Having read many of the blogs myself now, I am struck by the quality and passion of some of the entries. As an (academic) writer myself, I appreciate the amount of time and effort which has gone into writing, crafting and editing the entries so that they are both informative and entertaining. Being old school, I can cope with authoring word documents and basic stuff but find blogging somewhat daunting myself. Being impulsive by nature, the immediacy of it scares me. I like to write prolifically but take time to shape an article. I find the process of writing and articulating my thoughts very liberating from the orthodoxy of police writing where accuracy, brevity and clarity are the key words which guide our writing in a professional capacity.
As a former career constable who retired at 25 years service and being aware of other forms of police writing as opposed to blogs and blogging, I would like to add another strand to the debate by asking if any bloggers or followers do any other form of writing?
Has anyone authored a book, a novel or written short stories that are influenced by life and/or work experiences? Is anyone writing their memoires – or has written their experiences down and thought – that was cathartic - but I could never publish that. I have.
What is it about blogging that is so attractive? Is it its immediacy, or is it that it allows us to tell short stories and vignettes? Why not write a book in the manner of John Wainwright’s ‘Pride of Pigs’, or after the fashion of G F Newman - books that tell of a gritty realism that cannot be achieved by biographies. I/we would love to hear from anyone who has written creatively.
I would like to end this post with a question / statement – Do serving officers live in a storied reality – discuss!
References
Newman, G.F., (1970) Sir, You Bastard aka Rogue Cop, The New English Library.
Newman, G.F., (1972) You Nice Bastard, The New English Library.
Newman, G.F., (1974) You Flash Bastard aka The Price, The New English Library.
Wainright, J., A Pride of Pigs, Quartet Books, London
