or search for 'martin cadwell -caldwell' Take note of the position of the minus sign to eliminate caldwell returns or search for 'martin cadwell blog' in your browser.
I am not on YouTube or social media
[ 5 minute read ]
Under Development
This is about Creative Writing
I am curious. Thank God I am curious.
I made a lot of money (someone else has it now) running a business in the days when we could make our own web pages from scratch and although all the big businesses had expensive websites, the scope of the 'little man' or SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) online presence allowed me to take advantage of my marketing ability and not least my belief in myself. I taught myself the website language HTML4 and created my own web pages which I could endlessly edit whenever I chose, hour by hour if I wanted to, and web hosting for only about six British pounds per year.
My curiousity leads me to peer in the undergrowth around a subject. The international business I made was born out of curiousity. I had quit a job and I was curious to see whether my experience of playing computer games which were business oriented, could be used in the real world. It could, and it worked well.
It is not enough for me to be on a structured course and follow the program. I need to be stimulated and not led by the nose towards an inevitable conclusion. I look elsewhere for fun. Sometimes I go onto learning platforms that are a little more relaxed in accepting content from students. One or two have forums and allow comments, a bit like social media, which other students can like or respond to.
I almost exclusively write for myself, including these posts; they help me to organise my thinking and practice writing. I don't really like breaking the fourth wall, However:
Here are some snippets of comments I recently made on a learning platform; some people will recognise which one:
4th December 2025
'I have a feeling that writing allows my mind to slow down so I am more accepting of information. It allows me to see a greater perspective even behind news stories. For example, some news stories state the obvious and others seem to be written by a monkey with a typewriter. If I write how I feel about the news story, or the news contributor, I can understand the reason for the story and its impact. This allows me to find a nuanced plot that I could use in fiction writing.'
26th November 2025
'It tickles my head. If reading is a cool drink on a hot day then writing is an ice-cube sliding down my sun-burnt back. But that doesn't begin to describe it. Everything is possible and I can see beyond the mountain that the characters have to climb yet they see in black and white while I am looking at the colours of the whole scene through a giant kaleidoscope with monsters and angels equally likely to peer back at me. I shiver at that because for a while they just might be real and perhaps they are not fantasy after all.
I am lucky because my English is quite good and I used to read a thesaurus for bed-time reading as a teenager. '
9th December 2025
'When I see someone dancing in a park but I can't hear the music, I think they might have suddenly found their son's insect collection in their clothes.'
December 2025 A piece that was written as an exercise that allowed student feedback sometime in December 2025. The beginning in italics was some stock I had and I just copied and pasted it and then lazily tried to make a little story from it. It got a poor review but we can only be wounded if we are judged by our full capacity to perform or achieve; but that is a never an excuse to ever let up.
'The attention of the demon-possessed grows ever greater and gradually they creep forward, their ears pricking. Only when the believer swears or curses does the attention of the demon-possessed wane and turn elsewhere. As though the threat of detection is too much to bear does one allow filth to gush from one's mouth. Or, perhaps, the evident building of force from the demon-possessed causes the believer to swear thus causing the believer to become further from God. We must hold hard. Our weakness is wanting to belong, to not be ostracised, to not feel threatened.’
Good advice from my mother, but this wasn't anywhere off this planet or a different realm to the one we normally live in. This was our first day at a secondary school. The third school for me and the second school for my sister.
Sarah, my little sister, who had only been to our village primary school and never been to a big, city school, like this, gripped my hand tighter and looked up at me. I knew she was going to cry. We didn't know anyone in the whole city except our mum, who had dragged us away from our kind dad. She, this morning, was still in bed, drunk. The alcohol never dulled her dread of the world though.'
12th December 2025
'Hilda was wearing red today so I knew she was going shopping. Her crazy dog was also wearing a red bow so I knew it would bite me if I tried to pet it. It hates red. Red, it knew, meant having to dodge careless feet and shopping trolley wheels.
Tomorrow, Hilda would wear blue, so I know she will be in her garden pinning her washing to the line and then taking it down only to hang it again further along. Her dog wearing a blue bow would quietly lie down. It liked the colour blue because Hilda fed it treats on wash-days.
