Had a bit of Sisters of Mercy sesh this afternoon. Which was nice. Listening to Vision Thing again brought back to mind the review from the student rag when I was at Leeds. An oh-so-superior reviewer with an inverted-snob thing about Goths was doing his best to rubbish it.
They say that everyone has, or thinks they have, at least one novel in them.
I’m not sure about that, but I have always enjoyed words, and liked the idea of writing. From time to time I’ve even enjoyed the practice of writing. Despite that, other than some dismal childhood attempts at short stories (well, they were going to be novels, but when you’re ten years old and easily bored, a few pages is as good as it gets) and the obligatory Uni-aged angst-laden stabs at poetry (trust me, it really is obligatory if you’re on any kind of respectable humanities course), I’ve never really knuckled down and done anything about it.
Well, that’s about to change …
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. Which is pretty daft, as the cover is deliberately created and chosen to say something about the book. It’s supposed to encourage the kind of people who might like the book (and a few others besides) to pick it up, buy it, read it. In fact, it’s a fairly intrinsic part of the whole bookishness of the book. But, be that as it may, let’s take the old saw at face value. Let’s assume that we’re all books from the era when parents found it compulsory to instantly re-cover everything with leftover wallpaper, so you actually couldn’t judge the book by its cover – just someone’s questionable taste in wall coverings.
So. Metaphorical books and covers, instructive proverbial usage for the purposes thereof. Such things have been on my mind of late.
Somebody nice recently asked me to write something about prayer. I demurred, on the grounds that they had the wrong person in their sights. They misunderstood, and thought I’d said I’d do it. Which was awkward.
So I did it.
And here it is, for what it’s worth.
Funny thing, alcohol. I couldn’t initiate or sustain a romantic relationship without it. On the evidence of the average Friday night a significant number of people can’t sustain a romantic relationship because of it. So, know your strengths, and play to them people.