Finding the time... at last

Well, I didn't quite manage to post anything on Sunday. I think I was all out of words. One thing about doing an MA in creative writing is that, well, you do a lot of writing. I sat in front of my computer on Sunday night and just could not conjure up any words to fill the screen, so I thought I'd save it until my batteries had recharged.

Currently I'm sitting in the library at Winchester University. I'm on a computer situated by a long wall of floor to ceiling windows. The playing field is below me to my right. Normally there are groups of students running about, warming up before football or hanging around in the late afternoon sun. Today though, with the clouds hanging so thick and heavy, there's nothing but pink blossom, fallen from the trees that edge it, and scattered over the grass and worn mud.

I love being back at Uni. I get a rush of excitement every time I step in through the doors to the library. It covers 4 floors. My old Uni in Bath consisted of one floor... pretty much one room really. I don't know if it's just a distraction from real life and trying to avoid work but I think I could do this forever.

In my last post I mentioned that I was part of NANAWRIMO. Well, I've not got very far towards the 50,000 words yet. In fact, I've only done just over a thousand. This is mainly to do with finding the time and energy to participate. But, I'm hopeful I'll manage a few more thousand at least...  for now, here's an extract from the story I've started. It's called Spy Game. It's the result of a writing exercise in class. It's aimed at young adults:

      Amber felt stones and flint digging through her jeans and into her knees.
      Her hair was slick with sweat; she could smell the rancid scent of her body beneath her clothes. She trembled; her head a fog of disjointed memories. Her vision was blurred. Figures loomed around her. Voices blared through bad static.
      She could taste blood in her mouth; her hands were numb from the plastic bindings that tied them. She tried to remember where this had all begun.... it had started with ice-cream...and something... something...
       She had been scared.
       But even that feeling was so buried beneath weariness and pain that it no longer seemed to matter.
       In the distance she heard a jumble of click-clack noises. Her heart sped up; she groped her mind for clarity.
        A cacophony of shots.
        Her shoulder exploded with white heat. Her body jerked back. Warmth spread through her and she welcomed it.
        She felt herself hit the ground in a distracted way. The solidness beneath her head was comforting. She could fall no further.
       There was a dizzying brightness above her. The warmth was leaving. Seeping out onto the gravel. She would have smiled, but her mouth could no longer do that. So she closed her eyes and drew in the whiteness and thanked him for peace.

I'll keep you updated on my progress...

And finally...

Meanings to the words from my word collection below:

Jactation - a restless tossing of the body OR to boast and brag

Brobdingnagian - of enormous size

Frabjous - Wonderful, elegant, superb, or delicious.

Hobbledehoy - an awkward, gawky young fellow.

Fossick - to hunt, seek, particularly for an object to make gain (e.g. mining for gold).

Slugabed - One who stays in bed until a late hour; a sluggard.



Bye for now,

rb x

A date with an artist...

Or rather, an artist's date (see last blog post).

When I talked about this last time, I emphasised how artist's dates are supposed to be for you and for you only (i.e don't bring a friend along). The more I thought about this, the more I felt it was probably aimed more at people who have regular jobs, a family, and basically no time for themselves at all. For me, it's different. I am on my own pretty much all the time. So for my artist date this week, I decided to make a concious effort to surround myself with people.

As proof that the universe supported this decision an old friend of mine who I don't see very much emailed to see if he could stay over as there was a wedding in the area. Normally my defense mechanism would kick in: social interaction is dangerous - avoid! avoid! avoid! But this time, I overruled it and set myself to manual control. Basically, I said 'yes, come and stay.'

As the weekend drew nearer I was plagued with misgivings. I worried we would have nothing to talk about, that there would be awkward silences, that I wouldn't get him off the topic of Playstations and X-boxes. All in vain! In fact we sat up until 2am drinking red wine and talking about books, tv, film, love, relationships, travel... most nourishing for my inner-artist, and my soul. The best bit was a late night text from another friend inviting me to join her for a long walk in the countryside the next day. My friend and I were delighted to accept.

