One particular part of my father’s family got more than the family tree treatment, though.  My Great-great-great-grandmother, Julia Canning, kept all the letters she received until shortly after her marriage, and they’re riveting.  She arrived in Britain from India, where her father was a colonial administrator, aged 7.  Her mother died on her way back, separately, to England and her father shortly afterwards before he could embark for leave, and Julia and her next-oldest sister were left in the care of an uncle and aunt (she had two older half-sisters from her mother’s first marriage, who lived elsewhere).

Foxcote, where Julia grew up.

Julia was a Catholic at a time when Catholics were still proscribed in the UK, so she was sent to France for her schooling almost as soon as she reached England.  She lived through the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots and the rise of the railways, in which her uncle was an investor, and married James Fleming, a young lawyer who was to become England’s first Catholic QC.  He specialised in proving succession to peerages that had been considered extinct, but failed to prove his own claim to the Barony of Slane.  One of Julia and James’s sons travelled out to Tasmania in the 1880s (he was in the Colonial Service) and kept a diary of his travels which is eye-opening to our much softer generation.

I typed all the letters from the original MSS onto my computer but failed to back them up before the hard-drive died.  Now I have the printed copies I originally sent to Ma.  I’m aiming to copy them back into the computer via OCR, sort them into date order (for some reason she’d filed them by writer’s name) and then re-read, because I think there’s a book in Julia’s extraordinary story.

Two very remarkable ladies: I salute you.

I’m reading an enchanting book at the moment called “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” (henceforward called “TGLPPPS”).  I picked it up in a second-hand bookshop because of the title, as you do.

The novel is set in 1946, shortly after the Germans had left the Channel Islands, and in the first half (all I’ve read so far) many of the letters concern the islanders’ struggle to survive the war.  It’s the second book I’ve read on the subject; the other is a first-hand account called “Prisoner of the Eagle” which was published shortly after the end of the war.  Both books tell the same story of near starvation and privations of all sorts, not just for the islanders but for the Todt camp slave labourers and, in the end, for the Germans as well.

It’s easy to forget that part of the United Kingdom was invaded; that Brits living on their own soil were sent to concentration camps for minor infringements of wartime rules.  Strange too; it’s not something I ever learnt about at school. I guess back then we still had the “we rule the world” attitude and it was hard to admit.

“TGLPPPS” doesn’t sound as though it should be enchanting, but it’s written so lightly and touchingly that it really is so.  Conceived as the correspondence between an authoress and the members of the eponymous society, plus her publisher and a couple of friends, there’s love interest, human frailty, anger and a real sense of history about it. 

Epistolatory novels are quite hard to bring off as you have to describe each character in their own words, rather than having an all-knowing narrator or a hero/heroine from whose point of view the story is seen.  Interestingly “TGLPPPS” has two authors, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, which may have helped.  It works brilliantly, and I’d recommend it to any reader with an interest in history, books or just people.

I had hoped that it would be a feature full of words of wisdom, experience, charm perhaps.  But no – it was all about how I came up feet first on a training dive.  It does seem to have struck a chord, though.  Several people have commented on their first (and usually only) feet-first ascent, and the measures they have taken to prevent a repeat of a deeply unpleasant experience.

One little “crow” is that the editor said I have a “lovely writing style”, and asked what else I’d like to write!  So I’ll be doing a piece for him later in the year about a club trip to Northern Ireland.  The only N. Irish member of the club says it’s bound to rain (according to him summer is two days long, and you’re lucky to catch them!), so if you have a hot line to the weather god please could you ask him/her for a particularly good spell in the area in the second half of July?  Thank you.

I love writing about diving because I love diving, but I also love finding out about businesses and disciplines I have no prior knowledge of.  For example, at the moment I’m having to learn about alpine skiing and what a GP may need to talk to patients about, so that I can write blogs on those subjects.  Neither of them are areas I know anything about.  Last time I skied was here in Scotland, about 12 years ago, and I hated it; it was so icy I’d have done better taking my skates up the hill.  And I’m lucky enough to be ill very rarely, so I don’t keep much of an eye on health news.  Nonetheless, I’m finding both blogs fascinating to write because I have to broaden my knowledge to do them.

That’s what I love about this job.  Every day I learn something new, every day I feel I hone my skills a little bit more, every day is different – and every day is free from office politics.  How many people get that much fun and satisfaction from their Monday-to-Friday?

