ACCEPTANCE!

Within days of sending off the submission, I was delighted to have my memoir/travelogue/short story TUNIS accepted for publication, along with photos, in Clever Magazine. My short work especially often doesn't fit into any neat category, editors are not sure what to do with it, and so much of it remains forlorn and unseen. Nowadays, of course, we can defy the critics and the odds any time we please, going online. And vanity publishers have been around for centuries, producing books for frustrated would-be writers at a price and with no guarantee that anyone outside the writer's personal circle will ever read them. Not a path I would want to follow. 

TUNIS is an amazing place, nearly as old as recorded time. I love it. Spend as much time as I can there. Sadly there is political turmoil there once again as I write. But it will pass. The city has survived worse. One day it will be great again. Next month I will be getting back to my novel set in the city at the time of the 2011 turmoil. It was a scary but fascinating time to be there.

FRIVOLOUS DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK  

This morning I discovered the secret of subduing American jelly - use a fork. American jelly (known as jam or marmalade in some cultures) is so thick and stiff it simply slides off bread, especially toast. It has always baffled me. No more! Now it is lifted from the jar, mashed and subdued with a fork in seconds. Why didn't I think of this years ago?? In this litigious culture it is probably possible to patent the discovery, but I am in a generous mood and will share with the world for free.

SWEET SORROW?

In just over a week I will be parting with a dear friend. Neither of us is looking forward to that day. Was the poet right in speaking of the sweet sorrow of parting? There is nothing sweet in that moment for the one- or both - journeying reluctantly on alone. Yet the pleasure of shared memories, the warmth of friendship, does in time strengthen resolve, ease the solitary path ahead.

      TOMORROW I WILL CROSS THE WATER

      and you who never sailed with me

      will be there, a shadow, breath

      of my life, a stirring of the water,

      memory, a scent on the sea wind

      your whole being before me now

      smiling in a dream made flesh

      Tariq's mountain would have been good to us.

      

     

     All my photographs are in natural colour, I never use filters, retouch or Photoshop. The challenges of digital photography are quite different to those of traditional film; it is so easy to cheat and falsify, I wonder if there is any point in having standard photographic contests any more. Creative design contests, yes, but many creations are hardly what you could call photographs by the time the computer has finished with them.

    I enjoy capturing those special fleeting moments in the natural world where you need to move fast before that scene is dissolved and gone forever.

   

 

  HOLIDAYS never seem to be long enough - at least when they are happy ones - and this working holiday is no exception. The real world is waiting and the sands of summer are fast running out. One more blog, and I will be back at work without much time for contemplation. But what an experience it has been,seeing and learning so much, making new friends, seeing new sights and capturing them on both still camera and video. In spite of all its problems this world is still a wonderful place.

    

MERIDA

         I have fallen asleep in Merida
         late on a still night when the bands
         have ceased their trumpeting and everyone
         has wandered home to rest when the
         thousand year darkness falls thickly
         on every house and tree and flower
         and every eye is closed
         there is a peace in Merida greater
         than that in other worlds
         here where time is stilled and
         night is a friend, a companion whose cloak
         covers all ills who gifts the deepest slumber
         to those loved and ransomed and truly blessed.

                                                                           
 

        I am told that in this year of our Lord 2013, even when merely taking up writing again after spending time elsewhere, one must be a committed self-publicist and post messages and photographs, twitter, blog, facebook and generally flutter about naked in a manner that may be anathema to the busy and private individual.

All I can say is, it is my creative work I offer to an audience, not my life.

Like so many people today I come from a blend of several different cultures, and even in childhood never felt drawn exclusively to any one particular culture or nation. Nor have I ever had one permanent home. Endless change has been my lot. I look in awe at people who have lived their whole lives in one place and are content there. I am a citizen of the world, and happy that way.

My fictional characters are often without deep roots, sometimes happy in their circumstances, sometimes not. I write of what I know and understand, of what I see and hear in my travels, of what amuses or moves or challenges me. As a trained artist, I am also deeply interested in pictorial representation, sketch and take thousands of photographs during my travels. I like to match my pictures to my poems and stories, giving them extra life.

Currently resident in the United States, I am sharing a house with a fellow writer. A first, and rather an unusual venture for a solitary nomad such as myself, but I am enjoying the change, and it is working out well. We check out the local historical sites and the restaurants, watch films, listen to music, enjoy the summer storms - and write, critiquing each other's work.

In the last 3 weeks I have written 3 US based short stories. The first, WHISPERS, concerns a young man lost on the mid western plains in a storm. It proves to be a life-changing  and ultimately positive experience for him.

Then came DEATH BY HAMBURGER, a short and nasty detective tale. No local restaurants are named or blamed in this narrative.

The latest, LITTLE MISCHIEF FLIES, written in 2 days, concerns the very naughty kitten pictured below. I am not an overly sentimental person and rarely write about animals, but Little Mischief is special.

            

I have 3 partly written novels under way. When one becomes hard work or the ideas temporarily dry up I can turn to something quite different and then return refreshed to the other stories. Also am carrying several completed novels which I hope to place.

The first of the works in progress, known at present as MILLY, is a humorous tribute to the traditional detective story. A genteel lady writer goes to an exotic little known Asian resort to work on her latest novel, only to find herself embroiled in international murder and mayhem.

The other 2 novels, quite different in content, are set in North Africa, in my favourite countries of all. I'll be finishing them on site.

All written content, photographs and art work on this site copyright of Mira Doria.