of your gestures, the cool indifference, the aura of intelligent vanity. Very good. ...I wonder... how much would it cost me to hire you for a lecture?'

His wolf eyes slipped between us, back and forth. Finally they rested on me. 'I will give you a discount,' he said. 'If you agree to go on a date with me.'

I dropped my gaze to the dark polished tabletop. There was a dog-eared copy of a Kurt Vonnegut novel placed in front of him. Breakfast of Champions. I thought this was someway off-kilter. It didn't seem to fit.

As I said, I found him attractive on the basis of his funky hairdo and those pince-nez glasses. Perhaps that was why I agreed. It certainly had nothing to do with wanting to hire a Trotsky impersonator.

We arranged a time and place, then exchanged numbers. Ruben teased me everyday between then and the arranged date.

As the date grew closer I became less confident that this was a good idea. The guy seemed totally dull, devoid of humour or soul. We probably had nothing at all in common. Agreeing to a date with a stranger purely on the basis of liking his hair and glasses (neither of which reflect a personal style) suddenly seemed like a rather stupid idea.

We met at a small eatery in central Cambridge. He was still wearing his pince-nez glasses and his hair was wild and wavy above his forehead, the same as before.

'Do you always dress as a young Trotsky?' I asked as I took my seat.

He answered with an immediate roughness, 'Yes.' He shuffled in his seat and cleared his throat. This time he spoke with a softer, less abrasive tone of voice. 'It's just a habit. I'll wear something more normal on our next date.'

I raised a single brow high. 'Assuming we have a next date.'

He shrugged and realigned his cutlery.

'So you must really love Trotsky then. I must admit, I don't know all that much about Trotsky. You'll have to fill me in.'

He seemed to sag in his chair. I assumed that I must have majorly disappointed him. The prospect of a second date slipped into obscurity, thank God.

At this point a waitress came to take our orders.

Selections made, the two of us sat in splintered silence, only background restaurant noises saving us from total awkwardness.

He gulped some table water, thumped the glass down and then leaned back nonchalantly. 'I too have a confession to make regarding Trotsky.'

I waited for him to go on, gliding the wetted tip of my index finger around the rim of an empty wine glass. I counted four rotations before he spoke.

'I am not a Trotsky impersonator. I am an English Lit postgrad student.'

I paused in trailing my finger around the glass, eyes flicking across the table.

He put his hands behind his head. 'I dress like this in order to impress professors and score with intelligent girls. So far so good as far as professors go.' He gave an impish cocked smile and put his thumb up, then returned his hand behind his head. 'As for scoring with clever chicks, they are only interested in Trotsky.' He rolled his eyes and turned up his lip. 'Soviet history absolutely bores me.'

I squinted at him, surveyed him for a moment, and then cracked a wide grin. 'Me too,' I said.

His lips curved into an echo of mine. 'But the pince-nez and the crazy hairdo get a double thumbs up. And death by ice-pick sounds like a spectacular way to go. It's not all boring.'

Elderflower Cordial Recipe

2010-06-29T13:24:00.008+01:00

You will need:

A hot summers day.

20-30 Elderflower heads

1kg sugar

Zest of 1 orange and 3 lemons

The juice of the lemon and oranges.

1tsp citric acid

Do this:

Day 1

1. Shake the flowers free of insects. A few will probably remain, but don’t be too concerned.

2. Zest the fruits and then juice them. Put the juice in an airtight container in the fridge and leave until tomorrow.

3. Put the flowers into a large bowl along with the citrus zest

4. Boil 1.5 litres of water and then add it to the bowl

5. Cover the mixture and leave it overnight

Day 2

6. Pop some bottles into the oven at about 120^oC or something. They stay there until the near end.

7. Strain the infusion through a jelly bag, bit of muslin or I guess a sieve would work if you don’t have the former. (Scald the bag/ muslin/ sieve to (sort of) sterilise.)

8. Pour the liquid into a preserving pan or large saucepan.

9. Add the citrus juice, citric acid and sugar. You don’t actually need the citric acid. I don’t know what difference it makes scientifically, but it seems to create a lighter taste and texture. That was the only difference I could tell.

