PLAYING TOURIST....
My dad is in hospital down in Geelong and I've become quite used to travelling back and forwards. And of course, when someone is in hospital, you tend to go to visit, then travel back home. You may have a spot of lunch or a cuppa somewhere while there but the reason you are a couple of hours away from home is to visit said sick/ ill person.
Last weekend I travelled down with my sister, her hubby and daughter (so much better to travel with others than a solo drive) For an hour before we visited Dad, we played tourist.
Now Geelong is no stranger, we lived there for a couple of years when I was a tween (grade six to year 8 or thereabouts).
But walking along the waterfront, even in the cold grey day, dodging showers as best we could...was just what we needed.
I just adore the Baywalk Bollards. We didn't walk past all of them, over 100 I hear, but we managed to stroll past quite a few.
Just loved their quirky characters...
and how they capture Geelong's history.
and the band playing the Geelong Polka.
What really intrigued me was the carousel. I hadn't seen this before. Built in 1892 and lovingly restored, it is only one of 200 of these hand carved wooden carousel's remaining.
As soon as I saw it, I was taken back to a friend of mine and her WIP. She's writing about a carousel horse and her story is so alive to us, her fellow writers, that I was instantly taken back to her story. So many parts of her story came flooding back. Scenes and setting, the background and history she had created. I could see it all so clearly.
All of these emotions simply because I saw the carousel. This is what good writing does, it takes us on an adventure. Takes us away from printed words on a page and into another world.
My husband sometimes says 'it's only a story,' or 'it's only a show, it's not real'...but I fear he misses the point. A good writer makes it real. Makes it believable so that we willingly go with them. Step by step into their world, into their creation.
And if the writing is good, the story stays with us. Great writing and the story stays with us for years. (how many times have you read a book and if asked next week what it was about would hesitate, trying to remember).
Playing tourist, even for that hour, showed me new perspectives, new sights...and dipped me back into my friend's WIP.
Perhaps it's time for me to do more of this? Explore close to home, be a tourist in my own backyard. Who knows where it could lead?
(thought she looked like a stereotypical Librarian, even with cocktail in hand)
Vicki
Last weekend I travelled down with my sister, her hubby and daughter (so much better to travel with others than a solo drive) For an hour before we visited Dad, we played tourist.
Now Geelong is no stranger, we lived there for a couple of years when I was a tween (grade six to year 8 or thereabouts).
But walking along the waterfront, even in the cold grey day, dodging showers as best we could...was just what we needed.
I just adore the Baywalk Bollards. We didn't walk past all of them, over 100 I hear, but we managed to stroll past quite a few.
Just loved their quirky characters...
and how they capture Geelong's history.
Adored the Pierrot.
and the band playing the Geelong Polka.
What really intrigued me was the carousel. I hadn't seen this before. Built in 1892 and lovingly restored, it is only one of 200 of these hand carved wooden carousel's remaining.
As soon as I saw it, I was taken back to a friend of mine and her WIP. She's writing about a carousel horse and her story is so alive to us, her fellow writers, that I was instantly taken back to her story. So many parts of her story came flooding back. Scenes and setting, the background and history she had created. I could see it all so clearly.
All of these emotions simply because I saw the carousel. This is what good writing does, it takes us on an adventure. Takes us away from printed words on a page and into another world.
My husband sometimes says 'it's only a story,' or 'it's only a show, it's not real'...but I fear he misses the point. A good writer makes it real. Makes it believable so that we willingly go with them. Step by step into their world, into their creation.
And if the writing is good, the story stays with us. Great writing and the story stays with us for years. (how many times have you read a book and if asked next week what it was about would hesitate, trying to remember).
Playing tourist, even for that hour, showed me new perspectives, new sights...and dipped me back into my friend's WIP.
Perhaps it's time for me to do more of this? Explore close to home, be a tourist in my own backyard. Who knows where it could lead?
(thought she looked like a stereotypical Librarian, even with cocktail in hand) Vicki
Comments
Post a Comment