Tania Kindersley

Lockdown Diary: Day Twenty-Two.

I missed yesterday’s diary, because a Thing happened. The Thing needs a capital letter because it was big, and it send me spiralling down the rabbit hole. The Thing induced rage, and helplessness, and a sort of defensive crouch of paralysis. I was stuck in place, and I couldn’t even write something for you. I’mContinue reading “Lockdown Diary: Day Twenty-Two.”

Lockdown Diary: Day Twenty

Rather to my surprise, I had the most gentle, sweet, solitary Easter. I didn’t look at the news. I stayed in my own small, precious world. I had Scotland, and the dogs and the horses, and the voices of old friends on the telephone. It was beautiful. And I felt profoundly, profoundly grateful.

Lockdown Diary: Day Nineteen.

A friend calls. She calls the lockdown the lockup, which for some reason makes me laugh. ‘All this lockup,’ she says. She tells me about her great-aunt, who kept bantams during the war. ‘They lived in trees,’ she said, ‘so she didn’t need a coop or anything.’ She tells me about her grandmother, who usedContinue reading “Lockdown Diary: Day Nineteen.”

Lockdown Diary: Day Eighteen.

There is, famously, a numbing effect in big numbers. Humans tend to feel maximum compassion for one person, one story, one tragedy. When the numbers grow too big, and become statistics, the compassion snaps off, as if the brain can’t comprehend and the heart can’t stretch and the spirit can’t stand. But there is heartbreakContinue reading “Lockdown Diary: Day Eighteen.”

Writing Post: Clarity, clarity and yet more clarity.

I have an unbreakable writing rule. It is: if I have to read one of my sentences twice, then I have failed. Every sentence should shimmer with clarity. Your thoughts should be clear and your words should be clear. You should know where you are going and what you want to express. If you areContinue reading “Writing Post: Clarity, clarity and yet more clarity.”

Lockdown Diary: Day Seventeen.

The more I go on through this crisis, the more I realise that the most precious things are the ordinary human interactions that I used to take for granted. Today, I had to go to the feed store to get food for the horses. I’ve been apple-for-the-teacher strict about the lockdown rules, so this isContinue reading “Lockdown Diary: Day Seventeen.”

Lockdown Diary: Day Fifteen.

This evening I read a book by a brilliant woman I’d never heard of until about ten minutes ago. I spoke by one of those three-way video links to two other brilliant women whom I’ve known and loved for a long time. And there was a weird kind of consonance and connection between all threeContinue reading “Lockdown Diary: Day Fifteen.”

Writing Post: Ideas.

I’m often asked ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ A couple of years ago, I sat down and wrote a post called Ideas Are Everywhere. I thought you might like it, so I’m reproducing it here, especially for you. I think there is a tendency in novice writers to suspect that literary ideas mustContinue reading “Writing Post: Ideas.”

Lockdown Diary: Day Fourteen.

Events seem to be accelerating at lightning speed. It seems a hundred years ago that the Queen came on to the television and spoke her graceful and reassuring words, yet it was only twenty-four hours ago. It’s as if the space-time continuum has become warped. I was thinking of all this and feeling rather overwhelmedContinue reading “Lockdown Diary: Day Fourteen.”

Lockdown Diary: Day Thirteen.

In the very early days of lockdown, I saw a rather melancholy mother tweet that her young daughter was not going to be able to have much of a birthday party. Twitter showed its magnificent side and rose as one, sending hundreds of lovely birthday messages and pictures. I sent a picture of the redContinue reading “Lockdown Diary: Day Thirteen.”