Copyright © 2014 Shona Widdry
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.
Internet blog on which this book is based:
https://www.anhourlater.wordpress.com
Extracts from the novel An Hour Too Soon? are © Christopher Santos.
The image of the novel, An Hour Too Soon? used with author's written permission.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Hello World!
Four Little Words
Face Value
My life an open book
Voluntary Work
Home Sweet Home
Recreation
Friends
Page 41
Sociable
Anonymous Admirers
Family Trivia
A waste of Time
Envy
Don't be Your Own Critic
Life on Credit?
A page to change your life
In the silence that followed
If you summon a storm
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Is it in the eyes?
A Friend in Deed
Touché Fiona
Almost Caught
Murder She Wrote
Remember Me?
The Denouement…?
Brief Encounter
Recompense
Closure
Hello world!
Posted January 11th, 2012
This is a very personal blog about a very personal book. When I have worked out how all this blogging stuff works, I shall start.
Image of the book is above.
S W.
Four Little (Powerful) Words
Posted January 11th, 2012
Just to whet your appetite.
I’ll start this on Saint Valentines Day, 2012.
SW.
Face Value
Posted February 14th, 2012
How do you tell someone something that is quite horrific? How would you feel about revealing something that happened in your past, then seeing it all in print? Something so personal and heart breaking – revealed for all the world to read?
Well, that is what I did and a very traumatic time of my life is now in print.
So where to start?
I am called Shona. It is not a name I warm to but then my story is not one I like. Does that intrigue you? It should.
I was young, attractive and frequently told I was beautiful. Was that a curse or a blessing? To me it was undoubtedly a curse for a reason that you could not possible comprehend. It was all such a long time ago, but, as I write this those memories are now back with me – and in my face.
A book has been written that mirrors the events of my teenage life. There are a few inaccuracies (more of that later) but it is all told in neat, carefully edited chapters. And the cover? Well, it was selected as it ‘apparently’ was a splitting image of myself when younger although I think my hair was slightly lighter in colour.
So this is the first of around 25 blogs that covers the various chapters, their contents, my interpretation of what has been written and how I lived through all of it. It may shock, it may not. Are people shocked today? Or have we become so immune to the horrors of what is daily life, from starving children, to terrorist destruction and mindless murder, that it all has no effect? After all, it is all reported in the nightly half hour news with consummate professionalism.
Where to start? Well, back to 1994 and at 17 I was not a party goer, nor did I drink. I guess you would call me a deep thinker. And without being boastful I was knew I had skill as an artist. I also had a real soft spot for domestic cats; I like their elusiveness and total indifference – as well as their ability to walk away. Weekends, back then, I spent as a volunteer at a cat’s home. Weekdays I studied for a life that, little did I know at the time, I was never going to have. It was, at first glance to the casual observer, just mundane family life.
My mother and father are people I will write about later.
To understand me, to understand what happened, and how it happened, and to understand this blog, then read AN HOUR TOO SOON? It is written by an author who had the idea to put all my wayward ramblings in print. Is this an unashamed plug for a book that nobody has heard of? Perhaps or perhaps not. Do I want you to read it? Only if you want to. But if you do, you will then realise who I am and what I am talking about.
Next time I’ll tell you how the written word has lots of dark corners.
SW.
My life is an open book
Posted March 28th, 2012
So let’s get to the book: the rear blurb about me on AN HOUR TOO SOON? is as follows:
“What’s the matter with Cindy? She comes from a good middle class family but something isn’t quite as it should be. Lurking beneath the surface of her comfortable life is a hidden tension, a guilt and a need to tell.
When circumstances push Cindy too far, an horrific and intricate story emerges that affects her life for many years to come.
But if Cindy could turn the clock back and say nothing – would she?”
It seems so easy to encapsulate that period in a mere three paragraphs but looking back I suppose you could say the reason for this recollection was because I was from a dysfunctional family. And that is still hard to accept. Where we all built on such shallow foundations? Was I happy then? I think maybe I was, but then you have to ask yourself what is happiness? And how do you know when you’re happy? One thing is for certain, you know when you are not, because unhappiness eats away into your soul and destroys your perspective.
Did I really have a need to tell? Well, when you live with something, when you experience the darkest of days and as the hypocrisy grows deeper within you, then yes, you need to tell someone.
Did I imagine all this – my story neatly written down, chapter by chapter? Nope. But to really move on, to face new challenges, then you must try and participate in today’s new ‘in’ word.
Sharing.
So I share my story with you, via the book.
Next time, I’ll start at chapter one.
S.
Voluntary work
Posted May 16th, 2012