BOOKISH THINGS IN STRANGE TIMES by Victoria Cornwall

Although the lock down restrictions are being eased across the country, there will be many people whose lock down is far from over so I thought I would share the few bookish things that made my time in lock down a little more bearable.

The first was Cider with Rosie, a memoir  of Laurie Lee's idyllic childhood in the English countryside.

I read it first as a teenager in English class... not by choice. At the time I found it boring simply because I didn't find a book that mirrored my own father's childhood experiences interesting. Like most teenagers it was my own childhood that was important to me not someone else's... unless it involved a fast paced plot, an unsolved mystery or the capture of a criminal. So when my book club gave out Cider with Rosie as a our next read just before lock down, I was intrigued to find out the plot as I could remember nothing about it... indisputable evidence that I must have spent the entire reading lesson staring out of the window, daydreaming. As it turned out, it was the perfect read - gentle escapism from the stark repeated warnings on the radio and television to stay home, protect the NHS and save lives, not to mention the daily rising death count.

Cider with Rosie has no plot (and don't wait for Rosie to appear as her moment of stardom is fleeting). This book is just a gentle journey through Lauri Lee's childhood, with exquisite, vivid, descriptions of each phase of his life, pre-school, school, childhood friends, teenage life, eccentric country characters and his relationship with his siblings and mother. Strangely, it reminded me of my own childhood in many ways despite being approximately four decades apart. Children in themselves do not change and I suspect the teenage Laurie Lee, with his zest for life and adventure, would have also spent his English lesson daydreaming by the window if he had been forced to read it as a developing teenager. As an adult trying to escape a stressful day, well in my opinion Cider with Rosie was perfect.

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Those people who are lucky enough to have a garden or outside space, found themselves doing a lot more gardening than they had done previously. Whether your an expert or a novice, gardeners are learning all the time. My garden certainly had a lot more attention, and I wonder if my plants were quaking in their soil when they first saw me coming. They had no need to fear, because I was armed with the Royal Horticultural Society Gardening Through The Year book.

Precise, clear and simple, this book gives a step by step guide on what needs doing every month. I felt an expert by just reading it!

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The second book I used rather a lot during lock down was Mary Berry's Baking Bible.

Once again, precise, clear and simple, this book provides a variety of things to bake which are divided into sections such as celebrations cakes, loaf cakes, tray bake cakes, children's bakes, with ingredients that can be found in a well stocked cupboard. I made quite a few and, unfortunately, gained several pounds in the process. In the end even my husband, concerned about all the extra calories we were scoffing, asked me to reduce my baking. There is no finer testament to a cook book than a man realising he has no resistance to a Mary Berry cake and in order to avoid temptation he has to resort to gently asking his baking obsessed wife (who is dangerously armed with an electric whisk) not to bake quite so many.

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The third thing I found helpful is not a book at all, but a sort of virtual book corner. I consider myself a slow plodder regarding adapting to technology. Lock down made me delve a little deeper into the world of podcasts. There are so many to choose from, but the one I am about to recommend is a wonderful bite-size escape. It is precise, clear and simple (there seems to be a trend here!), but also comforting and relaxing. Sandi Toksvig, a TV presenter and comedienne, has a voice that is easy to listen to as she invites us to join her in her 'room of books'. We Will Get Past This are 10 minute musings which provide a safe space of time where you can relax, find yourself smiling at her wit and anecdotes, and learn about 'some forgotten (and unforgotten) characters in history; some heroic, others comedic and a few who are just downright idiotic'.

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The Gutenberg Project was introduced to me via Sandi Toksvig's podcast. The Gutenberg Project is a library of over 60,000 eBooks... all free to download or read online. The eBooks are mainly older literary works published prior to 1924 and where the U.S. copyright has expired. Books are added to the Project Gutenberg archive only after it has received a copyright clearance, and records of these clearances are saved for future reference. 

