tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36634824249840793392024-03-13T11:11:27.338+00:00Writing, fantasy & real life...Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.comBlogger255125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-34278020846031697392022-02-12T12:23:00.002+00:002022-02-12T12:23:50.990+00:00Welcome to Hypersleep...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvLaFi0SN6tySUZXICKkhUOVbLJh10cG_AJsSlkO8Y2URPfpd2Ln8k4noK8mG-2Cjrdd9PCsMijCT_x7h41SgrnZXX5nUVhYpy_uLx-3st1J_ZiDKmNIWq32cmMzM3k4nwgi49ZBheRrf9LlnIETeewLBlyu2lS4KwLIq2RnjGcMZcuVcGdUFha6Iw=s555" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvLaFi0SN6tySUZXICKkhUOVbLJh10cG_AJsSlkO8Y2URPfpd2Ln8k4noK8mG-2Cjrdd9PCsMijCT_x7h41SgrnZXX5nUVhYpy_uLx-3st1J_ZiDKmNIWq32cmMzM3k4nwgi49ZBheRrf9LlnIETeewLBlyu2lS4KwLIq2RnjGcMZcuVcGdUFha6Iw=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I am not yet ready to re-emerge into the new world. Negativity and hate have ruled social media throughout the pandemic and many times I have tried write a post that explains how deeply disappointed I find myself with much of our daily life as it is, has been and will be. What was once a place of inspiration and entertainment has lost itself along the way. <p></p><p>Many times I have tried to write it and many times I have kept it to myself because I do not want to join the shared depression.</p><p>Currently I exist in hypersleep. I may return...</p><p><br /></p><p>Elloise Hopkins.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-62716319089772182802020-08-29T16:12:00.000+01:002020-08-29T16:12:23.754+01:00Corona 2020, Month Five…<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-align: justify;">What a difference five months makes. From the grasping positive beginnings to the onset of Autumnal blues, what a whirlwind of emotions and disappointments, frustrations, storms and heatwaves 2020 is turning out to be.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YhezUhASIrc/X0pvcEqgIQI/AAAAAAAABs0/Yq2b_ZCnuuAwj71SEM-uk9BEpWGqb5n8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s555/2020%2Bb.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="277" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YhezUhASIrc/X0pvcEqgIQI/AAAAAAAABs0/Yq2b_ZCnuuAwj71SEM-uk9BEpWGqb5n8ACLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h277/2020%2Bb.gif" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-align: justify;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">This time of year we expect and often welcome the changing season. Leaves begin to turn gold and orange, edging ever closer to the eventual death of summer. Pumpkin spice starts to beckon from on the horizon and as the new academic year readies to begin there tends to come a sense of renewal and new beginnings. This year, perhaps unsurprisingly, does not quite bring those same positive vibes as times past.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">This time of year I usually experience a moment – a turning point, if you will – where that seasonal shift becomes tangible. It might be the falling of a leaf or the scent of cardamom and nutmeg. It might come on a chill breeze or in noticing an earlier sunset. It might be felt with September showers or the sudden desire to sink into a bubble bath. For 2020 it has come in the shape of an out-of-character longing to pull on a woolly jumper and curl up in front of the television.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">Perhaps this is my subconscious anxiety manifesting as a protest to yet another turning point in my life and the facing of what will undoubtedly be a very challenging return to work. I find myself avoiding reality and turning to familiar activities and escapisms that have propped me up through so much of my adult experiences thus far. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">This time of year I am usually facing and embracing that feeling of a new beginning, but now find I am desperately clinging to the last vestiges of summer, digging in my heels and disbelieving that autumn can be upon us already.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">Perhaps this is my conscious certainty that things are going to get much worse again before they can start getting better?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">Nothing is certain, except there will need to be pumpkin spice, hygge and a lot of good books to make it to the end of this year.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">Elloise Hopkins.</p>Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-6007041703673288352020-03-24T20:42:00.000+00:002020-03-24T20:42:54.248+00:00Corona Lockdown, Day 1…<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
So this is 2020. We awaken in a new world, one where the civil liberties we have always so taken for granted are restricted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kGm4VULl7AA/XnpwIHjRUZI/AAAAAAAABrQ/SkKyN77q6pAjqrPIkgTvnPsbfFe3U_CmACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2020.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kGm4VULl7AA/XnpwIHjRUZI/AAAAAAAABrQ/SkKyN77q6pAjqrPIkgTvnPsbfFe3U_CmACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
As a writer I consider myself lucky that the prospect of having restricted movement and reduced working hours does actually (at this moment) sound appealing. With a novel to finish and a whole new set of characters leaping constantly around in my mind the thought of some quality time confined to a laptop and keyboard is just what I have been craving for some considerable time. It is only the price it comes at that rests heavy on me at the moment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
I do, however, realise that I (and perhaps us writers as a breed) are in that more privileged position, and acknowledge that there are those among us – family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, occasional acquaintances, strangers – who will be finding the current situation incredibly difficult to manage and full of anxiety. Perhaps even myself in days or weeks to come? Fast forward through this, the first of my 12-week long, 4-weekly work cycle from the day job, and I may be telling a story that more closely resembles theirs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
2017-18 was incredibly busy for me and brought great change to life, with a change of career, a move abroad and a whole heap of goings on. 2018-19 was a rapid move back to the UK and an intense year of training which left little enough time for anything else. 2019-2020 marked the start of my new career in earnest, and as so often happens, just when I thought that everything was turning out for the best, in August 2019 I got struck down by a series of viral infections.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
What followed was a hideous six months of trying to keep afloat in a brand new job in a brand new environment whilst simultaneously visiting doctors, taking time off, taking antibiotics, permanently needing to be in reach of a tissue and a throat soother, spending a fortune on manuka honey, realising I was a little better, then a little worse and starting the cycle off all over again. Three sets of antibiotics, six months of feeling very low (and now I acknowledge that my mental wellbeing had suffered leaving me exhausted and about at the end of my tolerance for winter and illness and getting out of bed in the mornings and short, dark evenings) and now Spring is springing and for the first time in months I have started to feel like a real life human again. Yes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Years that are even numbers are usually better ones for me and I had started 2020 hoping that was the case. But of course as happens in life when you let your guard down and start to feel that things are looking up, enter Covid-19. In scant weeks I have gone from being an active full time day-worker to being on a 4-weekly rota which requires me to only do a small percentage of my actual job and only attend my workplace one week out of every four, which is a huge change to the routine. Times are very unsettling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
So day one, I sit here at my desk, watching the quiet street and enjoying the sun shining above the rooftops. A magpie walks along the guttering outside my window, oblivious to me and my musings. In the opposite house my neighbour almost mirrors me. He is self-isolating and spends many hours at his desk. I wonder if he is doing the same as I am today. In the distance I hear car engines and the occasional siren, but far, far less than normal. The change is unmistakeable, in our actions and our bearings. This is life, as we know it, for the coming months. This is the new ‘normal’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
As I sit here, relishing the hours to spend working on my novel and reading through my to-read pile, perhaps clearing out the winter clothes and having a spring clean, I wonder what good will come out of our current circumstances. Some will be lost. Our lives will be changed, perhaps considerably, or more permanently than we expect. But with the sun shining I sit here in hope that some of those changes might be for the better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
One can but hope.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
To those keyworkers who are far closer to the frontline than I am at the moment, thank you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
No-one would have believed, in the first years of the twenty-first century… and yet it has. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Elloise Hopkins.</div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-24110080211256136992019-08-13T19:30:00.000+01:002019-08-13T19:30:29.145+01:00Where Have I Been?...<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Where Have I Been?...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
It is almost a year since I sat down with my unfinished trilogy in front of me and had the quiet environment, the headspace and the time needed to sense check my last big writing session and try to let the last 60,000ish words play out in my mind and find the right path to get my characters to where I have, for so long, known they would end up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b5XRjKws8d4/XVL6g8QZwEI/AAAAAAAABpA/-D2tC2EMaaIO3ACpd6QoyCWZxhD2syf1wCLcBGAs/s1600/WhereWhatWhy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b5XRjKws8d4/XVL6g8QZwEI/AAAAAAAABpA/-D2tC2EMaaIO3ACpd6QoyCWZxhD2syf1wCLcBGAs/s320/WhereWhatWhy.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Today, thanks to the huge generosity of my next-door neighbours and a bit of help from my parents I am lucky enough to call a cottage in the Peak District home for the next several days. A little time to clock up the word count towards the end of my first draft of the final book in the trilogy and perhaps even find an answer to the inconsistent word count of the first two books. But first…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Outside the window I see sheep and cows roaming the hillside as the sun finally breaks through the clouds of yet another wet, British summer’s day. The evening starts to draw in. My hands are dry from washing dishes in the absence of a dishwasher, and as I reach for the hand cream I realise how healing it is to step away from one’s normal life and take a breath. Change is as good as a rest, they say. If that was true I would feel far more rested than I do, for it has been a few years of frequent change.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Rewind twelve months and I was drawing to the end of a year working the day job in Budapest, readying myself to return to the UK to a change of career and what I knew would be an intense and challenging year. Hungary had provided a year of culture shock, language barriers and new experiences that I left behind only slightly reluctantly (the relentless Eastern European summer temperatures helped with that) trading a day job career in the corporate world to place myself in a different role, though still an educator, solver of problems and seeker of knowledge. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
