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Augusta May Willmetts, 1920-2006. My Mum
01/09/2006 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Life is measured in moments, says Geoff. The moment you are born. The moment you die. Moments between can vary a lot. Exams. Jobs. Marriage. Children. Victories. Losses. Turning points. You don't remember every day and night. You just remember the moments that were important to you. Happy and sad. This is one of his sad moments. Editorial - september 2006
Augusta May Willmetts, 1920-2006. My Mum
Hello everyone
Life is measured in moments. The moment you are born. The moment you die. Moments between can vary a lot. Exams. Jobs. Marriage. Children. Victories. Losses. Turning points. You don't remember every day and night. You just remember the moments that were important to you. Happy and sad. This is one of my sad moments.
August is the month that my Mother died on the eighth, a week after a fall, from pneumonia in her sleep while in hospital. Asleep was the condition she was mostly in during her time there. I arrived at the ward in Mum's final moments for my daily afternoon visit and it was though she was waiting until I got there before passing. After all the pain she's been through over the past couple decades, her release was free of that at the end.
Apart from being editor here, I've been my Mum's carer for eight years as a combination of osteoporosis, polymyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis crippled her body. With Mum, the osteoporosis really affected her spine and she lost five inches in height and unable to go far without either a zimmer-frame or wheelchair. She looked after me when I was ill many times when young and as I told her, I could do no less for her as she got older. She had no desire to go in a nursing home seeing it as too regimented and I had no desire to let that happen to her.
Being in continual agony which painkillers only reduced was a way of life. In the past three years, after a pulmonary embolism, my Mum was very much housebound and I made sure she was suitably entertained by my occasional wit and what couldn't be got off the TV, certainly bought on DVD. She wasn't altogether a Science Fiction fan but she surprised herself with the films she enjoyed and more so when some she thought weren't SF actually were. I think she was rather taken back by the Spider-Man and X-Men films cos she didn't think my early passion for comics would make sense to her. Although she didn't read SF, she was a great Modesty Blaise fan and enjoyed 'The Destroyer' book series by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy. My Mum wasn't a lover of violence and I could never figure how 'The Godfather' films were her favourites but life is full of contradictions.
The day I started writing this editorial, I've been passing the word to all her friends. The common comment was that she was so nice to everyone and had a rare courage that I seemed to have inherited to doing the right thing regardless of personal cost. Her younger years were spent in service as a cook - a rank higher than servant with some autonomy in the kitchen. This all changed as World War Two loomed and as part of the local St. John Ambulance, she met my Dad, who himself has been dead some six years now.
She brought three sons into the world, of which I'm the youngest, although at 49 I have to remind myself I'm nearly middle-aged. Dad wouldn't let her work because she had enough to do at home looking after us all. Then again, with other medical problems that made a lot of sense as well. Mum always said that Dad brought her down to Earth from having too an excitable life that would have ended much sooner had she not settled down. In her later years, she enjoyed whist and willingly gave that up when Dad became seriously ill. When he died, Mum told me there was never a day thinking about and missing him.
You don't want to read a complete history but it is important to stress that from such nice people, you have the writer you're reading today. With all the carnage and death that is currently ravaging our planet, just once it's good to remember that there are people who can lead wholesome useful lives that have affected those around them. Something I learnt from them, maybe occasionally to my own cost, is that it can be rewarding to help others more than yourself. Both my parents did that a lot. It might seem like a poor philosophy akin to being a good Samaritan in a world of self-preservation but kindness often costs nothing at all and can make others live through another day knowing that there will be a tomorrow. It's something we could all do with learning and applying.
I'm really going to miss you, Mum.
Augusta May Willmetts 15 January 1920 - 08 August 2006
Thank you, take care, good night and be safe
Geoff Willmetts
editor: SFCrowsnest.co.uk
Let's have a Serious Thought For The Month: Your parents are precious. Mostly, you only have one genetic set here for only one lifetime, much of it gone when you're born. Don't miss the bit they give to you cos it won't come round again. When they're gone, they can't come back again.
A real Zen thought::Moment by moment. Don't count them. Use them.
