A Deck of Cards

  On Friday 5 th  of February 2021, the National Gallery held an online event on Samson and Delilah’s biblical story, as painted by Rubens and Van Dyck, two famous baroque painters. Dr Carlo Corsato, an educator for the National Gallery as well as lecturer in Morley College, presented the late afternoon event. As a specialist in early modern European art and Architecture, he particularly enjoys the Renaissance and Italian art. Dr Corsato gave a bit of context on the biblical story, before showing Rubens' version of Samson and Delilah. He pointed out how most people, when visiting an art Gallery such as the National Gallery, often missed the clues in the paintings, not knowing ‘where’ and ‘what’ to look for. In this specific artwork, the darker and more intimate setting revealed a marvel of hints at the biblical story but told viewers even more about society in Rubens’ time. Men on the right stand in the dark (all but Samson, asleep) while the women are set on the left and in...

  Mack hides in the king’s bedroom. He looks around. The moon shines from the open window. I miss Aliz. I miss her so fuckin’ much. Wait for a confession ... I know but… I could make him confess. It would count, right? I can’t even ask her. I wish I could. I miss her. I miss her laugh and her eyes when she looked at me. I miss her lips when they touched mine… her sighs and moans… her sleeping body tucked against mine. He’ll confess, I’ll make sure of it. And when that’s done, I’ll see her again. ( Mack caresses his lower lip then chuckles.) We’ll celebrate. As soon as I’m with her, we’ll celebrate like we never did when we were alive. The door is slightly ajar, Mack peeks out. The king is sitting with his back to Mack, writing something. He’s only a few meters away. Three steps. Okay. Maybe five. I can take him… no… I can. He’s not changed one bit... just older. I guess that’s to be expected. She’s the only one who didn’t age at all. He never gave her that chance. What ...

  On the 28 th of January 2021, the Exiled Writers Ink organisation invited writers and readers enthusiasts to promote a few of their mentees’ work and accomplishments. Five men and women from Argentina, Iran, Iraq, and Zimbabwe were mentored by mentor poets, translators and novelists of all backgrounds and places. These war refugees who immigrated to the UK shared a few minutes of their work – a promotional move as well as a thank you to the organisation who helped them get where they are now as writers. In their own ways, they share their experience of war and of the life they lived, describing – in acute details – emotions and settings, writing vivid dialogues to teleport us through time and space, stereotypes and inequalities. There’s something eerie and cathartic in each painful silence and carefully drawn detail, like blood sipped out with a syringe.   Fellow writers to be, if you’ve not realised the power of your own experiences to bring life to your work, I highly enc...

 2020 is done and gone, and now we've opened our arms to 2021! What are your hopes and dreams for this year? Are we back to the 'I'll eat more healthy' and 'go to the gym more often' kind of resolution, or have we decided to take a safer approach this year?  Personally, I'm not really big on resolutions because I know I won't last more than a week. What a waste of time and energy then, right? Instead, I'm trying to set targets for myself. Small ones. Write in my diary at least once a week. Do yoga once to twice a week. That type of things.  Writing-wise, I'm hoping to get more done, but unfortunately the year has started on the wrong foot, with my husband testing positive with Covid. Now, I feel like I have three children at home instead of two. I'm not feeling a 100% but I soldier on, but my head is not into writing right now.  Let me tell you where I'm at, at this start of 2021. I've finished editing 'A deck of cards' and Bi...

 Hello fellow humans, I've finished writing my novel, after researching, writing and editing in the past five years. It's been a ride! Now what? Well, I can officially say that I've written my query letter, synopsis and blurb about a dozen times. I've sent my query letter (with blurb and synopsis attached) as well as the first one to three chapters, to seven agents. Five rejections so far.  I'll be honest with you. It doesn't feel good. When did rejection ever feel good, I can hear you say. You're right. But I had to say it, I know I'm not the only one feeling this way. After each rejection I wonder why the agent didn't like it.  'Maybe my prologue is too strong? Too bloody?  What about the promise, is it there? Could I change it? Make it completely different?' No.  Stop.  I should NOT think about changing my first chapters, my whole book, because someone said it was not for them. For agents, finding a book that's right for them is subjec...

  So, every fantasy writer should know about this 'world building'.  But what do you start with? Where do you get your inspiration? Is there a questionnaire that you can fill in? What does World-Building generally include? When I first started looking into world building, I wished there was a list of questions I could answer, and where I'd get my basic understanding of what I needed to do to create the next best seller. I mean, that's what we are all working towards, right? ... So huh, right. Let's move on.  World building can be as developed as you feel like (well, duh.).As with any important work, you do NOT want to have things on loose paper. I repeat, you DO NOT want to have things on loose paper. A notebook is ideal, because you can take it with you on walks etc. When I think about world-building, I mostly think about: - fauna and flora : does my world have different flowers and animals than our own Earth? If so, what is it and what's different? What's ...