So have done no writing or studying yet today due to: rows at home, having to drive, doing shopping/housework,doing more driving and going for a pot of tea with my friend Carol. I’m back at the wee house now so doing my blog before Harry and Murray get back.

Last night I enroled Harry at the gym in Wisbech which seemed to cheer him up muchly. He was in there for two hours so I sat in the caff in Tesco’s (the gym is in the same building as Tesco’s just opposite the caff) and read the intro to the course materials and intro to the forum on my iphone. Harry came out in a pretty good mood and by the time he did I knew a lot more about what is expected from me on the MA. Plan to read more tonight after the boys have had their teas.

Today  read a v. weird short story by Clarice Lispector who’s a Brazilian author translated  into English. Not sure if the weirdness is from the translation or the writer but I like it. Its weird in a good way.

I’m reading her stories because this October I’m having a story of mine published in a thang called No Bindings. It a sort of folded poster full of poems and flash fictions that you can read like a book or put on your wall and it’s accompanied by a podcast about the creative process. The editor Lily is coming to record me for the podcast bit in October and we’re going to explore the importance of memory in story writing whilst sorting through old photos  (This was inspired by Lily not being sure if my story was about real events or not.) I should stress Lily and I have never met and do not know each other beyond the fact that I submitted a flash story to her project) but this suggestion really struck a chord with me. My story is very sad – about loss – a fictional loss but everything I write, I realised, when pushed to consider it, is hovering in a hinterland close to autobiography but not quite – I use names of real people in an imagined setting, a real voice talking about a fictional happening. Lily thought my writing to be in the same continuum as Clarice Lispector (what a great name by the way) and now I’ve read one of her stories I kinda see what she means. Am going to read some more tonight when I’ve ploughed through the ‘how to use the on-line library’ bit of the website.

Lily is going to get all the contributors together too so we can chat about our work. I love the idea of this sort of ‘flash’ community that will meet once, share stories then dissolve – reminds me of the OU. You get so close to you tutor group digitally speaking for a year then you all break up come June never to meet again. You share such personal, intimate stuff, bearing souls and creativity then poof it all dissolves.

Right off to do some learning now. Oh yes – if you’re wondering why there’s a pug at the start of the page, it’s because when I started writing I thought I wouldn’t have much to say and thought it might fill the page up a bit. The pug in question is Hogarth who loves nothing better that to snooze on my chair, as you can see.