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.

Friday, 31 March 2017

no overcoat, sunny transformation, lady's smock, sedge, white archangel, mogford prize for food and drink writing, nicky winder, cilip talk

























Enjoyed a lovely walk to work this morning. The first day without an overcoat for ages.

It was amazing yesterday seeing the oilseed rape coming into flower in the Thames Valley, when I was travelling home on the bus. The warmth of the sun had transformed the landscape in hours. And today, by the Thames near Port Meadow, there were lady's smock, sedge and white archangel - all suddenly in flower. Their leaves that most astonishingly fresh green that you only see at the very start of spring.

Went to the Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing party on Thursday. Wonderful fun! Congratulations to the winner, Nicky Winder, for her story, Bait. You can download it from the prize website.

Looking forward to giving a talk at the CILIP South Member Network AGM and CILIP Thames Valley AGM at the Jam Factory, Oxford next Thursday afternoon. It's entitled, Micropublishing, teaching, digital research: different worlds, or all in a day's work for the (future) librarian?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)