Words On The Street
I am asking you to trust me with your story, your book, your product, your business.
I can`t give you samples of my editing or ghostwriting as the work belongs to the client but I believe as a Wordsmith I can make a contribution to work you have already done.
So here`s a few examples of my words.
What I've learnt this week
Learn something new every day, that`s what the ‘experts’ say! In all honesty its one of the most sensible things an ’expert’ has ever said. I love that feeling when I can tell myself, and anybody else who is listening …. ‘that`s my thing learnt for today’.
So, what have I learnt this week:
Homity Pie is a great dish to sneak vegetables into meals if you have the culinary confidence to vary the recipe according to the veg in your fridge. www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/freeform-homity-pie. As an extra for that day, I also learnt that I still like making pastry and you have to relax to make it.
It`s very difficult to find out the real story behind strikes. It doesn`t seem to matter how many articles and news items I read, I still can`t work out the details – pay rises, safety, redundancies. I suppose it all depends on which people you trust most.
There is no point in trusting weather forecasts. Yesterday a weather warning – thunder and heavy rain - was issued for today. Today there is no weather warning, and a sunny day is forecast. At this moment it`s raining and has been a grey day since 5am.
Fossick – what a great word. It is described as an informal Australian word meaning ‘search’. The example I found on Google was ‘fossicking through documents’. It reminds me of a childish challenge we used to have in my early days of working in an office – one person picked a word and everybody in the group had to find a way of including that word in the reports they were writing that week.
In the factories of the 19th century, they had a ‘ledger’ called the excuses book or the naughty book where fines were recorded for ‘misdemeanours’ including singing, catching mice during worktime, one worker was even fined for laughing. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175907/Fascinating-19th-century-ledger-lists-misdemeanors-naughty-apprentices-Royal-Worcester-factory.
One of the challenges of autism is the difficulty in controlling the pitch and volume of a person`s voice. In simple terms it can come across that there is no volume control. There is so much to learn about autism, and this may to many, appear a more trivial symptom in comparison to others. However, if your adult partner is newly diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum it can make a huge difference to understanding the dynamics of your relationship. His or her shouting may not because they are angry/fed up/frustrated with you. It is likely to be the autism making its known. The trick is how to deal with it. And when I work out that trick, I`ll let you know.
Researching family history is addictive. But more of this in a special post.
A day in the life of an excited writer
So much progress today in realising a dream of many years - to be able to work with words full-time.
Running a small business involves so many different aspects and today has included several of them.
Studying never stops, the process of writing is a fascinating craft that must always move forward.
Talking to clients is so important but today I had to take a deep breath and ask them to write some nice words about me - to let clients know that they could trust me.
A good day is a mix of business chores and finding time to do the actual work that creates the passion. Today was one of those good days, our portfolio now involves an exciting project involving an aspiring author from the Czech Republic.
So very lucky to have this life.
Christmas Party v Human Suffering
Takes a Christmas Party before we get angry
A Concerned Citizen
Another morning of waking up to the news on the radio and feeling angry, frustrated and … tired. How dare they hold a Christmas Party; how dare they have cheese and wine? And without me needing to say more you know exactly what I`m referring to.
An hour later (after clearing the remains of last night`s meal, sorting washing out, feeding 4 pooches – the normal Friday morning stuff that we all do) I check my social media. And up pops a post.
So true, politicians responsible for an amazing amount of damage to whole communities and individuals have regularly ‘weathered the storm’ and then continued their mission to create misery for one group and riches for another. However, they may now have to answer with their jobs but for …. a Christmas Party or perhaps an Interior Design job that ‘went wrong.’ How can this be?
I`m sure there will be a statistician somewhere who as I type is adding up how many column inches have been dedicated to the Christmas Party that wasn’t a Christmas party, to the horrendous video of the Press Conference that wasn`t a Press Conference. How will those many, many inches compare to concerns over Windrush, over bullying tactics allegedly used by Cabinet members? More importantly how will the social media comments of ordinary people compare? Why have people who have never shown an interest in the awful record of the government suddenly got angry.
Political and social commentators everywhere will be sharing their expert advice on this phenomenon. My view? The view of the concerned citizen is that sometimes the issues of (bad) government and the corruption of power are so huge, so complicated and so removed from everyday life (unless you are directly affected) that criticism, protest, objection and even anger just seem such a waste. But a Christmas Party - that’s not huge or complicated. For lots of people it’s the straw that broke the camel`s back.
Jo(e) Bloggs can complain, protest, object and get incredibly angry because the crime/damage/offence is obvious. The cover up is in plain sight. The lack of real compassion over this whole episode is there for everyone to see, hear and feel. When a child does something wrong, we encourage them to own up and take responsibility. The only person who has ‘taken responsibility for their actions’ took hours to resign although she claimed to be distraught by what she had done. The cynic in me wonders how many hours it took for her to arrange her financial package as part of her resignation.
Yes it`s awful that it has taken a Christmas party to make the majority of people angry about the actions of a government. But let`s hope that with this anger comes some clarity regarding other more serious actions of these same politicians and advisors.
A glass of water
A glass of water - no to fizz
Please, just a small coke.
No, it will rot your teeth. Water will clean your teeth.
A glass of water - brain juice
I can`t do my homework tonight, my head hurts.
I bet you haven`t drunk enough water today, brain juice that`s what you need.
A glass of water - weight loss miracle
Mmm 2 litres a day, that`s a lot of glasses of water.
I never want to drink another glass of water.
A glass of water - hangover prevented
Water, I need a glass of water.
My head is going to hurt so much tomorrow. Another glass.
Maybe 3.
A glass of water - no alcohol
Yes please, the really expensive water from the Pyrenees mountains.
Yes please, in a crystal glass champagne flute.
Yes, it still tastes of water.
A glass of water - producing breast milk
The Midwife said to drink lots of water it helps with the milk
The midwife said to only drink water
I don`t like my midwife.
A glass of water - calm those nerves
If they offer you a glass of water in the interview say yes.
Where`s that glass of water?
I need my brain juice.
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A glass of water - the last drink
Please dad, drink just a little. Please dad.
A glass of water - a toast to life and death
Thank you, dad, for everything. You had a good innings, but it was your time to move to something else. Cheers.