I've been tagged

Thanks to my dear friend, Brian Sibley (that's him above on the right) I've been tagged with a meme based on the Alphabet. It's my first go at something like this, but here goes:-

A - Age 55 - but not for much longer.

B - Bed Size Double. I currently share it with Cuddles the Teddy Bear, Herschel the Jewish Care Bare and Elliot the Elephant.



C - Chore you Hate Paying the bills.

D - Dog's Name Candy - a lovely boxer with an unwrinkled face and long nose who was our pet when I was a child. She used to wash my brothers ears and revived my grandmother, who had diabetes, when she fainted. Candy was stolen when she was around 10 months old and we never got another dog.

E - Essential Start to Your Day Turning on the PC.

F - Favourite Colour Jade.

G - Gold or Silver I tend to wear silver more.

H - Height 5' 4 1/2" - and I'm unable to wear heels higher than an inch and a half.

I - Instruments you play Qwerty keyboard - and my own vocal instrument.

J - Job Title Freelance writer and author - currently underemployed.

K - Kids Daughter Suzanne, aged 29, who lives with me.

L - Living Arrangements A chaotic spacious 2nd floor flat - one bedroom for me, one for Suzanne and one our Chinchilla Kylie lets us rent out for the PC and 2nd television.


M - Mum's Name Sadie, nee Jacobs - she's a real trooper (I'm sure my Dad agrees).



N - Nicknames Occasionally called Shazza or Sharonski and when I call my father Pops, he calls me Dops.

O - Overnight hospital stays other than birth 6 orthopaedic ops, and about half a dozen other ops.

P - Pet Peeve People without any manners - my philosophy is 'p0liteness maketh the person'.

Q - Quote from a movie I have to share with Brian, the love of 'If you can't say nuffin nice, don't say nuffin at all' (Thumper)

"Keep close to ze candles" - Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein (the candles were never lit)

Either "Savvie?" or "Oh Bugger!" - Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean (it's the way he says it)



I know it's not from a film, but of course I have to include 'You might very well think that... I couldn't possibly comment', and 'Dismal egalitarianism running rampant with the royal seal of approval' from House of Cards - delicious lines created by Andrew Davies and superbly delivered by Ian Richardson.



R - Right or left-handed Predominantly right-handed, but I'm fairly ambidextrous.

S - Sports Swimming and watching most sports - I used to play hockey and netball when I was at school and represented Strathclyde University at the Scottish Universities Championships in 1971/2 - there are four ladies in a team and there were four ladies at the club, so I was an automatic choice.

T - Time you wake up Your guess is as good as mine and certainly several times during the night.

U - Underwear More Bridget Jones than Grace Jones.

V - Vegetable you Dislike Does garlic count as a vegetable?

W - Ways you run late When I was in my last few years of school, at Hutchesons' Grammar, they were very strict generally, but certainly about punctuality and I always prefer to be early rather than late. Unfortunately, I don't always manage it these days - usually because I think I've got more time than I have.

X-rays you've had - Various.

Y - Yummy food you make Chicken soup and lockshen, plum sponge pudding.

Z - Zoo favourite - Animals that are cute, interesting and not too smelly.

Where would we be without friends

It's tremendous when you find a friend who happens to be a very talented writer, broadcaster and produces wonderful Blogs Brian Sibley that have become addictive to many readers, myself included. Indeed, his readership are living in dread of the day, in the not too distant future, when Brian reaches a remarkable 1,000 Blogs, as he is threatening to stop or drastically reduce his output. I don't think we could cope without our daily fix.
I'm particularly indebted to Brian for today's blog, You Might Very Well Think... in which he has provided some marvellous publicity for the book We Could Possibly Comment .
Brian has been a tower of strength in providing me with editorial assistance and advice and has been an absolute rock, particularly over the past few months during which the book has really taken shape.
His choice of video clips for today's blog include one from House of Cards, which is described thus by one of the contributors to the book, Susannah Harkerwho superbly played Mattie Storin:-
'I was just astonished watching him in the studio in particular, when we did all his office stuff.
I recall watching a scene where Urquhart was taking a pee and he had to address the camera whilst obviously appearing to be having a pee and doing several other things and it was just amazing.'
Another clip Brian chose, is from the 1972 film Man of La Mancha , which starred Peter O'Toole, Sophia Loren, James Coco,Harry Andrews and Brian Blessed.
Brian Blessed who worked with Ian several times, and provided the most memorable of interviews I conducted, said of his performance in the film:
'I only had to look at Ian and he went into hysterics. I was always very naughty with him and it would have him in fits of laughter. Basically, he was a Peter Pan character and he had a wonderful sense of humour.
Ian played the priest wonderfully and with great sensitivity – and he had a lovely singing voice, which I think should have been used much more in musicals. His priest is so moving and it was a gem of a performance.'

The Value of Writers' Groups

If you are at all interested in writing, in whatever form, then I strongly recommend joining a writers' group.

In 2000, when I was keen to be a scriptwriter, I checked out what was available and joined the Glasgow Screenwriters' Group. It was a great source of inspiration and support and helped me to achieve some progress on the screenwriting front, even if I didn't quite make it as far as getting any of my scripts taken up.

When I decided that I needed to broaden my writing horizons I discovered, through the Scottish Association of Writers, that there was a rather good group on the other side of Glasgow. I joined Strathkelvin Writers' in 2003 Strathkelvin Writers and have been there ever since.

The Club caters for all writing needs - articles, short stories, novels, poetry and drama and the members have a wide range of experience, from beginners, to highly published authors, like Margaret Thomson Davis Margaret Thomson Davis

Strathkelvin is a highly friendly, supportive group and has been responsible for launching the careers of many a writer. At last night's meeting, for instance, there was a 'work in progress' session at which members, myself included, brought along pieces at various stages of readiness and read extracts from them. The reward for 'putting ourselves out there' was a lot of positive feedback, constructive criticism and suggestions for possible markets and ways of developing the writing.

One thing I've always found to be a joy as a writer, is the level of support shown by fellow travellers along the long lonely road, and the genuine pleasure we feel about each others' successes. I remember the first writer I contacted, scriptwriter par excellence Andrew Davies - he couldn't have been more helpful - and I'll never forget the late Jack Rosenthal taking the time to make a 45-minute call to me to talk through a script of mine he'd agreed to read.

Recently, whilst I was striving to get my book on Ian Richardson completed, I received tremendous help and encouragement from Brian Sibley, who did a great job editing the book and still continues to provide support in the 'post natal' stages. Brian, by the way, is an excellent writer and his entertaining and insightful Blogs make for compulsive reading.
Brian Sibley

For several years I've been attending the Scottish Association of Writers' Annual Conference
Scottish Association of Writers

and the Writers' Summer School at Swanwick, Derbyshire Writers' Summer School . This year, in their wisdom, they've invited me to run a non-fiction course.

At both of these gatherings, not only have I learnt a great deal, but I've also made many lasting friendships.

So, the point I'm making is that one of the best places to be for a writer, is in the company of other writers. And if you are starting out, or even somewhere along the road, why don't you find out if there's a writers' group near you? If there isn't, you could find out if there is a published writer in the area who might be willing to help, or contact your local council and see if they can help.