My Writing Odyssey

This week I got my first letter from my auntie of the year.  She writes to me very regularly, as well as to various other members of our family.  Today I popped my reply into the post, which should be starting its journey down to Buckinghamshire. Let me tell you some things about my auntie.  She does not have Facebook, or Twitter, or even an email address.  She has not even been familiar with mobile phones for very long.  She is in her early fifties, and used to teach at primary school.  She's never married or had children, but has been writing letters to her nieces and nephews since we were all little.  They have been something of a constant in my life, and she has always had something to say. Whilst I was writing my response, I began to think about this new and modern world that we live in.  Nowadays the "done thing" is to send an email, or message the person you want to speak to using the social network of their choice.  Just how many people sit down and actually w

Posting the Mslexia competition entry seems like an entire lifetime away, especially since my recent bad health has slowed down my momentum.  Whilst I have been itching to start something else, a niggly little voice at the back of my brain kept wondering if my last competiton entry had reached its destination on time... Most competitions allow for the entrants to get acknowledgement for the receipt of their stories.  Let's face it - if you devoted weeks or even months on writing something, you are not going to be pleased if it gets lost in the post!  As someone who is naturally paranoid anyway, I had sent the standard SAE with my entry so I could be assured that my entry had arrived safe and sound. My flats have outside post-boxes, the limited space of which is balanced by the fact the sorting office is across the road.  For the past ten days I have been opening up the post box and peering hopefully inside. I have had lots of post, both welcome and unwelcome (I have a chinese