John Green on creating and the future

John Green is an awesome YA author and a HUGE inspiration to me (as you might know if you regularly read my posts!). Recently he gave a speech, entitled 'Thoughts on How To Make Things and Why', at his alma mater, Kenyon College, about creating, not worrying about the future, and being a writer, with plenty of inspirational advice and stories. A truly inspirational speech - I love this man! And especially at this point in my life, this is perfect <3

Dreams and Ramblings

It's funny how things fall into place, especially when you least expect it. Not even a year ago I tried out windsurfing for the first time. And since then, I've been absolutely hooked. It's changed my life, and I adore it.

Recently I found an old post on my Livejournal (ha!) from a few years ago, saying that I wished I had the courage to try out windsurfing, and get over my fear of the sea. And here I am, a few years later having done that. Strange how things turn out isn't it? I never thought I would be so keen! And I was thinking earlier that it was strange that I did ballet for 10 years, and although I was never that good, it taught me a lot, and some of the things I learnt are oddly relevant to windsurfing - the balance, the feet, all of that. Weird how you don't know how something you do when you're little will affect you or benefit you later on!

Anyway, so while I'm itching to get back on the water again, and dreaming of longer, sunny days, and with my birthday around the corner once again, I was thinking about other things I want to do, or wish I could try out in the immediate future.

Unsurprisingly, most of these things involve the sea - I'd love to try out surfing, especially while I'm still in the West Country, because it's so iconic, and I'd love to have at least tried it. I'd also love to try out paddleboarding. I'd also love to visit more places in both Devon and Cornwall, while I'm still down here. It suddenly feels as if I don't have long left here, and even though I want to live here for good one day, I know that's not in the immediate future, as I work out just what it is I'm doing (and that's another separate list of dreams and wishes I won't write here!!).

I think I wrote last year about trying out things that scare you, and I suppose this is an extension of that. I overcame so much last year, and so many good things happened because of that.

I also want to plan a trip to the Du Maurier/Fowey Festival trip this year. Last year was amazing, and I want to do all that again. As I wrote before, my beloved Fowey has been rather battered recently, and I'm longing to visit again. But with no train links at the moment, I'm a bit stuck.

Since watching the Winter Olympics (something I've never really been into before), I've become a huge fan of snowboarding. That's another thing that I think it would be cool to try one day. I know right - me, who hates snow with a passion. But then, I used to be terrified of going into the ocean, so who knows! Although, I think windsurfing is where my passion lies. It's all about water and the sea, and I adore the coast <3

I'm planning a trip home for my birthday this year, as I think I've had like two birthdays at home in the last ten years - crazy I know. I'm looking forward to it, it'll be nice. I can't believe that time of the year has come around so quickly!

Spring is finally coming!

It feels like it's been a long, long time since spring, and summer, and sunshine, and warmth. The South West has been hit particularly bad recently, with floods and strong winds, and the coast line being battered violently. The main train line, I'm sure you're aware of, into Cornwall and the rest of Devon has been destroyed at Dawlish. My poor beautiful Fowey has been battered too, with constant floods, and the beaches and coast being hit hard. For a few days too, the entire South West was completely cut off by train to the rest of the country. That was a strange feeling.

But Spring it seems is around the corner, and we've had a couple of beautiful days. It's so nice to feel the warmth of the sun on my face again. It definitely lifts my spirits, more than I ever think it does. Spring flowers are coming out too - daffodils, crocuses, and primroses. I love seeing Spring flowers. It's one of my favourite times of year. It holds so much hope The promise of warmer, longer days, and beautiful flowers, and happiness, and summer ahead. I just love this time of year so much.

The longer days - they make me very happy too. It's so nice that it's not dark at 4 o'clock. I could go on, but I won't.

It's been a while since I blogged. I really don't know where the time has gone! I feel like I'm very busy at the moment, with barely enough time for a lot of things, let alone blogging! I seem to have what feels like hundreds of projects on the go (my own fault) and so I swing between being perfectly happy with the amount of things I'm trying to do, to freaking out at the amount and not really getting ANYTHING done on any of them, because I keep flicking between them, or being unsure what I want to work on. Oh, and I have to plan out my script for the end of this module, and start thinking about dissertation ideas. Oh yeah, so I'm not taking on much at all.

But then, I was away this weekend (at the Harry Potter studios - AMAZING, such an amazing trip. I love it there so much. Best day ever. And also catching up with my wonderful friends from home <3), and following that I had a couple of busy days, which meant I didn't have a chance to sit down for a solid period of time and get any writing done. This morning I finally got a chance to just sit and write, and I forgot just what a feeling it is, and how much I need it just for myself - and my own well being.

So despite all that up there, I know that I need to write, just for me - and I don't mind what it is, whether it's blog posts, small ideas, working on bigger drafts, writing news stories or whatever - just writing the words is what I need and want. That's what I live for. It puts my mind at rest, means I can get out all those crazy thoughts in my head, even if it's through a character living in the Swiss alps training to be a spy (current work in progress and rough draft btw - no idea where it's going, but it's fun). I need writing. It's not just a desire to be published or whatever, it's a deep, deep need, that I think I've always had.

And this got way deeper than I imagined! I'll leave it there for now.