Linda Parkinson-Hardman's Blog, page 10
October 18, 2021
Get ready to embrace your inner publisher
My first attempt at self publishing was a simple 18 page booklet that lived at the back of my masters dissertation folio. Within weeks of submitting that for assessment I was running a tiny support group for women and was photocopying and sending that booklet out in exchange for a stamped addressed envelope and £1
Since those early days of getting batches of 10 at a ti...
October 15, 2021
Apprentice
Little Jinny Fallon ‘ad ‘er arm taken off in the mule. Blood spurting everywhere like water from the pump in the yard, spraying up the walls in bright blades of crimson against the dusty brown and black. And gore everywhere, the salty sweet stench fit to turn your stomach, and many tipped their guts over the cotton to be beaten by the overlooker for spoiling it.
Taken up to the big house she was. Looked after proper. No more toppin’ and tailin’ in bed with 2 others> No more stench from the piss ...
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover
Listen to audiohttps://lindaph.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Dont-judge-a-book.mp3 Want more like this?
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October 12, 2021
October 7, 2021
Life in the present tense
It was the cards I noticed first this morning. Each one neatly placed on the windowsill. Carefully butted up against the thin line of mastic securing glass into frame; they were spaced almost exactly it seemed, but without the benefit of a ruler I couldn’t be sure.
They ran in order, Hearts, then Spades, Diamonds and finally Clubs; each suit starting Ace’s low.
You were moving slowly, gathering them up into a neat stack and beginning to lay them out again. I watched you for a while before going ...
September 21, 2021
Trying my hand at poetry
I can’t remember the last time I wrote a poem, most probably it was during creative writing at school. And I have to hold my hand up and admit that, rather like modern art, I don’t ‘get’ a lot of poetry unless its absolutely obvious what the message is.
So it was with some surprise that during my morning meditation the following came into my head fully formed. I liked it, I have no idea whether it counts as poetry (good or bad) but I wrote it down and thought I’d share it here.
If you do have an...
September 10, 2021
Be the change #FridayFiction
‘Hands up if you can tell me what “be the change” means?’
Lucy looked around the class trying to size up those most likely to answer. They looked away, pretending to write something in their notebooks.
Catching a movement out of the corner of her eye she swivelled to face Danny. He looked pensive, thoughtful. She smiled encouragingly nodding slightly to show it was okay to speak.
He raised his hand.
‘Yes Danny’.
Cocking his head on one side he thought for a moment.
‘Miss, does it mean that if I ...
August 18, 2021
In conversation with Tiffany White, winner of the Hysteria 2020 flash fiction competition
Tiffany White was the winner of the Hysteria 2020 flash fiction competition with her piece ‘Working Title’ published in the Hysteria 7 anthology. Based in Swansea, Wales, 57-year-old artist Tiffany H White (LGBTQ) began writing in 2020 to combat lockdown dementia. Her work “Field Post 37560” received 2nd place in the International Festival of Human Rights Art of Creative Unity Award 2020.
Listen to the interview and Tiffany reading ‘working title’.https://lindaph.me/wp-content/uploads/...July 23, 2021
In conversation with Andy Cash, winner of the Hysteria 2020 poetry competition
Andy Cash was the winner of the Hysteria 2020 poetry competition with his poem The Poets Meeting published in the Hysteria 7 anthology. Andy writes about love, hope, human insecurities, death, our needs, mental illness and weaknesses, strengths, deep desires to be part of a fellow brethren and the lusts of life in an everyday world. He is anti-post truth and a fighter for freedom of the mind. Each poem he writes is about the truth, real people and real events.
Listen to the interview and ...July 22, 2021
The space between thoughts
The role of ‘thought’ in our experience of life and the world around us has been a defining understanding over the last few years for me. But it’s never been in such sharp relief as in the last 17 months. I am bemused by the observation of myself seesawing between different worries, concerns and misunderstandings as I try (along with the rest of humanity) to make sense of how we’ve got to where we are.
What I seem to have forgotten along the way is how important the space between thoughts is whe...
