Moving into Autumn
If I have been quiet of late, it is because I have been writing. The summer events season is behind me and now the longed for emptiness returns . Only when we cast out the noise and the chaff can we listen to the silence. Then we wonder why we have spent so much of our lives on the transient. Little by little, lifetime by lifetime, we chip away at the rock of stubbornness, intent on exposing the seams of gold.
Next weekend I’m off to Tenerife for a few weeks where the distractions are fewer still and I have a reasonable hope of both exploring the emptiness and also of being productive. I’m working on three projects at present.
‘To Wake A Sleeping King,’ a metaphorical narrative reached its sixth draft earlier this year and is now in edit with my indefatigable editor of many years standing, Dr Stephen Carver. I cannot praise his review skills highly enough- he leaves me no corners to hide in! Hopefully I’ll receive some feedback while I’m away.
‘Forest Pathways,’ my third collection of metaphorical short stories, essays and verse, has now reached the 30,000 word milestone, though progress has definitely slowed on this in the last few months. There was something about the emptiness of the Forest during lockdown that was particularly conducive to the flow of this book. I know the momentum will return when the time is right.
Most recently I have started a new work, a fictionalised memoir (working title, The Minotaur’s Story, though my titles can change several times during the creative process). The honesty required for such a work reminds me of the quote often attributed (though wrongly I am told) to Hemmingway, ‘Writing’s easy - all I do is sit at the typewriter and bleed.’ To reach deep into the dark places, where you store what is hardest to look at is profoundly challenging but I know no other way to smelt the gold.
On my return I shall be straight back into the winter events season, with two single day and two multi-day appearances scheduled - details on the events page.