ONE YEAR ON.....

This time last year (August 2015) I was a few days into an adventurous once in a life-time holiday.  I had turned 60 and had never travelled alone.  It was a challenge and dream I set my sights on, subconsciously, many years ago.  Then it came into reality.  I travelled by car, plane, taxis, coaches and two ferries and arrived on the wonderful island of Skyros for a Writing Holiday that really had an impact on me.

I met a group of fantastic people and was tutored by the amazing Monique Roffey, whose words have echoed in my mind throughout the past year, "Just F***ing Write it."  I loved her, she was a total inspiration and made our 'class' times very valuable.  I was privileged to spend my birthday evening with her after a day of great joy with the others in the group too.

 

I have been reminiscing by looking again at my collection of photos, being in touch with those who I met, by connection of Facebook, Twitter and emails.  Looking back on my achievements since then I can be proud of myself and be thankful for the wonderful experience that continues to be my 'kick-start' into taking my writing seriously.  Here's what I have been doing in this last year :

• Had articles published in YOURS and TAKE A BREAK RECIPES magazines
• Completed an Open University 'Writing Fiction' course
• Written and posted many BLOGS
• Resubmitted my Children's Books manuscripts to several publishers
• Had monthly Church Magazine articles printed.
• Attended Tamworth Literary Festival meeting established and new Authors*
• Attended two Author and Blogger Meet Ups in Birmingham hosted by Kim Nash of Bookouture Publishers*
• Spent six days at Swanwick Writer's Summer School, Derbyshire*
• Finished 90,000 words of my novel and begun the editing process.

*scroll down to read blogs about these items

 

Perhaps two years on, one year on from Swanwick Writer's Summer School, I will have had more magazine articles published and perhaps a novel.  Watch this space.



 

Six Days at Swanwick Writer's Summer School

I'm a 'white badger' at Swanwick Writers Summer School, Derby.  No, not a badger animal but a 'first time attender'.  We were given white coloured name badges to distinguish us from people who have attended before; they have yellow badges.  There are 50 white badgers amongst a crowd of 500 delegates and I have to say we have been made most welcome and cared for.
On the first evening 'Ambassadors' sit at the dinner table with us and help new delegates get to grips with how things happen in the dining room.  I have Lol Barnes to thank for taking my dietary requirements to the chef and organising a non-monotonous menu for my stay, which I was very grateful for.  (I can't eat anything with oil or fat in at the moment - so no fried or roasted foods).

The programme became my bible for the duration of my stay as I found myself referring to it at least six times a day to see 'what's next'; where in the lovely buildings I was meant to be and what course I was attending on any given day or part of the day.  Meal times and coffee break times were also important, as were times when the bookstall was open, the bar and The Hayes Conference Centre's own little gift shop.  For those able to enjoy the full range of foods and drinks available it would be hard to resist the biscuits and cakes at the break times and the puddings after lunch and evening meals.  Food for kings and queens - it was a banquet.

The green cheesecake with dried flowers on top was so
hard to resist as was the chocolate cake.
Fresh sweet strawberries were most welcome though.

For health and sanity reasons from Monday onwards I opted out of late night entertainment and one or two short course sessions in order to rest and actually write!  Here's what I did attend and thoroughly enjoyed :

• The First Year (White Badge) Reception - a lovely glass of red wine and welcome.
• After Dinner Guest Speaker - John Lamont - a very lively Scot who had us all laughing and learning at the same time.
• Short Stories - a 4 part course led by Linda Lewis who is a regular writer for women's magazines.  I will certainly be submitting more short stories to various magazines in the future.  Linda was clear, precise and a no-nonsense teacher.  Very good.
• Writing Picture Books for Children - a 2 part course led by Pat Belford which gave me the answer to questions about my own unpublished books that I needed to hear.  What a lovely gentle but informative class, much enjoyed.  Thanks to Pat for appraising my Children's Books.
• Facebook Group - a closed group of Swanwick writers was available to join and it was good to put faces to names of people who are on Facebook.
• Flash Fiction Workshop led by Veronica Bright.  Something I can do but haven't, will certainly be submitting a few of these too.  Thanks Veronica.
• Unwind your Mind group 4 sessions (see previous blog - scroll down) led exceptionally by Zana Lamont - practising Mindfulness, meditation and Tai Chi.

Unwinding - stretching, claiming the space around us, getting ready to meditate.

