It's Only Life

  Don't ever let anyone tell you that writing a book is easy especially a memoir. Unless you are famous agents and publishers won't touch it with a barge pole or say I love it , BUT, I don't love it enough to risk a libel suit, you haven't built a 'tribe'. After several rejections, you lose count at a certain point, someone finally says I'm prepared to give it a shot. By this time you have come to a point when you automatically press the delete button as soon as the email pops up. Then you think, did that email say yes. You search the deleted folder but, after reading it you still don't get your hopes up. Finally the book is in your hands. The publisher has done their bit but you still need to do yours. You need to get people to read it. Then you worry that it is not good enough that people are going to trash it, and believe me there is always at least one that decides to criticise, or read between the lines and put two and two together and make you out ...

 Well it's finally happening my memoir is with the publisher as we speak. I am unsure of the release date at the moment but it will be soon. I will keep you all posted.

  Lots of new ideas buzzing around my head. At the moment Mick and I are busy making things, trying to clear some of the 'waiting to be done something with' pile (which keeps being added to daily). We have 12 huge boxes of material in the loft to use up and a trunk full of 'might be useful one day' bits. I also have three books to finish, and a ghost writing project which has been waiting five years to be done. Somehow I need to find the time to bring everything together into some kind of manageable state. I am going to take a one week break from social media soon, to clear my head and have coffee with my sister who I haven't seen for 34 years. Hopefully, after that I will have some plan of action., and will know if Boris is letting us out long enough to get back to work. I really do need a manager/agent/promoter to sort me out, I used to be so organised but now I struggle bringing the ideas to fruition; not enough hours in the day.

 Good morning all just to let you know that I am in the process of writing another memoir. This time it is about my work as a psychic and medium. More news on that soon. My autobiography is still in the 'waiting to be published stages' and I hope that will soon change.  I have recently agreed to do something that, if it goes horribly wrong, could be professional suicide for me. Tonight will tell, and I will let you know how it went. I am going to be taking a one week break sometime soon and hopefully during that time I will work on my new 'crime novel with a twist'' as well as catching up with my half sister who I haven't seen for 34 years.  Things have been difficult lately and I really need to stop procrastinating and work on my time management. A couple of things I have been trying to make my mind up on have now been taken out of my hands,  so now I will be concentrating on psychic/mediumship readings, shows when the government allows a return to some form of...

       The night of the 8th February 2015  was the 160th anniversary of a very strange event, that left the people of South Devon wondering whether the Devil himself had paid them a visit.      Mysterious hoof-shaped prints, were said to have appeared overnight in heavy snowfall and were discovered by early risers on the morning of the 9th. The prints which were one in front of the other approximately eight and a half inches apart appeared to have been made by a biped. They were said to have covered an area of between forty to one hundred miles, passing over rooftops and through walls. One set of prints were said to have bridged a two mile span of the river Exe, continuing on the other side as if the creature had walked over the water. This was all supposed to have happened over a six hour period, which would have meant that the perpetrator would have had to be moving at speeds up to seventeen miles per hour.      The people w...

 I always save my work every few sentences. Luckily I always back my work up daily and to more than one external source. Today something weird happened. I was dragging a word document to a memory stick when a message popped up saying that I was holding down the control button (I definitely wasn't). Then everything on my desktop got copied to the word document that I was dragging (nothing was highlighted). I managed to stop the action before too much damage was done, but in the process I lost all my website files from the laptop. Luckily I had back-ups. I have no idea what caused it, as the problem resolved itself after I restarted the computer and deleted the word doc. The only damage was, that it cost me about half an hour checking important files to make sure they were still there. So please everyone BACK-UP regularly to external devices.

  If it wasn’t for OCD, I would have more hours in a day. Everything needs to be checked and double checked. Often I can be in the middle of a train of thought, writing away merrily, then I see a drawer that is slightly open. I try to ignore it, but it is distracting me; I can’t stop looking at it. My mind is now willing me to do something about it; a little voice in my head (my thoughts), say ‘No, leave it’. Finally ‘mind’ wins, and I get up to close it. That’s it, damage done, I have lost the train of thought; so, I sit and procrastinate until the thought decides whether or not to pop back into my head again. Remember I’m old, and old people often forget what they were going to do, so that could be a very long time. Wait a minute… here it comes, and I am back on track; until a look at my two mobile phones (yes I have two), they are not lined up properly. I pause to sort them out, but one of the cases is misshapen; do I align it on the left, the right, the top or the bottom?...

