As it Seemed to Me, by John Cole, Reviewed.

This political memoir examines the journalist's thirty-odd years in the trade. It covers a period through which I lived, not quite contemporaneously with the author, who's senior to me by twenty years. Nevertheless, I watched his television reports through the period and, in reading this work, I could again hear the tortured vowels of his Ulster accent.

I always admired the man as a political commentator and reading the book only serves to increase that admiration for someone for whom honesty and pragmatic realism were clearly guiding principles. His neutrality continues, as it did during his long and illustrious career in a field for which he was truly fitted. Moving from his native Northern Ireland to England early in his working life, he served on such august bodies as the Guardian, the Observer and, of course, the BBC in various roles from reporter to editor, ending up as the senior political commentator for that broadcaster.

The book is written very much from the point of view of the observer of political life and there are places where the author's assumption of the reader's knowledge and interest in some of the minutiae is taken for granted. I never reached that level of absorption at the time and so certain passages became less clear to me and there were a number I skipped completely. But there are over 400 pages of dense prose here, so some skipping is, perhaps, excusable.

John Cole's delivery is clearly that of the experienced and professional journalist, with never a word wasted. He packs a great deal into each sentence and the writing can hardly be faulted for its presentation of a complex period of British history.

That I find myself in sympathy with his misgivings about many events and the attitudes of some politicians, particularly the imperious and overbearing Margaret Thatcher, obviously makes me more sympathetic to what he has to say. It's encouraging to know that my impression of our first female Prime Minister as an inflexible martinet with fixed ideas based on ideology rather than pragmatic reality is reinforced by this man who lived close to the action.

This is a book I read initially because it was on my shelves and I'd promised myself I'd read all such volumes before I bought any more. I can't recall how I came by it. Probably, it was one of a package offered by one of the many book clubs I've belonged to during my lengthy reading career. I'm sure I didn't buy it as a separate and targeted book at the time. But I'm glad I've given it the time it deserves, even if somewhat belatedly (it was published in 1995).

It's reinforced some of my impressions of the period, repudiated others, educated me about many and filled in gaps I hadn't realised existed in my knowledge of the time I lived through.

For any reader whose idea of a good book is restricted to the fantasies of fiction, there's nothing here for you. But for those interested in recent British history, the shenanigans of politicians or the profession of journalism, this is a damn good read and I recommend it to you.

A Commemoration of my father at 100

Mum & Dad on their wedding day, 1953.

My real father, the man who gave me life, died less than 3 weeks before I was born and I know him only through the memories of others, as a good man. But my mother, who died a week after my 16^th birthday, married Richard Allison when I was about 5 years old. On the occasion of what would have been his 100^th birthday, this short piece commemorates the very special man who raised me as his own son.

Richard Herbert Allison, to give him his full name, would have been 100 years old today. He died, aged 92, on July 13^th 2004, following a fall.

An only child, at 18, he lost his own father to cancer. A man who could not live without a woman in his life, he married 4 times; my mother, May, being his 3^rd wife. When he married May, he took on my older sister, Denise, and me. May took on his son, Barry, who is 6 weeks my senior. Later, they both brought the youngest member of the family, Stephen, into being. We were a real family, with no delineation caused by different parentage, and, as children, we all received equal love from both parents. In fact, I had what I consider an idyllic childhood, characterised by love, adventure and humour.

Richard worked at two jobs for most of his life. He was initially a dental technician, making false teeth, and later a travelling salesman, representing a national dental supply company and visiting customers all over Yorkshire. His second job was as a wedding photographer, often for his own business but sometimes as a stringer for other wedding photography businesses. He loved his photography, or, more accurately, he loved his cameras. Not a particularly creative man, he was an excellent technician and, in spite of a lifetime with poor eyesight, always ensured his pictures were pin sharp.

Image via WikipediaIt was from Richard that I gained an interest in photography when he rewarded me with a folding camera for a good school report at the age of 11. My mother, a talented painter, gifted me with an eye for a picture, so I had both technical and creative influences for my photography.