Of course, my dog and I know that her dog is colour-blind and it is Hilda it really hates on the day before she washes clothes, and goes shopping.
Sometimes, Hilda's dog sneaks through our dividing fence and races my dog around my garden. But it only does this when Hilda is wearing green to match her visiting grandchildren's jumpers on Sundays. They wear green because they think that Hilda likes green and that is why she gives them treats. My dog, with its excellent sense of smell, knows that Hilda only ever buys dog treats, and I know Hilda can't cook.'
13th December 2025
'My family motto is: 'To be, rather than to seem' Yet, my family are liars and back-stabbers, so I left them and live by myself, estranged.
I look at the fruit on the table no longer lit by burned down candles, while I ponder if I made the right decision. I can't look at myself, so the apples slowly wrinkling and the bananas loosing their shape are my only mirror.'
10th December 2025
'If you don't like the review(s) on your work remember this: You probably don't suck at writing. It might be that the reviewer is not good at commenting or is having a bad day or even has received a bad review from someone else and wants to lash out to make themselves feel better.
10th December 2025
The people we see doing tricks on bicycles were once rubbish when they were learning to ride.
Writers could not read or write before they wrote amazing stories. Artists, such as painters can just practice but writers need knowledge and practice. Don't be disillusioned by fools who see no futures.
You are on a writing course because you do see a future and want to be a part of a rich and varied world of fun, intrigue, love, and connections.
Trying to do something and trying new things is a mark of a valuable person who is alive and energetic. I expect these types of people to be fun to have around.'
26th November 2025
'I don't think I write pre-emptive phrases to start because I think I automatically cut them out anyway. I think I could write a question as speech to get me going because I am happy writing speech; you know, like:
'What's for tea?' Bob always asked that after he slammed the front door when he got back from work.'
26th November 2025
'If I am given a remit or a brief to conform to I absolutely freeze. I need a run up before I can launch myself into writing anything that I don't immediately delete. I should probably not delete it though and instead carry on for a while and then adjust the beginning to suit the latter part that I like.'
26th November 2025
I like dust as much as I like the hairs left all over a sink after shaving.
26th November 2025
I think writing is like everything: first efforts are never brilliant and practice, practice, practice is key. Athletes practice for hours each day as do musicians.
17th November 2025
Sometimes I look at my laptop keyboard and then stop looking and three hours have passed. I am satisfied with what I see on the screen though.
15th November 2025
I think that every time I go to my local shop that something might happen along the way; it does, but only the tyres on my bike seem to know it. Today, the tyres told my trousers that the road was wet. My hat was polite in its acceptance of drenching rain, 'It is what it is!'
15th November 2025 - we were asked to write two lies and one truth. I just made stuff up instead.
'I wake every day or night from a nightmare. It doesn't matter what time I lay myself down to sleep; 7pm, 9pm, or 1am, I wake. Before the police came I woke at the same time every day for three weeks, 07:28. They woke me at 07:28. There had been a major change in how we considered organised crime and I was the implementer of my own advice, though not a serving officer. I was told to get up because 'something was up'. It was 1990 and my own team was engaged. Later evidence showed that I knew about the likely consequences of a frontal attack on primary school kids illicitly selling crisps in the playground to their friend and peers. I wrote a book called 'I nipped their bud to succeed in the playground'. ('Nipping a bud' in English means cutting something off before it can develop into an uncontrollable problem or undesirable circumstance)
I am so grateful that my alarm has a snooze button. My wife and I relish in the warmth we share under the blankets. Sometimes, when she is half awake I can feel her hand gently moving before she looks at me with a quiz on her eyebrows.'
Undated
'I met a lecturer who told me that he attended a film screening with only a few audience members and did not enjoy it. Later, he saw the film in a packed cinema when it was released, and the audience's reaction made him really enjoy the film; even though he had already seen it.'
Today: those are examples of how I write and write and write and after a time something useful and interesting appears. I have to keep those for concatenation and further development, though.
