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.

Saturday, 25 September 2010

batcombe, veg, initiate, invisible, lasa

Happy memories of Batcombe (see pics) and some rather lovely weather today. Went to the Plough at Kelmscott this afternoon. A week ago we'd be sitting in the garden but this time we were inside, as close to the wood burner as we could get. Good pint of Anniversary from the Lechlade brewery (which has now established a second micro at the Radnor Arms, Coleshill).

Went to the allotment at first light to harvest--first opportunity to get up there since the mini-break. The courgettes have slowed but I was really surprised by how many runner beans and cucumbers there were. If the weather holds I'll be lifting the spuds tomorrow morning. Rent day Monday evening.

The online course is well under way now and the MSt residence has started--tutes on Monday and Tuesday and the official launch of the academic year on Tuesday evening at Kellogg. Meanwhile, the proofs of the MSt anthology, Initiate, have arrived. I'm really pleased that sabon was chosen as the main font. The book will be published in early November. It's exciting to see how the decisions we made about the order of the pieces back in the spring look on the page.

The StreetBooks edition of Invisible is now available as a Kindle ebook and the Search Inside function is already available on Amazon for the paperback. Blackwell's will be selling advance copies from next week and I'm due to be interviewed on BBC Oxford's Jo in the Afternoon programme on Thursday 21st October. I'm to discuss the book and StreetBooks and something of my journey through life (currently thinking about what to include on the advance info sheet the producer has requested).

Can't quite believe I'm off to Toronto in just over a week's time. The Latin American Studies Association programme looks amazing.

Wondering if the Horse Shoe will be screening Downton Abbey, episode one tomorrow night. Hope so as we don't have a telly.

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