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Wednesday 11 December 2013

When do you get to just be?


 
The Christmas tree is up and my fountain pen's enjoying a rare outing as I work my way through the Christmas card list, but what I’m looking forward to most is just being. I hosted for eighteen last year and this year we're going to my dad's for a few days. No post, no bills, no important emails, no food shopping, no cleaning to be done, no clothes to be ironed and no need to get up early. Time to see family, to consume food and drink and to just be.
 Jules Wake and me at the RNA London Chapter lunch-a great afternoon
I was on a train last Saturday, en route to the RNA London Chapter lunch and I resisted the temptation to check my mobile and to read my Kindle; to see if I could survive a train journey without them, like in the old days when I didn’t have a book or newspaper and I had to look out of the window. Just being heightens the senses. You notice the way the sun catches the light on the leaves, yellowed by autumn; the clickety-clack of the wheels on the track, the whoosh and whistle as another train zooms past, the tannoy announcements when the train pulls into a station, the beep beep beep warning that the doors are closing and the way they slam shut. It was nice to let my mind wander and see where it went. And it wandered to…I must write my December blog post soon. What should it be about? Just being.
Just being has to be good for you doesn’t it? And essential for writers, because when else do you get to do that vital thinking? When else can ideas pop into your head, how can they when all those other thoughts are fighting to be thought about?

Today I had an idea for a series of children’s books whilst having my hair done; yes, I’d love to write children’s books when I’ve rewritten the end of Book 1 and finished Book 2 and mastered the art of short story writing, if that’s possible (I’m working on one of those too). Who knows if writing children’s books will happen? By the time I get around to it, my children will probably have grown up, but it’d be nice to give writing one a go. Just being allows all sorts of ideas to drop into the inbox of the mind.

And here's a pic taken on the lovely Lizzie Lamb's phone at the RNA Winter Party (thanks Lizzie!). I did wear the gold shoes, mentioned in my previous post and they did make my feet very sore indeed...
Liz Cooper, me, Lizzie Lamb, Shani Struthers
Hope you have a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year! And thank you for all your support in 2013.