Or at least I was until I allowed myself to be distracted to write this post…
Working? Yes.
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Internet cheating
So, I’ve been cheating on this blog a little in the last few weeks. I’ve been working on another online space. But the good news is that I’m pretty much done there, so I’ll be back here a little more frequently now.
I’m kinda excited about the thing I’ve been working on. See, it’s a yoga website, and yoga (doing and teaching) have pretty much been taking up all my head space lately. Have a peek!
As for writing, well, I seem to be taking a break from doing it regularly. I’m not writing every day, even though I’d like to. But I have had a few fairly intense sessions in the last few weeks, where pages and pages have flown out the end of my pen. I’m not writing anything new. I’ve picked up an old short story with renewed interest and have realised how much more work I need to put into it before it’s anywhere near finished — an exciting prospect, really. It never ceases to amaze me how a little space from something can completely change how you look at it. I’m going to try and get a few more pages in today.
It’s such a lovely day in Sydney that I might even take a picnic rug down to the park to write. Ah, sun.
Working?
This is either a sign that I’ve been working hard or that my room is in need of a clean. I’m yet to decide which…
Trouble
I haven’t been all that well for the last couple of days. I think I’m slowly fighting off a cold or a throat infection, or something equally thrilling. So today I’ve tried to take it slowly, ignoring the guilt that usually comes with not rushing around trying to do a thousand things. I’ve had a very quiet day, listening to music and doing a little research here and there for some classes I’m planning and some things I’m writing.
Over the weekend, I went up to Maitland for the birthday party of a very good friend of mine from high school. It was a lovely weekend — I hope she had as nice a time as I did. And perhaps because I spent some time over the weekend reminiscing, I’m now listening to a Coldplay album that I played to death throughout high school. At some point I either bought or was given the sheet music for their first album, Parachutes, and learnt to play and sing a number of the songs, just in case having them on repeat on my CD player wasn’t enough. This was one of my favourites.
Throat infection or not, I’m about to go and sit at the piano to try and play this song again.
(Happy birthday Rylie!)
Lucky
Every now and then I realise just how lucky I am to be enjoying my days as much as I do. I’ll be honest: I’m poorer than I’ve ever been. But I can’t really complain because the work I’m doing is something I enjoy, and, more than that, I feel like it means something.
On top of that, because I do most of my work in the mornings and evenings, my days are slow, and usually see me pottering about the house cooking, writing, reading, researching.
Don’t get me wrong; I have regular moments of overwhelming fear or upset, when I wonder what on earth I’ve done (or how I’ll next pay rent). But when I find myself sitting down to a piece of toast and a cup of tea at four o’clock in the afternoon, or cooking myself a warm lunch, I can’t help but feel privileged to be able to live this way.
Today was one of those days. I had a productive day: I did a few loads of washing, I got my groceries done, I cleaned the bathroom, I cooked a couple of meals, I chatted to my brother on the phone for a couple of hours about life and thinking, and I did some yoga. Then it was dinner time. And now I’m doing some research for a class I’m teaching. My idea of a perfect Monday, really.
Follow your dreams, people. The obstacles along the way are well worth the struggle.
Slow Reading
I found this article through Mad Bibliophile today. Interesting reading. It relates to a lot of the other things I’ve been thinking about recently, so I’ll try to write something longer about it at some point. Time is something that’s on my mind a lot lately, given that I’ve now got more of it.
But for now I’m off to get ready for a dress-up party!
Yoga Class
Updated: I’m no longer teaching in Woolloomooloo, but my full teaching schedule is available here.
I’m teaching a class on Wednesday evening at Monstrosity Gallery in Woolloomooloo and I thought I might post here to see if any readers might like to come along.
The class will start at 6pm, and will cost $15. You’ll need to bring your own mat and some socks and warm clothes for the final relaxation. Places are limited, so if you’d like to come leave a comment here and I’ll get in touch with more details.
I’ll be teaching these classes every week, and possibly one other class in the same location, so even if you can’t come this week, let me know if you’re interested in future classes.
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I received a letter in the mail today addressed to ‘Sophie Langley, RYT’ (registered yoga teacher). I think I blushed with excitement. It’s all official now, and starting to feel real.
