Spiders...and jam

There are two preoccupations in my household this week.
  Spiders and jam. And  both have something to say  about the way I think. And live.
And write.

 You do not need me to remind you that this is the season
for spiders. You will have your own method for coping. For myself, I am not so  very bothered by them but the second son is not at all  keen and tends to call in  reinforcements ( me) so my life just now involves a lot of bashing about with  shoes and kitchen towel.

 And the link with my writing  life?
You will  know by now that I link anything and EVERYTHING to writing. Just the way my mind works. And all
this spider-watching and spider- chasing  has made me notice that, horrid as they   are – they do represent rather  precisely the way I write.
Moments of freeze frame, when I am thinking/plotting/planning/agonising.  And then sudden bursts of activity when  speed is the thing and I can hardly type fast enough. Catch me if you  can.

 I find myself wondering if other writers have a steadier, calmer  approach? No idea. Slow. Slow. Very quick, quick, slow. That’s  definitely me.

 As for the jam ? You do not need to be Freud.  My elder son has just gone off to university. He is
  thankfully having a ball already and I could not be happier for him. But if I  go anywhere near his room, I get this hot stabbing right behind the  eyes.
 So I have taken up jam- making. A distraction? Moi? 

Truth be told, I was always rather afraid of jam  in the past. All those reference to “rolling boils”? It was bound to end in  tears if not sugar burns,surely ?
 And then, while travelling home from dropping my son at  uni ( he picked one six hours way – inevitably) I stayed overnight with an old  school pal and she gave me a big bag of  windfall apples.

 So – no choice, really. I hate waste so I googled a recipe for autumn  apple jam and the rest, as they say… 

It follows  that jam- making will inevitably turn up in one of my short  stories very soon ( watch this space – I have just sold another little tale to  Woman’s Weekly; just might, ahem, feature empty nesting as a theme and should
be out soon) . But I have also, deep breath, made a good start on the  new novel. 
 
Regular readers will know it has been a very sad time for  me these past few weeks, so it feels good to have found the rhythm to get back  to work properly.

 I have also just bought a batch of plums. Going cheap.

 Did I mention that I rarely do anything by halves?
Writing. Jam-making. Spider-chasing.
 All or nothing.  Slow...slow... QUICK QUICK QUICK QUICK

 But that’s just me.

 Here’s hoping I have the cupboard  space…


 

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