Writer's Gramps

  For Bees in my Bonnet, I wrote a short story about trees thinking. It’s called Have a Good Day because it purports to be a conversation between the President and two scientists, who wish each other ‘Have a good day.’ It was speculative, but then I came on Peter Wohlleben’s book, The Secret Network of Nature and read that when Roe Deer bite the bark off a tree, they leave saliva, the tree detects the saliva and produces bad tasting sap. If the scientists just broke a piece off leaving no saliva, the tree just produce healing fluid. I then realised I’d inadvertently been working on a really possible scenario. It seems the trees also communicate to other trees when they are running short of water, allowing the others to reduce their intake and conserve the resource. Wohlleben comments that unfortunately pests tune in to this communication and attack the trees in trouble. Harping back to my story, maybe trees do talk to me after all. http://sullatoberdalton.com/pen-sullatober/s...

  I've posted another short story about a couple being kept apart by family neds and prejudice. It's a theme I find compelling as so many of my age group had to move to find work when the mines closed and the results were unpredictable, making a plethora of opportunities for the story teller. The story is one that I included in Bees in my Bonnet. I'm collecting another batch, including the O'Reilly stories, which I enjoy writing, but I'm not in a rush. O'Reilly is about to be married to the widow and I need to see how it clashes with his daughter Elizabeth's wedding, which she will demand to be the wedding of the year. If the widow was pregnant, and the marriage rushed it would certainly clash. I'm not sure if they will be pregnant together and racing to be first, or maybe the widow, being already pregnant, will upset Elizabeth. Enough options to look into. http://sullatoberdalton.com/pen-sullatober/short-stories/ temporary-accommodation / (opens in a ...