It’s amazing how time goes so quickly. When I looked at my
blog the other day I realised it has been nine months since I published a post.
So, I thought it was about time I wrote something. I was
prompted to do this because I have just spent an hour at Waterstones in Truro
listening to Liz Fenwick (author of The Cornish House and The Cornish Affair)
talk about the process of getting books published and the impact of social
media. I enjoyed the talk and it inspired me to come home and do this.
So I’m going to tell you about something that happened
today:
I remember watching the film The Hours. In which Virginia
Woolf explains that she cannot write anything until she gets the first line to
a book, and it is that first line that inspires her. I think quite a few
writers work that way (I forgot to ask Liz Fenwick about that).
Anyway, I woke up this morning (always a good thing), sat on
the edge of my bed, and while I was sitting there these words came into my
head:
‘Was he wearing his
titfer when you last saw him Mrs Clack?’
I’m not sure where these words came from. But, I did hear
them in the voice of Inspector Fred Thursday, in the latest episode of
‘Endeavour’, which I was watching just before I went to bed.
I mulled these words over, thinking maybe this is the start
of something big, my first best seller maybe!
I continued to cogitate on these words when I was sitting
contemplating; in the place where I often sit contemplating. A second line came
to me and I realised it was developing into some kind of crazy poem:
Did you see his titfer,
When you saw him Mrs Clack
I don’t think so sergeant,
Unless it was behind his back.
At that point I decided I was going mad, so I had a shower
and tried to forget it.
Obviously, I couldn’t forget it or it wouldn’t be written
here. I’m not going to do any more with it though.
PS.
Titfer is slang for a hat. Tit for Tat = Hat
PS.
Titfer is slang for a hat. Tit for Tat = Hat