Spring has Sprung

‘If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? – Percy Bysshe Shelley

Spring has arrived the last hurrah of Winter, and our spirits awaken, from a long Winter’s slumber.

Branches that were days ago bare start to bud with new growth, and birds sing with new purpose.

Even in the times we’re experiencing, we feel the stirrings of hope, and renewal.

Over the long Winter season, we sowed soulful seeds of gratitude, order, simplicity, and harmony into our lives.

Now its time to harvest an authentic gathering of contentment, and abundance.

‘Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the sense but the soul.’

– Oscar Wilde

 

Karen Gribbin 
https://www.instagram.com/studiocone10/

We can now interpret, and experience the world through our senses. Our ability to smell, taste, hear and touch.

More and more we need to look after ourselves. Go for the walk, eat a good breakfast, stop rushing around, take time to think and rejoice in the small things.

For the next two weeks, I’m asking you the pause a moment each day and marvel at the natural gifts given to us.

Today, I ask that you look at the blue sky, hear the birds sing their love songs, and let the fruits of the earth linger on your tongue, reach out and embrace those you love, or if this is not possible in person, given them a call or send them a message.

Ask the Spirit to awaken your awareness to the sacredness of your sensory perceptions.

Don’t be too busy.

Don’t put it off.

'To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exit, that is all.'  - Oscar Wilde

If we can’t give ourselves even an hour per day to ourselves, then we need to rethink what we are doing to ourselves and our relationships.

Karen Gribbin https://www.instagram.com/studiocone10/

Take time to have coffee with friends, cooked breakfast on Sundays, curl up and read a book. Care for yourselves. 

Live, don't just exist. 

THE READING JOURNEY

Over the last week I’ve been on a reading journey.

This is a bit different to my usual way of doing things, my reading material at times jumps all over the place, you could say reading is a passion in my life.

As I’ve said time and again, the more you read, the better the writer you’ll be.

But I digress, back to my recent reading journey.

Hadley Richardson 
  hemingwayhouse.com

Paula McLain is an amazing author, her treatment and style when descripting people and places is extraordinary.

“The Paris Wife.”  Fictionalised history has always been a winner, and from the first sentence; I was hooked.

The novel fictionalises the life of Hadley Richardson, the first wife of Ernst Hemingway, who were married in September 1921, and has forever changed my view of Ernst Hemingway.

What an emotional rollercoaster their marriage recreated against the back drop of 1920’s Paris, and France in general. There came a tragic separation and divorce, that Hemingway regretted for the rest of his life.

Travelling on to “Love & Run” set against the backdrops of Spain, Cuba, England, and Europe. 

Martha Gellhorn, a pioneering war correspondent, and Hemingway's third wife. 

Gellhorn wrote about the effects of the Great Depression and the ravages of war on the disadvantage and relocated. A style of journalism  not seen at the time, covering Spain, France, Czechoslovakia, and Finland.

Martha Gellhorn
explorethearchive.com

Gellhorn and Hemingway covered the Spanish Civil War together, and while away started a romantic relationship.

Gellhorn’s relationship with Hemingway was always rocky, she was quite career orientated, and Hemingway often resented the competition with his own career.

Besides the torturous relationships of  Hemingway and his wives is the richness of Paula McLain’s writing, you feel every emotion along the way, but its also her rich depiction of the places these couples lived, she artfully brings Paris, Cuba, 

Spain, and London alive with colour and energy.

On a fictional historical roll. I picked up “Circling the Sun” set in Africa, my dream travel destination. McLain recreates the life of Beryl Markham, racehorse trainer and breeder, adventurer and aviator. An amazingly remarkable woman.

Beryl Markham (nee Clutterbuck) was born in 1901 England, moving with her father to Africa as a child.

In 1942 Martha Gellhorn interviewed Beryl about her autobiography “West With The Nigh.”

Of course, I could not move past this connection, and travelled onto Markham’s autobiography.

Beryl’s prose is poetry in motion, walking along side her into the  African countryside. with all the love

Beryl Markham
brittanica.com

and passion she has, as she considered her native country.

The people she knew are all there in vivid glory, large as life are, Bror Blixen, Isak Dinesen, and Denys Finch Hatton.

Beryl Markham’s depiction of Africa and her lifelong tribal friendships are much richer than Karen Blixen’s reedition in “Out of Africa.”

These four books could lead me anywhere. Rich and exciting, are the stories of strong women in times when women had to be tough to get what they wanted. 

What I’m getting at is this journey was an excellent experience of two different examples of writing, different ways of treating the telling of history.

LIVING THE DREAM

 A few months ago, I made a life changing decision.