• After Dinner Guest Speaker - James Runcie - (Yes son of former Archbishop Runcie).  Very lively, informative and helpful.  Excellent.
• The Trickier Side of Fiction - a 2 part course led by Sue Moorcroft, Novelist. So well attended that people  were sitting on the floor.  This was so good and useful for my novel writing.   I bill this 5* alongside the Unwind your Mind classes.  
• After Dinner Guest Speaker - Kathryn Aalto, and American landscape designer, historian and lecturer living in Exeter.  She has written about the forest of 'a hundred acre woods' from Winnie the Pooh books.  Her power point pictures were lovely and hearing about her journey to being published was enthralling.
• After Dinner Guest Speaker - Michael Jecks (by now I was seriously flagging! Apologies to the evening next speaker for my non-show).
• Busker's night - where attenders of the Summer School took up their instruments or sang unaccompanied and entertained us.  Fabulous evening.  So much talent.
• Endings and Agents - led by Erin Kelly - which again was so informative and useful advice.
• Labyrinth walk - see previous blog - scroll down.
• Annual General Meeting
• Pantomime - A sketch about the perils of writing, the ghost of doubt did a good job of whispering in Trev's ear but his Big Pen and good angel Success won in the end.  Loved the songs - I will write 500 words; Paperback writer etc which the audience joined in with the choruses.

All of the above is probably only half of what was on offer.  As I was not firing on all cylinders so I had to miss some workshops in order to recharge my batteries.

I have to be honest and say that although I really wanted to attend the Summer School this year and was grateful for my family giving me Swanwick Writers Gift Vouchers last Christmas, I was thinking it was going to be a one-off experience like my Skyros holiday was last year (see blogs August 2015).  However, even before the first few days were behind me I knew I wanted to come again, as so many do.  Being in a setting where you can talk the talk all week is like being in a candy shop surrounded by your favourite sweets, or in a library surrounded by books, only its not so quiet here! Swanwick Vouchers will be on my birthday and Christmas wish list again.

My review : Excellent. 5 Star. Beautiful surroundings, caring Committee and helpers, brilliant chef, lovely waitresses and house cleaning staff, lovely writers everywhere, a wealth of knowledge to tap into. Brilliant. 

The joy of it all continues as everyone is reconnecting via a Closed Group on Facebook and on their own Facebook and Twitter accounts.  The photographs delegates are sharing is wonderful but by far the best are from Kay-Anne Sheen and Kathryn Aalto.  Here are my favourite four :

 by Kay-Anne Sheen

by Kathryn Aalto

 

 

 



Unwind your Mind.....

I am at SWANWICK WRITERS' SUMMER SCHOOL.  If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you will know.   You might ask what my title of this blog is about and how I achieved it when so much is buzzing through my head about what I could and want to write about, how and when I will do it, etc. etc.  You may also wonder what this has to do with writing - well it has to do with everything we do in life.  We are usually so busy that we don't notice things, we loose touch with the world around and within, we cram stress upon stress until our body tells us to stop.

Unwind your Mind sessions are being led by Zana Lamont, a Scottish lady who works in the Health Service. 

I have done some Thai Chi in the past, I have listened to meditative music, I have had massages where a little bell is sounded at the end to bring me out of the totally relaxed state and into the present and I was intrigued to learn more about Mindfulness.

The experience was truly wonderful and tears dripped from my eyes and later posed me the question - Why did I cry?  This blog is my answer.

I think the droplets of water that rolled down my cheeks were an automatic bodily response to 'coming back to who I truly am'.  It happens whenever I see a beautiful sunset over the ocean or watching a touching love scene on television or at the cinema; seeing or reading about great suffering or how wicked the world can be or how strong someone has been to overcome a great hardship.  My eyes just leak in response.  It has happened too when I am happy, sad, frustrated, angry, amazed, awestruck etc.

Being in the chapel on site for the Mindfulness/Thai Chi class I chose to remain seated whilst everyone else stood (I knew I had to protect my middle as I await a gallbladder removal operation).  So a bit of the tears were probably, at first, a little self-pity that I couldn't fully participate and that's OK because that is self-compassion.

Silence in a group of strangers, and yet people who I have things in common with, is very comforting.  CPD in my profession was mostly a good experience - a time to 'check in', be heard and accepted, a time to be real and honest.  Far too often we say "I'm OK" or "I'm fine" or "not too bad under the circumstances" in response to being asked how we are, when actually we feel crap but are either fed up with hearing our own moans or think others don't really want to know.

Put me in a place where spirituality is usually expressed and I immediately 'touch base' with myself.  I miss my inner Susan and when she returns, so unexpectedly sometimes, I well up and the eye droplets overflow.  I don't care who sees me but actually no-one is looking at me because they are all dealing with their own stuff in the moment.  We all have our own private space.