I have always kept my two lives separate – that of the day job and that of my life as an author. On paper it is easy to combine a love of writing with the need to work a different job. In real life, when real life gets in the way, it is a balance that all too easily swings one way or the other, no matter how you try to fight to keep them in line. I had to accept, coming into 2019, that it would be a year dedicated to the day job, as essays and study and practical immersion into a new career dominated the hours and days and weeks and months, and left me far more mentally drained than I had anticipated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Was it all bad? I search for the positives as I sit here now with the unfinished Aethera Trilogy still before me…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
What began as an unwanted and forced temporary-retreat from my author-ego this year was not all bad, upon reflection. Not so much in terms of the writing – my characters have been in need of resolutions for far too long, and my trilogy still in need of an agent just as sorely (though distance from ones own work always seems to help in finding inconsistencies and solving minor plot snarls – see: positives).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
But working pretty much seven days a week for a year meant not having the time to be online interacting, sharing, being that side of me which I once enjoyed and which many of you know. Not ideal, but not wholly terrible when you look on the flip side. Being away from social media became like a breath of air. All too quickly, not checking feeds several times a day became a joy rather than a worry. Then when I did scrabble a little time to try and catch up I found myself disappointed and depressed at what I found. I had not realised how oppressive and how hateful the world of social media seemed to have become until I had taken a step away from it and then tried to come back.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
I’m sure it has been damaging for my author self to take such a huge break from my online presence, and I know have missed so much happy news amidst it all, yet I would hope that those who enjoy my stories and those who know me would not hold it against me. In fact I know others who have purposefully taken a break from social media for the same reason: a brain break. A positivity injection.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
If I consider my own sanity and wellbeing I think it has done wonders to disconnect from what can be – stress *can* be, not wholly and completely *is* all of the time – such a negative environment while I was under such pressure in the other part of my life. I realised as soon as it was absent that not having that ‘B’ word in my face all the time, or now you come to mention it the ‘T’ as well, was definitely a good thing. Has the world gone mad? Seeing rational human beings attack one another so furiously based on such irrational groundings is depressing. It made me long for escapism and then embrace the fact that I had it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Yet like everything, it cannot last. Living only one side of ones life cannot be sustained; the balance has to be restored. So as I try to crawl my way out from the offline cave I have been dwelling in for the last few months and attempt to balance the scales back more favourably towards my author self, I take cautious steps. As one of my beloved characters, Prophet, would say: ‘one step by one step’. I hope to be able to share his stories with you in the coming years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
So while I was working towards another postgraduate degree and learning a semi-new trade and taking a break from social media, my author life did not grind to a complete halt beneath the façade of Twitter. I never stopped writing, although the volume was far less than in previous years. I hope to remedy some of that during this week’s engineered writing retreat. I never stopped reviewing and am currently working my way through an excellent book, aptly enough about unfinished stories, for the British Fantasy Society. Reviews on their website as always. And I once again sit a jury panel for the British Fantasy Awards and have now finished reading the last of the nominations ready to decide on a winner with my fellow jurors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
In a life that tips the scales this way and that and is never short of its trials and tribulations, if I have learned nothing else from 2019 so far it is that celebrating the positives, no matter how small, keeps us going. With 250,000 words of this trilogy already down on paper, today I celebrate that rather than mourn the missing ending as I have for so long. There is little better in life than a great story, and this one will be all the better in the telling for the time spent crafting it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Where have I been? Graduating. Inspiring. Weeping. Laughing. Bathing. Reading. Hiding. Longing. Living. Walking. Sleeping. On pause. Living at least half a life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
There are always words to be written and stories to be told. I am not gone. Perhaps, only half way there?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Elloise Hopkins. </div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-41397942056883263932019-01-13T23:03:00.000+00:002019-01-13T23:03:02.838+00:00The Magic Faraway Tree… Joe, Beth, Rick and Frannie?...<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
My new day job finds me re-visiting the echoes of my past in a nostalgic haven. When I found out Enid Blyton’s classics were on the list I was delighted, though apprehensive. ‘Didn’t they change the names?’ I asked. I mean ok, Fanny and Dick are undeniably dated, not to mention loaded with innuendo in today’s society, but just who are Joe, Beth, Frannie and Rick anyway?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AEj2Jr_GoTc/XDvBsINlccI/AAAAAAAABnw/OaWOJTRzeUgnfj9SqCjagzi9BiJzQUqpgCLcBGAs/s1600/Blyton.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AEj2Jr_GoTc/XDvBsINlccI/AAAAAAAABnw/OaWOJTRzeUgnfj9SqCjagzi9BiJzQUqpgCLcBGAs/s320/Blyton.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
That’s the thing… Dick and Fanny have connotations, I will admit, but they are connotations to the adult mind, and that is the point. The young Elloise found nothing at all wrong with her heroes’ names. She loved the Magic Faraway Tree, its bizarre and obnoxious inhabitants and the wonderful lands waiting to be discovered among its peaks. If you had told her what fanny meant she would not have been at all interested, telling you to shush so she could see what would happen in the Topsy, Turvy land.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
So why did the names get changed? To update them for a modern reader, apparently. I find myself wondering why other books and films of my childhood have not been ‘outlawed’ and re-released in such a fashion. I can think of a plethora of children’s films, even newer ones being released today, which are absolutely rife with adult connotations entirely unsuitable – and let’s face it downright unsavoury – when you consider they are found spattered in between the innocent scenes of children’s films. One only has to switch on the radio or flick onto Youtube to find children reciting the most inappropriate lyrics.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
So are Dick and Fanny really so offensive? And just what did Bessie do to deserve the same treatment? Ok, I told myself… have to get on board with this. Have to accept the changes. I found an ebook, a very good reading, as it happens, by Kate Winslet, but no matter how much attention I pay, Frannie is Fanny. Is it you, Kate? Are you reading the original names in subtle protest to this updating? Or is it my brain substituting what it knows to be the original, pure words of this favourite author of my childhood?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Try as I may, I cannot follow these characters’ adventures as much as I did their original counterparts. Frannie is just not as much fun. (See what I did there? A six-year-old wouldn’t.) Rick is the less interesting cousin. By changing the original, some magic, some of that pure, original intention is gone. I have to wonder… instead of censoring our literature, shouldn’t we focus on censoring our society, so that these juvenile, outdated and frankly not that amusing innuendos get censored instead? Would we really suffer if the word ‘dick’ were no longer so amusing?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Just where did it all start anyway? In the follies of our past, where racism, sexism, and all of the other isms were acceptable. Time has moved on. Thankfully our understanding and tolerance has moved on. And now it is time to focus that understanding and tolerance in the right place. Leave Dick and Fanny where they should be, and focus on censoring the right things, before we destroy childhood happiness for the wrong reasons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
I am yet to decide whether I will read the new names out loud to ensure consistency with the modern text or whether I will stick firm to the originals in homage to their time and nostalgic brilliance. Whichever I choose, internally I will not forget where this thought led me today, and will strive never to compensate for the wrong reasons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Elloise Hopkins.</div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-90582290096166586672018-12-05T16:42:00.001+00:002018-12-05T16:42:10.715+00:00Are We Different?…<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
As someone who feels strongly about gender parity, and about striving for equality, today I witnessed unmistakable gender division which showed me that much as we might push for women and men to have the same rights and abilities, there are fundamental differences in the way we see the world and the way we process logic which drives our behaviour to be different. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LD4WZ-khD1s/XAf_PvxEo_I/AAAAAAAABm4/01FC4NM0Ha8BePo_J-vYhT4qny40n33HACLcBGAs/s1600/Cadbury.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LD4WZ-khD1s/XAf_PvxEo_I/AAAAAAAABm4/01FC4NM0Ha8BePo_J-vYhT4qny40n33HACLcBGAs/s320/Cadbury.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Today I went to Cadbury World, Birmingham’s world famous chocolate factory, which sadly was not quite as fantastical and rich to me as it was when I was a youngster. Apparently Creme Eggs are not smaller than they used to be – I saw the chocolate moulds which allegedly prove it. Also allegedly they were not originally made with Dairy Milk – apparently that was only introduced in 2008 which I find incredibly hard to believe. Anyway, enough ranting about the loss of the deliciousness that was Creme Eggs. Today’s blog was about the differences between men and women.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
At Cadbury World you do still get ‘free’ chocolate (albeit considerably less than you used to, ahem) and in a big mixed gender group today there was a significant difference in the way the males and females treated these freebies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
I am told that men see chocolate as sustenance, as immediate satisfaction, whereas women have a more emotional connection with chocolate, seeing it as a luxury to be savoured. Perhaps this is true, perhaps it is the way chocolatiers have conditioned us to be with their advertising over the years, but whichever of those it is, today when given freebies, almost to a man, the males ate each bar immediately, saving nothing for later, whereas almost every woman popped each bar straight into their bag to take home and have at a later time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Could there have been any more perfect demonstration of the differences in the way men and women think than this? If I had surveyed every man about why he ate the chocolate or every woman why she saved it would I have received two sets of identical answers? Are we really that fundamentally different in the ways we see the world and the ways we think?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Or was it the behaviour of individual preferences imprinting on the group – one person makes an idle comment about saving it for later so the surrounding people do the same? One person excitably announces how much they love this type of chocolate bar and tucks in, letting those nearby know that it is ok to do so without judgment? I am not sure, but I do know what I saw, and it struck me as significant enough to reflect on it several hours afterwards. Are we fundamentally, internally different, divided by gender, or do we naturally seek to conform as a pack and create this division ourselves?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Elloise Hopkins.</span>Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-29762073671254645172018-10-14T12:09:00.001+01:002018-10-14T12:09:31.981+01:00Screen to Stage…<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
