Category: Dream-Building and Map-Making

Hello!!!

Welcome to my little world. I was nominated to join in the blogland tour by the inspiring Wendy Steele who I met last summer in the guise of Dance Goddess… but who has fast become a close friend and partner in mischief when it comes to writing inspiration and other such things. She writes stories full of magical realism and non-fiction about how to be happy, and is currently working on the second in her Wales-inspired trilogy which began with “The Standing Stone” set across the times all in one place. Her books are all beautiful pieces of re-enchantment. Find Wendy here!

I nominate… James Baker of James Baker Performs! James is a performer and writer of plays currently devising a one-man show on the intersection between creativity and madness. He is also my husband, so you know he has good taste.

I nominate Elinor Prędota, an Interfaith Minister and Pagan Priestess from Scotland who I have had the pleasure of being friends with for over a decade. (Website is currently under construction but should be up and running over the next day or two!)

And I nominate Demelza Fox, Rockstar Priestess, Belly Dancer and Mermaid extraordinaire!

I choose Monday 2nd or 9th of March for your postings, lovelies. ‘Rules’ at the end of this post.

Right then, on with the show!

As part of this tour you get to hear a little about my writing process through the Q&A (And if you follow the breadcrumbs backwards and forwards, you’ll find the answers others have given too…)

The questions, and my answers:

1- Why write? Why not sing, dance or figure skate?

Well now, this is a silly question, on two levels. Firstly, why not write? How could I not? I love to let words flow onto the page and it is a wonderful way of communicating ideas with others. I love that I can fossilise my ideas into paper (physical or virtual) and hand it to you to hear those words far away and a long time from here and now. I love that we can communicate at vast distances through writing, and that I can speak to people in the future right now. I also find that writing is the process by which I come to understand. I often feel like my head is empty, like there is no knowledge, no understanding of the world, until I write. Then the words begin to form themselves into ideas, into stories, into whole worlds of webs of connections that make sense of it all.

The second level that this question makes me giggle is that I don’t just write. I couldn’t just write if I tried. I paint, I dance, I tell tales, I study philosophy. I’ve learnt healing skills and fortune telling, I travel and run rituals, I perform am dram and I’m learning the guitar. So whilst writing is something that I have always done, it is not something I do to the exclusion of all else… though I don’t think I’d be any good at figure skating!

I write because I love it, the same reason I do anything else. Writing, more than any of my other activities, though, helps me to make sense of the world and of what I think and feel about the world. It allows me to make a stand, to say; “here I am, this is what I believe, this is what is important.” And once it is on the page in black and white, then I can see the stories that I wish to share with the world.

2- Do you have a musical play list or do you need to write in absolute silence? If you have a play list would we recognize any of the songs or artists on it?

Ooooh, I don’t like writing in silence but I also don’t have a particular play list… I tend to put on whatever artist I’m most in love with at the time or something really familiar, so SJ Tucker and Talis Kimberley get played a lot, or something classic/prog rock-y like Led Zep. I’ll also find compilations by other people and stick them on, especially if they are long ones so the music keeps flowing without a silence to distract me. My husband made me a collection of all the theme songs from True Blood, so that quite often gets put on as it is several hours of music I enjoy with plenty of variation.

My favourite writing set up is in a noisy, busy cafe where I can sit on a sofa and stare out of the window, with my headphones in and a good, long playlist. And a tasty soya chai latte. Nom.

3- Can you see a future for yourself in which writing forms no part of your day to day life?

I don’t think we live in a world where that is likely, but even assuming that writing falls out of favour somehow… no. I don’t think so. I remember catching bits of early episodes of Big Brother and being horrified that they weren’t allowed pen and paper to write. Bonkers idea. I write in my journal most days, I write poems and snatches of songs that probably no one will ever hear, I write ideas and dreams, goals and plans… I’d be lost if I couldn’t write anymore, I wouldn’t know what it was I knew!

4- Which author/s inspire you currently? I am not talking about some of the greats but departed. Authors alive today, which of them inspire you?

Cat Valente is amazing. Her novels are full of imagery that makes my mouth water with its lushness. Her children’s series which starts with “The Girl Who Navigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making” is a beautiful meander through fairyland, and full of magic!

Share an article written especially for this tour!

Ok! I wrote something on what the Goblin Circus means to me, and how it came into being, over on the Goblin Circus site here!

Now, for my nominees, these are the rules for this game…

1. Pass the tour on to up to four other bloggers.
2. Give them the rules and a specific Monday to post.
3. Answer 4 questions about your creative process which lets other bloggers and visitors know what inspires you to do what you do.
4. Write a one-time article which is to be posted on a Monday (the date supplied by your nominator). This article can be in the same post in which you answered the 4 questions. The article can be anything of your choosing.