Tuesday, 11 October 2005

I've heard that a whole generation of young people have been killed in the earthquake in Asia. This must be unbearable for those women who are past child bearing age. There is a silver lining though. Many relatives left Asia and are in Europe and elsewhere. When the tsunami struck on the coast of India it also wiped out whole villages, including Velanganee. Later I remembered that a hundred and fifty years ago, hundreds of people left those villages to work in Africa and the Caribbean. I like to think those families have not been wiped out.

Sunday, 10 October 2005

Writers' block has taken on a new meaning for me. Now it's all those blocks that someone else puts in your path stopping you from being published. There used to be a time when a writer could post a ms from Timbuctoo and it would be read by a publisher in London and published. Today you have to send your ms first to an agent. The agent holds on to it for three to six months then returns it with a polite note, thanks for letting me read this, but it's not for me. I would like to charge agents for the privilege of reading a ms. Can you see them writing letters of application, please let me read your manuscript, my reading skills are good, I am prepared to pay £50 per thousand words, I promise to return your manuscript in five days time, without coffee stains, but more than this I promise to find you an agent in a forthnights time. Dream on!

Monday, 11 October 2005

I was a bit upbeat when I wrote that. That was before I went out for a walk, was accosted by three kids on bikes just as I left my house, and asked myself the usual questions. I came back and read some of the other blogs and I thought, you guys all seem upbeat too, even with the hurricane and stuff. Natural disasters bring out the best in people, most of the time. What brings out this kind of behaviour in kids who are twelve and thirteen years old? Is this the time to dream on?

manny - this is my pseudonym.