Home thoughts from home

Hector (Alan Bennett) in The History Boys puts it brilliantly: "The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours" That's the kind of writing I want to do - so someone out there doesn't feel as isolated and lonely and knows that someone, somewhere, understands.

Interesting article by Lionel Shriver in the Guardian about using your family as a source for your writing (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/17/lionel-shriver-novel-family) I feel that there is a responsibility to protect the privacy of one's relatives but beyond that it is just another stimulus and that's what fiction is - not true!

I've found the quote now: "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." — Toni Morrison That seems like a noble ambition although a lot of the books I wanted to read have been written by women like Anne Tyler, Anita Shreve and Carol Shields. I hope it will help me find exactly what I want to write about.... The following piece comes from my writing class again and all we were given was the title really and a short summary of what the Ack-Ack girls did, so really an exercise in making an imaginative leap - I'm not sure how successfully I can do this - I feel the character is still essentially me? Ack-Ack girls She’d never been so scared. And not just for a few minutes at a time but all the time- a kind of background hum of anxiety that became almost familiar to her as the weeks went by. It was hard to know how the others really felt – no one spoke of it, and the louder girls like Bessie acted as if their

So why do it then? I think if you're a person whose sense of self is not very strong, writing makes things real - that's definitely how my journal works for me, and also I need to write things down to know what I think - the very act is in itself helpful in clarifying and analysing my emotions, thoughts and reactions to life events and interactions with people. Reading other people's writing has always helped me to make sense of my own life and one would have to hope that the reverse would be true.....

I've been reading the most recent post on the Magma blog http://magmapoetry.com/beyond-experience/ about writing on subjects beyond your own experience. I wonder if our imagination is in fact also 'our own experience' as it must come from what we've read, seen, heard, felt and thought. What we are really concerned about is its accuracy - is it also true to other people's experiences? And you can't know that until others read it?

I wrote this out very quickly after over-hearing a conversation in the changing room at the pool. I wanted it to be less simple than arranged marriage is often presented. She'd always used the pool at the gym as a place of escape, to allow her mind to run freely for a change. Sometimes she'd find she'd done 10 lengths and not really thought of anything, like driving the car on autmonatic when you realise you're at your destination but don't remember the journey. Other times her mind would replay conversations, or worry events to death. But today she could hardly think at all and her crying tears mixed with the water in the pool so no-one would notice them. Her nother had caught her just as she left for the gym - " Divia, my darling. This cannot go on, You've got your university degree; you've had a good job but now you need to marry" "But Mum...." "All the good boys will be taken, You can be 'engaged' for a few more years

I want to write but I don't know yet how to self-start so I'm using the blog as an imaginary teacher telling me that I have to produce some writing each day. I don't need it to be read but it would be a bonus. My first attempt is from a writing class where the participants were given a tomato - I've ended it too quickly I think with a rather woman's magazine story last line but I'm not sure where to go with it now - expand it to a normal short story length or not? Tomatoes She crossed tomatoes off her shopping list with an aching heart. He’d always loved them. As a baby, she’d pushed him down to the shops, her bag was too full and she’s rested the tomatoes in their plastic container on his lap as he seemed to be asleep. It was a long weary walk back up the hill to the house, and she was thinking of other things, so it wasn’t until she looked down at him as she opened the gate, that she realised they’d all gone – he had steadily and quietly eaten his way thro