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, 20 June 2015

the tree peony, planting courgettes, working on the life-writing book, the enjoyment of decisions, different kinds of memory

















I love it when the tree peony flowers. Such beauty.

Before taking the photo, I'd been up the allotment in the drizzle planting out the courgettes, cucumbers and squashes that J has been growing in the cold frame at home. After taking the photo I went cycling. Now it's humid out and I'm hoping that the promised afternoon rain will clear the air.

It's nice to have some time to work on the life-writing book. The last section is made up of relevant posts from jtns and over the past weeks I've been going through all the posts identifying the ones I'm going to use then copying the text. I'm pleased that process is almost over and I'm enjoying some of the technical aspects of putting the book together - making decisions about the order of the different elements and what connective narrative I need to write. But reading through the last five years has sometimes been harrowing. At other times it has brought back lovely memories.
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