There are two parts to this exercise. First Sara asks us to describe an ordinary object that is small enough to hold. She asks us to concentrate on it for a few minutes, then put it to one side and write about it, like you really love it. Then Sara asks us to have another look at the object, adding to or rewriting what has been previously written.
The first part of mine you will find written in Brown. The words in Black are those I have added the second time around.
Honouring Connor!
Connor was born prematurely. He had been plucked unceremoniously from a horse chestnut tree one gusty pre autumnal night and now he lay nestled among the tired hand-like leaves that had fallen early, with him. The hands weren’t yet crisp or golden; it was far too early in the season. So here he was lying forlornly wet - still partially cocooned in his green prickly womb. It had split open in the blustery hustle during the night and now in the early morning light, a glistening brown streak was the first glimpse of Connor, the conker.
Connor was without doubt a perfectly formed pebble of a conker. The non symmetrical shape, true to more robustly natured conkers, had not failed this smaller specimen. But he was small; his circumference merely the size of a thumb nail. Yet he was oblong and perfectly formed and balanced. Whenever he was set off kilter gravity rocked him back so that the rough underbelly was, indeed, under his belly. The shiny, smooth, crisp coat that resembled walnut veneer was all you could see. This was his armour and his amour.
The moment he was spotted his captor fell in love with his youthful beauty and adoration assumed. Sadly, Connor was not going to become a horse chestnut tree but then not many conkers ever do. He was not going to become a champion in Children’s games, but then not many conkers ever do. He was however a cherished nut; sourced and given in love – therefore an endearing remembrance. What could be better than that, for a premature horse chestnut?
71.5 6.2
Saturday, 8 September 2007
Purple Musings
Purple Musings
Purple it’s such a majestic colour. It’s the colour of Edward de Bono’s riding boots – one of six styles of shoe that describes the way one takes action in a given situation. Purple is the traditional colour of duty and authority – no wonder it reminds one of the monarchy. I think of this colour as being rich and magnificent, deep and meaningful. I am not sure why I should think of this but … African Violets – my mother grew them a lot in my youth – of course the blooms as I remember were not violet but a deep, deep purple.
It is the colour that depicts my youth. Before I got to the age of reason it was the colour of my bedroom. My dad painted the furniture purple and white – the colours of Donny Osmond’s onstage costumes. I had the most wonderful night dress case; a Cindy doll dressed in a magnificent purple ball gown, my Granny made that. She will always be remembered for being nifty with a needle, my mother was too. My somewhat un-attractive and childish night attire was stuffed up the belly of the ball gown every morning; plumping the purple finery and smoothing out the creases in the crinoline. But how can I be sure that my addiction to purple at that age was due to Donny; I had thought I was more in love with David Cassidy.
It is an attractive colour for songsters – don’t you think? Purple Rain is a song by Prince. I never really understood the attraction of this one, I think I was out of my Purple phase or should I say Purple Haze at that point! As I grew up, I was more into Deep Purple than the Prince of Pop. Chances are smoke on the water had a purple heart at its fire. Have you ever noticed that?
In my late teens I was diagnosed with insulin dependant diabetes. I get the most vivid purple bruises when on the odd occasion, the needle is a little blunt and I draw blood. The resulting bruise, whilst painless, is belied by its colour. The most purple is the centre.
The deepest parts of the Scottish lochs, I love, are purple. The deepest loch in the UK is in Morar and this is my favourite place in the whole wide world. I wish my ashes to be scattered there - eventually. By the way, and on this point, when you go to Scotland – you don’t go for the weather, so look up into the clouds – you’ll see the heart of the storm is always at the pulsating purplest point.
75.5 – 6.7
Purple it’s such a majestic colour. It’s the colour of Edward de Bono’s riding boots – one of six styles of shoe that describes the way one takes action in a given situation. Purple is the traditional colour of duty and authority – no wonder it reminds one of the monarchy. I think of this colour as being rich and magnificent, deep and meaningful. I am not sure why I should think of this but … African Violets – my mother grew them a lot in my youth – of course the blooms as I remember were not violet but a deep, deep purple.
