David L. Atkinson's Blog, page 43

Writing - Technical difficulties

I am told, in messages on my blogger screen, that I have some kind of issue with the blog and HTTP or HTTPS feeds. I think my waffle sprocket is entangled with the non-digital widget control - OR SOMETHING!!!!

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In all honesty I haven't a clue what to do. I use the computer for writing and I'm clueless on what is going on beneath the keys and what is more I don't care to know. Google Chrome have changed something on blogger to make the process of producing and reading my blog more secure, however, they have failed in their duty of care to such non-technical users as myself, by not providing simple step instructions to correct any anomalies. So I expect I will just have to keep hitting the FIX instruction - daily!
Read on



December 2015






Steele   My hero was created post recession and so has no concept of how 'good' things were pre-2008. In 'I Have To Get It Right' when he began to flex his muscles he was working in an accountant's office. Then after the Gurentai took him under their wing and removed all of his financial worries, it was justice that was his major concern. He did become involved in international relations in 'The 51st State' but it was for the maintenance of a respectful distance between countries, rather than economic reasons. His trips into the USA had repercussions which can be read about in 'The Biter Bit' but then by the time things began to change in 2011 and the recession was really biting, Steele was trying to make sense of the state of the nation in 'A Changed Reality' and coming up against some really nasty people taking advantage of the shortage of money. By the time the USA are out of their recession Steele's steps are still being dogged by an unknown enemy from the same country. In 'Inceptus' we also find out more about what makes the man tick. The most recent Steele book 'Castled' where Steele is once again at risk from unseen enemies. It would seem that he has become quite recession proof!The most recent addition to the Steele family is Earth plc in which our hero is concerned with political and emotional issues in this crime fighting adventure.
All books are available in paperback or ebook through Amazon, Smashwords and all good book shop websites.


Cessation 


This is a dystopian story that hinges directly on the state of the nation as a result of fiscal mismanagement. Having said that it is more a story of human relations, privations, love and loss.


Poetry - there are also two thoughtful collections of poetry available solely through Amazon.


The Musings of a Confused Mind 


and


Words from the Raindrops 

God Bless

Writing - 10 things we didn't know last week

Stealing planets, wiping out rodents and the Dalai Lama with a faulty memory are just some of the news items from round the world.

To begin with my own heartfelt condolences to the family of MP Jo Cox so cruelly and unnecessarily murdered this week.


[image error]Jo Cox MP
Rest in Peace


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1. The speed Batman reaches while gliding through the air would probably kill him on landing.

What with those abs?


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[image error]Melomis Rubicola

2. An Australian rodent is probably the first mammal to be wiped out by man-made climate change.

According to scientists - but what do they know?
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3. The sun has "stolen" planets from other solar systems.

Finders! Keepers!


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4. The Dalai Lama can't remember if he's seen Caddyshack.

He's being polite - he really fell asleep!


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5. Exercising four hours after learning can help you remember information.

So that's why we did PE in school.
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6. The chord sequence in Stairway To Heaven may have been partially inspired by the Mary Poppins song, Chim Chim Cheree.

C'mon musical folks, there are only 8 notes
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7. A lump of butter buried for 2,000 years in an Irish bog can remain edible.

If you want to eat it - spread away.


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8. The so-called Islamic State's Twitter accounts are followed by thousands of porn bots.

They've reached their true level then!


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9. Rolls-Royce's first driverless car contains a silk "throne".

Who wants to take a dump in a roller?


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10. Although England's football team has suffered "50 years of hurt", France and the Netherlands have both endured longer periods without winning any international competitions.

This year the worm turns!
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God Bless

Writing - Inspiration from the natural world

There seems to be a fascination with two aspects of story and film that has pertained for a number of years:-
'What if ...' and 'plagues of animals'There have been plagues of spiders, snakes and apes in both books and films going back a number of years, and they tend to be very popular. The most recent I believe is Snakes on a Plane which is another facet of this genre, the incidents tend to be localised. In real life there is a regular migration that could well tickle the writing muscle of a number of writers who work in this field.
[image error]Macrocheira kaempferi
There is a plague of monsters that gathers on the south coast of Australia when the water cools. They are believed to do so for mating or moulting reasons as when they are moulting they are vulnerable to predators. It just seems that this year the swarm is particularly huge and has attracted a deal of attention down under.
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One of the common facets of writing such stories is the attribute of the need to kill humans, which of course is largely fictitious, applied to such harmless creatures as spiders and birds.
Anyone with a minimum of imagination can see these creatures deciding to leave the sea and begin to feast off the inhabitants of the opulent beach houses sitting on the beaches of South Australia.
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When producing stories like this there is usually a reason for previously harmless animals to begin attacking the human population. These days it could be genetic mutation, genetically modified crops, an effect of global warming or pollution, or a really angry crab; whichever no one should be pissing off crabs as large as the one in the photo at the top of this blog.

