January is nearly over and I have not even taken a few moments to wish you all well for 2008!

I tried to outline my hopes and dreams for the year by building a collage at the beginning of January. It was a very interesting process. I paged through a number of magazines and cut out pictures that ‘spoke’ to me. It was an enlightening exercise because in retrospect, that was my deep voice talking. Many of the pictures I chose had obvious relation to my life and work but when I studied them closer there were seemingly insignificant symbols that had deeper meaning.

Once I had my selection of pictures I arranged them on an A3 piece of paper and tried to write what came to mind, as I looked at the pictures and their arrangement. I then shared the collage and the writing with a number of people close to me. This was a very important part of the process, because telling someone else felt like it actually committed me to the goal more firmly

Try it. It works! And if you hang it above your bed or near your desk, it keeps you focused on your desired goals.

The result of my collage is that I started my year with a commitment to my own writing development. I had already started an online magazine journalism course with SA Writers College. So far I have been very impressed with the quality of the content and the mentoring from my very enthusiastic tutor, Lisa Lazarus. (Thank you Lisa!)

Go to www.sawriterscollege.co.za and find something that may appeal to you.

I have also embarked on a course of mentoring with Dorian Haarhoff. We meet every 2 weeks and in-between I write and write and write. I am delighted with the way in which Dorian is helping unlock my creativity. Thank you Dorian!

Have a look at

http://dorianhaarhoffwriter.homestead.com/

for more information about Dorian and his offerings

In February I will be doing a creative writing course with Anne Schuster

“Writing the Self” Anne is one of South Africa’s leading creative writing teachers. I cannot wait to see what happens.

Have a look at Anne’s website for more:

http://www.anneschuster.co.za/about.htm

May I wish you all a year of writing. I hope Writescapes becomes your home and that you visit us often for inspiration and assistance.

Mandy

Year ends are good times for reflection and I have been reflecting on Writescapes. I thought I would share these musings with you.

For many years I wrote for a hobby. I loved writing, but being a people’s person, it was a very insular and lonely activity. I wanted to be able to share my writing with others and have a forum for honest and useful feedback. However I had been to writing circles where there were endless rounds of readings. People read their work - hugely important to them but totally boring for everyone else.

In late 2003 I was having coffee with a friend of mine and we shared our dreams. Hers was to write her newest novel for business people. Mine was to get Writescapes going. We left our afternoon coffee session resolved to put our plans into action by the end of 2004 and we made solid commitments to support each other through that.

That was the birth of a wonderful friendship and also of Writescapes.

 In February 2004 the first Writescapes session was held at the Café Des Artes in Kalk Bay.

Ruth’s book ‘Blackboards Bubbles and Cappuccinos’ (see www.ruthtearle.com ) was published later that year. I proudly attended the launch of her book at Melrose Arch in Gauteng.

Much has happened between then and now the most important of all being the absolute explosion of the Writescapes website. We are affording many first time / amateur writers the opportunity to see their work in print. The Writescapes purpose of ‘Giving writers a voice’ has taken on a completely new dimension. Never in my wildest dreams did I plan this evolution of the Writescapes concept and what a pleasure it is. Once again I am reminded, as I am every time I sit down to write, that the most creative things happen in their time, when we allow things to unfold before us.

Wait till you see all we have planned for 2008. I hope you will find that the site will become your writing home. A place where you know your writing is given a voice and a page and where you can get some good honest feedback and assistance

Please come back often as we will always have something new to exercise your creative mind and get you writing!

May 2007 end peacefully for you with pen in hand

Best wishes

Mandy

Today I want to challenge you to let your stories emerge.

Do not try and control or pre-empt a story. Many of us were taught to structure our writing – ‘it must have a beginning, a middle and an end.’ – what nonsense!

Just write and see what happens.

Ruth Tearle shared a lot of her daily musings with me when she was writing ‘Blackboards, Bubbles and Cappuccinos’ (See www.ruthtearle.com) 

We would chat briefly in the morning and she would send me her latest addition every evening. This was at a time when she was pushing to complete the book.

I could not wait for the next chapter to arrive each evening and I would eagerly download email late at night to get the next episode in the unfolding drama.

‘What’s going to happen next.’ I would quip to try and elicit the story out of her in our morning chat.

Surely she must know where this is going? Why couldn’t she tell me?

‘I don’t know,’ was her stock answer, ‘I’ll wait to see what presents itself.’

Amazing

So - be like Ruth!

Do not decide on the content, characters or structure of your story.

Let the story write itself and see what happens.

You may just be surprised.

I have been sitting on a plane flying back from Scotland for the past 6 hrs. This is the second leg of my journey home. The first leg started in Glasgow this morning at 6am. I had to be at the airport at 4am so sleep evaded me. I kept looking at the clock in case I slept through the alarm.

We arrived in Amsterdam on time and after a more or less marathon sprint across Schiphol airport to catch my connecting flight I boarded the plane to Cape Town at 10am.

