tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14759361325195347402024-03-19T05:20:42.765-07:00Being the best meWe all want to be the best us we can be, just some of find it a scary process. I'll be documenting my journey and adventures in the hope that it will help to inspire others out there who are considering embarking on their own expedition. There might be some short fiction along the way as well.
JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-80959657054471766462017-03-14T19:29:00.000-07:002017-03-14T19:29:54.205-07:00Well ain't that a kick in the head!Hello there.
It's been just a wee while since I posted anything, but this is as much for my own process as it is the hope that it will provide me with some accountability.
Anyone who's read previous posts on this blog will remember that I often liken receiving story ideas to being smacked in the back of the skull. Well, it's happened again. It's a glorious moment when it happens, I still find JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-4103497727555178492015-09-15T14:37:00.000-07:002016-03-01T16:37:41.823-08:00This is not just my storyToday something wonderful happened. My play told me it was ready to be written.
I know that sounds ridiculous, but more and more lately I'm finding that it's true. I'll come up with an idea for a story, a play or whatever, usually just a skeleton concept, character fragments and some hint at what actually happens, but then it doesn't go any further. So I just forget about it, presuming I'll comeJM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-7391550114166422452014-09-03T05:15:00.002-07:002014-09-03T05:16:33.878-07:00Hello again!
So it seems that I have returned! While things were lovely for a while with my WordPress blog, it didn't last and ongoing problems resulted in the site being unusable. As you'll see I have copy-and-pasted some of the posts from the other site over here, sadly I had to leave some lovely comments behind.
I hope to start posting again soon, my writing has dipped away quite drastically over the JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-21652119493147137642014-09-03T05:12:00.002-07:002014-09-03T05:12:24.972-07:00Hear Me Universe!
So I've had a crisis of belief lately...actually strike that, I've had an ongoing crisis of belief since I started writing again, something like five years ago. The belief I speak of is whether or not I have the right to call myself a writer.
I'm a pessimist at heart, I have been for as long as I can remember. Ultimately, I know what I am, but as for believing it, and acknowledging it to the JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-13665385018665752972014-09-03T05:11:00.005-07:002016-03-01T16:34:59.984-08:00FGC#14 The Knot
As time passes the knot in my stomach loosens, the weight in my chest gets lighter, and the dark cloud that's been over my head for months is starting to disperse.
Tonight has done me good. The comfort of old friends, a change of scenery, being surrounded by inane chatter and cheesy music. I've even managed to laugh.
I squirm and wriggle in the corner of the seat, trying to escape Alison's JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-73352034722641964522014-09-03T05:11:00.002-07:002016-03-01T16:37:30.540-08:00FGC#9: Up Here
150 feet up. 150 feet closer to the heavens.
Up here the raised, coarse voices that grate and frustrate fade away, blown past by the wind, beaten down by the crash of the waves against the hull, fading into the squawk and natter of the gulls. Land is near.
Up here the roiling fire of anger in my belly is quelled, replaced by the nausea. So high up the roll of the ship, my ship, is greater.JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-36624268702962504232014-09-03T05:10:00.002-07:002016-03-01T17:01:20.672-08:00FGC#8 The Best Match
Lettys nudged the child through the bakehouse door and watched her run between the flour-dusted bodies towards the man wearing green hose and yellow stockings. She pressed herself back against the outside of the building, clutching her basket of foodstuffs to her navy skirts with one hand and straightening her coif with the other, smiling when she heard the man growl and the girl squeal.
"Good JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-14088928888770435022012-03-29T05:47:00.003-07:002012-03-29T05:47:15.419-07:00So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu
Well, its been fun Blogger but it's time to say goodbye.
If you wish to keep up with my continuing antics as a writer-in-training and waffling blogger then please come and say hello over at my brand new website. We've still got a few bugs to work out but it's shiny!
Hope to see you there, if not, all the best!
Jo x
http://jmmerchantwriter.co.ukJM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-51870064945809115812012-03-14T08:22:00.000-07:002012-03-16T04:41:43.548-07:00You'll Find It Impossible To Fly Your Fate - The Duchess of Malfi
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed below are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the company. As with all my insider reviews, call me biased if you want, but I wouldn't write about a show I'm working on if I didn't enjoy it.
It has happened again. Galleon Theatre Company have taken me completely by surprise with their latest production, The Duchess of Malfi. Despite JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-73263885588999572622012-02-27T06:34:00.000-08:002012-02-27T06:34:02.518-08:00The Apple Diary - Part 3It got cold again. So cold we had snow on the ground for a week, although it only actually snowed three times. Watching the buses lining up outside the pub because none of the drivers were confident enough to drive down the slight hill to continue their journeys into central London was amusing, as was the simple fact that Boris's promises that London was ready for snow didn't stop the transport JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-34134660711513527952012-01-20T16:07:00.000-08:002012-01-20T16:07:56.103-08:00Me vs. Story - A bit of sillinessEvening folks,
This is just something a little bit daft that was inspired by a sleep deprived conversation with Milli at the end of Wednesday's 10K Day. Milli did a similar piece a little while back called Inner Kid and Igor Converse About Writing.
I hope this little piece of rubbish makes you smile, it's made me feel better today :-)
*********************************************
JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-17939062537760769882012-01-18T04:47:00.000-08:002012-01-18T04:49:56.134-08:00The Apple Diary - Part 2Hey hey folks!
The little orchard has certainly seen some drama over the last month.
