Ree-flections
Hello! Well, this issue has slipped into being two weeks late. But, as this is around the time of Ree-Writes‘ first birthday, all things considered, the timing has been unintentional but fortuitous.
In-between issues, there have been birthdays and work things and sickness and first-ever school excursions among other things.
Alongside this, my creeativity has crawled into a kind of coma. Maybe it’s a winter hibernation. Or maybe it’s having to take a percolating back step to All The Everyday Things. While part of me would like to stress and fret about this, I don’t quite have the capacity to do so, so am instead going with things as they are.
Here’s my collage of recent things:
L-R explanations:
- Late afternoon sunlight sparkling on mangrove waters. This was part of LittleOne’s first-ever school excursion, which I got to go along to as a parent helper. Note the person and dog perfectly-framed by the distant tree branches. The sun was actually so glarey on the water, I didn’t even see them, which makes it a very lucky pic!
- This is a pretty sun-through-palm-tree-leaves pic, entirely 100% photoshopped by LittleOne.
- Well, *someone* managed to accrue over 14,000 photos on her phone, filled up all the memory and couldn’t do any phone updates for 6 months. And someone bit the bullet and finally did a bit of a Painstaking Photo Purge
- Check out the Mangrove City (also from the school excursion). Roots and offshoots as people or buildings. Does the photo spark any ideas for you?
- A gorgeous sunrise which I could see from inside the house, but outside, it was all hidden behind a large tree!
- The last two frangipani flowers hanging on weeks into winter. There’s actually also a wee spider web between the two flowers.
- As part of the Painstaking Photo Purge (see dot point 3), I found this 6-word story written by LittleOne, realised it was way better than any of my 6-word story attempts and had to do a proud mama share.
I hope my words find you well in your world, and I hope you enjoy this anniversary issue.
Writing & Creativity Cool Finds
Here are some famous bookshops from around the world. I found the stats about bookshops and Buenos Aires impressive! Plus, I’m trying to imagine the Hay Honesty bookshop working in my part of the world (and failing).
Here’s a piece from an author who absolutely hated the cover design for her book.
Want to see some paintings of ‘mum-and-dad’ (‘mom-and-pop’) buildings standing surreal and alone in the middle of the Scottish highlands? Here you are. These need stories written about them!
This is a lovely reflection on ducking around the ‘f’ word. I especially giggled at the last two sentences, so please do read all the way to the end!
Here’s a podcast episode from an established indie author who set up a whole new pen name and series from scratch, including building an audience, on a budget, how she went about it, and how she did. (FYI: there’s no ducking around ‘f’ words in this podcast, so consider yourself warned.)
Something I created
The Bird of Cold and Stars
On a grey, ice-cold day in the mountains, the bird left the sky.
In much the same way an autumn leaf drifts to earth when it is ready to leave its tree, the bird quietly slipped through the bitter wind currents to land on the brown earth. In a nearby hedge of gnarled wisteria trunks, the bird sank into the ground.
It was almost too cold to fly, and the bird wanted to regain its strength.
…Read the rest of the story here
Backstory: In the previous issue, Ree-Writes #23: Spinning, I shared a snapshot of a paint blob which looked remarkably like a bird. The painting paired itself remarkably well with some pre-existing words from approximately 2016. This is the sister/mirror image of the painting, which gave the story its ending.
I Love!
Chris Judge: A Daily Cloud
This is the Instagram account of A Daily Cloud, where Irish artist Chris Judge draws simple lines onto clouds and anthropomorphises them in the most wonderful ways. A Daily Cloud is one of those 2020 lockdown projects which has had a delighted reception. I believe Judge uses his own and also reader-submitted photographs. Judge’s website is here.
This particular photo is one of my favourites. The cap flying off is just genius!
Random, Interesting, Inspirational
Has a fake beach made in the 1970s for the Tenerife tourism market actually also been good for angelsharks? Quite possibly.
Apparently, back in 2015 in Japan, a bit of a craze/subculture/obsession developed around viewing moss. They called themselves ‘Moss Girls’. I’m very sad to be eight-odd years (too) late for this.
Check out this vertical map of the observable universe!
Thank you
Du fond du coeur, thanks for reading x
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