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Update: my yoga website is up and running — have a peek!
Thinking time
I seem to spend a lot of time on my own these days. I only realised just the other day how much time I spend in my own company. Most of my work is in the evenings at the moment, and I’m not a late sleeper, so I spend a lot of time pottering around by myself during the day.
But by no means am I lonely. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy the time.
Most Mondays I get on a train and head up to Newcastle to visit friends up there and attend a production meeting for a creative collective I’m involved in. The trip is three hours long. At first, I thought of that three hours as a chance to get a little bit of writing done. Or some class planning. Work-time, that is.
As it turns out, I find it impossible to work when I’m in transit. I’ve tried, but I usually end up with two or three words on a page and frustration in the space between my eyebrows. I’ve found the same thing on the three-hour bus trip I sometimes take to and from Canberra when I visit my Ma, Pa and brothers.
So recently I stopped trying to force myself to work. When I did, an interesting thing happened: I started to think. Properly think. You know, about life, the universe and everything and nothing. I thought through the problems I was having with my writing and often came up with solutions — I thought through life problems and again, often came up with solutions. I also started to think bigger than myself, to think, dare I say it, philosophically about the world. No solutions there. But interesting nonetheless.
How often does one get a chance to just sit and think these days?
Now, when I travel alone, I call it Thinking Time, and I don’t understand how I ever did without it.
Here’s the view from my thinking seat on the train to Newcastle. Sigh.
Novel Challenge update
Reading for the Novel Challenge has been an interesting experience for me. I’m not sure if I’m the only weird one, but I have this strange guilt complex about reading fiction, despite the fact that I enjoy it immensely. On top of the idiocy of feeling guilty about enjoying something, I’m a writer, and reading fiction is invaluable for my writing, both as inspiration and as some kind of subconscious learning. Yeah. I don’t get the guilt complex either. It’s stupid. Something to do with being an incredibly proactive person — the not-so-great flipside of which is that I’m very bad at relaxing.
Anyway. I’ve got a pretty good excuse to read fiction at the moment and it’s been really wonderful. I’ve spent a couple of Saturday mornings curled up in my favourite armchair, winter sun shining through the window, nose in a book. Sigh. Why don’t I let myself do this more often?
As well as the relaxation factor, I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed starting to pick apart what, exactly, it is that I enjoy (or otherwise) about what I’m reading. I’m getting a bit of extra practise at this at the moment, because I’m tutoring a year 12 student in English, and a lot of what we’re doing is recognising literary techniques and trying to understand what their function is in the text. In our last session we looked at a book I read recently, The Anatomy of Wings, and tried to pull apart a very small section of it, discussing what some of the techniques might be trying to achieve.
I find it very hard not to just point out all the techniques I can see, because I enjoy the process so much (not a great teaching move). I want to do year 12 English again. I think I might be a dork.
In other news, I’m slowly picking up bits and pieces of yoga teaching work as well, and I can’t even begin to describe how much I’m enjoying it. Such a rewarding experience. Hopefully I’ll have a website up soonish that I can share here (and if you’re in Sydney you can come to some of my classes!).
But for now, back to reading fiction — guilt-free!
(PS. Pop by my page and sponsor me — it’s for a good cause.)
Music obsession
Have you ever found a song that you just listen to again and again? And again? It happens to me every now and then, and right now, this song by Radical Face is it.
Ryan over at Pacing the Panic Room (a blog I absolutely love) used this song in some work he did for a couple at their wedding. The video is worth watching — it’s put together beautifully, and it’s full of heart-string-pulling lovey-dovey moments. (I’ve watched it a few times now.)
In other news, I went to the Sydney launch for harvest magazine on Friday night. On a cold night, a glass of wine and readings by two of the writers published in the current issue of the magazine was exactly what I needed. Elena has a review of the issue up on With Extra Pulp. Check it out.
I’m hoping to get posting here regularly happening again. I’ve been led astray by the need to find work, and by cooking. P’raps I’ll put up some recipes for the stuff I’ve been cooking. It’s been pretty yum, if I do say so myself.
For now though, back to the song.
avocado and lemon 