S.C. Skillman's Blog, page 61

Rocky Hillsides, Dark Valleys and the One Voice You Can Trust

In our lives we can often find that there seems to be one poem or a prayer which has been most helpful, most meaningful to us. For me this has been the 23rd Psalm: The Lord Is My Shepherd.

In times of strong negative emotion, the words though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil are the only ones which have the strength to meet the greatest spiritual and psychological challenges.

Last Monday I went to a Quiet Day led by Rev. Anne Hibbert of  the Well Christian Healing Centre.

The Rev Anne Hibbert, whose vision led to the creation of The Well Christian Healing Centre

Hampton Manor, Hampton-in-Arden, Warwickshire

It was held in the gracious surroundings of Hampton Manor in Hampton-in-Arden, Warwickshire. The theme was Following the Good Shepherd in 2014.

Anne is one of the most inspirational speakers I have ever listened to.  During the course of the day she opened up for us the reality of life as a shepherd in Israel, which the psalmist based his poem upon: nothing at all like our concept of sheep and shepherd in the enclosed fields of green fertile England.

The shepherd in Israel, I learned, is responsible for his sheep all the time, in a harsh, challenging environment, on brown, rocky, barren hillsides; he will build stones around caves to act as a sheep-fold; he will drive the sheep to fresh new pasture, going ahead to club the snakes and scatter salt to provide extra nutrients for the sheep. The voice of the shepherd is the one voice the sheep will respond to; ringing out over a great distance, to call in the sheep even from the furthest point to which they have wandered.

Additionally, the oil which the psalm uses as a metaphor, would be a concoction of olive oil, sulphur and spices, which would be daubed on the heads of the sheep to banish flies, gnats and parasites. Sheep, too, I learned, have a “butting order”; this disappears when the shepherd is present.  The hills of the Judaean terrain might be bright and sunny and scorching; the valleys fearful and cold; as you go under the overhang, the darkness can be overwhelming.

Several of these details of the shepherding life in Israel were previously unknown to me. Anne used each element as a metaphor for different stages of our life journeys. Now I know what inspired the psalmist to use the images he did, the meaning of the psalm is enriched enormously – as well as its application for my life.

Try having another look at the psalm here and forget about green velvety meadows, a romantic-looking figure with long flowing golden brown hair, and white fluffy sheep. Think instead of rocky hillsides, dark overhangs and snakes, and you’ll be getting closer to what the writer had in mind when he wrote those words.

Filed under: British, British landscape, empowerment, English countryside, faith, inspiration, life, literature, love, musings, nature, people of inspiration, psychology, religion, SC Skillman, SC Skillman Author, spirituality, thoughts, wildlife Tagged: 23rd Psalm, Anne Hibbert, application for life, challenges, dark valleys, darkness overwhelming, death, England, evil, God, Good Shepherd, Hampton Manor, hostile environment, in our lives, Israel, Judaean terrain, poem, prayer, psalmist, psychological, rocky hillsides, sheep, shepherd, spiritual, the Good Shepherd, The Lord Is My Shepherd, Well Christian Healing Centre

Signed Paperback Copies of 1st edition of Mystical Circles on Special Offer

A migraine prevented me from appearing at the International Women’s Day Event at the Sydni Centre, Leamington Spa, on Saturday 8 March 2014. I would have sold copies of my novel Mystical Circles at a special low price.

SC Skillman Author at the book launch for Mystical Circles

So instead here I am, back in good health again, offering you the chance to buy the paperback (1st edition purple cover) for £4.49 (a saving of 50% on my retail price of £8.99).

I have just six copies of the first edition left, to sell at this special price. If you live local to Warwick/Kenilworth/Leamington Spa I can deliver or you can collect.  If you live further afield (UK only) please add £2.75 p & p.

I look forward to hearing from you if you’d like a copy. First come first served. Please use CONTACT ME to send me your details.

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Find Me at International Women’s Day 2014 Event in Leamington Spa

Watch out for me at the International Women’s Day event at the Sydni Centre, Leamington Spa on Saturday 8 March 2014 from 1-6pm.  This is a FREE women-only event.

International Womens Day 2014

I’ll be showcasing my best blog posts, selling copies of Mystical Circles at the special reduced price of £5, & showing the official trailer.

There will be lots of arts and crafts for you to look at, and buy if you wish. Or you can simply browse, admire the creativity and imagination that you see around you, and chat to the creators.

