This is my favourite writing spot - the sofa.
What you can’t see are the three dirty mugs and two grubby blankets, a lurcher called Mouse, five notebooks entitled - garden, poetry habit, fingerprint, because Joe Lycett (I can explain), ‘writing’ - four notebooks-in-waiting, a book on grasses, an empty pistachio shell, and an innate sense of curiosity, adventure and optimism.
wording
I’ve always written ‘little stories’ as my mum called them, but it’s taken decades to get comfortable calling myself a writer. I hope the tyranny of needing to be in print to be taken seriously is over. To my mind, anyone whose art form is words is a writer.
A woman once gave me 50p for a couple of lines of verse saying, ‘You can say you’re a paid writer now!’ I suppose the equivalent today would be Buy Me A Coffee or a Substack subscription. I love how directly connected life is becoming.
quiet emotions
I’m drawn to works that depict undramatic emotions. It’s too easy to assume that feelings quietly expressed don’t impact a character deeply. But who can read The Remains of the Day or Small Things Like These without realising the lie of that?
Take time to see the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
John O’Donohue