We have recently had some work done on our house which has necessitated me packing up my study and returning the room to its naked state whilst it was re-painted and new carpet laid. Then came the exciting part of rebuilding, reconfiguring, 're-imagining' (ugh!! fake news, fake words...) it in a slightly changed context. In … Continue reading Turning over an Old Leaf…
Category: Writing
“Hollow Words” – 100-word challenge
Although she believed passionately in communication, she spoke very little. People mistook that for shyness or reticence, ignorance or arrogance. It was just one of those things, of course. She found most everyday conversations vacuous and empty of meaning; they were essentially pointless, leading nowhere, contributing nothing. And language, the ability to convey and share … Continue reading “Hollow Words” – 100-word challenge
“Searching for Simon” – 100-word challenge
Even after all this time there was still a part of her hoping that one day their paths might cross again. They had become disengaged, drifted apart - almost lost - rather than consciously breaking away in any emotional sense, so she never really knew exactly where she had stood. Although it was too late … Continue reading “Searching for Simon” – 100-word challenge
“Noise (or Between God and the Internet)”
Imagine a vast ocean of mirror-still translucent turquoise so clear that you can see its bottom so vast that its edges are become the horizon. Imagine that. One day, from an invisible somewhere, a pebble is dropped into the very centre of the ocean and a single ripple forms. All around the ocean’s edge, … Continue reading “Noise (or Between God and the Internet)”
“Fear (or Politics)” – 100-word challenge
"When people are afraid," he said, "they turn their backs on what they know to be right, become Followers, and seek leaders and solutions that promise to take their problems away from them. They give up some of their freedoms in exchange for what they believe to be security and protection." Shaking his head sadly … Continue reading “Fear (or Politics)” – 100-word challenge
Time for some collaboration?
A few years ago, I worked with a friend, Tom, on a chain of Haiku. I wrote one and gave it to him simply to read. He responded by writing a second Haiku to follow-on from my own. In the end I think we produced maybe 30 or 40 verses in something we ended up … Continue reading Time for some collaboration?
“The Balloon”
The Balloon Against a uniform grey sky, a balloon unexpected in its redness. An escapee from a party perhaps, it seems to float with a purpose not governed by the air at all but as if steering a course to where all such balloons must gather. Mesmerised, you watch it … Continue reading “The Balloon”
Advice from a would-be Literary Agent…
Harry - who is thirteen and often wiser and deeper than his years - has told me that I need to focus on writing something 'big'. By this I assume his implication is that working on Writeral, writing poems, and tackling the '100-word challenge' are largely a waste of time. I might argue that - in sequence … Continue reading Advice from a would-be Literary Agent…
“Lucca” – 100-word challenge
From the top of the Guinigi Tower hardly any roads are visible. Instead, all you can see are church towers and the haphazard pattern of terra cotta roofs jostling against each other, misshapen rectangles in an image that might have been a Klee-Cezanne collaboration. Against a wash of umber, peach and magnolia, a green tree-line … Continue reading “Lucca” – 100-word challenge
“The Silent Type” – 100-word challenge
He couldn’t recall when he had stopped speaking. It had crept up on him, borne from an ever-increasing ability to live life with a single mouse click: like, share, post, love. Anything and everything had become possible - and fast - and without the need for any tangible personal commitment. So when he met Georgia … Continue reading “The Silent Type” – 100-word challenge
Ian Gouge - Writer 