I sometimes think I should get business cards made that list my work as “professionally interesting”. Part of being an author means that I always have a random fact or interesting anecdote about anything that comes up, and it also means that I spend time at events, on the radio or in print, talking about the most interesting aspects of my books, my research or even just myself. (I have had an unusually full, interesting and long life for someone who likes to think she’s in her early 30s.)
I’ve just had a wee explainer piece published on Premier Christianity all about Ash Wednesday. As its origins lie in early church history (which is ancient history), it’s very much my field.
My friend Fiona Stewart, who founded Foolproof Creative Arts, asked me to contribute a episode to her ‘Foolproof Bites’ mini-podcast series – something related to working in the arts as a Christian. I must have been in a less-than-upbeat mood, because the topic I chose was rejection – specifically rejection as a writer, by the way, lest you think I’m a Norma No Mates.
It’s an ever-relevant topic for a writer, though, and never more than this year. I will say more about this in my review of the year, but I set myself a target for submissions of work, and the only acceptance I have had all year is from Esperanto in Scotland, which doesn’t pay, is always short of contributions, and where I am friends with the editor. So yes, feeling a little rejected.
Anyway, the mini-podcast is actually not that depressing, and features me reading poetry, if that floats your boat. (I did read it, to be on the safe side, but it’s one of a number of poems I can recite in their entirety. Memorising poems without even trying that hard is one of my fun but mostly useless talents. I can also wiggle my ears.)
You can also listen to other episodes by Christians working in the arts, including those by my friends Matthew Todd (filmmaker) and Sam O’Donnell (painter). See, I told you I have friends!
There are a number of reasons for an author to have a website. So that people can get information about my books is the obvious one. So that I can share my impassioned or facetious opinions without inconveniencing my general acquaintance is another. But a third, which is quite fun, is that sometimes people contact you unexpectedly via the website.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed many things – our vocabulary (go back in time and try telling your past self that you’re not sure whether to take a PCR or an LFT because you may have caught Omicron from an anti-masker even though you’re double-vaxxed), our workplace habits (hello, Zoom), our travel and our priorities. One of the very minor things it has changed is my mind about songs with actions.
I am hoping to get another post written before Christmas about my favourite Christmas pop songs, but with my current workload I’m making no promises. Fortunately, a couple of articles I wrote last month have just gone live, so you can enjoy those instead.
I was going to tell you all about my exciting time during COP26, complete with getting drenched on the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice march (otherwise known as ‘the big march’) and doing lots and lots of smiling with the eyes and gritting with the teeth while helping to host fringe events at my church (climate activists can be surprisingly bad at putting recycling in the recycling bin) but after a slow weekend recovering from all that, I find myself horrendously busy again.
And if you didn’t get the film reference in the title, shame on you.
A few weeks back I was interviewed by Darius Namdaran, director of the BulletMap Academy, for his Dyslexia Explored podcast. He got in touch because he had come across one of my posts on this website about the joys of dyslexia (yes, there are some).
This was supposed supposed to be a proper reblog, where the original post appears below, and you can read the first part of it right here, but I’m currently away from my laptop and it turns out not to be so easy on a phone. I’m doing my best, OK?
Anyway, the point of this pseudo-reblog is that I’ve just written a wee piece for Dyslexia Scotland’s blog, A Life Less Ordinary, about four things I learnt at DyslexiFest.
DyslexiFest (which I find ironically hard to spell) was a “celebration of all things dyslexic” that was held in Glasgow last weekend. Don’t think there’s anything to celebrate about dyslexia? Read my previous posts on the subject (here and here) or just have a read of the Dyslexia Scotland blog.
Anyway, you can read about it the event here: #DyslexiFest
Meanwhile, I will think fondly of my laptop sitting obediently on my desk. But with a smartphone (and, importantly, a charger) in my bag, I’m sure I will find plenty of ways to amuse myself while pretending I’m working.
K C Murdarasi 