The Gutenberg Project is, therefore, different to illegal free download sites, where the copyright still belongs to the author and if the author or publisher have not given their permission for the free download, the act of downloading the free eBook is equivalent to the reader/online site stealing the book. Yes, it might be hard to admit this but free downloads are, under normal circumstances, stealing. The Project Gutenberg, as I understand it, is not like this so I am happy to mention it here.

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My final recommendation is another podcast. The Worried Writer is a free monthly podcast packed with advice and conversation especially for those writers with self doubt, which is basically every writer who has ever lived. If you like to write, read or just listen to someone chatting while you put your feet up or go about your daily tasks, I suspect you might enjoy the window this podcast provides into a writer's mind... and you never know you might just find it educational and helpful too.

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I hope you have found my recommendations useful. If your own personal lock down has eased quite significantly to the point you are working again and rushing around after the family, it is still important to take time out and escape. Stay well, stay safe and stay sane with the help of all things bookish. 

Victoria Cornwall

Books by Victoria Cornwall

CALLING ALL WRITERS ... DO YOU SUFFER FROM W.S.A.D?

Victoria Cornwall
We have all heard about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a depression which comes and goes with the seasons and may be linked to the amount of exposure to sunlight.  It can be debilitating and make the autumn and winter seasons very difficult for sufferers of this very real disorder.

     The condition got me thinking and asking myself if the seasons can affect other parts of our lives? As a writer, I know the seasons affect my ability to be creative and write. Not because it changes my mood and causes depression, but for far more shallow reasons. I am more creative in the winter when the clocks go back and the daylight hours end early. I find it easier to snuggle up with my laptop and write because, quite frankly, the wind, rain and limited daylight outside don't encourage me to do anything else. This is very different when spring arrives (with its blossoming blooms) and summer (with its long, warm days which are perfect for socialising). Needless to say I want to be outside instead of inside writing. Yes I think I suffer from Writers Seasonal Affective Disorder (WSAD), which, incidentally, is a condition I just made up!

Victoria exploring a Cornish rock-pool instead of writing

    So I asked my writing colleagues the same question, Are you more creative in any particular season and why? This is what they told me.

Kathleen McGurl
     Oh wow. I have never been asked this question before, and have never given it any thought. Ok, right, here goes. Putting my thinking hat on.
My instinct is to say I write more in the late autumn and winter. Those dark, rainy days when there's nothing much else to do but sit inside and write. But then, I remind myself, I always have more energy in the spring, when the days get longer, the trees are in bud, the birds are singing and the words are flowing... Wait, though, isn't it also fair to say that some of my best writing has been done during the summer months, even while travelling?
     So actually, I write all year round, fitting writing around everything else. Until recently I had a full time job so had to make do with writing in the evenings and at weekends - no scope to prefer writing in one season over another.  Just needed to get on with it, in whatever time there was available!

Kath being creative in the winter

Rae Cowie
      When Victoria suggested we share how the seasons affect our creativity and writing, I was thrilled! As someone who lives in darkest NE Scotland and suffers from mild SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), the rhythm of the seasons definitely helps structure my writing year.

     In spring and summer my creativity is sparked by travel, encountering new people, places, buildings, stories etc. A time when I squirrel away ideas to be unearthed in the depths of autumn and winter when I’m tucked up in my writing den. That’s not to say I don’t feel creative during darker days, I do. In lots of ways it’s easier to settle my bottom into my writing chair when there’s no lure of a sunny day tempting me outside. Autumn and winter are the times I get the actual writing done – word count up, achieving those writing goals. So I need all seasons, the fun and excitement of being out and about during spring and summer, followed by the discipline and hard graft in winter, working with the seeds I’ve gathered that will hopefully blossom again in spring.

