Sounds like a rock band, doesn’t it? 

Well, here we are again at The Inspiring Bit. Another month of lockdown has gone by and an increasing number of people are, like me, starting to recognise what really matters in life and what they want to do. For many that includes getting writing at long last!
 
So, I was delighted to be interviewed by Louise Wiles of Thriving Abroad (that’s the TA) for her regular podcast series about Writing Through Challenging Times. You can watch the interview above (if you're reading this via my Monthly Inspirer email you may have to click 'view email in your browser' at the the top to display the video) or just listen to it, along with many other fascinating episodes by subscribing to the podcast.

The 4 Cs are something completely different. Here goes:

Jo’s 4 Cs for better writing

Be clear
Write clearly and know your reader’s reading level. I’m always harping on about being accessible, writing in short sentences and short paragraphs so that what you are saying is easy to digest. The easiest way to see if your writing is clear is to read it aloud. If you stumble over the text as you read then the reader will stumble too – yes, even if they are reading it in their head.

Be concise
Readers are not stupid. You may have been told at school to “tell them what you are going to say, tell them and then tell them what you said,” but that can be boring to read. Some of the ropiest tabloid newspaper stories do this. Keep your writing short and to the point. Don’t bog the reader down in overlong descriptions, just give them one or two details to hang onto so they can picture it and move on. Keep it simple. Keep it short. If you want to hammer a point home then do that like this:

1. Tell it (give the facts)
2. Prove it (say how you know this by quoting an expert, survey, statistic, writer)
3. Show it (give them an example, maybe a case study, an anecdote from your life or an illustration)

Be colourful
For years I have been asking my students to ‘paint a picture with your pen’. Show the reader your characters, your settings, your feelings. Make your writing come alive. One of the best ways to do this is with dialogue. A page that contains dialogue looks more interesting. Lines that start with the inverted commas (“) that indicate the start of speech always pique my interest.This looks like a fun page, I think. Dialogue allows you to show character and to move the story forward. People make your writing colourful. Carefully chosen specific details do too.

Be compelling
For a piece of writing to make the reader want to stay with you on the page, it must retain their interest. Keep your writing lively. Vary sentence length, make your vocabulary match the mood, move the story forward and your writing will have pace. Pace and plot make a story compelling but so too does ‘voice’. Voice is the way you write. Your natural writing style. A style that shows your personality, is authentic, unforced and fun to read. One of the best ways to find your writers’ voice and settle into it is to join a writer’s circle. Why not join my Friday Speedwrite Live events, do some writing and then share it and get feedback from the group? Trust me, it’s one of the best ways to find your voice.

That’s it then, if you want to get writing and think you may have run out of excuses then watch my Thriving Abroad interview, remember the 4Cs and join a writers’ circle.

And, now, every month you can join my monthly Life Story Jar Live webinar, have a short lesson, do a writing task, share and get feedback. 

For more inspiration and live events go to www.joparfitt.com/virtual-events.html

If you miss an event you will be able to catch up via the Tools for Writers tab on my website. 

There are now just three months to go until entries close for our book award in memory of Lindsay de Feliz, our much-loved author, here at Summertime Publishing and Springtime Books. 

We are only asking for the first three chapters and an outline, so come on, use the lockdown to get started on your story. 

20 tips to get you started:

