Is a character real … or just a dream
I returned to Cardiff for Springsteen’s 2024 opening concert in Europe. I did so with mixed feelings: he had of course been forgiven for his very late cancellation of the Philadelphia shows, once we found out the consummate professional had been performing all this time with a severe stomach ulcer. But also, the 2023 tour had been a new chapter after his Broadway outing. Bruce figured he would put together a concept set list and simply tour that around. For many of us, it was a broken (implied) promise. Had the magic seeped away?
Standing on the banks of the Taff it got me thinking about the characters in my novel. I had sent them into the world and many readers enjoyed their adventures. Rosie joined the bandwagon of tramps whilst Bruce had just returned to the fray of touring in 2003. He was so full of promise and determined to up-the-anti back then, after his long hiatus from touring. How would Rosie have reacted to the 2023 experience? Would Rosie still be a fan? What about Wendy? Had she finally hung up her tramping shoes? And those questions made me smile. These two characters, so dear to me because they were my first full-length-novel family, they were still begging to be part of my world. And it sparked my creative juices. Why not do a ‘Hollywood’ and write a sequel? Not a whole book, that is a commitment I have started with a different set of characters. Just a next chapter.
Because in all of the publishing journey, the best part has been the writing! The joy of plotting, and making my characters come alive. It is easy to forget that sometimes when you are seeking recognition (or simply a few sales to cover the costs of this expensive hobby that Art has become). But ultimately, writing is, and never should be, about the fame.
My government has just released their plans for the next four years. And the biggest shame of all is their intention to raise the taxes on books, newspapers and the arts in general. It will make the scene not only more elitist, it will also prevent young budding artists from backgrounds such as Springsteen, stepping up to the plate. Because a raise in taxes on the product will inevitably mean a drop in income for the artist. More urgently though, raising the taxes on books, magazines newspapers, and libraries will stop even more people from reading. Each and every ultra right-wing government or dictatorship is always preceded or followed by a ban on authors and books. Because, like Toni Morrison so eloquently expressed in Burn This Book, artists are the biggest enemies of the ruling party. The first step is ALWAYS to silence them. And it is worrying that my government seeks to do so in a seemingly innocent move; it is only a tax raise. NO, it is so much more.
Rosie has not yet been confronted with this new threat to democracy and people’s well-being. Yet, her life did not quite turn out the way she would have hoped, maybe… Want to find out? Rosie is waiting for you
Meanwhile, keep reading books by well-known authors, by friends, by independent unknown niche poets: the power of words and ideas are the best safeguards against a world that has lost its mind and that is fueled not by the desire to unite but to divide. Writing is the ties that bind us all. Read!
