Wanderlust

As I once again fill my suitcase with far too many clothes in preparation for another trip away, I've taken some time out to update my blog as I feel it's been far too long since I've sat down to write anything more than a few scribbled lines or ideas. The good thing about travelling to lots of new places and being busy is that it does make new ideas pop into my head, and I know once things slow down again I'll at least have some fresh material which I'll then attempt to shape into something coherent.

A highlight of one trip was stumbling across a private members club in Perth (Scotland). On the walk back to our hotel one evening my friend and I noticed some lamps shining in the window of an old building and we made jokes about it looking like a Vampire hang out. Then a man appeared out of the side door asking if we would like to come in for a look around. And in we went. The main room was decorated with ornate furniture and elaborate paintings and a bar was set up at the side. The owners - a male and female - enthusiastically told us about their 'private club', how they didn't like to advertise and preferred to choose who attended. The woman kept going on about the 'girls' who came to drink and party; how they liked the quiet and safe environment. As we got taken on a 'tour' and were offered a drink my writers imagination went into overdrive and part of me wondered if we were both going to be taken hostage and join other unsuspecting 'girls' in some old attic. That didn't happen obviously. My photos of the main room don't do it justice.


During the same break, I came across love padlocks on a bridge in Pitlochry. I never imagined to see this tradition in such a rural part of Scotland. It made me think back to my trip to Paris in April (where part of their bridge has now fallen apart under the weight of the padlocks!). This bridge looks very sturdy and robust. I'm sure it could handle a few more declarations of love (so long as the keys aren't being thrown in the river as that pollutes the water).

The other weekend I was in Cardiff catching up with a friend I'd not seen for ages. The stunning castle is just a stones throw away from the busy high street which makes the city feel like a strange contrast of modern and old. There was a medieval festival taking place, so it was enjoyable to walk around the castle grounds pretending I had stepped back in time for a while. There was even a battle re-enactment but I was more interested in the amazing gothic architecture.














Au revoir for now as I head off on my next adventure!

Everything, everywhere

Sometimes when life gets busy the writing has to take a back seat for a while. And a conversation today got me to thinking about the importance of fitting in some creativity into the every day, even when time is limited. That then got me thinking about what creativity actually is, and I think it can be as simple as how you view things and situations in every day life- you know in those boring moments when you're caught in the rat race of travelling to work on the same route, following the same routine. If you keep your eyes open, there's usually something a bit out of the ordinary waiting to be noticed and turned into a story or an interesting photograph.

Sometimes I'll find inspiration in the most unexpected of places - like on a quiet afternoon walking down my local dreary high street I'll spot someone who makes me look up and wonder, 'What is their story?'.  An old man pushing an empty wheelchair intrigued me enough to get filed away in one of my many notebooks and later became a character in a story which is currently awaiting publication. (The only thing my character had in common with him was the empty wheelchair - I never spoke to the real man and visually I created someone else).

Other times I'll see an image of something and experience that 'light bulb' moment of inspiration. I was going through photos on an old mobile phone the other week and I came across the picture at the head of this post which inspired my whole blog. The photo is of a window display at a great little shop called 'Urban Empire' on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. As I caught sight of my reflection in the glass, whilst looking at Alice in Wonderland paraphernalia, I thought about how Through the Looking Glass would be a great name for a blog about observations of life (and the computer screen would be a metaphor of sorts for the glass). This was a good few years ago and my Mum had often suggested I start a blog, but I had put it off, not knowing what on earth I would write about. The trip was a good starting point to my posts, and having a name for the blog gave it some kind of a purpose...

The other night I was at a gig, (Owen Pallet - who was amazing live), and something about that evening inspired a whole set of scenes for a novel I've been thinking about for a while. Even although I've barely put any of this book down on paper my mind was working in overdrive that night -presenting the opening scenes and playing out key moments of the book in my head like I was watching stills from a movie of the characters' lives. When I got home I frantically scribbled down as much as I could remember. I don't think the book is ready to be written yet, but at least I feel like I've made some progress, even if my word count is practically non existent.
You can click here to listen to one of my favourite songs from the gig, The Passions.

I sometimes think taking time out from actually putting words and pictures down on paper is as valuable as when you do finally get around to finishing the final piece.

And on that note I'll leave you with a paraphrase of a Burton Rascoe quote: '...a writer is working when (s)he is staring out the window.'

Create

Over a 12 week period from March to May I had Mondays off from my day job to devote to writing. Unsurprisingly it became my favourite day of the week.I treated it like a work day, getting up early, making sure I had a some words down before lunch. Never before had I looked forward to working so much on a Monday! Any creative person who works full time I’m sure can identify with the frustration of having to go into the office on days where all you want to do is lose yourself in words or art. 

Knowing I only had this luxury for 12 weeks really helped me focus and I completed at least one or two new stories, (sometimes spending some of the time editing old ones), every Monday. Some I’m really happy with, some I’m not, but the important thing is I got words down on paper.

My original aim had been to complete my second YA novel but I realised I wanted to use the time to focus on a different type of writing and experiment a bit.

There were moments where I started to overthink and panic, thinking I might waste the whole day staring at a blank computer screen. If lines weren’t flowing for one story, I would simply abandon it and move onto something else.