The slow movement of Thai Chi not only moves muscles, limbs, internal organs and brain in flowing rhythms but something 'shifts' within me.  As I concentrate on the movements and feel the space around me and the ground (and my chair) supporting me, my gratitude of being alive overwhelms me.  It is very similar to the feeling when I enter a warm swimming pool and immerse myself in water - perhaps this is my earliest memory of being in my mother's womb comforted by the amniotic fluid around me.  Perhaps entering a spiritual place is like going back in time before I was even an embryo.  I am in another place, another realm, a perfect world where love, safety, happiness is.  There, in that place/realm, there is no hurt, pain, disappointment.  The only place that I can vaguely comprehend a likeness to is what I believe heaven to be like.  Perhaps you call it Nevada, infinity or some other perfect place word.  Although I believe I will one day dwell in heaven full time I don't want that day to be today but it is wonderful to have a glimpse of it, a reminder of my destination after this journey of life.

A sunset can remind us of what a wonderful universe we live in despite terrorism, politics, poverty and injustice - it is still a beautiful world.

The music of meditations aids me to my heaven place too.  It evokes a 'calling' to my soul - God is with me and it is wonderful to be back in His presence.  (For those who don't believe in God read Higher Power or whatever name you give your deity).  I offer no resistance and welcome the contact again, being aware how it has been far too long since I was in this place last (not the building or the room but the out of body place if you like).   It is not a Sunday morning in church sort of feeling; its not a five minute time of peace and quite at home or in a special place; its deeper, a sacred space.

My tears wash away the grime of negative thoughts; they cleanse my soul for the next part of my journey; they renew strength in me.  I realise how stressed/anxious I was before the session and how much lighter and happier I feel and I bid myself not to leave it so long before I do that again.  I make a mental note to find a Thai Chi class, a Mindfulness course and take time each day to practice discipline in this way.

The experience reminded me of Skyros last year (blogs available - scroll down) and especially of the Five Rhymn Dancing Yolande Anastasi taught us, but search for a class for that was unfruitful.  Hopefully, Thai Chi and Mindfulness will be easier to access nearer to home. 

We all wanted to capture the sunrise leaving the Greek Island of Skyros,
August 2015

Following the success of the above experience I attended the second Unwind Your Mind group and we engaged in a Mindful walk - taking in all the movements of the body in a slow motion walk that John Cleese would be proud of (it wasn't a funny walk but felt funny).  I like slow.  I think if there was another me in the animal kingdom I would be a snail, although I usually liken myself to a butterfly but that's another story. 

During the meditation we were asked to think of a colour and to call that colour Compassion.  The blue of the above droplet of water was fresh on my mind and so now I will be compassionate to myself whenever blue comes to me.  I will be kind to myself.  I cannot tell you how my internal organs have received that compassion only to say the pain is less, my anxiety and focus has changed.

Today was an extra class, not in the programme, but Zana did a powerpoint presentation to help us understand Mindfulness further.  There were some experiential exercises too, which unless you were there might sound a little strange if I put it into words.  Needless to say I further relaxed myself, so much so I had to have a nap afterwards. I have downloaded the Mindfulness Bell app for use at home.  I will practice what I have learnt as it has been so wonderful. 

3 Hours on a Greek Island

It was booked 16 months ago and the ticket paid for in three instalments.  The coach arrived and started to fill up with 'Prime Time' members clutching their cool bags, crutches, walking sticks and husbands, the few that had them.  The party was mostly women over 70 years of age, some in their 90's.  I felt young and out of place as the guest of the group leader.

Arriving in the centre of Birmingham the coach driver re-fixed the electrical lift for those needing wheelchairs.  I was instructed to take the arm of Irene.  Her husband Frank had Dementia and followed behind us.  A very slow walk around the corner and into the foyer of the Hippodrome theatre, having negotiated avoiding tripping over the feet of a drunken man asleep on the pavement corner, was a sad reminder not only of those less fortunate without home or family but also that I am not one of the 'sandwich' generation with elderly parents and grandchildren to care for.

Packed lunches eaten and coffees fetched (and spilt) the theatre doors open and I guide the couple to their seats, help them off with their coats and sat in the row behind with my friend and other volunteer helpers.

Immediately the show began I was there on a Greek Island - Santorini, Cyprus, Rhodes, Cos - anywhere but in the centre of the second city of England. The scenery was simplistic but affective, the blue and white of buildings, sky and sea.  Having seen the film Mamma Mia several times I wondered how the stage version would be.  It was every bit as fantastic.  The actors were brilliant, the songs rousing and fun.  I noticed Frank's stick bobbing up and down to all the tunes. 

The colours of the costumes and props were vibrant.  Sophie and Sky were every bit as in love as in the film.  Sky's virile young friends strutted their stuff and bared tanned and oiled chests in the 'Lay all your love on me' scene which was superbly danced in flippers and open wet suits.  Donna and her three old flames and two girl friends made us laugh and clap and sing.  When Sam offered to show Donna a scar on his chest one of our older ladies shouted out "Yes Please!"  Naughty at Ninety!  It was so funny.

