MEMORIES

Hi all, I hope we’re all feeling well this new week.

I’m going through a period of change at the moment after being made redundant from my ‘day job’ so there’s been a fair amount of reorganising and sorting of my home office while I get into the head space I need to really get back rolling and on the job hunt.

I’ve got a notice board put up, a white board, my computer work station arranged and I’ve been rooting through drawers to make sure I have everything I need to work fully from home at the same time as having as comfortable and well appointed a writing nook as possible.

Now I’m sure that we’ve all done it at some point in our lives. We’ve been carrying out a big tidy or you’re moving house, and you stumble across things from back in the day and then we marvel at what was.

You find an old childhood toy that you may have loved in your younger years but may then not have seen in an absolute age and all of a sudden, you’re back with the younger mindset. The idea of ever being without this item and using it every day is a clear example of heresy. How can you ever be without it? Why did you stop using it?

Now I haven’t discovered any old toys as I’ve gone about my actions but one thing that has popped up is an old notebook where I’ve written down possible ideas for future books and it’s blown my mind.

There are threads in there going back to 2014 and I’d forgotten all about them. I’ve been reacquainted with some interesting ideas and most importantly, have been reminded just how creative my mind can be. There are ideas dealing with science fiction, with fantasy, and with horror, which could all become full novels if I put my mind to it and that collection of ideas takes me back to a time when my fire for writing was at it’s brightest.

When we hold up something from the past, we get the chance to reminisce to those days when we were younger and it’s great to just get a view of a time when we saw things being simpler.

But we can also rediscover something which we may not have known was diminished or missing. Suddenly we’re in a position to just hold up a lens from a different time to view todays situation and can sometimes give us the chance to remind ourselves of a time where we may have felt very differently. We can get a boost or an idea just from the colouring applied thanks to that old lens and our mind gets a kick start.

We’ve all felt it in some way, even if it’s just the warm fuzzy feeling, but being given the chance to examine things in a different way means we could see something important we’ve missed before. Characters in books have had the same experiences because we do and it can feel very much that it can become just a ploy to advance the story but it’s not always the case.

Remember, each and every one of us has a deeply coloured history and we’ve thought and felt different things at different times. Maybe something from back then could give you just what you need today.

Stay safe all.

ST V SW

Now we all know about Star Wars and Star Trek.

Even if you’ve never seen any of the franchises, they sit as pop culture behemoths which infuse our lives and stretch far beyond just the characters and stories they tell.

Star Trek shows how the human race has put away the previous drives to society and come together not only as a single species but have linked with civilizations throughout the galaxy to work together for the common good. There are conflicts with other species but the Federation are there to collectively work together to bring the lives of everyone forward.

Star Wars on the other hand deals with a monolithic super power who squeezes down on everyone who doesn’t do exactly what they’re told. We all know just how popular Empires are. The heroes are those who’ve stood up to the oppression to make change a reality where a fairer society and not one with a run away military threat spreads to all of the worlds everywhere.

One takes place centuries in the future and the other a long time ago.

Odd how the oppressive terror is in the past and acceptance and unity stretch out ahead of us? It’s almost as if those science fiction universes are highlighting perfectly that we as a people should be moving away from one society and towards the other.

So very simple really.

Let’s turn our backs on divisions by race, gender, age, sexuality or any possible thing you can imagine and set off towards working together on making a shared better future.

Black Lives Matter.

Stay Safe.