Sunday was sultry and hot and G and I roared off into the Dorset countryside with a picnic in my rucksack, memory card in the camera and a taste for adventure. We arrived in the car park of Badbury rings raring to go.

Badbury rings is a beautiful spot. An old Iron Age fort overlooking Dorset country. The inner sanctum is crowded with beech trees and sun dappled paths. I felt like we were entering a fantasy novel by Charles De Lint, I'm sure if we had waited long enough a spirit guide would have appeared and asked us to choose a path and follow our destiny.

However, we had many miles to tread and so we began the journey proper on a long roman road, the sun high in the sky and feeling like we were in the beginning of the movie 'Stand By Me.'

What followed was one of the best days I've had in a long long long time. We spent a perfect June afternoon bumbling about the countryside. We got lost a little, adventured through fields of barley and fields of 'hmmm - not sure what it is, beans maybe? peas? cabbage?' that grew higher than our heads and were splashed with the red splatter of poppies. We dabbled in streams as clear as air and as cold as ice. We ate lunch in the shade of an old 13th Century church. We followed a river that twisted and turned through meadows rich with flowers and dragonflies and we waded through a river-ford when we realised we'd missed the stile.



We arrived back in Badbury Rings car park just before 5pm and there was a flurry of activity as we all changed in or around the car. It was time to take G to his wedding reception.

The evening was spent getting lost down country lanes, chatting in pubs and politely gate crashing weddings to semi-dance to a fantastic Gypsy Jazz Band.

A wonderful wonderful day.




And yes, I have continued my morning papers. Next post will be revealing some of the tasks I've been working through this week.

For now though, here's a quote to ponder...

"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark."

Until next time,

rb x

The Copy and Paste Project

Hello again,

Imagine this post as a big toe being dabbled into the waters of crafting and blogging. Inspired by the Copy and Paste project’s first birthday party last weekend, I have decided to attempt their challenge (here) to reuse some images created by Kirsty in some way.

I really loved the images, especially the colours and textures, and they immediately conjured up scenarios and story. My finished picture is trying to tell a story. It’s a bit rough around the edges as I made it sitting cross-legged on the floor surrounded by bits of paper and with my cat Tilly sitting on all the bits I wanted to use. I’m quite pleased with the result though, not least because I actually did it and then even managed to blog and post it! So here are photos as proof. The quality isn’t great, but I think you can get a sense of what it’s about..

The bunting above the two figures reads: ‘A Party Brings People Together’

I wanted the colours to conjure up quite retro ideas of a party - the sort of sitting-around-in-your-kitchen-looking-silly-in-party-hats kind of party as opposed to ultra cool and glam get togethers.

The challenge was part of the Copy and Paste’s first birthday celebrations. It was the first time I’d ever read the blog and it sucked in me in on first read. It was a good weekend to get hooked. With 30 posts over two and a half days, some written by guest bloggers, I really felt as though I was meeting lots of new and exciting people.

I love parties where the guests are an eclectic mix of people that don’t know each other well. It’s sometimes surprising who you get on with. Meeting new people gives me a real buzz - people are endlessly fascinating. So, when I put together my story-picture I wanted to get across that feeling of being an odd one out at a party and then suddenly meeting someone that you connect with in a surprising and unexpected way. Someone you never would have come across in your normal every day life.

The girl and the monster are actually left overs from a workshop that never ran, inpsired by a shadow puppet blog that I can’t find again - I will keep searching for it in order to credit him here.

They are lifted up from the page letting them stand out against the background and giving it a 3D quality.

There’s lots I’d like to improve on it, but at the same time I’m really pleased with it because it represents something that I have been scared of doing for a while. Nobody may ever see these pictures, or read this blog, but I know I have done it and that is a very good thing.

That’s all for now.

Rosie xx