It's not that I don't like January and it's not as if I can avoid it... but I do try and ignore it. For me, it's a buffer between the old and the new year. An opportunity to have a sort of change of gear or direction. So here we are in February which means that change must take place. In one very real sense, I am going in a different direction as I'm dog sitting for a friend. The daily dog walk now takes place in a completely different place to my usual rambles. And with different pathways comes the opportunity to get out of the usual groove.

I'm not just talking about walking from A to B in a new place. But taking the opportunity to wander both literally and figuratively. Different thoughts, ponderings, day dreams occur and that's so refreshing - for day to day living as well as creatvity. It's the kick start I needed.

Five months after finishing full-time work and setting up - again - as a freelance copywriter and I'm still here, just about. The rocky ride continues but then you could say that for pretty much everyone at the moment. But there is some work and it's interesting and enjoyable. Challenges keep coming but at least they keep you on your toes (keep telling yourself that, Katherine!). The year is trotting to its end and I'm looking forward to the next year. Change brings opportunities... always.

Wherever I look, 2022 seems to be a year of change... well, massive upheaval in some cases. From seismic (and tragic) world events to couples parting company or families selling their house and moving to pastures new, there seems to be a whirligig of movement, the old being tossed out and the new coming in. So, not wanting to be left out of the general trend, I decided to make a change too.

It was time to move on from my current job and go back to freelance copywriting... or any writing. Yes, there was a bit of a wobble as, the decision once made, dire economic events suddenly reared their ugly heads left, right and centre so that I started to have serious conversations with myself in the wee small hours of the morning ("Are you mad? Should you be doing this? Can you afford it?"). And no, I didn't know all the answers to my inner voice's worried questions. Yes, it is risky but no, I'm not going to change my mind.

The last couple of years have been awful - for everyone. And rather than plod on in the same old rut, I wanted to make this change. Fly or fail, this feels the right thing to do. Give my dear old mum a bit more time and companionship; give myself the chance to do something I really enjoy - writing (and proofreading... love, love that).

So, at the end of June I will hang up the sign, 'Copywriter, writer for hire' and wait to see what this next adventure will bring. Wish me luck!

It came with ink cartridges which I’ve been using but am now searching for a converter so I can refill from an ink bottle as and when I need to.

Despite having rather rubbish handwriting, I love using a fountain pen. It gives me pleasure when I write (probably does bugger all to the quality of the writing but it’s a nice feeling). And now I know why. In a recent issue of Director (the Institute of Directors’ magazine), an article talks about handwriting making a comeback and how ‘reverting to traditional ink and paper may have cognitive, as well as therapeutic benefits’.

True, I’m typing this using a computer and that’s quicker (and more legible for readers) but I scribbled my notes onto a piece of paper first (using a mechanical pencil – my second favourite tool when it comes to writing). And I took great pleasure in writing out a quote from a calligrapher who said that writing offers ‘an altered state of consciousness’. Practically, I’m happy to use a computer/keyboard but I start with a pen or pencil and a piece of paper. 

Anthony Trollpe wrote at 5.30 every morning, totting up 250 words every 15 minutes.  I bet he did it with a nice pen.

said The Times recently. ‘Ouch’ I thought, ‘That hurts’.

True, I get twitchy over a misplaced apostrophe or a ‘your’ when the writer should have written ‘you’re’ but a pedant? As we all do, when faced with an unpleasant description that strikes a bit close to home, I immediately tried to distance myself from the jibe.

‘You are not,’ I told myself, ‘A pedant.’ And it’s true that I don’t get too worked up about things. Split infinitive? No problem. Start a sentence with ‘And’ or ‘But’ (see above). Absolutely fine. Grammar and punctuation, for me, are all about giving meaning and clarity to what we write. It’s a living language too so things are bound to shift as time goes by.

I agree with Bill Bryson who, in his book Troublesome Words, wrote about the use of ‘who’ and ‘whom’. ‘Whom’ may well be redundant in a hundred years or so, he said, but that for him, there is ‘a certain elegance in seeing a tricky whom properly applied’. And that’s where I think I stand (or at least feel comfortable standing, a few steps away from the disagreeable introverts). I can live with the everyday crashing through the rules of grammar that all of us do as long as what we write is clear. I hate it when it leads to ambiguity and, I confess, is downright ugly. But I get enormous pleasure from reading the words of a writer who can wield words, grammar and punctuation in such a way as to elicit ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of admiration from the reader.

My heart leapt when I read the heading that no exclamation marks were being allowed.

I have an aversion to seeing exclamation marks strewn across a page or a screen. There’s nothing wrong with the odd one or two to give a kind of emphasis. But lash them around like a Jackson Pollock painting and they lose their effect. And I think it’s lazy. 

H  W Fowler (who puts things a lot better than I do) believed that inferior writers had the tendency to use exclamation marks to add ‘a spurious dash of sensation to something unsensational’. Maybe that’s why I don’t like them – I’m frightened of being labelled an inferior writer.

Reading through the Sunday Times article, I don’t really agree with the guidance from the schools ministers. As some of the commentators say, language and grammar are living things, constantly evolving. If children grow up seeing !!!!!!!!!!!!!! on texts, posts and tweets, then that’s what they’ll do too and it’s therefore probably the way we’re going. 

But I do hope there’s a sort of halfway house; where exclamation marks are used judiciously and elegantly… like seasoning in a good sauce. 

Talking of a good sauce, I’ve been told we’re having soba noodles with chicken tonight. It sounds a bit uninspiring but I’m currently cold and a bit hungry and am therefore hankering after something a bit more sinful and stodgy. I’m sure I’ll be glad of it when it comes.

This was an interesting read. And I wonder how many of us are guilty of not returning books to the library. My mother had to go and pay the library for a book ('How Edward Saved St George') because my sister was obsessed with it. In the end, it was easier to keep it at home rather than returning it and borrowing it again. But at least she paid for it.

I don't know whether to be pleased that people are still bothering to go into libraries and borrow books... but not return them. Or not!

(Paperback June 2014)
by Katherine Lapworth
   
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