One of the speakers was the co-owner of The Scarlet Bakery, who uses Facebook for all their marketing.  They have no website, have never spent a bean on ads of any sort, have never distributed fliers or used any of the other “normal” ways of finding customers, and they’ve gone from start-up in June 2010 to selling 4,000 cupcakes a week by November 2010.    All the cakes are pre-ordered online so there’s absolutely no wastage.   (You can find them at http://www.facebook.com/?sk=apps&ap=1#!/pages/Dundee-United-Kingdom/The-Scarlet-Bakery/122153114489088).  I thought that was brilliant.

Immediately after the workshop I met a potential client to talk about promoting her health-drink business.  She wanted some press releases written in the short term and her website updated later, when she had the money.  Press releases aren’t really my forte, but I was able to give her the details of a specialist.  Then I told her The Scarlet Bakery’s story and she lit up: I’d just given her the ideal no-cost answer for her marketing.  No need to update the website; possibly no need to pay the press release specialist.  Certainly no need to pay me – though she did buy me lunch (she said it was the best £10 she’d ever spent).

I do hope this isn’t “the future” for all small businesses, or mine will go down the tubes

Mind you, my halo’s shining that wee bit brighter….

Another guest article, this time by Pete Savage.  Find more details about Pete at the end of this post.

Sometimes when you learn of the work habits and rituals of
successful people in your field, a funny thing can happen.
Perhaps it has happened to you before, whether you were reading
a self-development book, attending a live event, or listening to
a teleseminar…

When learning about someone’s personal success journey, and the
wisdom they have to share about their experience, sometimes the
learning can be both inspiring and intimidating at the same
time!

Have you ever experienced this? I have. And the intimidation, I
think, comes from a momentary onset of what I call “Easier Said
Than Done“-itis, or “ESTD-itis” for short. Here’s how I define
this term:

ESTD-itis [noun; "es-die-tis"] The momentary mental muttering of
the phrase “easier said than done” when presented with a new
idea, concept, tool, or technique for achieving success.

ESTD-itis is brought on by the sudden realization that a certain
level of success involves a certain amount of honest effort.
Unfortunately, the Internet, Hollywood, the tabloids and all the
other elements of today’s modern media machine have created this
illusion of “overnight success” in so many fields.

As we observe this media, we can’t help but be influenced by it,
and be tricked into thinking that success, fame, and fortune
comes easily and without effort to “those people”.

But sometimes we learn more about the back story of the
individuals who we view as successful, and we see the real blood
sweat and tears that often goes into their achievement. This
gives us a better appreciate of “what it takes” to succeed.

So… on Friday and Saturday, as part of the International
Freelancers Day conference you’ll see a lot of accomplished
people teaching you what they know about succeeding in business.
As you watch, keep in mind the true effort – the blood, sweat
and tears – that each presenter went through in order to get to
a place where they can now teach and share their wisdom.

In other words, as you watch, hold in your mind the expectation
that what you’re learning will require a certain amount of
honest effort if you aspire to achieve similar results. The new
concepts, tips and strategies you learn may be presented as
“simple” but every speaker will tell you, they require a lot of
elbow grease to actually put into action.

Do this, and the phrase “Easier said than done” will disappear
from your language when you come upon ideas, concepts, tools, or
techniques that have the power to lead you toward success.

I know that you’ll enjoy what’s coming your way – for free – as
part of the International Freelancers Day online conference on
Friday and Saturday. If you still need to register for this
event, you still can – just click here.

To your success!
Pete 

Pete Savage is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and
co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great
Income and an Enviable Lifestyle. To download 3 free chapters of
his book, visit www.TheWealthyFreelancer.com.

I’ve been a member for a year.  So far no-one’s asked me to speak, so when I got the email asking me to renew my declaration that I had no criminal involvement, past or present, I thought I wouldjust  let it lapse.  I emailed the founder and MD of Growing Ambitions, Sally Davis, who replied:  “We are looking to merge with another organisation in the autumn that has the ear of more employers, and the government and momentum will really start to pick up then. We are a non-profit, providing a lean and mean brokerage solution but we have no government or other funding.” 

She added, ”I do hope you can see you way to still point people to us”.  How could I refuse? 

