She saved them all in the end…
I’ve been reading a lot recently about motivation, inspiration and focus. I’ve also been thinking a lot about my past, missed opportunities and some of the crazy things I’ve said and done.
Now I am forgiving myself so I can move forward with my writing, teaching and online business. That might explain why this meme appealed to me;
Today I was talking with an old friend about creativity. She had just had an argument with her mother along the lines of ‘why don’t you get a real job’.
Anna is an artist I met in Almaty. We have been friends for almost 8 years now. She is planning 6 new exhibitions this year, now that covid restrictions are lifting in Kazakhstan. I am working on three new books! We talked about the way many of the people in my past ridiculed my desire to write, telling me to just be happy as a teacher.
The funny thing is, I am happy as a teacher. And I also love creative writing! I have two books on Amazon, and there will be more by the end of this year. I have my heroine, Fairy Hanny, who lives in a strange world of Elf’s, Pixy’s, trolls and time travellers. I also have the black humour of my crime series, Inspector Hunter Flaange and his partner Jason Beaver. Then I have my travel diaries from Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Morocco and Azerbaijan. Plus the semi-autobiographical tale of growing up in the 70’s, 80′, and now, called Going to California.
I found this quote from DailyMotivation. I wish I had it 30 years ago.
“You have to believe that you can do it. Out of all the obstacles you will face in your life, a lack of belief in yourself is the biggest one.
Unless you believe in your abilities, you will limit yourself no matter how great the opportunities are around you.
Being confident gives you a feeling of certainty that you’ll figure it out somehow and make the situation work for you. Choose to be confident.
You can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. Take the moment and make the best of it.”
A friend of mine from Kazakhstan has just had to give up her job. She was working in a big restaurant in Dubai, and has now returned to Almaty to look after her mother. Over the last few years Mom’s eyesight has been deteriorating. Now she is completely blind. Manshuk has taken Mom to various hospitals and even went to see a German Ophthalmologist who was working at a clinic in Astana.
Nothing is working, and there is no cure.
I found this quote as a way to help Manshuk through these tough times.
“Things can change for the better very quickly. Don’t get discouraged because of what you’re going through right now. You do have the strength to keep on living.
Life will give you a chance to smile again. Trust that life has more in store for you than just sadness and misery.
Shift your focus from the paralyzing negative thoughts to helpful thoughts that calm you down. Let go of things you cannot control.
Remaining hopeful is a practice. Open up to the possibility of positive change.
There is a whole world waiting for you on the other side of pain.
Good things are coming.”
Ok I am back in the UK, and I have a temporary job as a College Lecturer, teaching basic Mathematics. Now I am looking ahead to the next academic year. What should I do? Should I hope for an extension of this contract or secure another International Post?
Thailand looks good…
Anyway, I thought I would share another idea from the daily Motivation team. This is a problem I have with strangers. I either clam up and say nothing, or I give them my life story in 2 minutes!
Let me know what you think.
“Feelings of anxiety, poor boundaries, or attempting to be more relatable can lead to oversharing. Talking impulsively can have some unpleasant consequences.
You might say the wrong thing, or make other people feel awkward by sharing intimate details of your life.
Moreover, excessive self-disclosure to the wrong person can lead them to take advantage of you. Be mindful and embrace whatever each moment brings with a calm attitude.
Active listening will allow you to pay attention to social cues and be more aware of how people are reacting.”
Very few things actually matter in life. Simply focus on those things and let everything else go.
Worrying about things you have no control over disrupts your overall wellbeing and erodes your life satisfaction. Decide what matters to you right now.
Protect your peace by controlling your attitude and the things you tell yourself.
Each day, take time to be still and reflect on different aspects of your life so you never lose sight of what truly matters to you.
Don’t forget, this is still available on Amazon. Get it before I do the update on the jacket blurb. There is a spelling mistake, so if you get it now you will get the rare copy!
I’ve been working a lot on my latest book in the Fairy Hanny series, so I took my eye away from my blogs. Suddenly a few weeks have gone and nothing has been submitted.
Then I started to get some emails in saying ‘daily motivation’ and I thought it would be a good idea to share some of them. Here we go…
“Life never stops moving. Every stage of your life will push you to adapt and grow. You can’t really go back to your old self.
You may retain some aspects of your old self, but you have to acknowledge that you’re not the same person anymore.
The experiences you have gone through have shifted you from who you used to be. Focus on growing from the lessons learned and embracing who you are now.
Develop a sense of gratitude for how things are in the present.
Honour your journey.”
When I was very young I heard this song being played on an LP by Steeleye Span. (For the youngsters -LP means Long Playing vinyl record.) It stuck in my head and many years later came out as part of my inspiration for this second book featuring Fairy Hanny. It is an old English folk song. Bedlam was the name given to Bethlem Royal Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in London. It was deemed a hospital for the insane in the fifteenth century, though these days we would say it deals with people who have extreme mental health issues.
At one time wealthy people would pay to visit the hospital to watch the lunatics, a sad case of modern day car crash addictions. Google Bedlam to find out more.