The final scene in the story can be amusing, as in Evolution, ranging to terrifying, as in that final walk through the birds in the film of the same name directed by Hitchcock.
In the end the author has the power to choose which direction a story will take and that is the power no other can surpass.
God Bless

Writing - More resources from history

I'm a little like a child with a new toy and it is all the result of the past. Who said that there's no point in studying history - that is where a deal of inspiration can be found.

[image error]Giambattista Bastile (1566 - 1632)
They call him the Italian Shakespeare. His main story The Tale of Tales is purported to have inspired the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson, as well as inspiring the story Cinderella. But the often fantastical narratives of Giambattista Basile, a 17th Century courtier to the Doge of Venice, were not to have the fame and longevity of Shakespeare's, and his Tales would fade into obscurity. An Italian film director is about to attempt to change all that with a film version of Tale of Tales starring Salma Hayek, Toby Jones, Shirley Henderson and Vincent Cassel. 
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Based on Basile's narratives of more than 50 different stories featuring kings, princesses, dragons, giants and magical beasts, the director, Matteo Garrone has picked three and interwoven them: A pair of ageing sisters who long for their youthful beauty; a queen obsessed with the idea of having her own child and a king who marries off his only daughter to an ogre.
Amazing stuff hundreds of years old will entertain the youth of today who are used to electronic stimulation and they'll likely love it. This is the generation that are totally besotted with Game of Thrones.
Look this way kids.


December 2015







Steele   My hero was created post recession and so has no concept of how 'good' things were pre-2008. In 'I Have To Get It Right' when he began to flex his muscles he was working in an accountant's office. Then after the Gurentai took him under their wing and removed all of his financial worries, it was justice that was his major concern. He did become involved in international relations in 'The 51st State' but it was for the maintenance of a respectful distance between countries, rather than economic reasons. His trips into the USA had repercussions which can be read about in 'The Biter Bit' but then by the time things began to change in 2011 and the recession was really biting, Steele was trying to make sense of the state of the nation in 'A Changed Reality' and coming up against some really nasty people taking advantage of the shortage of money. By the time the USA are out of their recession Steele's steps are still being dogged by an unknown enemy from the same country. In 'Inceptus' we also find out more about what makes the man tick. The most recent Steele book 'Castled' where Steele is once again at risk from unseen enemies. It would seem that he has become quite recession proof!The most recent addition to the Steele family is Earth plc in which our hero is concerned with political and emotional issues in this crime fighting adventure.
All books are available in paperback or ebook through Amazon, Smashwords and all good book shop websites.


Cessation 


This is a dystopian story that hinges directly on the state of the nation as a result of fiscal mismanagement. Having said that it is more a story of human relations, privations, love and loss.


Poetry - there are also two thoughtful collections of poetry available solely through Amazon.


The Musings of a Confused Mind 


and


Words from the Raindrops 

God Bless

Poetry Thursday 217 - Poetry for fun

I have often written about poetry being an outlet for human emotions and there are plenty of heart searching, depressive and disturbed examples of such poetry. There are many who write about the breakdown of love and family loss but poetry can also be fun. On occasions I have produced more amusing pieces and thought that it was time to have another lighter Thursday while remaining topical.

It is useful sometimes to link poetry and music; in some ways they're inextricably connected, and this week I begin with a poem that can be sung along to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic
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The Referendum Skirmish(sung to the tune The Battle Hymn of the Republic)
We have warned them on economyand how much it would cost.Told them of a Brexit spending spreebased on what we’ll have lost.
We have shown the people’s futureand created fear and more,said turn from the exit door.
Glory, glory hallelujah! Remain are simply lying too ya!There won’t be any third world waror a broken old UK,just the future in a different way.
We have talked of immigrationand of jobs that are no more,have told them of the waiting times,and queues at the NHS door.