  “When I awoke one morning, my whole body felt numb. My head, normally so full of ideas and challenges, seemed to be empty. I foraged deep within my mind for just a tiny flicker of anything that might resemble the normal me.”   Depression knows no boundaries. Abusers, like their victims come in all guises. Anyone, old or young, rich or poor, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race or religion can become a victim. I know, because I became a victim at an early age, my only crime was being different. ‘Running from Hippos’ is a narrative of my life, the good, the bad and the very ugly. It begins with the story of naïve child who was, unwillingly, subjected to sexual, physical and mental abuse. It tells of my ongoing battle to stay alive and sane, in an unfathomable world. Some of my book is written in third person drawing on Bren, the stronger me, to relate the things that have been difficult to process; and, as a result, some of the descriptions can be quite graphic...

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/255466172799157 Hi everyone welcome to my new writers group where you can share your writing, ask questions, discuss problems with writing, publishing etc., share your upcoming books, your success stories (and your failures), or just chat to other writers. I will be posting hints guides and other writer related and fun stuff that you may find useful and enjoyable.

 Had some great feedback on my book hopefully copies will be available to pre-order soon. My colleagues and I have now very carefully looked at ‘Running From Hippos’. I received independent reports on the style, quality of writing and the suitability to genre and I am pleased to say that we find ‘Running From Hippos’ to be of considerable merit and believe it would appeal to the reading public. The work is well written and has literary merit.   Your manuscript was brought to our attention at the latest Editorial Board meeting when we discussed the potential of it’s pulication. Having read all the reports and taken note of the Editors’ opinions we can confidently state that your work was found to be the most entertaining and immersive memoir. Your chronicling of your experiences and their impact on your life and how you found your way through are incredibly emotive and evoke a strong sense of empathy in the reader. The board was keen to comment on the poignancy of the wor...

 The other day I took a look through all the unfinished works that have been lying around for Donkey's years. Surprise, I found some great possibilities for short stories and even a few for novellas/novels. So now I have three projects on the go. My autobiography has had a few name changes, hopefully to stop me from getting sued when it eventually gets published. The second project, a crime novel with a difference is still only in its early teens, and the third, a book of short stories is just about halfway to being ready for editing. I am also looking at breaking down some of my books into a series of audio books, so watch this space.

 As soon as an idea pops into my head a write a few notes about it. That idea may not be followed up on for weeks, months, or even years. When I do follow up on an idea I build up as much information as I can about my 'story' line; whether it is a fiction or non-fiction book. Then I research to make sure that what I am writing about is feasible. This is when the interesting bit takes place, you would surprised at some of the ideas you get from research, stuff you find by accident. The next job is to build a framework. In the case of non-fiction I decide what I am going to address in each separate section or chapter. At this stage I don't worry about where the sections are going to be placed in the book. In the case of fiction I begin to build an idea of the plot. Once the plot is established I decide who is going to take part; a brief outline of the main characters. When I decide who my main character is going to be I work on their background, where they came from, what the...

 Well my autobiography is out with agents and that is just a waiting game now, so book number 11 is now in full swing and is my first attempt at a full fiction novel.  I must say that so far all is going well. To date I have sketched one of the main characters and the house, made a floor plan of the house, created a family tree, written a description of the four main characters, devised a plot and three sub plots and written the first 12000 words. Now that I have pushed myself to get on with it the creative juices are flowing. It is a romantic crime with a twist. I am not setting a deadline with this book as I want it to be right, and I have done enough working to deadlines in my lifetime. As is normal for me I get the story line and then have to make it fit to fact, rather than the other way around. Trying to make it believable is the hard part. More updates will follow as the book progresses.

I wrote my first book when I was just 8 years old it was an anthology which I illustrated myself, it was for a class end of term school project. I remember leaving it until the last minute and sat up until two in the morning to get it finished to take to school that day. My mum was not very happy as she had to stay up with me. But the hard work paid off and I got an A+. Unfortunately the school hung on to the book for a parent/teacher evening and I never saw it again. Since then I have written many articles, poems and stories, several of which have been published and I have been paid for. One of my stories was published in the Brixton Prison magazine “True Colours.” I have published four pamphlet size books (A Little Bit of Spirit, A Little Bit of Soul, Ghostly Experiences and When Spirit Calls) which are now out of print. The full version (38000 words) of When Spirit Calls....you answer was first published as an ebook on Smashwords in 2013 (where it is still available); mainly ...

