Selfcontained

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Judy

Self-Contained Man by Moira Purver

My story ‘Selfcontained‘ has been published by the marvellous Café Irreal. Hurrah! I’ve been sending them my less conventional tales for a while now, so am very happy this one has been chosen to be invited to pull up a seat, order a hot drink and join in the conversation 🙂

The Café Irreal specialise in publishing literary fiction that accepts (and welcomes) the possibility of the impossible and makes it common place. They define the genre here.

My particular story drew inspiration from a wonderful piece of art by Moira Purver, titled Self-Contained Man, which featured in the RWA’s open exhibition. I spent an afternoon there in late 2014, gleaning inspiration and taking notes. I rather fell in love with Moira’s beautiful sculpture. An idea about Self-Contained Man took root, and developed into a story told from the point of view of a sculpture grappling with the question of whether or not he has a sole. You can read it here.

I also had the pleasure of being invited to be a guest on the Steve Yabsley lunchtime show for Radio Bristol last week. The show was billed as being “Author Judy Darley, blossom poems and dormice” so I was in great company, though sadly didn’t get to meet any actual dormice. Steve talked to me about my book Remember Me To The Bees and asked lots of questions about SkyLightRain.com and writing in general, some of which I was able to answer intelligently, others less so. I read out snippets of some tales in the collection too – you can still listen to it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02gwq1y

Book review Things That Are by Amy Leach

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Judy

A beautiful book crammed with exquisite details about our universe and everything in it. The subtitle is Encounters with Plants, Stars and Animals, and in this collection of poetically observed scientific essays, Stars really do seem like just another bobbling entity, not that dissimilar to a whirligig beetle, a baby penguin (which she describes as a “pear-shaped bit of fluff”) or a biscuit starfish.

I found myself entranced by the juxtapositions Leach throws together – drawing unexpected connections between tomato frogs and bears and grass (they all prefer to live in light) or between man-of-war jellyfish and Leo Tolstoy (both resembling, she asserts, a single entity while actually being made up of many).

Moments of surrealism gather you in – there’s a whole section on sirens, were “free like thunder, and dangerous like tornadoes, and enchanting like fire” and who used to sing songs “people would follow to the other side of life” and now forced into service as Emergency Warning Sirens sounding the alarm.

There’s a whole chapter marvelling on the efforts of the hapless water lily, and another on the delight of peas (which Leach describes pleasingly as “clocky children who become spoony adults”). Continue reading →

Midweek writing prompt – portrait

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Judy

Old Woman, Burma © Premgit

Some faces really tell a story – their lives are printed on their skin, in the lines like rivers in a landscape tracing the journeys around their eyes, mouths, brows.

The image above was caught by Premgit, and you may use this if you wish, but equally look to the people you know, and see if you can pick out the experiences marked out on their faces. What has made them joyful, hopeful or afraid? And how can you spin this into a fictionalised narrative?

If you write something prompted by this, please let me know by sending an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com. With your permission, I’d love to share it on SkyLightRain.com.

A vivid morning with Amy Vans

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Judy

Green Circle © Amy Vans

Welcome to 2015! How are you feeling today? In case you’re still a bit groggy after your New Year’s Eve shenanigans I thought it would be good to start the day, indeed the year, with some of Amy Vans’ colour-saturated paintings.

I encountered Amy’s artwork in a basement flat on an art trail and was blown away by their dazzling intensity.

The one shown at the top of this post – Bristol View – immediately caught my eye, but Amy’s initial ideas took root far further afield, when she was journeying across the world.

“My travels took me to Melbourne where I met Mirabela Varga, an emerging Australian Artist who inspired me with her free style and use of colour,” Amy says. “I then worked as studio assistant for Mirabela in Barcelona whilst she was exhibiting. Working with Mirabela provided me with a fantastic source of knowledge and learning both technically and creatively.”

After a year soaking up Mirabela’s influence, Amy returned to England where she set to work, allowing her own style to evolve.

“I’ve broken free into new forms of expression,” she enthuses. “I work very spontaneously, regularly changing my palette and experimenting with different processes.”

Much of Amy’s work “reflects the different countries I have been to and the people I have met. Most notably, living in Barcelona amongst the vibrant art scene, and the intensities and richness of India, fuelled my passion for colour. Over the years my process has evolved but the thing that has stayed consistent is my strong use of colour.”

