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The Third of Five Epiphanies
Epiphany #3 will not apply to everyone, because it's mine. Some people find strength in their faith, whichever faith they have chosen. That is wonderful, and I find it incredibly awe-inspiring at times. A person's faith is a beautiful thing, and...
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Would an Apocalpyse be so Bad?
When we think of 'apocalypse' we think of the end the world, of civilisation and life as we know it. But would it really be such a terrible thing? Or would it all turn out quite nice in the end?
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Sitting in a Room with Someone who's Productive
Hitting a wall when you're trying to write your masterpiece is just so tiresome. But here's the thing - and we all know this really - the wall is in your head. The wall does not actually exist.
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The Primary School Music Concert
I know what you're thinking, because I was thinking the same thing: violins screaming fit to make even the most gushing and doting parents' ears bleed; the piercing cry of many recorders, reaching notes that only dogs can hear; the sporadic squeak...
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Becoming Single: Week One
Day one was very good. I travelled all over the world in my mind, and just behind my eyes a film festival was in town, and I kept catching glimpses of black and white movies and European language films as the day went on. And I looked through the...
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Who IS Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
I'll be honest, I used to be afraid of Virginia Woolf. I'm now more afraid of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, but of Virginia Woolf, not so much. (That's just a joke; I'm not afraid of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf either.) But there's no need...
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Book Addiction
I don't really know if this is a problem or not. I'm inclined to think that it is not, since it has not caused me to rack up a credit card debt, does not prevent me from feeding my family, and does no real harm to anyone as far as I can tell. ...
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Wordsmithery - what's in a name?
After 10,000 hub views and 18 months of hubbing - more like 11 months of hubbing, and 7 months of not-quite-hubbing - I felt it might be an opportune time to explain my choice of tag, and discuss why I think it's alright to be outrageously...
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Some things I know about writing a novel
That might sound like rather a pretentious title for a hub, and really it is; I'm writing on the pretence of being a novelist, when actually I'm nothing of the sort. I'm just a mum, who daydreams and scribbles. Oh, and I haven't written a novel....
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Word Bridges
'She went over to the door, opened it, and walked out, not forgetting to close and lock the door behind her. She walked briskly up the garden path, opened the gate, stepped out onto the pavement and let the gate swing closed behind her. She kept up...
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Bicycle, bicycle - I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike ...
I've got a naughty little secret ... I exercise! Why's it naughty? Well, because 'exercise' has always been rather a dirty word to me, a word to make me spit and choke and have a conniption. I've always been lazy, ridiculously so; a nice relax on...
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Faerie - Chapter Two
Here, for your delight and delectation, is the second chapter of my book entitled Faerie. You can read the first chapter here. This second chapter begins sixty or so years after the first chapter. We do not know what has happened in those years,...
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Faerie - Prologue
This is my magnum opus. It will possibly be finished in about forty or fifty years, by which time the printed word (on actual paper) will be obsolete and no one will be able to/want to touch, smell and listen to my words. What I've inadvertently...
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Lancaster University
I am here, in this place, where the very air is charged with knowledge; where, if you relax and stand still, you can feel the fizz of potential in the atmosphere. This is a place that never fails to give me palpitations, that fills my every cell...
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The Death (and possible murder) of Tom Rawlinson
I don't usually do this, share work that I intend to submit for publication. But I've decided that I will, because I'm not going to be submitting my work anywhere in the very near future. It might as well see a little light for a while before...
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The Invisible Life of Freaky Jones
I started this little project just over a year ago, and I actually have a very flawed but complete first draft. If I do say so myself, it has some moments of brilliance; but it also has some long sections that are stagnant and actually approaching...
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HubPages - my drug
Hello. How've you been? I've been away, though not literally, just figuratively ... although I've been away from HubPages, so technically is that literally or figuratively, realistically speaking? Mmm, adverbs are not my strong point ......
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The Secondhand Book Shop
Have you ever stepped into a place you'd never been before and suddenly felt as though you had come home? Have you ever felt an overpowering urge to bury your face in a book and breathe in its memories? I wonder if you've ever heard books say the things they've said to me.
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Vaulting, snowdrops, picnics - Three Word Exercise
'Come on, it's this way,' yelled Kirsty as she cartwheeled across the top of the field, right after vaulting the waist-high dry stone wall. She continued to shout excitedly as she bunny hopped through the long grass, 'it's not far, just over this...
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Reflexology, baggage, lightning - Three Word Exercise
So, I was going to share my three word exercises with you. However, I've had an epic fail this evening. I picked my three words, went with the first image that entered my head, knew what I wanted to do with the words, but couldn't manage to get...