“You can’t just take a screen actor and put them on a theatre stage; it doesn’t work that way.” I found that comment coming out of my mouth as I left the Birmingham REP recently. I went to a matinee of Rebus. Ian Rankin, Rebus’s creator, wrote the story himself, and it was then adapted for stage and has received fairly good reviews. I love a theatre trip; it is always a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B7KRYtI32Tk/W8Mjgfx3wxI/AAAAAAAABmA/ehA1HU1MDqQpGMW22ChV8jb7dudNTQc6gCLcBGAs/s1600/Rebus.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B7KRYtI32Tk/W8Mjgfx3wxI/AAAAAAAABmA/ehA1HU1MDqQpGMW22ChV8jb7dudNTQc6gCLcBGAs/s320/Rebus.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<o:p> </o:p>I had never read any Rankin books and I have never seen an episode of Rebus on TV, but I know how highly praised the Rebus stories are so I was looking forward to this. I love detective stories in general, to be honest. Give me a Morse, Marple or Poirot and I am captivated. Give me a Nordic noir and I am intrigued. Give me a Castle or a Murder She Wrote and I am content.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
The week before the play I read <i>Knots and Crosses</i>, the first Rebus book. I was impressed. Short, sharp, clever, it ticked the boxes, and I arrived at the theatre with a good enough sense of the character and his background to be able to leap forward in his story to the time in his life when <i>Long Shadows </i>is set – beyond retirement as he is pulled back to an old unsolved case and the ghosts of his past. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
The story itself was excellent. The portrayal of the character was along the right lines albeit very different to how I saw Rebus in my head; however, <i>Knots and Crosses </i>was set a long time before this and I do not know what has happened in between these two stories to further shape and damage the character. I also enjoyed the way his past murder victims were frequently on stage providing judgement, accusation, questioning and so on to Rebus as he remembered details from their murders and his past deeds. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
But – and I bring myself back to the point of this blog – sound was an issue. Voice projection, to be explicit. It is not the first time I have seen a television actor play a part in a theatre production and had to strain extremely hard to hear what was being said. Being able to project one’s voice is a key skill in a stage performer. With the best will in the world, if the audience cannot hear you, their emotional connection with you is lost, and that is what happened here, with almost every character on the stage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Almost every character… with the exception of two. Two female actresses who played the two victims from historic cases, the two ghosts, were the best actors in the play, no question. And most distressing was that they were the only two players who had to share a stage bow at the end. All the rest got solo applause. I found that extremely distasteful.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Two of the main characters were played by actors familiar from television. Their voice projection was poor, both in terms of volume and intonation. Their energy on stage waned in the second half, their performance seeming to shrink as though aimed towards a television camera with a narrow field of vision rather than a theatre with an almost 180 degree span of viewers. It seemed stilted. Perhaps this was the director’s choice? The play was dark, set between seedy bars and gloomy offices; small locations, small discoveries. Perhaps the contained performances were intentional? I will never know if that was the intent, but for me, this detective story with these actors did not translate well from screen to stage. The story – its haunted narrative, its hard, tragic corners, demanded more of a performance, more of a strong darkness, more life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
(Aside: please see my past blogs about actors playing roles in a different accent to their own. There is no need, people. Get a Scotchman to play a Scot. There is no shortage of fine Scottish actors.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
That is not to say I did not enjoy the play. As I said, the story was excellent. The set adapted very well to the various locations and the overall tone of the play. I came away still having very much enjoyed my Saturday matinee at the theatre. It just left me wanting a little more. Where I should have been reeling with the scale of Rebus’ decision, and the emotional impact of the story, instead I was wondering what had been said, or wishing it had been said with a little more conviction and grit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
You cannot just take a screen actor and put them on stage and expect the output to be at the same level of impact. They are different skills. Performance, honed take by take to a television camera until it is perfect, require far different abilities than standing in character for two hours or more in front of a live audience and being that character, embodying it fully for the audience for every second. I stand by my judgement. Just as a novel writer requires a different skill set to an editor, and a screenwriter from a director, so too does the screen actor from the stage actor. Cast the right ones and the audience will be with you from start to the bitter end.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Elloise Hopkins.</div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-50802648620394229022018-09-30T15:31:00.002+01:002018-09-30T15:31:58.636+01:00Viszontlátásra, Budapest…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A month ago I left Budapest after living there for
almost a year, and now, as I write this, it already feels so distant an
experience… I dreamt it ere I woke. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-shsgpenVoTE/W7Dd4pzQTRI/AAAAAAAABl0/ItLE0nbQBxUOn400OkIUqXS-s7UotpxAgCLcBGAs/s1600/Parliament.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-shsgpenVoTE/W7Dd4pzQTRI/AAAAAAAABl0/ItLE0nbQBxUOn400OkIUqXS-s7UotpxAgCLcBGAs/s320/Parliament.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So quickly has my new career drawn me in, filling my
days and spare time with reflection and research. So familiar have become my
old haunts so fast, old trodden paths come newly worn again. Faces, places of my past once more claimed as mine, as now. The heat and ancient majesty of
Budapest, its shimmering banks and the Danube’s magic left behind along with
the mysteries of its language and its people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That was a different life I lived. One that may seem
lost in a haze of the moment, but will not be forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Viszontlátásra,</span><span style="background: white; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Budapest. You were a wonder. A dream. A foray
into the land of the fae for feet that walk earth once again. I shall think of
you next time I gaze out across a lake at sunset, or walk through snow-covered streets.
The time went by so quickly, but the memories will take much longer to fade. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Elloise Hopkins.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-31428397221688180092018-08-04T14:05:00.000+01:002018-08-04T14:05:30.819+01:00Gender Bias…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Those who know
me know that I really cannot stand to see gender prejudice. When we think about
gender bias I am sure most people consider it in terms of rights for women, but
we should remember that it can go the other way too. This week I had an
experience which I found quite shocking, both in terms of what happened and
then afterwards discovering what my colleagues felt about it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCXxTwk-vig/W2WjT9eHFQI/AAAAAAAABlo/mtoGbisrfUYCImlg8pInQq61J_0SdburQCLcBGAs/s1600/GenderBias.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCXxTwk-vig/W2WjT9eHFQI/AAAAAAAABlo/mtoGbisrfUYCImlg8pInQq61J_0SdburQCLcBGAs/s320/GenderBias.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">What started the
whole thing was a pair of shorts. We are in eastern Europe.
It has been consistently 33+ degrees outside for the last goodness knows how
many weeks. It is hot, and what I mean by that is that it is seriously hot. Hot
enough to be permanently tiring. Hot enough to feel permanently uncomfortable.
Hot enough to generate a near-constant sheen of sweat across my brow. It is
hot. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">A fairly new
male member of staff came to work wearing a pair of shorts. They were smart
shorts, knee length, inoffensive in no way whatsoever. This staff member was
told to by his line manager, not in private, but in full view of his whole
department, that his dress was inappropriate and unsuited for a work
environment and that he should go home and get changed into full length
trousers. I did not witness this conversation but am told afterwards that
everyone was laughing at him and the manager’s approach was very blunt, and
borderline rude.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I checked the
policy when I heard this story. Our office dress code is ‘smart dress’ and
nowhere in the document states that men have to wear full length trousers or
that shorts are forbidden. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Needless to say
the staff member in question did not take this order well, and the situation
escalated into a discussion with the head of the office and the HR head and a
series of latter communications over the subsequent hours and days – the
contents of which obviously I was not privy to – but the end of the story is
that his contract was terminated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">When I heard
about this situation later on, I was outraged on his behalf. From what I hear
his behaviour after the initial incident was certainly unacceptable and as a department
manager myself I certainly would not have tolerated that in my own team. However,
my point is: the incident which started the chain of events – the request that
he go home and change into trousers – shocked me. I completely understand that
he would have found that a frustrating and unjustified request. I am not
surprised that he reacted negatively. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">When I
challenged my fellow managers on this, I was further shocked to discover that
not a one of them, male or female, agreed with my point of view or saw the
decision to send him home to change as a poor decision. When I asked on what
basis they felt this was the right thing to have done, not one of them could
give me an answer. I pointed out that no one is forcing me to cover my legs in
full length trousers or tights in this weather. They laughed. “Are you hot in
those trousers?” I asked a male colleague who was wearing suit trousers. He
refused to answer. “Do you not see that this is gender bias and is not
acceptable?” I asked them. Two of them told me it was not gender bias but “the
way things should be.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I was disgusted
by the reactions of all of them, and felt incredibly disappointed that the
company I work for, that prides itself on having a modern and open culture, a
‘western’ culture in a traditionally closed and hierarchical society, had a
group of such narrow-minded people forming its leadership team. I told them so, and also that I didn’t blame him for being annoyed at being told to go home and change.
