The Writing Coach

On visiting Derek Jarman's Garden

There are times, I think, in every writer's life, when inspiration feels in short supply, when everyday events take over and fresh input is needed if we're going to thrive creatively. I hit this point a week or so ago and we took a decision to get away. We are now staying in Rye, on the South Coast of England, a town I last visited as a child of eight years old, a place that held strong personal memories. My family is sleeping as I write.

I knew, when we set off, that I wanted to visit Derek Jarman's garden at Dungerness, a pilgrimage I've desired to make for some years (yet have always somehow put off). So it was a thrill, today, to finally visit the landscape that I'd first read about eight years ago when researching my novel 'Bluethroat Morning'.

I've long admired Howard Sooley's photos of Jarman's garden. For those not familiar with the garden, the British filmmaker Jarman called his garden 'Paradise' yet it was planted in a landscape that some might consider more of a hell than a heaven - in the 'flat, bleak, often desolate expanse of shingle that faces the Nuclear Power Station in Dungeness, Kent'. Spurred on by a true personal vision, his painterly eye and strong ecological conviction, Jarman tended the garden from 1986 until his death.

It is difficult to begin to express the intensity of my experience today, on visiting the garden. Suffice for the moment to say that it has strengthened my conviction in the necessity and power of art, of beauty and the individual vision of each human being. I am, I admit, in pensive mode right now. How could I not be? I've begun each day of the school Easter holidays by remaining in bed with Louis Fischer's 'Life of Mahatma Gandhi'. It is difficult not to question one's own motives, the values of one's own actions, when considering a life as meaningful as Gandhi's. The effect of Jarman's garden on me, however, has been to remind me that one does not have to change the world in huge ways to make an important impact. Jarman's faith in nature, in beauty, in the power of the human spirit, in love, in poetry - all these have a huge impact on anyone who visits this garden or simply reads Jarman's words and views Sooley's photographs in the book 'Derek Jarman's Garden'.

David Lewis cartoons is live...

I am SO excited to announce that David Lewis Cartoons is now live!  In case you don't know, David Lewis, a very talented caricaturist, is my husband and we've worked together on the launch of this website together with our wonderful designer Sarah of Saronyx Design.  I wrote the copy for David's site, so it's kind of my baby too... We're both thrilled that David has now entered the twenty-first century (only seven years late!).

If you think you recognise the cartoon image in the screenshot here, it's Posh and Becks from 2DTV on which David worked as a designer.   There's also a great link on the site which I'll repeat here to 'Shoot the Dog' the George Michael video, for which David drew the majority of backgrounds.  If you watch carefully, you'll see a row of terraced houses in the video (next to the messy house in which George plays the Simpson family) - one of those houses is the house we used to live in... 

David has also started up a newsletter and he's offering a free caricature to one new subscriber each month, so if you fancy a mug-shot of yourself or a family member, do sign up...

David and I work together at home, two artist-entrepreneurs occupying the same space and brainstorming constantly.  He works primarily in the corporate sector, focussing on business cartoons, corporate entertainment and caricature gifts although he is now branching out into newspaper and magazine illustration and has already illustrated several books.   Oh - and he recently worked as a caricaturist for her Majesty the Queen for her eightieth birthday party at the Ritz.

We both like to combine our own artistic pursuits with our businesses and sometimes the edges of the two blur...as a result, I've become increasingly fascinated with how artists and creative writers can mine their creativity and also make money and this conviction - that the two can go hand in hand - will be at the heart of my new business 'The Essential Artist' which will be launching in the next month or so... I've been absent on this blog for a while, for which, apologies.  But all that is about to change.  In the next few days I'll update you on what's been going on (there's news on the book front too...) and what to look out for.  This blog is most definitely back...

New year, New Novel

Well, first of all, a very belated Happy New Year to you all!

The first couple of weeks of 2007 have been, for me, a time of contemplation, hence my absence.  I guess, for all of us, this is a time when we look ahead to all that has happened in the previous year and consider what we want from the year ahead.  At the beginning of January, I was thinking a lot about what it means to have a personal vision - a very clear sense of what we want from the year ahead.

Now I could get very side-tracked and talk about what I'd like to see happen politically in 2007, but for that I will divert you to this website. 

Instead, I will stick with the personal.  For me, this year is about facing the truth; about getting real.  As you may know, coaching has become a large part of my life; nurturing others has been immensely important to me.  I have entrepreneurial vision too and a large part of me is simply longing to launch a new business.  Doubtless, this lies in the future.  But what about the writing?

What I know is that 2007 must be the year when I get back to my roots as a writer.  At our writers' group the other evening, one of my friends quoted the author Beryl Bainbridge as saying 'you have to have a clear mind to write'.  It struck a chord.  I need to think very carefully about the my business and the balance between the business and my writing.  It is
time to be brave and get back to what matters.  The work itself.  Time to write the big one.

The Garden Party

Now, it may seem to you as if all this doesn't have a lot to do with writing.  But you know, I haven't been here for a while and a lot's been going on, so we'll get to the writing - mine and yours - quite soon.  But, first we have to talk about chocolate. My latest recommendation is this:  Charbonnel et Walker pink champagne truffles.   
I promise you, chocolate does not get better than this.  They might cost ten quid for a small box but when you eat one you will believe you have died and gone to heaven.  Truly.  And if you don't want to get fat, you can always reward yourself with one truffle a day, once you've written your thousand words.

Distracted by Stumbling...

