It's a pig's life

Again, I'm going to go on about where ideas come from. I must be very shallow, because often my ideas are triggered by watching something on TV. I recently watched Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall on River Cottage. He'd created a great little farm with volunteers from an inner city area. As well as fruit and veg, they introduced pigs. The pigs injected a whole new element, the greatest of which was pure joy. They were simply such jolly animals. The only thing was, as Hugh gently pointed out, one day they were going to have to go off - horror of horrors - to be made into bacon. That got me thinking and a short story began to 'cook'. I finished it today and am pleased with it. (Most of the time I am not too pleased with the finished article). This one though I liked and each time I've re-read it to polish it, it has made me smile. If I ever get it published perhaps it might make the odd reader smile too. Fingers and toes crossed, or should that be trotters and curly tails crossed.....

Slinkachu

The idea of little people is a continuing theme in fiction, think of Mary Norton's 'The Borrowers', Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. It's not such a common theme in art. But one modern street artist who's making waves is Slinkachu. He takes tiny models of people - the sort used in model railways - and uses them in tiny tableaux in street scenes in London. Then he photographs them and sells the limited edition photographs. What started out as a hobby has grown into a lucrative business. They're now selling for around £4,000. But well deserved for he incorporates wit and pathos into his work - it's not often art raises a smile! You can catch more of his stuff at http://www.slinkachu.com

Illegally Parked by Slinkachu "They're not pets, Susan" by Slinkachu Rush Hour by Slinkachu

Titles: thoughtsfromalockedroom

I always have real problems with titles for stories. Similarly I had to ponder a bit on the title for this blog. The title 'thoughtsfromalockedroom' came about because I recently went to see again on the London stage, and thoroughly enjoyed 'The Phantom of the Opera.' It's a wonderful, gothic, over the top piece and I got to wonder about the original text. I discovered this was a novel by Gaston Laroux. He was an extraordinary character left a fortune by his father, he managed to gamble it away in a year. Then via journalism, he turned to writing novels and was good enough to earn a good living. Although very famous in his day is all but forgotten now. Certainly you can get very few of his books in the library. In particular I had hoped to find 'The Mystery of the Yellow Room' which is reckoned to be the first 'locked room' murder mystery, where the victim is found dead or dying in a room locked from the inside. All I could find was The Phantom of the Opera' so I am reading that now. Anyhow, in a roundabout way, that's how I came upon the title for my blog and as nobody had got there before me, it's stuck!

Sorrento

This blog is primarily about my writing. But, as writers are always asked where their ideas come from and the answer is everywhere- I'm sure I'll end up blogging about anything and everything because it's amazing what can kick start the imagination. As a first post I decided on a chilly, windy May day sitting in London, to blog about a recent holiday in Sorrento, Italy which I hope will one day materialise in one of my books. We stayed a little out of Sorrento above a tiny beach, Marina di Puolo which certainly conjured up many ideas, accessed as it was down a quiet road snaking through olive and lemon groves. The sea was clear and oh so blue, lunch was fresh fish and pasta at tables on the beach and in the distance was ...... Capri on one side and Vesuvius on the other. Being spring, it was bright and sunny and still beautifully green. When my sister told me that my grandmother came not from Naples as I'd thought, but from Sorrento it made the whole holiday more meaningful. Here is the beach and the ramshackle house at one end where I would love to set a story........ I have already started the first chapter and will see where it takes me.