Workshop

Alright!  Next up I am running a workshop for the Norwich Writers' Circle on Tuesday the Second of April on writing science fiction.

It is my first time running a workshop, in fact, it's my first time running any form of workshop, talk or writing group, so I'm fairly nervous about the whole thing.  Add to that the fact the science fiction is not and has never been a really popular subject and I'm beginning to become a little stressed about the whole thing.  I guess the main problem is that the general opinion is that science fiction is a subject for geeks.

I have to admit I would like to know why?  I will admit that some fans take it entirely too far, however that is true of any subject, any story, any art.  Some fans are more than worrying fanatics.  Isn't that the story of all religious problems?  There are some people who, for some reason best only know to themselves, will take their intellectual interest entirely too far. It's almost as though they become addicted.

However for the rest of us science fiction is an interesting mental exercise in 'what if'.  What if there was an energy field some beings could tap into?  What if mankind could travel beyonds our solar system and meet other species of beings?  What if some humans developed powers beyond the ordinary?  So why does this make science fiction fans automatically a bunch of geeks?

We enjoy using our minds to discuss intellectual ideas and possibilities.  We can use stories to illustrate political and social problems.  We can tackle what is wrong with society in a way that makes people think, without having the radicals up in arms about what we say.  As Terry Pratchett said, "If I wrote about white people hating black people or black people hating white people, people would go up in arms but if I write about dwarfs hating trolls or trolls hating dwarfs that's alright because it's only fantasy."

However the underlying message so how stupid racism is remains and those that can be reached will hear it and those who don't hear it, well, they probably won't get it even if you beat them over the head with it.

So how does that make us geeks?  Perhaps its because we actually use our brains to think with?  Maybe it's a myth spread by the ones who hear the messages against social wrongs hidden in the stories and don't like what they hear because to change the social wrongs would be to change their attitudes.

When it comes to the workshop, I'm not going to be trying to teach how to write science fiction because, as far as I'm concerned there are no hard and fast rules to write science fiction.  Instead, I'm going to be suggesting ways and means, different story ideas and different styles.  If any one is interested, the workshop is at:

7.30pm

The Assemble House

Theatre Street

Norwich

Norfolk

NR2 1RQ

Crazy Weather

O.K. try this one on for size.

March came in sunny, warm for this time of year and promising of an early spring.  Then, Saturday the ninth, it started snowing.  Yes, that is right, in Norfolk, it started snowing in March.  What is more, it didn't fully melt until the following Thursday.  Then to add insult to injury it snowed again last night (17th - 18th).  Granted, it had all melted by this morning but even so!  Snow in March!  I've heard of March 'In like a lion, out like the lamb' but I'm not sure of 'in like a lamb, out like a lion.'  I'm not sure whether that was part of it.

I suppose that some people maybe confused as to why I'm surprised that it has snowed in March.  There are probably places in the world where snow in March is quite normal, however, Norfolk is not one of them.

Let me explain.

When I was in Middle school if enough snow fell on the last day of the Christmas term to make a light smattering on the grass for three hours then we'd had a white winter.  Even when I was in High School we rarely if ever had snow that lasted for more than a week.  There certainly was never enough to close the High School for a day (more's the pity).

The first really snowy winter we had in my memory was 2009.  We had more snow in the two weeks just after Christmas day then we'd had in my life up to then.  It was especially interesting as my sister had gone out to Oman to see our father for the first time in ages and her flight home made it to the airport in Holland and then very nearly didn't make it home to England.  She was meant to touch down in Norwich airport at half nine in the morning.  The flight didn't make it until twenty five past eleven that night and that was only just because the sweepers had been out clearing the runway like crazy.

2010 was also very snowy and cold, with bouts of snow lasting on until January.

2011 bucked the trend with hardly any snowfall.

Then we had last year, which again had hardly any snowfall over the Christmas and New Year period.  Personally I think it was saving it up for January where it very nearly made me have to pull out of the panto because I very nearly didn't make it to Great Ellingham to perform in it.  Thankfully having a director/producer who owns a bed and breakfast saved the day.

The weather had calmed down a little over February but it seems to be considering coming back for one last try.

And politicians will still tell you that human industry isn't effecting the climate.

Health Issues

First up I'm sorry to all those who came along on Tuesday to the Norwich Writers' Circle to buy 'Leave My Bed Untidy' by Michelle Proby.  I was unavoidable detained.  I guess the best way to fill you in is to go to the beginning.

The third week of February my Mother was diagnosed with cancer.

That statement alone is enough to send my mind into absolute free fall.  How do you process that your Mother, your full time carer, has the most feared condition in the western world?  How do you cope with that?

I'm not entirely sure I'm still sane.

Most of the time I feel O.K.  I feel positive and O.K. with the fact that Mother has cancer, after all, it's more treatable now, she's been on the Salvestrols for years so the tumour can't be that big, if anything there's a chance she started bleeding because the tumour started dying and being shed (the human body is lazy and will take the easiest route to dispose of unwanted tissue).  All great, all the stuff she needs to be surrounded by to get out of this alive.

