Authors' Dilemmas On Death

Proust began his book Time Remembered with a moment in the present leading to recalling the past. His work of fiction is interspersed with factual events of his day. Historical novels do this matching of fiction with real events. So do modern novels. Authors sometimes start with one incident, and move onto an all-encompassing book, covering centuries (like A Brief History of Time) but with a happy end. A novel often starts with birth and ends with death. You can start with the funeral and do a whole book as a flashback, ending the funeral as a frame at the end, now the reader knows so much more. An author has to have some light moments, alternating mood and pace, despite some dips into the despair of death. One way is to show two characters with different, contrasting reactions to death or terminal illness. Two ladies, men, people in adjoining hospital beds, a sister and sister-in-law, or father and son, can ‘rage' against death in different ways. Raging against death refers to Dylan Thomas’s poem, best remembered by one of its lines, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. As authors, hoping to write immortal books, we have a different worry, not just the vivid colour of chairs at our funeral, and suitable quotations from our own poems and books, but not to leave the unfinished novel. Instead of worrying about practical things, we abandon all hope of washing up, and race to finish the novel. I think authors, to guard against loss, should always write the synopsis, chapter headings and first and last lines before when over the age of 70 and embarking on a year long project.) I do not want my last words to be unfinished, “The last line of my novel is - ah - ah - ah ….!”. Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Author of The Tailor and The Spy.

A friend's anger, drink and death - what is the cause and what is the cure?

Helen was a good friend of Sharon, who got married in Singapore earlier this year, and my other good friend Betty. I had met Helen at a party for Betty's book launch and Helen drank a lot and talked loudly. When I saw Helen again at Sharon's wedding in April 2016, Helen was singing loudly with two men at the microphone. That attracted my attention. I gradually realised that the loud singing, coupled with being unsteady on her feet, meant she might have had too much to drink. At the end of the wedding she could not find her hand bag and started shouting at the staff of the venue that she wanted her handbag, 'NOW!" We all scurried about and her handbag was found. It had been moved by the staff or guests from one of the dining tables to another position when the tables were moved to make the floor clear for dancing. Finally she threw or dropped a glass on the floor and it broke. She cut her hand. She was bleeding and speaking loudly. I had been happy for myself and the bride all evening. Now I was anxious for the bride and her injured guest. Next day, I heard that the lady had written to the bride and at least one other guest to apologise. I think she woke with no memory of what happened. Either it was recorded on somebody's phone or her husband told her. Either she or her husband or both decided she would write and apologise. I had hidden that memory away. I had a more personal memory of the wedding. Delayed Wedding Ceremony The official due to marry the bride and groom was late. He had not communicated with them all day and they were worried that he would arrive too late for their photos of the ceremony at sunset on the Botanical Gardens bandstand or would not turn up at all. We were extending the pre-dinner drinking time. This was presumably costing the bride and groom more money. The guests were getting more drunk. The bride to be sniffed, "What's the point of having a dinner to celebrate our wedding when we haven't got married?" I conducted a mock or rehearsal wedding ceremony so they could get their photos. Then the official turned up and as everybody started eating dinner, he conducted the ceremony. (We have all of this on various videos, the official videos plus a family handphone.) When we visited friends in August 2016, I was shocked to learn that Helen had died within the previous fortnight. If I have got the story right, she was suffering from both a brain tumour and a cancer which had spread from her lungs and through her lymph system. Apparently she smoked a little, not a lot. I now have several thoughts troubling me, intruding, churning through my mind: 1 Did smoking or drinking cause the cancer and did that cause the tumour? 2 Was her drinking cause or effect of her illness? 3 Was her behaviour caused by her illness? 4 Should a change of behaviour, or bad behaviour, make us check for a physical cause? (In the UK my next door neighbour, a retired nurse, said that she knew my late father-in-law was ill long before he was diagnosed, because she observed his character changing from life and soul of the party to grumpy old man.) 5 Should I be more forgiving and tolerant, as her friends were? 6 How many instances of anti-social behaviour, and more serious problems, such as psychopathic serial killers and mad dictators and leaders starting wars are suffering from an illness which could be treated to relieve their malaise and save the rest of us from suffering from their actions and save their family and friends grieving at their early death, however it may appear to be caused. Angela Lansbury Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In.