Bedlam boys
For to see Mad Tom of Bedlam, 10,000 years I’d travel
Mad Magdalene goes on dirty toes, to save her shoes from gravel.
Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys,
Bedlam boys are bonnie
For they all go bare and they live by the air,
And they want no Drink nor money.
Her staff has murdered giants; her bag a long knife carries
For to cut mince pies from children’s thighs, with which to feed the Fairies.
Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys,
Bedlam boys are bonnie
For they all go bare and they live by the air,
And they want no Drink nor money.
I went down to Steven’s kitchen, for to beg me food one morning
There I got Soles piping hot, all on the spit a turning.
Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys,
Bedlam boys are bonnie
For they all go bare and they live by the air,
And they want no Drink nor money.
No gypsy slut nor doxy shall win my Mad Tom from me
I’ll weep all night, the stars I’ll fight, the fray will well become me.
Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys,
Bedlam boys are bonnie
For they all go bare and they live by the air,
And they want no Drink nor money.
There I picked up a cauldron, where boiled 10,000 harlots
Though full of flame I drank the same, to the health of all such varlets.
Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys,
Bedlam boys are bonnie
For they all go bare and they live by the air,
And they want no Drink nor money.
Spirits white as lightning, shall on my travels guide me
The moon would quake and the stars would shake, when’ ere they espied me.
Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys,
Bedlam boys are bonnie
For they all go bare and they live by the air,
And they want no Drink nor money.
It’s when next I have murdered, the Witch King into powder
His staff I’ll break, his dog I’ll bake, there’ll howl no demon louder.
Still I sing bonnie boys, bonnie mad boys,
Bedlam boys are bonnie
For they all go bare and they live by the air,
And they want no Drink nor money.
So, Drink to Tom of Bedlam, he’ll fill the seas in barrels
I’ll Drink it all, all brewed with gall, with Mad Magdalene I will travel.
A thought from my latest publication.
One of the joys of writing a book is that you have in effect created a whole series of blogposts! Here is another extract from my latest book.
The original, which introduced the delightful Fairy Hanny, is also available on Amazon.
Enjoy!
“So, as we sip our cold beers, brewed to perfection in silly Suffolk, our eyes are cast upon this beautiful woodland glade.
(Don´t worry about the cast in your eye, you´ll grow out of it. Well, that’s what the doctor said to me.)
At this very moment, in what we choose to call Time, we find ourselves watching a scene unfolding, not too far from the Magical City of Setebos, the seat of the Fairy Kings, where King Innocent the Foetid is the centre of all wisdom, on a planet largely devoid of common sense. It is also devoid of incense, ten cents and senescence.
Setebos!
Setebos!
City of expiring dreams and chocolate covered ice creams! Where poets die and crooner’s cry! Though it’s not unusual and you don’t have to be rich! A place for doves to cry and spies to spy! Where watching birds can catch your eye! A city for tourists and two men with four wrists! Where boozers booze and cruisers cruise! Where the Fairies are light and airy, and nothing is dreary! And if you want to go home just find a Gnome! If things get too tricksy just find a Pixy! Where Bigfoot sits Leery whilst eating a canary!
Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!
Was it a yellowy canary or just a parrot looking scary?
Cities all over the Multiverse and Yorkshire have their concentrations of rogues and villains and scum and scavengers and Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, and Thugs and Yobs and Yahoos and Bullingdon Bores and Lying Bigots dressed in Blue; wherever you go you can be sure they’re there! And if you don´t know where you are going then you will definitely end up on Uranus.
Setebos -Your streets are paved with a Golden Vision and there are golden showers everywhere; your bars are decorated with lasciviousness; there are pretty Fairies all over the place; but sometimes the sky is grey, and we wonder how tomorrow could ever follow today. City of perspiration and inspiration, of expiration and exploitation, of generation and a railway station! Oh Setebos, Mother of Invention and Zapper of negativity, even when it doesn’t pull you through. When the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness comes running through, that is when we see what is owed to Autumn, when the trees do a shimmy of golden-brown leaves falling all around.
Then we know it’s Time to be on our way.
Anyway, on this most auspicious of days, the Sun shines her long-lost rays into this comfortable clearing, dancing from leaf to leaf, roots to branches, catching diaphanous wings of Mayfly’s, who hunt the wilderness for their one day of fame, seeking insectile eroticism before death takes them prematurely to the great Entomologists Display Case in the sky.
A leaf falls silently from the highest branch of a Rowan tree, oscillating left and right as the drag competes with gravity to slow its descent. It caresses the ground like a kiss from a rose, delighting a woodlouse in its humdrum day of decay. A beautiful white rabbit pops into the scene, slowly rubbing shampoo from his eyes; he wasn’t going to worry about being late as this is not the tale of his tail. Soon those stinging eyes perceive a flickering ghostly image, which becomes a shimmer and a glimmer as the light gets dimmer. The rabbit scurries away to a hole in the ground, from which there will eventually emerge a Magnificent Mathematical Yarn – but that’s another story. As the rabbit disappears with his ears, from the twinkling manifestation, appears the delicately roguish Mad Tom of Bedlam; wild silver hair and deep blue eyes trying their best to regain focus.”
Fairy Hanny 