Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Sunday 10 April 2011

oxford lit fest, a book for all and none, sheep




Went to the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival yesterday to hear my MSt in Creative Writing boss, Clare Morgan, talk about her forthcoming novel, A Book for All and None (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 978-0-297-86373-1).

She was appearing with Catherine Hall and Simon Lelic and the event was chaired by Rachel Hore.
An enjoyable hour of readings and discussions about writing, editing, writing about historical figures and the importance of a sense of place in fiction.

Getting to the event meant a lot of running in sweltering heat. The Park & Ride bus dropped me in a completely different place to where I'd been expecting, with only minutes to go before the event started. When did they change the route!

Bought a copy of Clare's book, which has its official launch in June.

First lie-in for a few weeks this morning. Cycle before late breakfast. Liked bucolic scene by moat-looking thing down by Tadpole Bridge, which I photographed last on what felt like the first day of spring at the start of the year.
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