Author: Miriam Drori

Author, editor, attempter of this thing called life. Social anxiety warrior. Re-Connections, a collection of short stories, published with Ocelot Press, 15/10/2025.

A Decade Ago – A Celebration

Post author By Miriam Drori
Post date Mar 3, 2012
10 Comments on A Decade Ago – A Celebration

On 3rd March, 2002, I received an email. It began: “Hi, it’s Gill Balbes (as was) here. Was talking to Jane the other night and she was telling me about how she’d been in contact with you and that you remember me (as I do you) so I thought I’d say hello. Schooldays seem a long way off but it would be nice to hear how you’re doing.”

Schooldays certainly were a long way off. It was over thirty years since I’d walked out of the school gates, vowing never to have any connection with any of the girls I’d known over the previous seven years – a few even longer. It was only recently that I’d added my name to the Friends Reunited site, opening up the possibility of contact, although I didn’t expect anyone to write to me.

But Jane did write and I made a decision: that if I was going to correspond with anyone from school, I would make the relationship meaningful by being open about what happened to me there. If they didn’t want to discuss it, there wasn’t much point in reuniting.

Fortunately, Jane did agree to discuss it. She also apologised for what she did to me, although I didn’t hold her or any of the former pupils to blame as adults for their actions as children. I always knew the bullying (which I called teasing then) had had a bad effect on the rest of my life, but never thought the children were mature enough to understand what they were causing.

Jane soon put me in contact with Gill, who had more time to write. Gill and I corresponded almost daily for a long time, and she became a very special friend to me. It was Gill who told me about social anxiety. I didn’t realise the significance of it at first, but gradually two things became clear. I was not alone in being this way and it’s possible to improve. (I don’t think it makes sense to say there’s a cure, and I don’t think there needs to be one.)

Gill has been the catalyst for many changes in my life – for starting to write, for starting a blog, and much more. We have now met several times. After ten years, I still count Gill as a very special friend.

—o—

Do you have a friend story you want to share?

Please note: I have scheduled this post to appear on the right day, but probably won’t be available to comment for a day or two.

Tags anniversary, celebrating, friends, Friends Reunited, reuniting

Blogging

A to Z Tag

I found these questions here, and as I have signed up for the second year running, I thought I’d answer them.

Are you signed up for the A to Z Challenge?
Yes, I am, and I managed to complete it last year, so should be easy this time. Maybe.
What is your sign-up number?
I’m at number 209: Miriam – An de walls came tumblin down
Are you ready? If yes…explain yourself.
I have my theme and I’ve decided what to write about for each letter. I haven’t actually written the posts yet, but I don’t need to do that in advance, do I?
If you’re not ready…what’s your excuse?
There is something I should start doing, though. I need to take a few photos. But there’s still time for that. I hope.

You can answer the questions, too.

Tags A to Z, blogging challenge

Books

I nearly missed this!

Three days ago, someone I follow on Twitter retweeted a competition announcement by Writers & Artists (@Writers_Artists). Contestants had to write a Twitter story using the word disguise and the hashtag #flashtwiction. So I wrote one:

20:30 “A thief! Brilliant disguise! Come in.” 23:30 “So, madam. You opened the door and welcomed him in. Is that right?” #flashtwiction

I didn’t expect to win it and didn’t even wait to find out who won. Just today, I happened to press the right button to discover that I was one of two winners and they’re going to send me a copy of Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2012. Isn’t that exciting?

Tags competition, Twitter, Writers & Artists

Uncategorized

Nostalgia

It’s a feature of getting older. We look back more. That’s not surprising – we have more to look back to.

Today, Rosalind Adam tweeted: Today’s date is the old Police HQ number Whitehall 1.2.12.

It was something we often heard on the radio: “The police are looking for….If you know of her whereabouts, please contact your nearest police station or dial Whitehall 1212.”

Rosalind’s tweet triggered tweets about nostalgia and had me singing a song that’s popular here:

I couldn’t find a translation. I suppose that means I’ll have to do it myself.

