Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 35

Fran features: Federation of Writers (Scotland) – September

Fran features: Federation of Writers (Scotland) – September

I’m delighted to be this month’s featured writer in the Federation of Writers (Scotland)  September 2017 newsletter.

The Federation is a collective of enthusiasts of the written and spoken word and welcomes writers of any complexion into its ranks: poets, writers of prose and short stories, bards and lovers of the spoken word. To quote from their header:

The Federation of Writers (Scotland) is an organisation dedicated to making the...

Valuing my time

Valuing my time

 

When it comes to selling my books direct to the public, I’m shy – I find it difficult to charge the full cover price without blushing. Interesting question from this reader follows – Why?

In the past, it has been because when I see the cover price and consider the outlays, I say to myself, ‘That’s enough of a mark-up….’ or more usually, ‘That’s enough for me just now…’

But hang on. What about the value of my time? That intangible quality, that gift from Heaven knows where,...

Still writing memoir

Still writing memoir

Unless we are employed by the media or by those who pay us to write, writing our memoir has very little to do with tangible rewards such as money or fame.

But the intangible rewards are worth a mention… These include

Re-evaluating the self and everything we think we know about our lives. That daunting idea begins to unfold with the very first words that hit the page, and goes on for the whole period during which we may call our work unfinished, challenging us constantly...

The longer we leave it

The longer we leave it…

We all have these key moments, when we have to do what it is staring us in the face, or go stir crazy.

Like the time I decided, ‘Right, I have to write my memoir. I have to do this, or I’ll die. And, it might kill me in the process – from embarrassment, anxiety, exhaustion, sadness – but God dammit, I’d rather die trying, than die of boredom and depression and regret. If writing this – and going through hell – is what it takes, then fine! I’ll take that chance.

Life a...

How to keep writing memoir

How to keep writing memoir

Rest assured, it is very useful to write a book – to write anything – even if we don’t get round to finishing it. We learn a lot in the process, and we figure out stuff which perhaps isn’t suitable for anyone else to read anyway, so that’s all good. In any case, as any writer will tell you, ‘finishing’ has a rather subjective aspect to it: is a book we are writing ever ‘finished’?

But writing memoir can feel peculiarly, individually self-obsessed, so it feels almos...

How to write memoir

How to write memoir

I have written a memoir. The process was long, surprisingly painful and full of the steepest learning curves imaginable.

But through a period of about seven years, I did realise that, though writing memoir is not necessarily straightforward, there are things to bear in mind. We might start by deciding, first, what we do not need, when embarking on writing our memoir.

We do not need:-

Any qualification in literature, creative writing or equivalent. A law degree or formal...

Failure to please oneself

Failure to please oneself…

“Maldives sunset silhouettes” by Creative Independence

 

One mantra running going through my head, helps to answer some of my current dilemmas. It has been useful to me lately, thankfully, or else I would find myself very lost.

“….Betrayal of your Self in order not to betray another is betrayal nonetheless. It is the highest betrayal….” comes from Conversations with God Volume, 1.

Yes, I know what that means and what it entails for me right now. But it is hard to ho...

Where do you get your ideas

Reader question – Where do you get your ideas from?

Writers are asked lots of questions, including, Where do you get your ideas from? and Do you model your characters on people you’ve met?

Our ideas come partly from life, yes, and the small anecdotes that for some reason we recall, even after ten, twenty or even forty years, because they had a sort of sticking quality. Once upon a time, they pierced the grey matter in our heads and have hung on – the incident of the sugar bowl on the terrace...

Access problems my problem

Access problems, my problem?

Stairs, Santorini, Greece – image courtesy of Google

 

At our holiday hotel, I forgot – I forgot! – to ask about access, ground floor apartments and all that jazz. It would have been so easy. We booked in April, but I forgot. We found ourselves up several flights of stairs and steps – awkward and without handrails – of hard and unfamiliar marble. Familiar to the blithe locals used to the heat and used to hardness against the sun. Painful to fall on, I’ve no doubt,...

Taking the sprinklers for granted

Taking the sprinklers for granted

Our holiday resort was, all things considered, a fairly spectacular achievement.

At reception, there arrive at regular intervals, bands of weary and bleary-eyed travellers from all over the globe – Germany, Russia, Britain, The Czech Republic, Poland, the USA. )Which, rather oddly, turns English into the lingua franca, by unspoken mutual consent.)

Trailing gratefully into a cool, marbled reception area and blinking in the heat, they wait to be ushered to the...