Starry day;
glimpses of beauty
are coming
to light your way.
becoming
nearly three months review
Suddenly more months have gone past and I haven’t had a moment to look back. Christmas, New Year, woosh.
But it’s a sunny Sunday morning and I am nearing the three month anniversary of starting extraplorer. I have a few minutes peace between business trips and the perfect moment to reflect and be happy about writing.
Of course when I started extraplorer, I had bits of writing lying around that I could add to extraplorer when I liked. That gave me a thrill of momentum, but it was not sustainable forever. I wish I had more time to write, but I am also happy to have a busy life of adventures in the outside world. I wouldn’t swap the balance, I don’t think, even though it sometimes makes me feel restless.
Only one person in my ‘real life’ knows about extraplorer – my mother. I am very very lucky that I have a mother who is trustworthy with these small attempts at writing. Writing and having her comments is one thing that has given me more confidence that what I am doing is ‘real writing’.
And having real readers is the other thing. I find it amazing to think of readers reading my writing (thank you so much fellow extraplorers!).
Sometimes I feel sad that I have not invited all my friends to join and see extraplorer yet. In a way it feels awful, like having a baby and then asking a lot of strangers to come to visit it in the hospital while you tell your friends they are not welcome. I am very lucky that some of my friends know about my blog, and are happy for me to trying things out in secret. In a way, my friends’ generosity of spirit is the third thing that is making my writing be able to grow.
Thanks to these three sources of encouragement, I am becoming braver and getting closer to the day when I can share my work more confidently with more people.
in the wordsmith’s workshop
Following a magical visit to the goldsmith’s workshop, now it is the wordsmith’s turn.
The wordsmith had visited the goldsmith’s workshop to help her with some writing because she does not find it easy to tell her story.
The wordsmith took the tools of her own trade with her to see the goldsmith – just a little silver laptop computer and a warm heart. As the goldsmith talked, the wordsmith captured certain phrases, facts and stories. Using questions wrought from the wisdom of experience, the wordsmith tugged at tales and pulled at pauses, and waited patiently in silence, knowing that in time precious nuggets would emerge.
Which they did, sometimes one or two, sometime more, with their own timing and rhythm as the goldsmith remembered, lit up, hesitated and shared.
At last the wordsmith shut her laptop, said goodbye and left the goldsmith’s workshop, ready for her own process of mulling, refining, and seeing what remained.
The wordsmith allowed the goldsmith’s stories to swirl around her imagination, and at last, sat down again with the goldsmith’s words, ready to start work.
As she pondered, she let the most important themes come to the surface. Then she worked with them, adding little facts here and there from her notes; unwinding and bending phrases to become small facets of love and delight. She brought the goldsmith’s passions and heart for people into a setting where they could be more easily spotted. She highlighted the goldsmith’s bravery and pioneering spirit.
At last the wordsmith was finished. She did a last check over her work, and then ‘ping’ sent it to the goldsmith’s team.
And then today, she visited them.
The goldsmith had loved the finished work. It had helped her to recognise her own self, remember her great joy in her own work, its value and many riches. It had helped her to see past the struggles and weariness, to regain her vision and strength.
The praise from the goldsmith’s team delighted the wordsmith. She too suddenly realised the treasure of her work, its power to make things beautiful and full of wonder. She felt encouraged in the middle of a day of challenges, and renewed for her own adventures into the unknown.
And now the goldsmith and the wordsmith are hard at work, in their workshops and at their desks, making…
extraplorer 2015
There’s no doubt about it, one of the highlights of 2014 was starting extraplorer, and even though I have had a few lean writing weeks (which coincide with fat everything-else weeks), I have loved being able to post over Christmas when and where I have had a moment of inspiration or observation.
extraplorer has taught me a lot in the just under three months that I have been posting. In my first post, ‘teetering’ I wrote about the moment that a small child lets go of the furniture they have been using to navigate walking (confining them to a world of edges of things) and takes a first independent step. extraplorer really has helped me to grow in confidence with my writing. It has been so wonderful to have a quiet space to try out things. My WordPress ‘Annual Report 2014’ filled me with joy and delight, despite the modesty of its successes.
It is not only the passion for the piano that opens doors. Being able to say that I ‘write found poems’ or ‘have a blog’ has opened doors too, including being given a personal escort to take photos in a ‘no photography’ exhibition, and an incredible cosy chat with a local goldsmith.
I don’t want to weigh down extraplorer with hopes, or expectations or even resolutions for 2015, but one thing I have realised is that extraplorer acts as a kind of barometer of how much space I am making for myself to be myself. It’s not that my other roles aren’t me, but there is something special about the quiet moment at home, or in a foreign cafe, where I sit down and open my laptop and begin to write. There is something deep about myself that comes to the fore then, which is not always fully present at other times, or which I am not present to.
My wish for extraplorer is to continue to grow in courage and curiosity, to be open to new and old truths, to be alert to beauty wherever it may be found. And as extraplorer helps me to grow myself and my writing, I want to extend my reach in sharing this with the world.
end of year
The year is ending.
It is time to say goodbye:
To missed opportunities
(new ones will come),
to old patterns of friendship,
to stages of life
that I may not know have gone forever.
It is time to say thank you
for each delight:
Quiet evenings playing the piano,
noisy evenings with friends,
a new neighbourhood pub,
a delivery of beautiful clothes,
chatter of small children,
wisdom of older relatives.
It is time to ask for forgiveness:
For moments when I did not
reach out a hand of friendship
or of grace.
For sniping comments in asides,
for shortcuts,
and holding backs.
It is a time to let go:
To release expectations of others,
to shake off expectations from myself,
to accept what was not accomplished,
to let tears carry away loss,
to set down burdens of false responsibility
to shed the hopes of the old year.
It is time to turn around:
To open up to new hope,
to summon energy and courage,
to breathe in delight,
to laugh in anticipation.
It is time to welcome:
New adventures, new beginnings,
new people and new seasons of old friendships,
challenges bigger than ourselves,
darkness we must face and overcome,
every opportunity to bring beauty,
to offer kindness,
to overlook a fault.
It is time to step forward:
Into what we do not yet know,
into what we have not yet seen,
into what we maybe glimpse from a distance,
into what we know and long for, or even dread,
into each new day, a gift,
It is time to beckon and embrace
who we will become.
extraplorer 