Week 119 – Sleep Deprivation, Stewart Granger And Brain Scooping.

I’ve been at a loss this week what to write. I thought about Brexit as I haven’t mentioned that but I thought there is no way that I want to hear any-more about it. We have two years of listening to professional pish talkers talk pish. Any debate only encourages them to debate so I won’t be going down that road.

For whatever reason I then went from there to family packs of chocolate or crisps. They aren’t family packs they are simply a challenge, the same way two dozen cans of beer or a litre of booze is a challenge. I accept them regularly, get the munchies and accept more challenges.

Following on from that I began to wonder if Jesus ever got any Easter Eggs but I thought that might be a wee bit inappropriate. ‘Ma Da’ Never Bought Me An Egg.’ Would be a cracking (Sorry!) title for his biography, ‘Bible’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

None of this has any story or writing content so I’ve gone for sleep deprivation.

In a past life, due to mad working hours I didn’t know what planet I was on. I think this is why I hate zombies, I was one for twelve years.

Gwen has been on night-shift and is having trouble sleeping and she reminds me of these times. Weirdly, she works well but then becomes a dribbling wreck when she gets home.

If you find yourself in this type of situation you need to take advantage. The randomness of your thoughts and conversations need to be recorded.

I have seen a floating khaki suit and pith helmet come towards me in a threatening manner. Fortunately Stewart Granger’s dapperness and overacting was nowhere to be seen.

The gorilla without a head was disconcerting but then I realised I was trying to work out how I knew it was a gorilla.

I have also used a teabag as a 4lb weight, burnt my hands due to me falling asleep whilst melting fondant and dozed off in the bath whilst the cold water was running onto the back of my neck. I thought I was being born from a water-fall.

Now if you mix this type of madness, with alcohol, you will have something special. But the recording of your ideas is difficult. You can’t request help as your partner will have trouble with your specific instructions such-like:

‘Bloody Mary, look at my ankles, I’m rainbows…You know!!!’

They normally call you a maniac and ignore you.

You can try a recording device or ‘Blewteeth’ as the kids now call them. But again how are you able to decipher the ramblings that you talk? The problem is all the great ideas are in your head. What you actually spout is utter pish.

You’ll have a few moments of clarity when you know exactly what you want to say and you’ll smile as you realise this could be the best idea ever! You’ll then switch on your recording device, pick up your pen, write and say:

‘Inspiration is the cod that sits between the legs of an eagle and a sultana.’

You will realise this is not exactly what you meant, keel over, fall asleep for twenty hours and wake up boringly normal and very forgetful.

Every idea is there. There is inspiration, inventiveness, originality and brilliance. But to write it you need to stick a spoon in your ear, scoop out your brain and find the bit where it’s stored!

OK onto this weeks stories.

We have subjects such as senility, bullying, relationship breakdown, refugee heartbreak and love.

Three new writers this week. We welcome them, hope they have a great time with the site and continue to send us their work.

As always our initial comments follow.

The first of our first timers had their story published on Monday. Marissa McNamara started the week off with ‘Top Of The Line.’

‘The tragedy was that they both accepted and didn’t question themselves or each other.’

‘Great atmosphere.’

‘When all the little things start to irritate and you can’t get away, it is nothing short of torment, I should think.’

Titus Green is a third time returning author. We are so pleased to see him adding to his back catalogue. ‘ ‘Odyssey Of Tears‘ was next up on Tuesday.

‘This needs to be told and shown wherever possible.’

‘Very powerful writing.’

‘This shows a true picture of a world I don’t understand.’

On Wednesday, our second new writer Caleb Harvey had his story ‘Carson‘ published. As with all our newbies this was an excellent début.

‘This is a powerful piece of writing. It took some very uncomfortable subject matter and tackled it truthfully.’

‘By the end I was totally lost in the tragedy of it all.’

‘The voice is constant, the situation is realistic and the ending is heartbreaking.’

There are no plaudits I have left for Mr Fred Foote. If you haven’t read his work, you will be all the better for doing so! Check out his back catalogue.

‘Early Stages‘ was our penultimate story on Thursday.

‘Fred has tapped into a fear that many of us keep tamped down.’

‘This is chilling.’

‘He has condensed this fear into a very short and powerful piece of work.’

Friday is always last. Our final new writer, Romana Guilotte, had their short story ‘We Need Nothing More‘ finishes off what has been an excellent week.

‘The emotion is intertwined in the story and very well done.’

‘Crisp writing, very well executed.’

‘Definitely about love but not a traditional romance.’

That’s us for another seven days folks.

I must have been very tired when I wrote the first part!!

Hugh

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