Be a Magpie
This is my big lesson for the day, or the last few weeks, really: there is something in everything. Even the banal or everyday can be tipped up, peered at with half closed eyes, questioned or otherwise manipulated into something fascinating.
It slows life down deliciously. I’d already worked out the way to experience life at the speed of a child; notice every bit of everything (even cleaning your teeth); never autopilot through days; and get close up, look from different angles, get physically close. Have you lain on your back on your upstairs landing lately? I did last week, in my pyjamas, bare feet against the cold wall, while Andy brought in the Tesco shopping. I’ve never had a relationship with the hall before, now it’s something more than a transit zone.
Every course exercise at the moment is about taking bits and pieces from here and there, asking questions about it, letting it take you on tangents, and using it when you can. Today in the Day School, as three of us developed a group story from the characters each of us had created, those details started to pop in from all the freewrites, memory associations and even from eavesdropping on the train, and everything got richer.
Next steps: focus a bit, grab some of the swarming snippets and do something with them. Tomorrow.
It slows life down deliciously. I’d already worked out the way to experience life at the speed of a child; notice every bit of everything (even cleaning your teeth); never autopilot through days; and get close up, look from different angles, get physically close. Have you lain on your back on your upstairs landing lately? I did last week, in my pyjamas, bare feet against the cold wall, while Andy brought in the Tesco shopping. I’ve never had a relationship with the hall before, now it’s something more than a transit zone.
Every course exercise at the moment is about taking bits and pieces from here and there, asking questions about it, letting it take you on tangents, and using it when you can. Today in the Day School, as three of us developed a group story from the characters each of us had created, those details started to pop in from all the freewrites, memory associations and even from eavesdropping on the train, and everything got richer.
Next steps: focus a bit, grab some of the swarming snippets and do something with them. Tomorrow.
posted by Liz at 1:25 PM
1 Comments:
It's relaxing, isn't it, when you slow down to notice detail? And it freshens up writing beautifully. I love that image of you looking at your hall for the first time. I drew mine once. I became very familiar with it!
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