The Writing Pro

Writers Meet Here!!

2006-05-03T12:05:00.000+02:00

Writers meet here - share the problems you're having, what resources you've found useful, what your projects are -

Great writing resources The Writing Pro has come across include:

Inky Girl (http://www.electricpenguin.com/ohi/inkygirl/)
- The site is updated regularly, is great for jobs and is generally informative.

APA Style Sheet (http://www.docstyles.com/archive/apacrib.pdf)
- Excellent onestop reference point to how to write correctly in APA style.

Templates for Research Papers (http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/rptemp.htm)
- Great for students and other people like me who get confused with the research styles

2006-05-03T12:00:00.000+02:00

Lovers of Helene Hanff unite!! Helene, as most of you would know, is the acclaimed author of 84, Charing Cross Road. She has been very influential on both my life, and my writing, and I found this fantastic site recently: http://www.84charingcrossroad.co.uk/ If you're a Helene lover as I am, go and visit and make sure that you leave a comment in their Guestbook. Also read the other comments - I loved reading about the woman who worked in a shop across the road from Marks and Co before it was famous, and also about the man who "grew up in London with Sheila and Mary and the Doel family".... maybe true, but so, I'm sure, did every other Londoner who lived at that time. In 84, Helene quoted the last verse of Miniver Cheevy by Edwin Arlington Robinson, and I bring it to you here. I too am born too late, scratch my head, and keep on thinking - cough, and call it fate - and keep on drinking.

Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons.

Miniver loved the days of old
When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;
The vision of a warrior bold
Would send him dancing.

Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And Priam's neighbors.

Miniver mourned the ripe renown
That made so many a name so fragrant;
He mourned Romance, now on the town,
And Art, a vagrant.

Miniver loved the Medici,
Albeit he had never seen one;
He would have sinned incessantly
Could he have been one.

Miniver cursed the commonplace
And eyed a khaki suit with loathing:
He missed the medieval grace
Of iron clothing.

Miniver scorned the gold he sought,
But sore annoyed was he without it;
Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
And thought about it.

Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking.

-- Edwin Arlington Robinson

Why write, when we can?

2005-05-16T21:54:00.000+02:00

Your Writing Pro can take care of:

- Essay Writing
- Letter Writing
- Writing Proposals
- Writing articles
- Writing press releases
- Writing a professional CV or resume for you
- Writing customised poetry for your loved one
- Editing
- Proofreading
- and any other writing requirement you may have!

Name your writing requirement and E-mail me!

Pen Pals

2005-05-11T18:13:00.000+02:00

PenPals!!!

Anybody interested in e-mailing or writing to a penpal please E-mail me!

Include anything you want published on the net - your age, gender, interests, type of person you are looking to write to, and of course whether you want to email or use snailmail.

This can be a rewarding experience for everybody - from the small child learning to write to the elderly person looking for companionship to anyone who wants to make friends!

So send me your details - what fun it will be to be at the outset of this!

Please write to:

Sadhna Dayanand

I am looking for a penpal - guys or girls between the ages of 24 and 27.

I am 24yr old Indian girl from JHB. My hobbies are meeting new people from around the world, music, clubbing, movies, shopping etc. I am a people's person, enjoy good company and would like to make new friends.

Please email me at sdayanand@idi.co.za.

Please note that we can't be held responsible for anything untoward that may occur because of contact made via these pages and recommend caution in all instances.

Contact me today

2005-05-10T22:06:00.000+02:00

Phone or fax me on any of these:

Cell: 083 442 4689
Tel: +27 11-615-5633
Fax:0880116155633 or

E-mail me!

Snail Mail: PO Box 1603, Bruma, 2026, SOUTH AFRICA

SEND YOUR ENQUIRY TODAY!!

Recruitment Company Database

2005-05-09T23:14:00.000+02:00

JOBSEEKERS!!!!!

Ask about our database of South African recruitment companies

RECRUITMENT COMPANIES!!!!

Ask how you can get ON the database!!!

Look how well we write!

