It’s that time of year when writers look forward to getting more writing done. Northern Hemisphere days grow shorter, helped by the man made device of putting the clocks back to Greenwich Mean Time. My Australian relatives are now eight instead of seven hours ahead, making that very modern tradition, Skyping, more complicated. All our traditions at this time of year go back further than we imagine; from Diwali to Bonfire night it is light we cling to. Imagine our ancestors in the long nights; when they looked out of their huts or caves they would see nothing but impenetrable darkness – no Kurling up with a Kindle for them.
Halloween, Monday October 31st, the day after the clocks went back, was a day of brilliant sunshine, winter had never felt further away. Enjoying an outing to Kingston Lacy, a National Trust owned house and grounds, the sun was blissfully warm on my face, the autumn colours beautiful. On Friday we had a journey to make from south coast to east coast; it rained heavily all day long, it was hard to tell when dark day turned into early evening, but the car lights shining in the teeming rain had a certain beauty of their own. Saturday found our family gathering freezing in the garden for fireworks. Anyone too cold used the excuse of going back in the kitchen to comfort scared dogs or children. Sunday brought bitter but exhilarating winds on the beach.
Back home, Monday night brought the first frost in our area.The weather had changed so much in one week, but this was not a surprise; accurate satellite weather forecasts are broadcast endlessly and even before you get out of bed you can look at you smart phone. If mine says ‘Bournemouth Rain’ I know it will be a good writing day, even if it clears up later there will not be time to get out in the garden to plant spring bulbs before it gets dark again.
If you love both gardening and writing much is dependent on the weather. Autumn, even with a small garden, is a time for tidying and bulb planting, but also refreshing with as much colour as you can bring back from the garden centre. If the sun is shining after a night of rain, it is a treat to the senses to be digging and watching bees buzzing round late summer flowers, but your writer demon is tapping on your shoulder.
Wouldn’t you like it to pour with rain so you can get back to your computer. You haven’t touched your novel, your website is weary and you haven’t LIKED the posts of your fellow authors on Facebook…
But I have found time to dust and vacuum my website so do visit http://www.ccsidewriter.co.uk where the sun is always shining.
We have arrived home from our 24 days away to find the house still standing and unburgled. But I could not access my Command Control Centre (computer in the bedroom); due to my insistence on unplugging everything electrical while we were away lest lightning strike the house. Strange white messages appeared on a black screen, pressing F1 was not enough and long suffering Cyberspouse had to reset the computer’s body clock and re-boot it. But I still stand by my sensible precaution as our local area did have a dramatic storm while we were away. We also have the electrician in this week leading to more switching off and rebooting. But today I can get down to some writing as housework is out of the question with the electrician working in every room.
September brought a very hot late summer especially in Kent and there was only one rainy hotel afternoon when I actually got out my notepad. The rest of the holiday was spent with family or visiting interesting places and spotting ( and sneakly photographing) fascinating people. So I have returned with no progress on my novel, but plenty of ideas for more stories.
Holiday preparation for an author? Packing notepads of various sizes and some pens is not enough. I have been busy working my way through reams of scribble for my current novel. I like writing in long hand first, but I can’t actually read my writing, hence the need to quickly transfer from microscrap paper and macrosoft brain to Microsoft Word. Then edit and put on several memory sticks in case a burglar steals my computer, or worse, the whole house blows up while we are away.
In the meantime there is work to do in the ether; refreshing my website so it looks as if I have visited it recently and am not dead, blogs to write…. just in case the various portable electronic gadgets we are taking with us do not connect to the internet. And where are we going? Find out in the next blog.
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 