Lost in Paris ~ Part 1

A couple of weeks ago I returned to Paris for a short visit, retracing some old steps from a trip I made two years ago, but also venturing further afield and braving the Metro system (which was actually really straight forward after studying maps and tips on how it worked).

My biggest fear when travelling alone is that I'll get spectacularly lost in a strange city and attract unwanted attention. I had a brief taste of this my first evening when I managed to walk round in a circle for around an hour and a half because I couldn't figure out if the Seine was in front of me or behind me. And when I sat down to look at a map a Japanese French man tried to persuade me to be his 'amie' and accompany him around Paris. Needless to say I declined his offer, legged it, and got even more lost...

I finally did find my way back to my hotel (with the help of some locals). Taking the more complicated route back also meant I came across a Carousel I otherwise wouldn't have seen. I've got a thing for Carousels and have been dying to get a photograph of an old fashioned one for ages, so I was delighted to come across not just one, but three on this trip, photos of which are below:

Sacre Coeur Carousel

Carousel at Eiffel Tower

Carousel at Hotel De Ville

I had a big sense of 'being in the right place, at the right time', on this trip. When I went on the Batobus after dinner one evening, the boat arrrived at the Eiffel Tower stop just before the first light show of the evening. The lights only sparkle for five minutes on the hour, and we were right underneath the Tower when it lit up. It was quite something being on a boat on the Seine, just as the skies were darkening, and witnessing what looked like a thousand stars explode inside the tower.

My hotel was just a few minutes away from the Shakespeare and Co. bookshop and I made a couple of visits here, enjoying browsing around the books and exploring the nooks and crannies. There's a space dowstairs, like a hole in the wall, where you can sit at an old typewriter. Hundreds of notes from visitors were pinned up on the walls around the typewriter and I left my own note in amongst them. On my previous visit to this bookshop I had hidden a note inside a Shakespeare book (which one, I don't even remember). It was never found, or if it was, the recipient didn't bother to send me an email!

I was lucky enough to be there on an evening where the staff were celebrating the birthday and 450 years of Shakespeare. I joined a crowd outside (as hundreds were already packed inside), listening to the staff perform poetry and songs through the large speakers set up. I could see some staff members standing at the upstairs open window, dressed in Shakespearean costumes, sipping on wine. It must be an amazing bookshop to work in. From the second hand book stand outside, I bought a copy of Morvern Callar (I saw the film years ago and have always wanted to read the book). Not very French, as it's by a Scottish author, but I loved the fact it had cherry blossom petals from the trees pressed into the pages and the girl serving me also stamped it with a Shakespeare and Co. logo.

Upstairs in the bookshop there's a room called 'The Cave' with wall to wall shelves of books, a make-shift bed where some writers have slept when doing talks at the shop, and a piano which the public are welcome to play. I sat in here with some others listening to a teenage girl play a very French sounding waltz. Her friend took over for a while, and played another beautiful melody. That was definitely one of those moments where I felt I was in the right place at the right time, as it just added to the atmosphere of the visit.

Another highlight of the trip was visiting Montmartre, as I wanted to photograph an image of the famous steps with the old fashioned lampposts. It took a few attempts as there was so many people walking around, but I was quite happy with the result (below). The walk up to Sacre Coeur was also a favourite moment, seeing such a beautiful dazzling white building come into view, under a pale blue sky, with a spinning carousel underneath.

I was going to attempt to capture everything I wanted to write in one blog post, but it's never much fun reading really long posts, so I'll leave part 2 till another time...

Natural Phenomena

As I mentioned in my previous '50 Things' post, one of the instructions on my list was to, 'Research Natural Phenomenons'. So what is a natural phenomena? It's basically a non-artificial event; something which occurs in nature and is not man made. Some obvious examples are earthquakes, lightning, volcano erruptions, and so on.

I always like to use my own photos as headers for my posts and I thought it was appropriate to share my 'heart shaped moon' picture, though the grainy quality unfortunately distorts the shape a bit. It's also a bit misleading as I'm not actually going to be talking about heart shaped moons in this post, although I do talk about a moonbow...
So that I'm not breaching any copyrights, I've inserted links which will take you to fantastic images of each of the phenomenas I've listed below.