Composing My First 'Round' Song; By the Bay of Fishguard; at Writers' Holiday in Wales

How did I come to write poems and songs at Writers' Holiday in Wales
Poetry was the subject of one of the after tea talks at Writers' Holiday held in Fishguard Wales in July 2016. Course leader Alison Chisholm always comes up with amusing ideas. And usually a tiny free gift.

The Poetry Homework Challenge
This year those planning to perform at the performance night were given two pieces to write. One was inspired by what was written on a piece of folded paper pulled from a box. I pulled out the word toast.

The other was a tiny frame you can use to frame a picture or item seen in a room. Hold it close to you and your body or book and it can frame an object such as the watch on your wrist. Look through it and depending on the distance you hold it, you can see an entire room or one small item in the distance.

Writer's Ambition
I am tired of writing poetry. In another class by Steve Wade we were asked to write Poetics, a cross between a mission statement and a cv and a marketing description and an ambition. We were asked to write about our past successes at writing and being published, our current projects and our future plans or hopes.

Songs
One of my hopes is to write songs. I try to write a song each day.

A Round
Therefore for Alison I chose to write a verse which could also be a round. I was surprised to find that the construction of a round song is no different. All you do is have different groups of people singing different lines or who verses in succession.

The text (lyrics) for a group of singers, musicians playing the tune and a conductor, would have to be written showing where the voices overlap, with two three, four or more lines of lyrics staggered on different lines under the music staves.

If I am the only performer, I don't need any directions.

If I direct the audience or a group of singers to sing with me, I have to provide them with photocopies or prints of the lyrics, or to print them out three or four times.

All the performers do a rehearsal. Therefore, prior to the performance I have to show my verses to Alison, as she requested, to get her approval of the performance and check the rhyme, rhythm and sense. She might wish to make additions to make it more original or interesting.

I picked two traditional round because I wanted to check the syllable count, rhythm and rhyming scheme. The first song I chose was the traditional Frère Jacques. I wrote the syllable count at the end of each verse

Song 1
The original goes:

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques (4)
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? (4)
Sonnez la matina, Sonnez la matina (6) (6)
Ding, dang, dong, Ding, dang, dong. (3) (3)

The words mean: Brother Jack, Brother Jack, are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Ring (the bells) for  morning (prayers), ring the bells for morning prayers, ding dang dong. The last three words are onomatopeic (sound like what the word is describing).

I seem to remember that when I looked up the words, it was not le matina as I remembered, but La matina which would be Latin rather than French. The Matina or Matins being morning prayer(s).

Here is my song, sung to the same tune:

T for Toast and Toast for Tea
Song by Angela Lansbury

Let's toast seed bread, let's toast seed bread
Don't let's wait, don't let's wait
Put it in the toaster, put it in the toaster
For our tea, for our tea.

Alternatively
Come and toast my seed bread

Here's a version about the person who invented the toaster:

The toaster was invented in Scotland in 1893 but the pop up toaster was invented by Charles Strite in 1919.
The Invention of The Pop Up Toaster
by Angela Lansbury

For centuries the world would bake
Toasted teacakes were loved by most
After King Alfred burned the cakes
Cooks could admit they burned the toast
It wasted money, wasted time
And made the cook feel such a fool
And everyone hoped someone else
Would make a smart new toasting tool

A toaster was invented
Transforming every tea
In Scotland after porridge
In 1893
In 1918 pop up toast
Was patented by one Charles Strite
Now his invention pops up toast
For breakfast worldwide day and night.

Song 2
To the tune of Sur le Pont d'Avignon (unless somebody can write a better tune)

By the Bay of Fishguard
Song by Angela Lansbury

By the bay of Fishguard
See the ferries, see the ferries
On the bay of Fishguard
See the ferries brave the waves.

In the bar, writers sit
Scribbling stories, scribbling stories
In the bar, writers sit
Writing novels full of wit.

In the bar, writers sit
Writing songs and writing poems
In the bar, writers sit
Writing novels full of wit.

Song 3
Here's another round song, Kookaburra.
My friend Sally told me that at Guides camp the girls used to sing the Kookaburra song.

Here are the words with the syllable count after each line for the creation of a parody sung to the rhythm and the same or a similar tune:

Kookaburra sits on an old gum tree (10)
Merry, merry king of the bush is he (10)
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra (10)
Gay your life must be. (5)

I wanted an English bird instead of the Australian bird. A seagull was most appropriate.

