There is a muse, but he's not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He's a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labour, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you.
Stephen King in On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft
http://stephenking.com/
Friday, 25 March 2016
Saturday, 12 March 2016
Bleed....
It is only when you open your veins and bleed onto the page a little that you establish contact with your readers. If you do not believe in the characters or the story you are doing at that moment with all your mind, strength, and will, if you don't feel joy and excitement while writing it, then you're wasting good white paper, even if it sells, because there are other ways in which a writer can bring in the rent money besides writing bad or phony stories.
Paul Gallico
http://www.paulgallico.info/
Paul Gallico
http://www.paulgallico.info/
Monday, 7 March 2016
Don't Let Anything Dull Your Sparkle: Doreen Virtue
The book is a self-help book; dealing with the issue of Stress in our lives, and talks about how many 'traumas' or life events; such as deaths, birth, job problems etc, lead to emotional feelings of loss of safety and unpredictability. This leads us to be hyper vigilant which causes stress. Of course the main focus of the book is the need for us to Relax.
In relation to writing and creativity, I find the notion of having a 'Drama Detox' very interesting. One of the items that is listed under detoxing is Procrastinating and getting behind schedule. But other items include cutting out stressful TV, stressful friends, overspending, bad foods and (self imposed?) time pressures. For someone who has struggled with OCD in the past, (myself), Doreen discusses this as a desire to run away from fear and pain. I think this is linked to Procrastination in a big way. Therefore, we need to face our emotions in order to remove the need for procrastination or OCD.
So, pay attention to your internal signals. Don't immediately react. You can have control over your reaction to stress.
Take steps to restore your inner glow. Have a best friend relationship with yourself. Take care of yourself and don't push yourself too far. Spend your time in meaningful ways and Have Fun!
She goes on to give us a list of 'Healthful behaviours'. This list includes artistic and creative endeavours, as well as more obvious relaxation such as massage, relaxing music and deep breathing. She also emphasises the need for you to do what your soul calls you to do!
She also touches on the subject of 'Approval Seeking'. In relation to writing, you are the one who can give yourself that approval. You ARE good enough! As for other people, we can't control other people actions, only our reactions to them. Don't take things personally as any criticism is a reflection on them, not you! Be assertive, calm and mature. Remind yourself often of your accomplishments and who you are as a person. No one can take that away from you!
In relation to writing and creativity, I find the notion of having a 'Drama Detox' very interesting. One of the items that is listed under detoxing is Procrastinating and getting behind schedule. But other items include cutting out stressful TV, stressful friends, overspending, bad foods and (self imposed?) time pressures. For someone who has struggled with OCD in the past, (myself), Doreen discusses this as a desire to run away from fear and pain. I think this is linked to Procrastination in a big way. Therefore, we need to face our emotions in order to remove the need for procrastination or OCD.
So, pay attention to your internal signals. Don't immediately react. You can have control over your reaction to stress.
Take steps to restore your inner glow. Have a best friend relationship with yourself. Take care of yourself and don't push yourself too far. Spend your time in meaningful ways and Have Fun!
She goes on to give us a list of 'Healthful behaviours'. This list includes artistic and creative endeavours, as well as more obvious relaxation such as massage, relaxing music and deep breathing. She also emphasises the need for you to do what your soul calls you to do!
She also touches on the subject of 'Approval Seeking'. In relation to writing, you are the one who can give yourself that approval. You ARE good enough! As for other people, we can't control other people actions, only our reactions to them. Don't take things personally as any criticism is a reflection on them, not you! Be assertive, calm and mature. Remind yourself often of your accomplishments and who you are as a person. No one can take that away from you!
Saturday, 27 February 2016
Thursday, 11 February 2016
Be Like The Fox
Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction.