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Specification, plural, eclectic - Three Word Exercise
Look, it's like this, I've got a novel to write, so I'm really going to have to get on with it, because my procrastination is really starting to annoy me. So I've come up with this plan that will allow me to stay on HubPages, and write my novel at...
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Some thoughts on strangers
A smile, a laugh, a loving look, A hand on the small of the back. The faces imprinted on my memory Of people I would take pleasure in learning to know. They take in the view; They pause and pose for photographs, Speaking a language...
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Another of Five Epiphanies
So there was a second epiphany, which is really the first epiphany because it did come to me a long time ago, but this small series of hubs is pretty much written as a stream of consciousness and the epiphanies are coming out in the order I remember...
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Five Epiphanies
Epiphany #1: I'm not perfect; oh well, move on. How to write this hub without sounding as though I have an ego the size of Manchester and a ridiculous superiority complex? It can't be done, so I'll just crack on and add a disclaimer at the end. ...
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What Constitutes a Good Book?
What constitutes a good book? I've been giving this a little thought lately, because I have begun a new blog on reading (not writing, just reading - like my own one-person book club, *sniff*). I'm asking the question twice because I think it's one...
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Are you a scanner?
I don't know about you, but I've always been the kind of person who will stagnate if I stand in one spot for too long. That sounds a little strange from someone who has lived in the same town for pretty much all of her life so far. But what I mean...
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Proofreading is Hard!
For anyone who might be under the misapprehension that proofreading is about picking out a few typos and adding a few commas, it isn't. Well, it is, but that's only part of it. I received my first assignment mark today, and what I learned about...
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Back Pain Limerick
When your back unexpectedly goes, As you bend just to tickle your toes, There's nought to be done, 'Cept to sit in the sun, Making sure that you've sunscreened your nose. Well done! Wow! That was quick - thanks jd :) You're welcome....
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Classical film scores
I’m not a connoisseur of classical music, but I know what I like. If I have an emotional response to a piece then it goes on my list of music to buy. Classical music is easy to have an emotional response to, because it is written with that...
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First Line Exercise
I was tidying my living room this morning, sorting through many large piles of papers (mostly my eldest son's work - at the age of seven, he is already a very prolific artist, and if he continues at this pace for the next ten years we will need...
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Sick Food
I will entice you with the magical secret ingredient: orange cheese. Lady Wordsmith I have read several hubs that show how easy it can be to create gourmet food, quickly, easily and cheaply, in one's own home, using, say, only a small charlotte...
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Avoiding Burnout and Writer's Block
Can't say that I really get in this state; I usually just close my notebook in disgust, and then read a book or turn on the telly, whichever is closer to hand. Google Images I am sitting in Starbucks, cradling my caramel macchiato, and gibbering. I...
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Thor - frolicking and fabulous bit of fantastical fun
I don't usually say what I think about films, because I'm very bad at noticing flaws. I also have a tendency to waffle on, and lose track of what I was supposed to be writing about - but if you've read any of my hubs before you'll be used to that...
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Proofreading: Who'd've thunk?
Sometimes I talk to myself: - I dunno, £400 is a lot of money, especially when you don't have it. - Yes, but consider how much more you will make when you've completed the training and start getting jobs. - If I'm good enough. - Oh, you will be...
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The Usefulness of Rain for the Soul
This is how it works: I choose my Day Off in advance, thereby guaranteeing rain for that day. I then spend the weeks leading up to the Day Off hoping that the rain will break for that day. It never happens. Now this used to annoy me as it meant...
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Forever Child
I think I will be found out one day. I don't know when it will happen, but I'm sure that it will, because it's glaringly obvious that I am a child in an adult's body. Sooner or later someone important will be informed and I will be removed from my...
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Limericks and me
I would never have thought that I would write poetry. Indeed, I thought that I hated poetry because of its ability to expose some weaknesses in me: intolerance and impatience, stubbornness and a bit of stupidity. Intolerance of a form of...
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John Drake, Flint and Silver
I have never read a pirate story before, but somehow I have always known that the high sea would be for me (despite my crippling seasickness and fear of deep water). I wonder if I would have taken to piracy quite so well had the tales I chose to...
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How to Create a Character Profile Sheet
Character profile sheets are a very useful way to flesh out and keep track of your characters in fiction writing.
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Make a Writing Timetable
Whenever I return to my novel manuscript I feel guilt. Guilt that punches me in the chest and winds me, rips open my abdomen and pulls out my entrails, stamps on them, twists them around, and stuffs them back into the cavity, stitches me back up...
