The Spirit of the Age

Something to consider. 

"... the transaction between a writer and the spirit of the age is one of infinite delicacy, and upon a nice arrangement between the two the whole fortune of his words depends.  Orlando had so ordered it that she was in an extremely happy position; she need neither fight her age, nor submit to it; she was of it, yet remained herself.  Now, therefore, she could write ..."

Orlando 1928

Virginia Woolf 1927

This Head Needs a Book in It

Sky Girl has flown - on her way to my agent to be read and commented upon.  Track changes and dotted pink lines galore will ensue.  In the meantime, of course there are many useful things I could be doing ... but the feeling of a head with no book in it was just no good.  So I've plunged into the work-in-progress I abandoned a year ago and it's great to be back! 

And in other news, son Thomas Heitler graduated this week with a MDes (with Distinction) in Comics and Graphic Novels from University of Dundee.  Congratulations!

100 Armistice Days - Day 98

I've been part of the 100 Armistice Days project - 100 writers writing 100 words* about someone who experienced World War I.  The result is a poignant, heart-warming, heart-breaking collection of photos, paintings, artefacts, writing and research which you can browse here.

My centena is inspired by my grandfather Dr James Mortimer Clark who was a doctor with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, before going as a medical missionary to China, where he died in 1925.  My piece is called Except ... and you can see it here.

James Mortimer Clark 

Canadian Army Medical Corps (photo taken 1918 or 1919) 

Vera, Mort, my mum and Miss Dale in China 

(photo taken probably 1923)

*A centena - a piece of 100 words where the first and last three words are the same.

Second Place Rosette - Poems About Britain

Coming out on Thursday 8 November is Emma Press' anthology of poems about "the customs, rituals and practices that make up life in modern Britain."  My Hogmanay in the Hills is the last poem in the book - one of the advantages of writing about the last day of the year!  I'm looking forward to seeing it in the flesh, and if you'd like to get hold of a copy for yourself, you can pre-order Second Place Rosette here.