It was like an epiphany. At 62 years old, suddenly I thought, why am I waiting until 67 for a pension that will in all probability not be there for me at the end.

 I came to the conclusion, that life was too short to keep putting my dreams on hold.

Louise Hay 

 What did I do?

 I left my paid employment to follow those dreams.

To write, take photos, cook good food, and travel.

 I would finally work from home, I’ve worked from home before (we all have over the last 2 years), the difference this time, working from home, means my own work for a change.

I put my faith in myself with a feeling that all would work out, and before I knew it, a freelance contract was offered by our local newspaper.

When you put your spirit on the line; the Universe always kicks in.

Why am I telling you this, because I want you to know, there's never a time to be ready to follow your dreams, you just have to do it. 

There’s never a better time like the present, and financially, I’m sure it’ll all work out.

It’s been the best change I could’ve made for myself. I can see and feel the difference in a short 8 weeks.

It wasn’t that I didn’t love my job, it’d just ceased being the best option for me.

Now, I’m doing what I love.

Interacting with people and writing about their experiences for the paper, never thought my business card would say Reporter.

 Being freelance, I can do as little or as much to suit my own situation.

 After a lifetime of working for others. It was time to put my own foot forward for a change.

 Time for me. Sounds wonderful. It is wonderful.

 The remainder of 2021 will be used to heal and rest, and work towards my goals for 2022.

My Instagram page is up and running , growing all the time. Check it out at  https://www.instagram.com/studiocone10/  its all about having a good time, being healthy, food, photography, and life in general.

One of those goals is to produce an online creative writing course, the other to write a collection of short stories. I might even finish my long struggling novel.

Exciting times indeed.

Watch this space for follow-up plans.

Steampunk Watson

Victoria Sterling flinched at the knock on the door, but kept on typing. She wanted to get this article finished before the steam ran out of her typing machine.

Magic Mykonos

The three colours of Mykonos, grey, blue, and white. 

Reading: Pleasure or Addiction

I was affronted the other day when a friend asked if my Reading addiction interfered with my productive life...

What You Know

When I conduct Creative Writing Workshops I never use the phrase

'write what you know.' 

Believe me when facing 10-15 students the last thing they want to hear is 'write what you know.' 

Ripples

Skin blisters under the sun, lips swell to twice their size. He can see every ripple as the waves come ever closer.

The Simple Truth

Janis Joplin 

Janis Joplin stares down from over the fire place as Rita wakes in a narcotic fog that could close an airport. She pushes herself back up onto the lounge using the coffee table as a lever, her hand upends the cereal bowl, and it skittles across the floor, settling itself against pillows, plates, books and other floorboard debris.

Delicious Delectable Description

The last thing you want your Readers doing is skipping great tracks of your story because your ‘description’ is long and boring, and likewise, if you use description to pad out your word count, then it will be a foregone conclusion; your Readers, will get plenty of exercise, skipping pages.

 

The Last Egg

    Kira squats behind the bins in the alley, she pulls her head back as a cloud of flies rise up from the surrounding garbage. The smell penetrates her conciseness.  She’s never been in the Dead Zone, until a month ago, she didn’t even know it existed.  
In the Clean Zone where she lives its always  sterile, like a science lab, surprising herself, she realises the decay is welcoming, enfolding, in keeping with her mission, reminding her of the lies everyone in AI are living under.

It's Time

Hello Australia, as we rage towards the silly season I've had the thought the usual Christmas has not as yet taken place, not even started to pace itself out. 
The stores are...Empty.

Animal Photography

I’ve been taking photographs since my Pop gave me a little Kodak Instamatic for Christmas when I was 12 years old. The model that had the little cubes on top for the disposable flash.

One of my fav photography subjects is animals and birds. Both can be hard to capture due to the nature of their environment.

The Novel Begins

Motivation is one of the biggest killers to a good writing schedule. If you listen to the greats there is no tried and true way of keeping the flow going. Some authors write in the mornings, some in the afternoons, and then there’s the night owls that write all night. 

Sharing My Work

I though I'd make Fridays a great day to share work.  Yours and Mine.

Writing pieces can be any genre, part of a larger work, fast fiction, or poetry. 

The only thing I ask is that we keep the the piece to 500 words. 

A limit of 500 words makes the reading manageable, we all have busy lives. 

I'll kick start the process with a short piece I wrote recently for Nambucca Valley Writer's Group. 

I would suggest any budding or experienced writer join a writers group. Its simply wonderful to meet with like minded people to share your ideas, and to hone writing skills. 

I've been a member of NVWG for over 10 years off and on as life dictated. I love these people, they have a very special place in how I interact with myself and others. 

Anyhow, I digress. Something  I do on a regular basis, bear with me 😎