Newsletter: Family

Relationships are more important than possessions

Me and my little sister, c.1981. The hairy wig-like thing was my dog, Toby.

It’s easy to get absorbed in materialism. For me to worry about book sales, paying bills, and the broken Asus laptop that is proving difficult to repair. But at the end of the day what matters is our loved ones, and the suffering of others in the world (human or not), and our connection to nature and life.

I opened with a photo of me and my sister because I’m thinking of her a lot today. She is in hospital in Wales and about to undergo brain surgery. She is brave, but no doubt scared. There are risks. On one side this could be something that eases pain and enables her to go back to living a normal life. On the other side are the complications that I refuse to think about.

My sister’s name is Sarah. She’s four years younger then me. We also had a brother, Jason, who died in hospital as a baby. I think about him, too, and how we miss the opportunity of having him in our lives and getting to know him.

But today it’s my sister who needs support. We all have different spiritual beliefs (or none). I’m pagan. I have friends who are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, atheist/scientist, Buddhist and every other belief system. I’m always interested in the things that unite us, not divide. So, whatever you believe, I hope you’ll send at least some thoughts to my sister today, some best wishes. Because it might make no difference at all, or it might make a difference. Knowledge is impossible. But there is never any harm in compassion.

Which is another thing that has been on my mind. It’s been a difficult week. The Russian government’s ongoing assault on Ukraine. I know there will be many Russians devastated by what is going on, because their government doesn’t represent them any more than the British government represents me or the US government represents all Americans. Also the Israeli state’s genocide of Palestinians following decades of illegal occupation. Once again, it is a state acting, not a people. I have so many lovely Jewish friends who deplore all killing, especially when huge numbers of civilians are targeted and killed for crimes they didn’t commit. In most cases it feels like politicians let us down. They have their own agendas, and they are more about power and profit and appearances than about compassion. They see themselves as our rulers, and we’re an inconvenient element they have to pay lip service to, rather than seeing themselves as our servants. Though there are beautiful exceptions.

Some might say there is no room for politics in a newsletter. To them I would say everything we do and say is politics. How we live our lives is politics. Everything we buy is politics. And they are all more true politics than voting once every four years with a limited choice of people who will probably all make the world a worse place. There is no such thing as an apolitical communication because what we don’t say is just as political as what we do. When I listen to a politician’s speech it is what’s missing that I focus on. (Yes, I did a GCSE in communication studies.)

But … Books ’N’ Stuff

I do write books too, I just remembered. And I should always give an update on that.

Well, work continues on From Idea To Item, the “tiny book, you’ll have it done in a week, Karl, honest guv” project. The draft is now 80,000 words, bigger than most of my novels. But I keep thinking of things I wish I’d known when I started. And concepts spring to mind that I want to include. “Karl, you haven’t mentioned Pretty Pricing. You haven’t talked about the paper colour choices for different types of book. You haven’t explained how you organise metadata in a spreadsheet.” So I add those things and am just glad this book is only about the process of producing a book. If it was to include the craft of writing a book, it would be three times longer. That’s a topic I will cover separately, one day.

I have been busy setting up this Substack account. Keeping to my promise to add different types of content which I hope is useful or interesting to different people. For authors I have Weekly Writers, where I covered book production and book plotting methods. For paid subscribers there are also posts on Blurbs and Beta Readers. Friday Fiction has been me adding stories to read at the weekends, in various genres. Some you may have read before, so you can skip them or enjoy them again. And Rest Day Ruminations lets me explore other topics, such as Bollywood films, watching the dawn, and reframing politics. The three headings I’ve just described are mainly for paying supporters (who fund them) but I’ll continue to make some of the posts open to all.

If you do pay, it’s a bit like a magazine subscription, but articles arrive separately, and by email. Currently 20% off if you subscribe for a year. But it’s all just goodwill, and you’ll hear from me anyway. (Unless you unsubscribe because you’re sick of me.)

Some of you had sent messages about my part-time job as a film projectionist. Well, I’ve begun that now, and it’s fun. There’s a definite satisfaction to being in the projection booth with the huge digital projector, setting up playlists of trailers, altering sound, controlling the cinema lights. I’ve only done a few shifts so far, supervised, but I don’t think it will be long before I get to show films on my own. If you are ever in Dumfries, Scotland, come and watch a film at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre. I can sell you some popcorn.

Until next time, peace and love my friends.