I sit propped against a sand dune on the beach, the sand moulded to my body, cradling me. It's night time and a small fire flickers at my feet, keeping me warm and lighting the small area around me. I can hear the popping noise of the wood as it burns, hear the sea lapping gently at the shore and smell the salty, bonfire air. Usually I'm the only one, but occasionally a person will emerge from the shadows and we'll talk.
This is my safe place. The internal world I went to when I needed to escape.
I'd forgotten about it until I read a friends blog fernenland: When I am feeling bruised So why don't I go there any more? Is my life so much better that I don't need to hide inside myself?
Then I realised the difference is my writing. When I have a problem, a worry, something niggling away at the back of my mind, I write about it. Sometimes it's obvious (see White Van Man), sometimes it gets worked into a story, my characters working through the issue, saying what I'd like to say and what I'd like to hear. Plus I put my muse through far worse things then I ever have to deal with in real life.
When Fernenland goes out with her camera, she finds herself in a different space, seeing things she wouldn't normally have noticed and that's how I feel about my writing. When walking down the road, I'm looking at everyday things and searching for the beauty in them. Or catching snippets of conversation and letting my imagination fill in the missing parts. A man walking down the road...he's actually just murdered his wife and is now off to plant the evidence in her lovers house. Or that strange looking knot on the tree trunk is really the door to a fairies house, you might just catch her peeping out from the corner of your eye. It does lift your spirits and energise you.
People find this space through different mediums such as meditation, exercise, photography, art, music, words. So go out and explore, feed your soul.
(Thank you Fernenland for letting me link to your blog and inspiring me again.)
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