Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Thursday 15 April 2010

leaders, wildfell, editorium, english pen and lasa


As I just mentioned on Twitter, I weakened and listened to a bit of the leaders' debate (see http://www.twitter.com/frankegerton).

Before that we watched some more Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which was pretty harrowing. Really well done but Huntingdon's alcoholism, mood swings and abuse of Helen were so disturbing.

I've also been mulling over the results of my recent typesetting experiments for the StreetBooks edition of Invisible. The one I'm most excited about is that shown above--very clear, pleasing text, I feel.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to spend some time exploring the Editorium website and its resources for Word typesetters. A real enthusiast's site (http://www.editorium.com).

This morning the postman delivered a big letter from English PEN, which contained the excellent little publication The Light of the Lights, an anthology of work produced during creative writing and reading workshops at the Migrants Resource Centre, London. Very nicely produced and inspiring.

The thinking behind the book is perhaps best summed up in a piece by Daljit Nagra:

'As someone from a minority community, I felt it even more urgent to speak about myself coming from a distinct, little known community that resides in some pocket of England. I hope other new writers will consider their work as news or a despatch from a particular world.'

ISBN 978-0-9564806-0-6. See also http://www.englishpen.org.

Finally, I learnt this afternoon that I shall be going to the LASA International Congress in Toronto later this year. Yey!
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