I explained how disappointed I was to be working among a team of dinosaurs, and
left them to hopefully consider what I had said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">At the end of
this month I am leaving the company. A career change into a new industry will
be my next chapter, and I am pleased to say that at face value my new employer
appears to actually embody that modern and open culture that my current company
thinks it has. I have recently discovered that my new workplace actually has a
gender neutral dress code. There is a little spark of hope within me that I
will find the beliefs and opinions of my new colleagues more in line with my
own, or at the least open to the ideas of others and open to the idea of change.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Gender bias
works both ways, against women, against men, and neither is acceptable. Here,
where it was based on unchallenged traditions and illogical decisions, it was a
shocking demonstration of old fashioned values conflicting with the modern
world. I can only hope the people around me will learn to open their minds a
little more after this week’s episode.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Elloise Hopkins.</span><!--EndFragment-->
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-69237167290067099882018-06-17T09:10:00.000+01:002018-08-12T12:03:03.589+01:00Viscose is Not My Friend…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">When I moved to
Budapest I knew I would have at the least just shy of a year and was really
exited by that fact. The thought of experiencing all of the seasons, knowing
that here they have more extreme seasonal distinctions appealed to my constant
desires for experience and variety. Since then, I have learned how it feels to live through some of these seasons.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lE8v42WJuEs/WyYW-Ge3SoI/AAAAAAAABlQ/e3o-nBZY_1w_Pa0mktVXOwt5J_zEyPckACLcBGAs/s1600/Cotton.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lE8v42WJuEs/WyYW-Ge3SoI/AAAAAAAABlQ/e3o-nBZY_1w_Pa0mktVXOwt5J_zEyPckACLcBGAs/s320/Cotton.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I arrived in autumn to a pleasant surprise. It was warm, as warm as an English summer, in
fact, and I basked in it. Yes I had to do boring admin like queuing for hours
at the immigration office, finding a banker who spoke English to get a bank
account open, and apartment hunting, but it was an enjoyable weather welcome to
my new home and it helped me to appreciate that I had made the right decision
in coming here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Winter was cold.
I think in a solid month long period in January/February the temperature
remained permanently below zero. Bundling up was a necessity. My thick winter
coat was a blessing. Yet I did not feel so terribly cold to the bone as I
usually do in an English winter. The lack of a constant wind made a difference.
Also the damp in the air, I am told. On stripping off outer layers after being
outside, it does not take a further five hours to really feel warm again like I
have on occasion at home.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Which brings me
more to the now. It is early June. The beginning of March was still on the
chilly wintery side of the seasons. In early April when I returned after a break spring and summer had definitely merged as far as I am concerned. For the last
two months or so now, bar the odd few days here or there where it gets stormy and
the temperature drops to the mid 20s, it has been steadily in the high twenties
or low thirties – and we are talking degrees Celsius here – all day every day.
I wake up and get ready for work in 27 degrees. I scurry around at lunchtime
trying to run errands or hide in the shade from 32 degrees. I go to sleep at
night in 27 degrees. In short, it is very hot. If this is spring, I confess I am quite scared about going into full summer. Wish me luck.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I have always
loved the sun, and even described myself as a sun worshipper on occasion. Cut
to my first weekend in Budapest when I moved here, sunbathing on Margaret
Island (Margitsziget). Cut to last summer, England, we had a several week run
of very pleasant weather in the 25 degree region. My lunchtime routine became a
short walk to the local university campus for a 99 with a flake and a sunbathe
before returning to the office. In fact it was the only thing getting me
through the work day back then. At the end of the summer I quit the Birmingham
property industry, hence my almost-year in Budapest. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">As I sit here in
my apartment, 9am Sunday, the early morning sun beams through the windows and
makes the waters of the Danube gleam invitingly. If I could go and jump in it,
I would, but I have been highly discouraged from doing so! Instead I am
planning a mini holiday to Lake Balaton, Hungary’s beaches on the lake region,
and of course there are always the thermal baths close by when you feel that
need to plunge into cool water. Which I do, on around a three-hourly basis. It
can be an expensive habit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">For someone who
thought she was a sun worshipper, living in sun of this strength, for
continuous periods like this, is hard work. Sticky, sun-cream laden skin is now
the norm, rather than the sign of a holiday. No freezer compartment is big
enough for the number of ice cubes I need in my day. Sweating and continuously
rehydrating have become my life. My brain is functioning at around 70%
performance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Even my wardrobe
needed a total overhaul, as I quickly learned. Any piece of clothing that is
not at least 90% pure cotton, modal, other natural, breathable fibre has been
banished back to the UK or at least hurled back into my suitcase in disgust
ready for the next journey home. Polyester is a pest. Viscose is an absolute
no-no. It is a horrible sensation trying to interview candidates for job
openings or lead a training session when you feel over-heated and 100%
uncomfortable in your outfit. Never have I fidgeted so much during my working
day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I have now been
in Budapest for eight months and like a typical English girl, the weather still
very much dictates how I spend my time. If it is going to be a real scorcher,
as it often is, I may opt for a cool museum or art gallery trip coupled with a
sunshine stroll around Buda Castle, City Park (Városliget) or the island where
shade and thermal baths are on offer. If we are in for storms – and my goodness
have I seen some phenomenal lightning storms since I moved here – then a
welcome day at the keyboard it is. And for the rest, it involves a lot of
water, a well prepared picnc, decent walking shoes, a hat, a helluva lot of
high factor sun cream, and early morning energy to catch the bus/tram/train to
the selected destination for a day of exploration.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I do still love
the sun. That fundamental desire in me to feel its rays on my face and see it
glinting off rooftops and water has not changed. But my desire to always be in it, feeling it against my skin, has. As someone before who would always have
chosen to sit in the sun, now I make a beeline for shade. As someone who enjoys
being outside, walking around new places, exploring, finding peace and being
left to my thoughts, regularly sitting, dripping with sweat and exhaustion, on
busy public transport, going here or there under fierce heat has become really
hard work. It has got to the stage where it is almost a chore forcing myself to
make a plan to go out and do something with my weekends and getting up early enough to
go and do it before the sun hits its peak.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I always say, in
life, that I would only ever want to regret things that I had done, and not
things that I had not done. So I need to stick to that philosophy and force
myself myself to fill my last months in Hungary with soaking up as much of its
country and culture as possible before the chance to do so ends. Soon enough I
will be back in England, onto the next chapter of my life, and I would hate to
return knowing that I did not live this chapter as fully as I wanted to.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Then again, at
least, if nothing else, I have learned that viscose is not my friend, and I have found that hiding from the sun does wonders for ones word count. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-26636373911768067682018-04-08T14:50:00.000+01:002018-04-08T14:50:14.451+01:00Repetition...<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Whilst it can be of
phenomenal strength in literature or poetry, music or film, repetition in life
is arguably among the most tedious and irritating experiences we are doomed to
suffer. At least that is the way it can feel. Time passes so quickly and yet at
once seems to stutter and start over the same hurdles. Without challenge we
would be bored, but why do the same lessons have to be repeated?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsIhV-V-ge4/Wsodhm1FTJI/AAAAAAAABkg/dPQHq1h8WFEY12_8jRhLfooM-_ijl-odgCLcBGAs/s1600/Repetition.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsIhV-V-ge4/Wsodhm1FTJI/AAAAAAAABkg/dPQHq1h8WFEY12_8jRhLfooM-_ijl-odgCLcBGAs/s320/Repetition.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">I seem to be stuck in
a nightmare circle in my day job where the same problems, which have already been
reviewed and seemingly resolved, crop up time and time again whenever there is
a contract or staff change. Is it that people are inherently incapable of
taking instruction from others, always believing they know best and resisting
guidance? Is it that they are entirely unable to learn from mistakes? Or
unwilling, perhaps?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">I am become that
broken record, continuously providing the same instruction and the same piece
of advice over and over and over again in an endless whirl leaving me to
frequently and repetitively pose the questions: “What is wrong with people?” “Am
I speaking English?” “Where is the nearest brick wall so I can bang my head
against it?” There is something severely distasteful to me about having to
revisit something already considered closed. Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">As a child I was very
lucky – my parents would often read to me, making stories and characters come
alive and igniting that love for storytelling which means so much to me today.