Wendell Berry; Farmer and Writer See: www.wendellberrybooks.com/
Quoted in: Unleash Your Creativity: Secrets of Creative Genius, by Rob Bevan and Tim Wright published by The Infinite Ideas Company Limited www.infideas.com (2005)
Wendell Berry; Farmer and Writer See: www.wendellberrybooks.com/
Quoted in: Unleash Your Creativity: Secrets of Creative Genius, by Rob Bevan and Tim Wright published by The Infinite Ideas Company Limited www.infideas.com (2005)
Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Beyond Black : Hilary Mantel
Struggling this week. I know its only a few days post operation, but its awful being unable to do much at all. So what is left? To forget about the untidy house and piles of 'must do' papers, and sit (or lay) down and give time over to a book. I have had Beyond Black (2010) for a number of years. Not sure from where it came from or why, but I finally settled down to read it and was amazed at how it kept me from thinking of the dirt and papers piling up!
The Blurb: Alison Hart is a medium by trade: dead people talk to her, and she talks back. With her flat-eyed, flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, she tours the dormitory towns of London's orbital road, passing on messages from dead ancestors: 'Granny says she likes your new kitchen units.' Alison's ability to communicate with spirits is a torment rather than a gift. Behind her plump, smiling and bland public persona is a desperate woman. She knows that the next life holds terrors that she must conceal from her clients. Her days and nights are haunted by the men she knew in her childhood, the thugs and petty criminals who preyed upon her hopeless, addled mother, Emmie. They infiltrate her house, her body and her soul; the more she tries to be rid of them, the stronger and nastier they become.
This tenth novel by Hilary Mantel, the critically acclaimed author of Giving Up the Ghost, is a witty and deeply sinister story of dark secrets and dark forces, set in an England that jumps at its own shadow, a country whose banal self-absorption is shot through by fear of the engulfing dark.
I couldn't have said it better myself! If you have any interest in mediumship or hauntings you will love this book - especially if you have a dark sense of humour!
The Blurb: Alison Hart is a medium by trade: dead people talk to her, and she talks back. With her flat-eyed, flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, she tours the dormitory towns of London's orbital road, passing on messages from dead ancestors: 'Granny says she likes your new kitchen units.' Alison's ability to communicate with spirits is a torment rather than a gift. Behind her plump, smiling and bland public persona is a desperate woman. She knows that the next life holds terrors that she must conceal from her clients. Her days and nights are haunted by the men she knew in her childhood, the thugs and petty criminals who preyed upon her hopeless, addled mother, Emmie. They infiltrate her house, her body and her soul; the more she tries to be rid of them, the stronger and nastier they become.
This tenth novel by Hilary Mantel, the critically acclaimed author of Giving Up the Ghost, is a witty and deeply sinister story of dark secrets and dark forces, set in an England that jumps at its own shadow, a country whose banal self-absorption is shot through by fear of the engulfing dark.
I couldn't have said it better myself! If you have any interest in mediumship or hauntings you will love this book - especially if you have a dark sense of humour!
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
What Did I Have Done - Operation(s) - Lumbar Discetomy for Lumbar Disc Prolapse
The operation I had both times was a Lumbar Discetomy for Lumbar Disc Prolapse.
A Lumbar Disc Prolapse is usually confirmed by an MRI. My consultant at Sheffield commented that mine was 'very impressive'. He didn't mean this in a good way!
Each vertebral bone is separated by a inter-vertebral disc. This disc acts like a pressure cushion. It consists of a fibrous outside (annulus fibrosis) and a soft inside (nucleus pulposus). A lumbar disc prolapse (disc herniation / slipped disc) is where some of the central soft disc material has been pushed backwards through a weak area or tear in the outside fibrous part of the disc. When this material touches or presses against one of the nerves (nerve roots) in the spine, pain down the leg (sciatica) results.
The majority of disc prolapses occur where there is already some weakening of the fibrous outside of the disc that is associated with wear and tear / degenerative changes in the spine.