1. A memoir is like fiction, it needs to be written as if it were a novel.
2. You need pace, plot and people, real characters that leap off the page.
3. Just because it happened to you does not mean that it needs to be included in the book.
4. You don't have to start at the beginning. You can start at the moment just before a turning point and then flash back as far as you need to go. Try not to chop around the timeline too much.
5. Read other memoirs in this genre and see how they are put together, analyse the plot, characterisation and the story arc.
6. Novels tend to have a main theme and then a few underlying themes, each with their own plot. If your memoir is to compel the reader they need to care about the hero/heroine.
7. Readers like to do a bit of work themselves so you don't need to describe every  scrap of every scene or every feature on a person's face.
8. Use names, even if they are pseudonyms. Readers need something to hang onto and names are very useful.
9. Novels often end chapters on a cliffhanger. Memoirs too.
10. We don't need to know what you had for breakfast – unless it's relevant.
11. The ability to cut your work may be your best asset.
12. Your final work should ideally be between 50,000 and 80,000 words.
13. Attend my In Conversation interview with Anne Rainbow of Red Editing Pen on 7th May to learn some tricks about editing your own work or catch it on YouTube later.
14. Show – don't tell, of course.
15. Paint a picture with your pen.
16. Remember to use all five elements of SPICE and if you don't know what that is visit my Writers' Tools and watch the recording of the webinar.
17.  Get some feedback before you submit your entry.
18. Check your layout, spelling and grammar. Even silly errors will put the judges off.
19. A good memoir hangs on its voice. Know your writers' voice and embrace it.
20. Read your work aloud. If your tongue trips up you'll know you have some editing to do.
    

​Good luck!

These may be times of social distancing but my social life is busier than it's been for years. We are now 'meeting' friends in foreign fields for coffees, cocktails, catch-ups and games not once a year like in days of yore but monthly, maybe more.

I expect your life is pretty similar. What has surprised me most is that like so many of you I have had technology 'thrust upon me' thanks to the lockdown. 

For years people have asked me to run online writers' circles and I've been too resistant, bone-idle even, to do so. But now that my precious monthly face-to-face writers' circles are impossible, I've taken the plunge and paid for a subscription to Zoom. Just four weeks into lockdown and instead of leading just my local circle I have run 10 online writers' circles and four weekly Speedwrite Live events. That's 14 events instead of one!

I'd been too scared to try and run online workshops but now I'm doing that too now and am surprised to discover they really work too. 

I always knew I was pretty good at connecting with people but now that I have a busy Virtual Events calendar I am thrilled that folk from years gone by, like Andrea, who used to come to my classes in Oman decades ago, are back in my life. So there I sit in my office in The Hague, looking out at the social distancing shoppers in the street below and there on my screen, we chat with Pascale in Perth, Isabelle in South Korea, Yvonne in Washington and Geraldine in Ireland.

Now, I know different. I am grateful that the lockdown has shown me a better way of connecting with more people and has forced me, at last, to take my classes online.

I've just finished reading Seth Godin's book, This is Marketing, for the online business book club I just joined. Godin believes that when people are in a state of transition they are ready to try new things. We are all experiencing a 'new normal'. None of us knows the rules. This means that the times are ripe for trying new things.

"We build something that people would miss if it were gone," he writes. "something that gives them meaning, connection and possibility."

I'm not sure whether my new normal is 'better' than it used to be. It's certainly different. If you are reluctant to leap on board with online connecting possibilities then I urge you to think again. It might become your new normal, as it has rapidly become mine. This week alone, I have signed up for online pilates and poetry classes, am running three writers' circles and a Speedwrite Live.

According to Godin we make change by "normalising new behaviours". 

In just four short weeks this new way of connecting is beginning to feel like home.

To find out more about my virtual events please visit www.joparfitt.com/virtual-events.html 

Like many of us, when lockdown hit I decided it was time to adjust my business a little and take my writers’ circles online. I’ve been running a writers’ circle for about 30 years now, mostly from home. I would keep the format the same. First we do a ten-minute speedwrite and then share our writing. Next I set a ten-minute task and we share that. Last week, I decided we’d work on rhythm and asked them to rewrite their own versions of Roger McGough’s poem Today is Not a Day for Adultery. The poem, albeit slightly saucy, explains how it may not be sensible to visit your lover’s house when it’s raining because you run the risk of catching flu. Instead, our lover is urged to stay home. #stayathome

I asked my students to retain the same basic form and rhythm while exchanging some of McGough’s words for their own. They could also pick their own theme, though inevitably many used the current Coronavirus pandemic.

