PhotoShots: One Of The Hottest Days Of The Year

Yesterday was hot again with an increase of static mugginess as the day went on.   I caught several shots of a church in Finchley, North London.   For some reason, the photos seem to give the impression of coolness, rather than intense heat.   I edited them in GIMP afterwards. 

 

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More PhotoShots of Totteridge

Having some huge problems getting online and uploading stuff, but here are another couple of photos I’ve recently taken.   I edited them in GIMP.

Totteridge, North London.

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New PhotoShots: Totteridge

Some new shots I took the other afternoon on my way to work.   I edited them in GIMP.

Totteridge, North London.

 

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Popular Theme In Children’s/Teenage Fiction: Running Away

Here, central character Wayne (14) runs away from home following a campaign of bullying.

The last bus drops me off at a junction, and I retrace the route. Yeah, I was here yesterday as well, searching for Max. Things were bad then, but they quickly got worse.  I pass the familiar sites, keeping my hood up and my head down to avoid drawing attention to myself.  Muddy brown buildings.   Swimming baths.  Petrol pump. Supermarket.  Street after street of low rise housing.  Church on corner.  Rows of terrace houses.  Boarded up windows.  Rainy puddles.  Litter.  I continue on to the crumbly brown pub by the play area, the pub where Max conducts his business dealings.  

It’s too early on in the day to try the pub.  Just after nine.  I decide to go directly to Max’s house, even though he’ll be furious with me for turning up uninvited.  He doesn’t know I have his address.

‘What are you doing here?’ he says when I arrive there roughly ten minutes later.

I tell him what happened last night.  Brick through window.   The threats.  Running to Uncle Graham’s house.  The huge row that followed.   ‘You promised you’d text,’ I remind Max.

‘Yeah, sorry about that.  Busy night.’  He shakes his head.  ‘What are you planning to do, kid?  You can’t stay here, you know.’

 

Meanwhile, Meanwhile, my debut novel – Secrets by Lawrence Estrey – is available on Amazon.    Reviews

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Out Of Action For A Few Days

Got a lot going on at present, but will be back in a few days.

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A Knotty Problem

Experiencing some difficulties here with my latest novel EggHead, a crime thriller.  In the original version, the 12-year-old protagonist takes drastic action to deal with bullying and suffers the consequences.   Aged 19, he struggles to rebuild his life in a bleak northern village.  I don’t see anything wrong the general premise.  However, basing a story on increasing feelings of isolation and pointlessness means there’s nowhere to go…no excitement, no development of relationships, just bleakness.   It is certainly depressing for me, the author.

I’m redrafting the sections told through the 19-year-old’s viewpoint and continuing in a new 14-year-old perspective to allow the entire drama to unfold in a single time frame.  For instance, boy runs away from the bullying and finds kindness in a remote sea bay.

Meanwhile, Meanwhile, my debut novel – Secrets by Lawrence Estrey – is available on Amazon.    Reviews

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