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What I Feel Like Today - Part III
I have not talked about my mum's breast cancer treatment for a while on HubPages. To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't felt the need. I don't feel the need now, particularly, but I thought it might be nice to provide a little update. My mum...
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HubPages as a Place of Learning
It has been gradually coming to my attention that HubPages is not necessarily just a place for writing, nor for merely larking about and having a laugh with one’s virtual mates. Of course, it is that too, but not exclusively. HubPages, almost...
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Returning to Narnia
It has been rather a long time since I was first in Narnia. I thought about revisiting that magical place when my seven-year-old son recently became interested in the books. I remembered that I had been seven myself on the Christmas when those...
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Music While I Write
For some writers music is essential for getting those elusive creative juices flowing, for inducing the correct state of calmness to ensure optimum productivity. For others it is a nuisance, a distraction, making it impossible for the mind to...
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Two Blokes
I have been frequenting Starbucks coffee shop in my town for several months now. They do a lovely caramel macchiato, which is my current guilty pleasure, and it's quite possible that the coffee is the real reason I go there. I didn't even know that...
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Unseasonal hub - Camping and luxury tentage
I have never been one for camping in the great outdoors. Walking in the great outdoors, yes, and returning from the great outdoors to the warmth and comfort of my own home afterwards, of course. But staying out after the walk has been completed,...
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Anything?
Prolific and well-respected hubber, epigramman, told me a little while ago that he thought I might be able to write a hub about anything. Obviously, being a loon, I saw that as a challenge. The word 'anything' had a kind of appeal, and I needed to...
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Stationeryphilia
Many of you will have it, being as this is a place where writers convene/congregate/err...convalesce. Stationeryphilia. The love of stationery. I'm certain it has a proper name, but I haven't been able to find it. One of you will know it - you...
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Shop Rant
In days gone by people had one day off a week. Sunday was for Church, and for rest, and the remaining six days were (supposed to be) spend industriously. Business owners worked hard, to build up their client base, to encourage regulars and...
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Very Short Hub on Awful Music (and a little bit on film)
It happens all the time: you will be in a coffee shop, or a lift (elevator), or a pub, or wherever, and you will suddenly realise that the music that has been buzzing around your ears like a very annoying and persistant bluebottle is awful.*...
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The Open University
Fellow hubbers, I would like to share with you my little piece of exciting news. This week I have enrolled on the Open University's MA in English. I am going to be a proper student again, in just eight short months. I am so excited that I can...
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NaNoWriMo - Week Three
I almost did it, I almost quit. I opened the forbidden envelope, which, to be honest, was quite a shock to me. I could not believe it when my hands actually began to tear open that terrible looking red sleeve, with the shameful words 'I Quit'...
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NaNoWriMo - Week Two
Ah, that was Hard! I knew it was coming, that big brick wall, that I would smack into, face first. Ouch. Course, family things, such as huge piles of dirty washing, and meals are usually easy enough to avoid. My children can wear dirty clothes...
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NaNoWriMo - Week One
I am sure that many of us have heard of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, which officially takes place in November? I have a friend, as I'm sure many of you will, who took part in this scribbling marathon in 2010. At the time I was...
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What I Feel Like Today: Part II
Feel a bit strange today. Been having morbid thoughts, and a bit of a cry, and been allowing some scaredness to creep into my mind. I don't think it would be sensible to try to ignore those feelings. I think it's probably better to face them,...
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Lancaster Girls' Grammar School - School Song
The impressive frontage of my old school. This is just small part of it. When I first went to my senior school, there was a strong sense of it being a very special school. It was not a private school, it was just a grammar school. None of us...
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The Pros and Cons of having a partner who works away occasionally
We always have a lot of washing up to do. I hope no-one reads too much into this hub. It's merely a whimsical bit of fun, not aimed at seriously criticising anyone, or at analysing my own relationship too deeply. Just some observations, that's...
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Jessica Elizabeth Rawlinson
My sister-in-law, Jessica Elizabeth Rawlinson My goodness, that's weird to write: Jessica Elizabeth Rawlinson. Until two months ago it was Jessica Elizabeth Marshall, then she married my brother Terry. Now then, Jessica was flicking through my...
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World Building in a Fantasy Novel
The novel I am currently working on is firmly placed in the genre of fantasy. Part of the story takes place in what we might loosely term 'our world', and the rest in a faerie realm plucked right out of my head, with characters based somewhat on...
