Re: Finding inspiration in a Covid world
Feeding that tiny Alain de Botton voice inside all of us.
Another cracking read from Simon Jones this morning. Today, he tickles the old memory strings on the concept of travel.
As always, he offers some fantastic insights into his daily struggles of ‘the writer’ *spits* Ah! A fly or dust or something. In this case, the intrinsic importance of ‘travel’ to the mind of ‘the writer’ *spits* ah! What’s going on? Writ-er, writ-er, I’m a writ-*spits* er. Ah! Bloody Derren Brown. Seriously, when Brown asks you what you do for a living, say ‘plumber’.
Cock-it!
Anyway, Simon pulls some creative rabbits from hats, reminiscing on past travels to Hemingway’s Ronda, Aysgarth Falls and Fountains Abbey (all beautiful if you haven’t been) and all very much linked to evoking creative inspiration.
If I ever go back to do my PhD it’ll be on the relationship between the writ- *coughs* the creative mind and the concept and imperative of ‘location’. Particularly where an object within that locale can be defined as an objective correlative. Or some shit like that, I don’t know.
Reading Simon inspired me to ask myself if Covid has been good for writers and of course, the answer is Nah! Not really. I’ve heard tell of productive gits that have churned out completed miniseries while they’ve been in lockdown but for most of us, I think the stress of it all will have been less nurturing to the creative mind.
The best thing I managed to do during lockdown was to eat my body weight in cheese Doritos and paint a door. Not at the same time.
Travel is, of course, so important to writers. That little Alain de Botton voice inside all of us urges contemplation while staring out of the plane window and not just thinking that you really need a wee and pleading for the pilot to turn the seatbelt sign off so you can get up and out before the 12 other people all busting to go.
The concept of travel wills us to just move, don’t think. It’s the moving and the thinking that is the thing, the destination irrelevant.
There is definitely something inspiring about the world flying past your train cubicle-like window while sipping your second pint of milky coffee from a red paper bucket.
Definitely has a freeing effect on the old noggin.
Anyway, if you have not signed up to Simon’s newsletter or haven’t heard his podcast - well worth a perusal.
Thanks, James! Agreed about Covid...there were lots of comments last year (mostly from non-writers, I think) about how we could all sit at home and write our 300,000 word epics at last, not realising that writing takes some amount of focus - and Covid-19 is quite possibly the most distracting thing to happen on a global scale since...I don't know, World War 2?
That's without factoring in that writers with kids had to magically learn how to homeschool, and deal with their entire families suddenly buzzing around the house constantly. :)