We’ve created our own integersto try and even the score,said go through the exit door.
Glory, glory hallelujah! Brexit are simply lying too ya!There won’t be any third world waror a broken old UK,just the future in a different way.© David L Atkinson June 2016

When I had written this I felt that the final line of the chorus is my message.
This next poem is a happy illustration from my memory about my father who was an engineer. I have a son just like him.


Got it wrong again Dad
Damnation!No matter how I tryDoesn’t make any differenceChanging direction doesn’t workNothing moves me forwardTightening hasn’t workedAdding oil just made me drop itQuietly and I was still heardSoftly and I was ignoredBumping them together a disasterNo better going fasterHe took it from my handsGave it a subtle twistThe one thing I hadn’t triedGot it wrong again Dad.© David L Atkinson June 2016

The one thing I remember was that irrespective of how simple the task I'd failed to carry out he always gave me that benign grin.






Not on solid ground
Tuesday dawned as Tuesdays willto find the poor lad proper ill.Before, the world a steadier placehad now, of stability, little trace.The floor at once flat, has spongy partsthat make simple walking, a trickier art.Even the bed, once solid and firm,tilts alarmingly at the slightest squirm.Once Thursday finally appearsperhaps the nurse will fix his ears. © David L Atkinson June 2016
God Bless

Writing - Over half a million reasons

It struck me the other day that I'd produced a number of words. Just taking my novels, around 700k. If you then consider the almost daily blog and the two poetry books I reckon a million must be close or even surpassed. 

But why?

I spoke to someone who wanted to produce his own life story and I found it hard to convince him just to go ahead. He then admitted that he had started writing long hand and in fact it was the next step that was holding him up. We discussed different word processors, fonts, point sizes and self-publishing sites and left the project at that stage. I hope he will go on with it because he has a valid reason for writing. That is something I can't altogether claim. I began writing because I wanted to but then I realised that writing had its own responsibilities. My friend has a single purpose but he should beware! Writing has its own momentum.

Read on


December 2015






Steele   My hero was created post recession and so has no concept of how 'good' things were pre-2008. In 'I Have To Get It Right' when he began to flex his muscles he was working in an accountant's office. Then after the Gurentai took him under their wing and removed all of his financial worries, it was justice that was his major concern. He did become involved in international relations in 'The 51st State' but it was for the maintenance of a respectful distance between countries, rather than economic reasons. His trips into the USA had repercussions which can be read about in 'The Biter Bit' but then by the time things began to change in 2011 and the recession was really biting, Steele was trying to make sense of the state of the nation in 'A Changed Reality' and coming up against some really nasty people taking advantage of the shortage of money. By the time the USA are out of their recession Steele's steps are still being dogged by an unknown enemy from the same country. In 'Inceptus' we also find out more about what makes the man tick. The most recent Steele book 'Castled' where Steele is once again at risk from unseen enemies. It would seem that he has become quite recession proof!The most recent addition to the Steele family is Earth plc in which our hero is concerned with political and emotional issues in this crime fighting adventure.
All books are available in paperback or ebook through Amazon, Smashwords and all good book shop websites.


Cessation 


This is a dystopian story that hinges directly on the state of the nation as a result of fiscal mismanagement. Having said that it is more a story of human relations, privations, love and loss.


Poetry - there are also two thoughtful collections of poetry available solely through Amazon.


The Musings of a Confused Mind 


and


Words from the Raindrops 

God Bless

Tuesday Food Blog - Quick lunches

It is interesting following recipes from books when they give a star rating for difficulty and estimated minutes it takes to perform the preparations to produce a meal. I have only one thing to say - they are gimmicks.

