Picture books, paper goods & pretty things.
“All the arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing is the purest distillation.... Your job isn't to write words on the page, but rather to transfer the ideas inside your head into the heads of your readers.” - Stephen King
Every year I start January by making a list of my creative projects that I’m working on. And I realise that every year some of the same incomplete projects appear again & again. Somewhere in the back of my mind I know something is holding me back. Especially with my writing. It’s subtle but it’s there. So I started reading Tara Mohr’s book Playing Big this week to try to finally get past this. And within one chapter I’ve had a bit of a moment of clarity. I know I have a fear of *being seen*. But why? Well, here goes, I’ve realised my inner critic is a combination of the voices of the people who bullied me at school. I was studious, I loved learning and I was bullied for that. Meanwhile our lives were a little different & that seemed to cause a stir. A couple of times my mum took us out of school for 3 months at a time & we disappeared off to Spain. From April to October she ran a water sports business & we would spend most of our summers by the lake. We had a speedboat outside our house. We were a little bit unique and this drew attention & comments. But wasn’t everyone unique? I didn’t understand why other children were mean to me just because of who I was. It made me shy & made me want to hide. I tried to ignore it, I tried to ignore them. I carried on working hard at my study and writing but felt like I was keeping my head down. So is that what I am still doing now? Keeping my head down? Because of those kids when I was at school? There’s more to this. But surely it’s time to break this habit? Surely it’s time to say, thank you inner critic, thank you bullies, it’s time to find the courage to put my head up and to step out of the shade & into the light.
I miss handwritten letters. Texts and social media posts and messages are so hurried and brief. I used to love writing letters. And receiving them. I still have shoeboxes full of them from family, old friends and boyfriends. They are full of fondness & the minutiae of life. Chit chat about daily comings & goings. A magical, slow way of living & of capturing a moment in the loops & lines of the words.
I can’t walk past the National Portrait Gallery without popping in. How wonderful to see such masterpieces so easily. These two particularly caught my eye today.
A little pit stop for a coffee & a pain au chocolat in one of my favourite cafes. I liked how the colours made this little set up almost look like it has been staged. Pretty : )
I listened to a very absorbing Super Soul podcast this week in which Oprah spoke with Michael Pollan about conscious eating. He spoke about how in the past food was treated with so much more reverence & gratitude. People grew and harvested their own vegetables & fruit and therefore had knowledge & experience of the work it had taken to get it to the table. The family gathered & ate from one pot making it a truly communal experience. I’ve been vegetarian for about 30 years but found it interesting that Michael explained how meat was especially revered. In days gone by a priest would bless the animal and everyone would be thankful that it gave it’s life for them. It was a fascinating, engaging listen. I’d highly recommend it you’d like to think more about what you eat.
This song, it just makes you stop. So beautiful and so perfect for a Sunday.
Love is so hard to find... And even harder to define.
I love a simple Mediterranean way of eating, a chunk of bread & sweet raspberry jam, a small bowl of perfectly ripe apricots & coffee fresh from the pot. It reminds me of when my mum lived in France and we would sit on the balcony to eat breakfast & watch the world go by. When my mum moved, we didn’t know the details of our ancestry, she just felt compelled to spend time there and to learn the language. Then it came to light that her great grandfather had moved to England from Paris in the 1800s. There was a more profound reason for her wanderlust. Days like today make me reflect on how I came to this moment and with the stillness of the heat & simplicity of the food in front of me, I can feel my family history coursing through my veins.
I’ve been really enjoying Lee Foster-Wilson aka Bonbi Forest’s Instagram photos and stories lately. Her style is so pretty, kind and full of heart. You can really tell that she is completely true to herself when she creates her designs. I have several of her enamel pin badges on my shopping list.
This is a lovely interview between Lee and another artist I love, Mel Chadwick. Sit down with a cuppa and enjoy : )
I've seen Johnny Marr played a couple of times, both amazing, unforgettable nights. Watching him makes you realise that music runs through his veins. I like how the tone of this new song is so Smithsy but also laid back and comfortable in its own skin.
