catching up on correspondence

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correspondence, letters, photo, photography, post, writing

Ever since most of my bills went digital the clack on the letter flap on my front door is rarely heard. And I think my postman must be getting bored as he doesn’t seem to need to come quite as often as he use to. But when he does, the soft thud of letters falling to the floor make me smile.

With that in mind I decided to catching up on my correspondence and spent most of Sunday evening with a pen in my hand. There is something quite rewarding about writing down your thoughts knowing someone you care about will read them a few days later (sometimes a few days more depending on the speed of the postman). Delayed gratification in the day and age of instant demands.

On a shelf in my study sits an old wooden wine box filled with cards and envelopes I’ve collected, some over years, others only a few weeks old. And part of the joy of picking up my pen and writing to friends is selecting a card that I think they’ll like, one I can see them smile about, maybe even laugh or giggle, when they open up the envelope.

Now that the letters have been written, the envelopes sealed, addressed and stamped, all I need to do is drop them into a letterbox and wait to see if I’ll get a reply.

For some it may seem odd that I enjoy the old-fashioned way of correspondence when a simple click of a mouse can send an email that will be read within seconds of writing it, but for me the enjoyment of a physical letter is much larger than a few virtual lines on screen. After all who has ever stuck a funny email up on their fridge or reread a fb message years after it was sent?

And who knows, maybe my postman will no longer be bored and have a few letters in his bag for me too. I’ll just have to wait and listen for the clack of the flap on my door and the soft thud as letters land on my floor.

a few letters ready to be sent

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from online to paper

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art, books, Dublin Book Festival, Ireland, literary magazines, Magazines and their Makers, publications, reading, writing

After spending my Saturday in the world of blogging my Sunday afternoon was filled with the written word on paper. The Dublin Book Festival was hosting the event Magazines and their Makers, a session with editors and publishers of five of the leading literary magazines in Ireland.

As an avid reader and an attempting writer it was interesting to hear from those who take the chance and publish less mainstream works. It seems that Ireland is experiencing somewhat of a ‘golden-age’ of literary journals and magazines as over the past few years several new ones have joined the more established names.

Most of the magazines on the panel, like Gorse, Crannog, Cyphers and Winter Pages, all focus on fiction writing, poetry and other forms of artistic collaborations The Dublin Review also focuses on non-fiction writing in the form of essays, reportage, travel writing and memoir writing. 

When asked why choose print over online all the panel seemed to be of one mind. They expressed their love for the published form as an object, something tangible and long-lasting. They spoke about how our ‘instant age’ has the desire to ‘slow down’ and ‘concentrate’ on what is in our hands.

And while all are more or less are classified as magazines they saw their literary collections as ‘artisanal’, nothing that would be quickly disposed of but would be an item to collect and take pleasure in time and time again. Of course each magazine is of its time, but like a time capsule it conserves it and gives insight into the years gone by.

Another thing that all of the editors and publishers on the panel agreed on was that the magazines were not created for the writers but for the readers. That no matter what form they decided on, what pieces they chose for publication, how well constructed something is or how experimental a writer goes, if the reader isn’t included, isn’t able to partake it will not work.

All in all it was refreshing to experience people who invest so much time and effort into the literary form even if financial success is very unlikely.  There truly is something inspiring about people who do things because they love it.

the power of words the force behind this train

a book turned into sculpture, the words brought to life

caps, gowns and hat hair

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American College Dublin, cap and gown, celebration, donuts, graduation, graduation ceremony, hat hair, masters, MfA, writing

Yesterday the sun came out in Dublin to celebrate my graduation with me. It was an early start as all graduates had to try on cap and gown at 8.30 am. Everyone showed up dressed for the occasions, and while some cleavages were lower, some heels higher, some beards scruffier and some outfits more casual than others everyone looked great.

So gowns were shrugged on and caps placed on heads and I suddenly realized that I had never considered the possibility of hat hair as my freshly washed hair was plastered down by the black mortarboard balancing on my head. But I decided that was the price you pay for having the privilege of donning cap and gown when graduating.

The ceremony was long – some of the speeches even longer – but the atmosphere was great. even if the presidential election was barely mentioned (unusual for an American college in Ireland) and Trump’s name not uttered.

For me the biggest surprise was when I was handed my parchment and I discovered it was just an empty piece of paper rolled up  and tied with a blue ribbon. My degree still rests in the hallowed halls of the college and I’ll have to drop in an pick it up one of these days.