It is the colour that depicts my youth. Before I got to the age of reason it was the colour of my bedroom. My dad painted the furniture purple and white – the colours of Donny Osmond’s onstage costumes. I had the most wonderful night dress case; a Cindy doll dressed in a magnificent purple ball gown, my Granny made that. She will always be remembered for being nifty with a needle, my mother was too. My somewhat un-attractive and childish night attire was stuffed up the belly of the ball gown every morning; plumping the purple finery and smoothing out the creases in the crinoline. But how can I be sure that my addiction to purple at that age was due to Donny; I had thought I was more in love with David Cassidy.
It is an attractive colour for songsters – don’t you think? Purple Rain is a song by Prince. I never really understood the attraction of this one, I think I was out of my Purple phase or should I say Purple Haze at that point! As I grew up, I was more into Deep Purple than the Prince of Pop. Chances are smoke on the water had a purple heart at its fire. Have you ever noticed that?
In my late teens I was diagnosed with insulin dependant diabetes. I get the most vivid purple bruises when on the odd occasion, the needle is a little blunt and I draw blood. The resulting bruise, whilst painless, is belied by its colour. The most purple is the centre.
The deepest parts of the Scottish lochs, I love, are purple. The deepest loch in the UK is in Morar and this is my favourite place in the whole wide world. I wish my ashes to be scattered there - eventually. By the way, and on this point, when you go to Scotland – you don’t go for the weather, so look up into the clouds – you’ll see the heart of the storm is always at the pulsating purplest point.
75.5 – 6.7
Why do I want to Write?
Part of the reason why I have not committed to writing in the past is that I was not sure that I have anything special to say, or anything that is new, or even that interesting. So I joined up with some Blog buddies and have been Blogging for about seven months. The idea was that if I just get started I might develop my creative writing style and more importantly my imagination.
Now I want to learn the art of writing creatively some more; so having picked up Sara’s book, here I am sharing my learning with you. I suspect the reasons why I want to write will be much like many others. Let’s see.
I had an inspiring English teacher in the fourth grade, Paul Grosch, who seemed to think I had something a little different to add to the class. I certainly wasn’t ‘excellent’ at English language or literature, scraping by with a C-grade O’level. However, neither was I a box-standard student; and Paul seemed to think I could do something with language and often challenged me in ways that, I had no idea at the time, would be so forming.
I wrote a few poems and short stories that I sent off to magazines in my late teens which were never published; and soon boys became much more interesting. Then there was my career in the retail trade. I continued to read a lot, mostly fiction, in my early 20s. I had, then, a particular fascination for fantasy fiction. One of my most favourite stories is the Thomas Covenant double trilogy by Stephen Donaldson. I am always so amazed at the sheer imagination that writers of such novels have. An early colleague, Alan Taylor, was writing a story much along the lines of Peak’s Gormanghast Trilogy. As he completed each chapter he relayed the progress of his character which I avidly followed. He and I played Dungeon and Dragons for a year with several other enthusiasts; down the pub on a Thursday night.
As the years went on I found my continuing progress up the corporate ladder, lead me to write more, and more commercially. I developed a skill for writing newsletters, minutes and training notes that were actually read. My reading material for quite a long time was almost exclusively on management development. Some of my favourites include Carnegie’s, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Lightening of Empowerment by Byham and Cox, and Lockyer's Be the Most Effective Manager in your Business.
For a brief time during the mid 1990s I had an urging to write my own fantasy novel. I wrote an outline and jotted notes of fascinating things that I noticed around me; like the tree in the south of France that smoked a pipe in the early hours of morning. I watched wondrously, for what seemed like hours, the wispy puffs from a broken branch of that Rowan. The notes still remain tucked away in the recesses of my imagination.
