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.

Small stones

Small Stone 26/1/11

Straight from a house that’s much too hot to one that’s rather cold. I prefer the cold one. In winter, I expect to feel cold.

Tags cold, hot

Small stones

Small Stones 22/1/11 – 25/1/11

Post author By Miriam Drori
Post date Jan 26, 2011
No Comments on Small Stones 22/1/11 – 25/1/11

22/1/11

The coach navigates the narrow-laned London streets.
We pass Harrods, the Victoria and Albert, Hammersmith.
Outside London, rows of pretty houses.
England is always the same, or is it?
The seatbelt holds me in a tight grip.
Mobile phones ring, and conversations, too:
“We went to this restaurant last night. It was shit.”
“I should arrive about four ten.”
No, changes are everywhere. They happen with or without me.

23/1/11

Certificates, shopping bills, photographs, letters, birthday cards, advertisements, special offers, concessions. It’s amazing how much stuff you can find in one old woman’s home.

24/1/11

I threw earth on my mother today.
Three times, I shovelled earth onto a spade and let it fall onto a wooden box deep, deep down.
Rest in peace, Mum. Your memory is blessed.

25/1/11

Family photographs

Mum at 60, Mum at 95, Mum at 21, Mum at 14.
Dad, never younger than 45.
Grandma getting married or as an old lady.
“That little girl is L.” “No! It’s me!”
“Who’s that?” Nobody knows. Someone lost in the past.
A whole generation has just disappeared.

Small stones

Small Stone 21/1/11

A vast expanse of white.
Greyish in parts.
Mounds.
Snow?
No.
Clouds seen from above.

***

Yes, I took a plane this morning on my way to my mother’s funeral.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to post a small stone every day because I won’t always have an Internet connection. But I’ll continue to write them.

Tags clouds, snow

Small stones

Small Stone 20/1/11

When you look back and think of all the sights that have changed, all the things that have happened, it’s comforting to see something that has remained the same. The monster has seen it all.

Tags changes, monster

Books Social anxiety

Open Letter to Publishers/Agents

Post author By Miriam Drori
Post date Jan 19, 2011
3 Comments on Open Letter to Publishers/Agents

Recently, certain bloggers have been writing about factors that could cause an author’s writing to be rejected by publishers or agents, although these factors shouldn’t really count at all. Catdownunder wrote about age and location after being told by a publisher that her age and location would prevent her from ever being published. Nicola Morgan wrote a very sensible response to that, in which she said that while the publisher was not correct, age and unavailability could make publication harder. Both of these posts attracted many comments, most of which disagreed vehemently with the publisher, while some cautiously mentioned that, actually, there was a little truth in what he said. Then Catherine Hughes discussed a comment on another blog that asserted that “disabled people are – to an employer (a publisher, in fact) at least – a potential embarrassment, and should stand aside and allow those capable of doing all aspects of a job without difficulty to go ahead and do so.”

Since certain similar factors apply to me, and I have no wish to hide them, I decided to address them in an open letter to anyone who is wondering whether I’m worth publishing. The letter follows. At a later stage, I might post it on a separate page of this blog.

***

Dear Publisher, Agent and anyone else who’s interested,

There are many reasons why I am a good person to work with:

I know I’m not perfect and neither is my writing. I know there’s always room for improvement, and so I would be happy to work with anyone to improve it.
My time is no longer occupied by small children and I am prepared to spend a lot of time creating the best book I can.
My experience as a technical writer has taught me the skills of gathering, organising and presenting information in a clear and logical manner.
My command of grammar is excellent (so I’ve been told). When I break the rules, I do it intentionally and not out of ignorance.

Just in case you think there are any factors that might weigh against me in my quest to be published, I want to put your mind at rest by discussing each of the possibilities:

Age. It’s hard for me to believe it, but it seems I’m 57. I don’t have any aches or pains and feel no different from the way I felt at 20 – physically. Mentally, I feel much better. It’s taken me this long to understand some of the complexities of life, enabling me to write what I would never have dared to write earlier. Oh, and my mother is 98.
Location. I don’t live in the country where I hope to be published. But I have family and friends there and often visit it. I’m also active online, where location is irrelevant.
Social anxiety. As I’ve said many times on this blog, social anxiety isn’t shyness – not in my case, anyway. I’ve never shied away from attending events, and I actually enjoy giving presentations. If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t be able to write about it from the perspective of someone who has it.

Now that I’ve clarified those points, and if you like my writing, I hope we can talk, meet, sign and work together.

Small stones