Writing my autobiography is proving to be more of a task than I imagined. Gathering my memories of various stages in my life has not only been time consuming but it has also opened many old wounds, not just opened them, but re-inserted the knife and twisted it. Tearing still tender flesh and grating, nauseatingly, against the bone. Dark places have been, unwillingly, re-visited and although many recollections have wrenched heart strings and conscience from their deep rooted foundations, every detail must be written. It is only by unleashing my thought-demon that I can be truly honest with myself and others. Too many secrets are locked within my head, mine will be told but those concerning certain others will go with me to my grave, lest I hurt those left behind. The past two weeks have been a whirlpool of anger, desperation and joy. At the highest point, total elation; while at the lowest, stomach churning, claustrophobic fear and sadness. After throwing all ingredients int...

Photo copyright Brenda Diskin   I can’t even grow weeds, no! it’s true, believe me I have tried. Gardening has never been my strong point, so if I say it comes in fits and starts you may understand where I am coming from. I am not so much green fingered as ham fisted. Whilst trying to get the garden in some kind of order, wanting to make it look more like   a place of tranquility rather than a wood yard, I decided it may be time to plant a few flowers. I love herbs and thought that the small area I set aside for plants might make a good herb garden. Then I remembered the last herb garden and the demise of the plants that lived within. I planted Basil, Tarragon, Mint, Rosemary, Chives, Sage, Parsley, Oregano and more. Strong healthy plants they were, when they went in. The Basil was the first to go, almost overnight in fact. Huge chunks chewed from the leaves by what appeared to be large jaws (compared with the size of the leaves) until all that was le...

Sunday, March 6. 2016 Well folks this will be a long one (eventually) because everything I have to say about this special little girl will come through the memories of the years we spent together, and this can't be written overnight. The picture below is a watercolour I painted of her. Original watercolour by and copyright to Brenda Diskin It was January 1998 when we decided to get another dog. The house had been empty since we lost our rescue German Shepherd, Susie. We thought a a Jack Russell this time; we had had Jacks before and knew what great dogs they were. We found a kennels on the way to Milton Keynes who had one JR puppy left. The owner bought her to show us. She was four months old, a pathetic, nervous little creature that stunk of urine. Apparently the owners son had wanted her but after having her for a few weeks had decided he couldn't cope so she was put back in the kennels for sale. Even if she had been the most awful looking dog in the world I c...

Picture copyright to Brenda Diskin Thursday, May 4. 2017 I am the whispers in the night that tiptoe through your sleep, the voices on the wind, the melodic patter of the rain against your window. I am in those dreams that you can’t quite remember, in those fleeting thoughts. I am the shadow in the corner of your eye, which makes you turn and wonder. I am those creaking floorboards and the movements you hear when you are alone in the house. I am in the photographs tucked away in the drawer, in the memories that dart through your mind when you have a déjà vu moment. I am in the cereal packet on the supermarket shelf that you no longer need to buy. I am on the streets that you walk along and in the buildings that you love. I am in the little café on the corner where you sip coffee and gaze through the window at people going about their lives. I am in the park where you walk when you need to calm your thoughts. I am in your hopes and your fears. I am locked in t...

Original watercolour painting by and copyright to Brenda Diskin Saturday, April 14. 2018 You would think writing about your life would be easy, but don't you believe it. Besides trying to express the things that you experienced in the whole of your lifetime so that they make sense and are not just random ramblings, you have to also endeavour to make them interesting enough for other people to read. Whether right or wrong I just wrote down, in order, a rough draft of all the relevant moments in my life and the situations that surrounded them. The problem is a lot of emotions got stirred up and I found myself laughing at funny and ridiculous events. However, when it came to writing about traumatic events, especially the real tear jerkers, I often had to walk away while I tried to settle my feelings; sometimes this would take days, even weeks. The main problem with tackling your story in this manner is that when you rewrite it, so that it makes sense to your readers, yo...