tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post5096187186231629277..comments2023-10-30T15:13:22.680+00:00Comments on Strictly Writing: SHINE TIMEDThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11803989273524731892noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-50740864057364654582009-10-11T15:50:48.078+01:002009-10-11T15:50:48.078+01:00Absolutely, Emma. I remember saying just that thi...Absolutely, Emma. I remember saying just that thing to my old therapist, about getting too big for my boots. She said: 'Time to get a bigger pair of boots, then.'<br />SusiexSusie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-53412890538715696442009-10-11T15:40:27.856+01:002009-10-11T15:40:27.856+01:00Doh! As well as messing up the ID (I blame blogger...Doh! As well as messing up the ID (I blame blogger for that, as it won't translate OpenIDs properly) I also can't type straight:<br /><br />"it's where the <b>Brit tendency to take everything ironically</b> and nothing too seriously moves from sensible to poisonous.emmadarwinhttp://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-74534564109586987862009-10-11T15:38:09.525+01:002009-10-11T15:38:09.525+01:00I do sometimes wonder if in Britain we're part...I do sometimes wonder if in Britain we're particularly shine-deprived, because there's such strong undercurrent of 'Don't show off' and 'He needs taking down a peg' and 'She's getting too big for her boots': it's where the Brit tendency not to take everything ironically and nothing too seriously moves from sensible to poisonous. <br /><br />So when we grow up, either we sabotage ourselves by feeling we don't deserve to shine or shouldn't want to, or the fact that we haven't learnt to handle shine time makes us get it wrong, misjudge when to revel in it and when to keep our heads down, alienate people rather than attract them, and so on.http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-8236329267530132772009-10-11T14:10:46.247+01:002009-10-11T14:10:46.247+01:00Fi, thanks, and what you say is so true - blogging...Fi, thanks, and what you say is so true - blogging does help. Though I always worry I won't be able to think of anything to blog about, it always feels really good to do it.<br />It's a bit of regular shine time.<br />Very best of luck with your novel.Susie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-36908703939683440542009-10-11T11:53:21.574+01:002009-10-11T11:53:21.574+01:00Love this post. I love to 'shine' as much ...Love this post. I love to 'shine' as much as anyone else and I'm lucky that I get that visibility through the plays that I sell and recently through a panto I've written for the local PTA. However, I would love to shine as a novel writer, a frustration I suffer in my own dark. I've found that having a writing blog helps with this too.Fihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01321354657419642710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-43989329799426756732009-10-09T14:15:42.335+01:002009-10-09T14:15:42.335+01:00Thanks, Caroline - hope you find your shine!Thanks, Caroline - hope you find your shine!Susie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-64295165430466485772009-10-09T13:54:28.859+01:002009-10-09T13:54:28.859+01:00What a beautiful post, Susie.
I felt an immediate...What a beautiful post, Susie. <br />I felt an immediate sense of recognition here. I think we do all need our shine time. Am going off to think about mine right now.Caroline Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04708248040141519582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-89429135234183823912009-10-09T12:03:00.809+01:002009-10-09T12:03:00.809+01:00Thanks Rod, Rosy and Derek.
Rod, I think I may hav...Thanks Rod, Rosy and Derek.<br />Rod, I think I may have overdone the metaphors rather, but hey...<br />Derek, not feeling very shiny at the moment - more hide-myself-away time!<br />SusiexSusie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-49719554377856409982009-10-09T10:59:10.676+01:002009-10-09T10:59:10.676+01:00Susie, beautifully written. And interesting that y...Susie, beautifully written. And interesting that your own shine time doesn't mention other people in the experience.DThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803989273524731892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-5805772863585234672009-10-09T10:45:00.942+01:002009-10-09T10:45:00.942+01:00Beautiful post, Susie, and so very true. And Emma,...Beautiful post, Susie, and so very true. And Emma, I love the comparison with needing Mummy to look properly at our miscoloured painting!<br /><br />Of course we need to see the daylight. Writing is an exercise in communication and it's very hard to communicate and not to feel that we've been heard.Rosy Thttp://www.rosythornton.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-34685956554927018302009-10-09T10:19:12.300+01:002009-10-09T10:19:12.300+01:00Lovely post, Susie. Chock-full of imagery - the me...Lovely post, Susie. Chock-full of imagery - the metaphors were tumbling over each other in my head. And thought-provoking too. Courses and groups can do this, as Emma says, and helping a beginner too. I got a real buzz from reading someone's story and pointing out the basics - it made me feel I'd actually learnt something about this stuff.Roderic Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06519267912305907364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-52960767875152062212009-10-09T10:00:33.727+01:002009-10-09T10:00:33.727+01:00Thanks so much, Emma, Sarah and Kate. (Emma, you ...Thanks so much, Emma, Sarah and Kate. (Emma, you put it beautifully with the reference to Piglet and to the mother who really looks).<br />In recent years I've been beating myself up about my inbuilt need to shine. Now I realise that it's necessary and normal: and that my other inbuilt need - to be alone and creative - is equally so.Susie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-85762970614058602542009-10-09T09:17:12.389+01:002009-10-09T09:17:12.389+01:00What a lovely post.What a lovely post.Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05940810066436848209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-49282321721668054862009-10-09T09:03:59.337+01:002009-10-09T09:03:59.337+01:00You have such a distinctive tone, Susie. I'm r...You have such a distinctive tone, Susie. I'm recognising your posts straight away, now - and love them. And as Emma says, they are always wise.<br /><br />SarahEssie Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04611324005960689918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-79840827879777846162009-10-09T08:54:31.525+01:002009-10-09T08:54:31.525+01:00Susie, I think this is a lovely post - and very wi...Susie, I think this is a lovely post - and very wise. One of the things people don't often list as reasons for having a writers's circle, doing a course, even getting an editorial report or self-publishing their novel when they know it won't make money or get them a commercial deal, is exactly that affirmation - that sense of being heard. Others often think that writers do these things to be told they're wonderful, darling, but it's not exactly that. It's not vanity, as you say, it's a very ordinary, human need.<br /><br />It's the difference - when you bring a painting home from school - between your mum tossing a 'lovely darling' over her shoulder while she cooks the supper, and her sitting down and actually talking about the blue person who's shooting out of the green chimney. She doesn't have to say it's good, even: just really, really see it.<br /><br />But personally, I find the transition between the most shiny times - festival sessions, interviews - to home time quite difficult: I've learnt that it's ages before I feel right in my own home skin again, like Piglet leaving Kanga's house all clean and scrubbed, and having to roll in the dust all the way home till he's his own comfortable colour again.emmadarwinhttp://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/noreply@blogger.com