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This week I was short of time and needed to put a meal on the table so I chose pork steaks, crushed new potatoes and peas with sage and onion seasoning. Rather than saying that this meal takes a specific amount of time I will say what is possible.
Roast pork plus trimmings
Really the success of any meal is in the planning. I've never really been a person who believes in cooking and keeping things warm, unless it is unavoidable, and neither do I believe in letting things 'rest'. I was brought up to serve hot food 'hot' and at a reasonable time. Having been in the situation where I've been invited for a meal at a certain time and then have had to wait a couple of hours or more beyond the stated time, I understand the frustration. Also I have been in the presence of very good cooks who have failed to get it all together as a result of poor planning. 
Okay the above meal. 
The planning comes with practice but you need to understand how you like your vegetables, how well cooked you want your meat and the sauce you may need to prepare. Now I am not attempting the sauce, a drop of gravy using gravy browning is a cheat but does the job if time is short. So that element takes as long as a kettle needs to boil.The potatoes take 20 minutes and that is the backbone of the above meal. Pork chops will cook in 10 - 15 minutes and the peas in 10. That is all that you need to know for the majority of the meal. The extra ingredient, the sage and onion stuffing, is oven cooked for 25 - 30 minutes. 
So to get this on the table in half an hour - 
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.1st minute. Boil the kettle - measure the required quantity and stir into the sage and onion mix. A knob or two of butter and into the oven.5th minute. Place the potatoes in a sauce pan and pour over the rest of the water from the kettle (waste not want not) and bring to the boil on the hob. Simmer for 20 minutes.10th minute. Place oil and butter into a frying pan and heat up till the butter turns brown. Season the pork on both sides and place in the hot pan. Cook for 2 minutes and turn over and after another 2 minutes turn the heat down.15th minute. Place the frozen peas in the pan with the potatoes.25th minute. Remove the stuffing from the oven and remove the potatoes from the pan. Crush the potatoes with the back of a fork and add butter. Season. Make the gravy. 30th minute. Plate up and enjoy.
It is a very workman-like meal but it worked for me. You can add variations, different meat, vegetables and more cheffy touches, but then it does effect your timing.
God Bless

Writing - I used to be indecisive

There is always the question in the air that I dread and it begins with the words 'What is your favourite ...'

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For ten days a year 85,000 people come from all over the UK, Europe, America and the rest of the world to join a carnival celebration of ideas and stories at the Hay Festival.
The programme of some five hundred events takes place in the tented festival village during the spring bank half term holiday. Writers, politicians, poets, scientists, comedians, philosophers and musicians come together on the greenfield site to talk, eat, think, drink and be merry.
This year the BBC have spent time asking my least favourite question of a variety of celebrities, which I will come too shortly.First of all my reasons for not liking that question in the first place. In fact I think it is psychological as much as anything else because I  have enjoyed aspects of art and literature at different stages in my life and according to the context at the time of experiencing that piece of work. Hence my favourite books currently are the trilogy by Philip Pullman, because I am reading them currently and I chose to revisit the books as the result of a need to relax into some fantasy stories.
[image error]Tchaikovsky
My favourite composer, whom I have enjoyed ever since I first heard the 1812 Overture as a child, is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. However, I find that his big sound isn't always what I need and even though he composed plenty of gentler pieces, I look in other directions when in a more reflective mood.
Similarly, in art there are individual pieces that have an effect but I really couldn't say that there was one particular artist that floats my boat.
So back to the Hay Festival.
Ben Miller
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My favourite book is The Fight by Norman Mailer. For me it’s the kind of voice that you rarely hear. It’s a brilliant fiction writer, writing about a real event, which in this case is something I love – boxing. The famous Rumble in the Jungle...
Charlotte Church
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Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, or the trilogy. They’re my favourite books because of the amount of imagination, blending fantasy, sci-fi and real human themes and the idea of killing God in a kids’ book is pretty bold!
Mark Strong
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That is a very difficult question, almost impossible to answer at the moment. I just read a book called The Vegetarian by Han Kang, which won the Booker Prize this year. It was recommended to me and it’s still in my head, so right now I think that’s the greatest book I’ve ever read.
Just a selection of some of the people who attended the Hay Festival this year. We who write would love for someone to feel the same about the work that we produce. On the other hand we shouldn't worry because favouritism is such a transigent state.
God Bless

Writing - A letter to an MP

This is very much about the power of the pen and the duty of those who are observers of life to make commentary. I write to my local MP and enclose the text of an email on the UK leaving the EU.