Here's a selection of some of my favourite discoveries:

A moonbow

A moonbow is like a rainbow, but much fainter, and is created when light reflects off the surface of the moon, reacting with moisture in the air. Moonbows can be seen when moonlight shines on the droplets of water and mists created from a waterfall. This provides the perfect environment for the phenomena to occur.
I came across this great blog post where the writer was lucky enough to witness and photograph a Moonbow at Cumberland Falls, Kentucky. See here for a great photograph.
An alternative name for this phenomenon is Lunar Bow, which I think has a lovely ring to it.

Tree Spiders

During the 2010 floods in Pakistan, millions of spiders spun webs in trees, transforming them into cocoons, allowing them to escape the rising waters. The spider web cocoons gave the trees the appearance of a weird grey candyfloss. You can see images of this amazing phenomenon here
Imagine getting stuck up that tree? Eek.

Light Pillars

In very cold weather, when ice crystals are suspended in the atmosphere, light pillars may form in the sky. They form around natural light sources, such as sunlight or moonlight, but also sometimes around streetlights. The ice crystals reflect light back at us, but as we can't detect the crystals, we are tricked into believing there is a pillar of light in the sky. You can see a beautiful photo here of light pillars in Wyoming.
According to some sources, a lot of people who see light pillars report them as UFO sightings.

The Taos Hum

There is a strange phenomena in Taos, New Mexico, where a small proportion of the population report frequently hearing a low frequency humming noise. This was first reported in the 1990s and no one has ever found the source of the hum. The sound is often intensified and much louder in buildings. Here's a video about it here:
There have been similar stories reported in the 1970s in Britsol (referred to as the Bristol Hum) and apparently in Largs in the 1980s!
Are some people gifted with being able to detect higher frequency noises? And what are they; some weird government experiments that no one is supposd to hear? Intriguing...

Green Lake, Austria

This is amazing; the park which becomes a lake! This lake sits at the foot of the Hochschwab Mountains in Austria and in Winter the area is almost completely dry so is used as a park. When the seasons get warmer the ice and snow from the mountains melt, and the basin of land (the park) fills with water, rising to as much as 10 metres in the height of summer. Divers are able to go underwater during this time to discover a floor covered in grass and benches, with fish swimming through the brances of trees. There's some beautiful photographs of this area in both the Winter and Summer, here

The Migration of the Monarch Butterfly 

Monarch Butterflies are unable to survive the colder winters in North America, so migrate to warmer climates in Central Mexico. Apparently Monarch Butterflies are the only insect to migrate to a warmer climate 2,500 miles away every year. Millions of them cluster together on trees. Here's a beautiful video of them here:


It was this striking image of the butterflies together in the forest which inspired me to write a poem, 'Flight of the Butterfly', which won 3rd place at the Scottish Association Writers poetry competition the other weekend.

This was one of my favourite 50 things tasks so far as I've come across interesting things I wouldn't normally have learned about.

And lastly, a wee reminder to check out Charlotte and Catherine's websites tomorrow, in order to read about their Writing Process!

Blog Tour ~ My Writing Process

There's a blog tour occuring in the world of writers just now, and today it's my turn to tell you a bit more about my writing process (so my natural phenomenon post will need to wait a bit...)

I was handed the 'blog tour baton' by my writer friend, Rebecca, who blogged about her own creative process last Monday here at her lovely new website The Magpie Diaries, which is overflowing with creative thoughts and inspirations.

So here's the answers to the questions I was set, offering some insight into my writing world:

What am I working on?

The project I want to devote most of my time to is my second young adult novel, but I think I've tried to overcomplicate the plot in parts, so this really needs to be stripped back a bit before I get it back on track.  Lately I've been writing a lot of short stories, flash fiction and have recently returned to some poetry. I like the fact I can experiment with my style in shorter pieces and I feel it's a way of trying to teach myself how to improve on the flaws of my longer pieces (such as learning to add in a bit more narrative drive and description). I've also started work on a novellla, but my heart is definitely pulling me back to that young adult novel...

