Thanks for reading. This blog is an opportunity for me to capture some of the diversity of my writing interests. My muse tend to appear on my shoulder as I board an international flight although not all of my writing is inspired by travel and foreign places. These blogs have been the basis of a novel (Flowers of Baghdad) but there are a few other writing projects in progress besides. Please feel free to leave a comment. Or two.

Too Tough For Words

I have no idea how to write this up so I guess I’ll do what you always do when confronted by that challenge – just write. I had avoided calling Ryan’s family figuring they would contact me when they were ready. Turns out they had lost their phone and were worried they had lost touch.…

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Aftermath

(Random thoughts, in no particular order). I see daily in the news reports of accidents. Reports of people who die and so I think, “they have it a whole lot worse than anything I have handled”. I wonder who in the crowd handled the person who died on the M5 a few days ago.  Or…

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Cheek by Jowl

Follow on from Knot in Stomach It’s a natural reflex to want to hug someone in distress. I struggled with that response when dealing with the toddler a couple of days ago. His face was so banged up, bruised and bloody and impossible to touch. Yet when someone, especially a child, hurts you want to…

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Knot in My Stomach

A postscript to “Blood in my Mouth” It’s the following day and I have walked around with a knot in my stomach, been flippant at work and not very productive in general.  Sorry. In the past I have done a reasonable job of keeping my emotions in check but in this case I have decided…

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