Michael On
Michael On
bad positive time
In nicey-nicey land, you must be happy-clappy and positive all the time - bad news is taboo.
hardship huge
You wouldn't wish hardship on anyone, but when it comes, you would be crazy not to see the huge growth that will come from it.
active collective everyday except exist experts folk illness life matter mental persistent remains seems shared trapped understanding
While there are many experts in the psychoanalysis of individuals, there seems to be little active authority or understanding in the matter of the persistent shared madness in everyday life. It's as if collective mental illness doesn't exist except in the vernacular and in contemporary folk myth, where it remains trapped and politically useless.
appreciation art conducive great itself looked necessary pleasure prelude requires sleep special winter
Of all the seasons, winter is the most conducive to the great art of dormancy. This art requires an appreciation of semi-consciousness: the beautiful and necessary prelude to sleep - a special pleasure in itself that is all too often neglected, under-valued or looked down upon.
gloomy loves seems wants
All the world loves a young emerging artist, and sometimes it seems that all the world wants to be one - on a bad, gloomy planet, to be colourful and creative seems so promising.
again completing easy failed final following great honours mainly mates passed remarkably repeated year
At last, after completing year 12, I failed the great final examination, repeated the following year and failed again even more dismally than before. This was not an easy thing to do. My mates did the simple thing in the first place and mainly passed with honours and went on to have remarkably successful lives.
candle combustion fear flame human imagination lit mysterious nuclear relationship
The human relationship to combustion is as mysterious as it is fraught with madness. From the candle flame to the nuclear blast, it has lit up the human imagination with fear and fascination.
commerce despair escaping humans mentality modern normal politics relief seeing standards suburban values worldly
What modern humans need help with is escaping from the despair of politics, commerce and media, escaping from the drabness and oppressiveness of worldly values and seeing through suburban mentality and normal community standards so that they can find some much-needed relief for their wilting souls.
ability act adult basis confusing deceive elected high learned life office perhaps themselves understand unknowable
Perhaps life is actually more confusing and unknowable to an adult than a child, but grown-ups have learned to deceive themselves and act as if they understand what's going on; and some are elected to high office on the basis of their ability to create this impression.
love somebody
Write because you love it and not because it is something that you think you should do. Always write about something or somebody you know about - something that you feel deeply and passionately about. Never try and force it.
copying focusing grammar huge inhibit school stories testing
It is really important that focusing on things such as spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting doesn't inhibit the creative flow. When I was at school there was a huge focus on copying and testing and it put me off words and stories for years.
great life love pain relationships source wrong
The big relationships you make in your life are with those that you love and if things do go wrong then it's a source of great pain and that lasts.
ask drink ears forget life people talk visit writer
The most important thing is to live an interesting life. Keep your eyes, ears and heart open. Talk to people and visit interesting places, and don't forget to ask questions. To be a writer you need to drink in the world around you so it's always there in your head.
absolute both change continues divide futility people understand war
War continues to divide people, to change them forever, and I write about it both because I want people to understand the absolute futility of war, the 'pity of war' as Wilfred Owen called it.