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

For my young adult novels I'd like to think the mystery elements are tackled in a fairly original way, and I like to have a subtle danger and doubt tied up in the main romances as I think that makes it a bit more interesting. A strong female protagonist is important to me, so the challenge is to balance that strength with the vulnerability I think every seventeen year old girl feels.

Why do I write what I do?

My novel length ideas and writing style developed naturally into a young adult focus - I don't think it was something I necessarily consciously woke up and decided to do, although the fact I love reading YA books probably was a big influence! The idea for my first YA novel had brewing for a while and then one day my main character started to fully form in my head and she started to piece it all together for me. I really like writing for this age group as I think there's scope to tackle interesting issues.

I love the freedom of writing shorter pieces and these are for a different audience. I think I sometimes tap into a more experimental part of my creative brain when I tackle the short stuff -probably because it feels safer taking a risk on a piece you're not investing quite so much time in.

How does my writing process work?

With my short stories a glimmer of an idea/situation can pop into my head and I'll just sit down and start writing and see what happens. This can be the way a novel starts too, but at some point I have to try and structure a bit more of a plan. It does amaze me how much your subconscious can work things out before you do. I'm a fast typer which means I like to type everything, though I have lots of notes/ideas/extracts jotted down in various notebooks across my flat. Often if I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea I'll type it quickly in my phone.

Working full time in quite a demanding job can make it hard to maintain proper focus on my writing projects. At the beginning of March I dropped a Monday at work for 12 weeks and the difference this has made already has been great. I'm treating my Mondays like a normal work day - getting up early but instead of rushing for my train, I switch on my computer and sit down and write. Even if I'm not entirely sure I have something I want to write about I force myself to let some words flow. It's been a big lesson in not waiting around for that elusive 'Muse' to strike, something which I have definitely been guilty of in the past.


And so now I pass the 'blog baton' on to two writer friends, Catherine and Charlotte, who will be blogging about their writing process on Monday 7th April. Here's a bit about them with a link to their sites so be sure to check them out next week!

I met Charlotte Bray a few years ago at the SAW writing conference. Here's a taster of what she likes to write about:

For as long as I can remember I've enjoyed writing stories. During my early years most featured my pet cat. 

In adult years, alongside my job as grant writer for charity, I've mainly focused on crime thriller novels especially involving interesting locations. 

The blog started as an excuse to tick off some of the activities I've wanted to do for years.

http://fortythingsforforty.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/list-begins.html?m=1

I've been following Catherine Noble's postings for a while now and enjoyed reading her story Wee Hammy in the Puffin Review (we appeared in the same issue)
Here's a bit about Catherine:

Catherine Noble is a fiction writer from Glasgow, Scotland. Shortlisted for the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award 2012/13, she is currently working on her first novel. She is also a proud member of the Johnstone Writers Group. Catherine's website: www.catherinenoble.com

Another few 50 things...

It's been a while since I've posted about my '50 Things' list. I received my list of tasks at the end of March last year, and originally I thought I'd give myself a year to work my way through them (though there were no rules about a time frame when I signed up for the task). I'm going to extend the time , because the whole point of me signing up to it in the first place was to hopefully experience new things, maybe challenge myself a bit, and step outside my comfort zone. All of which I think I've achieved so far to some extent, and would like to continue working on.

I've obviously not dedicated a blog post to all of the tasks either, so here's a quick run down of some other things I've completed: (besides the ones I already blogged about, 10 Photos, Challenging my Creativity, Climbing a Mountain) -

~ Spend a night star gazing -  I had just visited the Observatory in Paisley a couple of weeks before the list came in so I guess I cheated a bit and ticked this off straight away. I think I should go back again sometime soon

 ~ Have a conversation with a stranger -I've attended quite a lot of events this year both at work and socially, and have probably managed to strike up a conversation with a stranger at each one. What tends to happen to me a lot is that we discover a mutual connection somewhere along the line. Strangers also often strike up conversation with me on public transport and in supermarket queues, so it makes a task like this farily easy to achieve.