2005-05-08T21:57:00.000+02:00

HEREAFTER

One night my suppressed thoughts in subconscious mind
Aroused technicolour images in my head
Constructing a visual sequence only I could see
As I lay there in my bed.

The Devil, a fiery fearsome apparition, had come to say:
“You in your world of hatred, crime and moral decay,
will feel at home when you wend your way to Hell!
All your material loves are here, you’ll fit in so well
Where corridors are filled with eerie laughter,
and cobwebs hang from every rafter
In the bleak Hereafter!”

I looked at my life, analysed every action, and thought it must be true,
I didn’t know what to do.
In this desperate dream I prayed to God and saw the Light,
The Father had come out to fight!

“Get away, Satan!” crisply cried the Lord
As I saw Him draw his sword.
“This soul is meant for Me
Heaven is where she’ll be
Where corridors are filled with angels’ laughter
Halos hang from every rafter
In the great Hereafter!”

Gaynor Paynter

DAYS

On the days you’re not okay
You know I’ll listen to what you say

On the days you’re feeling kind of blue
You know I’ll support you

On the days you’re feeling kind of sad
You know I’ll try and make you glad

On the days you’re feeling kind of crappy
You know I’ll try and make you happy

On the days you’re filled with emotion: Anger, sadness, fear
And you think that no-one’s listening
Please remember that I am

But maybe most important of all:
On the days you’re looking for a friend
You know my love will never end

Gaynor Paynter

A LETTER FROM SOUTH AFRICA
A citizen’s account of life in the new South Africa.

Dear Friends,

Ten years into South Africa’s democracy, the time is right for tribute to be paid to one of the most influential and effective architects of that democracy, ex-President Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in Transkei, South Africa. His mother could not have known that her labour was the start of a greater labour, one which would free all South Africans. Her immediate concern was the bringing up and education of her son, and she facilitated this by enrolling him at the College of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand where he qualified in Law in 1942.

It was shortly after this, in 1944, that Mandela joined the African National Congress (hereafter referred to as ANC), and as a member of the Youth League became actively involved in resistance to the apartheid policies implemented by the ruling National Party in 1948 – examples of which included segregation of races in living areas, education, working opportunities, and the implementation of the Pass Law (meaning that Africans had to carry pass books to prove who they were, etc)

How better to narrate this biographical article on a great man than to use his own words to do it? I have taken excerpts from a speech given by Mandela at a presidential address at the Annual Conference of the African National Congress Youth League in December 1951:

“Expressed in what is perhaps an oversimplification, the problem of the Youth League and the Congress today is the maintenance of full dynamic contact with the masses and the fight in the daily issues that face them.” - This meant that, three years into the apartheid regime, the President of the Youth League was aware that there were issues in the Government of the day’s policies which were unjust and would have to be dealt with. And, in closing, Mandela stated: “Sons and daughters of Africa, our tasks are mighty indeed, but I have abundant faith in our ability to reply to the challenge posed by the situation. Under the slogan of FULL DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA NOW, we must march forward into victory.” The struggle had begun.

Between 1956 and 1961, Nelson Mandela was put on trial for treason, charges from which he was acquitted.

The ANC was banned in 1960, after which the organisation took to operating “underground”. Nelson Mandela became the motivator of the establishment of a military wing within the ANC – leading to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military arm of the party. In 1962 Mandela was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison, with hard labour. Subsequently, in 1963 many fellow leaders of the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe were arrested, and Mandela was brought to trial with them for plotting to violently overthrow the Government. On June 12 1964 he was sentenced, together with seven others, to life imprisonment, beginning an incarceration at Robben Island until 1982, whereafter he was moved to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland

It was during this time in prison, a time that he himself used to study and write, that Mandela’s reputation as a resistor of the system grew. He became widely accepted as a symbol of the injustices being perpetrated in South Africa, by South African and international observers.