One weekend in amongst my Mondays when I was feeling a bit demotivated and uninspired, (and probably having a bit of a week where I was doubting my writing, amongst other things), I sat in a café reading through a helpful little booklet which was free with Writing Magazine, called ‘Just Write’ (7 days of inspiration to unlock your creativity). I liked the NO RULES in bold at the top of the booklet, because really when you start setting yourself strict rules in writing that’s when your words stop flowing…

I paid particular attention to the Neil Gaiman quote in the book: ‘Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do. Make good art.’ (taken from Neil Gaiman's commencement speech 'Make Good Art' delivered to the University of Arts in 2012).

On leaving the café I stopped in at Waterstones in search of a book I’ve always meant to read called ‘The Artists’ Way.’ As soon as I walked to the art section a different book caught my eye. It was called ‘Make Good Art’. Yup- it was Neil Gaiman’s whole speech in a creative book form! So I sat and read the whole speech (you should look it up - you can hear/see him speak it on youtube). Some very encouraging and inspiring words for artists everywhere.

The weekend after this I met up with a friend for a late birthday get together. The photo at the top of this blog post is part of her present to me. The ‘Create Happiness’ pencils and the blank journal seemed like another sign that I should continue with the making and the creating!

So now my Mondays off are over that’s the challenge – to keep making good art and figure out a schedule which works for me to make sure I give myself time to do this.

A friend recently recommended an interesting book called ‘Daily Rituals: How Artists Work’ by Mason Currey, which documents over one hundred famous writers'/artists’/musicians' working routines. I envy the writers who can get up at 5.30am (some as early as 4am) and function.

I've come to the conclusion that it's probably best I don't try to think too much about a writing 'routine' and instead focus on getting words down anytime, anywhere that I can, and worry about the sentence structure during moments of calm.

So that said, I think it's time we all got off the internet to go and make some good art!

Lost in Paris ~ Part 2

On a walk along the famous Pont des Arts bridge, I stumbled across a tour party and listened with interest to the guide's stories about the famous 'Love Padlocks' (pictured above). Apparently the Love Locks started to appear in 2008 as a result of the famous scene in the last episode of Sex and the City, where Carrie and Big kiss on this bridge. Romantics from all over the world came to share a kiss on the bridge, leaving a mark of their eternal love by writing their names on a padlock and fastening it to the bridge, then throwing away the key into the Seine. The guide joked that if you look close enough you'll see three names on some padlocks, as the French are fond of the Menage a trois. He also said that local boys tend to buy combination padlocks if their love is insincere.
The trend has become so popular that Pont des Arts is now overflowing with padlocks, and the trend has extended to other bridges across the city.

Locals have started a protest to get them removed, and the government is taking steps towards this (the day I was on the bridge a panel had already been taken away). They believe the padlocks are ruining beautiful historical structures as the weight of the padlocks is damaging the bridge, as well as altering it visually. Environmentalists have also been leading protests, as the keys being thrown into the Seine are polluting the water. I like the quirky trend, but I can understand why the locals want to preserve the beauty of their city. I love the fact some couples have now resorted to clipping their padlocks onto the lamp posts...

I love walking around the St Germaine part of Paris - this is where a lot of famous artists and literary types used to hang out back in the day, and I think it has a really magical atmosphere. As soon as I stepped inside Jardin de Luxembourg I felt the same sense of calm I experienced on my last visit. I enjoyed watching children sailing old fashioned boats on the pond - there's a sense of stepping back in time in this park and this image only added to that. The photo I captured of the boats is one of my favourites from this trip.

One of my favourite discoveries on this trip was the Stravinksy Fountain, which is outside the Pompidou Centre. The whole surrounding area is like a Surrealist exhibition, with interesting grafitti on the walls and steps, and the bizarre sculptures in the fountain itself look like something from a Tim Burton film set. I spent a lot of time walking around the fountain, taking photos of the sculptures from different angles. The more I looked at it, the more bizarre it became!

What added to the whole scene was when a gang of young men arrived, and sat at the edge of the fountain, dressed in black and purple studded clothes, with spiked or dreadlock hair. They looked like futuristic rebels from a dystopian film and had quite an intimidating air about them. They kept laughing amongst themselves as if they knew a secret about the fountain none of us ignorant tourists had any clue about. I was too scared to take a photograph of them! Wish I hadn't been such a chicken now.

A peaceful moment was sitting in Park Jean XIII, which overlooks the back section of Notre Dame. You can see so much gothic detail on the building from this angle, that it's a nice place to sit. A local Parisian man sat down beside me and chatted for a while, telling me that the Illes St Louis part of Paris has become so expensive only rich Americans and Italians can afford to buy apartments there. He told me that the leaves of the trees in this park are magic, and that if you leave them in water for 6 months and then pour it into your plants they bloom within days.

What made this trip, was the quirky hotel I stayed in, Hotel Notre Dame.  My friend Rebecca had blogged about it after her stay there last year and I loved the unique/arty style of the rooms. The real selling point was the prospect of having a room overlooking Notre Dame and the Seine, which I got. Nothing quite beats the sound of the bells of Notre Dame ringing in the early morning.

Paris, I look forward to a part 3 sometime.

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