Just in case a lot of you forgot yesterday was Sunday so I decided to take some time off and leave my computer tucked away in it's favourite corner. However, today is another day so here I am again,like it or loathe it! A while back I talked briefly about using photographs as inspiration for your writing today it will be about paintings that stimulate the creative process. Just to show what I mean I'm going to use the song « Vincent » by Don McClean to illustrate my point. The video below has been seen by over ten million viewers. The reason is simple, joining this song to the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh shows just how two different subjects can be brought together to give us a real moment of pleasure. You'll have to admit that the verses of the song reflect with perfection the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh. If only we could dig in to all of the emotions that other artists use to create their works I wonder just how many other songs could be found that would have the same resonance? So what do I suggest outside of reading books about Hopper or Egon Schiele or others is to go to your local art gallery with your notebook and write down any and all the emotions that you encounter when being gathered into the painting. I say gathered in because a painting is like a book, you have to lose yourself in it's interpretation in order to feel any kind of emotion. As you are all writers this should not be an unfamiliar thing to understand.

Using Photos for Inspirational Writing.

Like a lot of writers I spend a lot of time looking around for different elements to sustain my writing and keep it interesting. I use my notepads until they are worn through and my pencils are screaming to be replaced. In fact it was one of my pencils that suggested that I start taking photos of the different places and people that I came across so that the images would provoke, once I got back to my computer,the mood or the feelings that I had captured when I was taking the shot. It would also help my pencils to have a longer lifespan. The best way to explain this is to show you an example. I chose the rose in the following photo for various reasons. Firstly the extreme softness of the colours and the raindrops on the fragile petals.

What could such a photo inspire? 

  To start we could think about how delicate and fragile love can be! Then how about the raindrops and how easily they could be associated to tears that stream down our faces when we are sad. It could be the very beginning of a romantic tale. It could also be the start of an article about nature, gardening or just simply roses. I'm sure that there are many other ideas but I'll let you , the other writers, or readers decide which one would suit you best.

Just a Cloud :)

I thought I'd place another photo to go further into why photos can be a source of inspiration, and sometimes, when we least expect our muse to pop into our heads she comes in and gives us the green light. As per usual I'd taken my rather worn out Sony dslr and half broken Tamron 70-300mm programmed and ready for the day. I'm not sure if you remember, but my pencils were hollering to have a rest! We'd decided,my partner and myself to take trip into the country where a local farmer had started a few years back by opening a dried flower shop along with herbal remedies,exotic plants, donkey rides and a whole host of other things in order to earn a bit of extra cash. What we didn't expect to see was the amount of people who were swarming around the place. I'm not saying it was like Disneyworld but we were slightly taken aback by the crowds that had invaded this usually quiet and somewhat isolated spot. Parking the car was amusing to say the least,the tarmac had stopped a mile from the farm and our car had bumped and swayed along a tractor riven track that led to one of the fields before we could find a place to squeeze into.

Ever heard of a « tourist trap? » well guys this was one in all of its splendour. We were hoping to see something that was ecologically friendly and we'd driven straight into a regular barnum.
I absolutely hate being crowded in so I somehow managed to find a bit of personal space where I didn't have tourists or local people bumping into me. I watched as they all fought their way through to the different stands too keen to spend hard earned money on overpriced items. That's when I decided to do a bit of cloud gazing and this is what I saw above. I have to admit that it made me smile and brought my childhood, and my dreams, racing back. We've all done it as kids inventing things we see in cloud formations. The animals that we recognized or those we invented,faces, castles in the air etc.. It also brought this very simple thought to mind as I watched the myriad of potential consumers making a beeline for the products of the farm. You don't have to spend money in order to be happy or to bring a smile back to your face. The best things in life are free,so while others spent their time buying I enjoyed this fleeting moment that only nature knows how to provide!

This is in fact an article I wrote quite some time ago that I manage to spin without any external help. However should you have problems getting things out as quickly as this might I suggest this particular tool? I know that it has helped lots of other potential writers so why not you?
Have a nice day/afternoon/evening or whatever! and remember to keep on writing.