I knew that you’d come
As the evening comes you lie in wait
And give me an old hug
Nostalgia

What we’ve forgotten, you’ll remind
Washing my memory with light
Taking me back
Nostalgia

To beautiful days
When we still had places to go to
We watched the sunset
We promised we wouldn’t change

But then time passed
And wanted it different
We look back and remember

I knew that you’d come
Exactly when no one is here
And stroke my hair
Nostalgia

Didn’t it used to be better
Or is it just the present
That looks so pale
Nostalgia

My folk dancing instructor, Boaz, created a lovely dance to this song, which is why I know it so well.

And talking of nostalgia, in one month from now, it will be exactly a decade since something very special happened to me. I want to celebrate it on my blog, but haven’t yet thought of a way to do it. Hopefully, I’ll think of something by then.

Tags Aviv Gefen, looking back, Whitehall 1212

Books

Danglers

I’m surprised at people who don’t know the rule about danglers. I suppose it’s a bit like the offside rule in football. I must admit I don’t understand that one, but as I’m not interested in football I’ve never bothered to find out. Danglers though… if you’re a writer, that seems an important one to know.

I saw another example here yesterday:

After moving to a 5-2 lead in the decider, Murray played the game of his life to break to love and then held another three break points at 5-5.

It looks okay – if you don’t know about tennis, that is. If you do, it doesn’t make any sense because, if Murray had been leading 5-2, he wouldn’t have needed to win any more games to get to 5-5. No, it was Djokovic who was leading 5-2.

When I gave a presentation on editing, I created this slide about danglers:

Happy dangling!

Books

Facing Facts

I have to face up to it. I’m never going to write 100,000 words in 100 days, which is what I ~~pledged~~ set out to attempt to do by joining Sally Quilford’s challenge.

BUT I’m not disappointed. I have written something every day since the challenge began. Sometimes I managed over 1,000 words. Other days I wrote fewer words. Today, I wrote all 120 words of a whole piece and that’s enough for today. I shall spend the rest of the day reading, editing and critiquing.

For me, writing 1,000 words every day is too much. Writing something every day is possible and is a practice I plan to continue after the challenge ends.

Happiness is being proud of your achievements.

Tags 100k in 100 days, Sally Quilford

Books Israel

Foreign or Familiar? Does it matter?

Post author By Miriam Drori
Post date Jan 13, 2012
15 Comments on Foreign or Familiar? Does it matter?

I’ve read two recent blog posts about foreign settings in books – one by Rachelle Gardner, the other by Nicola Morgan.

In my son’s English class, when he was about nine, the pupils were made to read an American book written totally in a dialect I found hard to follow. My son didn’t understand it at all. When the same book was suggested for my younger son’s class, I complained and the book was changed.

There’s no point in reading a book you can’t understand, but as long as you can, does setting matter? Personally, I like to read about places I’ve never seen. I also like to read about places that are familiar.

What about other readers? Are they usually interested in books set in foreign places? Apparently, Americans are less willing to read books with foreign settings than readers in other countries.

I have another question about setting. I generally set my stories in England, where I used to live. I would like to write stories set in Israel, where I live now. But I think readers generally expect specific topics to appear in any book set in Israel: war, political conflict, etc. I think they believe Israel is one of those countries where it’s impossible to lead an ordinary life. Am I wrong?

Tags Nicola Morgan, Rachelle Gardner, setting

Books Rhymes

A lesson I learned today

I knew it really, but I wanted to write it anyway, so I ignored the obvious problem.

You see, today is the third day of Sally Quilford‘s challenge: to write 100,000 words in 100 days. On the first day, I wrote a short story of 1,552 words. On the second day, I wrote a short story of 1,131 words. Today I wanted to write a poem and I did. It took me more than two hours to write and contains 183 words.

So now my total has fallen to below today’s desired minimum of 3,000 words and I don’t have time to start something new.

I knew that really: poems take a long time to write although they don’t usually contain many words. Oh well – I enjoyed writing it. Here it is: