Ethel Rohan - Cut Through The Bone

There are lots of great things about Twitter, not least of which is that you connect with some really good, interesting, and darn nice folk.  You all know who you are, so I don't have to list you here (even though I love lists).

Anyhow (favourite blog/email crutch word), one of these said wonderful folk, is Ethel Rohan.  Ethel is originally from Dublin, but now lives in San Francisco, California.  She is an extremely talented, and successful writer, and someone, who had it not been for Twitter, I might have missed.

I ordered a copy of her short story collection, 'Cut Through The Bone' via Amazon a couple of weeks ago, and the first thing I thought when it arrived was if the contents were as good as the cover, then I was in for a great read.  I was not disappointed.

The first story in the collection, 'More than gone', had the effect on me, that great writing sometimes does.  It inspired me to grab a piece of paper and start writing immediately - which turned out to be the beginning of 'Monkey and the Brain Eater', a story many of you were particularly moved by.  When you read wonderful words, something happens in the brain, at least it does to me, as emotions are connected through the written word - it sends you to a place, a kind of sanctuary, that is pure, deep - a place away from all the complicated busy patterns that often eat away at our lives.

Anyhow (told you my fav blog/email crutch word), back to the matter in hand.  The collection, in my opinion is a triumph, and I haven't even finished it yet.  Why, you might ask - well, I'll tell you.  The second night I was reading 'Cut Through the Bone', I realised that I started to eat up the stories, finishing one, then quickly moving on to another, before I had to shout 'stop', an imaginary 'stop' mind, because I didn't want to wake hubby.  I realised that this is a collection which needs to be savoured.  Each short story deserves its own place, and no matter how wonderful, and tempting it might be to read a number of them every evening, it would be the wrong way to approach them. 

So now, I have the book by my bed, and before I retire for the night, having said goodbye to all the daily madness that is life, I know I am in for a treat, as I get to savour the joy of reading another gem from this collection.  For sure, a book that will be on my favourite book shelf.

Brief Intro to Collection:
In this stripped-raw collection, Ethel Rohan's thirty stories swell with broken, incomplete people yearning to be whole.  Through tight language and searching scenarios, Rohan brings to life a plethora of characters -exposed, vulnerable, and achingly human.

You can visit Ethel's blog HERE, or else via MY BLOG LIST in the sidebar.

'Cut Through The Bone', is available to order as a paperback, or kindle ebook via Amazon here @ http://tinyurl.com/6kvg2p5

Go order it, you won't be disappointed!

Flash Fiction Piece - Love Remembered

This is the piece that drove me crazy a couple of weeks back - trying to get it right - not sure if I achieved it, but at least, it's now done.

Love Remembered

They say there is a poem for every stage of love, even love lost and love remembered.  Some say words can trick, obscure, but what we had seemed real, crushing; like sharp breath somehow.

     When you think of me now, how have I been written into memory? If we passed each other on the street, or heard one another speak, touched; would what we had rekindle?  ‘Love me,’ you said, like it was something you could request, though when you did, in the small cocoon that was Paris, I said ‘yes’, both of us playing with dreams, wanting place and time to capture them.

     Looking back, I can see us walking ghostlike through the long corridors of the Louvre, your hand holding mine; I can smell the aroma of coffee from the cafe-lined streets of Montmartre, a city alive, vibrant, filled with the joy of new love.   We admired different artists you and I.  I conjured an interest in Picasso, wanting to please.  You didn’t know that about me then, my eagerness to impress.  You only ever saw what I put on show, but what I put on show, you liked a lot.  I could tell this, by how your eyes came to life over some slight remark I’d make, or occasions when I’d catch you looking, as if I’d taken you by surprise; a special gift to delight in. 

     The nights wrapped our secrets, our love-making intense, heightened, two people at their closest in the dark.  By day we became regular tourists, enjoying the sights, gothic Notre Dame with its light and shadows, the moving quiet of crowds, our walk along the Seine, the brisk wind howling as we devoured fresh bread rolls from the boulangerie.  The smells, sights and sounds of an old place new to us.  You teased, whispered in my ear; if it was up to you, we'd be still in our hotel bedroom.

     At the restaurant that last night, even our words began to fade, spoil; lose themselves as smoke disperses into air.  When I spoke, you were no longer excited by my words; I found your humour less enchanting.  There was impatience in your voice, as if reality was my fault somehow.  I was snappy too, but shifted blame for change of mood your way.  I even said something harsh about your wife, although I had no right to.  You looked back at me, angry, disapproval in your eyes, as if I’d settled into the expected form, and in your change of look, I wondered, which number I’d become?

     On our walk back to the hotel, I stopped you; held your arm, put my hands to your darkened face, felt the stubble of new growth, captured your breath.  You smiled your smile, the one that caught me unawares from the very first day. We kissed long and hard.  I took what I could from it, our final verse, sensing the end, just like day senses night.     

How Times Have Changed - For better or for worse?

Ah you've just got to love these old advertisements.  This is from the 1950's, and it brought a wee smile to my face.  I mean just look at how happy they are with their new addition.