I have now written the following

- a report for one of the managers I am coaching

- a letter to my son for his 30^th birthday (His partner has requested we all write something and she is putting it all together for him as a surprise)

- a poem

- and some reflection stuff.

It is amazing how being glued to one seat for 11 hrs with little else to do gets the creative juices flowing. I have written more today than I have in the past 3 weeks. 

Maybe that is a cure for writers’ block. Confine yourself to a small space where you know you cannot escape.

I will be doing this regularly in the next few months, instead of dreading the long hours up high, I will make sure to pack pens and paper and see it as an opportunity to catch up on some writing

Oh by the way, I will probably rewrite the poem 5 times before I put it on the website but I will let you know.

I expect rewrite at least 3 - 5 times before my poems hang together.

The first rendition is just the brain dump and then I start the crafting.

Please don’t be scared to rewrite. That is where the art is … and also the fun

Happy writing and happy crafting

Mandy

Our lesson in practical philosophy this past week touched on the aspects of action. I have applied some of these concepts to our writing practice. I hope you find it useful.

All writing should start and end in stillness.

Your writing should have good intention and should be sustained through discipline and love. It takes patience to see the task through. This becomes particularly difficult when writers' block sets in, but that is where patience and discipline are required.

Most importantly, when your writing is complete, surrender it. Do not feel good or bad about it, just let it be. Remember for whatever you write there will be a reader and someone that will appreciate it.

So stillness and good intention put you in a creative space.

Discipline and love help you sustain your writing and patience leads you to surrendering your writing without judgement and returning to stillness.

Should you be interested in some of these concepts why not see if there is a School of Practical Philosophy near you. Go to  http://www.philosophycourse.com/

I spent the last 2 weeks in the Kalahari desert.

It is a quiet peaceful place – a land of extremes where every morsel counts and one second can make the difference between life and death at the jaws of a lion.

It is a place of splendour but where the grandeur of the lion is as impressive as the busi-ness of the tiny meercats as they scurry between their burrows.

Despite the stress of difficulties resulting from the extremities – multiple car problems, extreme dehydration just some of them - once again the peace and simplicity put me in a creative space. Taking photographs was a delight. I saw opportunities where many would not even see a picture. I was writing again after quite a lapse. It was amazing how the stories just arrived from nowhere- childrens’ stories, poems, journal entries and more.

It reminded me of the words of Virginia Woolf when she says in her short story ‘all a writer needs is a ‘room of their own and 1000 pounds a month’.

Yes, that would suffice.

Love
Mandy

Greetings to all my fellow writers at this holiday time.

Here in Glasgow as we approach the winter solstice, the days are short (sun rises at 8h45 and sets at about 15h30), but it does not seem to be putting people off their Christmas shopping. Christmas is huge here and even for a die-hard like me, determined not to get caught in the retail feeding ground of Christmas spending, it becomes difficult to ignore.

Glasgow converts it’s central square into an ice rink, there are carollers and bagpipe players on every corner and people are rushing around doing their last minute chores before the end of the week. In the Christmas market, duck and gammon hang on hooks in Christmas-lit stalls and decorations and tinsel abound. In the suburbs lit trees adorn sitting room windows – curtains left open for display. There is a magical anticipation in the air like I have never experienced it before.

The weather is cold. Scotland has experienced the most rain since the inception of records and boy has it rained!! The other night I caught the wrong train – I have dreaded doing this since I arrived and it happened on the worst night of the year. I ended up standing on some god-forsaken station in east Glasgow for ½ and hour waiting for a return train. Thank goodness for the on-station help point intercom that actually worked. There has not been any snow yet except on the high lying ground in the Highlands. I am still holding thumbs for a white Christmas – my first ever.

I will be spending Christmas with my daughters in London. I will be there till Boxing Day and then I am hoping to do some driving through the north of Scotland (and maybe the islands) as I have a few days off work. I am really looking forward to the break. After that it is back to a treadmill of activities as the Glasgow Housing Association prepares for its disaggregation to shared services and the induction of their new general managers. I am directly responsible for the change management aspects of both these events (my day-job and the one I would happily exchange for a full time writing career)

May I wish you all peace and happiness over the holidays. May the lights of Christmas shine for you for all of 2007 and may each one bring you a reason to celebrate. I hope some of your celebrations will include writing activities but remember that as writers we need to take the opportunity to celebrate ourselves occasionally as well.

I have not been blogging for ages. My life has taken an unexpected turn and I have found myself working in Glasgow on a contract. It has taken some getting used to and I have had a lot of practicalities to sort out.

Glasgow is a beautiful city. It is vibrant and alive with loads of cultural activities.

Yesterday I went to the city centre and with 3 weeks to go to, the city was buzzing for Christmas. Carol singers on every corner, bagpipers in-between, the aroma of roasting chestnuts and hundreds and hundreds of people everywhere. And yet surrounded by all those people I still felt very alone. It made me realise how far away from home I am and I suddenly felt every homesick.

Today I want to write about plot.

I found a book that I bought a long time ago but have never had time to read-  “20 Master Plots and how to build them” by Ronald Tobias.  I have been delving into it for the past few days.  It is a good book and it got me thinking about plot.

