Tony Earnshaw's Blog, page 19

Inspirations

Lynn Ruth Miller, author, stand up, story teller

As I approach publication of my novel, I’ve been thinking about some of the people who have helped me to get this far. Friends who have become writers. Friends who have supported and mentored. I thought I’d write a little about some of them.

Where better to start than with Lynn Ruth Miller. I met Lynn Ruth in Edinburgh when my play The Door was on at the Gilded Balloon. This was my first Fringe and Lynn Ruth was a Fringe institution. She enthused over the play, our whole company went to her show, and we’ve been going to see each other’s shows ever since. When we can. When she’s in the country. Because one of the reasons she’s such an inspiration is her work rate. She became a stand up in her 70s, added burlesque a few years later, and is in demand at comedy festivals and Fringes around the globe. She’s now in her eighties, and shows no sign of slowing down. She has a positive view on the second half of life and her current show is entitled ‘Not dead yet’.

Before Lynn Ruth took to the stage she was a novelist and artist. I read her novel Starving Hearts, a frank and moving exploration of eating disorders and the weight of familial expectations. (on Amazon if you’re interested – https://amzn.to/2Id1xAG). As I started to write my novel, she was a natural to turn to for support. Support which included nagging. ‘ Have you written any more yet?’. ‘Send me the next chapters.’ ‘Why have you done it that way?’ etc. Support which included honest feedback and encouragement.

So, in a week when it feels like we need some inspirations, here’s Lynn Ruth. Encourager, mentor, who treats ageing as an opportunity and is always ready to try new things. Staring a second career as a writer in my fifties I sometimes found the emphasis on young writers discouraging. Now that I’m adding novelist to the job description a few years later it’s good to look at someone like Lynn Ruth who forged a new career at a much older age.

Lynn and I have shared a few reading ideas over the years. Browsing in the Tattered Cover bookshop in Denver I found James Hollis’s ‘Finding meaning in the second half of life’ ( https://amzn.to/2CV74IA ) and we both found it an inspiration. ‘Set you own agenda’ was a core message, and we’ve both tried to. ‘How to really grow up ‘ was the subtitle. Not sure either of us have managed that.

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The thrill of making progress

Exciting times. The cover for my novel has now been agreed – as shown above – and it’s starting to feel real. I’ve booked the rooms for launch events, applied for temporary licenses so people can enjoy a glass of wine while I waffle on, and made a number of other small steps towards the day in June when Blessed Assurance will be available for purchase, in both physical and digital form.

The thrill of making progress is not something which the country as a whole seems to be experiencing at the moment, though next week could produce some surprises. I’m looking forward to being surprised – on the up side. What would my characters make of the current shenanigans ?

Tom, I suspect would be one of the 6m signing up to revoke article 50. He’d feel cheated out of the benefits of union by a campaign based on lies, racism, and the flouting of electoral law. Pete would be more inclined to want Brexit on almost any terms, simply because there was a vote. Liza would see it as a distraction, Anne would want a compromise. A soft Brexit. And Jonny? He’d be conscious of his privileged background, embarrassed by the behaviour of others from similar backgrounds and want the whole thing settled sensibly, collegially, and soon. Debates between them would be lively.

Speculation aside, the time when these characters meet their public is approaching fast, probably faster than a solution to the national dilemma, and I’m looking forward to it,

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Kindergarten and beyond

Image courtesy of Michael Newman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

There was a girl at my primary school who would stick her fingers in her ears and talk nonsense when anyone tried to disagree with her. There was a boy who would storm out of the room if there was someone there who’d upset him. Reading this morning’s news it seems the girl is now our Prime Minister and the boy is now leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition. It’s tempting to despair, to say ‘a plague on both your houses’ – but there is a lot at stake. Peace in Northern Ireland, standards of living in the UK as a whole, health and the environment, the list goes on.

And, strange as it may seem, Brexit is not the most important issue in the world, despite its repercussions in the UK and Europe. As our teenagers are reminding us, we have a very real threat hanging over us in the shape of the changes to our climate. The Sword of Damocles was famously suspended by a single horse hair. Our Damoclean threat hangs by a thread which is getting weaker year by year but we seem to lack the political will to do anything about it. The striking schoolchildren seem to be the adults in the room here.

All of which sets our day to day concerns into context. I’ve been thinking about appropriate responses. Taking some individual actions to lessen our impact on climate and the environment. Badgering our politicians. Trying to debate Brexit with less emotion. That’s a beginning anyway. And, while doing all that, also doing what Churchill recommended – “Keep buggering on’

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