However, I am suddenly on a hairpin trigger where it comes to anger and frustration.  The slightest thing has me snarling and snapping, wanting to throw things and break things, yell at everybody and anybody in the area.  I've had a back ground headache for weeks that just won't go away and my eczema hasn't been this bad since I left High School.  After all I'm used to it playing up every winter, I had the creams I need to rub in and normally it just stays as a patch on the back of my wrists.  No problem to one who is used to it.  This year it has suddenly flared up so bad it's from my wrists all the way down to the second knuckle of my fingers.  I've also had an acne flare up like nothing else, which isn't helping.

As I said, part of me is wondering if I'm entirely sane any more, especially as the slightest thing puts my bladder next to my eye and I start snivelling like a leaky tap.

To add insult to injury last Friday was the due date for my fourth blood donation.  Now I don't like doing my blood donation for the simple fact that I'm afraid of needles.  I have been afraid of needles since Mr Evans, my head teacher down in Wales, had to tell us about a boy who found a syringe on a building site, decide to play around with it, injected an air bubble into a vein and was dead an hour later.  I mean, you would kind of expect something like that to put an eight year old off needles for the rest of their life.  However, as a matter of principle I go to do my donation.  Mother comes along with me, holds my hand and blabber away with me so I don't concentrate on what the nurse is doing.  It has worked, half of the time.  The first time I was very nervous and I told the staff about my phobia.  They were brilliant and it barely hurt.  The second time, they had to jab around to find the vein.  The third time was even better than the first time.

This time they totally missed.  They were busy jabbing away, I was yelling 'OW' and when the second nurse came along and said something about 'bruising around the catheter' I really started freaking out.  Great isn't it?  Turning into a great blubbering, hiccuping mess on the couch in front of all the nurses and everybody else.  Just blooming brilliant!  Now I'm going to have to get over my fear of needles, I'm also going to have to try and get round my memories of going to pieces on the couch in front of the nurses.  Just great.


PS.  I made a mistake on 'Leave My Bed Untidy'.  Michelle is not schizophrenic, although the doctors did consider that at the time when the police picked her up.  She has been told since then that she doesn't have schizophrenic but lack of sleep brings on similar symptoms.  The last time she had an episode, the doctors had played around with her meds and she hadn't slept for four days straight.  I imagine that would start anybody seeing things, not at least an autistic.

Filming

This is not, unfortunately, to report that my book has been so popular that the film rights have already been snapped up.  Seeing I have not as yet been able to publish my book, it would be a little strange if the film rights were already being bandied about.

Rather, I spent last Saturday helping my good friend Mr Hill film his first directing debut 'Crazed Departure'.  I can now understand why, exactly. they say that film and stage acting are two very different disciplines.

On the stage you have to be able to make a blooper and carry on, smooth it over, blend it in until your audience believes that it was deliberate.  That is not easy but no means, even in a panto, as you have a habit of throwing every body else off the right track as well.

Film on the other hand involves the ability to get up at some God forsaken earlier hour of the morning and instantly be on the top of your game.  It is also the ability to keep your actions and your tone fresh through take after take after take.  The most takes we did on Saturday for one scene was ten and it was making me tired and I was just the assistant whose job it is to note down the scene and take number with the comments from the camera and sound men.  Imagine what it was like on the set of 'The Lord of the Rings' where they did something like seventy one takes per scene.  I'm surprised that none of them collapsed from exhaustion.  It must have been mind numbing after a while and it's no wonder it took about a year to film each one.

It makes me glad that both the actors and the director for 'Crazed Departure' were extremely efficient so we were all done and dusted before the expected time.  I will admit that it was very satisfying to know that we had done the job well and in good time.  I will admit that some of the credit for that goes to the actors as we only had a handful of bloopers but it also goes to a camera team who were on the ball when it came to setting up their equipment.

I also had a couple of cameo roles so watch this space.

Leave My Bed Untidy

My friend Michelle Proby has recently had her book 'Leave My Bed Untidy' published and has give me permission to advertise for her on my blog.

Michelle was twelve years old when she was picked up by the police in her home town of Hull due to what she had been doing under the influence of her undiagnosed autism and schizophrenia.  She was sectioned and housed in Rocroft.  Rocroft has since been shut down due to ninety percent of the staff being found guilty of physical and sexual abuse of the inmates.  My friend Michelle was one of the case studies that helped provide the evidence to shut the place down.

After that her case was reviewed and it was decided that she was too institutionalised for her to go straight into supported housing so she was moved to the low security St Luke's Hospital near Attleborough.  She was allowed escorted leave, which is when I met her at the church on Sunday mornings.

A year later her case was reviewed again and she was moved to Garrow House in Yorkshire, which is the half way point between low security and supported housing.  Part of her rehabilitation there has been the publishing of her poetry book, written over the years of her being on the inside.  However, she is not allowed to sell the copies of her book on the grounds of Garrow House but she is allowed to send the copies to me and if I sell them in her name I can then send her back the money.  How strange is that?

