HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND BOOK UPDATE

 

UPDATE 22/12/17

Even at this time of year, those with malicious intent are still scribbling away with their little poison pens.  Again, I thank you for pointing out my faults, and again I point out I will not be following your advice as I have no desire whatsoever to be like you.  Stamp your feet as much as you like, and accuse me of being 'so mature' in a Vicky Pollard accent, but your criticism again and again lacks any sign of creativity or originality.  Learn a few more adjectives ffs!  Pick up a book now and again. 

I have no problem at all with being 'roasted', but make it funny, or at least credible.  Yes, I am a struggling writer, unless you are successful, the words struggling and writer naturally go together.  And yes, I have to do the same as every other independent website, I have to ask for contributions.  I love what I do, but the pay's shit!  I continue because I believe in myself, I believe in my talent, and I believe in my ability to connect with my readers.  Mostly because I never treat them as if they are stupid.  I treat them as equals, because they are, even if some don't know it yet. 

I'm not publishing your whinging and whining Unknown and Anonymous, why should I give you a platform?  You have run your own forums into the ground with such unsavoury reading that the general public are repulsed. You are not bringing my blog down to that level.  Suck it up or take it elsewhere.  

But I am good spirits!  A good friend has just given me a box of cherry liquors, it's a pre Christmas present, unwrapped, and with no other purpose other than to cheer me up!  I heartily approve!  I have a long day of baking tomorrow (shop bought quiche [blushing smiley]) but lots of homemade cupcakes.

Meanwhile, a wee 4 minute gift!  I am a huge fan of 'flash mobs' and here's one I find especially appealing, something to get us in the festive spirit!  I once joined a work choir many years ago to put on a Christmas performance of the Hallelujah Chorus.  I had delusions that I could sing at the time and I was especially fond of the guy organising it.  Happily most of the choir was made up of professionals, so I was able to give up any attempts at trying to hit the high soprano notes.  King of Kings, Lord of Lords, is especially painful (for listeners) when attempted by the untrained voice!  Ergo, when I hear it sung beautifully, it sends a shiver down the spine!  Enjoy.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

   





Apologies to all those awaiting the release of my new book, I promise it is underway and taking shape but it won't be ready for Christmas.  I have been somewhat disorientated by poor health and  a few mountains to climb.

Regardless, I am of course, in full Diva mode, crying into my delicately raised, elbow, I can’t work like this!  I think I'm going to spend next year in an isolation tank.  I watched a docu-drama about Abba last night and totally empathised Agnetha's need to go hide away in the forest.  It was a little alarming that she had a liaison with her stalker, but totally understandable.  I would, and probably have, done the same thing myself in the past (more the book, lol).  So few understand the daily pain of an artistic temperament.  Let me tell you dahlinks, I feel if I were sat with the troubled Vincent Van Gogh and the impoverished, beer swilling Marx, I’d be the one in the middle, saying ‘tell me about it’.  

 

These have been a difficult few months - I will spare  you all the details, for now, suffice to say, that I still have the power to get back up again, when I have been knocked down.  Something, I lost for a little while there.  I have a tendency to allow sorrow to completely engulf me, and at the moment I am so afraid for the future of mankind, the sorrow has been winning, but not for very much longer I hope.

 

Meanwhile, thank you to all my readers and contributors for coming back again and again.  As a younger woman, I always daydreamed about being part of the very elite Bloomsbury Club, a place in which I could hear new innovative ideas, talk endlessly, drink good coffee, and pass the opium pipe.  .I kind of feel I have created my own anything goes version here.

Christmas should of course be a time of love and family harmony, but quite often it is the eruption of a volcano that has been simmering for years or an unexpected swipe around the head with a turkey drumstick.  My Christmas message is chill.  As irritating as your spouse, parents, children, distant relatives might be, December 25th is not the day to tell them to change.

Having grown up with a mother who's clinical notes described her as 'quite a character' I'm not unfamiliar with the concept of 'who's going to kick it off this year'.  On this front, and indeed many others, the best advice I ever received was, 'she is as she is'.  When I stopped looking at my mum from a grumpy, embarrassed daughter perspective, I began to see why so many of her friends, especially gay men lol, doted on her.  I stopped scolding her and began to enjoy her delightful eccentricity, and we enjoyed our happiest years together.  My message there is, celebrate your eccentrics, one day it might be you :)

Thank you all again for coming back, seeing those numbers go up really does inspire me, and they are the reason I keep going.  In the McCann case, I feel a sense of responsibility to keep discussion of it in perspective, especially at this time of year.  Personally, I don't have it in me to wish anyone an unhappy Christmas, and I certainly don't want to add to anyone's pain, so I'm steering away for the present.  I hope the family can find peace.  Not through more deception, but through love, honesty and acceptance of responsibility. 

Meawhile, I wish everyone a lovely, snuggly, or wild partying Christmas, I'll raise my glass to you either way, with lots of laughs and not too many rows.  And if you are feeling in a festive and generous mood and would like to reward this particular irreverent author with a restorative box of Ferrero Rocher, or glass of bubbly, a cyber donation to my paypal button would be much appreciated.