Richard had an interesting war (1939-45); beginning as a medic with the army, stationed at Spurn Point and Bull Fort in the mouth of the Humber Estuary. He soon went on to become a fire fighter and rose to the rank of Captain, taking his regiment to France on D Day and then travelling to Belgium and Holland, earning a 'Mention in Despatches' on the way by rescuing one of his men from a booby-trapped and burning building.

He was well-read, with a particular liking for the novels of Ryder Haggard and other adventure tales. He taught himself French and Dutch and could still speak both even at the end of his life.

It was from Richard that I learned my love of astronomy. He could point out all the major and some of the minor constellations and recognised the planets as they wandered across our heavens. A nature lover, he could name any bird he saw, either at rest or on the wing. And he knew all the butterflies and most moths we ever came across. But he had no idea about wild plants and only a basic knowledge of trees.

Richard, me, Stephen, May, Barry, Denise. Beverley Westwoods, 1959

A walker, he enjoyed roaming the countryside and often took us on walks, pointing out the various birds and insects we encountered. He'd been a cyclist for many years and, through this, developed a great fear of wasps. On one occasion, when the M1 motorway had just opened, I was travelling with him when a wasp flew into the old Morris Minor he was driving. He stopped the car where it was and got out, refusing to return until the offending insect had been ejected. That there was virtually no traffic on the road made this more a humorous than an anxious episode. It was only later that I learned he'd been cycling through a piece of local common ground, speeding downhill across the Beverley Westwoods, when a wasp had lodged itself behind his glasses and stung his eye. He'd come off the bike at speed and ripped all the muscles in his back: hence his loathing of the striped peril.

On another occasion, we were driving in the local hills and he got out of the car and walked alongside it as it slowly motored up the hill by itself, his skill in judging its ability to travel with minimal power demonstrated. He took us all to the Lake District on one memorable day. A family of five plus a Welsh Corgi, we travelled 365 miles that day. At one point, we were climbing a very steep hill (1:3) and the car stopped. We had to get out and walk as he drove up by himself, the reduced load enabling the old car to make it to the summit. He was a good, if fast, driver who'd learned his skill in the army, driving a fire engine, which he always called an 'escape'; a vehicle with a 14 foot overhanging ladder which he drove around Birmingham during the blitz. Only once did he manage to swipe a set of traffic lights off their pole with the ladders as he swept around a corner in a hurry. And he spoke with amusement of the time he'd been given the chance to drive a tank and had managed to crush a 3 ton truck in the process. In Belgium, his adjutant had come across an abandoned US Jeep, which had apparently simply run out of fuel. He commandeered it and used it as a staff car for the rest of the war.

He possessed a phenomenal memory and could recite verse after verse from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, quote a nonsense piece of Victorian gobbledegook (In promulgating your esoteric cogitations and articulating your superficial sentimentalities and philosophical and physiological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity.  Let your extemporaneous decantings have intelligibility, sagacious facility, an elegant rapidity and ventriloquent verbosity.  Shun pestiferous profanity both obscure and apparent.

In other words, speak plainly, briefly, naturally and truthfully.  Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Do not swear or use big words.) and an alternative version of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Scintillate, scintillate globule vivific, fain I ponder thy purpose specific – is all I can recall, but he could quote the whole thing).

In short, Richard Allison was a pretty remarkable man and I'm both proud and pleased that he chose to take me as his own son and raise me. He wasn't without fault and could be both dictatorial and severe at times. But he was a damned good father and I have every reason to thank him for taking that role seriously and for loving me, my siblings and my mother.

West End Girls, by Barbara Tata, Reviewed.

A book variously described as a memoir, a biography and an autobiography, West End Girls details the lives of Soho prostitutes through the eyes of a virginal, innocent but forthright narrator (I have great empathy with the author, as I used a similar narrator in my novel, Breaking Faith, so my review could be a little biased; please bear that in mind).