The brightness of Gaudi’s work had a big impact on Amy’s work during her year in Barcelona. Amy admits to “having always been slightly nocturnal”, which she says has had an impact on her pieces – “a lot of my work tends to offer an impression of the lights of city streets at night.”

Mirage 1 © Amy Vans

Back at home in England, Amy is influenced by the music she immerses herself in. “I tend to paint only to familiar music, feeling most comfortable in my studio listening to bands such as Portishead and Massive Attack.”

When painting, Amy is enviably absorbed in what she’s creating. “I’m wholly focused on the image I am creating and where the next swipe of the palette knife is going to take me,” she says. “I enjoy the technical side, moving the paint on the canvas. Generally I work straight from the tube and mixing is done on the canvas. Choosing which colours is a massive part of my process.”

Amy also enjoys experimenting with different textures, dragging her palette knife through paint “and seeing what marks can be created using different tools. I like the plastic qualities of acrylic paint the most but I’ve also explored a range of mixed media as seen in ‘Fractured Image’ (shown below) – if you look closely you can see the newspaper print coming through the paint.”

She adds: “It’s only occasionally that I set out to do anything representational. Mostly I’m interested in exploring the colours, textures and depths that I can create. The image develops as part of the creative process.”

Find Amy’s art at www.saatchiart.com, www.londonart.co.uk and facebook.com/AmyVansPaintings.

Are you an artist or do you know an artist who would like to be showcased on SkyLightRain.com? Get in touch at judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’m also happy to receive reviews of books, exhibitions, theatre and film. To submit or suggest a review, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com.

Geese among the trees

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Judy

Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat…

But actually this post is about something entirely different. The lovely folks at Liars’ League Hong Kong are hosting a literary night of performances on 29th December, and invited me to submit a tale. Always a pleasure!

Susan Lavender will be reading my short story Geese Among The Trees as part of a special festive showcase. She considered performing Night Flights again, but thought it might be a little dark for the occasion. That’s probably true!

Geese Among The Trees is a bitter sweet tale of hope and possible redemption. Susan Lavender will be performing it as part of the Liars’ Trump night at the Fringe Dairy jazz and cabaret club in Hong Kong on 29th December. The event starts at 8pm. Do go along if you’re in the area – I wish I could be there!

Midweek creative prompt – image flowers

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Judy

Something a bit different to get your creative juices flowing, or indeed, flowering, this week!

Launched by Cheryl Brooks, Image Flowers is a collaborative art project, with which you’re invited to participate. All you need to do is browse the images hosted on the Image Flowers site and create a visual reply to any that move you. This can be a painting, collage, photograph, or whatever comes to mind. I supplied Corner, the image at the top of this post.

The project began when Cheryl, a fine artist, began a series of works exploring visual connections generated from one starting point. In my recent work “I have been exploring natural geometry especially in relation to flower heads, so this and an exhibition I saw where two photographers had over time created a visual conversation by responding to each others images, is the inspiration behind this project.”

The image that started it all, by Cheryl Brooks

To take part, simply spend some time at Image Flowers and find a picture that intrigues or moves you. Then email the picture to Cheryl as directed on the site, including the details of the image that spurred you to get creating!

Of course, if you find yourself moved to produce a written piece instead, that’s fine – just send it to me instead of Cheryl.

If you write something prompted by this, please let me know by sending an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com. With your permission, I’d love to share it on SkyLightRain.com.

Semicolonic Irritation – a guide to the semicolon

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Judy

There are few punctuation marks that instil more dread than the semicolon. Getting good, simple advice on how to use it can, however, be rather difficult. In this week’s guest post, Karin Stone of WM Group offers a crucial guide to the semicolon.

Many people will tell you that using the semicolon properly is ‘just a matter of feel’. Unfortunately, if you don’t have ‘the feel’ in the first place, such advice isn’t much help.

The fact is the semicolon is a very useful little tool, and one that is all too often overlooked. And, far from being a question of feel, there are clear rules governing the correct use of the semicolon.

Tips for using the semicolon

In many respects, the semicolon can be regarded as about half way between a comma and a colon. The upshot of this is that there are two things the semicolon is extremely good at: lists, and joining sentences together.

Lists: what’s the big idea?

Read the following sentence out loud:

When you go camping in winter, remember to pack your Long Johns, for extra warmth, a silver blanket, in case of emergency, a propane stove, as butane tends not to work well in the cold, and make sure there are plenty of people who know exactly where you’re going.