~ Plan an overseas trip - since signing up for this list I've been to New York and Barcelona and am heading off to Paris in April

~ Do something spontaneous - All of the above trips turned out to be fairly spontaneous plans. As a whole, I think over the past several months I've been a lot more spontaneous than I usually am

~ Appreciate the small things - This was something I'd already been making a conscious effort to do in general and I think this gets easier the more of life you experience and you begin to realise what's really important.

~ Show your friends and family love and support - I hope this is something I've always done anyway, but it's always nice to have a reminder and I think even small gestures are important

~ Believe in yourself -What does that really mean? I think it's about having a strong enough sense of self that you can get to where you need to be, and even if you don't, then you can recognise that everything is still going to be okay. And I think it's about not being afraid of putting yourself out there - that last part is the challenge, but I'm getting better at it

~ Go to an art exhibition and talk to the artist - Last year I went to a celebration of a new artist's 1 year gallery anniversary and bought her art work. I find it's rare you get to speak to the artist at their exhibition, unless you're lucky enough to go to an opening night. I also emailed an artist whose work I had seen at the Lighthouse to let her know how much I enjoyed her exhibition.

~ Spend a morning people watching - I often go to cafes by myself and sit by the window watching the world go by. When I was completing my small stones task I became more conscious of watching people everywhere. It's amazing what you notice when you keep your eyes and ears open. Often I've been wondering, how much of the world do we miss because we're being told to focus on the wrong things?

~ Break your worst habit - This has to be snacking. I think I broke it for a couple of weeks last summer and then again after Christmas for a couple of weeks but it didn't last! Bad habits are hard to break...

~ Ask more questions -  I always ask lots of questions anyway. This is quite a vague one but I guess what I take from this is don't stop learning and reading and trying to find out about new things.

~ Write a list of 10 things you love about yourself - Not an easy task as we're so great in the West of Scotland at putting ourselves down. I'm not telling you what I wrote!!

~ Rid your life of the things you don't need - I'm gradually clearing out junk from my flat, I have no problem walking away from people who are only bringing negative things to my life, but I guess in a general sense I still hold on to far too many things I don't really need (like that bar of chocolate in the fridge...)


~ Watch the film 'The Edge of Heaven' - This relates to the task below as it was a foreign film, shot in Turkey and Germany.  I just watched this film today and I liked the element of interconnecting lives. It tackled some big issues of asylum seeking and freedom, but for me it didn't explore some characters enough.

~ Watch more foreign films - Recently I've watched 'Rust and Bone' and the Spanish film 'The Secret is in Their Eyes'. I enjoyed them both, particularly the Spanish one as a powerful a scene near the end really stuck in my head. Running through the film was the sense that the past had consumed and haunted many of the characters for years. I liked a quote from it, 'You'll have a thousand pasts and no future.' A warning to one character that he needed to stop letting his memories dominate his life. I really loved watching the French tv series 'The Returned' when it was on last year. There's something about listening to a story being told in a foreign language which makes the plot seem more philosophical and deep.

~ Embark on a creative project - I always have a couple of writing projects on the go, and I think I'm going to sign myself up to take part in the sketchbook project again this year. And putting together a Memory Book for a friend was a big creative project I completed too!

~ Give a friend a spontaneous gift - Thinking back over the past few months, I have achieved this a couple of times, without really consciously thinking about it

~ Set yourself 3 significant goals for the year - 1. Dedicate more time to writing 2. Send more work out 3. Don't sweat the small stuff  All on track, so far, with dips along the way

~ Go on a roadtrip - This depends on your definition of  a roadtrip. Can going on a trip somewhere in a car with friends, if you have snacks and fun, count as a roadtrip even if it's just to a writing event in Stirling for the day? All of my longer trips have involved trains and planes.

~ Try something off the menu you wouldn't usually order - At the weekend I tried Cranachan for dessert, not something I would usually go for. And I soon realised why...

