Support your local crafters and shops seem to be the theme going forward. If this means I don’t have to go shopping in the city I am all for it.
Thankfully, we seem to have a wide range of crafters and small shops in the area. From woodworkers to painters, knitters to bakers we have them all represented at our craft fairs and markets.
Next Saturday our high street closes to the public for our Christmas Market and switching on the festive lights. With the recently held ‘shine a light’ for Halloween, the darker nights have had to work hard against our attempts to brighten them up.
It has felt strange. It is difficult to believe that winter is coming. The temperatures are not falling…yet. The flowers have not all darkened and died quite the reverse. Yellow roses that normally flower in June are once more producing blooms. ‘Granny’s Bonnet’ (Aquilegia) has started to grow again from the bottom up. Even the primroses are flowering.
Instead of adding layers, I am taking them off. Gloves are abandoned with overheating occurring in winter coats not designed for this weather. My reluctance to take off my thicker attire comes from experience.
All it will take is a little shift in the wind and we will go from warm sunshine to freezing cold. I’m pretty sure it is beginning to move a wee bit right now.
How bonnie will it be for market-goers if we have a small fall of snow on Saturday or a light frost? The stallholders may not like it unless they happen to sell spiced hot booze or roasting hot food.
Cold clear days are loved by many. It is the best time of year to venture into the woods or up hills. Our little fiend the midge is nowhere to be seen. It is nice to enjoy the outdoors without being constantly bitten.
Really bad weather allows me to lock myself away and write some more. I don’t crave the outdoors if it is lashing rain and the wind is battering my door. Writing is the perfect excuse for staying inside. Only at the moment that is not happening. The sky is blue and the sun is shining.
NaNoWriMo which takes place during November encourages writers to get those words out of their heads and stop prevaricating. A target of 1,500 words written daily if possible. It is an attempt to fit writing into the life you lead. Staying focused for a month is a great way to see if it can be fitted into your lifestyle. However, I feel it is a bit like a diet where you rush at it for a wee while then after the initial trial you fall back again. Just when your goal is in sight that piece of chocolate becomes too much to ignore
For a child writer 1,500 words, a day may be all you require to draft a story. It is the months and work undertaken after that may result in that initial concept becoming a book. It could be years before it is seen in print,
1,500 words a day when writing a novel is a drop in the preverbal ocean. However, it is a great way of getting a first draft down of a new story or completing a half-finished tale.
Taking part in NaNoWriMo for those who can’t seem to get their ideas down during the year, is a way to help focus on doing just that. But writers shouldn’t feel bad if they struggle during this month. Putting these first words down, editing, developing a line of thought, researching, drafting, and redrafting, all are important in the creative process.
Blàs three is coming along a little bit more slowly than if I were adopting the limits of NaNoWriMo but I have vowed to be kind to myself. Writing every day is something I do anyway as it helps me to hone my skills and so often leads to new ideas. I’m not too focused on the target set this month. It is the other eleven that I have to keep the same rate of progress up.
So on Saturday, I will be taking some time off to amble around the Christmas Market. I’ll chat with friends and buy some things I didn’t expect to purchase. I’ll maybe partake of a spiced hot gin and ooh and ahh as the street darkens and then sparkling colours burst forth as the festive lights stream overhead. After all in the end some of that atmosphere could well find its way into another book.
Write, draft, and edit but most of all enjoy.
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