I think it’s a great idea, telling kids how it really is, and by what tortuous route you’ve got where you are.  A lot of people have never heard of copywriting; I’m sure there are students who’d love to write for a living but think the only ways are the cut-throat world of journalism or the lottery of “writing proper books” of whatever sort and trying to get them published.  Certainly my careers mistress never mentioned it (but that could have been because I wanted to go to music college; it didn’t occur to me I could earn a living as a writer until much later).

If you’re interested in finding out more about Growing Ambitions and how you could become a Partner (it doesn’t cost anything, talks only last half an hour, and it’s good exposure for your business too), go to http://www.growingambitions.org/index.php and read all about it.

Thank you!

Rubbish!

I don’t believe people’s attention-spans really are shorter now than they were 50 years ago, or even 10.  I think that, if they’re interested in the subject, readers can cope with several sub-clauses, even a few digressions, without losing their places or going off to do something else completely.  (See – you made it this far, didn’t you?)  If you write (and read) as though you were talking (or being talked to), all of that becomes irrelevant because people don’t talk in short, simple sentences; they talk in paragraphs, mostly hoping-they-won’t-be-interrupted-before-they-can-finish-what-they’re-trying-to-say-and-have-to-start-listening-to-the-other-person-in-the-conversation.  Apart from the taciturn types who can hardly get a word out with any degree of comfort, of course.

The  reason this subject arose is the book I’m reading, Rose Macaulay’s The Towers of Trebizond.  Those of you who’ve read it will remember the gloriously discursive style of the writing, mirroring the heroine-and-narrator’s thoughts.  If you haven’t yet read it, do, especially if you know anything about the Anglican church (it’s not about that, but it does poke some wonderful gentle fun at it).  It’s very amusing, though I have to put it down after about an hour as the mixture’s pretty rich: one can have too much of a good thing at one sitting, even chocolate mousse.  But I digress….

The problem with long sentences is not that people can’t read them; it’s that many authors can’t write them.  If you’re going to produce a long sentence you need to be more Proust or Trollope (Anthony, not Joanna) than Nietzsche: use words that people recognise, in contexts where they make sense.  Then you can let your stream of consciousness range about like a mountain stream forging around and through the rocks and tree-roots in its way, as it leaps and tumbles down the hill to the river below. 

Or words to that effect.  (There is also a place for short sentences.  And yes, I know that the five words at the beginning of this paragraph don’t constitute a proper sentence.)

Don’t let the thought police dumb you down.  Long live the long sentence - written and spoken!

One letter from Diana to Debo caught my eye because she used a very unusual word, “unweeting”, which she defined as meaning “meaningless”.  I knew about “unwitting” meaning “unknowing”, but this was a new one on me.  Neither The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Words nor Google’s “define” feature had heard of it, nor had the QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, nor the Cassell Book of Slang (a fascinating tome!).  Finally my 1811 edition of Dr Johnson’s Dictionary came up trumps: “Unweeting: Ignorant; unknowing. Spenser.”

So it’s the same as unwitting after all!  Johnson doesn’t have “unwitting”, but under “unwittingly” he writes: “(properly unweetingly from unweeting.)  Without knowledge, without consciousness.  Sidney” – so that clears that up.

It’s amazing to me how many dictionaries it can take to find the meaning of a word.  If I’m really stuck I look English words up in my Garzanti Hazon Grande Dizionario Italiano-Inglese, which has more English words in it than any of my other dictionaries.  I’ve found several crossword answers that way, words that weren’t in any of the 9 standard English dictionaries and 2 thesauri I have on my shelves.

That’s how I came to start the “Weirds” page: it’s a listing of the unusual words that I’ve discovered in my reading, in conversation, in specialist dictionaries and so on.  Please feel free to send me any “weirds” you come across.  Who knows, they might even end up being quoted on Google’s “define” feature.  If you don’t know about that, it’s simple: type “define:[word you want defined]” without the “” or the [] and it trawls the ‘net to find listings that define the word.  It doesn’t always find them, but it’s amazing what it does come up with.  When I first looked up “umbles” Goggle couldn’t find anything for me; I put the word on the Weirds page and, when I checked today, it’s been put in both Wikipedia and Wiktionary.  Progress!

So send ‘em in and we’ll see how much more we can add to the sum of human knowledge.