My experience has been that the worst thing one can do is plan the plot of your book upfront. Well what I mean is, plan it consciously. I find it much more exciting and enriching to allow the story to unfold. I have often heard writers say they do not know what is going to happen next when they are writing a story and that is the sign or true creativity at work.   

One imagines the JK Rowling (and other such accomplished authors) know exactly how their stories are going to go. They have a plan. Planning is after all how professional people do things? Well I will predict that our assumptions are probably wrong.

Now don’t get me wrong. You can map out your story. You can work out the plot and plan the chapter headings before you actually start writing. But believe me you are depriving yourself of the best part of the creative process. It is like eating scones and jam without the cream.

Rather be bold, dare if you will and let each chapter surprise you. Do not plan. Wait for it to arrive. It takes a lot of courage and some degree of trust in one’s own creative ability to let go and wait, but believe me it is worth it. It is like having a six month old baby that is doing something new everyday. You cannot wait to wake up in the morning for the day’s new event.

And I promise you, the bonus will be a lighter and more spontaneous story.

Wishing you the will to let go and let’s see the results, your stories up on the Writescapes website. 

Don’t forget to post!

I usually have a few things that I am reading all at once. Some are educational – often business or training related. There are usually a few books on travel or craft or plants or photography (all my hobbies) and always a few magazines to boot. But one thing that is as definite as brushing my teeth in the morning, is that I will have an easy read for when I go to bed at night – something that I read a few pages at a time and does not take too much brain power. My latest is a ‘who-dunnit’ by the queen of ‘who-dunnit’s’, Elizabeth George. I usually fall asleep quite quickly (and not because the books are boring – far from it!!!) so these go-to-sleepers are usually around for a long time.

It struck me the other day that these stories very much become part of my life. The characters are real, like good, old, well- trusted friends. They become alive. I think of them, wonder about them, love them, hate them daily, and cannot wait to get beneath the blankets (especially on these cold nights) to see what happens next. My conclusion was that developing the characters of our stories is integrally important.

So what is the best way to do this?

There is a lot of literature on how to develop a good character. One creative idea is to develop a biography for your character, which should remain in the shadows of your main storyline, but always inform it. It needs to be written before you commence your main story. Things that should be included are:

Where was he born?

What were the family statistics (which child was she? How many sisters / brothers)

Where did they live?

What sort of education did he have?

What tragedies beset her?

What was his favourite food, childhood activity / memory, colour (why?)

Was he happily married? If not why not?

Did she murder anyone, etc.

Make sure you include the finest details and once your biography is complete, you should use the information in the little asides that colour your characters and make them real persons your reader will wonder about during the day when they are not reading your story.

Go wild! Create a colourful character that may be everything you have always wanted or not wanted to be.

HAPPY CREATING!

I was floating on my back this morning in the freezing cold water at St James tidal pool. The temperature was less than 14 degrees. (Outside it was probably about the same). Don’t ask me why I do it. It is sheer madness, you will say, but I love it. My day is not the same if I have not had my swim. One of my fellow swimmers said the other day, as he emerged from the water, “that was my blessing for the day, the rest is just a bonus”. I can well identify with this sentiment. 

I have thought a lot about why I feel this way. 

Am I a masochist? No! I like the nice things in life. 

Am I mad? Well maybe my doctor would debate this with you?

One of the reasons I can see is that in some way it gives me power over the weather. When I was a young kid, summer was the time you swam and winter was the time you didn’t swim. Because I loved swimming I hated winter. It was a time of the year when the world died for me and when I felt sad and sorry for myself. My mood matched the dead grass and bare trees around me. (In those days there was no such thing as seasonal disorder – well it probably existed but it was certainly not documented – or at least I didn’t know about it.)Winter was a time I dreaded.

So now that I am committed to my morning swim, I do not have to dread the winter. I don’t even have to dread the Cape rain because I can swim no matter what and swimming is what makes my world go round.

Well now to get back to floating on my back in the cold water at St James. As I lay there a flock of geese flew in formation overheard. I watched as they took turns to take the lead. It is an effortless routine. There was no major debate or decision making process, just a seamless exchange of positions. That reminded me of the flow of creative ideas. One leads to another in an effortless wave. One idea takes the lead for now, and does its thing in our mind, until something related arrives and evolves. We are not consciously aware of the swap, we do not make a mindful decision to leave one idea and go with another. Goose-leadership therefore becomes a fitting metaphor for the creative process.

HAPPY CREATING!

(I live in Cape Town South Africa – one of the most beautiful cities in the world. St James is one of the beaches along the Cape Peninsula. It is well known for its multi-coloured wooden beach huts which are much photographed. There is a tidal pool at St James which traps the sea water and allows for safe swimming. This is of course southern hemisphere where it is winter time in July. The day temperatures can be between 10 and 20 degrees Celcius... don't ask me what that is in Fahrenheit! Cape Town falls within a Mediterranean climatic zone, so it rains in the winter.)