One book, one phrase, always stuck with me, and I can, even now, hear my father’s
voice uttering it: “And don’t look back”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Has that phrase, don’t
look back, so ingrained itself in my subconscious that any repetition, any
revisiting of the past stokes impatience in me? Has it become my underlying
philosophy in life?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Don’t look back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Life is too short to
dwell. Too short to spend time re-doing something that was already done. Too
short to linger on what has gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Don’t look back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Repetition. It can be
a beautiful and poignant device.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Repetition. It can be
the most depressing point of the day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Don’t look back. Don’t
dwell on it. Move on. Embrace the repetition. Perhaps that has to become my new
mantra. Perhaps I will learn something, even if others won’t. Perhaps reaching
for optimism in our lowest points is to truly find strength within that we did
not know was there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-84318164037317537802017-12-09T18:22:00.000+00:002017-12-09T18:22:49.599+00:00Two Months In Budapest…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">It really has
been two months since I squashed as many of my belongings as I could into two
suitcases, leaving pretty much everything that was precious to me behind, not
for the first time in life, and moved to Budapest, a city that is as diverse
and exciting as it is dated and surly with the weight of its past.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JNgJ5I_dW-s/WiwpkjRmd-I/AAAAAAAABjg/DhXVvBs6W-A19uv5SH_tqEltUT4vXcumwCLcBGAs/s1600/TwoMonthsInBP.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JNgJ5I_dW-s/WiwpkjRmd-I/AAAAAAAABjg/DhXVvBs6W-A19uv5SH_tqEltUT4vXcumwCLcBGAs/s320/TwoMonthsInBP.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Its past is an
immense treasure, uncovered piece by piece, day by day, as life here goes on.
The first thing I learned was always to look up. I have since realised that it
should be always look everywhere. You never know what next point of interest is
hiding around the next corner, beneath your feet, or towering above you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">My first weeks
here were a wonder – the novelty of everything new, everything waiting to be
discovered. I was here and despite the terrible stress of my day job, despite
the culture shock and despite a horrible cold/fever that plagued me for those
first weeks, I could not have been more hungry to experience all that my new
home could offer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Somewhere
between then and now the great many administrative tasks I have had to
negotiate in a language I cannot speak have put a more dull coating on my new existence.
Apartment hunting – landlords, agents, tenants, appointments – always a bit of
a bore. Opening a bank account – not so easy when you realise that English speakers
are the definite minority. Thankfully a recommendation from a colleague solved
my issue. And residency permits. Who knew as a European – for indeed we Brits
still are European for now, and long may it last – I needed one? Queuing for
nearly and hour in the cold then for almost as long again in a stuffy hot hall
amidst a nervous, eager, frenzy of immigrants clutching passports and
paperwork, desperate to be allowed to stay in a country where they have secured
jobs and laid roots all the time knowing that it could all be snatched away. I
almost felt guilty that firming up my residency status was so easy in
comparison – I only needed to provide my signature 10+ times on papers I could
not read (placing a lot of trust in my translator there!) to get a printed,
laminated card that makes me an official Budapest resident now. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">And from
immigration I move to poverty, for it has become very apparent that many
Hungarians are living in poverty. Homeless roam the streets even more visibly
than back in Birmingham. Their makeshift homes and tiny communities are
evident. I cannot understand them when they speak, but when they smile and
greet me good morning on my way to work my heart aches. This is a city where
you cannot recycle glass at your home – something that enraged me initially – but
now I know if I get my glass empties to someone homeless, they can exchange
them for a few forints at a supermarket. I may not be able to solve their
problems, and I ‘do not judge’, which is all they ask of me when I pass by, but
I can send a few forints their way. How they choose to spend it is up to them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">This is a city
where a ‘few forints’ can buy an exceptional cup of soup or a pretty decent
‘daily meal’. Another thing I have realised is that here, with my ‘British’
salary, even on a single income I am far nearer the ‘wealthy’ end of the living
spectrum than I ever have been before. This is a country where first class
train travel, luxury spa treatments and slap up three course meals with drinks
are very affordable. This is a country where I qualify for a premium bank
account, for goodness sake. Me. I have my own banker.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">This is a
parallel universe, but not one that is easy to digest. Maybe I should be
revelling in my comfortable status, but it actually leaves a bit of a sick
feeling in the pit of my stomach. The difference in perception of money, value,
affordability, between myself and my Hungarian colleagues, is jarring. For me,
being able to buy a two course lunch, every day if I wished, for about £2.80,
or a very, very tasty fresh soup for £1.40 is a miracle. To them it is ok but
they can’t afford to do it very often. To me, jumping on a train from Budapest
to Vienna with a return first class ticket for less than 40 euros was a
miracle. To them, it is an occasional trip that would need planning and saving
for.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I have lived the
highs of Budapest, and I have seen and heard the lows, and I have had wonderful
days, and I have had days that are not so wonderful. Is that any different to
life anywhere else, at any other time? Had I not come here, would I be sipping
a glass of wine, eating olives, and tapping out my thoughts just the same as I
find myself doing tonight?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The language is
my main problem, fact. Going to places. Doing things. Shopping. Online
shopping. When you realise that you cannot read or even pronounce almost every
word you see, and cannot converse with people, life becomes hard. Every task
that would usually be easily accomplished takes ten times as long as it should
and comes with an added level of stress and challenge. Today I managed to buy the
correct postage stamps in the post office from a non-English speaking clerk.
And this is a great achievement of the day. I have to try and focus on the positives
and take something from each experience. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">So here is the
best thing I have learned since moving to Budapest: the things we take for granted
in life are blessings. Without them life becomes much harder, much sadder at
times. We can become easily disappointed with our own limitations. So we must
try not to. We must try not to get downhearted, and we must try not to take
things for granted. Where we have advantages, comforts, benefits, we must
appreciate them, because for those who do not have them, life is not so tinted
with joy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-34241869421342608752017-10-22T14:56:00.000+01:002017-10-22T14:56:58.055+01:00Imitation...<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Walking the
streets of a new city, looking around shops and studying products as though
everything is totally new to me because packaging is no longer in a language I
can understand, taking nothing for granted anymore, I am seeing the world and
all of its parts in a new way. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">All around me I
see imitation. Is anyone satisfied with being him/herself? In people, products,
places it is there. It seems as though everyone, everything, everywhere strives
to be someone, or something, or somewhere different. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">One of the main shopping
streets here is known as the Champs Elysees of Budapest. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LXXEawIAfg8/WeyjD1WPfxI/AAAAAAAABis/Y1kqX3iVd7QsEWS2ndArVbxcR_emoEs4gCLcBGAs/s1600/Imitation.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="555" height="276" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LXXEawIAfg8/WeyjD1WPfxI/AAAAAAAABis/Y1kqX3iVd7QsEWS2ndArVbxcR_emoEs4gCLcBGAs/s320/Imitation.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Why can’t we
stand alone? Why can’t we be ourselves?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">As I look around
me I see groups of young people dress in the same way, style their hair the
same, make themselves over in the style of someone else – a stranger on their
morning commute, the still, serene face from a magazine, their closest friends,
their greatest rivals. They wear matching bracelets, buy the same cover for
their identical mobile phones, live in the same area, visit the same places. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">It appears to be
in our nature to mimic what we admire. To crave it for ourselves. To always
want to better ourselves in some way. To be in a better place. To become that
which we admire. Life is short. Perhaps it should be no surprise that we want
more from it. But by wanting more do we miss the chance to enjoy what we have?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">No matter how
deeply it runs, no matter how great the effort to achieve that imitation, the
copy is never as interesting, as convincing or as good as the original. It is
the original’s very uniqueness that makes it worthy of imitation in the first
place. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">A crude
experiment helped me realise this conclusion. Take two make-up palettes, one
from a big name brand with a high price tag, the other from a high street store
with a scandalously cheap price. The low end product is a blatant homage to the
first. Same colours, same theme, same attempt at scenting the product, same
cute presentation. Both portray an appealing picture, but when it comes to the
detail the low end copy falls short. The cheap plastic casing has already
broken whereas the high end metal tin is flawless. The eyeshadows themselves
are an inferior product. Application is hard work for a finish that looks less
polished and is not as long lasting as the original.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Before I tried
either of them I suspected this would be the outcome, but I had to try. And there
it is. Imitation. A desire to bring something better to within our grasp. It will
always be there, because even when we know we have found something unique,
something worthy of being up on that pedestal, we cannot help but reach for it.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-69812878719120623292017-10-14T10:44:00.001+01:002017-10-14T10:44:43.596+01:00One Week in Budapest…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Well almost a
week. I arrived in my new home on Monday. Already I have walked sooooooo many
miles to and from work and spent the evenings exploring possible areas to settle,
have greatly enjoyed the autumn sunshine, eaten a rose-shaped ice cream and
listened to a band play beside the basilica, and begun to get used to being in
a place where everything beside a few high street shops is unfamiliar. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JJNb65tciZY/WeHbx4JFmJI/AAAAAAAABhY/A_4WjJQ6gPAe99k5hp7nwM7h_5nRt_IBgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7677.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JJNb65tciZY/WeHbx4JFmJI/AAAAAAAABhY/A_4WjJQ6gPAe99k5hp7nwM7h_5nRt_IBgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_7677.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Life is officially
