Message in a Bottle – 1979 in Cambodia, Thailand, North Korea and Myanmar. Where were you in 1979?21/1/2017
by Meridith Mckinnon Naming this blog post after the song title Message in a Bottle by The Police back in 1979, is no coincidence. And for those too young, surely you know Sting, lead singer of The Police so go google the song! Anyhow, it was kind of like an alliance of the stars…something like that…1979 was the year I started writing, my book begins around this year, and then there’s the lyrics! So, in the words of this song the castaway sends a message out to sea in a bottle and after a year, in despair, he thinks no-one will ever hear him or read his message but then he wakes the next day to find ‘a hundred billion bottles’ on the shore!
Writing is my message in a bottle and my way of finding a voice. Our messages need to be loud and clear and when we think no-one is listening, try harder. When we think no-one listens, speak louder. In 1979 Cambodian refugees fled across borders to escape war as Kampuchean rebels fought to overthrow Pol Pot. I was living ... by Meridith Mckinnon I have been guilty of making the process of writing a book sound simple. I agree the concept, the idea can be easy – anyone, everyone has a story, but I will admit that to write it is the challenge! How did I write my book? The idea had bounced around in my head for a long time. I’m talking probably a couple of years. The characters, or mainly the protagonist, Lek, she was in my thoughts a lot along with her husband. It wasn’t until late 2014 and I was living in Seoul...
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