JOEL STICKLEY is a British author, performer and creative writing tutor. A while back he published a book amusingly titled 100 WAYS TO WRITE BADLY WELL.

One failed ‘method’ the author highlights is fiction writers trying to inject tension into their stories with the inclusion of the adverb ‘suddenly’, – like we all knew how to do back in the 5th grade.

Kind of like this…

Suddenly, the room went deathly quiet. Then, just as suddenly, the doctor spoke.

‘I’m suddenly not so sure about this,’ he said, suddenly.

Just as he was saying this, he caught a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye. He spun round just in time to see the sudden arrival of an unexpected figure.

It was the soldier from the day before, suddenly limping in with blood on his hands. Suddenly, the doctor understood what had happened.

‘I feel suddenly… cold…’ the soldier suddenly whispered before suddenly collapsing. With quick, sudden movements of his expert but suddenly shaking hands, the doctor suddenly began to tend to the man’s wounds.

‘Nurse,’ he suddenly barked, ‘I need bandages and morphine. And make it sudden.’

Before he could suddenly save him, though, the soldier was suddenly dying in his arms. The doctor suddenly leaned in to hear his sudden last words.

‘Tell my wife…’ the soldier suddenly rasped, his breathing suddenly urgent and sudden. ‘Tell my wife… I suddenly… love her.’

And just as suddenly, there’s this from the time machine…

Suddenly in the mood for a bit of GILLIGAN’S ISLAND? Go on then… click HERE

Florence Henderson (1934 – 2016) had an entertainment career spanning six decades.

She was a singer, recording artist, film and television actress and Broadway musical leading lady. She also hosted several long-running cooking and variety shows over the years.

She is one of those performers who will always be remembered for one role, which in her case was the part of wife and mother Carol Brady in THE BRADY BUNCH (117 episodes/1969 – 1974).

Her auto-biography LIFE IS NOT A STAGE traces her early childhood, rise up through the ranks of musical theatre, stardom and later career highlights.

Henderson was the youngest of 10 children raised in rural Indiana. She learnt to sing at age two, and after numerous early successes in musical theater debuted on Broadway in the musical WISH YOU WERE HERE in 1952.

From 1958 -1961 she became the face of General Motor’s OLDSMOBILE, appearing in many ads and sponsored tv spots for the car brand.

She was also the very first female guest host of THE TONIGHT SHOW.

Her role as matriarch Carol Brady in THE BRADY BUNCH was initially offered to her best friend Shirley Jones (now aged 91), who went on to star in a similar role as mother Shirley Patridge in THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY (1970 – 1974).

In this scene from the THE BRADY BUNCH Season Two episode titled ‘Coming-Out Party’ – Carol Brady gets a surprise diagnosis when a doctor attends the house for her daughter Cindy…

Florence Henderson appeared in a number of movies in the later part of her career, including …

She competed on DANCING WITH THE STARS at age 76 –

Her autobiography is written in a warm, down-to earth conversational tone. I finished it in a week. For a slow ‘n steady / ‘dip in–dip out’ reader, that’s the literary equivalent of a standing ovation.

ACT – TING is a 6-part mockumentary comedy series set in a failing London drama school. It’s pretty funny. If you wanted to take a look, click HERE.

Fans of GILLIGAN’S ISLAND really should click HERE.