Written with humour and displaying an extraordinary naivety mixed with a growing worldliness developed along the journey, this memoir is full of empathy for the girls and young women the author meets, befriends and serves. Set just after World War II, the atmosphere is remarkably evocative and brilliantly brought to life by Barbara’s candid observations. If you’re a man reading this, be warned: men do not come out well from this volume. The author’s view of the gender is clearly skewed by her exposure to those men who habitually resort to the services of prostitutes, so it is hardly surprising that she has a somewhat one-sided view of us. Only later in life did she meet and marry a man who was able to balance her view and, to give her credit, she clearly realised that her former attitude was rather biased.

I read this book with a growing sense of amazement at the peculiarities of the human condition and the sexual proclivities of both men and women. I’m no innocent; though my only exposure to prostitutes has been accidental contact: once whilst looking for a photography business in Southend and once whilst hitch-hiking through London. On neither occasion was I tempted to take up their offers of ‘comfort’. Barbara has introduced me to the idea of the prostitute’s ‘maid’, a sort of bodyguard-cum-accountant-cum-general dogsbody; something I had not previously encountered, even through fiction. She also talks of ‘ponces’, the Soho equivalent of the ‘pimp’, which in her era had a slightly different meaning.

Her accounts of her own life and those of the women of pleasure around her are warm, detailed and almost impartial. The descriptions of Soho, especially the underbelly where these women operate, are full of observations that bring the shoddy, shabby but superficially glamorous place to life. The author was a gifted artist and this shows through in her acute observations, her ability to paint a picture with words.

Her gradual loss of innocence, though she is never physically corrupted, permeates the account and allows her to provide more and more detail of actual events. However, she shows a distinctly personal view of what she can and cannot write for public consumption, so that her narrative is full of unanswered questions to which the reader suspects she has almost too any answers.

Given that this is story of the lives of people engaged in a sordid lifestyle for all sorts of reasons, it manages to rise above the murk and muck to provide a picture of a warm, generous and affectionate world, albeit peppered with violence, usage and abuse.

I am glad I read this, both as writer and reader, and have no hesitation in recommending it to all but those with insincere pretentions to sensitivity.

Author Interview with Boyd Lemon:

Hello Boyd. Please tell us something about you, as a writer.

Stuart, I practiced law for more than 40 years with a fair degree of success, rising to national prominence in the legal community in my field, which was legal ethics and lawyer malpractice.  I wrote numerous articles for legal journals and a book titled "Evaluating a Malpractice Case Against a Lawyer."  But until I was 65 I had never written any fiction or narrative non-fiction.  I was inspired to write a short story about a baby turned little girl that I had taken care of for a friend of mine, a writer and an artist.  With her encouragement and the little girl as my inspiration, I wrote a short story that was fiction but inspired by my relationship with the little girl.  That story became the title of a collection of my short stories published in April 2011, "Unexpected Love and Other Stories."  I then met another writer who became my mentor and introduced me to Natalie Goldberg, the internationally known writer and writing teacher ("Writing Down the Bones").  After attending two of Natalie's workshops, she invited me to participate in her series of four intensive weeklong workshops during 2009.  I continued to write short stories and ultimately finished about 18 of them.  By that time, I was hooked on writing. 

I know you write memoir; perhaps you’d give us some insight into your memoir, ‘Digging Deep: A Writer Uncovers His Marriages’, in a few sentences.

After writing all those short stories, I yearned to write something longer.  Originally, I began writing Digging Deep at the suggestion of my mentor, who told me, "There's gold there [in my three failed marriages]."   At the same time my mentor was teaching me how to draw, something I thought I could never do.  I was always the worst drawer in the class in elementary school.  A self-portrait I drew in pencil ended up as the cover image of my Digging Deep.

How did you come to write this particular book?

I finished the first draft of Digging Deep in about six months and asked my mentor to read it.  After sitting at my computer and reading it straight through, she told me I should throw it away and start over, that it just didn't work.  She said I had to understand my role in the destruction of my marriages and that had to be in the memoir.  I had simply written about a series of incidents concerning the issues that arose in each of my marriages.  My mentor was right; that wasn't enough; it was boring.  So I set about intense introspection and psychotherapy.  The writing and introspection was excruciatingly painful emotionally, so I thought I had hit gold.  Surprisingly, though, in the end it was healing, and I achieved a peace that I had not known in my life.  Along the way, I decided to include in the memoir in the present tense some of the writing process that led me to healing, which is interwoven with the crucial incidents in my marriages in the past tense.  I believe that, as this book turned out, it will help others deal with issues in their own relationships in these times when modern couples and individuals are trying to define a new order in relationships, as well as face their own past, as I did in the memoir.

