Hobbies and Activities

As a retired person with no dependent family I guess most of my activities are really hobbies. However, some of my activities, such as family, WRVS and Neighbourhood Watch involve so strong a commitment to others that it seems disrespectful to both clients and colleagues to refer to them as such. All hobbies, however, are no fun unless conducted with commitment.

Writing and gardening are my two main hobbies where I feel I can go my own way without having to consult the needs of other.

Gardening is the more relaxing of my hobbies where I prefer the impact of the larger picture to perfection of detail

With my writing and particularly my writing for paper, I strive to make my style as good as I can get it. Since it is a hobby, however, I am not pressurised to gear the subject matter of my novels to the needs of the mass market but continue in the hope that eventually the mass market will need my favourite subject matter. There is a significant difference though between my attitude to my work for paper and my web work.

I regard all webwork as work in progress and go back to it at least once a year for an overhaul but I realise that, once a work has been published on paper there can be no further embellishing, even though I know that in a year's time I will want to make significant changes. This makes me timid when approaching publishers, knowing I can never submita perfected work.

Another difference between my webwork and my work for paper is that although ideally I would like my work on paper to contain many graphics I know this is not commercially viable. With my web work, however, to get my message across sometimes text is subsidiary to images and layout. This is best illustrated by the monthly cover pages on my web garden journal. This journal, which I have been keeping since 1999, contains the bulk of my web work but I do have a substantial example of webfiction in the online novelBlack Annis and King Richard's Bed"