Lovely meals will be served for lunch and there are also several excellent workshops, involving a mixture of creative activities, and the opportunity to join in discussion groups centred upon issues relevant to women.

In addition there will be several singing highlights: the opportunity to learn a song live from Rwanda via Skype, a performance from the “Low Wimmin”, and a singing workshop from the former co-leader of Leamington Spa’s fabulous community choir Songlines, Rebecca Knight.

I hope to see you there at the International Women’s Day, 8 March, at the SYDNI Centre, Leamington Spa, CV31 1PT

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The RADA Student Who Felt Like Packing Her Bags and Going Back North

The BBC Radio 4 Today programme is often a source of inspiration to me.

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London

And today at 8.20am I heard an item about the party for former RADA students that the Queen will be holding in Buckingham Palace this evening (Monday 17 February 2014)

I’m very interested in the life of an actor, partly because the acting world does come into my new novel A Passionate Spirit (in its final revision stages).

But also the life of an actor has strong comparisons with that of a writer.

And one interviewee on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme put it perfectly. She said she entered RADA on her first day and saw actress , “so attractive and so talented”, and she thought of how great that actress was, and then she started making comparisons…

“I thought that 2 weeks later I’d be asked to pack my bags and get back up north,” she said.

This sums up what we writers may think a thousand times… when we go into Waterstones and see the huge volume of novels on the shelves, with brilliant, stunning covers, and hugely successful names. And this is how we feel when we see another famous novelist win the Man Booker, or see them interviewed on the TV show we can only dream of being on.

What are we doing? Comparing ourselves with “the great and the good.”

If we do that, we will always fall short.

We will always be tempted to pack our bags and go back north.

This particular actress fought that negative temptation, and stuck it out at RADA. She said she had to be thick-skinned, and “take it on the chin”; it was pretty tough, but by the time her course ended, and she came out, she could handle rejection. “Rejection: that was nothing. After 3 years of RADA I was ready for it.”

She had experienced it so many times, it held no fears for her. Nothing could hold her back.

We know her as , now a celebrated actor.

If you are a struggling author, take heart from this.

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Loyalty, Hope and Keeping Faith, in the Greatest Film I’ve Ever Seen: The Shawshank Redemption

We love listing “The 50 Top … Films, Books, Magic Tricks, Comedians”, etc. etc.

Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis (Red) Redding in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

And a list of the top films will always change from year to year. But to my mind, The Shawshank Redemption makes the top of the list. And I saw it again very recently on TV.

I watched it for the first time several months ago when I borrowed it from LoveFilm. Having visited Aberystwyth University Film Studies Department with my daughter during an Open Day in 2012, I heard the Film Studies lecturer list those films which are considered  “the best ever made” or absolute must-see films for those who are serious about film.

So I dutifully added those films to my LoveFilm list.

And that’s how I came upon The Shawshank Redemption.

And this is why I consider it justly deserving of the title ‘best movie ever made.’

Bob Gunton as Warden Samuel Norton in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Its themes are of profound relevance to our lives:

The importance of:

keeping faith; having patience; strategic long term planning; a long term plan of action; perseverance; loyalty; hope; persistence; calm forbearance under ill treatment and suffering.

I believe we can find in The Shawshank Redemption a metaphor for all that’s truly important in this life.

I suggest, too, that it’s no accident that I, as a writer, should relate closely to these themes in my own life. For the film is based upon Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption; and Stephen King, besides all his other books, is the author of the best book for writers I have ever read: On Writing. I’ve heard many other writers give this the highest praise too. I imagine that something of his own understanding of life as a writer may have been uppermost in Stephen King’s mind when he created the story upon which The Shawshank Redemption is based.

Sometimes, struggling through many years without recognition or success, can be like serving 10,20,30 years in Shawshank State Prison. Although the act of creating fiction is in a sense its own reward, and always will be, the fact remains that rewriting drafts and revising a novel line by line over the course of years without any immediate material reward in view, is like chipping away, digging that hole in the wall, the hole which opens the tunnel to freedom, hidden behind a deceptive cover, over years, of slow, patient work.

Keeping faith is the phrase that returns to me again and again, along with patience, perseverance, forbearance, strategic long term planning, and a long term course of action.

And I’m sure you, in whatever circumstances life has thrown at you, can also find parallels here to some aspect of your own experience.

The epiphany at the end of the film has a luminous, spiritual quality to it. To me it is more truly ‘religious’ than anything the Warden Samuel Nortons of this world might delude themselves with.