Where can people buy your book?

It is available in print on my website, http://www.BoydLemon-writer.com; 

http://www.Amazon.com; http://www.BarnsandNoble.com and in the Kindle edition on http://www.Kindle.com. Soon, it will be available on other internet sites, as well.  And, buyers can order it from their local bookstores.

What qualities does a writer need to be successful?

A powerful desire, almost compulsion, to write; perseverance in writing and in promoting the writing; discipline; luck; and some reasonable skill in the use of the language in which he/she writes.  Notice that I didn't say, imagination or creative ability.  Those qualities help, but I truly believe that anybody who possesses the other characteristics can be a successful writer.

What’s your working method?

I am retired, so I have the luxury of time.  I write every morning from about 7:00 (after coffee) until about 1:00 or so, interrupted by meditation, breakfast and personal hygiene.

What’s the single biggest mistake made by beginner writers?

Not finishing whatever they are working on because they don't exercise the discipline to write regularly, as a matter of habit and practice.  You must set up some type of schedule (however loose it may be), and follow it, no matter what, even if you're sick, depressed, homeless, in pain, or whatever.

To what extent are grammar and spelling important in writing?

Very important.  If you can't write grammatically and spell correctly, you better have the money to pay a good editor and proofreader; grammar and spelling separate the amateur from the professional.  (That is a dangerous thing to say; I hope mine is correct here.)

How much do you revise your MS before sending it off?

My first draft is usually trash, because I write whatever comes into my head.  So, I do a lot of revising.  On the other hand, I could go on forever and never finish a piece, so if I have difficulty in deciding whether something is finished, I place an arbitrary limit on how many drafts I permit myself, usually 10.  Most of the time, however, before I get to 10, I intuitively know when it is the best I can do.

As a writer, to what extent do you think genre is useful in the publishing world?

  

I don't like the use of genre.  I feel that good writing is good writing, and a good story is a good story, no matter what arbitrary category you put it in.  The only use I see is to define your audience.  For example, I probably would not read a YA novel or a children's book (except to my grandchildren), but even there I am limiting myself by excluding what could be some fine writing.

Many authors see marketing as a bind. What's your opinion on this, and how do you deal with it?

I look upon it as another challenge in the writing process.  It doesn't matter whether I like to do it or not.  It has to be done, if I want people to read my writing, and I do.

What sort of displacement activities keep you from writing?

None.  I write as much as I want to.

What support, if any, do you receive from family and friends, or a writing group?

Personally, I don't get a lot of support from family or friends, but I have found the support of writing groups essential--people who understand what you're going through and can help in times of despair, and, as you know, there are many times of despair in the writing life.

Do you think presentation of the MS is as important as agents and publishers suggest?

Only if you want people to read what you write.

How long does it take you to write a book?

Well, I have only written three books so far.  The first one took six months; the second one (Digging Deep) took three years; the short story collection took four years, but off and on as I was writing the memoir.  So, I don't know.  It depends on the book.  I'm working on a third book, and I think it will take me about a year, but I could be wrong.  We'll see.

Who or what inspires you?

Myself, deep within somewhere.

If there’s a single aspect of writing you find really frustrating, what is it?

Proofreading, but there is an enormous reward when you're done, because then the piece or book is finished.

Is there a particular feature of writing that you really enjoy?

The first two drafts.  The first, because it comes from deep down and I say what comes into my head, the second because it is a great and complex challenge to make all the pieces fit together.

Do you believe writing is a natural gift or an acquired skill?

Both, but more acquired than natural.

What are you writing now?

A memoir about my non-retirement, and, a new short story or essay here and there.  And sometimes, just writing practice--stuff that will never see the light of day.

Do you have a website or blog readers can visit?