Now, some of you might be shocked about the wording, 'The Chef does everything but cook - that what wives are for!'  But, I'm thinking it must be a pretty impressive machine if it can do all the other stuff like, ironing, cleaning, picking up groceries, bathing the kids - the list is endless.

But think on, what would this magic machine have to do today?  Let's see - well there would be all the stuff mentioned earlier, and of course the picking up of the children from creche, and driving them to all parts of the city for a variety of ballet lessons, horse-riding, football - not to mention keeping down a full time job, you know the kind of thing - what the guy with the wife used to do, when she did everything.  Oh darn, forgot about the magic Chef doing it all! 

Ah, if only things were like they used to be, and we could be happy with a nice white chef hat, and a man in a suit.  Such a lovely couple!

Comments foks, or any suggested additions to the list of jobs that Magic Chef would now have to do today!

Thought for the Weekend - Nancy Thayer

'It's never too late - in fiction or in life -  to revise.'

- Nancy Thayer-

Who was your first best friend?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am really enjoying these posts about When you were small, and the main reason I'm enjoying them, is because you have all been fantastic about sharing your stories.  I hope this next trip down memory lane, will facilitate some more gems.

So, this week's topic, in case you haven't read the title is 'Who was your first best friend?'

We all probably agree that friends, real friends are brilliant. They become a great part of your life, one that isn't like your immediate or extended family, your partner, your boss, your bank manager, but they are the guys that you often turn to, when all the other categories don't quite fit.

With real friends, you know, if you are in trouble, or in need of advice,in a second, they will be there, and likewise, you would do the same for them.  They are there in a mini crisis, when really they should tell you, they are too busy, or go away - but when you say the magic words - Can I ask you something?- They will listen, and unless it's for your own good, will oblige.

So I got to thinking about best friends, and first best friends, and probably like most people, I remember my first best friend really well. Perhaps because, friends are your first links outside of the family nest. 

In my case, her name was Betty, and she came from a family where the children managed to get into the double figures.  This was not an unusual in good old Catholic Ireland, but being the youngest in a family of four children myself, despite my fondness for Betty, I was also very envious of her.  I mean, I wanted a baby sister or brother too.  I wasn't bothered whether it was a boy or a girl, I just wanted a baby, someone younger than me, that I could mind, etc etc.

Of course, as a child, I didn't see the real hardship associated with having children in double figures, especially when money was in very short supply.  Nor did I fully grasp the fact that, after me, my Mam did have two more children, neither of which survived beyond the first days of birth, but I do remember Betty.  The reason being, she was my friend, my best friend, someone I could confide in.

I am not sure what I learnt from my early relationship with her, other than the very real sense, that my life was better for having her in it.  In part this might be why, I value friends so much today.  There are a lot of people in this world, but friends are in shorter supply than one might think.  If you manage to find one, a good one, hold on to them, they are irreplaceable.

So who was your first best friend?  Do you still know them now?  Were you jealous of them?  Did you outgrow them?  Lots of questions, can't wait to hear your answers.

The Age Old Argument - Who are the better drivers?



BMW Ad 1970's



We have all got hot under the collar in the past regarding the above question, and there are as many views as there are people, however most would agree at this point that statistically women win out where accident are concerned, generating fewer and less costly claims.  Up until the recent directive from the EU - female drivers got far cheaper insurance than their male counterparts, because in the numbers game that is insurance, fewer costly claims generated by women, meant lower risk, therefore lower cost.

It would seem according to this link HERE, that men tend to break the rules more, receive more traffic offenses for speeding etc, and in part because of this, when they do have an accident, it tends to be a more severe one.  Also it is noted that female drivers are beginning to narrow the gap, bringing more aggression into their driving.  I will leave the analysis of the data to yourselves, but the general feeling behind the article it would appear, is that women currently are more minor 'fender-benders' than complete 'write-off' of the car.  So with the latter in mind, perhaps this Vintage Ad. from 1960's isn't that far off the mark!

(For those of you who find it difficult to read the small print above...)

Women are soft and gentle, but they hit things.  If your wife hits something in a Volkswagen, it doesn't hurt very much...........So when your wife goes window-shopping in a Volkswagen, you can conveniently replace anything she uses to stop the car - including the brakes!

Heat - Magpie 72



Image Courtesy of Tess @ Magpie Tales



This week's image from Tess @ Magpie Tales is 'wheat field with rising sun' - Vincent Van Gogh 1889 - so here is a short fictional piece of prose called 'Heat'

To read other contributors to this prompt visit HERE

Heat  

It is August and hot, voices from the car radio fill our silence.  My brother Gerard looks out the back window, as if his eyes might take him somewhere else, out into the meadows with the rolled-up hay. I sit behind Mam. Being seven, my legs are shorter than Gerard’s.  Below the hem of my dress, my legs stick to the leather seat, making a peeling sound like sellotape when I lift them off. 

     We should be going someplace nice, we should have a boot filled with summer things, sandwiches, flasks of tea and club orange; but we have none of these.

     No one speaks. Mam sleeps; her stick arms resting either side of a sleeveless blue dress.  She wears Indian beads and a flowered scarf, covering her bald head.