Watch the film if you haven’t seen it. But if you have – share your feelings about the message of this film.

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A Vision of Healing Through The Power of Prayer in Leamington Spa

Over the last few weeks I’ve been taking a few hours of  time out from revising my novel, to do voluntary work for our local Christian Healing Centre, The Well.

The logo of The Well Christian Healing Centre in Leamington Spa

I help to update the website, assist the Director of The Well, Rev. Anne Hibbert, with her blog, proofread publicity material and prepare leaflets advertising forthcoming events.

What a truly inspiring organisation this is. All those at The Well celebrate 10 years of existence this year. It began with a vision which Anne Hibbert had in a garden in Leamington Spa.

The Rev Anne Hibbert, whose vision led to the creation of The Well Christian Healing Centre

I myself have also experienced healing through prayer at The Well. Truly God has ‘unstopped the ancient wells of healing here in Leamington Spa’ for many people testify not only to physical healing through prayer, but new peace, joy and a changed attitude which transforms situations.

Many people come in through the doors of the Royal Pump Rooms on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week, to the prayer teams who are waiting to pray with and for them; these may be people who are Christian, or who have no faith at all; they may be adults or children.

The power of prayer in every life-situation has been testified to many times. If you are experiencing a problem which you believe is intractable, I recommend that you too consider asking for prayer.

What a privilege it is for me to play a small part in helping Anne take this vision forward into the future.

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Peter Pan, Lost Childhood and Role Reversals in Traditional Children’s Tales

At the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on Friday night ( 24th January 2014) we saw a reversal of roles for Peter Pan and Wendy.

I always like to give myself time to read the programme notes before a performance (if at all possible!) And the most intriguing notes on this production of  Wendy and Peter Pan 

Wendy and Peter Pan at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon

were written by the playwright, Ella Hickson .She had, she explained, set out to break away from the stereotypes that surround the story. So she would subvert the tropes so familiar to us from The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Snow White – in endless tales of girls just waiting for salvation to arrive in the shape of a prince.

She wanted to give Wendy a chance to have as much fun and show as much fight as the boys without losing what it is that makes girls different.

So we saw an empowered Wendy, and a Neverland which was Wendy’s as much as it was Peter Pan’s or the lost boys’.

It wasn’t, Ella Jackson wrote, about pushing political correctness on the young but it is about making sure we aren’t camouflaging unhealthy narratives with the soft glow of traditionalism.

This production of Wendy and Peter Pan focused on the theme of bereavement, presenting us with a third brother for Wendy, Tom, who died in childhood. And so it focused on Wendy’s search for the lost boy who would never grow up – grief for a brother who died young.

We saw a Wendy who rescued herself – she didn’t wait for Peter Pan to rescue her. He was off being irresponsible and having fun. The roles between Wendy and Peter were reversed. We heard Captain Hook bemoaning to Mr Smee about people who are prepared to lay down their lives for those they love: “Why doesn’t anyone care about me like that?”

And we saw a Tiger Lily and a Tinkerbell who were both radically different from the Disney versions!

Tiger Lily in the Royal Shakespeare company’s production of Wendy & Peter Pan

Tinkerbell in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Wendy & Peter Pan

JM Barrie’s own early trauma fuelled his creation of this story. His own brother David died age 13 when JM Barrie was six. He was haunted by the loss as he could never replace his brother in the eyes of his grieving mother.I was struck by how psychological trauma, grief and loss can be so fertile if we choose to create from it.

JK Rowling has said, the whole story of Harry Potter would never have happened if not for this one thing; that she loved her mother, and her mother died.

Of course it’s now very popular to subvert the tropes of different fairy tales and we have seen it done brilliantly by, for example,  Roald Dahl and by the creators of the Shrek films.

But what do you think about our traditional fairy tales? Are the original version necessarily “unhealthy narratives”? Should Cinderella no more be rescued by the prince, but headhunted instead, to be the CEO of a major multinational corporation? I’d love to know what you think, especially if you have young children who are approaching these traditional stories for the first time.

Filed under: Books, British, dreams and dreaming, empowerment, life, literature, love, musings, SC Skillman, stage drama, thoughts, UK, Writing Tagged: Cinderella, empowered, fairy tales, great story, Harry Potter, JK Rowling, JM Barrie, lost childhood, Peter Pan, political correctness, Roald Dahl, role reversals, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon, Shrek, stereotypes, subvert the tropes, The Little Mermaid, Tiger Lily, traditional children's tales, Wendy and Peter Pan

Totally Devoted to Jane Austen

One of my favourite Christmas gifts was one I bought for myself for 10p in the late stock-clearance at my son’s school Christmas Fair – an audio book of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.

