I have this contention that I can turn on the writing on three monthly cycle. Then I thought I’d bucked the trend when I started writing ‘seriously’ and then I realised that I’d not written for a few months.
Life just has a repeating habit of overtaking. Like for example you clear out the basement – and it’s taken you three years of mental effort to get there – and then the next week you turn around and it’s full again. Close your eyes for a second and the road wobbles away alarmingly.
Still, I just cleared out my in-tray and discovered some pieces of paper that I found in a book the other week when I was away on business. I needed a note book to take with me and I grabbed one that I’ve not used for a few years. Inside a few typed pages. Here’s a brief idea of what I discovered about myself:
“Think of:
- What Churchill said – Never, never, never, never, never give up.
- What that singer said about Churchill inspiring her.
- What David Lynch said about not being scared about completing something and getting it out of there.
I need to be able to tell a story in a narrative fashion. The problem with planning a book and filling out the chapters is that by the time I have written the whole plan, I’ve changed my mind.”
Yes, I can see that nothing has really changed in the last five or so years there then.
“I leave the house by the nearest exist – the laptop sits and blinks to itself for a while before thoughtfully spinning down into quiescence. The house ticks quietly to itself while I am out – the last echoes of the door slamming translated echoingly into fridge hum and whisper of planes up above.
Outside the street offers a harsh counterpoint to my quiet morning. I generally rise early and spend the first few hours working hard at a task. I drink tea and I stare out of the window as I chew my pencil end – I look at the backs of my hands hovering over the keyboard. I clean the kitchen. I use the hoover on the wooden floors. I put on the washing machine and wait for the postman to arrive.”
Moments reaching back in time from moments reaching back in time.