Seagull Song
by Angela Lansbury

My seagull sits on the balcony
Looking up and watching me
Fly, pretty seagull, fly, pretty seagull
Fly away to sea.



Copyright 2016
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer,

USA Jello Shots Red White Blue Celebration Jelly

USA Jello Shots: Nothing says 'MURICA quite like these USA jello shots. They're red, they're white, they're blue and packed full of the good stuff (vanilla vodka, obviously). Whip these up over a summer holiday wee...



For readers of British English, Jello is an American brand of jelly, which has become the standard name for jelly.



Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer and photographer, English language teacher.

Horror Stories by Lovecraft and his Advice on how to write Horror Stories

I read a horror story by Lovecraft, then found his advice on writing. Most useful.

Amusing name. Love craft. He loved the craft of writing, and writing horror stories.

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/fiction/hb.aspx

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/nwwf.aspx

Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer, photographer, teacher.

Editing a Blog Post - Why Re-Reading Text and Photo Captions Helps

CHECKING TEXT
I just retyped my headline. I typed fast and out came blag post instead of blog post. Typing this sentence in the text I typed blah post.

When you re-read your work you find these mistakes. I often neglect to go into VIEW to see what the reader will see. But if you are writing blog posts, it really improves your posts.

When I create my post I type in a wide box. But when the text appears in the blog the right hand side is filled with links and advertisements. One result is that two sentences are often enough for a paragraph. More makes a long block of text so I have to shorten paragraphs.

CHECKING PHOTOS
For example, only after writing for several years did I discover the facility to enlarge your photo to large or extra large. You can make a picture bigger so you can see the food or the expression on somebody's face.

However, sometimes the picture bleeds outside the column width. You might lose the person on the right or left of the picture. Or find the text and picture are overlapping.

Finally, when you add a photo it may slip into the place where you last left your cursor. The picture moves up, the text wraps around it and the picture captions apply to the wrong picture or sit in the middle of nowhere as if a picture has vanished. If it confuses the author, what must it do to a reader from Japan.

The other surprise is that if you have two or more blogs, you alter the frame of one and get narrow columns, but your other blog has wide columns. So what you imagine your text looks like, as you flit from updating one blog to another, is not what you expect.

Now I must save this - and check how it looks.

Remember to add your selling point or call to action at the end. You could create a signature and repeat it every time.

Angela Lansbury BA Hons. Author. Freelance writer of travel and features. Photographer. Please look at Lulu.com and Youtube and other blogs. Angela is also a speaker and speech trainer if you need one.

Too Many Adjectives, said writer Dahl

I read an article in the Daily Mail online. A man re-discovered a letter which he received from Raould Dahl, responding to a request from a then 17 year old for comments on a school project short story.

I would agree with Dahl that too many adjectives slow down an action story. However, different types of stories and audiences and subject matter require different styles.

I disagree with the example Dahl chose. 'She had a bosom' is a nonsense. Every woman has a bosom. to say that implies the writer has a one track mind. (He didn't care whether she was intelligent or had a job. She had a bosom. That was enough.)

The first four word sentence is terse. It did not create any picture in my mind's eye of the woman, but of the writer or speaker.

'A shapely, prominent bosom', however, focuses my mind on a vision of a rather well-endowed woman. A novelist has time for such long sentences. Descriptions are expected in novels as a pause between action.

But a short story writer might need to cut down on adjectives simply to cram more action into one thousand words. One thousand is the limit for the many modern short stories, because that number or words will fit into on one or two pages in a magazine with advertisements down the side.
***
Readers' comments on the same article express surprise that a letter from such a famous person had been mislaid and only just discovered.

The loss of a letter does not surprise me at all. A single sheet of paper can easily sit in an untouched file for years, stored in an attic or at the back of a cupboard. Today's houses are filled with paperwork. Writers and creative people are notorious collectors.

It takes a scientific mind to catalogue every paper and be able to locate everything.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2983602/Dear-Jay-asking-Roald-Dahl-s-brutally-honest-letter-boy-17-asked-author-advice-Level-project.html


Angela Lansbury BA Hons is an author with books on lulu.com, videos on Youtube and more blog posts on travel and other subjects. She is also a freelance photo-journalist, author and caricaturist and gives speeches and trains speakers.