Spring has Sprung!
New book, new workshops, new events!
I am writing this newsletter from the Netherlands, where I am doing an event at the American Book Centre tomorrow.
It’s a real privilege to be able to sit on a train and end up in another country in a matter of hours. Ah, the joys of living in central Europe. Although the Netherlands neighbours Germany, everything is slightly different. The language is at once familiar and unfamiliar. A street sign, where construction work is going on, says: De straat is dicht. In German, that would be: Die Straße ist dicht, but that conjures up the image of a street being packed, when in fact the street is empty. The same sign in Germany would read Die Straße ist gesperrt — the road is closed. In English, it might be Construction ahead.
When I moved from London to Berlin, my relationship with language changed; I learned how an unfamiliar language worked, and in the process, my own language became unfamiliar. This, inevitably, messes with my fluency in both languages. However, it also makes me look at them both anew. This is a beautiful gift. It’s like being a child again, where every word, phrase and image is fascinating. As adults, we think we know everything and tend to have fixed ideas, which limits our ability to experience the shifting possibilites of the world around us.
Yes, moving is magic! Which is what my new children’s book is about!
I spent a long time thinking about why I wanted to write this book. As a person who loves to dance, to travel, to move in different ways (my own mother once crossed the road because I was practising funny walks next to her, and she was worried about what the people in the neighbourhood WhatsApp chat might say), it took my brain a while to process why I wanted to write this book.
It wasn’t because I think kids should move and be healthy instead of sitting in front of a screen (although that’s a nice idea too) It wasn’t a body-positiivity thing…no. I wanted to make a book that celebrates the creative power of movement.
When you have a great children’s editor, which I do — shout out to Helen Weir at Macmillan — they question your idea, and make you pin it down precisely. It was something I had to do, and something I found very useful. So here’s what I wrote:
When I don’t know what to write, or if I don’t know what happens next in the story, I simply go for a walk and tada! Problem solved. Or if I feel low and grumpy, I do a little boogie and tada! I start to feel yummy. Or when I can only see things in one way, if I stand on my head or look at it from another place instead, it becomes brand new.
When we move in different ways, we can think in different ways. And when we can think in different ways, we can make the world a better place.
Another way that the familiar is made unfamiliar is seasons. You could be sitting in the same place, but the world around you would keep changing. It’s miraculous. I love spring. The newness of it, the energy of it — colours! Light! Sun! I have no idea what TS Elliot was on about when he said April is the cruellest month. For me, it’s the true start of the year. In January, everything is still frigid, frozen, stuck. But in April, thing’s start moving, growing, blooming. Just look at these funny little ducks I spied on the canal yesterday:
When I saw them, I thought about the phrase, getting your ducks in a row. These ducks are not in a row; they are huddling and paddling and halting and meandering in their own way. It’s the kind of energy I feel right now, with all my duckies around me, excited and hectic and definitely not in a row. I am doing a lot of different things at the same time right now. Here are some of them:
TODAY: I am running a workshop about Voice, Breath and Writing over at London Writers Salon (the most supportive space for writers online!)
TOMORROW, I am talking about my work on the multi-sensory book The Erotic Album at The American Book Center in Amsterdam. Grab a ticket here.
ON MAY 2 & 3: I am running an erotic creative writing workshop in Berlin. Find out more and book here.
ON OCT 3 & 4: I am running a writing from the senses workshop in Berlin. Find out more and book here.
ON JUN 13: I am celebrating the release of Move Your Body! at Chapters Bookstore in Berlin, so save the date.
There are many more duckies swimming about, but that’s all I have to announce for now! How are you feeling about spring?