charles barrow's writing

This plant caught my eye. It's growing in the barest scrape of dirt in the road by the kerb, and I marvel at its tenacity to survive and flourish against all the odds. But I kind of resent it too. I lavish care and attention on some of the plants in my border. They get a good grade multi-purpose compost, a seaweed feed, and regular weeding, and yet they don't look anywhere near as healthy, nor floriferous as this neglected weed. But this weed did spark some thoughts. I'm going to wrestle to draw a parallel now, between the fact of this weed thriving in the gutter, and one of my writing projects. I can lavish much care and attention on a story idea. I can visit with it everyday for months, make notes, do research, write a draft, revise said draft, and even so, it will ultimately wither and perish. But then again, I can make a few scant notes on another story idea, throw the notebook into a drawer and forget about it for many months, sometimes even years, and then I'll su...

I've been watching the blackbirds in my garden; male, female and baby. All three rush around the lawn, searching for worms. The juvenile is learning the ropes from its parents. Soon the parents will stop feeding it, and it'll have to fly off and find its own territory. I sometimes see the male blackbird, on a high branch in the plane tree in the street outside, or sitting on top of the freshly trimmed hedge that divides street from garden. I do hear him singing some evenings, a loud, melodious, full throated song, designed to carry through the thick woodlands, wherein these birds used to live. Thick woodlands are no longer as common as they were, so my blackbird lives in a hedged around garden, and sings a song that is now a little extra for his surroundings. It's said to be good luck if a blackbird nests near your house. And in Celtic mythology a blackbird is believed to be one of the three oldest animals in creation, the first bird. The other two creatures are the stag an...

I grew a terracotta pot full of ranunculus once, many years ago. It was a glorious sight and bought joy to my heart. The cultivated ranunculus, or ranunculus asiaticus, or Persian Buttercup, is indeed related to the common buttercup, but is a much larger plant, has a tight whorl of petals, and comes in a variety of colours - pink, orange, yellow, white, or red, as opposed to the primarily yellow, open face of the smaller, wild buttercup that sprouts every year on the lawns outside. My favourite colour of ranunculus is orange. It is the vibrant, vivid orange of the marigold, the California poppy, the Solero ice lolly. I've attached a photo of some orange California poppies that I grew last year, to give you an idea of the colour I'm talking about here. That first pot of ranunculus I grew was wildly successful. I think because I grew it back then in complete ignorance of just how fussy a plant a ranunculus is. The soil, the moisture and the temperature levels have all got to be ...

I listened to poet Ian McMillan on the radio, offering advice on becoming creative, about making a start on becoming creative. Look out of the train window, he said, go for a walk, write about what you see, what it reminds you of, what childhood memories it stirs. Just make a start, don't worry if it's not perfect, just write something down. Become creative and it puts you on a continuum that extends from William Shakespeare, through Jane Austin, to you. And don't be daunted by that thought but, rather, revel in the possibilities and the potential.

August has come around more quickly than I'd planned for, but summer has finally arrived with it. Although, then, with that comes outdoorsy distractions, beach, country walks, and to top them all the Olympics kicks off and I can hardly tear myself away from the tv coverage. Still, I contine to stick to my eight minute work day morning routine of writing and editing. As stated previously this may not seem worth the while but it's surprising how much work I can get done. It keeps the progress ticking over and more importantly it keeps the story fresh in my mind, and at the forefront, so that when I do get a decent block of time, on a day off, I can really focus in on what needs to be done.