an adventure and learning experience from hereon in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">What have I
learned so far?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">1) In Budapest,
always look up. There is so much cool architecture and design here and if you
don’t look up you are guaranteed to miss a gem, like in the photo above. I saw this while waiting to cross the street on the way to work. The photo doesn't really do justice to those paintings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">2) English is
not as widely spoken as you think it would be. I will have to rapidly learn
some basic Hungarian to avoid any more awkward charades-meets-Marcel-Marceau
moments. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">3) C&A is my
new favourite shop. In the UK we lost it around the 90s but here it lives on
in splendid fashion!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">4) I am possibly
in the best place for Halloween. There is a pumpkin festival. Yes, really!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">5) The way the
morning light hits the Basilica is magical.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">6) Eating lunch
on the bank of the Danube is magical.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">7) Living in
Budapest may well be magical.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-62769045337303441352017-10-01T16:28:00.000+01:002017-10-01T16:28:23.245+01:00Budapest: The Next Chapter…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Where have I
been? What have I been doing? Why the silence? Why the distance? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Only a major
life change/decision could keep me so preoccupied, and it has.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The next chapter
of my life will begin next week when I move to Budapest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mdeFf11LkC0/WdEJJwSwq7I/AAAAAAAABgM/w5k7pjumbyYXCZw3lvB7rStLsgKMouLrgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mdeFf11LkC0/WdEJJwSwq7I/AAAAAAAABgM/w5k7pjumbyYXCZw3lvB7rStLsgKMouLrgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_5798.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">That’s right, I
am moving to Budapest!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Random.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Life never turns out the way you think it will.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The offer of relocation
came from the day job. After a lot of deliberation, surprise, awe, joy,
puzzlement, musing, major excitement, etc. etc. I decided to go.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">It was
the only decision I could make. No regrets. No wondering what if. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">There will be
ups. There will be downs. There will be the Danube and Margaret Island, there
will be rose shaped ice creams and thermal spas, there will be a proper winter
and a beautiful summer, and there will be enough culture and history to hopefully
keep the downs at bay. I spent four days there in May and loved it. I hope
living there will be just as magical.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I am moving to
Budapest. Wish me luck and if you are ever there, let me know!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-61266229159409127922017-04-29T15:19:00.000+01:002017-04-29T15:19:52.837+01:00Crayola Colour Mood...<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Spring has
sprung, well and truly, making my colour of the moment the lush Maximum Green. Maximum
Green! Can you get any richer a green?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rLA5UpgsERY/WQSgu437H7I/AAAAAAAABf4/7GbbobCL0Vc4-nlKZPE8jbM7cG1D6sEUgCLcB/s1600/MaximumGreen.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rLA5UpgsERY/WQSgu437H7I/AAAAAAAABf4/7GbbobCL0Vc4-nlKZPE8jbM7cG1D6sEUgCLcB/s320/MaximumGreen.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Spring means traditional
celebrations of new growth, the build up of crops, flowers, bird song and the
lighter, brighter pathway to summer. Spring is for awakenings and change.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Spring means
spring cleaning, time to spruce up the home, and time to spruce up your life. Spring
is for new starts, not those flippant, desperate ones you strive for in winter
at the beginning of the new year but the true new starts of spring, of lighter
mornings, warmer days and the dawning of hope and happiness.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Spring means
getting outside, shaking off those lazy winter blues and breathing the air.
Breathe it all in!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I have spent the
last weeks walking in the countryside, getting spring into my lungs and a
spring back into my step. As the miles fall beneath my feet I feel the
possibilities of life and future creeping back to hug me in a grassy, mossy,
ferny blanket. The reassurance of spring.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">So for today I consider
myself fully immersed and committed to all that spring brings. When in doubt, breathe
in the Maximum Green and indulge in Spring 2017’s Crayola Colour Mood.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Maximum Green!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-51035457297823045722017-03-13T21:32:00.001+00:002017-03-13T21:32:34.761+00:00The Few That I Don’t Review…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">When people from
my ‘other life’ find out I am a book reviewer they very often ask what I do if
I get sent a book for review and don’t like the book. It is a good question, if
a little negative, but it has to be considered.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Not every book
is enjoyed by everyone. We do not all read for the same purpose. We do not all
seek the same satisfaction from our reading material. Any book has the capacity
to inspire some and deter others. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kCstHW6HNBc/WMcOxQYaE3I/AAAAAAAABew/dJdr3V4ytno-botc6ur6sm5596bD_PXSwCLcB/s1600/1outof5.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kCstHW6HNBc/WMcOxQYaE3I/AAAAAAAABew/dJdr3V4ytno-botc6ur6sm5596bD_PXSwCLcB/s320/1outof5.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I could easily
name a handful of books written by established names that I was convinced,
prior to reading them, that I would love them, but actually failed to connect with them
in the way I thought I would. Similarly I could name a handful of books that at
first glace at the cover or the blurb – I know, don’t judge, right? – I wasn’t
convinced I would enjoy, that have turned out to be wonderful. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">So what do I do with the few books from my reviewing hauls that I just cannot get into?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Answer: I do
nothing. If I can’t finish a book, or if I finish a book but just did not feel
inspired, excited, or connected enough to it to write a review, then I don’t
write one. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">This answer has shocked people. They have been shocked that I put out no review rather than putting out a negative review. They wonder why I do not publish a review explaining what I thought didn’t work about it and why. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">But that is the
point. Just because it didn’t work for me, does not mean it won’t work for other
readers. It is all subjective. We are all very, very different. Yes we are.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I read a book
recently and struggled. It appealed to me initially because the cover
endorsement was by one of my all time favourite authors. The cover art
was attractive and the story sounded like a lovely piece of escapism. So I should
have loved it, but in the reading I struggled. I struggled to connect with the narrator right from
the start. I struggled to see where the story was going or what kind of story
it was. I struggled to read on, even though there were some strong images and a
lyrical, historical, magic feel to the whole thing. I struggled to the end and I started to write
a review. Then I stopped. For some reason this book just wasn’t speaking to me.
I don’t know why. Even now when I see other people's praise of it, I am not sure exactly why. It just
did not work that way for me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">In every review
I write, I begin with a summary of the who’s, how's, what's, why’s, or where’s of the book, to
give the reader a taste of what they may find within it. I find this part usually flows really easily but for this particular review I didn’t make it past a
paragraph. The words just would not come. I closed the document and resigned myself to this being one of the
few that I don’t review. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I won’t tell the
world what I didn’t like about this book. I won’t tell the world what other people
might not like about this book. Because what good is a negative review to anybody? Who
does it benefit, really, if I taint your view of what a book may be, because of what it was to me? Do you
really want to miss out on your next gem because – due to circumstance, personal taste
or the mysteries of the universe – for me it just wasn’t a gem?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">So that
abandoned review, and the book it relates to, will linger in the archives,
leaving its future readers guarded from my opinions. One day it may speak to me
and be granted a second chance, but for now it is left in peace, intact and
waiting discovery by those who may look upon it more favourably.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-12500206986076771482017-01-29T17:34:00.001+00:002017-01-29T17:34:17.159+00:00Trainspotting, 20+ years on…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Trainspotting</span></i><span lang="EN-GB"> was released
in 1996, and certainly then and in the subsequent years I know I watched it
quite a few times. On this particular then-15/16-year-old it made an
impression.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-It_d96q2Dhg/WI4l-cARFkI/AAAAAAAABeY/04tYaPTv5aMPfWVO3sPR3T-zPrJ3Rbr2ACLcB/s1600/Trainspotting.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-It_d96q2Dhg/WI4l-cARFkI/AAAAAAAABeY/04tYaPTv5aMPfWVO3sPR3T-zPrJ3Rbr2ACLcB/s320/Trainspotting.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Hard hitting. Real.
Instructive. Tense. Well crafted. Loud. Cool. Brilliant.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Looking back, those
are some of the ideas and impressions I have of the film but in the years
since the mid-late 90s I don’t think I have seen <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trainspotting</i> more than once. Twice,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>perhaps.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">With the sequel
pending and a re-watch scheduled, this month I tried but could not really
remember much about the original film. I had strong visual impressions of a
couple of characters and a handful of key moments but little more than that.
Certainly the storyline had become lost to me among those main elements – the
music, the clubs, the pain and the drugs. But something else in that film had spoken
to me. At the time it had felt so significant, yet whatever magic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trainspotting</i> had over us 90s teens,
now, as an adult, grown and changed over again since then, I could no longer
grasp it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">In fact many of
those original commands that as a young teenager had seemed so old and far
away – “Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big
television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical
tin openers […] Choose your future. Choose life.” – were now a very real part of life (except for
my television which is modestly sized at best and the compact disc players
which 20+ years on are just about obsolete).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">2017. Me. Older.
