Away in Devon

I am enjoying working on my novel. It's the development of my novella 'Coming of Age'. The minor characters in Eliza Augusta's life are having their own story told. We still see Eliza Augusta as the 'matriarch' and I hope the whole celebrates the talents of women who, for the most part, have to get along financially without men - or  a family life with children - in many cases. They find different ways of living. My novel will still span 1918 - 1978. In that way women's suffrage, (1918)  at the start of the novel, is balanced at the end with Mrs Thatcher's rise to become PM. Two important events which are good bookends for the work.

I know one or two agents at our Anthology Launch on Tuesday wondered if the novel was a saga . It's more a fictional study, based on interview and research, of women's independence through those years.

Speaking of independence - mum had a drink of tea yesterday. She can't hold the cup herself yet - well she needed to be sitting up for that - but it is progress. She may move to the rehabilitation community hospital next week. That's where the real physio starts. I do hope to see her sitting up - and more especially - in a wheelchair and dressed - so we can move her about. I think it would do her good to not feel she has to be bedridden. That would be great progress.

In Devon for a holiday so I will sign off from my blog for a couple of weeks. Let's hope the sun continues to shine!

You can't push the river

It is interesting that I interviewed my mother about her memories, loves and hobbies only last year. Given her recent stroke it's a reminder that we can't always put things off until another day. Another day may not arrive. When I took down notes about her life history she was then eighty eight - and I garnered some rich material.
      I plan to develop my novella 'Coming of Age' and expand the stories of the minor characters. One of them is Vi, born in the nineteen twenties. The central character Eliza Augusta, will remain- it is her history. She gets the married-women's vote, aged thirty, in 1918. The novella follows her life through to 1978 when our first woman prime minister was elected. However there is much back story to be used - my mother's story, for instance, as ARP warden and switchboard operative, model and secretary.
     The character Maud can be developed too. In my story she will go on to become one of the few women bus conductresses and licensee of a chain of pubs. Other interviewees have professional jobs - from the 1950s onwards - and their story can be told. They all revolve the great master butcher - Eliza Augusta  - sister, aunt or great aunt to Vi and other minor characters.

     It is also good to know that my mother's story will not be lost. Tonight she was lying in her hospital bed, she had been sitting and was dressed. She still has the tube feed but her hair was brushed and she looked stronger. Tomorrow, we are told, she can start having real porridge.
     'Mum. You can have real porridge tomorrow. You like that don't you?'
     'Depends how they make it.'
     'Have you had these little puddings and drinks today?', I ask.
     'Don't like them.'

      Thank goodness for real porridge then! Maybe she'll make ninety after all. Maybe she'll gradually be able to eat again. You can't push the river.
       She's had a massive stroke but still knows what she wants and where she wants to go after hospital. But so glad I interviewed her last year - last week it looked as if I might have been too late to say anything to her of real worth.

Disability

Having written about the loss of disability benefits in my story 'Single File' and overseen the SEN and disability policy (and various rewrites) at school I'm now debating whether the after effects of my mother's stroke are considered disabilities. Does my mother have special needs herself,now, after years of working with severely handicapped children and young people? Is the paralysis down her left side temporary or permanent? Can she sit in a wheelchair without being able to sense her left side?

   We are so glad mum can speak, listen, recall and respond. We are so relieved she can at least swallow little meals. But, at nearly ninety, this massive stroke has taken it out of her. Mum is very tired. I try to read to her, show her 2 minute films on the ipad, and she enjoys it. She reads the headlines in the paper to me and reads messages in her cards-then falls asleep. Her body needs all the energy it can get to recover and repair, it seems.

   We are hoping we can find some nursing provision which means she can be at our homes for a few weeks at a time. Is this a pipe dream? I don't know but I think it's what she wants. She looked after folks most of her life and has rarely been ill - until now. Ninety is a bit late for learning how to be ill! But none of our elders have been in institutions for long. Mum did the caring - now it's her time to be cared for.

Pass the baton on. Pass the baton on.