If anyone would like a copy please flag up a message on my blog or come to meet me at the Assembly House every first and third Tuesday of the month, 7.30pm, at the Norwich Writers' Circle.

Review of 'Leave My Bed Untidy':

"A deeply moving collection that speaks of the pain, rage, sorrow and love that exists behind closed doors.  The looking into the mind of someone who has suffered much but who will not be silent.  Written in a language that reaches towards breaching the barriers and crossing the gulfs that cannot be approached in normal conversation.  A brave and powerful work." V. J. Bartlett

Shale Oil - The Hidden Pollution

Shale oil is booming or at least it is in America.  It is an Industrial Revolution that is now visible from space.  Not because the facilities needed are hundreds of acres across, which is what I expected to be told.  No, the reason that it can now been seen from space is because each and every shale oil field burns off 'unwanted' gas.

'Unwanted'?  I have to admit that I thought it was a funny way of putting it, considering the size of the gas bill I had to help pay last winter, up by eight per cent and the highest quarterly bills came out in January.  They could send some of that 'unwanted' natural gas in my direction.

However, when you extract oil, even shale oil, which is mixed with a lot of sand, natural gas comes up with it but it's uneconomic to capture it and then pipe it away to storage  so the easiest thing is to burn it off.  Oh and guess what?  America isn't even the worse for burning off!  Russia is the biggest burner and Nigeria, the second, burns off the equivalent of the UK's yearly gas use every three months!

So while everybody with a heart and a soul and a dose of humanity is struggling to decrease the effect humans have on the planet, the oil industry is farting out enough green house gases to heat up the planet faster than anything before.  Kind of makes you wonder why you bother, doesn't it?  Granted I wouldn't want to sink down to the level of the industries that put profit and ease before the worth of the planet.  That and the fact that there are people and industries who are working to drop their imprint on the environment.  For example the landfill dump site that, instead of just letting the methane produced by all that rotting waste dissipate into the atmosphere, pipes off the gas to a power station where it is used to produce electricity.  And as far as I know they receive some money for that.

I wonder, has America ever considered the amount of money it would receive doing that with it's 'unwanted' shale oil gas?

The Possibilities

O.K I am going to take a risk of loosing popularity here and confess something.  I am a Practising Christian.

I am a Christian in that I believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that he came to show us humans a better way to live with one another.  I am Practising because I haven't got it right yet.

As such I am more than willing to talk over the points of view of others, be they atheist or a different denomination from me.  As such I have had friendly and very interesting contact with the Jehovah's Witnesses.  Granted they have some view points on which I totally disagree, however, I have come to the conclusion that it is only through contact with people of other faith that your own faith can grow.

Coming to the point is this - one of their resent publications contained an article on the promises that are testified to in the Bible.  As I read through the list it dawned on me that the only one of these promises that lays outside of the grasp of humankind, right now, is the ability to bring the dead back to life.  For example:

"No more war"

Just because it has never been done in the past does not mean that it cannot be done in the future.  We have the Internet, we have freedom of speech, we have blogs so that we don't have to rely on the newspapers who dress up the facts to say what they want them to say.  We have organisations like 'Muslim for a Month', which work tirelessly to bring understanding and acceptance between different people.  We don't have to accept what the governments of this world say any more when they are trying to point out enemies to us.  So we are different people?  If God wanted us all the same he would have made us tins of beans.  There is not nearly as much separating us as we thinking there is.  Every human being bleeds red.  Can we go on ignoring that common brotherhood?

"Plenty of Grain Upon the Earth"

If you take this to mean all food then we already have more than enough.  America has 'food mountains'.  England has a third of all food bought being thrown away.  Half of the fruit and vegetables grown in Britain are thrown away before it even reaches the shops because it fails the 'asetics' tests.  All that food thrown away just because it doesn't look quite right.  If people would stop
being greed then instead of our cargo ships sailing out to Africa and the Third World using sand as ballast, they could use all that (to us) unwanted food.  If humans valued the common good above gold then no-one would have to go hunger.  Maybe the Western World won't have so much but won't that help with the obesity crisis?

"There will be no more sickness"

'If people would stop wasting money on war we'd have the care for cancer by now.'  A professional doctor told that to my Nan twenty years ago and what is really sad is that we have the cure for cancer (search for Salvestrols) but the man who discovered it could not advertise because he will not sell the patent to the big pharmaceutical companies because he believed (quite rightly) that they would make people pay thousands for each pill.  Because he won't sell out to the big companies they told the University where he researched that if he ever advertised his discovery the companies would stop all funding to the University.  So he didn't advertise but the knowledge starting spreading word of mouth.
When the death threats started on his family he lost his mind.  It's only because he was able to set up branches in America and Canada before hand that the work has been able to continue in his absence.
Again the Internet can help us take back the power from those who would abuse it.

Looking at in that light the only thing that stops mankind taking a huge step towards a world paradise is greed and laziness.  Think of the possibilities if we started standing up for what is right instead of for what is easy.


PS. I have tried using a different computer to upload my photographs but still no luck.  Will keep trying.