Whatever talent I have with words definitely comes from my mum's side of the family. My grandma would have been a teacher, had she not had to give up all such ambition to take care of her seven siblings; my uncle (mum's brother) was a successful short story writer and family legend has it that as a child he would sit and read the dictionary for fun.Which brings me to my remarkable mother. She has taught me all I'll ever need to know about solving cryptic crosswords; she is a regular in the Daily Telegraph letters page; she is content supplier to the parish magazine; in short, she is the go-to gal if you need something written. At the moment, she has two main writing projects on the go: she is ghosting some memoirs for one friend, and transcribing some wartime diaries for another. As if that wasn't enough, she has just published a small volume of verses (she is adamant that she is NOT a poet).
Over the years, she has written various rhymes and verses for the aforementioned parish magazine and has now drawn them together into a book to raise money for the church. My friend Will Adams has helped with the publishing process, and we're all delighted with the result. Mum is in her 80s. I'm very proud of her.
What an inspirational mother. Any writing skills I have come from mine too.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely story, Julia - my mum used to send letters to the papers now and then but never really had the chance to write. My daughter, however, is also a writer and it's good to share such a great passion.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Wendy and Rosemary. If only I'd also inherited Mum's cake-making prowess.
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