Trussell Trust

It seemed a bit of a blow to me, as a writer detailing the effects of Austerity, when The IMF showed there was an upturn in Britain's economy. Oh no! What will happen to all my material for stories about the difficulties faced during the cuts? My sidelong glances at situations brought about by being laid off  - such as in 'Gardening Leave' - or the fear of losing disability benefits in 'Single File' - these scenarios would be irrelevant in a booming economy! But on the same day as the IMF report the Trussell Trust showed there was an ever expanding list of people in need - folks who cannot afford to buy sufficient food to live on. It seems my stories 'Austerity and Other Cuts' will remain relevant for some time to come. They may be more than social satire-maybe more a commentary on life in Britain - despite its being the sixth richest nation on the planet. For some it is the best of times ... For others it certainly isn't.

Joy and Sadness

It was with great joy that I opened our anthology 'A Cache' to see my piece 'All the Responsibility - None of the Power' in print. Two encouraging forwards from Philip Hensher and Naomi Alderman and an acknowledgement for my part in the editing of the submissions were good to see.
    It was, however, with great sadness when I took down the 'Happy Easter' cards. It hasn't been a happy Easter. A little after eleven o'clock on Easter morning mum, who is coming ninety, was slumped over the sofa bed. I called 111, and the paramedics were on the scene within minutes. Of course mum had had a stroke but she was treated quickly once at hospital. She was out of A&E and in a bed in The Acute Stroke Unit a few hours later. She was trying to talk- it was slurred but she was understanding us.
     Monday morning was a terribly low point. We were told the survival rates for her age group and what damage had been done following what had been a massive stroke. She'd had a bad reaction to the treatment (anaphylactic shock). In essence the treatment hadn't worked. It had not dispersed the clot. We were told the worst. Thankfully mum didn't know. She was talking and was aware of the other side of her body - despite what the scan said. It was a terrible few hours.
     Yesterday, Tuesday, was a much better day. The second consultant was much more optimistic. Not based on what he saw of the scan but what he saw of mum. He was able to communicate with her and mum was thinking clearly. Good for her! She was talking more freely and there's even a chance she may be able to take fluids. The instruction 'nil by mouth' may be removed.

Readings, short lists, judging submissions and the anthology

After a busy few months April should be the busiest of all. After arranging reading events, (with musical accompaniment !) and making reading to others as natural an experience for me as possible,  I'm back helping judge the submissions for the Bath Short Story Award. A fantastic opportunity to see how other short story writers are faring. Thank you Jude Higgins for inviting me along as reader.

As I write this blog my website is almost ready, the cover design for the BSU Creative Writing Anthology is done, the Anthology itself is being prepared for the printers and my collection 'Austerity and Other Cuts' has been shortlisted for the Janklow and Nesbit prize. What larks! Soon we will have an anthology and we can all start thinking about literary agents. I have just ordered another set of business cards ready to give out at the Anthlogy Launch in May. I thought writing was a quiet, leisurely activity!

Have yet to finish reading Polly Toynbee's critique of Cameron's mid-term 'report' but have begun Nathan Filer's Costa Award winning 'The Shock of the Fall'. So lucky for BSU Creative Writers that 'one of our own' won Costa. I am also planning to read one of the larger works on 'Austerity'  - critical pieces that more or less say austerity measures haven't worked all through history.

I have more plans to develop my novella 'Coming of Age', following up the interviews I've done with women who didn't have a grammar school education but who had some paper qualifications despite the advent of World War II. 1918-1938-1978 are becoming significant years in this piece of writing.

I am putting my story 'Migrants' on hold until I see what interests literary agents. I have written four chapters for my novel 'Outside the Wendy House' (aka 'Where's That Cardboard Dinosaur?'). It's a satire on (mostly) state education as we know it in England - or should that be as I know it ?!

Birthdays!
Over the last two weeks I have been busy arranging an evening of readings. On my birthday, March 14th, friends and neighbours celebrated and shared their creativity. Two of us read our short stories, to an appreciative audience. Paul showed us a film he made, which is available on You Tube. Jan and Richard talked about the inspiration for their art work and ceramics and Sue read chapter one of her story for young teens. We were missing a musician, but, next time, we hope Geoff, a guitarist, will enchant us.