It feels great that I’ve achieved this goal can now call myself a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) even if I still think I may be only a Jack of all trades …

graduation parchment – just an empty piece of paper

celebratory donuts

spinning a web

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business start up, business strategy, networking, new business, start up, work, writing

Over the last few weeks I have been looking at starting up my own business – a one woman endeavour to make sure I can keep paying my rent.

I have been working my way through the paperwork involved: taxation, registration, bank account, start up costs etc. A business plan is written, a logo designed and now I am working on a webpage and strategy. At the same, when I am not sitting at my desk trying to figure out what I need to do, I have been trying to network.

Networking, that awful verb that fills so many of us with dread, is something that seems to be at the core of any new business. Who do you know, who do you need to meet, who do you connect with – all thoughts that twist your mind up into knots when you enter a room full of strangers.

However I have decided to not see it as a time consuming, soul destroying exercise but as fun activities that allow me to meet lots of interesting people, learn new things and form a few new social and professional contacts.

And so far this attitude has worked well for me. I have met a few wonderful people, lernt more about starting up then I thought I would and, completely unexpectedly, I have found that most people are really helpful when they hear you’re are at the very beginning of your adventure.

So I will keep spinning my web of new contacts over the next while and hopefully it will help me create my new business and the pattern will turn out more beautiful than I can imagine.

celebrating my Masters

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cupcakes, Dublin, masters, perfect day, photography, photos, writing

You know those days where everything just seems to go wrong – you get up late, you spill your tea, you miss your bus and it just all goes downhill from there – well my Friday was the opposite of that. It was  a day filled with pleasant surprises.

The sun was shining so I walked into town as I was asked to teach a few extra hours, much to mine and my back accounts delight. The day went well, the students were great and I had exactly the perfect amount of material prepared, not too much as to be rushed and not to little as to run out.

I had to switch classrooms and buildings so on the way from one to the other I came across a little cupcake place that was doing a special so I purchased one on a whim – hazelnut and caramel –  a treat for later, it was if I knew I’d have something to celebrate.

On my way home the bus pulled up just as I got the stop and since the card machine wasn’t working I got a free ride. Back home a pair of free tickets to a film were waiting in my letterbox and the books I ordered last week arrived as I was shutting the door.

The guy who was  fixing the shower (it broke on Monday as I was washing the suds from my hair) had left and the show was working again, with a little extra power. But the best was yet to come, a ping into my emails and I found out I had completed my masters successfully. Relieved and happy I made myself a cup of tea and enjoyed my cupcake, celebrating my masters in the sweetest way possible, the perfect ending to a near perfect day.

bookish week

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All We Shall Know, books, Donal Ryan, Emma Donoghu, readings, Rick O'Shea, Rick O'Shea's Book Club, The Wonder, writing

As Autumn settles over Dublin I’ve spent the week indulging in one of my favourite pastimes – books. I listened to Emma Donoghue talk about her latest book The Wonder and enjoyed hearing Donal Ryan chat with Rick O’Shea about his newly published book All We Shall Know.

One of the things that I found particularly interesting was how differently both authors talked about how they write. While Emma Donoghue explained that she was ‘hopeless at plot’ and thus needed to plan out her story, Donal Ryan seemed to take more of an organic approach to where the story would go by allowing his characters to find their own way on the page.

Both authors are full time writers but while Emma Donoghue enjoys the freedom this provides her, while trying to find the time to work between picking up her kids and drop them off again, Donal Ryan is planning on returning to his old job because he prefers the security of knowing where his next paycheck will be coming from.

‘I use to be a civil servant who longed to be a writer, now I may be the only writer who longs to be  civil servant’ was how he put it in his own words. And the reason for this is his belief that he will be more disciplined with his writing: ‘Now it takes all morning to go to the post office, but when I was working I was religious about spending three hours every night writing. I had to be.’

Now the week is coming to an end I can’t wait to spend an afternoon escaping into the worlds these writers have created and with the weather inviting me to stay indoors wearing woolly socks, drinking cups of tea I think my plans for Sunday are now made.

 

can’t wait to know whats hidden behind this cover

the latest book by Emma Donoghue

back to blogging

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blogging, forming habits, habit loop, habits, pic, quotes, Reward, routine, three Rs, writing

After a month of internet exile and one filled with finishing up my masters it is now time to get back to blogging. The only problem is: where to start?