Under Development
All my posts: https://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?u=zw219551
or search for 'martin cadwell -caldwell' Take note of the position of the minus sign to eliminate caldwell returns or search for 'martin cadwell blog' in your browser.
I am not on YouTube or social media
[ 5 minute read ]
Under Development
This is about Creative Writing
I am curious. Thank God I am curious.
I made a lot of money (someone else has it now) running a business in the days when we could make our own web pages from scratch and although all the big businesses had expensive websites, the scope of the 'little man' or SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) online presence allowed me to take advantage of my marketing ability and not least my belief in myself. I taught myself the website language HTML4 and created my own web pages which I could endlessly edit whenever I chose, hour by hour if I wanted to, and web hosting for only about six British pounds per year.
My curiousity leads me to peer in the undergrowth around a subject. The international business I made was born out of curiousity. I had quit a job and I was curious to see whether my experience of playing computer games which were business oriented, could be used in the real world. It could, and it worked well.
It is not enough for me to be on a structured course and follow the program. I need to be stimulated and not led by the nose towards an inevitable conclusion. I look elsewhere for fun. Sometimes I go onto learning platforms that are a little more relaxed in accepting content from students. One or two have forums and allow comments, a bit like social media, which other students can like or respond to.
I almost exclusively write for myself, including these posts; they help me to organise my thinking and practice writing. I don't really like breaking the fourth wall, However:
Here are some snippets of comments I recently made on a learning platform; some people will recognise which one:
4th December 2025
'I have a feeling that writing allows my mind to slow down so I am more accepting of information. It allows me to see a greater perspective even behind news stories. For example, some news stories state the obvious and others seem to be written by a monkey with a typewriter. If I write how I feel about the news story, or the news contributor, I can understand the reason for the story and its impact. This allows me to find a nuanced plot that I could use in fiction writing.'
26th November 2025
'It tickles my head. If reading is a cool drink on a hot day then writing is an ice-cube sliding down my sun-burnt back. But that doesn't begin to describe it. Everything is possible and I can see beyond the mountain that the characters have to climb yet they see in black and white while I am looking at the colours of the whole scene through a giant kaleidoscope with monsters and angels equally likely to peer back at me. I shiver at that because for a while they just might be real and perhaps they are not fantasy after all.
I am lucky because my English is quite good and I used to read a thesaurus for bed-time reading as a teenager. '
9th December 2025
'When I see someone dancing in a park but I can't hear the music, I think they might have suddenly found their son's insect collection in their clothes.'
December 2025 A piece that was written as an exercise that allowed student feedback sometime in December 2025. The beginning in italics was some stock I had and I just copied and pasted it and then lazily tried to make a little story from it. It got a poor review but we can only be wounded if we are judged by our full capacity to perform or achieve; but that is a never an excuse to ever let up.
'The attention of the demon-possessed grows ever greater and gradually they creep forward, their ears pricking. Only when the believer swears or curses does the attention of the demon-possessed wane and turn elsewhere. As though the threat of detection is too much to bear does one allow filth to gush from one's mouth.
Or, perhaps, the evident building of force from the demon-possessed causes the believer to swear thus causing the believer to become further from God. We must hold hard. Our weakness is wanting to belong, to not be ostracised, to not feel threatened.’
Good advice from my mother, but this wasn't anywhere off this planet or a different realm to the one we normally live in. This was our first day at a secondary school. The third school for me and the second school for my sister.
Sarah, my little sister, who had only been to our village primary school and never been to a big, city school, like this, gripped my hand tighter and looked up at me. I knew she was going to cry. We didn't know anyone in the whole city except our mum, who had dragged us away from our kind dad. She, this morning, was still in bed, drunk. The alcohol never dulled her dread of the world though.'
12th December 2025
'Hilda was wearing red today so I knew she was going shopping. Her crazy dog was also wearing a red bow so I knew it would bite me if I tried to pet it. It hates red. Red, it knew, meant having to dodge careless feet and shopping trolley wheels.
Tomorrow, Hilda would wear blue, so I know she will be in her garden pinning her washing to the line and then taking it down only to hang it again further along. Her dog wearing a blue bow would quietly lie down. It liked the colour blue because Hilda fed it treats on wash-days.
