Time

       It’s March already! How time flies!

       They say that ‘Time flies like an arrow’ but ‘Fruit flies like a banana’.

       Strangely, the older you are the faster that time seems to slip past. One wonders why this should be.

       There are probably many reasons why this should be. Perhaps answers abound from philosophers as well as psychiatrists.

       For my part, I suspect that the accretion of many years of knowledge and experience are jostling for room in the brain and, in so doing, create distraction and thoughts that are not necessarily in any sequence or logical order. This activity is distracting to the point of losing track of time, which, as we know, is extremely flexible in its delivery to us.

       Let me explain that part.

       It is common knowledge that the working day, especially when slow and tedious, lasts a long time but that the weekend will flash past if we are involved in something, to us, entertaining. Time varies in its pace and with individuals.

       Further to that, the effect of time for an individual person can be varied by that same individual. Sports persons, for example, can dilate time to their advantage; they might, for example, ‘slow down’ the rate at which a ball will arrive at them so that they can make a more accurate judgement on how to strike the ball with foot, hand or racquet.

       Top Boxers and Fencers have a similar ability that puts them a fraction of a second ahead of their opponent.

       There is an illusionist who immerses himself for long periods in water and offers other life threatening ‘tricks’ to entertain the public. It is believed that he is able to not only slow down his heartbeat and metabolism but he also slows time (in his head) to make it easier to bear the exigencies of these acts.

       Thus I believe that the older you get the busier your mind becomes. Memories, especially older ones (since more recent ones tend to fade away!), take up a lot of mental time and activity.

       In a practical sense the attenuation of time as a tool in fighting was developed by me in the stories of the Adepts and, specifically, their fighting girls from Paya.

       The first story that mentions these girls, ‘Rhittach’, demonstrates this idea in full.

       I have every confidence that, in the future, there will be athletes, among others, that will develop this ability.

       Who knows how many records will tumble if this happens?

       My only regret is that I shall not be here to witness it. My time is draining away too quickly for that!

Support

Some time ago, when the Earth was still young, I was wont to write an article for the station magazine.

I did this every month for five years without missing a month. Appended to the article, which was about sea angling, was a cartoon. Every month. Without fail.

The article was called ‘Casting Around’ because, when I started it, I was ‘casting around’ for something to write. The sea-angling organisation was in its infancy at that time.

At an early point in my submission of journalistic writings for the magazine, imaginatively called ‘Force 8’ because of the high winds for which the area was notorious, I had an idea. Why not, I thought, write a story for the magazine.

Filled with an earnest desire to please and a youthful zest for accomplishment I duly wrote a story.

A short story. A very short story. Possibly no more than a thousand words.

Proud of my work and creative artistry, I decided to take the story to the editor’s office by hand. This was instead of putting it into the internal mail.

The thought was father to the deed.

I tapped on the door and a voice called, “Come.”

‘Curt,’ I thought.

The other side of a large desk was an officer, a Flight Lieutenant. He didn’t look up so I placed the story on his desk.

Again, without looking up, he said, “What is it?”

“A short story for inclusion in the Station magazine,” I spoke briskly, as one does.

He glanced up at last, “I hardly believe that a Corporal in the Technical Branch is capable of stringing sufficient words together to form a cohesive sentence let alone write a story.”

He chuckled at his own, perceived, perspicuity and pushed the story back towards me with his finger nail without looking up again.

Arrogance? Condescension?

I mentioned these words on my way out. He said something about “...not being the last I have heard of this...”

I heard no more, of course.

Something all authors need is support. From friends and family.

We need this so that we can focus on turning our creative juices into ‘cohesive sentences’.

Friends who tell me that they have no regard for my writing abilities would be best served by saying nothing. Other friends who tell me that they will stick to reading books by ‘real writers’ (Stephen King and Amanda Hocking were suggested) would, similarly, be well advised to say nothing.

I have mentioned before, under a ‘Blog’ entitled ‘Reviews’, that constructive criticism is welcome but being ‘put down’ and the subject of derision by persons who have not read my stories is insulting and dispiriting.

Fellow authors, you should be aware that these people who are full of negativity are to be vigorously ignored.

Look, discard and think positive.

Perhaps that editor, if he still lives, may be given pause to reflect now that I have many books on ‘Amazon’ and many more to come.

Support is not only welcome but vital. Do not be frightened to explain this to friends and family. You are not ignoring them you are doing what you must for you and that is something they need to recognise.

Good luck.