Taking Note
Taking Note
Jill Martin
Welcome! This website offers an opportunity for me to show you some of my writing, advertise my published works, and hopefully provoke a bit of thought and a hint of fun in the process.
I was a secondary music teacher for 20 years before I began to write in earnest, but have always loved the idea of being creative. My writing started on a small scale, with sketches for school shows, then I produced a musical called "Wonderful Christmas" (based on Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life") for which I wrote the music as well as the script. When I left the teaching profession, I joined Chapeltown Writers in Sheffield, England, a band of dedicated amateur writers who support and encourage each other and of whom several are now in print. As for me, I now have three books in print and one e-book available for general consumption, and several of my poems have been selected for publication in anthologies. As you will discover, I have not kept to one style or genre, but have tried a variety of ways of writing. Some of it is autobiographical, some is invented, some is funny, some very serious, some is pastiche or derivative, and I'm still not sure if I have a style of my own; but it has all been most enjoyable and enervating.
One of my books, Eric and Thickpea, contains illustrations drawn by my daughter Laura. She has a B.Sc in zoology and an excellent eye for detail, which together with a delicate touch with a pencil or pen has led to ten more book illustrations to date and dozens of commissioned pet portraits. You can see examples of her artwork and photography at caelitha@deviantart.com and her website, LM-art.co.uk
My collection of ramblings has been accumulating for a number of years, resulting in many full waste-paper bins, endless thumbing of thesauri, late meals, dogs not walked, a layer of dust thick enough to write in when my pencil broke, and countless hours spent trying to fathom out the workings of a computer. My writing has kept me off the streets, and consequently away from the hordes of folk who stand on street corners trying to get me to do a survey, for which I am eternally grateful. It has also afforded me a rainbow of emotions ranging from deep frustration and feelings of inadequacy to those of immense pleasure and a sense of self-satisfaction for which I feel no remorse. I only hope this sample of my wares awakes a modicum of response in you as you read on.
Jill Martin
BMus(Hons), BA, MA(Ed)
March 2010
Jill Martin
Welcome! This website offers an opportunity for me to show you some of my writing, advertise my published works, and hopefully provoke a bit of thought and a hint of fun in the process.
I was a secondary music teacher for 20 years before I began to write in earnest, but have always loved the idea of being creative. My writing started on a small scale, with sketches for school shows, then I produced a musical called "Wonderful Christmas" (based on Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life") for which I wrote the music as well as the script. When I left the teaching profession, I joined Chapeltown Writers in Sheffield, England, a band of dedicated amateur writers who support and encourage each other and of whom several are now in print. As for me, I now have three books in print and one e-book available for general consumption, and several of my poems have been selected for publication in anthologies. As you will discover, I have not kept to one style or genre, but have tried a variety of ways of writing. Some of it is autobiographical, some is invented, some is funny, some very serious, some is pastiche or derivative, and I'm still not sure if I have a style of my own; but it has all been most enjoyable and enervating.
One of my books, Eric and Thickpea, contains illustrations drawn by my daughter Laura. She has a B.Sc in zoology and an excellent eye for detail, which together with a delicate touch with a pencil or pen has led to ten more book illustrations to date and dozens of commissioned pet portraits. You can see examples of her artwork and photography at caelitha@deviantart.com and her website, LM-art.co.uk
My collection of ramblings has been accumulating for a number of years, resulting in many full waste-paper bins, endless thumbing of thesauri, late meals, dogs not walked, a layer of dust thick enough to write in when my pencil broke, and countless hours spent trying to fathom out the workings of a computer. My writing has kept me off the streets, and consequently away from the hordes of folk who stand on street corners trying to get me to do a survey, for which I am eternally grateful. It has also afforded me a rainbow of emotions ranging from deep frustration and feelings of inadequacy to those of immense pleasure and a sense of self-satisfaction for which I feel no remorse. I only hope this sample of my wares awakes a modicum of response in you as you read on.
Jill Martin
BMus(Hons), BA, MA(Ed)
March 2010
