PASSING ON THE BATON

Life under Covid has given us all a bit of thinking time, and one of the thoughts that came to me - Linda Mitchelmore - was that I have no idea if any of my ancestors had been published or if I am the first to do the honours. I do know my paternal grandmother was illiterate at the time of her marriage and signed the register with her mark - x - so no baton-passing there. My father - ever an avid reader - left school at twelve but passed on his love of reading to me and my brother. I also know that I was the first in my family - both sides - to be educated after the age of fourteen and that has to have helped in getting me where I am today. That said, my maternal grandfather was enlightened for his times and insisted his daughters received the same education as his sons. Finance, alas, prevented my mother from going into highter education and I never knew her read anything buy Woman's Realm and My Weekly - good as they were and are. I'm very happy to say that both my children have seen their thoughts and words in print - my son in a Boy Scout guidebook and my daughter in a poetry anthology. This blog has been going a while now and yet there is so much about one another we don't know so I thought I'd ask the others about their 'batons'.

Rae Cowie says this:- 'When invited to write about 'passing on the baton' I feared I had failed to encourage anyone to write. As far as I am aware I am the first in my close family to have had work published, but creativity flourishes in lots of different ways. Our youngest son is studying drama and has dabbled with scriptwriting and our eldest used much of lockdown to mix a new music album. In the wider family we have artists and knitters, dancers and ice-skaters, crafters and cake bakers - all inspiring and imaginative. I suspect I have been motivated by them to make time for what I enjoy, and perhaps that is the legacy we can pass on to those around us. Do what makes your heart sing.'

Victoria Cornwall is also the first in her family to become a published author. 'I was brought up on a farm in rural Cornwall and although I loved to read, as a child I considered authors to be a breed apart from the people I knew. They were usually (to my mind at least) highly intelligent academics (non-fiction) or well-educated, upper class arty types who had an unfailing command of the English language ... not a Cornish accent to be heard! I blame Enid Blyton and Barbara Cartland for this view. Therefore, my desire to write a book was kept firmly hidden until I was middle-aged. By then the world had changed and everything was achievable if you were only willing to try and risk failing. So I gave writing a go and secured six publishing contracts. I have since discovered that writers are not all upper class arty types, but a mixed bag who come from all levels of society, with a wealth of experiences to inspire great stories. My own children do not have the desire to write novels. However,my grandchildren do love books. Yes, they are still babies and sucking on the pages appears just as much fun as looking at the pictures, but there is always the hope that they might like to take up the baton ... or at least read one of my books when they are old enough to escape into a novel.'

Terry Lynn Thomas is in the US (so I have left her spellings as she writes them over there). Here is what she has to say:- 'I'm the first member of my family in print. Of all my family members my niece is the avid reader. She's read all my books and - I think - she has a good idea about the effort and labor (sweat and tears) involved in getting a book out into the world. When I decided to write I remember her as a sweet-faced kid, impressed by my efforts and championing me in that loving way that's unique to children. Now that I'm published she is one of my loyal readers. She insists on buying copies of my books even though I've offered freebies, and is great about reading and reviewing. Now she's living a very interesting life and is gaining the experiences and understanding of people and the world that all writers need. So while she doesn't know it yet, I truly believe one of these days she'll call me and say,' You know what? I think I want to be a writer.' At that time I'll pass the baton with pleasure.'

Jennifer Young is about to buck the trend. 'I'm not the first in my family to be a writer. My mother, like me, has always written - articles to begin with, for publications such as Punch and The Guardian. Later she moved on to write short stories for The People's Friend where she became a regular contributor and wrote two serials as well as short stories. In those days, when magazines paid decent money, she received far more money (in actual, not real, terms) than I did decades later. My grandmother was not a writer and I sometimes wonder if she would have been had she had the opportunity. She was born into a mining family in South Wales in the 1890s and left school at the age of twelve to look after her family and then, widowed with a small child, had to work hard to keep the two of them. There was no chance for writing although she did read as much as she could and borrowed books from the families she worked for. I know all this because my mother, at the age of eighty-nine, is stil writing - her memoirs. And although there is no sign of creative writing coming in the generation below, you never know. Maybe wone day it will.'

Kath McGurl has this very intersting piece to tell us:- 'I'm the first writer in my family. At least, the first to publish novels and make a living from writing. But not the first published writer ever. A few years ago my brother visited a distant relative (our dad's cousin) and talked about writing. Shortly after she sent me a few ancient newspaper clippings - poems written and published by my great-grandfather, John Coward. I knew he'd been an artist - I have a couple of his watercolours on the wall. But it seems he also wrote poetry - a bit flowery, sentimental and Victorian for our modern tastes, perhaps. My father could have been a writer, I think. He told the most marvellous children's stories. He'd sit on my bed and just make stuff up, and in later years did the same for my kids. When he received a terminal cancer diagnosis he began writing his memoirs in his own wonderful style. Sadly, he didn't get very far with them. And my youngest son will be, I hope, the next in the family to hold that baton. He has a first class degree in Drama and has a talent for scriptwriting. He manages to make serious, thoughtful points while being funny. He's currently working with a post-grad Drama student adapting his final disseration piece with a view to making it available to a wider audience. If ever there are audiences in theatres again, that is. Covid has put life on hold to an extent, as for so many young people.'

And last, but by no means least, is Jennifer Bohnet's story:- As far as I know I am the first novelist in my family but not the first writer. My maternal grandfather was a man of many talents. He started off his working life as an apprentice potter with Wedgwood - I'm lucky enough to have his original apprentice papers. Both he and his father won medals for the quality of their work from the King. As time went on and work in potteries became scarce in the mid-twentieth century, he retrained as a telephonist and this is when he bcame active within his trade union and the Labour Party writing short, and long, pieces urging people to stand up for their rights. Sadly none of this propoganda survives, although my mother did at one time have a few dog-eared newspaper cuttings. And sadly, he never lived long enough to hear about my writing. I know he would have been thrilled. Now I'm the one in the family to get to be thrilled and proud. I've passed on the baton to my son, Nick. He published his first novel earlier this year and is now busy writing the second (in between skippering a boat for the environmental group, Sea Shepherd). I have to admit I do feel proud when he and I show up on the same Amazon page. And here's the cover of his first book.'