Chaosmos

This is a picture by Laura Matthews and is currently exhibiting at http://www.metrogallery.com.auk/ . I was introduced to her work through Facebook where her sister Nicky Matthews Browne (the author NM Browne) put the link up. One of the main advantages of Facebook. The picture is entitled 'Not Alone' and that is not something I can claim I have felt recently at times. It is a very weird time. I have been told grief can take many forms and last for up to a year but I seem to be just going through the motions of life. I assume I will get there eventually.

Anyway back to the PhD. I was supposed to be reading Bourdieu with regard to a research informed teaching project but the PhD jumped in again when a certain section sparked an idea which I am still working through.It occurred to me, when considering Bourdieu's second way that language 'makes the world' in terms of what language is 'made to mean'. It crossed my mind that as a writer of young adult fiction I am imposing and possibly appropriating the language/vernacular of teenagers and then feeding it back to them based on my interpretation, so I 'politicise' it. But then I thought am I actually appropriating it or when the teenagers take it back and read it themselves does the language go back to being theirs and their interpretation? I thought I was a mediator but perhaps actually I am irrelevant as the author. As you can see these are ramblings which I am currently working my way through. I am not claiming they are correct neither am I claiming they are wrong - yet! All thoughts welcome!

I have had a battle with bias as well. In that I was trying to make it far more complicated than it actually was and it was only when I went and read Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, that I realised I was right in the first place. I really must try to have a bit more faith in myself.

I have just completed a story map as suggested by the DoS. It does focus the mind and now have a very good idea how the story is going to develop, though I do acknowledge that no story map is final, it may well and most probably will change but it is a plan of sorts. I am hoping now to get on with some writing. I have to say that quietly because if my brain realises that is what I am aiming to do it promptly shuts down the inspiration department, so I have to sneak up on it, taking it by surprise. Wish me luck!