Linda Parkinson-Hardman's Blog, page 18

Life the universe and medicine – part 3

By the 7th July I had completed a first week at Silversands, and it was quite surreal as it was full of welcoming, helpful, supportive and interested people – so unlike my experience of much of Dorset Council, which was often divisive and fractious. Of course, it helped that on Tuesday we got a contract I’d been involved with before joining so I now have a 100% success rate on day two …!

And here I am sitting in a hotel room in London, which turns out to be the same hotel my parents stayed in f...

On Sonnets – Hysteria poetry prompt for June

I’ve been thinking about sonnets this month and trying to write some myself. They’re not too difficult, in theory, as you have a defined rhyme scheme and a metrical pattern to follow.

If you Google “sonnet” you’ll find there are different kinds of sonnets listed and described. The one I favour, and it is the one you’ll recognise in lots of poems you read, is the Shakespearean sonnet.

A Shakespearean sonnet evolved in England during and around the time of the Elizabethan era. These sonnets are so...

In conversation with Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

This week I’m in conversation with Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar. I was fortunate, back in 2012 to come across Mohana’s work and her book ‘Love comes later’. She very kindly graced my Thursday Throng in an interview and since then has gone on to win several awards for her work, including Best Indie Book Award for Romance in 2013.

When we talked she explained how she felt about her challenging relationship with writing and gives a fantastic insight into the inner world of the writer. One piece of advic...

The Prayer #FridayFiction

Old bones creaking and aching from the kneeling. Hands warped with the weave and weft of life don’t quite meet as they once did. And looking back the prayers and wishes she had made over many years had not yet come to pass. But still she turns up, every day, as the bell tolled and the doors opened. Making her way carefully to the back pew she slides along to the usual spot and kneels in supplication.

Slowly she forms an image in her mind of a child holding the hand of his father. She scrolls for...

Introducing the Healthy Happy Writer Show

Over the years I’ve done many interviews with writers and authors on the Thursday Throng, Over 262 if you want to be exact about it. And they’ve been great, they still are great, but … they are fairly static and whilst the aim of the questions is always to encourage writers to share something of what makes them tick, I’ve always thought it would be nice to share something more dynamic, like a podcast or vlog.

The truth is I never had the courage to do it. And then the coronavirus pandemic arriv...

The Jigsaw #FridayFiction

May looked out the window for the sixth time in as many minutes. Sighing heavily she turned back to the table, scanned its contents and took a sip from the now cold coffee beside her.

‘this is driving me mad’ she said to the empty room.

Another quick check through the window to see if anything had changed showed that it was exactly the same as it always was. Picture perfect village green and gentle hills framing the cottages opposite.

Not that it had always been like this.

Just a few short month...

Meet Kathryn Colas, author of How to Survive Menopause Without Losing your Mind

This week, Id like to introduce you to Kathryn Colas, author of How to survive menopause without losing your mind, a topic very close to my heart after running the Hysterectomy Association for 22 years. Kathryn is the founder and chief executive of the womens advice and support service Simply Hormones, her aim is to empower women with better information and influence policy and practices to improve their daily lives.

What is one thing people wouldnt usually know about you?

I left school at 16...

Life, the universe and medicine – part 2

So, I have the two appointments Ive been waiting for, and Im still waiting to hear about the blood results on that score, no news should be good news in my head at least.

I have a bronchoscopy on 4th July at 8.15am to take a look down my nose, throat and trachea into the larger brachia of the lungs. I fully expect to be told that I was wasting their time and to go away nicely of course.

The breast surgery team which seems like quite an assumption to me will see me on the 19th July; so...

Hope and Rainbows – Hysteria poetry prompts for May

In April, I was writing poems using the fabulous prompts from NapoWriMo.Net. Some were very straightforward, some were very weird. At least they kept me writing through my lockdown days.

Theres been a rush of creativity in all forms throughout the lockdown. Personally, I have been knitting for new arrivals in my family (please dont name anyone Corvid or Corona!) and writing lots of poems about isolation and nature. I even got my paints out after a long rest; my first project was a rainbow, a...

Exterminate, exterminate – #FridayFiction

Jamie ran round the field waving his hands screaming exterminate, exterminate as loud as he could.

The grownups all smiled smugly saying its nice to see a child so happy.

He watched them as he ran, trying to work out what they were thinking and how theyd all react when the daleks landed for real.

And then, a hand caught his tee-shirt as he flew by and he was dragged to an abrupt stop.

Wriggling, he tried to get free. Let go of me, let go .. he shouted.

He tried to see who had caught him but...