~ Write a Dream Journal for a week - I'm not sure I've managed this for a full consistent week but I've certainly made an effort to record more dreams. I often have very detailed and vivid dreams, that play out like a long weird film, often leaving me feeling quite exhausted when I wake up.

~ Research Natural Phenomenons - I'm going to dedicate my next blog post around this as I came across a few interesting things, and it also sparked off a bit of creativity

Not a bad attempt so far I think. The ones I'm REALLY putting off are the baking/drink making related ones (they make up another 6 or 7 on the list), so I may enlist the help of friends for those. I am also going to have to really set aside the time to spend a day completely without technology and a day in complete silence (it would make sense to do those on the same day). Wish me luck!

Flash

Following on from my previous post, I thought I'd let you know that my goal 'have self belief and keep submitting' is going well, as I've had two flash fiction stories published over the past week.

The first one, 'Empty Orchestra' was published by The Puffin Review and you can read it by clicking here


My other one, 'At The Fair', was just published today on Postcard Shorts. You can read that by clicking here


Small successes such as this really help spur me on and I hope I can keep up the momentum of writing and submitting for the rest of the year!

A selection of 'small stones'

Last month you might remember I decided to try a January writing challenge, to write 'small stones' throughout the month. The idea being:
~ Notice one thing each day
~ Give your whole awareness to it
~ Write it down

Last year I already started to write an 'inspiration' type journal, capturing observations, snippets of everyday life, ideas, thoughts and so on. I used this challenge to form shorter, more poetic/creative type observations and it has definitely been a good way to kick start my creativity for the year.

In the past week I've written some new flash fiction pieces (or returned to old ones to edit). Something else which helped, was reading the opening pages of my Mslexia Writing Diary (which my Mum very kindly gave me - thanks Mum!). The article 'Your Creative Journey' encouraged me to consider my writing ambitions, reflect on what I accomplished last year, and set myself new goals for this year.

Goals can sometimes be restrictive if you make them too specific, so I decided to set quite broad ones such as 'Let go of the fear and just write' and 'Have self belief and keep submitting'. The first one was quite important as lately I've been over analysing my new book too much, worrying if it's good enough, where is it heading and so on. So the decision to return to writing shorter forms for a while, just freeing my mind and seeing what words landed on the page, has definitely banished that fear and allowed me to re-discover the fun of writing!

Here's a selection of my 'small stones' from January below. Did anyone else take up the challenge or set themselves writing goals for the year?

*Note - the first small stone was inspired by a film, just in case you're wondering what kinds of things I was 'noticing' throughout Jan! 

A tender caress soaked in ruby red; danger, scorpion sting, passion, blood. Tainting the innocent hope of love, trapped by destiny. 

Winter Trees: Spindly, rigid branches like old men frozen in time, reaching for the stars, waiting for the kiss of Spring to awaken their rotting frame.

A face which wears its worry. Every hurt, fear and disappointment her son inflicted, is etched into her lines, tarnishing her own forgotten youth.

Pink balloons tied to a red gate, blowing in the wind. The house looks deserted, lights out, silent, as if the balloons belong to a forgotten party.

Train flashes past yellow fields – a glimmer of light awakening this dark winter morning.

Heart shaped tangerine peel abandoned on the top step. Layers peeled back, the best bit consumed, now the rest…left to rot.

Local girl climbing a lamppost, one trainer clad foot balancing on the handlebars of her scooter. ‘Just try me,’ a look of defiance stretching across her face as she reigns above her ginger haired follower.

Small Stones

Happy 2014 everyone! This is just a short post to alert you to a writing challenge I came across through another writer friend on Facebook, which originates from a website called Writing Our Way Home. For the whole of January the challenge is to write a 'small stone', a definition of which is:

~ Notice one thing each day
~ Give your whole awareness to it
~ Write it down

From the examples on their site, (they encourage people to leave their small stones in the comments), it looks like a lot of people are writing very poetic small stones. It could be a good way to kick start some inspiration!

I'm going to use one of my lovely notebooks I got at Christmas to record my small stones then I'll post a selection of them on here at the end of the month. Have fun!