In the spirit of adventure, last week I got tickets for a literary event that was taking place at the University near where I work (ooooohh get you... I hear you cry!). Now I've never been to one of these in my life before and I felt quite mature if a little middle-aged! I'd got the tickets for D, my lovely hub who is a big fan of David Peace, the author in question, and it was so local (and cheap - £5 with a glass of wine thrown in - bargain or what!!) that I couldn't pass up on the opportunity.
Of course, Monday arrived, the day of the event and D and I both had that "Do we really have to go out on a Monday night" feeling, closely followed by "Who decided we should be adventurous" kind of vibe! I mean, I don't even like David Peace! Far too dark and edgy for me. But, in a show of solidarity we didn't cancel and made the effort to attend.
It made me realise quite how strong my mind can be. All through the afternoon, I moaned inwardly. "Gosh I'm going to be so bored, it's going to be full of pretentious people who will all know I've never read a David Peace book in my life, I wish I was at home watching Emmerdale". And I really allowed myself to believe these thoughts to be true. By the time I met D I was thoroughly miserable! We went for pre-show eats which was lovely - I was mindful of my food (see.. I am learning) and savoured every mouthful. It helped that I was eating particularly healthy and freshly cooked noodles - It may have been different if I'd been eating a fast-food burger! (Very hard to savour claggy bread and a pickled gerkin). By the time I'd finished, I realised I had a bubble of excitement appearing and my negative thoughts had shifted slightly. I was now thinking - "oooh look at me, out on a Monday night going to a cultural event". I wasn't even missing Emmerdale!
And so with renewed confidence, we swept into the venue. ...."Hmmm not many people here"...- Time to balance the negative thought of "oh no - it's going to be me, D and David Peace - how EMBARRASSING will that be" with the more realistic "you know they had practically sold out - it's just that people haven't arrived yet!" idea. "Mind will you just STOP TALKING!!". We sat down (you know the score - somewhere in the middle where you can blend in) and I cast a nonchalant gaze around to suss out my fellow audience! Yup, there were definitely lots of "Students" around (like there wouldn't be - this university being famed for it's creative writing department!!) but there were also other non-studenty looking people there too. Once I realised that we didn't look out of place, we settled in. Now I did have a plan B which was that I could quietly meditate if I got bored (wow - poor David Peace doesn't stand a chance - I've switched off already). But, before I had time to drift off into a soporific stupor, the event began and I was mesmerised!
David Peace read extracts from his own novels and then chatted about them; how he worked; his personal background and his inspirations. It was totally captivating and I wasn't even a fan! Had I taken the trouble to read one of his books I would have known he has a real poetic style. This is something no television adaptation can capture and is a real strong motivator for reading the book first rather than just watching the film. He seemed so quiet and unassuming and yet when he spoke his own words he really conveyed a passion and feel for the characters he was writing about. Towards the end he revealed that he loved to unpick other people's work to see what it is that makes them so good, in particular what makes you want to carry on reading. He really paid attention to what was happening in the books by looking at the text word for word and trying to see why certain pages moved him, hooked him in or caused a reaction. He did this by picking out certain sentences/paragraphs and re-writing them, sometimes changing words or the tense of the text and seeing what impact that had. To me this seemed such a mindful thing to do - he's asking himself.. "what is happening in this moment of reading - how does it make me feel/think/react". I never realised that there could so much involved in writing books - so much personal investment and attention to detail.
So if I hadn't switched off the negative self talk I could have missed a really interesting and insightful evening.
I've also learnt to appreciate the value of the written word and how much more goes into it. It's more than just putting words on a page. In this instance, you really can't judge a book by it's TV programme!
Happy reading!
Mindful missyxx
ps note of caution - readers are advised not to unpick this blog - you will be left with one long ball of gobbledygook and not much else....you have been warned!!
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