"A bag of letters written by my father in West Africa"


“For many years, I have been wondering how I could turn the bag of letters written by my father, in West Africa between 1942 and 1944, into some kind of story.”

That’s what someone told me an email I received last week.

I was excited by the coincidence of this particular request coming in November, because every year in November I think about offering a month-long course* on making an heirloom of family stories.

A family project of that kind seems like a good thing for people to do in the run-up to Chanukah / Xmas / Wotever.

So I replied to the person who sent me the email - the daughter of the man who wrote the letters in West Africa during WW2.

I asked her on WhatsApp if she would be happy for me to share some ideas with her semi-publicly, using my podcast. Why? Because I’m sure it could be useful to others who want to work up a story in some way - and not just a family story.

​Find out what happened. (Link to podcast.)

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*Course. AKA entertainment, project, or extravaganza - doesn’t matter what you call it. But whatever you call it, it would be based on The Family Project, a book I co-wrote with my wife a few years ago, published jointly by The Guardian and Faber & Faber.

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Drawing of Hands Drawing

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This Week’s Art

“Painting:

Church Row, Hampstead. View from the Church.

Oil on Canvas (unframed), 40x50cm, 2022

Photo of me holding up one of my oil paintings, showing Church Row, Hampstead, with an old-fashioned streetlight blazing in the centre between two trees, and light from a car’s headlamps shining on the wet road surface.

NOTE: Weirdly, when I post something like this on LinkedIn, it gets a heck of a lot more likes and engagement than stuff I post about writing and speaking.


Available for Sale

View details and purchase

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Special Projects Members

That request (above) about working up the bag of letters was submitted to me by a long-time supporter of my Special Projects, in response to this offer by me: https://flintoff.org/1person1thing1hour​

COMING UP for Special Projects members:

Want to join Special Projects? Please send me an email and I’ll tell you how.​
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Till next time.

JPF

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John-Paul Flintoff

📖 7 Books in 16 languages 📚 including: How To Change The World A Modest Book About How To Make An Adequate Speech.

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