Of course, my dog and I know that her dog is colour-blind and it is Hilda it really hates on the day before she washes clothes, and goes shopping.
Sometimes, Hilda's dog sneaks through our dividing fence and races my dog around my garden. But it only does this when Hilda is wearing green to match her visiting grandchildren's jumpers on Sundays. They wear green because they think that Hilda likes green and that is why she gives them treats. My dog, with its excellent sense of smell, knows that Hilda only ever buys dog treats, and I know Hilda can't cook.'
13th December 2025
'My family motto is: 'To be, rather than to seem' Yet, my family are liars and back-stabbers, so I left them and live by myself, estranged.
I look at the fruit on the table no longer lit by burned down candles, while I ponder if I made the right decision. I can't look at myself, so the apples slowly wrinkling and the bananas loosing their shape are my only mirror.'
10th December 2025
'If you don't like the review(s) on your work remember this:
You probably don't suck at writing. It might be that the reviewer is not good at commenting or is having a bad day or even has received a bad review from someone else and wants to lash out to make themselves feel better.
10th December 2025
The people we see doing tricks on bicycles were once rubbish when they were learning to ride.
Writers could not read or write before they wrote amazing stories. Artists, such as painters can just practice but writers need knowledge and practice. Don't be disillusioned by fools who see no futures.
You are on a writing course because you do see a future and want to be a part of a rich and varied world of fun, intrigue, love, and connections.
Trying to do something and trying new things is a mark of a valuable person who is alive and energetic. I expect these types of people to be fun to have around.'
26th November 2025
'I don't think I write pre-emptive phrases to start because I think I automatically cut them out anyway. I think I could write a question as speech to get me going because I am happy writing speech; you know, like:
'What's for tea?'
Bob always asked that after he slammed the front door when he got back from work.'
26th November 2025
'If I am given a remit or a brief to conform to I absolutely freeze. I need a run up before I can launch myself into writing anything that I don't immediately delete. I should probably not delete it though and instead carry on for a while and then adjust the beginning to suit the latter part that I like.'
26th November 2025
I like dust as much as I like the hairs left all over a sink after shaving.
26th November 2025
I think writing is like everything: first efforts are never brilliant and practice, practice, practice is key. Athletes practice for hours each day as do musicians.
17th November 2025
Sometimes I look at my laptop keyboard and then stop looking and three hours have passed. I am satisfied with what I see on the screen though.
15th November 2025
I think that every time I go to my local shop that something might happen along the way; it does, but only the tyres on my bike seem to know it. Today, the tyres told my trousers that the road was wet. My hat was polite in its acceptance of drenching rain, 'It is what it is!'
15th November 2025 - we were asked to write two lies and one truth. I just made stuff up instead.
'I wake every day or night from a nightmare. It doesn't matter what time I lay myself down to sleep; 7pm, 9pm, or 1am, I wake. Before the police came I woke at the same time every day for three weeks, 07:28. They woke me at 07:28. There had been a major change in how we considered organised crime and I was the implementer of my own advice, though not a serving officer. I was told to get up because 'something was up'. It was 1990 and my own team was engaged. Later evidence showed that I knew about the likely consequences of a frontal attack on primary school kids illicitly selling crisps in the playground to their friend and peers. I wrote a book called 'I nipped their bud to succeed in the playground'. ('Nipping a bud' in English means cutting something off before it can develop into an uncontrollable problem or undesirable circumstance)
I am so grateful that my alarm has a snooze button. My wife and I relish in the warmth we share under the blankets. Sometimes, when she is half awake I can feel her hand gently moving before she looks at me with a quiz on her eyebrows.'
Undated
'I met a lecturer who told me that he attended a film screening with only a few audience members and did not enjoy it. Later, he saw the film in a packed cinema when it was released, and the audience's reaction made him really enjoy the film; even though he had already seen it.'
Today: those are examples of how I write and write and write and after a time something useful and interesting appears. I have to keep those for concatenation and further development, though.