Another Extract On Marion’s birthday Susan and Gary are invited round for tea. Marion watches them munching the sandwiches and cramming the little cakes into their mouths, leaving streaks of jam and bits of egg on their chins and cheeks. Seeing her mother’s anxious look, she eats a banana sandwich and is rewarded with a smile. Then the curtains are drawn and the lights switched off. A beautiful round cake covered in white icing and decorated with pink flowers with three lighted candles is carried in. Marion claps her hands in delight. As everyone sings ‘Happy Birthday’ she looks at the little flames. Inside the middle flame she can see a little girl with blond curls and a big smile. She’s whispering, You’re three now. You can be happy . It’s time! Marion feels very warm and her whole face smiles. “Blow out the candles!” urges Doris. Marion blows out each one separately. The little girl has gone from the flame, but Marion knows she is nearby somewhere. Later when they are ...
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Extract from my novel Becoming Maz Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that really isn’t you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place. Paulo Coelho Chapter 1: Becoming Marion She is waiting to become Marion. She is changing rapidly. Memory of the light before dimming. All she knows now is warmth and this darkening space. She blinks. She stretches. She kicks. She yawns. She floats. She smiles. A soft voice lulls her. Harsher sounds disturb her. A change is coming. Soon it will be time to become. For now, she is dependent on Doris. Doris has been waiting for seven long years. She knows this child is a girl. She will be Marion, ‘wished for child’. She will love Marion and Marion will love her. Marion will keep Joe in England, in Wolverhampton. She will be his pride and joy. He will want the best for her: a good education so she can be a doctor or a teacher. She won’t walk to school baref...
Introduction
Becoming Do we ever become our true self? Do we want to? Does it even exist? Most of us spend our lives taking on many different roles and labels, often striving to find the one that brings the most fulfilment and happiness. We may also reject roles that are thrust upon ourselves which can become a role in itself. Looking back on my life, a privilege and a recognised trait of the ‘old person’ role, I can identify roles and labels I have embraced. These include: · The ‘good child’ · The ‘clever daughter’: a role that was very hard to live up to and also difficult to let go of · A ’diligent’ pupil: a common comment on my school reports · A brilliant teacher: a role I truly loved and still do but I have often had to fight the need to be perfect which once threatened to destroy m...