Why do stories come into one's head, or odd names or first lines? Perhaps deep in the brain there is a part that makes things up and they occasionally pop out if the stimulus is right. If nothing else is occupying the mind then the idea can be developed. Most of my poems are written at one sitting with later tweaks. I use the form to be able to be more adventurous with words and to use the end of lines and the beginning of new ones to highlight a word or re-enforce an idea. Inspiration comes from events or sights or just thoughts. Often one works with a picture in one's head. An illustration therefore is sometimes a natural extension. I hope those included will add rather than detract from the reader's picture. The Stories are longer affairs but rarely planned from the start. They take lives of their own and grow from the beginning. Eric I think is the only story that I had the idea for a long time before I actually put it on paper. I am not at all morbid but death and suffering are what we all see to some degree at some time or another. Having been involved in stock farming where life and death are regular affairs I can look at the subject in a rather detached manner. Having lived and worked in the countryside I have had wonderful opportunities to observe the Natural world and the seasons. It is from these experiences that some of the work comes.
About the Author: My literary aspirations were encouraged by my mother who had a love of the written word. An early speaking competition inspired me so much that the five minutes allotted was not enough. I was instructed to stop before I had got to the end of my text. At public school a punishment gave rein to my imagination. A story twice as long as required describing our misdemeanours was the result. Causing amusement to the teacher, and the remark ' shame you cannot be as inspired in your class work.' Teacher training with a course in Eng. Lit. gave me insight into authors and the hidden depths of literary ideas that I had hitherto not appreciated. An early parody of The rape of the lock that I wrote now makes me shudder, but at least I was putting pen to paper in my own write as John Lennon so cleverly said. The convoluted meanings conjured out of the authors' brains by our Lit teacher left me mystified. As a primary school teacher my favourite subject was encouraging my 9 year old charges in imaginative writing. Children's attempts at poetry can be refreshing and honest in its spontaneity and observation. In 1975 I left teaching to become a farmer. Most of my early poems had natural or farming subjects and were written at the kitchen table over early morning cups of tea or late at night while waiting for a cow to calve. The countryside of North Cornwall and its weather inspired observations of the natural world, and farming encourages common sense. I hope my words continue to reflect in part these principles Our small family moved to France in 1990, with many different stimuli - and a word processor. I still have my first 'manuscripts' a collection of tatty bits of paper, paper bags, old envelopes, the first paper that came to hand when an idea sprung. Later I began to write mostly poems straight onto the computer, which immediately is clean and neat. The form of a poem can be seen clearly. There are still the occasional bits of paper when I am away from home. Now that we have left farming I have the time to work at writing. The stories have begun to arrive, ideas for which often begin with a phrase or a character, and grow. The story comes with the writing. Often my subjects are inspired by the weaknesses and foibles of the human race not least the final weakness. I am not morbid. In farming one is presented with life and death in equal part so one adopts a more healthy and realistic view of mortality. It is just a fact of life.