Blogs

Queerbating? (Thicker Than Water Chapters 3 & 4)

If we ever met in person, odds are you'd never know I was gay. I have don't exhibit any of the stereotypical characteristics associated with gay men. In fact, I have been accused of being a homophobe and queerbating. Some of these resulted in several arguments. I just don't present as "gay." I don't even engage in "gay activities." I don't watch Drag Race. I don't care for most musicals. I don't listen to Lady Ga Ga. And, most scandalous of all, I want go to most PRIDE events. The only

August 12, 2023

soundtrack

On The Outside

Soundtrack Track List Fine On The Outside (Priscilla Ahn) - Drew’s Theme On My Mind (CD Ghost) - The Longing Of Hidden Hearts Nowhere (CD Ghost) - Lost Between In And Out If Only (CD Ghost) - If Only We Could Be Ourselves When Will I Belong? (Geographer, Savoir Adore) - Drew’s Lament Voices Carry (Emmett Kai’s Cover of ‘Til Tuesday) - Drew Struggles With Ethan’s Fears What About Love (‘Til Tuesday) - Balancing Fear And Love

MrM in soundtrack

August 10, 2023

A Comedy of Errors (Thicker Than Water Chapter 3)

Comedy is the hardest literary form to write. Humor is extremely subjective and can very subtle and nuanced to the point where the joke is missed. Humor can also be offensive to some while enjoyed by others. There are many times of comedy from puns (the lowest form of humor, in my opinion) to dark humor (the kind that's so shocking and offensive, you don't know if the person is laughing because they genuinely find it funny, or they're just extremely uncomfortable and don't know what else to d

August 6, 2023

Review

'The dangerous kingdom of love' by Neil Blackmore

The dangerous kingdom of love by Neil Blackmore My rating: 5 out of 5 stars How do you like your Bacon? Francis Bacon is an important cog in early seventeenth-century Jacobean royal circles - not titled, not a favourite, but he has the ear of the king nonetheless. James I (and VI) has been transplanted from Scotland to the English court. Bacon's role as administrator, facilitator, maybe procurer, to the crown means he's a man to be watched. James is different from old Queen Elizab

northie in Review

August 1, 2023

Book Review: The Clothes They Stood Up in by Alan Bennett

The Ransomes, a middle-aged, middle-class couple living in North London, return home to their mansion flat, from a night at the opera, and discover they have been burgled. But this is no ordinary burglary. Every single thing in their home has been taken. They are greeted with only bare floor boards and walls. All the possessions they are left with, in the world, are the clothes they are wearing. In this novella, Alan Bennett strips this middle-class couple of all their belongings and theref

July 30, 2023

Allow Me to Digress, Again.... (Thicker Than Water Chapter 2)

I'm currently running into the problem I knew I'd have writing this blog: Rambling. I've already taken four swings at this only to delete it after I've caught myself going off topic on many tangents. Granted, they provided a lot of insight and exposition into the story, but it's just too much and not necessarily needed. So, allow me to digress, again. This is not the first story I've ever written. I think that's pretty clear. I also think everyone knows (or can find out) that this is

July 30, 2023

What the Hell I Was Thinking (Thicker That Water Chapter 1)

Titles. They're the worst. I'm not good with names or titles. Often, I'll come up with the a place holder and write a few pages to get a feel for the story before settling on something to call the story. I'm never satisfied with my titles, either. When I was a kid, I'd name my stories after song titles, even if the song had nothing to do with what I was writing. I found it easier than trying to think of something catchy. Titles should grab your reader's attention, while giving some kind o

July 23, 2023

blog post

My LinkedIn Profile Was Stolen, a Cautionary Tale

“ERIN SMITH IS A LIAR!!” I went to log onto my LinkedIn profile, to post a link to my latest blog, but I was locked out of it. There was a message saying my account had been locked because of “suspicious activity”. But all I had been posting on it were links to my writing. I checked my emails and found ones from LinkedIn, several of the many emails from them telling me someone had messaged me, someone had viewed my profile, someone had posted another notification, but the recent ones w

Drew Payne in blog post

July 21, 2023

Moving on.

Life: I start a new job on Monday. I haven’t had a new job in ten years, mostly because I was happy at my old one. Good hours, good money, good people… Yeah, pretty content. Not gonna lie. But then another opportunity came up, and I thought, “Hey, why not?” The new job still has all the things: schedule, pay, autonomy, etc. You know what’s shocking? All the people -- at the old company -- flabbergasted at my decision. Why would I leave if nothing was wrong? Am I not scared?

July 21, 2023

Welcome to My Blog about Thicker Than Water

This is always an awkward situation, never knowing how to start a conversation that may very well be just to yourself that others may end up reading. To start, I guess, I hate first person narratives. You can tell a good writer from a bad writer based on how they use this perspective. A good writer using first person will give some insight into the mind of the lead character, such as suspicions, theories and point of view, which is used to drive the plot. A bad writer will focus more on the

July 16, 2023

blog post

London Pride 2023: A Long Wait or Another Broken Promise?