10. Dissolve the sugar by heating the mix up slowly. It took me about 10-15 minutes to dissolve it.

11. Bring to a simmer, which for me took about 10 mins, but I’m sure you can do it faster if you are short on time.

12. Simmer for about 1-2 minutes.

13. Pour the cordial into sterilised bottles using a (sterilised/ scalded) funnel. Seal the bottles with sterilised lids/ corks/ swing tops/ whatever.

This batch is lighter and more subtle than ones I’ve made before. I think I prefer the lightness. It carries a bright taste of summer.

Technically it will keep for about a year. But this is not a winter drink. It’s too light, too gentle, too hazy a drink for the heavy full flavours of winter. I think it’s better to drink it all before the end of autumn, otherwise you might find that you’ll have some old fermenting bottles by the next season that you never got round to drinking. If you want the elderflower taste over winter, I’d say make some elderflower wine. It’s heavier texture and fuller taste is more suited to cold weather than the light haze of a summery cordial.

Uses include:

1. Dilute with some water/ fizzy water/ lemonade.

2. Dilute with water and pour into ice-lolly moulds. Freeze them. On a hot summers day lick ‘em.

3. Use to boost flavour to the elderflower biscuit recipe I will post up in the future.

Dorset Art Weeks and project days

2010-06-15T22:00:00.005+01:00

This weekend we have a couple of project days scheduled at Mr Kite’s place. We’re going to be making an earth oven for our new outdoor kitchen area. Gabriel is making a yurt, so we’ll be doing some steambending for the lattice. We’ll be doing a charcoal burn with the help of our friend Adam who has recently switched from a messy career as a charcoal maker to the cleaner thatching trade. Gabriel and Mr Kite found a solar water heater at the local dump and promptly purchased it for all of £7. Perhaps we might see if anyone knows anything about how to get the thing working. At the moment it’s got a split pipe and one glass tube is smashed.

Mary and I will be making some Elderflower wine and I’ll make sure everyone is fed and watered. On Friday Mary and I plan to pick some of our own at Ansty PYO. Gooseberries are our target, and they will be turned into Elderflower and Gooseberry jam.

Here are some pictures of a project day preparation session that took place a couple of weekends ago. The boys got excited about how fast the solar panel managed to heat water, despite the smashed tube and leaking pipe. The three of us pondered about convection, efficiency, optimum angles etc. It was like a physics lesson at school, except relevant and exciting.

The guys experimented with steam bending some wood for the yurt in their ‘bespoke’ steamer.

I went around some of the Dorset Art Weeks studios. They were, on the most part, very inspiring. Here is a photo of Guy Mallinson’s woods. It was weird going there, seeing the similarities and differences between these woods and the woods that I often go to. I might talk about it some other time and put more photos of the place up. I might not. Wait and see, I guess.

I enjoyed Charlie Baird's paintings on display in Shaftesbury along with Peter Ursem's printmaking work. This image above was my favourite by Baird. The original was amazing to see. I liked Peter Ursem's work. The book of River Stour prints were especially interesting because there were two pages ripped out of it during a previous exhibition. Someone tried to steal these pages. They folded one of the pages up neatly so the image itself remained unspoilt. The pages were found and then put back into the book. I felt the art was in the story behind the imperfection of what had been a perfect book. This story became the art, because the story is more interesting than the art.

I have just been given the papers to sign for my new allotment. These are exciting times.

Article in Living Woods Magazine: Basket Weaving

2010-06-02T11:59:00.005+01:00

Ages ago I attended a basket weaving workshop in my local town. I wrote about it in my blog: here
I sent an article about the workshop off to the excellent Living Woods Magazine. Now, 6 months or so later, it appears in the latest issue. You can subscribe to the magazine by going here or call 01285 850481. They cost something like £3.50 an issue or something and you can only buy them via a subscription.

Here is a scan of my article if you are not interested in subscribing:

Click on the picture and you should get a larger version to read.

In other news: I have started to write fiction for a prompt group over at Deviantart. The prompts are really great, but sometimes I wonder if I should really do this kind of stuff. I am so busy with real writing work, and then I go and distract myself with stuff I can't really send off to get published anywhere. Part of the problem with places like deviantart is that all the readers there are pretty much (young) writers. Writers read with an editing cap on, so you rarely get feedback from a real reader, from someone who wants to enjoy a story and is not looking out solely for a misplaced comma or a typo here and there. But feedback in any form is good and I don't get enough of it, which makes improving harder.
To read one such story go here

The Klandestines is happening, slowly. Keep your specs peeled.