[image error]Paula Sherriff MP

My message to Paula Sherriff.
I believe that the Labour Party are losing touch with the grass roots supporters many of whom will have voted Mr Corbyn to the leadership of the party. I would just like to raise a few points that I believe indicate the falseness of supporting staying in the club. 
Firstly, Keir Hardie established the Labour movement to protect workers rights so for the party to claim that we are in the EU partly to protect the rights of workers is an insult to his work and memory. Within the movement, pre- 1972, there have been many battles between government, business and workers which the party have fought to protect the lower paid. Since we were drawn into the EU, which by the way the French did not want, there have still been such battles but the party had its teeth pulled by Margaret Thatcher, and since have tried to align themselves with big business and the political classes in an effort to be re-elected. The Party has failed in this strategy. The people who want us to stay in the EU are the ones worried about their own personal fortunes and investments. The party should distance themselves from them. The failure of the EU to protect the lower paid I saw first hand in the 1990's. I was witness to a vigorous demonstration at a hotel in Kensington where human rights activists were demonstrating against the pay being received by foreign workers in the hotel. However, the problem goes deeper than that because those foreign workers were being employed at a rate below the National Minimum Wage by entrepreneurs that owned the hotel. This allowed the owners to make bigger profits. It also created the situation where British people of all races would not be employed because of NMW. This situation still pertains. Also there are claims that such benefits as maternity and paternity leave would be threatened but like many things they are only under threat if our own government remove them and that could happen in or out of the EU. 
Secondly, there is much rubbish spouted about immigration, the NHS and security. In fact we have always invited immigrants to the country to fill gaps in the workforce. This went on throughout my early life before we entered the EU, so unlike the rubbish being spouted immigration will always be necessary but with control. In the EU there is no such control and they are about to introduce another four relatively poor economic countries into the club. If we remain I can see the EU breaking up anyway because of the need for bale outs and the continued failure of the Eurozone. We are currently exempt from such underpinning, so who will do that work? The only relatively well-off country left is Germany which is why they are trying to persuade us to remain. The NHS is under threat from this Tory government anyway and if the EU sign TTIP then we may as well wrap it up now. Barak Obama visited this country in April not to wish the Queen happy birthday as was reported, but to try and his weight to the Remain campaign because if we leave their precious TTIP agreement would become a non-starter. On security, ours, and the EU's strength actually comes from NATO not the EU so if we leave that won't change. As for sharing intelligence, that doesn't happen now as was demonstrated in the terror attacks in France by Belgian terrorists, where there was obviously a lack of sharing. Our intelligence links are with the USA and that won't change if we leave. 
Finally, the economy. If we sell things into the EU that will not cease if we leave. It is a matter of supply and demand and the opposite is true. The details of how that will happen will need re-working but that could be to our benefit particularly if we are not tethered with ridiculous regulations such as the size of the motors in vacuum cleaners! I have no doubt that stock markets will dip, but as with the crash of 2008, and I'm sure it won't be nearly as bad,  they will come back up. The attitude of some farmers I find quite amusing because I remember the furore over us entering the common market in 1972, particularly over the common agricultural policy which favoured the French farmers. I remember the butter mountains and the wine lakes! The bottom line is that they don't like change. I am confident that if we leave the EU there will be a period of a couple of years where there is uncertainty, but that will be temporary. 
In fact Paula, the majority of ordinary people, many of whom are your voters, will not notice the difference. The scandal mongering about jobs is exactly that and the Labour Party needs to get behind the will of their voters. 
There will be as many people taking the opposite view, but this is mine. It is also another opportunity to exercise the writing muscle which is always a worthwhile exercise.
God Bless

Writing - Never give up

As I struggle to pull together an eleventh novel, the opportunities to procrastinate seem to increase and, as I get older I wonder why I should continue writing.

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To show why we should continue I have delved into the pages of my publisher.
1. Bram Stoker Stoker had written various short stories, reviews and some non fiction, however he didn’t publish his first book, The Snake’s Pass, until he was 43. Seven years later he wrote Dracula, writing another seven novels in the next fifteen years. 
2. Anna Sewell Sewell only published one book – the classic Black Beauty which she began writing at aged 51, whilst in declining health. She dictated much of it to her mother, and died of hepatitis at 57, only months after her novel was published.
[image error]Mary Wesley
3. Mary Wesley An inspiration to ‘ladies of a certain age’, Wesley’s first novel for adults was Jumping the Queue, published in 1983 when she was 70 years old. Her second novel, The Camomile Lawn was published the next year.
4. Frank McCourt. McCourt started writing only when he’d retired from teaching, when his wife told him to write down his stories, rather than just telling them down the pub. His first book, Angela’s Ashes, was published when he was 66 years old.
There are more examples on completelynovel.com 
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Then there is procrastination which authors are exemplary at carrying out.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” Pablo Picasso
 “The scholar’s greatest weakness: calling procrastination research.” Stephen King
 “If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you’ll find you’ve done it.” George Bernard Shaw
Keep at it!
God Bless