WORDS in ACTION

True to form, it’s been quite wet and this morning it’s very misty.  The rain however is very welcome to farmers who were moving cattle around to find grazing, and to gardeners whose forks were bouncing off dry earth.  June was  sunny and the temperature still quite high (for here!) so it still feels like summer to me.

Work is quieter too.  My aim to devote time to write has not quite gone to plan but I’m not beating myself up about it.  Family commitments and ongoing servicing of work projects have got in the way.  It is good though to have some time to spend reading, and returning to the habit of writing something regularly even if it’s not a major opus!

I’m reminded of two things.  Virginia Woolf famously said that a woman needs a room of her own if she is to write.  I would also add a ‘head of her own’ – space inside the mind, uninterrupted by concerns and responsibilities.  Not easy to achieve!

The other lesson relates to the world of coaching.  So many times, clients have begun a session by ‘admitting’ that they haven’t carried out the actions they promised themselves.  It’s really good as a coach to be reminded of how challenging it is to make changes and to do things differently in the context of everyday life.  It’s also a reminder that goals need to be realistically identified.  Yes, sure, we need to have high hopes, big visions and all that stuff.  But the day-to-day steps along the journey need to take into account the reality of our lives.  It’s an interesting tightrope to walk -balancing the overarching vision with learning to live to the max in the present moment.

Day 1 went according to plan at least so far as the writing time went. I stuck to the resolution not to switch on email until 3pm. I wrote a blog, a piece of verse, and 1195 words about my spiritual journey. I’ve opted for that non-fiction project because I’ll be going away for a sort of work/holiday sandwich shortly and this kind of writing I find easier to pick up and put down. Fiction or drama needs total immersion!
Things went pear-shaped after that with phone, broadband and printer problems that leaked into today so I didn’t manage the morning start. I picked up again this afternoon though.
For anyone looking in from the ‘strictly business’ side of WORDS in ACTION, I have not abandoned you! Still booking work for the future and maintaining current commitments. Summer though is quieter and so a great chance to put on the writing hat.

Last night I sat up (well. it was late for me!) to watch ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’.  I had worked on various bits of admin until the back of ten and wanted something different to divert my mind.  I’d never seen this film about the editor of Elle who suffered ‘locked-in syndrome’ after a severe and rare sort of stroke.  He wrote his memoir by blinking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to suggested letters of the alphabet arranged in order of frequency of use. 

This morning I’m beginning my ‘official’ writing time. Some weeks ago I blocked out some weeks over the summer for writing and reading – the non-fiction I was on about the other day.  I’m not completely free of work-related tasks but I have a plan.  Morning is my best time for  any sort of creative endeavour.  So, no email switched on until the afternoon.  Phone on voicemail.  What am I about to work on?  How will I go about it?  I’ll be blogging about that – it’s a way of observing my own progress. 

The experience of Jean Dominique Bauby puts in perspective the typical moans of the writer.  How agonisingly slow to dictate letter by letter. Apparently his early mornings were for memorising what he planned to ‘write’ so that it was in his head ready when his amanuensis arrived.  Time to begin.  It will be facinating to read the actual book but not yet!

I’m not one to read late into the night unless I’ve reached the closing pages of a novel. I can lift and lay a book until the point when it’s finally got me in its grip and then I read while I eat, while I cook, while I wait for the bus. When children were small and objected to my attention being directed towards anything other than them, I occasionally locked myself in the loo to enjoy the last pages in peace.
Plot alone won’t do it; it’s got to be decently crafted with characters convincingly rendered. But the addictive pull of narrative is so strong that I become lazy about reading non-fiction unles it’s directly connected to an issue I’m really fired up about.  I have a queue of books that I really do want to read but which somehow end up taking second place to the next fix.  So, I’ve blocked off time this summer to write, yes, but also to read. Non-fiction. When I’ve read the David Guterson I’ve just borrowed…

As you can read in the newsletter, I’ll now be blogging about all sorts but I won’t be neglecting the topics of writing and reading! I’m in the middle of the first Hilary Mantel I’ve read – Wolf Hall. I’m impressed by her writing and her ability to integrate lively historical detail in a way that the impatient-with-detail (moi) can cope with. I find it moving and entertaining. It deals with Thomas Cromwell’s relationship with Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII. At one point Cromwell is returning from 12th night junketings and meets up with some friends of his son:
‘As they near home a boy dressed as an orange rolls past, with his friend, a lemon. ‘Gregory Cromwell’ they call out, and to him as senior they courteously raise, in lieu of hats, an upper slice of rind.’
I’d love to know if that is pure invention or an anecdote gleaned from a contemporary diary. Even if so, how deftly put!

The novel is placed out of sight as is the telly in an attempt to get through today’s to-do list.  Andy Murray, Wolf Hall or work…hmm

I’ve never seen so many natural wonders in one walk as I did the other evening. Taking advantage of the long light night, a pal and I went walking at the south end of the island. The sun was behind us so everything ahead was lit, a stonechat on top of a gorse bush, copper breast against the blue sky; two enormous hares; a lochan with yellow lilies coming into bloom standing upright out of the water beside huge fanshaped green leaves…I could go on and probably will as more amazements come to mind.  I didn’t set out to do a travelogue for Bute.  I’m still just astonished that every corner we turned yielded something else marvellous.  So to the pal who persuaded me on a three and a half hour hike – I owe you one!

Well here I am blogging again in a new space!  Welcome to visitors old and new.  The ‘wordswordswords’ blog was specifically about writing and reading.  Here, I’ll be writing about whatever comes to mind at the time.  Promise or a threat?  You decide.  Comments positively encouraged.

I moved house in November to a bright flat in Rothesay.  My spacious office has a view of trees, and the grassy expanse in front of the council buildings across which a few chickens occasionally potter.  Is the council going eco-friendly and keeping free range hens?   No, they just wander in from a nearby garden.  Quite homely, really.

The new website is a bit like having a new home for the business.  This one will have several ‘rooms’ – the main pages of the site, the blog, the newsletter and links to Facebook and Twitter.  I hope you’ll enjoy visiting the virtual home of WORDS in ACTION.  Do let me know what you think.

The newsletter will resume a more regular pattern so if you haven’t signed up for that, you can do it here.

‘Frying an Egg’ will stay up for those of you who enjoyed the occasional writing challenge.  Summer is a good time for that so watch out for a fresh egg being popped in the pan.  Gnomic?  Depend on it.