The task proved to be a lot of fun and a welcome distraction from the testing times in which we find ourselves. 

Our versions began:

Today is not a day for rejoicing
Today is not a day for teetotalism
Today is not a day for promises
Today is not a day for working from home
And
Today is now a day for adultery

And many more

During the course of the week, students began sharing their versions via email, one shared hers on Facebook, others asked their friends to have a go too. 

I wondered whether maybe we were onto something?

Just ask, folks

I wondered whether maybe even more people would have their spirits lifted by reading our poems or by writing their own? But I’m not naïve. I know about intellectual property and plagiarism, so I managed to track Roger down via his agent and asked his permission to do just this on my blog. He generously and graciously agreed. Yes folks I am delighted to say that Roger McGough, fellow Hull University alumnus, Liverpool poet and one-time member of The Scaffold (remember Lily The Pink?) has been emailing little old me.

So this, here, is what I have done with massive thanks to Roger.

Roger’s version is below, followed by my own version and then some by my students and friends.

MY POETRY CHALLENGE: Will you be inspired enough to add your own version of the poem to the comments section on this blog? 

Thank you @mcgoughroger

Today is not a day for adultery

Today is not a day for adultery.
The sky is a wet blanket
Being shaken in anger. Thunder
Rumbles through the streets 
Like malicious gossip.

Take my advice: braving
The storm will not impress your lover
When you turn up at the house
In an anorak. Wellingtons,
Even coloured, seldom arouse.

Your umbrella will leave a tell-tale
Puddle in the hall. Another stain
To be explained away. Stay in,
Keep your mucus to yourself.
Today is not a day for sin.

Best pick up the phone and cancel.
Postpone until the weather clears.
No point in getting soaked through.
At your age, a fuck’s not worth
The chance of catching flu.

© Roger McGough

So, now, would you like to see our versions?


Today is Not a Day for a Bunk-up

Today is not a day for a bunk-up.
My fat belly’s a turn off
That will wobble in foreplay. Disgust
Trembles through my thighs
As I lie there.

Take my advice: eating
Six Hobnobs will not impress your lover
When you turn towards him in bed
In a track suit. Nylon
Induced electricity’s just not the same.

Your M&S Shapewear’s a clue
To your expanding waistline. Stay slim
Move your cravings to the bedroom.
No, today is not another day for gin.

Best switch that butter for Outline
Don’t leave the diet til the virus clears
No point social distancing your mate.
At your age, a fuck’s more than worth
The sacrifice of cake.

Jo Parfitt


Today is Now a Day for Adultery

Today is now a day for adultery.
The sky is a wet dreamer
Being shaken in desires. Thunder
Rumbles through the thighs
Like malicious intent.

Take my advice: riding the storm
will now impress your lover
When you turn up at his house
In a negligee and wellingtons 
Brightly colored, surely arouse

His orgasm will leave a tell-tale
Puddle in the hall. Another stain
To be unexplained. Stay in,
Keep your juices for yourselves.
Today is now a day for sin.

Best lift up the sheets and dive in.
Consume until the weather clears.
No shame in getting soaked through.
At your age, a fuck's so worth
The chance of catching crabs.

JS


Today is Not a Day for Teetotalism

Today is not a day for teetotalism.
The husband is a wet blanket
Being shaken in anger. Thunder
Rumbles through the children
Like malicious gossip.

Take my advice: denying yourself alcohol
will not impress your neighbours
When police turn up at the house
In a panda car. Bodies in the veg patch,
Even given extenuating circumstances, seldom result in a mere caution.

Your abstinence will leave a tell-tale
Surplus in the drinks’ cabinet. Another unopened bottle
To be explained away. Stay in,
Keep your chardonnay to yourself.
Today is not a day for temperance.

Best pick up the phone and order a case.
Imbibe until the weather clears.
No point in staying sober.
At your age, it’s not fucking worth
The possibility of murdering your family.