At the beginning of the new century I did a teaching qualification which resulted in my teaching at the College for a short time; reading and writing then took a significant role in my work. Also my interest was piqued in grammatical and communicative language.
Nowadays, I write summaries of business development topics on a regular basis. I would like to think that some of these will form the basis of a non-fiction publication at some point in future. I would like to develop a creative style that becomes my material and resonances with my reader. At the moment I feel that my style is pretty eclectic; maybe that will become my unique style but then, maybe not. I still read quite a lot; and because of my work, it does tend to evolve around business development. Due to the emergence of 2.0 there is such a wealth of material available to satisfy my thirst for knowledge and stimulation – too much for the time I can devote to it, sadly.
Of course, at some point I would like my work to be published. I like the idea of others enjoying what I have to say and the possibility of having made a mark in history, however small that might be. If I am honest that that is the main reason for writing and if I can earn a little money at the same time then better still. So here goes …
Now it is your turn – what do you think so far? or why do you really want to write?
(67.2 – 8.0)
Now I want to learn the art of writing creatively some more; so having picked up Sara’s book, here I am sharing my learning with you. I suspect the reasons why I want to write will be much like many others. Let’s see.
I had an inspiring English teacher in the fourth grade, Paul Grosch, who seemed to think I had something a little different to add to the class. I certainly wasn’t ‘excellent’ at English language or literature, scraping by with a C-grade O’level. However, neither was I a box-standard student; and Paul seemed to think I could do something with language and often challenged me in ways that, I had no idea at the time, would be so forming.
I wrote a few poems and short stories that I sent off to magazines in my late teens which were never published; and soon boys became much more interesting. Then there was my career in the retail trade. I continued to read a lot, mostly fiction, in my early 20s. I had, then, a particular fascination for fantasy fiction. One of my most favourite stories is the Thomas Covenant double trilogy by Stephen Donaldson. I am always so amazed at the sheer imagination that writers of such novels have. An early colleague, Alan Taylor, was writing a story much along the lines of Peak’s Gormanghast Trilogy. As he completed each chapter he relayed the progress of his character which I avidly followed. He and I played Dungeon and Dragons for a year with several other enthusiasts; down the pub on a Thursday night.
As the years went on I found my continuing progress up the corporate ladder, lead me to write more, and more commercially. I developed a skill for writing newsletters, minutes and training notes that were actually read. My reading material for quite a long time was almost exclusively on management development. Some of my favourites include Carnegie’s, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Lightening of Empowerment by Byham and Cox, and Lockyer's Be the Most Effective Manager in your Business.
For a brief time during the mid 1990s I had an urging to write my own fantasy novel. I wrote an outline and jotted notes of fascinating things that I noticed around me; like the tree in the south of France that smoked a pipe in the early hours of morning. I watched wondrously, for what seemed like hours, the wispy puffs from a broken branch of that Rowan. The notes still remain tucked away in the recesses of my imagination.
At the beginning of the new century I did a teaching qualification which resulted in my teaching at the College for a short time; reading and writing then took a significant role in my work. Also my interest was piqued in grammatical and communicative language.
Nowadays, I write summaries of business development topics on a regular basis. I would like to think that some of these will form the basis of a non-fiction publication at some point in future. I would like to develop a creative style that becomes my material and resonances with my reader. At the moment I feel that my style is pretty eclectic; maybe that will become my unique style but then, maybe not. I still read quite a lot; and because of my work, it does tend to evolve around business development. Due to the emergence of 2.0 there is such a wealth of material available to satisfy my thirst for knowledge and stimulation – too much for the time I can devote to it, sadly.
Of course, at some point I would like my work to be published. I like the idea of others enjoying what I have to say and the possibility of having made a mark in history, however small that might be. If I am honest that that is the main reason for writing and if I can earn a little money at the same time then better still. So here goes …
Now it is your turn – what do you think so far? or why do you really want to write?
(67.2 – 8.0)
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