SERENDIPITY

and the role it has played in my writing

Recently, I joined a brand new virtual gathering of like-minded people, and signed up to BethKempston’s Soul Circle.  She can tell you much more about it here, but each week, Beth posts a word or brief sentence to provide us food for thought.  We are invited to share if we would like to, but there is no pressure. 

In that very first week, I cracked open a lovely brand-new notebook and resolved to write whatever spilled out in this group, and it has been interesting to see where the pen takes me.  But this week, we are invited to ponder the role that serendipity has played in bringing us to Soul Circle, and although I have of course written it in my lovely notebook, I thought that it might also be interesting to share.  I hope you’ll forgive me if I break my own self-imposed rule, and type it for you? 

I have also decided that, as this was a writing activity, rather than an editing one, I will also refrain from amending, or perhaps correcting stuff that might have seen rapid use of the backspace key.  So, forgive me for repetition, or where things might not flow quite so obviously. 

Serendipity, relation to Beth Kempston’s Soul Circle begins some years back with the purchase of my MacBook.  It was my first Mac, and not a purchase made lightly, but it is fair to say that I fell in love straight away. 

I love the feel of the keys under my fingers, the sound they make as I type.  The feel of the metal casing in my hands, or the pad under my fingers.  A thing of real beauty, and I wanted something to make me explore her, and use it properly.  This was the start of my Cocktail Queen Blog. 

I loved that permission to sit down and be on my own, typing whatever came to mind. And then somebody asked me what I will do when I retire?  And without thinking, I said ‘I’ll write a book’.  That was it.  no more thought to it than that, but it felt like I could do it. 

I started making notes about my characters; who they were, where they lived, and before you knew it, I had a couple thousand words down.  I liked how it felt to let my characters do the talking; take me along on their journey.  But having only ever written non-fiction before, I thought I might see if there was a writer’s group in Carradale that I might join. 

And this is the big serendipitous moment!

Before I’d done anything at all about it, there was a post from Sarah in the Carradale Chat, asking if there was a writer’s group in Carradale that she might join.  It felt like a little moment of magic.  Of course, I replied straight away, saying that if she found one, I’d like to come along, but if she didn’t, perhaps we should just start one? 

Well, of course, we did, and it is a small and perfectly formed thing with just the 4 of us in total.  Through this group, we challenge each other in our writing, but we also share news of writing related stuff we come across. 

It was through this group, from Sarah, that I was introduced to Beth with her (then) Winter Writing Sanctuary that began early January.  After all of our guests and visiting had been and gone, and I might find some space in my head for something new. 

If I’m honest, I didn’t expect to like it.  I thought I’d check it out, but that it would be full of lovies* and not my thing.  How wrong could I be?  Beth was super calming, and invited us in as if we were all friends on some kind of retreat together, and I was hooked!

Since the WWS, I’ve also done the Spring Writing Sanctuary, and another about becoming a Fearless Writer.  I think there may be others, but, later today, I am about to start her brand-new Summer Writing Sanctuary and I am ready!

Not only has this awakened a whole ritualistic calm in me (I have my Johnsons Baby Powder candle burning, Studio Ghibli piano music in my ears, and doors shut to keep dogs** and humans out of my clean, tidy and gorgeous smelling writing space), but Beth has also opened my eyes and ears to what else might be out there. 

I’ve enjoyed learning a lot from Tracey Skuce and her Story Clarity workshops, and most recently, Kathy ver Eecke and her Pitch Perfect workshops.  I’ve learned a lot from all of these sessions, but I am still more than a little excited that the SWS stretches ahead of me for the week ahead. 

So, without this serendipitous moment, responding to Sarah’s Facebook post, I’m not sure I’d be loving writing quite as much as I am, and actually looking forward to the mammoth editing task ahead of me. 

Thank you, Beth, for opening my eyes, but mostly to Sarah for ‘introducing’ us. 

*’Lovies’ A playful British term that usually refers to an actor, especially one regarded as slightly vapid or 'over the top' in their reactions and behaviour.

** Clearly i’ve not been quite so successful keeping Nye out…