Just in Case!

This is just to show that I'm not completely new to writing and that I have had quite a few things published :)

http://notlostinfrance.webs.com/published.htm

Like it or leave it, at least the proof is out there in cyberspace to enjoy or reject. You might discover things that surprise or shock? If you can read French it will be an added bonus :)

Here's hoping you'll have a quick look.

Have a nice day/night or whatever.

A Song that Says Something!

This is perhaps not the best way to start the day but it is a reminder of days passed and today's reality. The lyrics say all that we have to know, or that we decide to ignore! In the halcyon days of my young adolescence to quote another song I was far from thinking that this song would still have the same emotional impact and screaming truth  in 2016. We live and learn!

Things that go bump in the night!

As any writer will tell you writing is a solitary affair where we let our imagination run wild or we spend a lot of time checking things out. In my particular case it's my imagination that takes hold, sending me down paths that, as in dreams, I've never followed before. These paths intrigue me so much I just have to write something about them. It can be anything, but more especially the things that seem to be out of control of the normal human sphere. It could be UFO's or reptilian life forms, but my imagination seems to specialize in strange spirit like things.

Just like the figure in the image, I know that somewhere, to quote Mulder "the truth is elsewhere" I just try to make the invisible, visible. I hope that makes sense? We all know of haunted houses and things that go bump in the night that only the bravest of us dare to investigate but what about the inborn fears that affect all of us no matter what our age? The fears that haunted us during our childhood and that in the same circumstances still make us shiver. The fear of being lost in the woods when night falls and imagined wolves would spring out of nowhere hungry for our flesh and thirsty for our blood! You don't believe me, well just go for a walk in the woods and stray from the paths you've always walked until night falls. It won't be long before you start to become ill at ease and wishing you could find your familiar path as the trees take on nearly human forms their branches reaching through the air to enfold and imprison. You'll start breathing quicker than before as panic begins to overcome rational thinking and wanting to get back to what you consider to be the real world.  That's only the start of where just a little bit of imagination can take us, and if I could take you further, would you step into an even darker side of what the human mind is capable of delivering? Just to give you an idea you could always take a look at this. Have a nice day, night wherever you are and whatever you are!

 As I said in an earlier post "my muse" has decided to come back from her holidays and I for one am extremely grateful. So what have I been doing over the last couple of years? First of all I've been looking after my family and friends here in France. Secondly I've been preparing several new short stories in the hope that they will be published somewhere on the world wide net. Lastly and probably the most important is really getting around to learning a lot more about the language that I have grown to love over the last thirty or so years. Perhaps you are thinking about learning a new language and wondering how you can go about it. The best method is to emigrate and live in the country, that way you have no other choice if you really want to participate in everyday life. You could always go to a language school and pick up the basics and then go on holiday to France to test your skills. Find yourself a French girlfriend/boyfriend to help you out but make sure that they don't keep saying "I'm not a dictionary!" It might sound a bit harsh but it does mean that you have to fend for yourself in order to pick up the vocabulary you'l need to go shopping for, clothes etc..Learn French Quickly I'll give you a few examples another day and hope to make you smile when I explain a few of the idiomatic expressions that you might hear during a lesson or on a holiday. Just for fun here is one of my favourites:-
"Il a monté le col le doigt dans le nez " which can often be heard during the Tour de France cycle race. Now here's the literal translation:-" He climbed the hill with his finger stuck up his nose!" If you happen to be a cyclist you know how difficult that could be. To be honest the real meaning is " he climbed the hill with ease" which we can all understand.
Have a nice day. :)

I know it's been a long, long time since I wrote anything but I can assure you that things are going to get back to normal very soon. I won't go into the reasons behind this hiatus outside of the fact that "my muse" had decided to take a rest. Today for a reason that still remains a mystery for me she suddenly appeared again so hold on to your seats and keep your eyes and your mind wide open.