A couple of days after the last instalment my seven happy apple sproutlings were joined by 3 more. With the 28 cox seeds and 10 chilli seeds I'd just planted the top of my dresser was starting to get pretty crowded. Due to not having enough pots, I'd gone and and made my own seed trays out of cut down plastic JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-37060226354399424882012-01-02T15:47:00.000-08:002012-01-03T07:15:42.824-08:002012 - Bring It On!
London's New Year fireworks
HAPPY 2012!
Firstly, what do you think of my new banner? My mate Lee McGeorge made it for me, and though at first I couldn’t believe he’d used that terrible photo it’s really grown on me. Now I just need to persuade him that I need series banners as well. :-)
Secondly, a lot of people have stated that 2011 wasn’t exactly the best year. I have to agree. I’m going to JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-76616075440886748072011-12-14T16:21:00.000-08:002011-12-14T16:21:42.625-08:00The Apple Diary - Part 1Good evening folks!
I've spent the last month or so trying to come up with subjects that I can use as a series for this blog. Nothing was springing to mind for a long time, but I now have two idea's, both on completely and utterly different topics, that I hope will become regular monthly features here.
So without further ado, I'd like to present...The Apple Diary!
At the end of October every JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-7589848803360427572011-11-12T06:14:00.000-08:002011-11-12T06:14:59.411-08:00When The Door is Knocked On, Open It - The Possibilities
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed below are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the company. As with all my insider reviews, call me biased if you want, but I wouldn't write about a show I'm working on if I didn't enjoy it.
The Possibilities by Howard Barker is a pretty heavy going and heavy handed piece of writing. Goodness knows when I was first given the script JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-65539650445386147002011-10-21T11:22:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:04:24.251-08:00SittingThis is an old piece I wrote almost a year ago. The original was written for therapeutic purposes, but this is the edited version which I think is safe for public consumption.
I read a blog post today by Jeff Goins, Don't Avoid Painful Writing, the basic gist being that painful writing can not only be healing for the writer but healing for a reader as well, letting them know that other's goJM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-61008019775542240862011-10-19T17:35:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:06:59.558-08:00The Story WallHi folks!
Today I'm going to tell you a little bit about my story wall on the request of my friend Julia (she's a much better blogger than I am by the way! Thoroughly spooked me out with a post last night about Mr Able!)
Anyone who's been over to my place since I got back from New Zealand has been confronted by this monstrosity. One friend suggested it was my hit list, last week my new JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-91920415329121738502011-10-03T15:38:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:06:02.110-08:00"Report me and my cause aright to the unsatisfied" - A comment on Shakespeare
Hamlet and the true star of the show :-)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed below are mine alone, and not necessarily reflected by the theatre company.
I'm not exactly Shakespeare's biggest fan. I have a lot of respect for the bard, he was a prolific author, a great story-teller, and as a writer-in-training I've learned a lot from him. But ask me to go see a Shakespeare production and I'm JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-37455832079187285802011-09-23T08:14:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:06:38.479-08:00What's In A Name?So folks, how do you like the new look of the blog? Someone finally piped up and told me that the colour scheme was hard on the eyes, so hopefully this one will be a bit more comfortable.
At some point I want to try and incorporate the photo of my desk and typewriter into my banner, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Today I want to discuss names.
Choosing names for characters is a hugely JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-16405418734505993932011-09-09T14:34:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:07:37.500-08:00The New Felicity!****Just to clarify, this is an older post, for some reason it decided to republish when I was editing to sync the fonts with the rest of the new blog look!******
It's done! Actually, it's been done for a couple of days, but again I was being distracted so it's taken a while to do the edit.
Ok, this entry is getting very little waffle, instead, I'll just give you my link of the week, and the JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-20205234828041606182011-09-08T01:23:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:08:03.285-08:00The KnotAnd breath! Well this has been something of a whirlwind. This story started smacking against the back of my head as I was leaving work on Tuesday night. I thought "it'll be all right, it'll still be there when I get home". But it was being insistent, so when I got on the bus at London Bridge, I got out my notebook and I didn't stop writing until I got to Wood Green! By that time I still JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-40747089349349726012011-08-30T05:53:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:08:37.730-08:00Upwards and UpwardsMy my my! I think I might actually be close to allowing myself to call myself a writer. On Friday August 26th, I officially became a staff writer for Milliver's Travels, yay! However by the time I came round to rewriting my biography, I think my brain had turned to mush so it sounds a bit daft, but check it out at the bottom of this page.
This of course was the result of finally submitting JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-34366145026991926502011-08-16T07:35:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:09:34.208-08:00Onwards and UpwardsHi Folks!
It's been an eventful couple of weeks that is for certain. Can't be bothered to waffle too much at the top of this post so I'm just going to jump into it!
My first guest post is live! Actually, it's been live for nearly two weeks now but that's by-the-by. Milli and I managed to move my first guest blog from first draft to live post within the space of a few hours. It was a very JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-75802256565376123272011-08-01T12:58:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:10:10.658-08:00Yikes!Evening people!
Ah bet this has surprised you, two posts within just days of each other? As I pointed out at the end of my last post there were a couple of other things I wanted to talk about, so thought it best to get on with putting them on the page while my writing mind is still willing to work!
The notebook is getting used, it's just not filling up as quickly as I thought. There's a few JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1475936132519534740.post-40601953005252138642011-07-29T07:35:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:10:59.852-08:00Here come the excuses!Good afternoon folks.
My my what a couple of months! I'll try and keep the apologies and excuses brief as there is quite a bit I'd like to discuss in this post, it is a bit of a catch up after all!
Well the excuses are thus.
Anyone who has been using Blogger for a while now knows that they had some pretty major problems around the beginning of May, and even once those problems were sorted out JM Merchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804244282343480252noreply@blogger.com0