Murmur-ations

This year, I had a writing bucket list moment. The opportunity to work for the BBC as a first tier judge for their 500 Words children's writing competition. And what an opportunity it was. As I know myself, it takes a lot of effort to write a story, and then to take that next step to submit it to be judged by a stranger is not an easy decision. But I was delighted that each child took that next step and that I was accepted to take on this important role for the age range of 5 to 9 year olds. So that all stories were judged on an equal basis, I was given a five-point judging criteria of: originality, characterisation, plot, use of creative language and level of enjoyment. Tips and guidance by famous children's authors were also provided to all the judges. I was told not to judge the stories on their quality of spelling, grammar or punctuation as it was all about the story content. I then had to score each criteria out of 10; these were then totalled for each story and sent ...

After a morning of writing, I rewarded myself with a walk around Eskrigg Nature Reserve in Lockerbie this afternoon. This beautiful place has been the inspiration behind much of my writing: The Dragon of Annandale (a short story published in Lockerbie Writers’ Anthology in 2016) and Eskrigg Murmurations (a poem published in The Annandale Herald in 2019), for a start. The Dragon of Annandale tells of how a dragon, who lives at Eskrigg, invents the sport of curling with the help of his woodland friends and a fairy from the island of Ailsa Craig. If you didn’t know already, Lockerbie is famous for curling, its stones crafted from the rock of Ailsa Craig (which is Gaelic for ‘fairy rock’). Hope you can see the connection? I am delighted to say that my story is read to any pre-school visitors to Eskrigg by the reserve ranger. Eskrigg Murmurations It’s dawn, and swans silently sweep the pond dampening boisterous behaviour from ducks and patrolling the banks for wayward drago...

I was having a duvet day; the first one in two years. I was feeling sorry for myself. Then my husband told me that a certain online bookstore was offering a £5 voucher if you spent over £25. Then I also remembered I had an unspent voucher with the same online store; a birthday present from my Dad. 💡 After ten minutes of salivating over loads of books, I narrowed my choice down to my favourite author, Margaret Atwood. Simple. I could pre-order her forthcoming sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale: The Testaments. BUT NO!!!!!! It wasn’t going to arrive until September! 😢 Right. I’ll look for another Margaret Atwood novel, I thought. It didn’t take me long. The Heart Goes Last – the story of a couple living destitute in their car, who are then offered a home in a new town. Great! But every second month they have to live in a prison. Fab! … I love a bit of dysfunctional society fiction. Mmm … I then felt a pang for a bit of Scottish lit. I’d seen the 1998 film, Acid House, years ago and ...

Procrastination is defined by the Oxford dictionary as ‘ The action of delaying or postponing something’.  I didn’t learn about the word procrastination until I was 17 and studying A-level history; the Elizabethan politicians and The Pope at the time were very good at procrastinating, and each for their own political gain. I have realised that I procrastinate a lot.  About writing, ironing (that’s a given) and even what to have for dinner (watching the newborn lambs in the field at the back of my house does put me off having lamb chops for tea).  It has hindered me, but equally, it has saved me at times.  So, I’ve decided not to be so hard on myself and allow a set period of ‘procrastination time’; usually 10 minutes in the evening and sometimes in the morning as well. This is perfect for Facebook surfing, downloading music from YouTube and Googling for information.  I prefer to call it my ‘downtime’.  After that, I am ready to go back to the work, wr...

Did you know that penguins have a National Penguin Awareness Day on the 20 th January and World Penguin Day on the 25 th April?  They must be kind of special to have TWO days for us to remember them by; that’s two more than sheep.  I have always believed you can’t go wrong with a good penguin film, visiting them at the zoo, of if you are lucky, to see them in the wild. To celebrate penguins in this blog, here are three fun facts about them: ·        Penguins can hold their breath under water for 20 minutes. ·        The ‘little’ or ‘fairy’ penguin is the smallest of the penguin species, measuring 33cm in height; they live in southern Australia and New Zealand. ·        Penguins spend up to 75% of their life at sea. To test your knowledge about penguins, have a gander at this article from The Telegraph newspaper. Happy penguin awareness world day!!!! PS No penguins were har...

Despite the Siberian snow today, DD and I decided to go for a walk up a local hill in the one 30 minute slot where it wasn’t snowing for the entire day.  Reaching the field at the top of the hill, the snow was almost knee deep in places and DD marked out her sledge route; she realised that she had no choice but to head towards a flock of sheep that had congregated at the bottom of the field. After one complete ‘sledge’ the sheep ran off, but returned soon after to watch her walk back up the hill with her sledge.  One brave ewe followed her along her sledge tracks, but then stopped and stared at us about 20 feet away.  Puzzled by her interest in us, DD tried to communicate in ‘sheep’ with her with a series of ‘baas’, but the only response we got was a Paddington Bear/Taxi Driver hard stare.  We then resorted to a primary school playground game of slowly moving towards the ewe when she wasn’t looking, and standing very still when it turned her head back to look at ...