Perspective

What you see may not reflect the reality of the situation

Today’s prompt from

Beth Kempton

for #springlight was about perspective with the idea to “see how it feels to have the intention of writing something substantial.” This was somewhat serendipitous for me as it had occurred to me yesterday that everything I’ve written on Substack so far is very short. Usually they are “1 minute reads”  so you could, should you wish, read my entire 20 post output in less than half an hour. This had made me think half-heartedly about writing something longer at some point and it seems today is that  day.

In my day job I teach children, most of whom are reluctant readers and writers. Therefore when I write for them, I write short pieces, usually to show how to use just enough techniques to get by in as short a piece as possible. This leaves me with the feeling that a paragraph or 2 is probably enough to say what needs to be said, which is perhaps not the most useful idea for an extended piece of writing for Substack. Perhaps I need to redefine the concept of “substantial” to “more than a 2 minute read.”

This morning’s prompt suggested looking at something closely and then zooming out to see the wider context. This could be taken literally but it also has importance in this world of carefully curated things that we see and hear in the media. And it is particularly important when reading news stories, where a complex issue is boiled down to a 10 second clip or a headline. We need to be aware of the full report rather than just the soundbite.

Instead of getting bogged down in a rant about the media I followed the prompt and used my home as the setting. I took some photographs to illustrate my point. The first one is this, my close-up shot.

I take lots of photos of my sewing projects, sometimes of the work in process- these strips of fabric will become one of a set of place mats for my daughter-in-law’s birthday, to match the table runner I made her for Christmas. Usually these pictures are close-ups, sometimes showing a detail of the item or showing a finished garment on my tailor’s dummy or laid flat on the floor. Like this one.

These type of pictures might get posted in various sewing groups on social media or sometimes get sent to the person who will receive the finished item, so that they can see the project has at least been started. However, mostly these pictures are not taken for other people but are simply a record for me of the items I have made.

When I take these type of shots, I will be careful to show exactly what I want to, showing the item both literally and metaphorically in the best light, making sure the side with the dodgier top-stitching is underneath, pressing a garment carefully before photographing it, or taking the picture in the brighter light on the landing for example. Obviously, if I’m sharing the pictures I want them to look as good as possible but even if they’re only for me, I don’t want to look at them later and notice niggly little errors.

The picture I have never shared on social media, until today, shows a very different perspective on my sewing. This is where “the magic happens” - and it’s a bit of a horror story! The beautifully curated photos are created amongst the detritus of the rest of life, the laundry, the lesson preparation, the teaching resources, the books waiting to be sorted, the fabric and patterns queuing to be the next project and so on.

My writing life is very much like my sewing life, I share carefully curated pieces, snapshots which are created amongst the mess of life. And, as much as I’d love to have a beautiful desk with just a pen and a notebook on it,  in front of a window with a wonderful view, I either write sitting on the spare bed looking at the chaos in the previous picture or I write downstairs like this.

Writing, like sewing, has to fit in and around the stuff of life, whether that is physical “stuff” of which you can see I have much, or the time-sapping “stuff" of work, domestic and family commitments. I think my brain is very much like my sewing room…chockablock with ideas and possibilities but lacking the organisation to be as productive as it could be.

Social media feeds the idea that things can or should be perfect when, if we’re honest, we all live messy lives. Reality is usually not beautifully Instagrammable and I have to accept that I have the life I have and I live in the house in which I live. I also have to realise that even if I had the perfect notebook, the perfect pen and that lovely desk with the beautiful view it would not make me a better writer….in fact, within very few minutes, the notebook would be blotted, my fingers would be ink-stained and there would be several books and a half-drunk cup of tea on the desk!

I’ve tried doing the “real writer” thing and taken my notebook into a coffee shop or two, indeed I’ve written about the experience in a couple of recent posts. I enjoyed the tea and cake but didn’t feel totally comfortable writing in either of the cafés I tried. However, I may well try again just to see whether it was the novelty of the situation which was uncomfortable rather than the actual idea of writing in public.

I’m about to retire, so many of the teaching resources will be removed and that just might free up space for a writing area and perhaps even more time to write, possibly including more coffee shop visits. It’ll be interesting to see whether that happens and what it looks like…one thing’s for sure, wherever, whatever and whenever I’m writing, there will be inky fingers and a half-drunk mug of tea!