Gavin Whyte's Blog, page 9
August 23, 2018
Quote – Marcus Aurelius
Vanity is the greatest seducer of reason: when you are most convinced that your work is important, that is when you are most under its spell.
Marcus Aurelius – Meditations
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A Mother’s Last Words
My good friend, Laura Skilbeck, kept a note of what her mother said during her final moments. She compiled it all together to share with friends on Facebook.
Like many people who have read the post, I felt the need to share it.
It’s touching, profound, and at times humorous.
Here it is.
(If for any reason it doesn’t appear below, click here.)
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August 20, 2018
Tamsui & Milk Mochi
At the weekend we visited Tamsui in the north of Taipei. It attracts a lot of Korean and Japanese tourists due to the centuries-old Fuyou temple, and Fort San Domingo, which was built by the Spanish in 1629 and then was later occupied by the British.
Tamsui is where George Leslie Mackay lived with his family. He was a Canadian missionary who had a huge influence on the lives of the Taiwanese people. If you’re interested in his story, I highly recommend you read his book From Far Formosa.
We were working our way back along the main street, when we saw a shop selling “milk mochi”. Mochi comes from Japan and is immensely popular in Taiwan. It’s made from glutinous rice (sometimes called ‘sticky rice’), and is filled with a variety of delicious fillings, such as red bean, taro, or cream, or it is simply coated with black sesame powder or peanut powder. It’s all amazingly tasty—I love the stuff.
(When my parents were over, I bought some for my Dad. He nearly vomited. Clearly it’s not for everyone.)
My wife and I were curious about this “milk mochi”, so we went in and ordered some with black sesame powder. The place was heaving—a good sign.
It came in a matter of minutes. We were surprised. It wasn’t what we were expecting. This stuff was seriously gloopy and shiny, and kind of wobbled on the plate—not at all like your typical mochi.
Here’s a short video of my wife coating it with black sesame powder. (The people sitting opposite us had peanut powder with theirs, as you can see in the top right-hand corner.)

Was it nice?
I loved it. It was lighter than normal mochi, and quite refreshing because it was served cold. My wife, however, being a mochi fan herself, felt a little cheated and tricked.
This wasn’t mochi; this was milk mochi.
She was curious as to how they made it, and so she asked. The member of staff, a young girl, smiled innocently and said she didn’t know, making my wife incredibly suspicious, whilst I licked the plate clean like a hungry dog.
Here are some of our photos from Tamsui.












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August 13, 2018
Yingge – New Taipei City
My wife and I visited the Yingge District over the weekend. It’s on the outskirts of Taipei City, and is well-known for it’s beautiful ceramics.
There’s row after row of shops selling hundreds of clay teapots and cups. When it comes to buying an exquisite teapot or tea set, this is the place to come.
Unfortunately, like many small towns in Taiwan, it’s slowly but surely losing its identity as they replace the character-full old with the monotonous new. I hope they manage to save it.
This photo I took sums it up pretty nicely, I feel.
[image error]
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August 9, 2018
Quote
Think constantly how many doctors have died, after knitting their brows over their own patients; how many astrologers, after predicting the deaths of others, as if death were something important; how many philosophers, after endless deliberation on death or immortality; how many heroes, after the many others they killed; how many tyrants, after using their power over men’s lives with monstrous insolence, as if they themselves were immortal. Think too how many whole cities have ‘died’ – Helice, Pompeii, Herculaneum, innumerable others. Go over now all those you have known yourself, one after the other: one man follows a friend’s funeral and is then laid out himself, then another follows him – and all in a brief space of time. The conclusion of this? You should always look on human life as short and cheap. Yesterday sperm: tomorrow a mummy or ashes.
So one should pass through this tiny fragment of time in tune with nature, and leave it gladly, as an olive might fall when ripe, blessing the earth which bore it and grateful to the tree which gave it growth.
Meditations – Marcus Aurelius
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August 8, 2018
Faces (A Poem)
The past melted his face.
He’s sitting next to the magazines,
with their perfect, blotch-free faces;
but theirs don’t tell a story
like his;
his is rich,
full of life’s offerings,
but their faces seem empty,
because they are full of themselves;
he looks out of the window,
smiles at the sky,
the birds,
the trees;
those faces pose a scowl,
trying to breed envy,
with their perfect void.
He’s staring into the eyes of a beautiful girl now,
who sees his past—
like we all do—
but…
“I know you are not that.”
They hold hands across two coffee cups,
the bridge that didn’t burn.
She laughs at something he says.
How lonely those faces appear now,
how envious.
***
Thanks for stopping by.
Gavin
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April 19, 2018
If In Doubt – Write
This happened yesterday.
I was writing my current book and had no idea what was going to happen next.
I started to think of all the people who have told me that they would like to write a book but don’t know where to start.
