I’m having one of those days when I’m trying hard but not getting anywhere. This is the reality of being a self-employed writer: aka not-got-a-proper-job layabout! Hopefully this will be reassuring for many of you – the grass is not greener on the other side.
It is part of the human condition that we sometimes imagine a better life floating above us, just out of our reach. As you may know, I enjoy reading as my escape. Right now, I’m snorting with laughter in to a great Teach Yourself book called “Get Started in Creative Writing” by Stephen May. I also like to read bits of poetry…no wonder I spent so long thinking I would make a passably good English teacher! Some of my favourite lines about dreaming are:
“At night, the impatient soul dreams of faraway places.
The Aegean: all marble and light. Where, upon a beach
As flat as a map, you could bask in the sun like a lizard.
The Pole: where, bathing in darkness, you could watch
The sparks from Hell reflected in a sky of ice,
The soul could be happier than where it happens to be”.
These are the central lines from The Wrong Beds (after Baudelaire) by Roger McGough. I hope he doesn’t mind me using them here. I can wholly recommend his publications and I am his friend on Facebook (he doesn’t know I exist).
When I read, I can project myself in to the wonderful imagery. Don’t get me wrong. I live a life of great privilege and joy but sometimes, on a grey January day like today, it would be dull, cold and deadly boring without something to brighten, lighten and warm it up.
Slow-Cycle 