Confessions of an Author

I received this message, which was lovely, so I thought I would share it with you: Comment: Dear Anne I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading "Clara". I was very much taken by the explanation you gave when you told me about your book at the East Grinstead book shop. Some books stay with you when you have read them, and Clara was one of those for me. I found Clara fascinating. I think there is a little bit of Clara in all of us, particularly in the way we all do try and manipulate others. However, unlike Clara, we will feel remorse for doing so. At first I found the character of Clara intriguing as to how her mind worked. Then, the further she went, the more I started to feel uneasy about what she was doing. However, that then changed again when she went to India where she became a bit of an anti-heroine. I wondered what it would be like to try and communicate with her; knowing that would never be possible with someone like her. As soon as you were of no ...

When Hate came to stay…… by Anne E. Thompson Yesterday, Hate came to stay. Uninvited, he knocked on the door and when I opened it, to see who was calling, he burst in, pushing past me. I knew he had visited other houses, he had caused damage and hurt and anger. But he had never visited me before. He came yesterday. He went into the kitchen and smashed all my plates. He over-turned chairs and tore my cushions. He punched my children and spat at my dog. When I went near he scratched me and made me bleed. The house was dark, he closed all the curtains. I was hurt and frightened and angry. But worse, worse than the pain and fear and broken china, was the slime. Every time I tried to stop him, to catch him, hurt him, trap him, he produced more slime. It came off him in silver trails, sticking to everything he touched, dirty, germ filled, slime. It made me change. I began to be like him. I wanted to punch him, cut him, hurt him. Others came to my door, friends and family...

Surviving Easter Weekend and a Post Post Script Hello, and I hope you had a lovely Easter weekend. I am actually writing this on Good Friday, in a snatched few minutes before the next onslaught of jobs. No idea if I will actually make it past tomorrow. It has been a stressful week, but I will try hard to not apportion blame. It began badly, when the painter arrived on Monday. For some reason, somebody had booked a man to decorate the entire house, beginning the week before Easter. This is generally a busy time, as all the family, including my mother, come to stay, and then on Easter Monday we invite the whole church and anyone else who wants to come, and we all go for a country walk and have a cream tea. Last year we had about 80 people, so it involves baking quite a lot of scones. And having the house tidy. And is not helped by having a bloke painting random rooms the week before. But we survived. The painter man turned out to be relatively low-impact, though hav...

Do you know a psychopath? Do you think your boss has psychopathic traits? Are you related to someone who you've always wondered about...?  Here's a quick quiz to find out!  It is an inherited disorder, and you might know someone who meets the criteria. Most psychopaths are not killers, or ever convicted of any crime, though they will be difficult people to be around. Robert D Hare MD, put together a checklist of traits to help psychologists diagnose psychopaths. He warns against laymen using this list to diagnose themselves or those they know, as psychopaths. Psychopathy is a syndrome - it is a cluster of several traits, and most non-psychopaths will have at least some. However, just in case you are interested (and just for fun) I have listed the main symptoms below: A person is scored 0 if the trait is not present, 1 if the trait is sometimes or partially present, and 2 if the trait is definitely present. A score of more than 30 would indicate someone is likely to b...

The Sword Pierced Heart  The Sword Pierced Heart by Anne E. Thompson I watched my son die today. My beautiful boy, beaten, battered and left to die. And my heart broke. I held my cloak close and I remembered the weight of him as a babe, like a boulder on my hip, wriggling to be free, to run and jump and climb. Those legs will run no more. Those limbs, I was so proud when they grew. I remember when he grew as tall as me, then taller even than Joseph. I remember watching him, stretched out as he ate, those long limbs seemed to go on forever. “I grew him,” I used to think with pride. Those limbs will not sprawl relaxed in my home ever again. I watched his hands, the hands that used to pat me cheekily on the head when he’d grown tall. Those strong hands which laboured with wood, which helped me carry heavy loads, which lifted young children playfully. They are no longer strong. I saw them bang nails through the flesh, felt that I heard the sound of bone shattering ove...

Harvest Thoughts (yep, I do know it’s only March!) 1 I have some ideas for Harvest. Yes, I know it’s ages away, but things in churches move very slowly, and unless I start making noises now, it will suddenly be upon us. My reason for wanting to do something stems from last Harvest, when I arrived at church, saw someone had made a pretty display of fruit and branches, and thought, “Oh, it’s Harvest!” And that was it. Harvest meant nothing to me any more, and I’m not sure it’s meant to be like that. Harvest used to be quite exciting. When I was in infant school, we all took in tins and packets of food, and the teachers decorated shoe boxes. We had a special service, which I remember nothing about except that there was this heap of food in front of us, and we sang the same songs each year – you know, the ones about farmers, and hunter’s moons, and fields being ploughed. I’m not sure I had ever seen a field being ploughed, and I had no idea what a ‘hunter’s moon’ was. But t...

Instow 2018 – Earthquakes and Sand 1 Drove to Instow House. Same as when we left it, including the copy of Hidden Faces which I’d left on the bookshelf. Ate dinner at Instow Arms, which clever Husband had booked before we left home. We ate early (7pm) but it was packed. I had creamy garlic mushrooms, which arrived in a bowl, like soup, and was delicious, followed by fish pie. Also delicious, but after a while I felt overly full of cream. Not a good choice by me. Walked on beach with Kia, who went completely bananas. She reverts to puppy on beaches, stopping regularly to dig holes. Watched tv, went to bed. Day Two Woke up to sound of seagulls and waves. Went to make tea and let dog into garden. Quite a lot of beach now seemed to be in kitchen. Drove to Saunton Sands. Husband suggested another walk to beach across dunes, but as I had left my bullet-proof vest and crash helmet at home (see blog from Jan 17  https://anneethompson.com/2017/01/30/a-walk-on-the-wild-sid...