     ‘I want to pee,’ I say.

     ‘Shut up,’ mutters Gerard below his breath.  He is angry, and I wish I didn’t know why.

     ‘I want to pee,’ I say, louder then.

     Mam groans between her world of sleep and our world of the car.

     Through the driver mirror, Dad stares at me, the whites of his eyes coated in their red trim.  I say no more, and hold myself.

     I don’t expect her to turn, but she does.  She looks tired, soft, and smiles, and as if by magic, she looks like Mam again, and we’re back at home, laughing, playing, washing dishes in the kitchen sink. 

     Reaching up, she removes her beads, handing them to me, like a present.  I close the clasp around my neck, and through them, I feel the heat of her on me.

     ‘Emily,’ she whispers before falling back to sleep.

     ‘Mam,’ I say, not expecting anymore.

*      *     *

     Now I warm the beads beneath my pillow.  Her heat will never leave me.

What I know about Twitter Lists

Firstly, I'll put my hand up and admit that I love lists, I use them all the time, not just for shopping, but for planning, prioritising, the list of lists is endless! 

This inclination means that when it came to lists on twitter, I figured they might be something I would be interested in.

In my humble opinion everyone on twitter should use lists and here's what I've learned to date, and why people should use them:

Firstly they lend themselves to the divide and conquer idea, because if you put someone in a list, instead of browsing through miles of tweets everyday, you can read them in a logical format.  For example, if you follow a number of News sites, you can put all of them in a list called 'News', this makes looking through the news tweets easier than when they are mixed in with other tweets.

You can also read your tweets in a manner of their importance to you - lets say you put all your blogpals or friends in one list, or have a number of favourite writers, again you can create 2 more lists marked, 'blogpals/friends' & 'favourite writers' list.  This means that if time is short you can log in, and in an instant see what people in these two lists have tweeted over let's say the last 24 hours.

A note of importance here, when you create your lists, you can have them as public lists, or private lists.  At the moment, I have all my lists as private, but this will probably change.  Like for example, if I change my list marked 'Irish Writers' to a public list, then others can follow it.

The other thing that I have decided about lists, is that it is better to allocate followers to a list from the get go, because it sorts out having to do a lot of housekeeping later.

You can also have someone in more than one list, they can be in a list called 'thriller writers' and also in a list called 'writers who blog'.

You can also have someone on a list and not be a follower.  Once you put them on a list, their tweets will appear, whether you follow them or not.

You can change your listings at any point, so a follower could start off in one list, for example 'Art' and end up being in 'pals/friends'.

So finally, this is how you can create a list, and place your followers/people you follow in them.

If you click on a follower, then you will see their profile etc on the right. To the right of the 'Following Button' you will see a link button with an envelope on it, and to the right of that, a link button with the top of a person, (head and shoulders) - click the dropdown arrow and click on 'Add to list'.  If you have a list created already and you want to place this follower in it, just tick the box beside your list title.  If you haven't got a list created, or if you are only starting to create lists, after you click 'Add to list' - then click on 'Create a list'.  Once you choose this, type in the name you want applied to this list, type in a description if you want one.  Your list will automatically be created as a public list, but if you want it to stay private for now, under privacy, just click on the 'private' option, then save list.

All very easy.  Just to note here, this is not an extensive post on all about lists, because there is a lot about them, I still havn't figured out yet, but when I do, I'll let you know all about it.

Welcome Back

When I left, I thought there was no going back.  As that last day froze in my memory, I somehow thought, the house, the contents, and the people in it, would remain unchanged.

To most it was an ordinary house on an ordinary street, but they would not have known the life which I had lived in it.  

Funny now, this day of my return, is just like that final afternoon.  The January snow rests underfoot, gleaming on rooftops, barely teasing the barren branches of the trees.  The large oak outside my attic window looks taller, telling me it stayed, even though I ran away.

Did the roots of the tree follow me, become touchingly close?  Did it witness my new life, the one without this home?

My father’s angry words tried vainly to catch flight in the breeze, as I slammed the front door shut, leaving for streets that I had never known, for people that spoke differently to me.  Thinking I was moving on.  

It has taken me a while to understand, that the past can overrun the present.  No running away was ever going to change what was left behind, for as I slammed the front door shut, hoping to put the past behind me, I did the very opposite.

He is an old man now, frail I believe. It took many miles for me to get here, but standing now looking at the old house, the journey back has taken more than distance.

I touch the tree before I climb the steps; feel the tough grooves in it's trunk, knowing the roots spread further than the eye can ever see.  The window frames have chipped paint, the glass dirty, but the house knows me, and no matter what he might say, it is welcoming me back.

Thought for the Weekend - Hilary Mantel & Erica Jong

Okay, because I'm in a particularly generous mood today, I'm going to give you not one but two 'Thoughts for the Weekend'

Have a great Weekend!

If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.

- HILARY MANTEL -

All writing problems are psychological problems. Blocks usually stem from the fear of being judged. If you imagine the world listening, you’ll never write a line. That’s why privacy is so important. You should write first drafts as if they will never be shown to anyone.

- ERICA JONG -