One week and counting

In just 1 week I will be packing my car and heading off, dog in passenger seat (with seat belt on, I might add) to Calais.  Driving about 600 kms from Civray in the Poitou-Charentes region of France to Calais.  We're staying over night in a hotel, me and mutt sharing a room, that will be fun, I know it, she's such a great bedtime companion!!  Then, it's off to Pet Passport Control for the check of her microchip, flea/tick preparation by the Vet and signed passport - this is going to be a real experience.  We're loving it!  

My entire time in France has been an adventure from the moment I arrived in December.  I jumped and here I find myself in the land of the romance language.  I feel I've got to grips with the lingo quite well.

Yesterday, I went for a walk down by the river with the infamous Jack Russell, and as she was doing her 'thang' and exploring the waters' edge, we spied a fisherman.  He seemed very chatty - obviously, we're talking, french chatty here.   We shake hands, he says "Bonjour, comment-allez-vous?", "Oui bon, et vous? I replied.   Bless him, he was bright red, looked like a bottle of red wine (a bit too much I might add) and he smelt like a bottle of red too.  However for the next 5 minutes or so, we stood, and we talked.  Me in my cute french.  I asked if he fished there often (can you believe that chat up line).  He asked if I had a husband? Maybe he had someone for me?  He noticed my bright orange car and asked what it was?  We talked, we communicated and I felt good that I could understand him and he understood me. 

I asked him - vous comprendez moi?  "oui, tres bon, c'est d'accord".  

I left, on my way to the supermarche, feeling quite good.  After 5 months, I held a conversation with a drunken fisherman.  I'm chuffed.  It makes me proud..

I shall miss the space, the landscape, the fields of green and the lack of speed bumps.  I've had nearly 7 weeks of solitude and I'm now looking for interaction and my friends.  My time here has been really productive, wonderful, learning, growing, developing, and after the year of 2009, that's a good thing.  I'm blessed and very grateful for grabbing this opportunity when it arose - some of it may have gone a bit pear shaped however I'm going to remember every ounce of it and breathe deeply as I get in my car to head off up the N10 to Calais.  Who'd have thought I'd be driving all that way on my own.  Well, not exactly on my own, I have an excellent map reader - albeit the furry 4 legged variety - but they know where they're going. xx

Over 13,000 words

Well today I have now passed 13,000 words for my workbook - still not sure on the title - but it's along the lines of '7 Steps to creating your Personal Statement for University' - that's a bit too wordy for me but we shall see how it evolves.  I have now finished the main steps which I'm chuffed about.  Now I am looking at the chapters either side, the introduction, the 'before you begin the book' section, about me, glossary, recommended links, references etc... so it's quite exciting.  I have one week to go before I return to Liverpool and I feel I have been very focused to achieve this task I set myself on 30 March.  

I am going to self publish it, but I also I will send it to publishers to see get some feedback.  Exciting stuff.  

Loving my sketching frenzy

I've been in a sketching frenzy - loving the plain paper and graphite and getting really into it.  More so I love tearing out the face sketch and then medium-ing it (is there such a word?) Anyway, thought I'd share some of them. The goddess on the left here - or 

déesse (the french name)  she started off like this 

and has ended up as a really love addition below.  Not quite finished but am going to finish her soon.  She's going to have the poem

"To her I entrust my spirit

When I sleep and when I wake

Even as my soul is not within my body

Déesse is with me I am not afraid"

I placed her face on a piece of wood backing and then added more shading with my beautiful primsa crayons, then the 'medium-ing' started - I find this so meditative.

By the way, just out of interest, I discovered that the Citroen DS, that icon french car, well the DS, stands for Déesse, goddess , that's what they thought of it when they designed her.  Beautiful.  Bfn x

Gypsy Queen

It was such a beautiful weekend - weather wise - that I decided to take my art outdoors.  Setting up, I just invited my muse along and we made played with colour.  It was so meditative that I found 5 hours had gone and it was time to think about dinner!  This is Gypsy Queen and I'm loving her hair, thanks to the tulip paints I can now add lots of dimensions into my paint.  I am still adoring my prismacolour pencils - the best thing I ever came across.  i could spend so much on art, craft materials - it's so expensive and yet so worth it. I also put some finishing touches to PInk Lady, the copper hair is a first for me! 

Nearing 10,000 words

It has been over two weeks since I last wrote here.  I think that this blogging malarkey is working because I have been beavering away on my handbook/guidebook/manual.  So far I'm nearing 10,000 words, and I'm liking the way it's going.  This started out as a challenge to get this done before I go home to UK and it's looking like I may be getting there. Three weeks have passed and I have achieved a fair bit.

What I'm finding very interesting is the flow process I find myself in when I sit down to write.  What normally happens and this has evolved, is I will proof and edit what I wrote the day before.  This gets me into the mindset of where I was up to and what things I had been saying.  I also have a word doc on my desktop that I add to when I'm about to stop writing for the day, so that I can go and check on this first thing the next day, or the next session.  

At the moment I'm writing all the time, in the morning, through the afternoon and in the evening, taking regular breaks, drinking lots of water and eating almonds (plus other stuff of course)  All good brain food. 

And so what I have right now is a working doc, that is taking the form of "8 Steps to creating your Personal Statement for University".  I'm on step 7 right now.  I started with the steps and the activities, then I will put the coat on the rest of the book, the introduction, the references, the links, the FAQ's, the Index.  