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What I Feel Like Today - Part I
My mum, enjoying the snow with my boys, last year. I am starting a new series of hubs that will hopefully conclude, in a few short months, with a hub that is filled with gushings of relief and joy. Let me tell you this. Today I am happy, I am...
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Winter - the joyous ritual of car scraping
Alright, this is not the best example of a frosty car photo. But it wasn't all that frosty this morning - I might be able to provide a frostier one next week. I'm not actually joking, or being sarcastic with the title of this blog. I do really,...
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Cabin Fever - it's alright to stop writing
Go and get some fresh air Today I have written five hubs, in a last ditch attempt to meet the requirement of my self-imposed challenge of writing thirty hubs in thirty days. Lots of people do this kind of challenge, and a lot more successfully...
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Pretending to be Clever - How I Do It
I have always wanted to be clever, but have never wanted it enough to try to overcome my inherent laziness. I have always looked at intelligent people, scientists particularly, authors and playwrights, surgeons and airline pilots, and I have been...
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Being a tomboy: it's good.
I do not think that being a tomboy is a choice that any girl makes. She seems to be born androgynous, and that is just the way it is. I could not tell you whether there is scientific evidence to prove whether tomboyishness is a natural occurrence...
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Why Goldfish Make Good Pets
My goldfish do not like having their photos taken - I think I may have just blinded them with the flash. The question arises in our house, from time to time, 'when can we get a dog?' The answer almost always is a resounding 'NEVER', to much...
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Daydream Flying
Anywhere in the world... Daydream flying is something that I started doing only a year or so ago. It's not so much about the flying as it is about where you choose to go. It happened quite accidentally, but I was very pleased that it did. But...
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The Importance of a Good Dictionary
Do you sometimes stumble over words and wonder which is the right one to choose? But do you then think that if you have used a dictionary to help you it might mean you're not all that clever? Think again...
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Not all teenagers are antisocial thugs and vandals
I've done it myself, and I'm sure I will do it again. I have gone to the shop at the end of our road for a loaf of bread and a pint of milk, and I have felt intimidated by the youths congregating in the car park. They usually don't say a word to...
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Kitchen art wall
A brief hub about a nice thing to do with your children's art work. This is a problem, right here, on the right. This is an accumulation of fourteen years' worth of children's drawings, paintings, collages and memories (my children are 7, 4 and 3,...
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Little Bits of Happiness Each Day
Dancing, and generally being silly and not caring what you look like, can be tremendously happiness-inducing. This hub came about after a lovely conversation with one of my best mates, Sara. Sara's a lovely lady with a similar outlook on life to...
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Do Soft Play Areas Ever Lose Their Fun?
The obvious answer to the question would be no, because they are always still very busy all year round, and the kids love 'em. But that's not really what I mean. Actually, it's not what I'm getting at, at all. I mean, do they lose their fun as...
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How I Deal with Frizzy Hair
Alright, so this is a wig. But it's been a long time since I've had proper frizz on display, so there are no photos on my current computer. Sorry. When you are rich/famous/a movie star, frizzy hair need not be a problem. It is very likely that...
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Dream Flying
I have touched upon this in a blog entry, but I decided to expand on it to make a hub. I believe that dreaming about flying is supposed to be rather common, because the few dream interpretation books that I've glanced at have said so. Strange then...
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Christmas in an Atheist House
How to write this hub without sounding defensive? I'm not sure if it's possible, but I'll give it a go. Christmas in my family has always been a time of great excitement. I will admit that it's mostly about the presents. But try as I might, I...
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Pitfall 2: Telling Oneself Lies
It's very important that I use this evening to make delicious and unhealthy treats for my children; or so my mind tells me. This hub is a continuation of the previous one, Pitfall 1: Wasting Precious Time. I think it will probably be quite...
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Watching your child learn to read
The one sitting in the tree, the red-jumpered one, and the one at the front, that is. It's a terrible cliché to talk about a rollercoaster of emotions, but the phrase does fairly accurately describe a parent's thoughts and feelings when they're...
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The Usual Argument
I didn’t expect it to happen like that, hadn’t even meant for it to happen at all. But it did, and now it’s done. I can’t do anything about it now. It was just one of those ordinary arguments that millions of people must have every...
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Stranger
I can remember the face and name of every child I’ve ever taught. So when the smartly dressed man got up from the table opposite and came over to talk to me, introducing himself as one of my ex-pupils, I was rather confused. ‘Jason Parker,...
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Bridge
She didn’t always walk this way home from school, but she felt like a change. It was a glorious sunny day, and just perfect for a leisurely walk along the river. This was one of the prettiest parts of the city. The houses along the quay were...