They were dotted throughout the London Pride march. On all different types of banners and placards, some very professionally produced and others homemade but often more pithy. All of them demanding the same thing: BAN CONVERSION THERAPY! Every time I saw one, I would smile, partly to show my support and gratitude to the person carrying the banner, and partly to myself. To see the dangerous threat of conversion therapy so openly denounced by the LGBTQ community was so reassuring. I

Drew Payne in blog post

July 12, 2023

Book Review: A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French

This is a story of modern family life, told through the diaries of three different members of a family. Mo, the mother and child psychologist, who is rapidly approaching fifty and stuck in a rut, and her two teenage children, Dora, who may have finally found a man worthy of her affections, but she has never met him, and Peter, who now wants to be known as “Oscar” after his idol, Oscar Wilde. The mother is the most well-drawn character in this story and she falls into the far too well treade

July 10, 2023

Gonna Write Me A Book

Life: Had a conversation with my sister-in-law last week at our 4th of July picnic. It went like this: Cass: I’ve got the most amazing idea for a book. Me: Nice. Cass: How would I go about getting it published? Me: First step? Cass: Yeah. Me: You have to write it. Cass: Oh, well…yeah. Cart before the horse, much? Writing: Some thoughts on editing, because this is a supportive and cohesive community and things like peer editing are a happy reality here. W

July 9, 2023

With Pride

London Pride 2023: We’ve Come a Long Way

It was London Pride last weekend and again we attended it. It has been a tradition in my life ever since I first moved to London. It is “our day” when LGBTQ people can celebrate out and openly on London’s streets. This year again I noticed a trend that I first saw at last year’s London Pride, the teenager attending their first Pride, but they aren’t alone. I saw fourteen, fifteen and sixteen year olds so obviously on their first Pride and accompanied by their mothers. The mother was dressed

Drew Payne in With Pride

July 5, 2023

Make Me Feel Good

Life: Here’s a conversation from my vacation… Sister: Try this book. I loved it. Me: What’s it about? Sis: It’s dark and screwed up. Right up your alley. Me: Thanks? Sis: It’s a two-parter. The sequel’s supposed to come out early next year. Me: What if it doesn’t? Sis: It will. The author says it will. Me: I’ll wait. So I can read it all at once. Sis: Haven’t you ever heard of delayed gratification? Me: Never been a huge fan. Sis: Oh, I realize. I’ve known you

June 30, 2023

Home, Sweet Home

Life: We arrived home last night after a two-week vacation. It was a working vacation, but still. I feel that two weeks is too long to be away. I missed my dogs, my bed, my morning coffee on the back deck… all the things. I don’t mind travel, even for work, but I’m always happy to come home. I didn’t always feel this way. I used to wander all over the place and was famous for taking off for faraway places without a passing thought to an itinerary. So I guess people do change. W

June 25, 2023

Book Review: Men in Caring Occupations by Ruth Simpson

In Britain, men make-up just under 10% of nurses and yet the image of nursing still firmly remains female. So what does it mean to be a man in a female dominated profession? Ruth Simpson (Professor in Management at Brunel Business School) undertook research looking at gender roles in employment. She looked at the experiences of men in four different traditionally female dominated professions (which were cabin crew on airplanes, nurses, primary school teachers and librarians). This research

June 24, 2023

Book Review: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is ill, he is dying, and he invites his old friend, Arthur Hastings, to stay with him at the Styles guesthouse, for one, last investigation. Poirot, though now an invalid, is chasing his one last case, a serial killer with a terrible modus operandi, known only as X. Here Christie returned to the location of the very first Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, except this is not the glamorous life of the upper-class people who filled Christie’s novels of the 1930s and

June 18, 2023

Book Review: A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell

“Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write.” This isn’t a plot-spoiler but the opening line to one of Ruth Rendell’s finest novels. Though she sums up the plot of her novel in one line, there is much more to this book. It is the mid 1970s and the upper middle class Coverdale family have moved to a manor house in the English countryside, but the housework is “too much” for Mrs Coverdale, so Eunice Parchman is hired as housekeeper-come-general-dog’s-

June 6, 2023

You know what you know.

Writing: When I started writing fiction, I figured the places where I grew up, studied, worked and lived weren’t interesting enough to inspire readers. So I wrote about places that had never been home or that I hadn’t even visited. And I would keep the scale of those locations small or familiar to the masses. Settings that needed very little information to imagine. It took me a while to get over this. Fiction is often a reflection of what is real, and what better way to convey t

June 4, 2023

Never be afraid of what people think of you.

Writing: This was a hard one to teach my kids, because the desire to want to please and belong is partly innate. But living your life for others is neither fun nor healthy. Writing is the same. For each person you worry about pleasing, deduct 1% in quality from your writing. Don’t worry. No one stays at 100%. These days, I usually deduct 5-10% right off the top. (It used to be much higher. Thank you, formulaic fiction industry.) So who am I worried about now? All sorts of folks. Peopl