More than Writers

 Just a quick one from me today, folks. I'm going to share something with you that's been on my mind the last few weeks, in fact since I wrote a blog post about my first pen. What are your thoughts on handwriting? Some primary schools put great emphasis on handwriting and encourage children to join their handwriting as soon as possible. However, is this really necessary in today's world?  My son is about to start his GCSEs and he is allowed to complete his English papers on a laptop. I have it on good authority that in the future (not too far away), all students will complete their GCSEs online as this is the simplest and most foolproof way of taking an exam.  I know ten-year-olds who struggle with their fine motor skills and spend hours trying to perfect their handwriting using an abundance of handwriting programs. They are left feeling demoralised, yet their ideas and imagination are amazing. I have one such child in my class and she records her ideas using a microphone a

It’s 9.15 on Monday 6th May and I’m due to write the MTW blog for tomorrow. I’ve heard of writer’s block and have experienced a few periods seemingly becalmed with no original ideas…but blogger’s block? During my Chemistry teaching days I developed a love-hate relationship with writing reports. It wasn’t particularly time pressure or the ridiculous phase where professional teachers removed brains and inserted computer-generated sentences, fooling no-one, including parents. No! My angst occurred when tired blandness took over and creativity disappeared. Clichés followed on: ‘Jamie started off slowly and has tapered off ever since’ . Actually, that’s not too bad. But when the creative juices were flowing, I felt satisfied that I’d actually ‘said something’ useful, original, encouraging, or necessarily honest, and occasionally amusing. David Smart, on Sunday, wrote about imposter syndrome, others have shared debilitating experiences of procrastination and distraction, and here I am still

My own photo of St Benedict's Retreat Centre, West Malling, Kent, Saturday 4 May 2024 Over the last week, two verses from John 15 have struck me: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing." John 15: 5 "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name." John 15:16 (NRSV) I’m still suffering from writer’s block when it comes to long-term projects. (Yes, I do have resources to consult, not least some of them put out by the good folk in ACW.) Maybe it’s the long-lasting effects of lockdown, which put me in emotional and mental paralysis for many months. Add to that the recent loss of a dear friend, who was only a week older than me. She was buried in the same cemetery as her parents, on a hillside overlooking peaceful Essex fields: the April sunshi

                                                                 Picture credit: Author’s own Regular readers may recall that last month I wrote about the anticipation we were enjoying before visiting Amsterdam. The trip was fantastic and one highlight of many was a visit to the Keukenhof tulip gardens alongside thousands of other tourists. The display was spectacular and, whatever your taste in gardens, you can’t fail to be impressed by the millions of expertly curated blooms. It was bitterly cold and wet, but that barely dented our enjoyment. Of course, I took a ton of photos. Despite the sheer brilliance of the display, as soon as we got back, we wanted to see how our tiny pot of tulips was getting on, and I took another photo. We had seen the best display of tulips anywhere in the world, but we were just as delighted in our little effort – because they were ours. If our tulips were human, they might have felt like imposters compared to their Dutch cousins. Maybe they would shy aw

  We recently went to Cyprus for a holiday with some friends, and stayed in a little town called Kissonerga in Paphos. We hired a villa there up on the hill, which sat on it’s own but was surrounded by beautiful olive trees.  Further down the hill were fields of banana trees, I had never seen so many.  The view from the villa was breathtaking, you could see the turquoise sea in the background, and the daily sunset was spectacular.  In fact, people would come from all over just to sit and watch it.   I took my Ipad, as I always did when I went away, and this was the perfect atmosphere and surroundings to do some writing. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the internet so I was limited to what I could do, but I managed to get some writing done, in notes.  It was lovely sitting outside in the long awaited sunshine by the pool, glancing at the turquoise sea in the distance.     In the evening, I looked out at the beautiful night sky, full of twinkling stars; It was a comforting though

 You haven't heard from me for a while due to circumstances. Let me explain. My elderly Mum, for whom I was main carer, died in a care home early in the pandemic. No visits during those last precious weeks was tough – then funeral by remote. After, we decided to relocate from Leeds to Ludlow, which served up three stress packed years. Meantime I lost my apparently fit neighbour and best friend to a heart attack, aged sixty-three! A month later I found myself in critical care with the same – but I survived! A main casualty was motivation for writing and it's taking time to rebuild confidence. So I'm throwing you a morsel that re-surfaced during the move: an instruction sheet tossed off for our brave puppy sitter moments before she arrived. It's an example of snapshot creativity that demonstrates humour in the ordinary. Here it is: 'Hallo, I'm Grace and I'm nearly grown up – well, not quite 6 months and still chewing a lot. I don't mind what I chew but the