The sentence feels breathless – like somebody is just blurting out a load of information. Now try this version:

When you go camping in winter, remember to pack your Long Johns, for extra warmth; a silver blanket, in case of emergency; a propane stove, as butane tends not to work well in the cold; and make sure there are plenty of people who know exactly where you’re going.

Essentially, the semicolon allows you to give better instructions to the reader about what each bit of the sentence is doing. That makes it easier to read, and people will thank you for it.

You can see that each big idea is followed up by a little idea – ‘a silver blanket [big idea], in case of emergency [little idea]’. When you have a series of big ideas and little ideas, separate the big ones with a semicolon.

Joining: independence day

We’ve said it before, and no doubt we’ll say it again: one of the most important things you have to do is to engage your reader. That means encouraging them to interact with the words you’ve written. And the semicolon can play an important part here too.

Say you have two separate sentences:

The semicolon is a much under-used punctuation mark.
For some reason, people seem to be scared of it.

Joining these sentences together using a semicolon demonstrates that although the ideas are independent, they are also connected:

The semicolon is a much under-used punctuation mark; for some reason, people seem to be scared of it.

Here, we’ve got two ideas that are intimately linked. To show that the second sentence comes as an explanation or refinement of the first sentence, we join the two sentences together – using a semicolon. As a result, the nature of the relationship becomes easier for the reader to identify.

A really comma error

The biggest single mistake people make when it comes to the semicolon is not using one when they join two sentences together. An awful lot of people use a comma instead of a semicolon. They tend to ‘feel’ that there’s something wrong with what they’ve written, but can’t tell exactly what.

Consider the following example:

I used to be convinced that the semicolon was really difficult to use, now, I’m not so sure.

The key to good writing is that it makes good reading. But in the above sentence, it’s difficult at first to work out what the word ‘now’ is doing, and the sentence loses impact because it’s confusing.

I used to be convinced that the semicolon was really difficult to use; now, I’m not so sure.

Here the reader has clear directions as to what’s going on in the sentence. The word ‘now’ clearly relates to ‘I’m not so sure’, and confusion is avoided.

If you’d like to share your own writing tips or journey on SkyLightRain, get in touch! Just send an email to Judy(at)socketcreative.com.

Midweek writing prompt – Cast Out

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Judy

Cast Out © Heather Nevay

How I love this painting! Created by the splendidly disquieting Heather Nevay, Cast Out seems to me to capture the moment just after a child has fallen out with her siblings and playmates, and stormed off muttering, “You’ll be sorry when I’m dead!”

But what’s the significance of the dolls’ house on wheels? What doe it represent? Part of me can’t help wondering if her family have been shrunken by her rage and trapped inside, at her mercy. And looking at the anger in that girl’s eyes, I wouldn’t predict a particularly happy ending.

Oh, and before you begin, did you notice the ears sticking out of her intricately braided hair? And is that a tail in the right-hand corner of the picture.

So many options!

If you write something prompted by this, please let me know by sending an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com. With your permission, I’d love to share it on SkyLightRain.com.

Signs by Louise Gethin

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Judy

“It’s around here somewhere.” Martha glanced at the map in her hand and pointed at the sign. “Look, Mardyke Ferry Road.”

“ Well, I can’t see the lighthouse.” John frowned.

“Maybe it’s just up around the bend. Watch your step, it’s muddy. I told you you should’ve worn your boots.”

“Okay. You were right.” Behind her, he tried to discreetly rub his plimsolls in the grass at the side of the path. He’d nearly slipped a dozen times already. He would never live it down if he went flying.

Martha sped on. She, of course, was wearing her sturdy boots, the ones that had taken her to Annapurna Base Camp and back, as well as The Sugar Loaf, Blorenge, Snowdon and, and, and. John smiled. He loved her more than anyone although he could rarely say so. She was so…..resilient and unremittingly positive. She was Tigger to his Eeyore. He moved on. Why hadn’t he worn his boots? There’d been rain for days. He grimaced. It was in his nature never to do what he was told or even let himself feel he was being told. Perhaps if Martha hadn’t mentioned the boots at all, he would’ve worn them without a second thought. But no, they’d been cleaned and put out ready.

Up ahead, she was reaching the bend.

