Reading Time: 7 minutesI love having new ideas
I love having ideas and back in October I attempted to launch a cultural group, as it happens in Frome which I thought was a literary place, to promote the art of conversation. This did not succeed but I found that the lessons I learned from the exercise which included hiring a hall, getting myself involved with the media, building up a mailing list, although for the most part the idea fell on stony ground.
I decided to start a small group for writers in my own town, Midsomer Norton, and I did have support from the local newspaper and quite a few turned up at the first meeting but I soon got the idea that most people were unable or unwilling to actually start writing.
Excuses were offered such as health, busyness, career and so on. One of two people lacked the courage to actually start writing although their relations had been trying to persuade them to make a start.
I’ve had writing in my bones for years now and find this very difficult to understand but I must acknowledge how long it takes to become a writer and get in the right mindset.
Someone said once that ‘the difference between success and failure in people is that you don’t try the next idea and for all you know this could be the winner’.
So, undaunted, I rethought the whole thing and looked at the feedback from the small cohort that had turned up to support me in Midsomer and will shortly try again.
It is important to write to the cohort keeping them in touch even though they expressed differing opinions so here is my letter below written partly for closure and partly for clarity and partly that we can all learn as much as we can from the small and unspectacular start.
Nothing is a failure if you learn.
Sunday 23rd February 2025
Greetings all
This letter is to everyone who responded to my writers group in Midsomer
My conclusions from the meetings: there were overriding reasons, health, and other possibly long standing background problems and demands on your time, that prevented you from freeing up clear space to actually do writing.
The meetings acted as a trigger to reconsider your priorities and I think in retrospect that was good.
I have reconstituted the idea to fulfill a general social and support role, focusing partly on newcomers to the area, with journaling as a niche topic for a minority, as I believe that this accurately reflects the state of mind of folk these days.
The updated home page clearly conveys this message, and I believe it will be well-received.”
We are in effect starting again.
If you wish to have any further contact and if you have not already done so please sign in to the mailing list at the bottom of the home page.
Good luck and best wishes
Brian and Francoise
so my plan is for some Sunday afternoon meetings where anyone and everyone is welcome to come along and then if there are people who want to take up writing or keeping a diary then I can help them at that time but I reckon 90% of people are mainly interested in getting supported on the emotional side and struggling through life.
As you may know I have a habit of listening to Trans World Radio which is an evangelical station and I switch it on at around 7:00 when I’m making my coffee. There was a comment about Mary, sister of Martha. Mary spent an undue amount of time listening to Jesus at his feet. Sometimes you only half listen to something but I got a great slogan out of the material for what I want to achieve in my social meetings
Listening Learning Loving
I know this at a certain level but this came along for me at the right time, an increasingly common phenomenon for me as I get more tuned in to my higher self as I like to think of it and it all fits in with the grand scheme of things.
Guidelines in building a new group
I’m going to reflect on the difficulties, some self-made, in building a new group from scratch.
It’s a good idea to listen out for what people are saying and get clues. For example when I started London village in London people were saying that it is difficult for newcomers to get to know others in their area and that was a trigger for me to start at London Village.
It’s probably a good idea to do a test run on any ideas and you could almost walk up to someone in the street or when you meet them in a public place such as a restaurant and ask them what they think.
You may have the nub of very good idea but it may need refining before being presented to the market.
When you have your literature prepared show it to some people before producing it en masse to see what they think.
It’s always a good idea to talk to the local library or even local councillors who do have their finger on the pulse.
What you need to avoid doing is building Castles In The Air and beating yourself up when the expected results do not occur.
Finally, the idea may be absolutely splendid but maybe it’s ahead of its time so if it doesn’t work keep the elements in mind and try again another time
My mindset for the week
Please note I’m not trying to boast, I’m just observing that if you give the mind a task and discipline yourself to listen to it, it will produce results for example I have decided to write 1500 words a day and I’m consistent in this as you have seen so that’s what the mind does. If you don’t believe you can do it, you give negative instructions to the mind, so you can’t do it. Simple as.
Maybe give the brain a compliment and say that you know that it can perform 200 billion calculations a second. I mean that’s not bad is it? It can probably manage 1500 words
I have an interesting week this week. I’m going to interview for this blog someone who goes out to areas of the world that have been destroyed and sets up radio stations out of a suitcase, and I’m also going along to visit the Cheese and Grain and looking for an informal volunteer group that specialises in helping people with their computer problems, especially older people (and older computers maybe?).
I talked yesterday about giving thanks and I give thanks that I’ve got the free time and energy to concentrate on things that are worthwhile in the community. I know that many people are burdened by lack of support and yes that is a burden, and financial problems going back over years and trying to put bread on the table.
I received a letter from three fellow keyboard warriors who live in the Bournemouth area. One of them is 90 years of age but is very active and full of information so he invited us to have lunch in a local pub when the weather gets better probably in the summer.
As I have frequently said, COVID has really divided the people who think, the goats, and people who do not think, the sheep and any sentient person will lose contact or be unfriended by the sheep but this is more than made-up for by goats associating together of which the above is a good example.
Meanwhile, back in the States
Meanwhile: in other news as we say I have no comprehension why our labour government is putting
pressure on pharmacies which I now understand will face an additional funding shortfall of at least £100,000 for payments for dispensing medications. The payments have remained unchanged for nearly eleven years, despite rising drug costs and increased prescribing volumes.
I know that Starmer is trying to destroy the country but this is getting a bit obvious. I hope that trump can bang some sense into him when he meets him in Washington today. clues – import tariffs, Chagos islands, Taxes, carbon zero, electric cars, employers contributions, assisted dying laws, rape gangs, immigration.
Feel-good videos
I need my feel good videos as an antidote to the gloom and doom. I love videos about drain cleaning, and people unblocking water so that it can flow more freely. I love videos about people doing work to a good standard, workers taking quality to the next level through ingenious means but this is one that, as a gardener, I love.
This was the yard that turned heads for the WRONG REASONS – It RUINED the whole street. I do so much admire people who do things for nothing or should I say for no financial reward and this is a very good example
It’s about 9:00 in the morning, I have the whole of the week in front of me, and I’ve more or less finished the diary for today. I know diaries are supposed to be retrospective but I want to give an expression of what is in my head first thing in the morning and that seems to do it for me.
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