Pride and Prejudice book cover (The Folio Society Definitive Collector’s Edition)

I’ve been listening to it in the car over and over again. And despite Death Comes to Pemberley  on TV after Christmas, I still cannot get enough of Elizabeth, Darcy, Mrs Bennett, Lydia, Wickham and all the rest of them.

In addition, as another Christmas gift I received the DVD set of the classic BBC TV series starring Colin Firth as Darcy and Elizabeth Ehle as Elizabeth Bennett.

You’d think that knowing all the story-points and the outcome would dim your enthusiasm for engaging with one novel again and again.

Yet in Pride and Prejudice my appetite is never sated.

On every hearing, there are new glittering gems of psychological insight, discernment and irony to be found.

Was there ever such a bitchy young woman as Miss Bingley? Or such a cringing sycophant as Mr Collins? Can we ever quite fathom the sardonic detachment of Mr Bennett? And was Lady Catherine really pleased with Mr Collins’s obsequiousness? And can we ever truly understand Charlotte’s decision to marry Mr Collins, or determine exactly what Mr Wickham imagined would happen to Lydia and her family once he’d  finished with her in London and gone off abroad to seek better chances there – as was his avowed plan when Darcy finally hunted him down? And has any author ever written a  better account of a changing heart than Jane Austen’s, in her depiction of Elizabeth reading Mr Darcy’s letter and coming to a new opinion of the respective characters of Mr Wickham and Mr Darcy?

We keen novel readers have many ideas of the best novel ever written. Some may say Cervantes’ Don Quixote, or James Joyce’s Ulysses, or Tolstoy’s War and Peace, or  Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. But I say Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice is the most perfect novel ever written because I can never get my fill of her wisdom and  insight into human relationships and behaviour and motivation. And there seems no end to the power of this story and these characters and this author’s observations, to set off answering bells in my own life-experience.

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Why I Believe Mankind Can Never ‘Own’ the Moon

Nobody Owns the Moon.

a romantic image of the moon – a perpetual source of inspiration for artists and poets

On Friday morning January 10th 2014 I heard Mishal Husain interview Ian Crawford and Nicola Triscott on this topic on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Nicola Triscott has mounted an exhibition on London’s South Bank called Republic of the Moon. She has transformed The Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf into  ’an artist’s lunar embassy on earth’.

During the interview we heard a quote from Article 1 of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty: “the moon is the province of all mankind”. Apparently Article 2 prohibits nation states from appropriating the moon.

But now there is some concern that that treaty should be updated, and private corporations should also be added to the provision.

In 1967 it was never thought that any private corporation would be in the position of being able to exploit the resources on the moon.

When in the history of the human race have such words on treaties and constitutions and charters of human rights ever been respected in reality?

Colonial invaders have always operated on the principle of Finders Keepers. First here exploits it all.

Such was the case with Captain Cook, Don Cortez and many such.

An exhibit on The History of Human Conflict at the Firepower Museum, Royal Arsenal Thames Riverside, Woolwich, (a brilliant museum which I recommend to all), tells us that human conflict began when men turned from hunter gatherers to farmers. Mankind began to fight over the limited resources of land suitable for cultivation. The source of all human conflict is: limited resources.

God grant there are no resources on the moon that can ever be of any economic value to mankind.

For man is greedy. I generally do not have an optimistic view of human nature. And neither does JRR Tolkien. His own view was expressed through the words of the Lady Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: the race of men…. above all else desire power… the hearts of men are easily corrupted and the Ring of Power has a will of its own.

For exploitable resources, read the Ring of Power. If there are valuable resources on the moon, I believe that mankind WILL fight over them, and private corporations and nation states WILL exploit them to gain and increase their power.

Let the moon continue to be the sole province of poets and mystics; of those who gave us glimpses of eternity, of creative writers, and those who dream, and those who deal in mystery and imagination. And let the only lunar resources we draw upon be those of inspiration.

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Kitten Welcoming in 2014

Here is Molly, who has now learned to lie on the rug in front of the fire, instead of trying to climb onto the fire and play with the flames:

Molly in Jan 2014 (photo credit Abigail Robinson)

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