Sunday 10 January 2010

The Rhinoceros in the Room

Let's agree to ignore the elephant? I mean the visual joke that involved pulling out empty trouser pockets and unzipping, yes? Erase it from the New Year's party memories, like you erased that skew-whiff .jpeg… Please tell me that you did.

Anyway, the good news is: there is a rhino in my room – at last.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I took part in a few writing competitions last year. One of these was the excellent annual Whittaker Prize Competition run by the equally excellent The Write Idea website. Bottom line is that the 'Best of' anthology is now available – amusingly entitled The Rhinoceros and His Thoughts – and, tarah!: My copy arrived yesterday.

Tuesday 5 January 2010

All That Glisters: Thoughts on 2009 and hopes for 2010

Mulling over the past is something I rarely do. The past, so far as I'm concerned, is gone. Events now and in the future are of more significance, being all we can truly experience.

So, this is pretty well the first time I have ever sat down to record my private thoughts for possible (Although I can't imagine anyone else having the slightest interest) public consumption. But it's a good writing exercise, so here-we-go.

2009 was not a bumper year for writing success; more of a consolidation year, gaining experience, experimenting in new fields, entering a competition or two and making new friends.

Early on in the year, I was fortunate in having a horror piece, Timelock, performed by Obstacle Productions at several London venues, including the Drill Hall, off Tottenham Court Road. It gave me real pleasure to share the bill [performance, not cost] with my old mate and fellow Verulam Writers' Circle (VWC) member, Jonathan Pinnock... oh, yes, and a couple of chancers, names of Edgar A Poe, and W W Jacobs.