More grounded in life. Sadly aware of the harsh, sick, contradictive and often
hard-to-stomach parts of reality that along with the lighter side form life.
Real life, which my 16-year-old self had but little exposure to. How would a film
that was, in its time, poignant, symbolic and significant, in a real if
indefinable way, speak to me 20 years on?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">On re-watching I
was surprised to discover that I had remembered the story, and far more of it
all than I thought. That magic was real; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trainspotting
</i>evidently did speak to me back then and leave a much clearer and
longer-lasting impression than I thought. In all its grim, gritty, grainy
truths, amidst the swearing, the violence and the filth there lurks a wonderful
study of human behaviour, relationships and survival, which is just as true of
today as it was of then.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">There are
moments when you laugh. There are moments when you cringe. There are moments
when you turn away from the television but even turning away is not enough to
banish the horror that is being presented. There is no getting away from it.
And should there be? Has the lust for life truly gone? Should we face it
anyway?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Those who know
me or who have read my blog before will know that I am always dubious of a
sequel. Yes, of course, there have been many brilliant sequels over the years.
Specific ones. You know which ones are exceptional. There have also been an
awful lot more terrible sequels – and re-makes, while we’re on the subject –
which should never have been made at all, and I always fear a bad sequel, so the
prospect of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">T2 Trainspotting </i>after
all these years rings a few bells, although seeing the original line up still
involved and knowing it is in Danny Boyle’s capable hands reassures me no end
even if I once again cannot understand the title. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trainspotting </i>left 90s Renton certainly
more hopeful than the beginning found him, although his path was far from easy or clean.
Did he grow up to be just like us, with our 9-5s and indexed pensions, getting
by, looking ahead to the day we die? I have purposefully avoided any discussion
of or spoilers about the sequel – I prefer to make my own first impression –
but having today been reminded of how good a film was presented to me in 1996,
I look forward, with glee and apprehension, to what the new instalment will
bring. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I also look back and I wonder… In
another twenty years will I once again be inspired to choose my
future and choose life? Will I once again reach back, holding only vague
memories, and find much deeper impressions left behind by an inexplicable magic?
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-20560745136566184072016-11-21T17:39:00.000+00:002016-11-21T17:39:50.537+00:00Why I’m Not Doing NaNoWriMo 2016…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The title of
this blog is a little misleading, because I cannot actually tell you why I am
not taking part in NaNoWriMo 2016. Let me explain…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The problem with
leading a double life is that the big things in life, the key events, the
monumental decisions, the terrible lows and disappointments, and the wonders,
are all too much to be contained in one aspect of life; they spill over from
one identity to the next. There may be two faces here – the me that reviews and
writes and the me that works the day job – but we are one and the same. We are
a duo. A juggling act. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sOgY4zdkOk0/WDMwyU-0usI/AAAAAAAABdU/iU5oXBA8T6kVwVsda3ttdt4EFG-1jMv_ACLcB/s1600/Self-preservation.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sOgY4zdkOk0/WDMwyU-0usI/AAAAAAAABdU/iU5oXBA8T6kVwVsda3ttdt4EFG-1jMv_ACLcB/s320/Self-preservation.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Confused? Not
too much, I hope. Essentially the me that is writing my Aethera novels and
reviewing books and attending conventions and dwelling in the fantasy fiction
world has had to take a back seat in 2016 because of life changing decisions
and focus on a secret project in my other, more mundane life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I should say,
lest you think me a secret agent or other exciting being, that by secret
project I mean something that I cannot openly discuss or explain here because
it would have a detrimental effect on the ‘other’ me. It is a struggle, but
sometimes in life you have to sacrifice something to gain something else. I
have thought and planned much for my future this year, and my present has had
to go somewhat on pause as a result. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">2016 has been a
hard year. Of course that is not just the case for me but for many of us. There
have been let downs. It began back in January so terribly, and things have not often
looked up since then. It has been hard to lay groundwork to change and improve
life, but it has been necessary. Self-preservation is the first law of nature,
said Samuel Butler.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Today I had an
intense day following an intense several months, but I am pleased to say it has
paid off – some excellent news came out of it, news which again I cannot share
but news which I think will bring positive and welcome changes into my life for
2017. After today I can take my finger off that pesky pause button for a while,
which is great news for ‘this’ me, because ‘this’ me has a third novel to write
(a third novel which has been impatiently circling the lower halos of my mind
for a very long time). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">No, I have not
forgotten how to write, nor lost my love of it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">No, I have not
lost my desire to review and blog and attend events and immerse myself in this
industry which so inspires and entertains me. Time is a premium, and time well
spent on my real life now will better benefit this life in the year to come. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">In the title
words of an excellent piece of fictional writing:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">“Do Not Forsake
Me, Oh My Darling” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">For am I still
here, and shall be for many words and many stories yet to come. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elloise Hopkins.</span><!--EndFragment-->
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-59764168044907836702016-06-04T15:41:00.001+01:002016-06-04T15:41:41.624+01:00Three Act Play, Two Act Interval…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">When I go to
watch local theatre or performances I tend to blog about them – a
review/commentary on the play and my experience of it. Also, I think it is worth
talking about exceptional local events and venues to spread the word, as it
were. Nothing spreads success quite like word of mouth. </span>However, I
recently saw a local performance and did not blog about it. Why? The play was good. There were some very funny lines and well choreographed and executed scenes. An
enjoyable evening out was had by all.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-71SqyXI3cYs/V1LnheajiPI/AAAAAAAABcU/koLgHpn51sopyWhnfUwGQPdUHyUFyZtAgCLcB/s1600/ThreeActPlay.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-71SqyXI3cYs/V1LnheajiPI/AAAAAAAABcU/koLgHpn51sopyWhnfUwGQPdUHyUFyZtAgCLcB/s320/ThreeActPlay.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">But – a big but
that deserves to be a paragraph starter – there was a glaring issue that
prevented the audience’s total appreciation of what they were watching and
prevented them from telling the performers that they were enjoying what they
saw.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The performance
was of a play by Oscar Wilde that was written in three acts, as many are, of
course. The play was performed in three parts with two intervals. The problem?
The audience did not know there were going to be two intervals. Why is that a
problem? When the stage lights dimmed for the first time, a scant 20 minutes
into the performance, none of us knew it was for an interval; it felt like the
end of a scene and we waited in silence for the next one. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">When an
uncomfortably long scene change had passed and no new scene began, the house
lights came up and then there was some half hearted clapping by an audience
that was vacating the theatre in some confusion and hovering around the bar
wondering why there had been no notification of the two interval situation or
why the first one had come so soon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">After a 20 minute interval we duly made our
way back into the theatre and the play resumed. </span>I and a few
others in the audience had, by this point, gleaned that there was going to be a
second interval in the play so when the second one came around we few clapped
and attempted to create a proper gap in the proceedings. Eventually those
slower folks in the audience cottoned on and the second interval was slightly
more successful than the first.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The end of the
play was good and overall I think people went home happy; however, there was
that lingering feeling of something not quite right. Not knowing about the two
intervals, and they being so long in themselves, had left the audience-actors
relationship irrevocably affected by it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">There is nothing
wrong with having a three act play with a two part interval, but tell people
about it first. That way the audience has no lingering guilt at its lack of
reaction and the players and everyone else involved in putting on the show have
no lingering doubt over the success of the performance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Accept that these days we
are pre-conditioned to expect one interval somewhere near the
middle of a play, and communicate when you are going off grid. Tell the
audience to expect something out of the ordinary and they will thank you for it
accordingly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">No one enjoys the end of an act with no applause. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-33193342487131235942016-04-03T15:21:00.000+01:002016-04-03T15:21:26.549+01:00Series Update April 2016…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">It’s becoming an increasingly slow slog getting this series finished. I raced through my re-write of
book two towards the end, then started book three and got stuck after the
prologue (which was very clear in my mind) because I got myself in a tangle
about which character was where, what they were doing and why. What had always
been a very clear path to the end suddenly seemed flawed, although I could not
put my finger on the whys or wherefores.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uz7LpjdjD4I/VwEmcaaILWI/AAAAAAAABa4/ehNw9M-lKEMuQ5GHf_0jLCFu7SjSVFGrA/s1600/VesperApr2016.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uz7LpjdjD4I/VwEmcaaILWI/AAAAAAAABa4/ehNw9M-lKEMuQ5GHf_0jLCFu7SjSVFGrA/s320/VesperApr2016.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I took another
break from the story to give myself some thinking time and (fortunately/unfortunately)
began to be very plagued by a character who wants to be written – but she is
not from this series so has to stay where she is for now despite how loud and
formed she is in my mind. She will play a major part in an upcoming project which
I think is actually going to be a series of books aimed at children. Who
expected that one?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Back to the
Aethera and I remained in a muddle and feeling somewhat despondent after so
many years of watching them interact so coherently in my thoughts and in the
many hundreds of pages already written. I began to feel very depressed by the
lack of progress until the very thought of opening the files and my big ideas
sketchpad had become a monumental task in my by now very messed up head.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Time heals all,
