I was nominated for an award. Wooo! Go me, and all that
there (I think lots of people have been nominated, but that’s neither here nor
there), and I was nominated by Millymollymo here at:
Who is a tremendous writer, with a great blog that I’ve just
spent half an hour reading instead of doing this, and a terrific support to so
many of us out there. Some people just have the lot….
One of the things I was asked to do was talk about three
inspiring things this week (hence why I’m blogging after promising I wouldn’t).
I have to be honest, this is a challenge because, frankly, I’ve spent most of
this week with a flu and haven’t been my usual sparkling inspired self. In
fact, for inspiration it was something of a nadir. But! The cloud has lifted
(ish – read for that, I’ve just had a snooze) and thoughts have occurred. Hurray!
I doubt any of this will be new or startling but here goes:
Inspriring thing one:
Meeting people.
Really, meeting people. Not nodding and moving on, but listening and thinking and
talking. I went to the theatre last night. Okay I was sneezing and coughing and
not the person anyone was volunteering to sit beside but I had the tickets and
I was going to be miserable no matter where I went. In this case, row R at the
Grand Opera House. The show was great. I’ll use bits of it here and there, how
the lights caught the dry ice just so, the rapt quiet of the theatre, the
distraction of the caption machine…
The theatre was quiet. We shifted around seats. We made sure
tall people weren’t in front of us. We shared sweets. We talked about the show
to others around us and why we were there, and who we were with. Someone made
the comment that once the door to the theatre closed they didn’t care where
they were, and a lightbulb went off and somewhere, sometime, a story will exist
to explain that comment, which puts the magic of the theatre in one single,
sublime sentence. And I’ll enjoy the moment of capturing it and remember the
night it was said, and who was there: what they were wearing, who they were
with, the lights around them, the sharp-vanilla smell of the tendrils of dry
ice. Without the people, there’s only one part of the scene.
Inspiring thing two:
Reading. In my
case, this week, that’s reading some stuff I really liked (Zafon, again, just
so lovely to get lost in) and some stuff I didn’t so much (The Lost Fleet – not
character driven enough for me.)
I’ll take something from both of them. From Zafon the use of
description, the deft way with language. From Campbell, the sci fi imagery, the
crisp military command. They’ll all get added to my writer’s toolbox and get
mashed up and turned into my voice, not their’s, and it will make things
rounder and stronger, because sometimes, frankly, a writer has to cheat. I’ve
never been in the military in my life, my character’s a commander-in-chief. One
of us has to make it believeable and, I’m afraid, that’s my job ( I should fire
him).
Inspiring thing
three:
Plants. It’s that
time of the year. I have chillies on my windowsill and sunny nasturiums and
flirty sweet pea. I have seed packets in my box, tantalising me. Winter is, if
not over, receeding and just as I drew inspiration from it, from the soft grey
days and white crispness, so as the spring comes I take notice of it. In fact,
taking notice reminds me of a verse I once knew, about looking above and below,
and left and right, and finding beauty in everything, even if it’s just the
cracked lines of the crazy-paving.
This week, I’ve been lazy and tired and snuffly. I’ve done a
fair bit of watching out the window, and lazing, and waiting for sneezes. We
forget the quiet inspirations – like that after only two days my nasturiums are
softening, and want to be. That we all just want to be.
I hope that all made sense. I’m still a bit fuggy.
And then, some blogs I like. And it’s really just an I like
list, and ones I return to:
And thanks again to Millymollymo! And to those nominated,
you need to thank me, pop the award in a blog, write about three inspiring
things, and nominate others by leaving a comment in their blog as to why and a
copy of the award (except, for me, Teresa’s comments were off, so she’ll have
to accept a virtual reward…) And for the copy of the award, it didn’t work. I’m
not an inspiring webster evidently.
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