Apologies for Half-Cross-Posting so that I don't have to say all this again at Hesitant Scribe!!! (Have added pics and stuff over there though.)
It wasn't a holiday. Before I went I also insisted, "This is NOT a holiday! It's a research Trip. But did they believe me? I packed note-books and pens in with my bikini and riding hat. A box of paints nestled in amongst the gaiters, and a copy of A Concise Dictionary of Chinese-English For Lovers by Xiaolu Guo was suitably protected by a beach towel.
And I arrived in Spain.
And I was home again. *Big Sighs*
So in the day I rode Andalucian horses across the hills and galloped along the dried out river bed, and in the evening I found myself filled with words and sounds and images I wanted to capture. So I wrote. And wrote and wrote and wrote. And now I now where I'm going! With the novel at least!
I think I was sceptical before leaving the UK that I would actually do any writing but I was wrong. And I can't pinpoint what it was exactly that got the words flowing again. Perhaps it was the warm salted air drifting inland off the Med, or the brilliance of the sun on white-washed houses edged in yellow, caressing my skin as I walked around town. It may have been the sound of Andaluz, dialect slowly emerging from the depths of my mind. But it might have had something to do with being in the car with my friend, a local woman, who drove along winding mountain roads, steering round bends with her knees to blaringly loud Spanish Rap that frightened me beyond measure. I thought, "I'm go to die on the Mijas Road in car and my book will never be finished!"
So on I go with the novel which is evolving each day, with every new thing I remember; cultural differences, the beauty of Andaluz 'speak', that feeling of really being alive I have in Spain, the people so open and friendly... the music, the horses.... Christ, I could write a book about it ;-)
Hope everyone else is doing well and I shall endeavour to get round all the new people's pages as soon as I can - although with the teaching year imminent, I'll also be trying to get my seminars planned and lectures written!
4 comments:
you trip sounds amazing! I am about to go on a research trip to the cake shop after which I shall be mainly researching cake eating. It's a tricky subject, I expect it will require a lot of research.
Rx
You fed your subconcious and it's thank you Lisa :-)
Sounds the most wonderful of trips, I felt inspired just reading it.
Rowan, I really like the thought of your research too....cake shops, chocolate shops, wine shops. i cna feel the urge to research coming on :-)
What a marvelous sounding trip! Lots of food for the soul - and the page.
Yes it was fabulous - preciosa - and so much done/seen/experienced/remembered...
Liz - The chocolate research sounds like a jolly good idea too!
And good luck Rowan with the cake research!
Wordtryst - there's some pics on my webpages :)
Post a Comment