S.C Newland - Writer

It's National Poetry Day here in the UK. This years prompt/theme is: Counting. Poetry is not really my bag, but I thought I'd get into the spirit and came up with this ditty: Counting On You When the sun fails to come up, When the walls close in, When the weather turns sour, When the mood monster closes, When the day is done. I know I can count on you to lift me into life again. SCN 03/10/24

Hooray! Yesterday, I attended the first session of the Tavistock Writers Group in the library after the group's summer break. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends: Bob, Roger, Hannah and Alex. We usually number around half-a-dozen or so, and were pleased when two new prospective writers appeared: Carol and Giles. Bob leads the session with each of us reading out our latest work. It runs from 2pm to 4pm, fortnightly on Saturdays. My 100-word micro-fiction story: 'Lifecycle of the Lyonesse Moth' was well received, and everyone enjoyed Roger's 'Autumn Leaves'. Each one of us follows our own choice of writing, from short stories', to poetry and even memoirs. Comments are positive with helpful suggestions for improvement. Bob ends the session with a prompt often referred to as 'homework' to inspire creativity for the following meeting. It's wonderful to be a part of a creative atmosphere.

  Well, never expected to find inspiration in the life of Thomas Hardy on a visit to his home Max Gate at Dorchester today. Free entry to the Nat Trust property brought an interesting morning. Stories brought to life by the guides and info on the walls were quite enlightening and often amusing, From annoying peeping toms loitering outside his home eager for a glimpse of the less-than-reclusive author to his belief, allowing plants to grow without pruning and his love for this dog 'Wessex' painted a very interesting portrait of the man. Already have several ideas running through my head. Look out for them soon.

AI generated pic.  Oh, well. 'Super Rabbit' my entry for the Liskeard Library Short Story Competition did not get placed. Here's the 'rejection': Many thanks for your participation in the Liskeard Library Short Story Competition. With so many fantastic entries, it was no small task for our Inaugural Writer in Residence, Peter McAllister, to whittle things down to just ten short listers, then choose one overall winner from that shortlist. Peter McAllister (Competition Judge) said, "The standard of entries was incredibly high and I’d like to congratulate all those who entered on producing such fantastic work. From love and loss in Eighteenth century Cornwall to zombie apocalypses in eastern Asia, it was great fun to read and judge. All shortlisters and our overall winner should be particularly proud and I wish them all the best in their future writing." Beaten by a zombie LOL

  I picked up The Moonstone, written by Wilkie Collins, from St Edward the Martyr church in Corfe Castle. It is heralded as the original detective novel. Full of intrigue and peculiar characters. I am only 70 pages in, but enjoying the plot and humour coming across.

  Playing around with Ai using Nightcafe and generated these images for The B Word. Look quite good, but a bit unsettling as you know an artist somewhere has created original versions, so I'm led to believe. Or is Ai really Picasso in disguise?