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People come in layers, so do characters.

They are like icosahedrons. When we meet someone we may think we are seeing the entire person, but what we really get are those bits of the person that he or she decides (consciously or unconsciously) are relevant. The reason for this is that we are complex with many parts to us and who we are in one situation is not who we are in another. So, as well as being complex we are adaptable.

When I had been at the ecentre for 9 months Sabrina put a cartoon on the cafeteria fridge which signalled the danger periods for a start up. The first was six months, the next a year then 18 months. I remember being extremely relieved as we passed each milestone. As I ticked them off I felt the business was becoming more stable and solid. But now I realise that yes, there are probably points in a business’ development that make it more vulnerable than other times. But those periods never stop coming. There is no magic point that guarantees a business’ survival.

I have wanted to read Stephen King’s book on writing for a very long time. If someone can write with his success then what they have to say about the craft of writing must be worth listening to.  What finally prompted me was I am reading Bag of Bones and as I read it I keep wondering what he is doing that compels me to turn the pages. I am just past the first 100 or so pages so the story is only now beginning to take shape.

The Story Mint is more than a group of aspiring writers gathering to share the words we write. As time has gone on, we have come to respect each other’s talent and to enjoy each other’s company, sending banter across the internet.

I realise I am incredibly lucky to have the friends I do. They are loyal and supportive. I hope I am the same to them. All my life I have tended to have just a few friends . . . but they are people I am close to and whose qualities I admire.

Here’s a quotation from my favourite author on writing, Robert McKee, ‘You do not hold an audience’s attention by giving it information, but by withholding information. (336)

It’s great, isn’t it?

Someone said to me recently, there’s nothing more predictable than change.

Over the years, I have heard that comment numerous times. I seem to recall it was especially prevalent in the late 1980s when no organisation was spared the experience of being restructured, downsized, decentralised, centralised or separated into profit centres,.

In the Art of War, Sun Tzu says there are five dangerous qualities in a leader. They are: recklessness, cowardice, quick temper, too delicate a sense of honour and compassion (176).

In my time, I have observed many leadership styles. Some I admired and emulated. Others I have tried to avoid. Not because I fancy myself as a leader, but more because those negative qualities are hard to be around. No effort can stop them leaving a mark.

I was introduced to Sun Tzu and the Art of War many years ago by a marketing lecturer. Since then I keep bumping into Sun Tzu as you do when something influences the way you think and view the world.

His book is always on my shelf and I often reach for him when I need reminding of a few fundamental truths. Those truths relate to self-management and strategy.

 After my last blog, I had a reader come back and say that she did not disagree with what I was saying but she hated that kind of writing and skipped it. She said, ‘give me sparse and prosaic over pretty and poetic’.

I thought it was an excellent point. Of course, I am going to give her a counter argument and she tells me she is looking forward to it. I enjoy challenges like that.

Imagery is the magic behind a good story. Whether the story is a thriller or literary, the imagery is what takes the reader to the place where the story is unfolding. The reader becomes a spectator, or if done really well, a participant in the story as a third character.

I was reminded of this when I happened to be reading a favourite poem of mine, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ by T.S. Eliot.

An example of the marvellous imagery throughout this poem is:

For the yellow smoke that slides along the street