Monday 21 July 2014

To write, perchance to dream

How awful to come to the end of a beautiful day in Kommetjie and find that you have missed it! The need for us to confine ourselves to endless hours of working in front of a computer screen must surely be one of the worst outcomes of progress and civilisation. Not that I'm ungrateful for the tremendous privilege of being able to actually work from home, but you need so much more discipline to do so, something I am completely lacking.

There is nothing I would rather do than lie on the lawn looking at the clouds going by, or on a rock down by the sea and just let my thoughts wander. If you do that for extended periods, you will find all kinds of ideas pitching up in your mind. Creativity is only possible if you allow yourself to daydream and shut out the noise of technology and listen to the sounds of nature. It takes about a month of determined relaxation before the wheels start to turn and the pen starts to move across the page, or the brush sweeps the canvas.

I haven't had such an opportunity for more than a year and I'm really missing just doing my heart's desire. That to me is the ultimate luxury. To write. Just a pen and paper and inspiring surroundings. Perhaps three months in Paris? Sigh.

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