Category Thoughts

Dark matter

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What does this writer do when she’s not writing on this blog?

OK, I’ll start again, because writing about myself in the third person feels decidedly icky!

If I’ve reinvigorated this blog, why aren’t I writing on here very often? You might well ask. I’m not resting on my laurels, far from it! Here’s what I’ve been up to (aside from my day job, because bills still need to be paid).

Back in 2014, I started writing a dystopian novel. I had a germ of an idea and then it became a project I wanted to take in a specific direction in honour of my late father who had died the year before. I made it too big, too important and in the end, I had to put the work to one side – I was in danger of writing myself into a breakdown.

A few more ‘life’ events happened – these things tend to hunt in packs, like rabid dogs or zombies, don’t they?

Here we are in 2020. I’ve dabbled on here a bit, but something made me pick up my abandoned half-formed thing and inspect it. Bit by bit, I started to see my way towards a finished project, and bit by bit, I finished the first draft – at 6.37am on 28th December 2019 to be precise. I gave myself a bit of a break and have now started my first edit. I’m excited to be at this point so unexpectedly quickly. All being well, I want to have edited and polished my novel sufficiently well to pass to beta readers by the end of this year.

Mixed in with that, a random idea has also borne fruit – it basically started with a question – I wonder if Instagram has a writing community? I posted a first image on 18th November – my feet photo that you see on this blog – and it’s snowballed pretty quickly. I’m somewhat stunned to have around 900 followers already! If you aren’t on Instagram I strongly encourage you to try it out – the community there is lovely. I’ve made some good friends over there.

So, there we are. That’s what I’ve been up to, as well as reading a lot.

If you want to pop over to Instagram and say hello, I’m @freyathewriter over there. May as well keep the theme going, right?

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SoCS Nov 30/19 – No tea, no shade

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I’ve been infected by popular culture!

I first heard the phrase  “No tea, no shade’ on RuPaul’s Drag Race, not all that long ago to be honest. I’m soooo late to the party with that series! To be even more honest, I haven’t watched them all. I was caught at a weak moment when I was feeling a bit under the weather, and got sucked in to the spectacle which is drag!

But then it got me thinking. Behind all the glitz and the in-fighting and the drama and the make up, RuPaul has done a huge amount to bring drag queens to the forefront of society’s consciousness and, I can only imagine, help this particular part of what used to be an underground culture, be more acceptable to people who may otherwise have been unwelcoming at best.

Did you know that the term ‘drag’ was first used in British theatre in the late nineteenth century, and was used t describe women’s clothing worn by men? Some say that ‘drag’ is an acronym for ‘dressed as a girl’ – which makes sense, but who knows. But then there is the phrase ‘putting on your drags’ which comes from Polari, the British theatre slang that was also popular with the then gay ‘subculture’ (as well as circus performers, wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, prostitutes and criminals. Sadly the language has all but died out, although the positive spin is that it has almost disappeared because gay men no longer have the need to speak in code – back in the 1960s when Polari reached its zenith, it was a crime to be a homosexual.

Anyway, no tea, no shade – or rather no arguments or insults from me!

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This is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday, hosted by the lovely Linda – please visit her here to see what it’s all about.

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Bite – SoCS July 9/16

freyathewriter 2 Comments

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I never did like weak orange squash when I was a kid. Even worse, insipid Roses’s Lime Juice Cordial or, the mother of all sharp drinks, PLJ. I wanted the bite at the back of my tongue, I wanted it to make my eyes water just a little. I really wanted to experience it, in all its pleasure/pain combinations. ‘Dilute to taste’ wasn’t really a phrase that I wanted to hear, when my taste was (and still is) for strong, sharp-toothed experiences. I like concentration.

Life can be, quite frankly, almost unbearably challenging, tough, hard and gut-wrenching. It can also be glorious, touch the clouds sky-rocketing, amazing and awesome, in the true sense of those two words.

Sometimes, I hunger for calm and peace, especially in the space that my brain occupies, behind my eyes and between my ears. But, honestly, much as I relish the fleeting calm, I adore the highs, and they would not be quite so high, without the lows.

Concentration. No dilution. Distilled to the basic, overpowering essence. That’s what drives me and feeds my creativity. Writing without passion (of the dark sort or the light) for me, is almost impossible.

 

It’s time for another Stream of Consciousness Saturday post, prompted by the lovely Linda. This week, her prompt is ‘Concentration’ to be interpreted in any way we see fit. Can anyone identify with my thoughts, I wonder?

It’s a fun thing, to let your thoughts meander where they will. Why not hop on on over to Linda’s blog, read a few entries, or take the plunge and take part?