“I can see it.” she shouted back to him before disappearing out of view. The Mardyke Ferry Landing was a historic site, long out of use since the floods of 1962 had swept Braveheart out to sea and the long awaited New Bridge had spanned the two islands. Nowadays, people drove across, or even walked the two miles. Hardly anyone bothered with the landing anymore and it had made its way into the Forgotten Sites Walks book by David Hellinger.

John made it to the bend and stopped to catch his breath. Wind whistled, leaves rustled and danced in the air. A horn sounded. He couldn’t see her.

“Martha.” He called. The word wavered away from him. “Martha!”

“Move out of the way, mister.” A group of boys in shorts cascaded past him on scooters. “We’ll miss the last ferry and there’ll be hell to pay.”

Clouds gathered overhead.

John made his way down towards the landing. It didn’t look forgotten. It was packed with people pushing to get on the ferry. The horn sounded again. He looked in all directions. Where was Martha? Surely, she would’ve have waited for him; wouldn’t have just got on. Anyway, that hadn’t been part of the plan.

Drops of rain started to fall.

He would just wait until she arrived. She would show up eventually.

Soon everyone was aboard. The rain was heavier now. Wind whipped his cheeks.

“Are you coming across, Johnnie?” A man with a cap and a so’wester called as he started to pull up the walkway. “I can’t wait, there’s a storm brewing.”

John shook his head and waved. How did he know his name?

The man untied the ropes and the ferry motored towards Dunbar, its wake washing up on the shore line.

As the ferry reached the mid-point between the islands, a swirl of wind spiralled into view. John watched horrified as the boat was taken and spun out to sea. Screams echoed in his ears as the waves and wind crushed and crashed the vessel into the lighthouse. Martha? A dull ache started in his chest.

“There you are.”

He blinked.

“I’ve been looking all over for you.” Martha was standing in front of him holding two cups of steaming liquid. Rain glistened on her face. Behind her the landing creaked in the wind. The middle section had fallen away and a Danger Do Not Enter sign swung across the entrance, on a chain.

“There’s a café just behind that old toilet block there. The waiter, Johnnie, his name is, was so interesting. He remembers the landing in its prime and the Braveheart. He told me about the day she disappeared. He was only small; said he was watching the last sailing of the day and…”

“…..a wind spun it out to sea where it was lost with all the people?” John finished. The pain in his chest dissipating.

“Yes.” Martha frowned. “How did you know? It didn’t say anything about it in Forgotten Sites.”

“I just saw it happen, somehow.”

“Are you feeling alright? You look pale.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go back and speak to him. He swears that whenever there’s a storm, he still hears the screams.”

Martha led John around the old toilet block then stopped in her tracks. “How strange. It was here a minute ago.” She looked at her drink.

John took a sip of his. “Well, this is real and so are you.” He put his arm around her and led her back to the landing. For some time they stared out to sea, each wondering what it meant

“I thought I’d lost you for a minute back there.” John broke the silence. “I don’t think I could bear that.”

Martha leaned into him and murmured. “I love you too.”

About the author

Louise Gethin writes about Love, Death and anything in between. She is a co-founding member of Bristol Writers Group and has appeared in Hidden Bristol and Ashton Walks – anthologies of short stories written by the group. She is also an affiliate member of Bristol Women’s Writing Group and, in 2013, appeared in Unchained – an anthology of poems and short stories published by Tangent Books. She has appeared at Word of Mouth Events (Thunderbolt, Bath Road) and took part in this year’s Poetry Slam at the Arnofilni.

Midweek writing prompt – open art

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Judy

Last week I spend a delicious morning meandering through the breathtakingly diverse array of art of show at the RWA’s 162nd Open Exhibition.

I spotted a characteristically contemplative painting by Serena Curmi (titled Judgment – but who is the girl in the image judging? Herself?), and a beautiful, resonant sculpture (literally – when you run your hand over its spines, which you’re invited to do, it sings) by Kim Francis called Child.

I brought along a largish notepad and a handful of pens, and took my time, pausing to jot down notes whenever an idea or thought nudged me. By the time I left I had ideas for half a dozen stories, a rough first draft of a poem and a complete piece of flash fiction.

I urge you to do the same. The RWA Annual Open Exhibition is on until 7 December 2014, but if you can’t make it to Bristol, why not visit your local gallery or museum? The key is time – a good, solid chunk of it, to soak in the works on display and allow your subconscious to take what you see and turn it into an original piece of writing.

If you write something prompted by this, please let me know by sending an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com. With your permission, I’d love to share it on SkyLightRain.com.