The main reason for offering surgery is to relieve severe radiating leg pain (sciatica). Surgery does not benefit lower back pain. Surgery only takes the pressure off the compressed nerve root.
The operation is done under general anaesthetic and takes about an hour. The surgery is usually done through a cut about 5cm in length on your lower back. After going between the muscles in your back, a small window, about 1cm in diameter is made into the spinal canal. The offending disc material is removed as well as some adjacent disc material within the disc space.
A Lumbar Mictodiscectomy does not prevent the possibility of a future disc prolapse as not all the disc is removed due to increased risks of surgery. (injury to the abdominal blood vessels lying on the front of the spine).
Risks include deep venous thrombosis / pulmonary embolus (clot in leg/lung); hence the need to wear surgical stockings during the operation and for a time after the operation. I was given a whole list of 'risks' to read about prior to surgery, but as I could not walk and was in a lot of pain, I felt the risks weren't significant enough to stop me having the operation!
Once home, I was advised to attend my GP surgery for removal of my staples at 10 days. For the first 2 weeks following surgery, sitting should be minimised to essentials; such as toilet and eating. Driving is considered inadvisable in the early weeks, even as a passenger. However, exercise should be maintained, in particular walking. Although not too much and watch your posture!!
'Discomfort' following surgery is common. There are a variety of pain killers that can be taken. Taking painkillers is preferable to letting any discomfort get bad and then having to control it, which will be more difficult.
If you are overweight (I am now!) you should consider losing weight as this will reduce the chances of spine wear and tear related problems I the future, including disc prolapse.
You will require 6 weeks off work (at least!).
A Lumbar Disc Prolapse is usually confirmed by an MRI. My consultant at Sheffield commented that mine was 'very impressive'. He didn't mean this in a good way!
Each vertebral bone is separated by a inter-vertebral disc. This disc acts like a pressure cushion. It consists of a fibrous outside (annulus fibrosis) and a soft inside (nucleus pulposus). A lumbar disc prolapse (disc herniation / slipped disc) is where some of the central soft disc material has been pushed backwards through a weak area or tear in the outside fibrous part of the disc. When this material touches or presses against one of the nerves (nerve roots) in the spine, pain down the leg (sciatica) results.
The majority of disc prolapses occur where there is already some weakening of the fibrous outside of the disc that is associated with wear and tear / degenerative changes in the spine.
The main reason for offering surgery is to relieve severe radiating leg pain (sciatica). Surgery does not benefit lower back pain. Surgery only takes the pressure off the compressed nerve root.
The operation is done under general anaesthetic and takes about an hour. The surgery is usually done through a cut about 5cm in length on your lower back. After going between the muscles in your back, a small window, about 1cm in diameter is made into the spinal canal. The offending disc material is removed as well as some adjacent disc material within the disc space.
A Lumbar Mictodiscectomy does not prevent the possibility of a future disc prolapse as not all the disc is removed due to increased risks of surgery. (injury to the abdominal blood vessels lying on the front of the spine).
Risks include deep venous thrombosis / pulmonary embolus (clot in leg/lung); hence the need to wear surgical stockings during the operation and for a time after the operation. I was given a whole list of 'risks' to read about prior to surgery, but as I could not walk and was in a lot of pain, I felt the risks weren't significant enough to stop me having the operation!
Once home, I was advised to attend my GP surgery for removal of my staples at 10 days. For the first 2 weeks following surgery, sitting should be minimised to essentials; such as toilet and eating. Driving is considered inadvisable in the early weeks, even as a passenger. However, exercise should be maintained, in particular walking. Although not too much and watch your posture!!
'Discomfort' following surgery is common. There are a variety of pain killers that can be taken. Taking painkillers is preferable to letting any discomfort get bad and then having to control it, which will be more difficult.
If you are overweight (I am now!) you should consider losing weight as this will reduce the chances of spine wear and tear related problems I the future, including disc prolapse.
You will require 6 weeks off work (at least!).
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