Nelson Mandela was released from prison on February 18 1990, and he threw himself straight back into his life’s work. In 1991 he was elected the President of the ANC, whilst the erstwhile President, and Mandela’s good friend, Oliver Tambo, was elected National Chairperson. Between 1991 and 1994 negotiations were conducted between Mandela and then President FW de Klerk, leader of the then ruling party the National Party, and in 1994 the first Democratic Election in South Africa was held, one which was won in a resounding fashion by the ANC. After 46 years of struggling, the issues facing the youth that Mandela referred to in 1951 had been resolved. Nelson Mandela was President of South Africa.

I quote from his inaugural speech, Cape Town, 9 May 1994

“Today we are entering a new era for our country and its people. Today we celebrate not the victory of a party, but a victory for all the people of South Africa. Our country has arrived at a decision. Among all the parties that contested the elections, the overwhelming majority of South Africans have mandated the African National Congress to lead our country into the future. The South Africa we have struggled for, in which all our people, be they African, Coloured, Indian or White, regard themselves as citizens of one nation is at hand.”

The South Africa we have struggled for is at hand. What a great victory, what an achievement for a man who has committed his entire life to the provision of a better future for his people.

And: “We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based on justice for all. This is the challenge that faces all South Africans today, and it is one to which I am certain we will all rise.”

We are ten years into this democracy now, and yes, there are problems. There is crime. There is unemployment. There is a legacy from the past. But there is also a new generation, one which does not equate skin colour with privilege or status. This is the generation which must make the work one man has done in his life carry on forever. We South Africans must look to the future as Nelson Mandela has always done (in 1951, it was how to sort out the current day issues by actions to be taken in the future, in 1994 it was how to carry forward the work done to build a better South Africa) and continues to do – in one of the few speeches that Mandela has made this year (Monday 10 May 2004, Cape Town – in a Parliament sitting to celebrate ten years of Democracy), he says : “The memory of a history of division and hate, injustice and suffering, inhumanity of person against person should inspire us to celebrate our own demonstration of the capacity of human beings to progress, to go forward, to improve, to do better.”
This has been Nelson Mandela’s common thread throughout the ages – to look to the future, to do better. What a wonderful lesson for South Africans to learn from the man who played such a great role in making the country what it is today.

In ending, I say a prayer for this the land of my birth: God Bless Africa, guide her leaders and give her peace, for Jesus Christ’s sake, Amen.

Gaynor Paynter

Book Review

2005-04-05T16:58:00.000+02:00

THE STATION MASTER'S DAUGHTER - PAMELA OLDFIELD

Published in 1986 by Century Hutchinson, The Stationmaster's Daughter brings the imaginary town of Gazedown and the activities of its' inhabitants to life - it's the turn of the 19th century and Amy Turner, The Stationmaster's Daughter, is left to take care of her family - brother 10 year old Sam, father Tom the Stationmaster and bedridden grandfather Ted. It's the talk of the small town as to what has happened to their wife and mother, and nobody is letting on, but it is this family secret that affects them all in various ways - Sam is led to deviant behaviour at school, Amy has had to give up her own future, Tom's career has been blighted and Ted's health has been affected.

Set against the backdrop of the station the residents of Gazedown - Arnold, the mentally challenged 'station assistant' whose highlight in every day is to be taught to read by Amy, Tim and Harry at the station, Don Leckie who has caught Amy's attention although he is courting another and Lorna, who is the employee and sometimes target of Mr. Hatherly's overt advances - live in peace until the arrival of one Mr. Ralph Allan, an author who is going to "take care of himself" - unheard of for a gentleman at the turn of the century. It soon becomes clear that Ralph Allan too has a past - this is the story of how pasts intermingle to make the present, and the future. Amy offers Ralph the chance of healing, while Ralph offers Amy a small chance at following her goals.

Will Amy be content to be a housewife and mother to a family that is not hers by marriage?Will Mr. Allan become a published author and complete his work?Pamela Oldfield's English setting and historical commentary charms the reader, yet the issues confronting the main characters are issues which we can relate to today. I find myself thinking what decision I would make if I was in Amy's shoes, wondering if I would have had her patience and wondering if I could have done what she did with quite such a good grace!

Go to bed with tea, chocolate and The Stationmaster's Daughter. It will be a night to remember.