Wednesday Writings

 

 

Some studying (a lot) and writing (a little) today. Also sorting out all my documents, images and files. If I don't do it on a regular basis I get in a terrible muddle. For the rest of the afternoon, into the early evening, I'm going to do some more studying.

Chillin' - almost!

I took a day off from researching/writing any of my current projects today. I did, however, do some studying of Unit 4 (Finding and developing the angle.) of my 'Article Writing and Freelance Journalism' course.

69 Today!

I'm 69 today and Simon's just served up a brilliant lunch of steak, chips, mushrooms, tomatoes, and gravy. I couldn't eat another thing until I'm 70!

I've just started an 8-week online course in 'Article Writing and Freelance Journalism' with 'Writing Magazine'. I'm doing it as I want to be a better writer for a wider range of magazines and in more depth.

Submissions

This morning, I completed and submitted my 'Search and Rescue' article to the editor of 'Dogs Today' magazine. Below is an extract from it:-

In March 2024, Vesper, a heroic search and rescue dog, was announced as the winner of ‘The Kennel Club Hero Dog Award’ at Crufts.

Four-year-old Vesper, a Belgian Malinois, was a finalist in the ‘Extraordinary Life of a Working Dog’ category with her owner and handler, Niamh Darcy. Niamh, a handler from ‘Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’, took a chance on Vesper in 2020 when she was 18 months old. After a 48-hour trial under arduous selection conditions, Vesper performed flawlessly and their bond as a team was solid – and Vesper joined Niamh as her canine search partner.

In her career, she has been deployed to numerous disasters, most recently the 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye and Morocco. Alongside her handler, she has been responsible for locating multiple live casualties and reuniting them with their families.

At the award ceremony at Crufts, Paralympian Libby Clegg presented Vesper and Niamh with the award, saying: “I was so honoured and privileged to give Niamh and Vesper this award. Their incredible partnership and the work they do together is so inspiring and lifesaving.”

"Bournville 5" and “Search and Rescue”

I rewrote, edited, and submitted "Bournville 5" to the editor of "Waterways World" this morning along with three archive photographs. It's the story of my Grandfather George Wiseman who operated a horse-drawn narrowboat for Cadbury in the 1920s.

This afternoon, I've been researching material for my article "Search and Rescue" which is a 1,200 word article on search and rescue dogs for "Dogs Today" magazine.

Tuesday

 I wrote yesterday: "I enrolled in a free online course on 'Article Writing and Freelance Journalism' which I'm sharing my studies with my writing.". I've studied a couple of units and discovered that it's not suitable for me, or for nonfiction writers like me. It's obviously written for writers who are aiming to write a book whereas I specialise in writing nonfiction articles of between 500 and 2,000 words for magazines.

This afternoon, I'm going to rewrite an article about my Grandfather, George Wiseman. He operated a horse-drawn narrowboat on the Shropshire Union Canal in the 1920s. He was responsible for collecting milk churns from the wharfs and farms and delivering them to the Cadbury crumb processing plant in Knighton. His story was the first article that I ever had published. It appeared in 'Canal & Riverboat' magazine in October 1996. You can read it here: http://richardhill.co.uk/shroppie.pdf

Manic Monday

Last night, I enrolled in a free online course on 'Creative Writing Non-fiction' which I'm sharing my studies with my writing.

This morning, I've been sourcing photographs for my 'Search and Rescue Dogs' and my 'Bournville 5' article.

The 'Bournville 5' photograph is a family photograph, and I've been able to source images of the 'Cadbury Crumb Processing Plant' in Knighton from the Cadbury media centre. I've also been able to source many 'high resolution' photographs from many 'Search and Rescue Dogs' charitable organisations.

After lunch, I will be continuing my course.