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Recent Published Writing
Recently, I've been very lucky to have some writing accepted in a couple of different places.
Flash Fiction: Reasons Why I Believe I Am Dying
- My food tastes of rubbish. Every day, I am brought the most sumptuous feasts imaginable, the finest Kobe beef, caviar and gold encrusted truffles. All of it is expertly prepared by the best chef in the world, who cooks for me and me only. Each new plate is brought to me on the finest antique china, every one a collector’s piece that by rights probably belongs in a museum. I eat with handcrafted silverware. Each knife, each fork and each spoon has been handmade exclusively for me by artisans in Naples. And every time a new meal is brought to me, it tastes of cigar ash and chalk. I push the plate away in disgust.
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I barely have the power to leave my four poster. Sometimes, I conjure the energy to raise myself from the Egyptian cotton sheets and fine silk pillows, before staggering across the room to my en-suite. All too often now I have to call Williams to assist me. Loyal Williams. He’s been with me for years and never wavered. Terribly loyal. I ring a bell and there he is, to lift me out of the bed and across the room. My feet barely touch the hand woven carpet. Williams never complains. Just lifts me with no word. I am increasingly weak and stuck in this house. My world is narrowing down to the house, my private quarters and soon, when I am too frail to be pushed in my wheelchair, I will be confined to this room. After that, my bed only. Then only my body. Then...
Ten Miserable Years of Austerity
Like the rest of the UK, I’ve been steadfastly ignoring anything to do with Brexit. It’s like there’s a ticking time-bomb hanging over our heads and we are doing everything we can to distract ourselves from the countdown, hoping that it won't explode if we just ignore it hard enough. Sometimes though, something slips through. This week I saw the chancellor’s comments on how Brexit will probably reduce public spending further.
A haiku
Soft wind and raindrops
play a tune on dying leaves.
I have all I needNo Such Thing as a 'True' Artist: Persistent Myths That Need To Be Retired
I was inspired to write this post when I saw this image by artist Sean Landers:
Upfest
Houses have faded to grey. Colour slumbers.
We drag our feet down monochrome
streets, blinded by persistent monotony,
unable to see the edge of the pavement
or the bricks of the walls surrounding us.
Corners are indistinct. We see only lead,
tarmac and endless concrete, nothing more.The Sound of Silence
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a Quaker wedding. [^1] As part of the ceremony, we sat in silence for close to an hour, punctuated now and then by someone speaking briefly, then lapsing back into silence. It was an unusual ceremony. I felt uncomfortable in the silence. I had the urge to speak, to do something to break the quiet. Other people who weren't Quakers found it difficult as well. Personally, I think I am not used to that amount of quiet contemplation. I was reminded of the famous Blaise Pascal quote: “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Signal Vs. Noise
16 AWFUL THINGS HEADS OF STATE HAVE TWEETED TODAY THAT YOU WON'T BELIEVE! GLOBAL WARMING WILL BE 'FANTASTIC FOR BUSINESS' SAYS POWERFUL SOCIOPATH! SOMEONE DID A THING AND PEOPLE ARE OUTRAGED- LIVE UPDATES!
One of the best and worst things about the internet is the amount of freely available information. It's obviously a good thing, just look at Wikipedia. We can access almost any important information and get a pretty good summary. This is a golden age for progress. The creation of the internet is a bigger revolution than the printing press. It's like the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy made real, only without the large comforting 'Don't Panic' sign on the cover.
The Power of Paper
There's a magical tool that allows you to focus right in on any problem. Or you can broaden it out and use it to explore the inner workings of your mind. It has endless possibilities and applications. I'm talking about paper of course.
Whiplash and the Dangerous Myth of the Suffering Artist
Spoilers lie ahead.