Saturday, 31 August 2019

ALF selfies


The first ALF selfie was drawn by Amy when she was about seven and has been used on various ALF cards and books including Pictures at an Exhibition, the Legend of the Dreambox and our 2012 book of poetry 'Something More'. The second ALF selfie was drawn by Amy after she had completed her GCSEs and was used for our 2016 book of poetry 'Still Life'. It has undergone some refinement by me since then.


Thursday, 15 August 2019

Ghost Writing





Ghost Writing has been a work in progress for a number of years now. I wrote this summary at the beginning of the project.

Summary

An ordinary wife and mother is inspired to write ghost stories by the appearance of a mysterious man. Through various artefacts she gradually gets to know this mysterious man and starts to think of him as her creative daemon. As this supernatural relationship flourishes so does her writing success. The story culminates in her winning a prestigious award and being taken on holiday by her unimaginative husband. Only then is the true connection between her recent creative success, her daemon lover and her husband finally revealed.

The action takes place over the time period of a year and a day, where the haunted objects grow in size and influence. This is how the ghost story progresses.

January - The locket
February - The clock
March - The photograph
April - The letter
May - The book
June - The mask
July - The painting
August - The mirror
September - The door
October - The room
November - The garden
December - The house
January 1st - The village

And this is the beginning of Chapter One.

January - The Locket

'It's so sad Cushing's Curiousity shop is closing,' said Maggie. She was sitting in Comfy Coffee, drinking a cappucino with her best friend Lizzie.

'Yes, it is,' Lizzie agreed, 'Let's go and have look round while we still have the chance. We might unearth something intriguing.'

They quickly drank up, crossed the road and entered the shop. Maggie looked at the larger objects; chairs, tables, bookases, while Lizzie's attention was drawn to a cabinet full of knick knacks; old jewellery, photographs. In particular her gaze was drawn to an ornate golden locket.

It glistened enticingly at her until she gave in and bought it.

At home, wtih the help of Photo Shop and Publisher, she created two tiny photogaphs to fit in the locket. A picture of her husband on one side and her children on the other.

She put the locket round her neck, it felt comforting and over the next few days she looked at it often.

As the days wore on Lizzie could have sworn the images inside the locket were sublty changing...

     


Thursday, 1 August 2019

Illustrated London


I have lived in London for over fifty years and have visited many interesting places in my London life. From 2015 to 2019 I have been visiting the more hidden delights of London and writing about them in my blog. I have also been reminiscing about what places I have really liked from my past and included them in various blog posts. I have chosen 52 places to include in a special memorabilia booklet called 'London Interrupted - A London Notebook' and included them in a leftover 2017 diary from my 50th birthday celebrations. You can read all about my London adventures by clicking on the London Link on  amilofinn.blogspot.co.uk .