they say, and a little more time away from it all – anxiety and hopelessness in
tow – started to work some wonders. I began to focus on the good things that I
have already written, particularly on those little plot mysteries that solved
themselves in the writing and the answers that had come to earlier questions
that I had no idea I was asking at the time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Where there have
been those solutions, I had to believe there will be more and suddenly I realised
that the only way forward was to go back over what has gone before (again) and
find the words to continue the story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I revisit book
two with a more positive view this time. I think I know where it gets a little
muddy, and I think the explanation for that already exists on the pages written
and the thoughts as yet unwritten. I may not yet have an agent to help me
through the tougher times, but I have three solid main characters, an ever
forming world and a sidekick who is worthy of his own story. I have the
ingredients I just have to get the mixture right, and I will.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Book two the re-visit
is underway. Time to spring clean my words ready for the next ones.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-83633578502634816832016-02-21T15:20:00.000+00:002016-02-21T15:20:33.409+00:00Accents in Stories…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Or The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I may have blogged about accents and successfully
delivering language in literature before. I’m not sure, but having watched
Trapped last night (which is a fantastic tv programme that makes wonderful use
of the Icelandic landscape and language along with English and Danish) and
having recently read Mark Twain’s aforementioned book, accents are circling my
mind today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zWocDk_0B6w/VsnU9cPZO6I/AAAAAAAABao/gblQqzYTZIQ/s1600/HuckFinn.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zWocDk_0B6w/VsnU9cPZO6I/AAAAAAAABao/gblQqzYTZIQ/s320/HuckFinn.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB">First off I
should caveat this blog by saying that my experience of Finn’s adventure was
probably hindered by reading from a yellowed hardback that was gifted to me in
1989 and has spent the years since aging, forgotten in a cupboard amongst other
childhood trinkets. It was also hindered by the fact that I was reading –
trying to read – this ancient copy, which by the way has tiny text, on a very
busy, noisy bus on my commutes to and from the dreaded day job.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I wonder also
whether my experience was hindered by the fact that I have never read The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which by all accounts appears to come before
Huckleberry Finn’s adventure. I didn’t realise that together they form a
series. Should I have read about Tom Sawyer first?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">You are sensing
by now, I am sure, that I struggled a bit with this book. Being an avid reader
and, of course, a book reviewer, this struggling was somewhat of a shock to the
system, but struggle I did. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The author’s
explanatory note advises the reader that a number of dialects are used in the
book: “the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods
South-Western dialect; the ordinary ‘Pike-County’ dialect; and four modified
varieties of this last”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Unfortunately I
am not really sure what any of those should sound like, and so this book has
sounded in my head like a terribly bad day where Deliverance met Smokey
Robinson and every bandit from anywhere west. The consequence is that much of
Finn’s wile and charm was lost on me because of my inability to communicate
with him on any real level.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The story has
fantastic moments of cunning, humour and downright cheek, and I feel as though
I have missed out on a great experience. I will have to put it on my list for a
re-read and make sure I read in a place that allows me full, uninterrupted
concentration on these adventures, and I will read them in order lest spending
time with Tom first makes for a more beneficial experience. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Accents in books
are always going to be a tricky thing and having read this book I see why – if
your reader doesn’t know in the first place what you intend your accent to
sound like then they make their own interpretation, and a poor or distracting
interpretation can have a detrimental effect on their enjoyment and
understanding of your work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">How do you
successfully write an accent into literature? That is a blog for another day
but is certainly something that shall occupy my thoughts for a time. Brave is the author who wholeheartedly commits to this endeavour, says I.</span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-65178875356137042122016-02-07T11:08:00.000+00:002016-02-07T11:08:22.058+00:00Richard Castle…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Castle, Castle…
You know I love the guy. You know I love my kindle. Put the two together and
what do you get?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xTMXA__6Xeo/VrclGJ4tBFI/AAAAAAAABaY/v7kuUbtya5M/s1600/Castle.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xTMXA__6Xeo/VrclGJ4tBFI/AAAAAAAABaY/v7kuUbtya5M/s320/Castle.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I read the
Derrick Storm books recently. The three shorts that kicked it off didn’t overly
impress me. Yes, I could hear Castle’s voice when I read them, and yes, they
had nice little touches of the series in them, but essentially the story did
not wow me. Neither did the quality of the writing – yes, ever the reviewer –
but as you also know, I am not always the short story’s greatest fan so the
odds were stacked against them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Despite these
initial impressions, I found myself moving onto the next books in the series –
Storm Front and Wild Storm. Add longer length, more pleasing prose, character
development and time to sit back and enjoy the fictional works of the fictional
Richard Castle and you have success.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I can’t tell you
exactly why I read through these so quickly and so determinedly. Perhaps
because I love the show so much, I needed to love the spin off books too.
Perhaps you don’t need a perfectly crafted, sophisticated narrative to make a
book a success – is there a lesson to learn there?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I certainly
loved the clever ways the books evoked the show’s presence, through references
to the characters, particularly those similarities between Storm and Castle – apparently
they both really are ruggedly handsome. Plus there was the odd genius reminder
of the fictional nature of Castle the writer and of “writers whose identity the
public will never know”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Whether I will
go on to read the Nikki Heat books at some point is yet to be seen, but there
is more to ‘Richard Castle’ in these books than meets the eye and I am glad I
was not quick enough to dispose of Derrick Storm and his world-saving before I
had read them all.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-88928817966063625982016-01-22T20:26:00.000+00:002016-01-22T20:26:50.526+00:00Never a finer prince shall there be…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Goodbye, my
heart, my princely fellow, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">You lover of
sunshine and all exciting things.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Go crowned and
sleek feline footed to your next adventure, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Where kings
dwell beyond the gates of the Goblin City,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">And the hunting
is ripe with fairies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Never a finer
prince shall there be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Never a finer
prince than thee.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Nineteen years
was forever. Not long at all.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Be always loved
and never forgotten,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">My heart, my
striped friend, my Tigger.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Purr and preen
and sing, my boy,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">And wear your
crown with pride. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">For never a finer
prince shall there be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Never a finer
prince than thee.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_RzUP7pTUxg/VqKQQCEAEFI/AAAAAAAABaI/PLBnEi3Tn68/s1600/OdeToTigger.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_RzUP7pTUxg/VqKQQCEAEFI/AAAAAAAABaI/PLBnEi3Tn68/s320/OdeToTigger.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3663482424984079339.post-43464649664298100282015-12-13T21:47:00.000+00:002015-12-13T21:47:05.609+00:00NaNo No Chance…<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xOlel3i5Qms/VSj9ZDwNu2I/AAAAAAAABWg/GZ2_h0xZx6w/s1600/RoomView2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xOlel3i5Qms/VSj9ZDwNu2I/AAAAAAAABWg/GZ2_h0xZx6w/s200/RoomView2.gif" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">It was an
unlikely goal even before November came. 50,000 words in a month of starting a
new job, Christmas shopping and worrying sick over a terribly ill cat. It was an unlikely goal, to say the least. At the end of October I was still editing book two, right up
to the wire on Halloween. I reached the end, sure, goal achieved, but it was a
total rush and I know that both the quality of the story and my involvement
with the characters suffered as a result.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">November came,
but the story did not. Once I had written the prologue, which was clear in my
mind, there was nothing else clear in my mind to write. I knew where the
characters all were, and I knew where they were going, but I couldn’t quite see
how and when to get them there. I still can’t. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">It is not
writer’s block. It is a thinking block. I have always done the key parts of my
writing by thinking.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">My life now has
a commute where before it had a few minutes walk to and from work each day. My
home now is a houseful of people where before it was nothing but the quiet hum
of trains and the call of birds in the sky. My life had lie-ins where now it
has a constant wake up call.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">My life now has noise where before it had that
special kind of quiet in which stories are made. My lifestyle has changed, and
the things I love doing, and the stories I write, have suffered for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">So writing
50,000 words in November did not happen. It was never really going to –
psyching myself up to do it was my way of clinging to something normal,
something that is familiar and something that has before been so natural and so
easy. I did not write, and much as I tried to find the story, I did not. It has
never worked that way for me; it has never been forced.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I definitely
need a rest. My mind is exhausted from the lack of opportunity to put my
thoughts and feelings in order and my body is exhausted from lack of good,
peaceful sleep and from lugging around my disordered mind. I wish for calm, and
quiet. I wish for time and space. I wish for that moment when I glance out of a
window or up at the sky and find the perfect clarity that is the next part of the
story. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">So I tell
myself, in those moments when I hate the lack of word count, that two books out
of three is not at all bad, and the third will be all the better for the rest.
Sometimes life gets in the way. That is just the way it is.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Elloise Hopkins.</span></div>
Elloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199598535428567175noreply@blogger.com0