Dedicated publisher of fiction, poetry and memoir
I was doing pretty well in quarantine. You might have seen my earlier entries: they were all about 'finding balance', staying calm and facing our fears. Then my body threw me a curve ball. It's the same curve ball it throws me every month, but right now I'm finding it particularly difficult to deal with.... Continue Reading →
In the last few entries, I've been focusing on meditation and mindfulness as a means of staying sane during the current crisis. That does not mean, however, that we should never admit that we are scared. An important part of any recovery or self-discovery process is to bring our fears into the open. In examining... Continue Reading →
6 days in, I realise I'm a quarantine rookie. From the moment I wake up, everything is getting on my nerves. Try as I might, I can't seem to get a moment's peace, I can't get on with my work, I don't get my son through all his schoolwork, and I end up being mean... Continue Reading →
Poem of the Day: Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798 By William Wordsworth. I've chosen this poem because to me it describes most perfectly the experience of meditation, of switching off the mind and making contact with the Divine. The... Continue Reading →
Poem of the day: La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats, 1819. Perhaps my favourite opening lines of any poem: O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms Alone and paley loitering? The sedge has withered from the lake And no birds sing. The metre, that final line - it's pure music. And the last two... Continue Reading →
With the level of societal anxiety running high, today I'm taking a different approach and offering some tips for staying calm in quarantine. I'm no expert: I'm very much learning as I go along, but I find that some of the work I've done on mindfulness and mental grounding prior to being confined is helping... Continue Reading →
The Dreaded Cough I woke up with it again this morning, 'The Dreaded Cough,' as I've come to think of it. So far, it's only in the morning, and it only lasts a few minutes. So far, so good. 9191 cases in total at today's latest tally. Borders closed. So far, so not so good.... Continue Reading →
01/03/20 - 80 cases02/03/20 - 120 cases03/03/20 - 160 cases04/03/20 - 227 cases05/03/20 - 280 cases06/03/20 - 389 cases07/03/20 - 605 cases08/03/20 - 999 cases09/03/20 - 1648 cases10/03/20 - 2000 cases11/03/20 - 2242 cases12/03/20 - 4334 cases13/03/20 - 5753 cases14/03/20 - 6070 cases15/03/20 - 7750 cases The first case of Coronavirus was reported in Spain... Continue Reading →
She stood at the front of the class, waiting to be introduced, though 'thrown to the lions' would have been more accurate. She had shoulder-length hair which was thick and cut without care, dry at the ends and mousy brown. Her frame was thick also, and her gait awkward. In short, she didn't stand a... Continue Reading →
Why fade these children of the spring? born but to smile & fall. Ah! Thel is like a watry bow. and like a parting cloud. ... Continue Reading →
Experiments in Fiction 