At times I think of
myself as being more of a scavenger than a writer.
Maybe scavenger isn’t
quite the right word. When I checked the dictionary it told me that ‘to scavenge’
was to search for anything useable among discarded material. But some of what I
take hasn’t really been discarded and I don’t even know if the stuff I collect
will ever be useable. Although my hoard does contain physical objects I’m not
expecting a call from the constabulary as the objects are usually stones or
driftwood or similar. More often it’s an impression, a photograph, a snatch of
dialogue, a nugget of information, a shared experience. I gather each item up on my travels for no definite reason
other than I found it interesting - most recently in Siberia with the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference
The oldest part of
Krasnoyarsk
where a church was built to look
out over the vast and stunning landscape,
The beauty of icons and
imagery inside.
Sunset over the city
In the local market birds peck seeds from hand made brooms and fish come ready frozen!.
And yes, there is a hierarchy of hats - from otter via mink, silver fox, racoon, red fox, rabbit to squirrel.
( rats are kept for gloves!)
I have no idea whether
any of these will spark an idea, result in a story, or feed into a book yet to
be born. But I do know that when I go to my hoard and pore over my treasures
something will stir in that mysterious part of the brain wherein lies creativity.
There’s another meaning
for the verb ‘to scavenge’- to purify a molten metal by bubbling a suitable gas
through it. The gas may be inert or may react…
Take what you will from
that as a metaphor.
Happy Holidays wherever you are!
Twitter:
@theresabreslin1
Spy for the Queen of Scots is
nominated for the Carnegie Medal and an Illustrated
Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales illustrated by Kate Leiper is nominated for
the Greenaway Medal.
In conjunction with the Citizens Theatre and South Lanarkshire schools
the Divided
City musical will be produced at Hamilton Town House Theatre in
February 2013.
TAGS / LABELS: Theresa Breslin, EWWC,
Krasnoyarsk, Siberia,
3 comments:
www.journeylankaholidays.co.uk
I've been waiting for a Russian trip post Theresa and this is ACE!! Thanks so much...
Thanks Adele. It is the most fascinating country and the Siberian people so welcoming and overjoyed at having authors coming there to speak. Their Book Fair was spectacular. xT
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