My website I referred to above, http://www.BoydLemon-Writer.com, and two blogs, http://www.DivorceRecoveryResources.com and http://www.BoomerTravelBlog.com.  I also write a weekly column for an online magazine, called Amigos 805.

Given unlimited resources, where would you do your writing?

I don't have unlimited resources, but if I did, I wouldn't change where I write now, which varies--at home at my desk; in my garden when weather permits; in my favorite coffee shops and on the train when I am on a long train trip.  I wrote half of my first book on AMTRAK train trips between Seattle and Los Angeles; and I wrote some of my memoir on train trips between Boston and Jacksonville, Florida.  Sometimes, I write on a long plane trip, if I don't have the middle seat.

Boyd Lemon

http://www.BoydLemon-Writer.com

http://www.DivorceRecoveryResources.com

http://www.boomertravelblog.com

My new books just published (Excerpts on my website, http://www.BoydLemon-Writer.com): 

· Digging Deep: A Writer Uncovers His Marriages; 

· Unexpected Love and Other Stories

Author Interview with SueAnn Jackson Land

SueAnn Jackson Land is an author who lives in Sudbury, Ontario. She has been published in The Globe & Mail, The Outer Banks Sentinel, on Soul's Code (a webzine) and was featured recently on Authors on Show.

This is the pitch: 
When the rage of living settles down and age relieves us of blame - then we are ready to look in the mirror. After everything we encounter as human beings, after every trial and joy, everything we have chosen this lifetime for - we eventually answer to the human being staring back at us from the mirror. I have suffered at the hands of others, child abuse, sexual abuse, rape, suicides in three generations of my family. I have also suffered at my own hands, addiction, obesity, depression. Along with the memoirs that talk about "what they did to me" I wanted to write one that said, "These are the people who helped me. These are the memories that I had to go back and revise because I was wrong. These are the things I could not change and here are the things that I could. This is how I found peace." Ultimately, this book is about survival and the grace that time offers us to change our perceptions and move on.

Tell us about The Truth About Whales in a few sentences.

The Truth About Whales is a memoir and it was written with the purpose of helping survivors of suicide, specifically family members of people who have completed suicide.

How did you come to write this particular book?

Three members of my family completed suicide: my grandmother, my mother and my seventeen year old son.  I started the book to explain my history to myself, to write down all of the research, notes and questions I had about my family’s story.  So it began as a journal of sorts.  When I finished it, 20 some odd years later – I realized that I had told the best story I have, my own.

If you have a favourite character in your novel, why that particular one?

My gramam, Anna Fizel Geshan, is my favorite character in the book.  She was mean, volatile and unpredictable.  She was also soft, squishy and taught me what it was to value family. 

Where and when is your novel set and why did you make these specific choices?

The book moves in and out of many geographic areas.  I am originally from North Carolina, grew up in Pennsylvania; did “geographic cures” to North Dakota, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and Sudbury, Ontario (Canada).

How can people buy your book?

The book is available on Amazon.com and on Lulu, as well. 

What qualities make a successful writer?

I have learned so much about what it takes to put together a book.  I thought I would have “the book” and Oprah would just magically find me.  Wrong!  I think self-confidence, persistence and networking are some of the qualities you need to be a successful writer.  You also need a great network of people who believe in what you are trying to accomplish and are willing to help you push through the days when you wonder exactly what it was you were thinking to begin this process at all!

How do you set about writing a piece?

I wish that I had the discipline to write every day, but I do not.  I write when I am moved to write.  Having sat down many times with the “I need to find a way to do this every day” I found myself with a lot of stuff even I didn’t want to read.  When people affect me, I write. When memories are painful or I find some nugget of information about my family, I write.  When I have no other choice – I write.

Beginning writers make many mistakes; what do you think is the most harmful?

Thinking that they are hack writers or that they don’t have the talent to “make it” as a writer.  That’s why it took me so long to finish my book.  I went into the “lit crit” circles and was completely underestimating my writing ability and my right to have something good for SueAnn happen.

To what extent are grammar and spelling important to a writer?