A real Zen thought for potential writers: If you can express an opinion independently of others and aren't likely to bend to the masses then you might show potential as a writer.
BOOK REVIEWS PS Do you love Science Fiction, horror or fantasy books? Do you read? Able to string words into sentences? Then read on...you maybe what we need... If you've survived this far in the editorial, let me reiterate something from the website newsletter and the above editorial. As you can see from the main page, we have one of the biggest SF/fantasy/horror monthly reviews columns on the Net. Our success has increased the number of books that comes in and our policy is to read everything before giving a review. You want the bottom line about what you're going to choose to read. We roadtest books so you have some idea of what you're letting yourself in for. That means we need people actually willing to read the book and tell others what they think in reviews.
For that, we're always on the outlook for more reviewers. Do you think you have what it takes to review a book? It's a skill that can be easily mastered and we need a few more. Apart from the ability to put words into sentences, you also need to know how to précis, do a little research on associated subjects and can express opinions constructively about the good and bad points about the books you read. We even let you choose from our pile of received books rather than foster something on you that you wouldn't normally read. You'll even get a little editorial help in how to write good copy and that can always lead to other things. I did say you have to love books and willing to read beyond your favourite authors, didn't I? If you like reading books in the genre, can really think and show you can write a decent review and, most importantly, live in the British Isles (sorry, expense, time and distance travelled mostly prohibits elsewhere), then use the link below and see our requirements. We can't pay you but a review for the price and regular supply of new books, this has to be a good incentive. We have one of the most popular and biggest SF review columns on the Net. Do you think you're up to writing a review? If you think you can, then you're really going to think you've landed your hands in the biscuit tin. It won't hurt to try and see if you have the right stuff. Look up the Review Guidelines:
WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN CONTRIBUTORS AND WRITING GENERALLY PPS: For those keeping track, I'm still about 24 months (late August 2004 - delays to be understood at the moment) behind. With going through the ebook samples, I have removed some who've gotten published elsewhere. Thank you for your patience but let me know if you've sold elsewhere so I can reduce my pile or if you've changed address, especially e-mail address. I can't give you my comments unless either is up to date. Currently, doing spot-checks to see if you're still there when I reach your sample in the pile is making it easier on my time and catching up on the slush pile. This isn't much of a repeat, just to show you're not forgotten.
Those sending in ebook samples, be prepared for a long wait and read the Guidelines with your mouse here: elsewhere on this website They are there to help you do some of the right things and reduce the number of times I'm repeating myself over silly grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that you shouldn't be making. It makes editing a lot easier if any editor has less work pointing out poor English which should have been sorted out in the first place and more focused on other areas of your work. As a writer, it is your command of the English language and its grammar that will show how serious you are about writing.
NOVEL-LENGTH AND OTHER WRITING General advice for those who want to become writers of any sort: There's an old editorial adage, if you can't aim for perfection why should an editor nurse-maid you to that state? If you're a writer, then you should understand the words, sentences and grammar of the job you're supposed to be writing or are you considering it as mundane and boring as any other job to get right? Fall in love with making every sentence the best you're ever written, read up and understand the rules of grammar. Put the time in researching any subject you're using in the story. Be prepared to put a story away for a few weeks and go back to it for a self-edit. Even I do that. A lot of the time, errors will just stare you in the face when you didn't see them the first time round. Once you know where your weaknesses are, they can be sorted out and allow you to move a little higher up the ladder towards making your material look its best. Look up the Common Problems Link with your mouse here:
SHORT STORY SLUSH PILE Please don't confuse the above link with my short story slush pile which is kinda low at the moment. We're always willing to give short story writers a chance to be seen if they can withstand my scrutiny even if we can't pay for their efforts, your material will be seen by a lot of people. If you can get a short story written well then it'll make it easier to move up to novel length. Look up the Short Stories Link with your mouse here
FLASH OR ONE-PAGE FICTION Don't forget also, we've got a teaching ground of one page stories, so check out the rules elsewhere on the website. Flash fiction stories link : with your mouse here.
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