After all after months of absence and my days filled with mundane tasks and the usual daily grind it seems I have fallen out of the habit of coming up with ideas. But then new habits are hard to form and take about 21 days to actually stick (they also take three weeks to dissolve).

For the next month my goal is to create a new ‘habit loop’ by reminding myself of what I want to do and following the three Rs, allow the routine to take and then reward myself for following through – a cup of tea or a 15minute break or maybe even just a pat on my shoulder.

Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken

Warren Buffett

 

writing outdoors

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Germany, no internet, novel writing, work, writing, writing out doors

After two weeks of (failed) attempts to access the internet from where I am staying I have finally given up. It still frustrates me and rives me demented that I can’t just quickly look something up when writing but I have arranged to drop in on my mother every now and then to surf the web and get work done, not ideal but the best solution for now.

Thankfully I have been getting some some writing done, I even managed to top my goal for 7000 words last week (I wrote 8350) and am delighted. After all I have so much to catch up that every extra word, page, chapter counts.

What has surprised me most of all is how well I write out doors, something I have never done before and was amazed to find suits me. Sadly the weather hasn’t always been on it’s best behavior so I need to use the usually dry hours in the morning to get as much done as I can.  And it seems to be working.

I have two more weeks left at the house and hope the mornings will stay dry, helping me get my writing done!

a big cup, a gift from my big sister

the blue bench I sit on

just birds and bees disturbing the peace

Germany – the land that denies me access to the World Wide Web

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Gremany, internet, surfing, travel, Tschibo, Vodafone, World Wide Web, writing

I’ve been in Germany for a week now and it has been filled with the search for the Internet. A search that has not been overly successful. 

In theory it is really easy to join the surfers of the World Wide Web, practically near impossible. My first attempt frustrated me with its failing. I bought a stick, dongle or whatever you want to call it, added on some allowance and tried to surf the web, but I never caught a wave. 

The stick was by a company called Tschibo – winner in price and simplicity of usage – but their advertisement was false, just plug-in and off you go turned into me cycling back and forth into the village and calling Tschibo all to no avail. The next attempt was the local electro store, here at least I had some customer service but eve he was not sure he could provide what I need – ‘you can buy this stick (Vodafonr this time and three times the price, plus the allowance double the price as well) and give it a go, but the coverage isn’t too good and I doubt it will make you happy.’

My wonderful sister then drove me to Cuxhaven where a lovely guy from a big brightly coloured media store told me that if my hotspot doesn’t work, neither will a stick. He showed me how to get myself setup, so now, if I climb two flights of stairs until I’m up under the eaves, and sit by an open window, and it’s not raining and not too windy, and not after 5pm I can try and access the Internet. It doesn’ always work but at least I can try!

Who knew that Germany – such a successful and rich country – was so far behind when it comes to Internet coverage. And sadly this may mean I will have to cut my plans short as I won’t be able to work with so little access to the Internet. I’ll try it for a few more days and see if I can make it work, if not I’ll be packing my bags again and finding a new refuge for a few weeks.

International Literary Festival Dublin

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Anakana Schofiel, authors, Dublin, International Literary Festival Dublin, Ireland, Lucy Caldwell, reading, Selina Guinness, Svetlána Alexiévich, writing

Ireland is known for it’s writers and this week Dublin is celebrating all things literary. Yesterday evening I went to a talk with two wonderful Irish writers: Lucy Caldwell & Anakana Schofield. They both read from their books and engaged in a lively discussion about character, language and setting hosted by lecturer Selina Guinness.

It was truly inspiring to listen to two successful writers talk about what they do and listen to their hard won words. Sadly their weren’t that many people in the audience, those who didn’t go really missed out, but since we were such a small crowd I got the chance to exchange a few words with the authors – and both were generous with their time.

On the way home, a bright green bag holding Lucy Caldwell’s short story collection Multitudes swinging by my side, I felt really lucky to live in a city that celebrates  authors and gives them so much space.

me getting my book signed by Lucy Caldwell (courtesy of ILFD)

Tonight I will be listening to Svetlána  Alexiévich, the Belarusian investigative journalist and non-fiction writer who won the Noble Prize in Literature last year, the first journalist to ever have done so and only the second non-fiction writer since Winston Churchill in 1953 to have been given the prize. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say and hope to get my copy of her book signed.

There are more events I’ll be attending as the week turns into the weekend and I hope that by listening to all these acclaimed authors some of their words will steep into my fingers and help me on my own literary endevours.