I think the attitude of “that’s the editor’s problem” is mistaken.  Getting published, or even to be seen by an agent, is like finding a needle in a haystack.  So if you are coming to a professional without something that is presentable; well, it’s like going to a company fundraiser naked.  You want to look your best, but there is the problem of the dangling participle.

How much revision of your MS do you do before you send it off?

I read through it once.  I sleep on it for a couple of days and read through it again.  I usually send it to a friend to have a gander (because I miss things) – then I hit “send.”

To what extent do you think genre is useful in the publishing world?

I think that readers have niche markets that interest them.  Not everyone wants to read the same thing.  The sad part about genre is that it limits readers at the same time.  If I read “romance” on the description, I immediately think “Harlequin” and turn my head.  I read a classic “romance” novel this year as a favor to a friend and it turned out to be one of the best books I read all year.

How do you know where to begin any given story?

Having written a memoir – of course the story begins with “I.”

What sort of displacement activities keep you from actually writing?

Authonomy (sad, but true)… I find myself reviewing so many manuscripts that any writing time I have budgeted is forfeited.  Having said that, if I hadn’t gotten on Authonomy and started meeting other writers, I would still be thinking that I had the “it” book and waiting by the phone for Oprah to call.

Do you have support, either from family and friends or a writing group?

I have been a part of a writing group for eleven years.  We are friends who came together out of a love for music and have emailed the details of our lives, every day.  It is amazing to me how many “writers” there are out there who have no desire to be published.  They write because it is their art and how they express themselves.

Is presentation of the MS as important as most agents and publishers suggest?

Honestly, I have almost no experience with presenting my book proposal.  I got aggravated at the process early on and self-published.  I am certain is it extremely important because of the sheer volume of the manuscript on-line.

How long did it take you to write your book?

Twenty years.  I am currently working on my second book and I certainly hope that it doesn’t take me another twenty.

Who or what inspires you?

Human beings, the human condition inspires me.  How we respond to one another emotionally, the spiritual search for why we chose this lifetime – I could write another twenty books about how much I love watching human beings discover their purpose here, how we touch one another’s lives.

If there’s a single aspect to writing that really frustrates you, what is it?

Having to critique someone else’s writing frustrates me.  I want to get out my red-pencil and mark up the text.  I lack the courage to say, “Hey… really… your manuscript could be so good if…you stopped using those ellipses and finished the quote with the quotations outside of the punctuation.”  That, and reading so many serial vampire killer stories.  Of course, I’m of the smarmy Stuart Smalley emotional variety, so…

Is there any aspect of writing that you really enjoy?

Self-disclosure – I am a flasher of the emotional variety.  I want people to know that I’m searching, the same way that they are – and what answers I manage to find.

Do you think writing is a natural gift or an acquired skill?

I think that writers have a desire to express their perceptions of the world, of their lives.  My writing came from the inability to tell the secrets that were happening all around me.  Writing gave me a voice and an ally.  I believe that our brains and abilities are limited only by our ignorance.  If we don’t know it, if we don’t seek it, if we don’t discover it within ourselves – how are we to ever have something naturally?  Even savants have to play the instrument or put the pen to paper, right?

What single piece of advice would you give to writers still hoping to be published?

Don’t give up.

What are you writing now?

I’m writing, “After All” which is a memoir, go figure. It’s about the women who raised me and the chosen family that gave me the love I sought after.

Do you have a website or a blog that readers can visit?

I have a Facebook fan page for The Truth About Whales

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Truth-About-Whales/100551756663247

and I have a blog as well, but I am not great about keeping the blog up to date.

http://www.sueannjacksonland.blogspot.com/

Given unlimited resources, what would be your ideal writing environment?

I would love a beach house in Nags Head, North Carolina with a view of the Atlantic.

Where do you actually write?

I attempt to write in my living room in Sudbury, Ontario with the television blaring.  We live in a two-bedroom apartment and it doesn’t allow for office space, really.  The best writing times are Sunday morning before anyone is up and breakfast isn’t even an option, yet.

Stuart – thank you very much for this opportunity to speak with you about The Truth About Whales.  I admire your effort in helping authors get the word out about their books and wish you luck on your next book!  I’m looking forward to reading it.