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Three Fictional Stories I Recently Read on WWII
I am not very good at book reviews, or film reviews either, or reviews of any kind. Lack of practise really. But this is exactly the right reason for using a hub as a book review, yes? I think it will be a little messy, but let us see how I get...
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The Walk to School
'Come on then Thomas, we'll have to go right now if we're walking.' 'I'm coming, just giving James a kiss and a cuddle.' Every time Thomas says 'cuddle' I smile and remember that 'culloo' was one of his first words. We step outside, and shut...
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Arriving late ...
'Right, everyone out... come on, we're late already.''I can't get my seatbelt off, I'm too tired.''Come on mate, let's get into the pub.''Thomas, just do it.''Aww, but I'm too tired.''Good boy James, stay right by the car.''I did it right, didn't I...
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The pros and cons of undertaking a 30-day-hub-challenge
I am on Day 8 of my hub challenge, and already I am two hubs behind. This is fine really, because I did not absolutely challenge myself to write a hub each day, I challenged myself to write thirty hubs in a month. Fine. No problem. But I am...
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The tremendous experience of giving up alcohol for ten months
This hub is not a lecture, or an attempt to convert anyone to teetotalism. It is purely anecdotal and autobiographical in its nature, an observation about my choices. Almost twelve months ago I had a terrible hangover. I did not have hangovers...
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Fighting sleep during an eye examination
If you are writing hubs daily and have an appointment for an eye examination, I strongly recommend that you finish your hubbing by 9pm and then go to bed and get a very good night's sleep. This way you will be able to guarantee that you do not...
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A Saturday afternoon project.
What we like to see The idea I'm going to chat to you about today is still in the planning stage. We put the plan into action this weekend, and it's going to be fantastic. This afternoon I bought some essentials for a long-term Saturday afternoon...
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Crying Real Tears and Having a Good Sob
My son, when I wouldn't let him have a biscuit - I'm aware that I could have him taken from me for this kind of child cruelty. Chatting to my friend yesterday, I realised that I haven't cried for a long time. She told me that she cries when she...
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To be trashy, or not to be trashy...
Day Two of the 30-day-blog-and-hub-challenge, and already I'm struggling to find ideas. But I have decided to tackle a subject that I have trouble expressing my opinions about: Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. I will tell you a story. The Story ...
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Some mistakes that I make from time to time
I picked the boys up from school this afternoon, full of good intentions, certain that I would sit down with them as soon as we got home and we would get their biggest piece of homework out of the way. But we gathered around the table, and oh, they...
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Going it alone versus finding a writing community
I suppose that there are two approaches when one begins to write more seriously (more seriously, in this case, means writing with a view to letting other people read your work, rather than writing in your diary like you have done since you were ten...
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Mini-hub from Barbados
If you are anything like me, then I would recommend that you do not go to any of the tropical islands with the assumption that your writing will not be interrupted. Especially if you are going for a family wedding, and are only staying for one...
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Taking a Day Off
I'm essentially a selfish creature. Until recently I imagined that I was not alone in this, that most people would go to any lengths of melodramatic overacting to get something they felt they needed. But this is not so. Most people I know are...
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How I write the first draft of a novel
Now, I'm not pretending to be an expert here or anything. I've only been writing for a relatively short period of time myself, so you can take my witterings with a pinch of salt, chuck them over your shoulder for luck, or do what you want with...
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Things I need, and things I do not need.
Place It used to be that to write I needed to be in the comfy chair, that was purchased at an Icelandic furniture megastore, in the bay window of my bedroom, where I had a good view of the street and could see my neighbours pottering about in their...
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How to survive a stag weekend if you're the Best Man and a girl...
When my brother asked me to be his best man a few months ago I was pleased and honoured, and all of those things. But then the time came to organise the Stag Do, and the nerves set in. I spent quite a lot of time worrying, and, dare I say,...
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Pitfall 1: Wasting Precious Time
I put my feet up as often as I can possibly manage. My feet can often be seen in this position, although in the colder months they will be adorned with thick socks, and probably not flip flops. When I first started to write fiction - only two and...
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Hello, my name is Linda.
So I've enjoyed the welcome I've received to this hubworld. It's quite astonishing to me that this cyber place has been existing right under my nose, and I've been completely unaware of it. Already my first hub has been viewed by twenty people,...
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I'm Always Losing My Words
I have just stumbled across this thing called a 'Hub', and am floundering my way around it, trying to work out what it is, what it is for, and whether it will benefit me in my attempts to become a world famous author. I'm none the wiser, yet. I...