Comments on: Not being ‘a bit normal’

By: Caroline Smailes

Caroline Smailes — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:43:48 +0000

Captain Black – thank you, young man!

Kathryn Lang – sage advice!

By: Kathryn Lang

Kathryn Lang — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:43:58 +0000

“anxious niggle” made me smile – I love that phrase.

Normal is so over rated. Write a story that draws the reader into an experience – including you when you read your own work.

By: Captain Black

Captain Black — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:30:01 +0000

Sod normal, I’ve always been a fan of Marmite anyway. Good luck!

By: Caroline Smailes

Caroline Smailes — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:25:53 +0000

Beth – thank you!

Debs Carr – cross your fingers for me, please.

Carol – you are very lovely! I still can’t believe that people actually read my writing. That really is cray talk, isn’t it? x

By: Caroline Smailes

Caroline Smailes — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:22:31 +0000

I’ve looked at some of your photography and it’s so beautiful. Maybe what you class as ‘normal’ is far from my view of ‘normal photography’. To have a skilled photographer’s eye can never be normal. You see beauty, you see colours and art in a flash, in a quick moment of reaction, you see what I could only imagine.

I don’t think that I’ll ever have the absolute freedom that I had when I wrote In Search of Adam because I was selfish, I had a disregard for those who I may hurt or confuse. Don’t get me wrong, I am so proud of Adam, it was something that needed to be written, but when I wrote it I didn’t think that it would ever be published. It was a spilling out in a pure form. Now when I write, I am aware that people close to me will be reading my work and my instinct is to protect. I love writing, really love writing, but now I know that I can’t write out some of the things inside that I’d quite like too. One day, when I’m a bit older and my circumstances are different, then I probably will have that sense of freedom again.

I love that art connects, so many people continue with their art and hope that one day the right people will see/hear/read and connect. It’s what drives us, that hope. Hope that makes sense

By: Darren Jones

Darren Jones — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:11:07 +0000

I really like photography. I take loads of photos of our children and pets, and some landscape shots too. “Normal” photos have their place – they provide an accurate record of who was where, doing what, with whom, and when – but they rarely excite. Extraordinary pictures are the ones that make me feel proud and great, but are quite often the ones other people treat as Marmite! Musicians, painters, writers, actors – if it’s art for art’s sake then how do you make a living? I wonder why you think you’ll never again have the freedom you enjoyed writing In Search of Adam?

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:59:56 +0000

You already have an audience hon….write for those of us that loved ISOA and that like our reading material a little bit different

Good luck

C x

By: Debs Carr

Debs Carr — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:13:34 +0000

So pleased that you ended up writing your story in the way you needed to. I can’t imagine that someone wouldn’t appreciate your writing.

Best of luck with the competition.

By: Alison Wells

Alison Wells — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:35:12 +0000

Yeah, this is really interesting. This year I’ve been focussing on short stories and getting a different sense with each story whether its ‘me’ or not. As a relative newcomer I am ‘finding my voice’ and knowing, as you say, if something ‘niggles’ or ‘feels false’. I’ve also written for an audience and when I reread later the story seems dead. It’s great to hear that you cracked the story and the breakthrough was that you followed the feeling of yourself, that undercurrent that says ‘Yes!’. Good luck with the competition, it’ll find its home either there or somewhere later, because it’ll stay alive well into the future.

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:59:47 +0000

I’m glad it came out right in the end. You are You and you are Just Right How You Are. And I hate marmite (yeurch) but love you. So there you go