The finale had everyone on their feet, some having been helped up after the long spell of being seated, and we clapped and sang along with the well known Abba songs.  I looked around me and marvelled at the house full of happy souls enjoying this escapism and entertainment.  It was an awesome sight and an electric atmosphere.

WOW, that was some trip.  I thoroughly recommend the show and would rate it 12 out of 10!            



Life in a Tin Can

Bertha

 

My little two-berth caravan is a bolt hole.  A place to retreat to when times are tough or just to be away from the television, instant Internet access and 'phone connection and from the never ending housework and 'things to do' list.

 

 

Bertha is 20 years old.  She looks a little sad next to her more modern larger neighbours with their satellite dishes, awnings and barbecue equipment.  But appearance doesn't matter when the pleasure is priority.

 

 

Inside this little tin can, cosiness hugs me like a teddy bear.  It is a little home and reminds me of playing 'house' as a child.  It has a little kitchen sink and cooker, storage units to keep board games, radio, books, crafting equipment and other essentials.  Her rear end houses a toilet and shower, wardrobe and shelves.  The seats at the front double up as two single beds or, one double bed if I feel so inclined to unravel the base and make it up.  It's easier for getting out in the night to use the singles and a sleeping bag.

 

Plugging into the on-site electrics means I can be warm in winter and food can be kept cool in the fridge whatever the temperature outside.  I have been her owner for the last five years.  She was towed by the seller to Beehive Farm Woodlands Lakes, South Derbyshire where she sits for an annual storage fee.  Other caravans come and go for the weekend or longer being towed by their owners from near or far.  The field Bertha resides in is a no-children area, a separate field is allocated to families, so it is quieter for us oldies without little ones around.  Bertha is next to the short walk to the Lakes.  Hubby thinks this is paradise as he is a keen fisherman in the dry weather.  Whilst he pursues his hobby I erect the caravan table and write, make cards, sew knit or weather permitting relax on a sun-lounger with a good novel to read in the sunshine.  I recently made new curtains for Bertha, do you like them?

Everyone on-site is friendly and occasionally there is a party in the social room.  The staff at the Beehive Farm are helpful and a delight to chat to on each visit.  Caravans, camper vans, tents and pod campers are all well catered for with use of shower blocks, pan washing facilities, an animal petting farm, woodland walks, 3 fishing lakes, blackberry picking (when in season - a lost pastime) and nearby a café for an all day breakfast or coffee and cake.  Just a little walk away in the village is a pub, general store and fish and chip shop.  A little further away is a Chinese take-away who will deliver your meal to the caravan site.

 

 It has become quite a neat ritual sorting out what to take and when the car is loaded with a cool box of food stuffs and bags of clean towels, tea towels, pillow cases and suitable clothes, off we set leaving behind town life.  Instead of looking out on our garden and neighbouring houses across the road we can gaze on the greenery of trees and bushes and a big expanse of sky.  Instead of town wear, campers seem to wear shorts all year round; and instead of being worried and busy everyone is happy and relaxed.

 

Near to Beehive Farm Woodlands Lakes is Rosliston Forestry Centre, a garden centre, Swadlincote and Burton on Trent town centres and Barton Marina so there is always somewhere to visit at our leisure.

 

Barton Marina

 
One of the Lakes at Beehive Woodland Farm

 Rosliston Village Baby peacocks

                                                                                                        at Beehive Woodlands Farm

Rosliston Forestry Centre - on a forest walk

 

 



 Life at the Beehive Farm gives me rest and refreshment and reconnects me to nature.  The resident farm tame rabbits skip about and sometimes chase their wilder relatives.  I have often watched the huge white tame rabbit try to befriend his smaller brown cousin but they never quite connect.  Watching the farm peacocks strut about learning the ropes from their parents and seeing them grow has been lovely.  They walk between the caravans, hop onto benches, squawk and open their fan tails. 

 

Overhead the Canadian geese honk as they fly by in their 'V' formation and at night and owl can be heard hooting.  The noise of the sheep and cows in nearby fields is so much nicer than hearing neighbours drills or lawn mowers.  It is a nice change to see a wider variety of birds too.

 

'A Theme from A Summers Place' by Percy Faith is playing on the radio and it takes me back to Bournemouth 1960 where my parents took me on a family caravan holiday.  We visited Bournemouth swimming pool where there was a show of clowns doing tricks from diving boards and a team of synchronised swimmers dancing in the water to this tune.  May be my happy memory is why I like life in an old tin can so much.