Alice thinks about writing

By chance Joanna happened to mention to me that a friend of hers writes a blog.  Being the nosey parker that I am I wanted to know the name of the blog.  I discovered it was called Jonah Kat.  I was trying to remember the name of the blog earlier this evening, and Joshua kept coming into my head.  But then I remembered the NZ (Tongan actually) all black (rugby player) called Jonah Lomu.  Ah ha, yes, the blog is named Jonah.  I remembered that Julia had explained that the name behind the blog came from Helen’s cat, who was, yes you guessed right, Jonah –  the cat was called Jonah.  It made me wonder whether or not Helen is a rugby fan, and was the cat named after the all black?  I don’t know.  I guess Helen, you will have to provide the answer to that one?  Well, Julia has Jonah the cat now, but the blog is still thriving.  In fact, the Jonah Kat blog is doing so well that it has been recommended and featured by the Writers Bureau.  That is certainly saying something isn’t it! 

I like the way that Helen incorporates her illustrations and art work in her blog, and that makes her blog also asthetically pleasing.  I only wish that I could draw like that.  Oh well, maybe one day – it is good to have dreams is it not?

Helen said she subscribed to the course from The Writers Bureau.  And then as I continued reading Helen’s blog on writing paperbacks,  something there caught my attention.  She said “About ten years ago I subscribed to the very same course”.  Well, ah ha, I thought – me too!  Well, not ten years ago, but certainly a few years ago, September 2007 to be exact!  I never did complete that course, and I’m not sure I even got as far as the first assignment. 

I wondered where I put those course materials.  I was sure I hadn’t thrown them away, oh no, I would never do that, the big hoarded that I am!  So I rushed to the book case and found some a couple of books from the course, but not everything.  Surely it must be somewhere?  Well, we have too many books here and four book cases but that is not enough.  Having examined the remaining book cases, I did – finally – find the full and complete set for the writing course!  I am so very please indeed, and as I pulled out ‘module 1’ I found some notes that I had started to make when I first received the course.  Helen’s blog post has inspired me, and now motivated me to get back into writing again, and I will now endeavour to complete the writing course.

Pages 11 – 12 contains useful details on the basic equipment for writers as follows:

1. Pens (mobile & bedside);
2. Pencils;
3. Paper;
4. Typewriter/computer;
5. Notebook (mobile & bedside);
6. Diary;
7. Filing cabinets: (a) cuttings file; (b) own correspondence sent; (c) editors/publishers correspondence received; (d) files for your writing ideas/incidental writing.
8. Reference books: (a) encyclopedia; (b) dictionary; (c) grammar and english usage; (d) thesaurus; (e) writers’ and artists’ yearbooks, or the writers handbook – see Willings press guide and Benns media directory; (f) penguin or oxford dictionary of quotations; (g) world atlas; (h) literary encyclopedia; (i) subjects of special interest.
9. Digital dictating machine.