Book of the Month - The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. Full review here.

I’ve been thinking this week about how I write. There’s the maxim to ‘Write what you know’, but does Steven King know all those terrors? How did Tolkien experience Middle Earth? This explanation seems flat. Writing, like all art, seems to need a drawing down of ‘The Other’. A breaking away from normality and mundane existence. While this sounds esoteric, I think it’s simple. By writing and reading, we put ourselves in the shoes of others. 

Fiction Bite -Snippets on the Phone

‘He didn’t mean it like that.’

***

‘Oh, he just wasn’t thinking.’

***

‘He’s had a hard day, that’s all.’

***

‘Work’s tough at the moment. It’s really weighing down on him.’

***

‘It’s my fault. I knew it’d upset him if I brought it up.’

***

‘I spoke out of turn. I shouldn’t have.’

***

‘I fell down some stairs, that’s all.’

***

‘Leave him? I couldn’t, he’d be lost without me.’

Quote of the Week

"I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of." - Joss Whedon.

Final Words

It could be writing, reading, video gaming or daydreaming. We have a myriad of ways of exploring other consciousnesses. I don’t know about you, but I often try to stay stuck inside my own skull, rattling around the four known walls and portraying myself as The Big Cheese. Writing helps me break from that and focus on others, at least for a while. I hope reading this does the same for you.

With Love

Joe

P.S. What did you think of this week’s email? Which was your favourite bit? What didn’t work for you? Hit reply and let me know.