A LONELY EXISTENCE

Current Work: Editing (non-fiction), short story development, submissions
Listening to: The sound of grass being strimmed
Reading: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Keeping in touch
The life of a writer can be a lonely one and I've found that more particularly so since re-locating to a foreign country. In the UK I was a member of a writing group which tried to meet monthly and who were a great inspiration to me. We formed following a course we all attending on developing our writing skills and it just seemed a natural progression.
Anyway, I was recently featured in the Members Section of the Writing Magazine and I indicated that I would be interested in developing a 'virtual' writing group with other fellow ex pats. Well, this week we have finally started to get going. There are four of us all women, two in Italy, one in Spain and the other in Germany, so fairly European.

I've also had my blog accepted on a site called Authors Blogs, which provides a list of links to writers blogs where you might get some sort of virtual support. Staying in touch with other writers is important, not only for our development but also for a bit of support.

The Riddler
Mmm... this weeks conundrum has to be the use of the passive voice. In fiction writing it can obviously make things very boring and doesn't help to move the story on, so I try my hardest to rethink what it is I (or my characters) is trying to show. But in non-fiction writing and particularly academic writing, the passive voice is used quite regularly. This can make the reading a little laborious and sometimes I feel I've lost the will to read another passive sentence! I have to remember which hat I am wearing at the time.

The Book Worm

This week there are two. Well one and a bit. The first one is the 'bit' one. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale only lasted on my bedside table for a night. It's an interesting subject - a story about a murder of a young child at the time of the establishment of the first 'detectives'. And its a true story. But its told like a report, based on the facts gathered at the time, has no dialogue to speak of and therefore I...fell asleep. It has a Judy and Richard nomination though and I don't doubt the skills of the author. Just not one for me.
Now for the second book...

Title: The Reader by Bernard Schlink
Characters: A young fifteen year old boy and an older, illiterate woman
Plot: He forms a physical relationship with her but then she disappears. He comes across her years later at her trial for crimes committed agains the Jews in WWII.
Setting: Post second world war years in Germany.
Perspective: From the young boy and the influence his relationship had on the rest of his life
In a Word: Short, (it's a translation), tepid yet interesting
Recommendation: The film may be much better, but I found this a little lacking.