This came to my attention today and I find it very interesting:

From Jon Kremer’s free book marketing newsletter: In 2009, traditional publishing produced 288,355 titles and print-on-demand (POD) services produced 764,448. Traditional publishers published 45,000 novels, 32,300 childrens' books, 19,300 religion titles, 15,400 science titles, and 26,000 economics titles. The top POD publishers were CreateSpace (21,819 titles), Lulu.com (10,386 titles), Xlibris (10,161), AuthorHouse (9,445 titles), and PublishAmerica (5,689 titles). 

I found this quote on word document and not sure where I found it.... sorry to whomever

"I have decided today to change my definition of success.  Instead of measuring it in ££ Pounds, I decided that the best way to be a success would be to spend as much time doing what I love.   That way even if I didn’t make lots of of money at least I would love what I was doing., happy from moment to moment".

I think that's me. <3

2 Days mindblooming.

Yesterday was a real mindblooming day.  So much so, I couldn't get to sleep last night because my mind was still churning about the handbook.  Still not sure if it's a workbook, guidebook or handbook. I'll have to ponder on that one.  It's definitely going to be something that a prospective university applicant can work through, either young person, or mature student.  I have been collating all my own notes, reference material and inspirational exercises which will encourage the reader to begin the process of unlocking the creative statement within.  It's going to be an interesting few weeks as I continue to transfer ideas, formula from written page to mac.     Found a great quote today from 'Why do bad things happen' by Gordon Smith (the Psychic Barber)

"When crap happens, just stand above the situation and say "Is that mine? No. Then don't take it on or own it, its not yours, just roll up your sleeves and get on with things". [p51]  I quite like this because recently I've been thinking in too much detail about a particular problem and it's actually not mine, it's someone else's - so I'm going to take this valuable lesson and apply it - see how it fits.

And so - "It's not mine, I'm not taking it on, I'm not owning it, I'm going to get on with my own things today"   There, I feel better.  Have good good Friday x

A self published Handbook

I'm thinking that I have to set myself a goal, let's call it a target of sorts.  In 6 weeks, is it possible to self-publish a Handbook for writing Personal Statements? (working title, haven't thought of the exact sexy title yet).  I'm thinking that this could be a tough call, but then, let's see ... working day, say 7 hours, 5 days a week, that's 35 hours a week, I know I could do more hours than that, *I'm just being generous on 35*.

I have all the resources, the ideas, the plans, the notes and the experience to do this.  Can I set myself the challenge to produce something that I will then make available?  Could be really useful for young people, adult returners, in fact anyone going to University and at a loss when it comes to writing 47 lines of 4000 characters on their UCAS application form.

Hmmmm, something to ponder on the next couple of days.  I want to put it out there to help other people -  it has been on my mind for years.

Bought another blank journal to bring all the notes together - to make it happen.

Once again this is a reminder that if I sit about and not do it, then it doesn't get done.  If I just do it, then I can at least tick it off my list, relax and move on to the next project.

To have an Art Studio or not, that is the question.

My art studio at the moment is a collection of boxes, shoeboxes, plastic containers and an old cardboard box that sits tucked in a corner in the lounge.  I always thought that I would need a studio (even a desk!) for me to begin to sketch, paint, mess, moodle, wax.  Little did I know that actually when I have my stuff out and near me, it inspires me to just start musing with it all.  As it's all near me, there's no excuse not to.  I can sit and look at the colour of paints, pick up my sketch book and begin to just let the lines flow.

All this time, I have been waiting for my studio but I have realised that the studio is within and I can take it anywhere.  I came here to France never realising that this would be something I would learn.

Learning.  This whole l'adventure en france has been about learning.  Learning to adapt, to live smaller than small, to appreciate what I have and who I have in my life, to get in touch with my inner creative muse that loves playing with colour.

Tomorrow, a new phase begins as Will leaves to return to the UK and I remain here for 6 weeks with Lucy.  It's a time to stay focused and plan my time.  To return in May with paintings, writing, proposals and hopefully self published.  I'm going to make an agreement with myself to do just this.

Spring has sprung : )

Work in progress

Have been working on the little lady above on birch plywood.  She's not finished yet but coming along nicely I think.  It's all about layering.  It doesn't just happen and takes a while to build up the layers, adding and subtracting, the rise and fall of the piece.  Got her hair to think about, not sure what's going to happen with this, I'm feeling pony tails!

Touch Typing my words onto Mac

I feel like I have had a productive day today as I went through my writing in my pink book and typed it up, editing as I went.  Oh, the joy of being able to touch type.  I owe that to Mrs Jolley when I was 14.  I decided to take a typewriting course when I was in secondary school (all those many moons ago).  We learnt to type on manual typewriters and she was a stickler for knowing exactly where the keys were placed.  We had to practise with a piece of a paper over our hands and read the text quickly.  I'm so glad that I had this grounding as it really has set me up for this computer led age.  I only have to see people who struggle with three fingers and I wish it was taught as it makes things so much easier.  To know where the keys are on the keyboard is a real blessing.

The cat sat on the mat - that was the phrase I remember.  I'm sure there's lots of people who remember this too!!

Well today it really did come in handy as I was transcribing my writing.  

I also spent a good hour or so going through the Writers and Artists 2010 Yearbook.  I have already gone through it with post it notes to highlight the publishers and literary agents who would be suitable to send my proposal.  Making a list of them all and starting to visit their websites to see their submission guidelines.  Maybe a little premature but I think it's all part of the research and it also gets me into the mood.  The W&AY is a great resource with lots of great articles written on how to submit to agents/publishers.  It's all about the first impression.  When writing a non-fiction book it's not the whole manuscript they require, it's a proposal, synopsis and sample chapters plus bio about the writer.  

Been a beautiful day here in France so managed to do some of this outdoors.  Nice.