Yes, I admit it, I have been distracted from this blog by three things.

Firstly, by the summer holidays and outings with my children.  Today at Kew Gardens to see the new Sackler Crossing (pictured right)

Secondly by the fact that I'm in the middle of creating my new website which will launch this Friday!  I can't wait to share it with you.  My new newsletter will also launch in September - so thank you to all of you who have been so patient waiting for something to arrive in your in-box.  Once that gets going, I'll be sending it out on a weekly basis (do sign up in the box to the right if you haven't already).

Thirdly by the fact that I have been a traitor to Typepad and have been blogging on a new addiction Stumbleupon.  However, having realised the disadvantages of that system for me, I've decided to take my page there down.  You can find my page here if you're reading this on Wednesday, but not for much longer...  So I'll be back on this page soon and though my entries may be sporadic during the holidays, from early September I'll be blogging on Typepad regularly.

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer...

Quick Update

Sorry it's been an age since I've posted.  I'm dying to update you on all that's been going on so far this summer.  I've been offline rather a lot lately as the children are home!  There's a lot to report on and I hope to fill you in over the next day or so.  Most of all I want to tell you about our wonderful trip to Vita Sackville-West's garden at Sissinghurst (pictured here) and my daughter's reaction to the Kandinsky exhibition at the Tate Modern... Until that post - which will be very soon - do take a look at my updated 'bedside reading' in the bottom right hand margin.  I am just LOVING the new biography of Modigliani - a book I once wanted to write, but am now delighted to read. 

I'm working today however.  The children are off with their dad at the Victoria and Albert Museum, whilst I'm putting together the copy for my new website which will launch on August 16th.  Today I've finalised the details of the Teleclasses which will begin on October 3rd.  If any of you are interested in joining an exclusive 8 week creative writing group, please do join us.  The single session in July went so well and the participants of the second group went away with a simple 7 day challenge - to write for half an hour every day for a week... easy?  Why don't you try it and let me know how you get on? It's a great one for beating procrastination...

In the meantime, the Tele-classes:  here's what's going to happen. Forgive the formality of the language - this is the copy for my new site!

Beautiful Dawn

It’s nearly midnight on Saturday night.  I should, of course, go sleep.  But it’s been a perfect day.

My James Blunt CD is just starting up:

“Beautiful dawn - I'm just chasing time again.
Thought I would die a lonely man, in endless night.
But now I'm high; running wild among all the stars above.”

I’m wondering how I can encapsulate everything that has happened over the last couple of weeks, because my experiences have been so intense, I feel momentarily lost for words, yet know the words will come, as they always do.  Isn’t that the point of this?

I’m blissed out right now.  I don’t always feel like that.  But why not write when one does and seize the moment, just as one would seize sadness or fear in words? 

Why do I feel this way?  A simple reason actually, although maybe there’s some deeper stuff beneath it.  After seven months in my new house and a fair amount of renovation (not to mention the rats – a distant memory now), I spent the morning tidying/cleaning/gardening to prepare for a visit from two of my sisters and their husbands.  My family live some distance away, so this was the first time they’d visited and I was excited.  The place looked pretty gorgeous by the time I’d finished.  Not perfect.  Far from perfect.  But it looked like home.  David brought home lanterns to hang in the trees with citronella tea-lights.  The French doors were open to the garden.  I spent a lot of years longing for a garden yet living in a house with only a tiny courtyard overlooked by a block of flats – so this garden that is mine means everything to me.  It took a lot of dreaming and a lot of faith to get exactly what I envisaged:  a garden not overlooked by anyone.  My dream was to be able to look from my children’s bedroom windows and see only trees.  Now I have that.  But today I appreciated it more deeply than ever.

All Change...

It's been an exciting time at this end.  You'll have noticed, I'm sure, that I haven't been blogging lately, either here, or on 'Stubborn World'.   Some big changes have been going on for me.  I've begun working with the Raw Food Coach, Karen Knowler, and the work we've done together has gone way beyond the food...

As a result of conversations with Karen, I've realised that in order to find time for both my own writing and my business - as well, of course, as my family - then it will be necessary (sob!) to give up my post teaching creative writing at Richmond Adult and Community College.  I am sad about this because my students are just the best; wonderful writers and two hugely supportive groups.  It's been such a pleasure working with so many talented people over the last year and seeing their work grow and develop - so many fascinating novels on the verge of being ready to send out to agents and publishers... But at the same time, I'm HUGELY excited about having more time to write and also to work with more inspiring individual clients (including, already one or two of my former students).  I'll also be running my own short teaching programmes, both in-person and via teleclasses.  Thanks to my work with Karen I've also decided to write an e-book:

“The Writing Coach:  30 Days to Conquer Your Self-Doubt and Procrastination and Have 30,000 Words Under Your Belt.”

Yes, you read it right.  If you follow the programme, you're going to get over that Writing Block once and for all - AND - you'll get words on the page. I'll be posting the programme here - daily, from tomorrow - so you, my lovely loyal blog-readers, get to see it first. I've also taken the decision to revamp my website, so you can look forward, in a few months time, to seeing me come forward more as 'The Writing Coach'.  It's time to really connect with people who are my favourite clients - writers.  We're going to dig deep and get intimate.  My over-riding mission here is to get as many writers as possible connecting with their work as a source of joy and not anxiety.  Most of us writers spend far too much time angsting and not enough time writing.  What I want for you is for you to really connect with your own personal passion.  To write for love.