Something For The Weekend 1

My daughter used to tell me that despite being unable to finish her tea, she had room for ice cream as her pudding stomach still had room; unfortunately my writing brain doesn’t operate in similar isolation from my ‘other’ brains, and what flows in affects what flows out.

So I thought once in a while I’d share some of what has been filling my mind alongside the words I write.

It is likely to include a playlist because even if there is no music in the room while I write, it is usually playing in my head. It is likely to be a touch more calm than rowdy, it may have a thread or be disjointed, as you can imagine.

So, this last week or two, while I write, while I cook, while I walk (in my imagination rather than through earphones), this has been the essence of the soundtrack.

Click the play button on the left of ‘The Imperfect Umbrella 1’ below, or the Spotify logo to the right of it to open it in that app. I hope you enjoy it.

Other peoples’ words can inspire, intimidate, enthuse or enrage; where they may have relevance or just be plain enjoyable, I thought it might be good to share something of them.

I’m reading George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, having discovered his brilliance here on Substack. I’m only a quarter in but I’m feeling enriched and entertained in equal measure. We all know the dropped-flan feeling when an album starts with a belter and follows with a bag of gravel, but I can’t imagine this dipping off. Rather than tell you too much about it, I’ll allow someone else to, here. If you are a writer or a reader - and surely you must be one or both - I think you’d get much from it.

For reasons unclear to me, I fell into a lockdown habit of watching US talk show interviews from the 70s. Perhaps it was nostalgia for childhood evenings watching Parkinson with the old man. I love the absence of ‘selling’ or performing most guests seemed to engage in back then; some are borderline boring, and I realise I very much like it. This one sticks: Paul Simon talking about the way Bridge Over Troubled Water (a song I can hear only once a year, max) came together. It has maybe the best definition of being creatively stuck I’ve heard.

Skip to 6m 20secs.

Happy weekend to you.