On writing walking
Yeah so, walking: I love it. It’s like having a mini-holiday every Saturday. I spend all week thinking about and planning the next walks. I don’t care if it is rain or shine, I get off that train somewhere near trees and don’t stop grinning until I approach the train home. At which point I start sobbing uncontrollably… 🫠
I want to walk for a job but I am not sure who would pay me to wander around the countryside overflowing with joy and muttering about how much I love this or that tree or view. If you know of this job, please let me know. I’m eminently qualified.
In the meantime, it occurred to me that I could bring my walks into my week by writing about them. I am an habitual photo-taker, which is like a photographer but with only occasional talent. So my new writing project is to start with one of the photos I take on a walk, and then write a story about it. The stories will likely be magical realism, as that tends to be where my brain goes when it’s given free rein. Writing walking seems to be a portal into another dimension and I am so far enjoying transcribing the ultra-short stories as much as I enjoy the walks.
I am also going to post a couple of shorts I wrote when I was doing the Curtis Brown bootcamp. They won’t have pictures though, unless I can find one on the interwebs which matches.
Anyway, these stories are the reason I decided to start a newsletter, so you can get them delivered straight to your inbox. I do hope you will sign up. No spamo, only precious (very) short stories.