I had just finished a chapter. I was in that place, that hovering place, that scary place, where I have no idea what I’m going to write next. I didn’t know what the characters wanted. I didn’t know what they were wanting to say. I didn’t know anything—other than what I had previously written. That helps, of course. (There’s nothing as daunting as starting a book.)
Then I found myself talking to an imaginary friend who was a wannabe writer.
“I don’t know how to start,” they said.
“I don’t know how to start this next chapter.”
“I’ll think about it some more.”
“That’s the very reason why you haven’t started to write your book. You’re thinking too much.”
“But when I think I get ideas.”
“Do you write those ideas down?”
“No. I’ve tried. But I always come to a dead end.”
“That’s because you’re thinking too much. Sit and write.”
“About what?”
“The first thing that pops into your head. It could be a name. A place. An emotion. A feeling. A desire. An urge. A smell. A taste. A fear. Write it down.”
“Then what?”
“You’re thinking too much. Just write. Here, I’ll show you.”
I was in that same place remember. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I had left my heroine standing in a doorway to a tunnel. That was how the previous chapter ended.
To show my imaginary friend, I sat at my computer, the dreaded vertical line flashing at me, and wrote: “She set off down the dark tunnel, and quickly noticed the drawings on the walls.”
Here’s the thing: I had no idea, before writing this sentence, that there was going to be drawings on the walls. No idea whatsoever. At least not consciously. But now I had something else to play with, a new texture, a new colour to help me paint my picture.
Writing is done when you sit down and write.
Just write something.
Writing is rewriting, so don’t aim for perfection.
Just write.
*
I thought I would share that with you.
Best get back to my story.
Gavin
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April 9, 2018
My Audiobook is now on YouTube
I’m pleased to announce that you can now listen to the full audiobook of The Girl with the Green-Tinted Hair on Youtube.
It’s a sweet fable I wrote back in 2012. Even though it only consists of four short chapters it seems to be hitting readers in all the right places. (I’ve included some of the reviews below.)
It’s been available in paperback and as a free ebook pretty much since it first came out. But in 2016 I decided to get it narrated and release it as an audiobook. Using Audible, I found this wonderful narrator called Linda Loper. Her style reminded me of a grandma telling her grandkids a story, whilst they sit around a log-burning stove with their hands wrapped around mugs of hot chocolate.
The audiobook is just over an hour long. If you enjoy being read to, I think you’ll really enjoy it.
Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCPzLKgX4dQ
If you like Linda’s style and wish to get in touch with her (perhaps to narrate one of your own books), you can do so by visiting her website: https://lindatellsyourstory.blogspot.com
And, finally, if you would like the free ebook of The Girl with the Green-Tinted Hair, or would like to purchase the paperback, you can do so by clicking here.
Thank you. Happy listening.
Gavin
Here are some recent reviews for The Girl with the Green-Tinted Hair:
“This book was amazing. Very uplifting. Really makes you look at life differently and not take it for granted.”
“I read this story as part of earning my MFA in Children’s Writing. I picked the book because it’s short. I read this book wishing there were more pages. A lot more pages. Whyte created a beautiful sory of life, love, acceptance, and saying goodbye in a natural easy to enjoy manner. I truly feel I’m a better person from reading the story of a boy, a tree, and a girl with green tinted hair. Bravo!”
“I loved this book and I plan on reading it many more times. It was so meaningful and lovely. Read!”
“I wanted to read this story to see what it was about. No, is wasn’t about magic. [It] is a story for you . It is my story. Read it.”
“Gave it one star because you can’t get it none. Straight up weird poetry/story that was a total waste of time.”…hey, you can’t please everyone
April 1, 2018
Music, Thank You (A Poem)
I never know how much I need you
until we’re apart;
with you, everything I see
turns into an ode to life,
to being:
a leaf in the wind,
a smile from a complete stranger,
a mere cloud, heavy with rain;
you infuse everything I see with love—
how?
You pick me up
when I’m low,
and sometimes I don’t realise how low I am,
until you do your thing,
and then I’m high;
you make the mundane anything but,
and you do it best
when your lips are sealed;
for those of us who don’t get you,
who you struggle to touch,
I can only hope you break into their hearts,
like the sweet intruder that you are,
if only just for a split second,
and offer them a note or rhythm,
at a time that brings it all together for them,
and you’ll make them look for words
to express how they feel, and they might say:
“This is what home feels like.”
Or,
“So this is love.”
You help me get in touch with something deeper,
and yet the irony is,
the cream’s on the surface
for us all to dip our little finger in,
because the magic is in the seeing,
and the hearing,
and that’s how you infuse everything
with unconditional love,
because the last condition—
me, me, me—
has been transcended;
I become unconditional love
because of you;
and so I want to thank you,
Music,
for without you,
as they say,
life just wouldn’t be the same.
*
Thank you.
Gavin
*
(Image from www.pixabay.com SarahRichterArt)
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March 30, 2018
The Kite (Haiku)
The wind blows the kite,
only to find resistance.
(I, kite, blow the wind.)
*
Blessings.
Gavin
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