Autumnal Images for Writing

Here in the north of England, it's just starting to turn autumnal. The darkness is falling earlier; we're finding the mornings darker too; and the leaves are starting to turn to their familiar seasonal shades of red and gold. It's the time of year when we may remember the line, 'Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness' and feel like writing a poem of our own.

To write a poem about autumn, why not go for a little walk in a park or a tree lined street and observe your natural surroundings. Pay attention to the little details like which trees are starting to turn first. In my garden, it's usually our Norway Maple that's the first to blush red and shed its leaves.

Listen to autumnal sounds like the crackle of feet on dry leaves (or with the weather we've had, it might be the swish of windscreen wipers as cars drive through flooded roads!) Most of our local children will have gone back to school by the end of this week. We saw a couple of children running round a shop this afternoon, giggling non-stop. What sounds do you hear from a school playground the first week when the children go back to school?

Jot down some words or phrases that come to mind and see if you can come up with words that reflect the sounds of autumn. 'Crisp' is one that comes to mind - it conjures up the crunchy sound and texture of dry leaves on pavements and also ties in with idea that apples are ripe for picking.

Good luck with your autumn poem - e-mail me your finished work to gale.barker@tesco.net and I'll display the best ones on this blog.

Write to Music

Some people like to have something playing in the background all the time when they are working, writing, or studying - the TV, radio, music. I prefer silence, as a rule, as I am so fond of music that if it were playing, I would be tempted to stop what I'm doing and concentrate on what I'm hearing instead.

But music can play an important part in your writing routine by helping you to relax, by putting you into an inspired, creative frame of mind, or by getting you into a particular mood.

Why not try writing to music this week? Put on a different type of music each day you sit down to write and see what effect it has on your creativity. Don't forget to make a note of what you listened to and how it affected your writing. Does it make any difference whether you are listening to the music through headphones?

Here are some suggestions to get you going:

• Beethoven's Eroica Symphony
• Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto (especially the end section which is less familiar to most people)
• The Magic Flute by Mozart
• The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky
• Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet
• Anything by Abba
• Traditional or folk music, such as Scottish country dancing music, Irish jigs
• New Age ambient music
• Brass band marches
• Gregorian chant

If you find a piece of music that particularly affects your writing or which you enjoy writing to, write a comment at the foot of this blog and share it with me and my readers.

Happy listening!

Develop as a Writer - Become Curious

I mentioned yesterday that it's good to be curious when you meet people and helpful to ask them about their work. But actually, it's good for writers to be curious about all sorts of things. That's surely one of the defining attributes of a writer, curiosity, nosiness, a desire to know about things and find out about how people think.

You can be curious in any situation at any time. Take, for instance, a simple walk round the streets where you live. There are all sorts of things to notice and observe, from the flowers in the gardens to ladybirds on leaves, people's various sort of cars, alterations or extensions they have made to their houses, their style of furnishing, whether their houses and gardens are well cared for.

Observe and ask yourself why things are so. For example, if you are on a street of beautiful gardens and there is one house which looks really out of place because the paintwork is scruffy and the garden is overgrown, ask yourself why it might be. Who lives in a house like that?

Could it be someone who is elderly, no longer up to the physical tasks required in looking after a home? Could it be someone who has had to leave the country in a hurry and hasn't been able to sell their house? Could it be a young single parent struggling to look after sickly, premature triplets?

When you finish your walk, make notes about what you have seen and what thoughts you have had. Keep them in a safe place as a resource to inspire your writing.

Ideas for Writing - Unexpected Meetings

If you need some more writing inspiration, here are another couple of real-life anecdotes that could spark off some writing for you. Today's topic is 'unexpected meetings'.

The first unexpected meeting was my brother-in-law's encounter with a very famous person on a short flight from Gatwick to Manchester. My brother-in-law, Nigel, lives in California, but often spends time in Toulouse in France on business. This weekend he decided to fly up to Manchester to spend the day with us before jetting back home to the States.

He must have been fated to get involved with famous people and big events today because it all started at quarter to five in the morning in Toulouse when he tried to drive from his hotel to the airport. The Tour de France was due to pass right outside his hotel and, even at that ungodly hour, staff were already out in the streets putting up barriers and getting the course ready. It took him a bit of time to negotiate the side streets and the one-way system to avoid the race route, but he eventually made it to the airport.

One plane journey later, he was getting ready to board his shuttle flight at Gatwick when he spotted a passenger who looked very familiar. 'Is that who I think it is?' he asked his friend.
'Yes, I'm pretty sure it is,' his friend replied.

As more and more people approached the famous-looking lady with autograph books, cameras, and microphones, the pair of them began to realise that she was indeed the real deal. And they already knew she wasn't just famous - she was a superstar!

And so it came about that my brother-in-law found himself sitting on a plane only one seat away from the legendary singer, Diana Ross. It certainly wasn't a meeting he'd expected to have that day, but it will give him something to tell the folks when he gets back home!

I had several unexpected meetings on my birthday this year when my husband and I went to Sheffield for the weekend to watch the stage show of Strictly Come Dancing, the British television show which became Dancing with the Stars in the U.S.A.

We were in a little gift shop just round the corner from our hotel and were waiting for a very slow credit card machine to make its connection so we got chatting to the shop assistant about how we'd come to Sheffield for the show. 'The stars are all staying in that hotel there,' she said, pointing to the one where we had our room. 'And you're something to do with the show, aren't you?' she said to the tall lady who was standing beside me in the queue.

'Yes,' she replied.

'You're Zoe Ball, aren't you?' said the assistant.

So that's how I came to be chatting to Zoe Ball, the television presenter and one of the celebrity dancers from the show. She was extremely nice. She talked to us for a little while, shook my hand, and said she hoped we would enjoy the show.

It was only the first of many close encounters we had with the stars and the professional ballroom dancers that weekend. There was our journey in the lift up to our room after the show in the company of Olympic heptathlon gold medallist, Denise Lewis, who was clutching a drink in a plastic glass in one hand and a polystyrene fast food carton in the other. I was dying to ask her if it contained a healthy salad or a fat-filled burger, but I restrained myself!

The next day, I literally bumped into Len, the judge, on my way out of the health club the following morning.

'I'm terribly sorry, madam,' he said, very politely.

'That's quite all right, Len,' I replied, as you do.

We had another journey in the lift with two of the top dancers, this time. Then after breakfast we saw nearly everyone from the show checking out and preparing to leave for the next step of their tour - more famous people than I can mention!

In fact, we encountered so many celebrities that weekend, we were getting really quite used to it. It seemed very strange that evening when we got back to Huddersfield and found that there wasn't a single famous person hanging around our street!

How about using unexpected meetings as the focus for a story or an article? You could write about a meeting with someone famous, dead or alive. Bumping into someone who turned out to be extremely significant, like the narrator's future partner. An ill-fated meeting that leads to someone's ruin. An encounter with an old flame who jilted you or with someone you hated with a passion.

Think not only about the meeting itself, but the emotions it evoked in all the people concerned. Show us vividly how they reacted, how they felt, what their hopes and fears were. Make us feel as if we were there too.

Good luck - and may you meet with success in your writing!