So true.

This is one of those books you never forget. Jan was 21 when her family was sent to a POW camp in Indonesia, and she was forced into being a sex slave for Japanese soldiers. It's an extraordinary piece of historical writing, and one of the first written by a so-called 'comfort woman'.
What I remember is the nuanced analysis of her experience, including how she felt guilty for being well fed while her family starved. (they needed her to remain attractive to the soldiers). She never told anyone about it until she was nearly eighty. Imagine, carrying that awfulness of repeated, ongoing daily rape, day after day, year after year, and never putting the burden down.
The kind of book you keep and reread.
https://www.amazon.com/50-Years-Silence-Jan-Ruff-OHerne/dp/1743108532 ... See more

Grit: you can't be a writer without it. And the more stickability you can develop, the easier your journey will be.
I was blown away by the superhuman grit shown by Tommy Caldwell in this movie on Netflix. Watch it - he's an inspiration. https://www.facebook.com/1tommycaldwell/videos/265912450906933/ ... See more

I’ve signed up for Samantha van Riet’s illustration course so I can explore free motion machine embroidery as an illustration technique.
I find drawing hard - difficult to switch off my critical left brain - so I’m going to try loads of self kindness and see if it gets me through the hump.
Here’s a bunny I doodled with dip pen and ink. The story is already written - it featured a cat, but this bunny speaks to me and there’s no reason why a rabbit can’t use a laptop as efficiently as a cat. ... See more

This looks like a great idea - a free course on illustrating natural history.

This looks good. I’m going to check it out tomorrow.

Michael Rosen telling it like it is.

I can’t wait to see this. I adore The Tiger who Came for Tea. It’s such a little microcosm of sixties decor and fashion.

I've resurrected my blog. Here's my first post in ages.

I watched Separated at Birth last night - the Canadian thriller about a politician whose abducted child returns as an adult. It started so well - the first two thirds were great, with unexpected twists and Brittany Allen as always was fantastic. But there's only so much you can do with a crap script, no matter how good an actress you are.
The last third was a mishmash of changing points of view, unexplored motivations and unexplained twists that created a convoluted and ultimately not-believable climax.

So it's all very well to criticize someone else's work, but how to fix it, that's a different kettle of fish. Here are some ideas:
1 They needed to introduce the idea of the unreliable narrator earlier - even if it was just hinted at in the first part.
2 They needed to settle on a point of view character and stay in their viewpoint throughout.
3 Bringing in new characters in the last quarter - never a good idea. I had no idea what was going on by the climax.
4 They should have started developing the plot with the end, and woven backwards, bringing all the strands through to the start. This felt as though they started at the beginning, and by the time they reached the climax, had run out of space, so crammed it all in. It's all about balance. ... See more