Girls & Grandfathers

My daughter loves her grandfathers.

Don't get me wrong; in her estimation, her Nannas are pretty cool. Heck, they're the ones who feed her all the shite that I don't dare, who'll let her spray their perfume all over her and her teddy bear, who'll ask "how high?" when she says jump.

But her grandpas - especially my dad - are something special to her. She loves them to pieces, has them wrapped around her little finger and, as you can see from this photo of my daughter and my dad, the old boys don't mind one little bit. 

And it's just great.

Seriously Good Book on Writing

"The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear", by Ralph Keyes.

The book arrived via Amazon on Tuesday, and I finished it on Wednesday. Not a mention of "show don't tell", or of the perils of overusing adverbs, or the necessity of story arc, etc etc, and damn, is it a good book! It made me realise all the quirky little  rituals I've unconsciously employed to psyche myself up to write are in fact quite common, and that being afraid and anxious about writing is not only normal, it is vital. That to be afraid to write is absolutely necessary to produce anything worth reading.

And then he helpfully suggests how to harness and transcend those fears. (Phew!)

Go forth and read it. You'll still have all your writerly neuroses, but at least they'll now make sense!