Tom – Page 161

The graphic for this post is of an acrylic on canvas I completed last year. It depicts myself and my wife sitting on a hill overlooking Derwent Water in the Lake District. I used a photo taken by our son as the basis for the painting. Apart from being a fellow artist I think he’s pretty handy with a camera and has an appreciation of good photo composition … but then I’m biased.

Since my last entry here I’ve allowed ‘life’ to infiltrate my writing world. A home improvement project which had to be done in logical sessions took up a lot of time, but the finished result is like looking at a good piece of writing. It would be selfish of me to concentrate only on my writing so I don’t mind the occasional sacrifice of some time.

Making matters worse for my time at the keyboard, work took it’s toll because it’s the busiest time of the year for stationery retailers, so I was left feeling too tired to write anything worthwhile. It was a couple of days before I realised I wasn’t writing on my train journeys – preferring to concentrate on staying awake. It’s over a year now since I last dozed off on the journey home, thus adding another ninety minutes to my trip.

So here I am, back at the helm, controls, bridge or whatever is the best analogy. On the odd occasion when I have been relaxing I’ve managed to upload some poetry, a short story and a variety of my artwork to the ‘Apollo Blessed’ site. Like all good sites they appear to be a nice bunch of creatives. I do like the idea of stories, poetry, art, photography and music all being treated as ‘art’, rather than a single strand of work being concentrated there. Like myself there are several folk who like to express themselves with more than just words.

I feel better now that I’ve managed to put another entry together, so now with the redecorated kitchen and dining room organised I feel free to get back into the saddle, relax and write. Two short stories for competitions, my novel and untold ideas for poems await my attention … and I can feel a drawing coming into focus …

Yes, I suppose you would be forgiven for thinking that this post is actually about me, but I’m actually 5’8”. The accompanying drawing is one I completed in January 1987. I was obviously thinking, ‘less is more … ‘

: Just a quick look is it?

Today I’ve joined an aspiring site called Apollo Blessed which caters for creative types with an interest in writing, art and music. As is my habit I’ll add it to my links on the right side bar. At this moment I have yet to post any of my creative writing or artwork on the site but I will strive to do so before the end of the day. It looks promising.

My mini-series of fantasy poems following the fortunes of ‘Crystabel and Elf’ has now come to an end after ten episodes. It was my first attempt at fantasy so I may well try something along those lines again in the future.

About a week ago the talking book CD, ‘The Last Waltz’ was launched at the Arts Festival in the Darlington Arts Centre. The double CD is aimed at partially-sighted or blind listeners and is comprised of twelve short stories by the Inkerman Writers. As a member of the group I was pleased to have my tale, ‘Mary Had a Little Gun … ‘ included, which is read by Mike Watson, another Inkerman member.

I’m now working on a tale about a young British /Asian man who has recently returned from completing a training course in a secret location near the Pakistan / Afghanistan border. The working title is, ‘One Man’s Mission’.