Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sense and Sensuality

I make no apology for borrowing an idea from the title of the two forthcoming Goldenford workshops – one at the Leatherhead Institute on 10th October and a second at the Guildford Institute on 17th October. The workshops are called Sense and Sensitivity – maybe the above is better – and I’ve been thinking about the senses today, and how I can style my own parts of these workshops.

To start I tried out some perfume and sat down to write for five minutes. Surprisingly, it actually worked. Words started appearing from nowhere, which just shows what you can do when you try. The piece was not actually relevant to my novel in progress, and interestingly the perfume didn’t appear in the writing until the last sentence.

I went out for my constitutional (I’ve put on too much weight the last few weeks) and as I walked past bramble hedges, I tried out the last of some blackberries, catching my fingers on the prickles. The blackberries were tiny ones, which even the birds had left behind, so not very sweet and quite a few pips. I got to the field where last week I was pleased to see a cow and her two calves; last week, I had been aware of the smell of animal and manure; but this time, there was no smell, and alas, the mother and babies had gone. I sniffed and there was an autumnal aroma of bonfire – not near enough to be unpleasant - and as I looked around, I could see the smoke drifting up to the sky. I got to the little bridge, where I sometimes turn and return and as I passed, I could hear the sound of rushing water. I’m not good at using the senses and I don’t always notice these things.

This morning I collected a new contact lens and the two receptionists there told me, ‘We all loved your book.’ (Tainted Tree) That was gratifying and I hinted they might want to buy copies as Christmas presents. Worth a try. The optician make a point of buying a copy of each of my books for the business, as they come out, and then all the staff read it. They were keen to know when my next one was due, but I’m nowhere near finished.

If you believe in this idea of left brain/right brain – with one half being creative and the other half having a different job, I have been in left brain mode for some time. Going from M’s accounts straight on the Goldenford accounts hasn’t given the creative half any time to get back to writing, and although I’m nearly finished, I still have some queries to sort out.

However, this afternoon, I am making another honey cake and this will give me the pleasure of both taste and smell.

2 comments:

LittleGems said...

Hi

Thanks for such a wonderful blog post. I love dreading the way you narrate. Its an awesome experience reading the post. I am a right brain dominant,i imagine things and the way your narrate invoked my right brain to see the exact picture.please let me know where to buy your works. I am from India and I am eager to reader more of your works in future. Thanks for reading and keep up the good work of writing .

Jackie Luben said...

Hi LittleGems,
I'm so sorry not to have replied earlier to your comment, which I didn't see until glancing today.

Thank you for your very kind words.

My books are available from Amazon.co.uk. The American version of 'A Bottle of Plonk' with a new title, Have Wine will Travel, is available from Amazon.com. or from www.virtualtales.com.

Alternatively, both fiction books can be obtained from www.goldenford.co.uk

Or,
My two fiction books and also my autobiographical book can be obtained from my website, http://freespace.virgin.net/jackie.luben