Susan Boyd


Today is Not a Day for Promises

Today is not a day for promises 
For pledges need a future 
And security of soul 
To glide towards eternity 
And linger there, sublime. 

Believe me I would gladly 
Promise you the universe 
If you and I could reach that goal. 
Yet, since tomorrow may not come, 
I will not promise thus. 

Your face I kiss but only 
For a fleeting hour or so. 
Tomorrow I’ll be but a memory
Of blissful solace yet it’s
Joy that will not come again. 

This hour is not an hour for promises 
For time is still and motionless today. 
But when it’s passed, I’ll  
Hold your kiss and understand 
My promise is fulfilled in you.

Lesley


Today is Not a Day for Working From Home

Today is not a day for working from home
The sky is a glorious blue
colouring the sea. The wind
whistles through the land
Making its own music

Take my advice. Working
at your desk will not impress your manager when you submit your report
in a rush. A Zoom call
showing your pale, tired face won’t help.

Your puffy eyes will leave a tell tale
screen shot on display. Another
sign to be explained away, Go out.
Get some fresh air in your lungs
Today is not a day for work

Best pick up the phone and cancel
Postpone until the weather’s bad
No point in getting stressed out.
At your age, work’s not worth
the risk of heart attacks.

Geraldine Bown


Today’s Not a Day for the Dentist 

Today is not a day for the dentist.
My mouth is a hot blanket
Being shaken with pain. Virus
Bumbles through my veins
Malicious invaders.

Take my advice: breaking
Lockdown will not impress or relieve
The pain. Turning up at with a
Virus filled mask. Even trying
Bribing with cash won’t avail.

Your saliva will leave a fatal
Puddle on the drill. Another sin
That can slay. So stay in,
Keep your mucus to yourself.
Today is not a day to kill.

Best pick up the phone and cancel.
Postpone to flatten the curve.
No point infecting others.
At your age, false teeth beckon.
So, numb it with wine instead.

Sarah 


Today is Not a Day for Reminiscing

Today is not a day for reminiscing
We mustmove on
Quivering through the Covid. Grouchy, 
We Grumble – ‘stay in’
No street life to roam.

Listen to me stay home –
embrace a cosy nineteen. Forget 
the Covid, Corona
coronary collapsing, calculating 
killer. Keep your rubbers on.

Coloured will do. Pop up 
the umbrella and leave a stain.
Share the mucus, you and your love, 
for todays the day for 
cosy nineteen.

Pick up the silks and satin
sunny or grey, don’t wait 
for another day. Get soaked, 
cause at our age cosy nineteen,
may not, again be seen

Caron Moran

Today is Not a Day for Labouring

Today is not a day for labouring 
Because the sun is bright 
Its golden rays beam down, warming
the streets and buildings 
Encouraging folks to chat

Listen to me and wonder
The glow will lift your hearts
Open your doors and windows 
Throw off your coats and scarves 
Feel your body come to life 

Your sunshade will leave a shadow 
Yet still you will be warm
Nature is so wonderful, go out
And feel its glow
Today is not for labouring 

Pick up the phone and call your friends 
Before the weather changes
Tell them time is precious and 
we really need to party
Before we miss the chance!
​
Vivien

Today is Not a Day for Day Dreaming

Today is not a day for day dreaming
Time change has proven that
Being shaken with summer clock hour
Missing the day twice
Like gaps in my headache

Take my advice: Breathe on
The havoc will impress on you that
Calm is the best way to go
Nobody died, that’s the good news
That’s my new benchmark in life now

Your mindfulness is what’s important
Muddle on and savour every day
Life is way too precious today
Keep remembering this fact
Embrace and love like it’s your last

CieSaw

MY POETRY CHALLENGE: Will you be inspired enough to add your own version of the poem to the comments section on this blog? 

#writingprompt #quarantineandchill #lockdownpoems #todayisnotaday #writingcommunity

Using our Muse Motivator as inspiration, put your pen on the paper and just go...

See where your imagination takes you.