Freelance Writing

The following are the openings of some published work.

'If we wait for the moment when everything , absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.'                 Ivan  Turgenev (1818-1883)

'Kathleen peered cautiously round the faded velvet curtains at the window of her neat little semi-detached house, as she heard the sound of a large vehicle stop outside her door. There, she was right. It was today they were moving in...'

'No one knew his real name. He chose Bubbles the Clown because of the way he would blow bubbles around the room at the beginning of a children's party to get their attention. It always gave him a kick the way they waited with excitement to see what he would do next...'

You can read the rest of the story here.

'It was the kind of situation Emma often read about in women's magazines and she was always so sure it would never threaten her. Only now, here she was, faced with the ultimate temptation...'

'Mike wondered what on earth to buy his girlfriend, Susie, now that she didn't eat chocolate. And the problem was all his own fault.

It was usually easy at birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and Easter. He'd never had to hunt for an acceptable gift, or trail the shops looking at one boring thing after another, trying to guess if it was the right colour or size...'

'I slowly open the brown leather jewellery box. I've put this off for far too long. Now that my life is moving on, it's time to go through all these pieces I no longer wear. I wasn't sure what to do with them, but now I might have found the answer.                                                                   Staring at the contents, I wonder where to start. Thirty-odd years of my life are encapsulated in these pieces of jewellery; some expensive silver and gold, some cheap and cheerful costume paste. It's the silver and gold I need to sort out once and for all. It's going to be difficult, but it's necessary. Time to take a positive step forwards. Then I can get on with life as it's meant to be lived...'       

Read the rest of the story in the '100 Stories for Haiti' fundraising book.

"Aw, Mum! That's not fair, why's he coming here? We haven't got room!" Jamie glowered at his mother. It was bad enough that he already had two big sisters, and a wee brother who could hardly walk, taking up his mum's time.                                                      Now Grandpa was coming to stay. And he was blind! Mum would never, ever have time to play with him anymore. And he had to learn to tell the time properly for school but nobody would help him to learn...

Read the rest of the story, and others, in 'An Advent Calendar of Stories' Anthology.

'Mention Portmeirion and the chances are that people of a certain age will think of the 1960s television programme The Prisoner. Others might picture the distinctive Mediterranean type pottery sold in most national garden centres.

Walking through the archway of Portmeirion today is surreal because, having left rural Wales only a few moments before, visitors now find themselves in a village that would sit comfortably on the Italian Riviera...'

'Zandor lived on the planet Re-ath, which was a bit like earth used to be many long circles of the sun ago. Zandor was going to be twelve soon and he was looking forward to celebrating his coming of in-between age with his birth family and friends. He'd already been to two of his friends' celebrations. Makon had invited everyone for a jet sky-ride on his special day and on Birko's day they watched their first in-between age moving hologram transmission...'

Read the rest of the story, and others, in 'A Suitcase Full of Stories' Anthology.

 "Searching auld wive's barrels, Ochon the day! That clarty barm should stain my laurels! But what'll ye say? These movin things ca'd wives and weans, Wad move the very heart o' stanes."

Robert Burns is world famous as a farmer and poet of the people, yet a large part of his adventurous life was spent as a very respectable government exciseman, or a 'poor damn'd rascally gager', as Burns called himself. The above Extemporaneous Effusion was written on his appointment to his Excise commission in 1788 and gives an indication of Burns' mixed feelings about the post...

'Seldom do the ravages of war result in something so beautiful and touching that thousands of people continue to marvel at it today. Now hanging in the refurbished Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, the Lafaruk Madonna is a story of hope as well as a thing of beauty - but it had the most inauspicious beginning...'

'Forget sitting around for hours in airports and imagine instead the days of elegant rail travel, when passengers were personally escorted to spacious seats while the luggage was stowed safely on board by courteous porters. Then let the dream become a reality...'

'So tell me why you have come here today. I wonder if those will be my first words after all these years. I'm meeting her in the new restaurant in town. That was my choice; somewhere impersonal without memories of the past. As I shave, examining my face critically in the bathroom mirror for signs of age over the last fifteen years, I speculate as to how much she too will have changed...'

"C'mon, Midge, if you can't keep up then you can't be in our team," and Kenny Black gave Midge a mighty shove that knocked him face down on to the grass, before he ran off to join his team mates.

Midge got to his feet and watched the other boys as they ran about kicking and dribbling the ball.  It was the same every time he went out with his friends; no matter what they played at, he was too small and always last at everything.  He sighed and rubbed his face with his grubby hands, he was going home - he didn't even like football...

Read the rest of the story, and others, in 'Making Changes' Anthology.

'The land is barren after the war, as though the Earth herself has given up the fight and the will to live and has left us without colour, or nurture, or hope. Some warned about the terrible consequences of nuclear armament. Others talked of a day of judgement when their God would exact some kind of Old Testament cleansing on the world...'