Squirrelling away ideas

Jennifer Bohnet
     To be honest I struggle with being creative in every season.Winter's dark and grey days can bring a small 'black dog' that hangs around me for days, where doing anything let alone write is difficult. When the daffodils and primroses of Spring appear I definitely perk up only to fade away again when the heat of Summer arrives. This summer has addled my brain completely! I am so looking forward to Autumn 2019 - not that I'll be anymore creative as the nights draw in and we light the log burner. But writing gives me an income so whatever the season I have to get over myself and write, promote and do all the accompanying administration. My grandmother had a saying that I mutter to myself whenever the weather is affecting things:

'We'll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not'.

Jo Allen
     To every thing there is a season, says the Bible, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

     But is there a season for writing? I’m going to answer that with a qualified no. I write whenever there’s a story needing to be told and that can be summer, autumn, winter or spring. It can be work time or holiday time. It can be day or night. But for me there is a fixed time to write and that’s November. I’m target-driven. I tick things off of lists and fill in apps for my step count and the like. Every November I sign up for a programme called National Novel writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and I sit down and produce the first draft of a novel. Other than that, no. No season at all!

Linda Mitchelmore

     As a short story writer with over 300 stories published worldwide under my belt I’m well used to writing in every season, and out of season. So, it’s almost always been, during my writing career, snow in summer, and bikinis in November ... well, in my mind, that is. I’d say my writing is weather-dependent and I write better when the sun isn’t shining, because when it is I just want to be out there in it. My house is small and my writing station is in the hall with a patio door behind me and a big window - facing south - to my left so sometimes heat dictates whether or not I write.

     I know people who use props to get in the mood .... wearing a summer frock and sandals to write in winter when writing a summer story, for example, but I don’t think I’d ever go that far! Writing all the above has made me realise how few Spring and Autumn stories there are .... Easter, of course, and some bonfire ones but neither of those seasons seem to sustain a novel to me.

     If I’ve got a deadline to meet then I just knuckle down to it – The Little B&B at Cove End was written mostly in winter, and Christmas at Strand House was written early morning and late evening in the summer to avoid too much heat at my writing station. There’s dedication for you!

Victoria

     So it appears that some writers are affected by the seasons and others are not. What about you?

Are you more creative in any particular season and why?

THE GOOD THINGS ABOUT BEING A WRITER by Gill Stewart

I am a writer. Sometimes I love being a writer, it’s wonderful. And sometimes … it’s not so great. There’s a lot of struggle involved, masses of self-doubt and the most awful sense of failure when you receive that rejection or bad review. So I started thinking, why do I do it? The answer is because I love it (yes, I know, already said that) and because the good things outweigh the bad.

With friends before the RNA Gala Dinner - on of the perks of being a writer

Just to remind all you writers out there of this, I thought I’d list them here:

• The best, the very best, is the losing yourself in words. It doesn’t happen every time you sit down to write but when it does it’s an amazing feeling. You are in the story. Your fingers can’t type fast enough. Those characters and that place are REAL.
• It gives you the excuse to be nosy, sorry, curious about other people
•  It gives you the excuse to research all sorts of weird topics
• It gives you the excuse – or even the impetus – to visit some amazing places
• You make friends. Good friends. People you would never have met otherwise. Most of these will be other writers, but they may also be bloggers, reviewers, readers. The internet is an especial help here as you can make those connections so much more easily these days.
• You discover there are so many groups out there who want to help writers. They’re fun to belong to as well as being extremely useful. Currently I’m a member of Dumfries Writers (although I’ll be leaving them, sob, when we move north), the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Writers Scotland, Scottish Association of Writers, Society of Authors, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and Friends and Writers. Some are informal groups, some professional bodies. All very helpful (I’d encourage any writer out there who thinks they’re not a ‘joining person’ to start joining – I did and have never regretted it!)
• And if all that wasn’t enough, there are all those brilliant books that get recommended, and discussions about books, that you will never be able to have with non-writing friends in quite the same way. You know, all that technical stuff about pov swops and pace and narrative arcs. Yes, that can be fun too.

The obvious final plus for this list is being published. And that is great, no doubt about it. But possibly even better is when you get a positive comment or good review from a reader. Now that really does make writing the best career to have.