Reading the Signs

Two weeks ago, I attended my first live Book Festival workshop in over two years. And appropriately enough it took place in my hometown of Paisley — a place I left over twenty years ago and until four years ago had made a point of returning to as little as possible. But things are changing. The town itself is changing and I know that I have changed too. 

 The weather that week had been terrible and we’d lurched our way from one storm to another. But when I arrived in Paisley it was calm, clear and almost sunny. Part of me felt guilty for going — I have had third round edits of The Viking’s Princess Bride hanging over me, undone, for weeks now — but I’m glad I went for several reasons.

Firstly, I had arranged to meet another writer and it was good to see her – we also befriended another woman, a former journalist turned museum curator, who patiently listened to the two of us wittering on nostalgically. Secondly, I ran into another friend quite by chance. He’s a musician and as it turned out my workshop took place above the hall where he was playing in so I got to hear him too!

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it let me reset my thinking about writing, taking me back to a point at which ideas are everything, a series of unconnected words and ideas just waiting to be formed and full of infinite potential. This is the part of writing I enjoy the most and it was good to take a break from editing and experience a reminder of that more joyful part of the writing process.

The workshop was entitled Walking With Words: Oot and Aboot in Paisley. The workshop itself focused on the idea that there are words all around us and that as writers we can find these and use them in unexpected and interesting ways. Observing the world around us and seeking out the words from our environment, especially those we might otherwise not notice due to their familiarity or their ordinariness is an interesting exercise. 

As a writer I have often been advised to ask what if when working out story ideas, but during this workshop I found myself perhaps at the step before that one and asking why?

Why are those words there?

The name Paisley is probably more familiar to people due to the pattern which was commercialised in the town’s extensive textile industry from the mid-eighteenth century to the late twentieth. There are obviously a whole range of issues surrounding the history of this textile industry and the design of this pattern, that could be explored in various types of writing. After the mills closed the town entered a period of decline which it is only now beginning to pull itself out of and many of the signs we found related to either the textile industry or the idea of regeneration – particularly appropriate for a writer currently teetering on the brink of burnout.

Many of the street names reflect the textile industry and many of the town’s significant buildings were funded and named after the two biggest mill-owning families. Paisley has one of the highest concentrations of listed buildings per square mile of any town in Scotland. Many of these buildings are currently undergoing renovation work and so many of the words we found related to that.

We chose to stay in our group of three when we were sent out on our walk. Even in our wee group of three, we all passed the same signs and buildings but all made quite different choices about the words we chose to ‘keep.’  Some of the shop and pub names appealed to me as possible titles!

Sometimes as a short story writer, I worry that I'll run out of ideas. After this workshop, however, I’m feeling reassured. There’s potential all around us if we just look for it. Tilt your head to one side and change your perspective. Look at the familiar things around you and start to see them as something new. 

Our walk lasted around an hour and sitting down to write this post has made me realise just how much potential I noted down in that short space of time. The next time I’m looking for an idea I’ll go back to these photos and look at these words. Then I might think about what might have happened in those places for those words to end up there. I might research the historical events or invent a narrative of my own. I might use a phrase as a prompt or as a title. The possibilities are endless if I only read the signs! 

Three words remain with me after the workshop, pushing me forward through my edits - although I managed not to photograph one of them!

Reimagine. Reawaken. Restore.