My freelance creative process and practice / Sheffield based.
…That afternoon coffee rewarding a systematic and productive morning. The first thing I wanted to do when I got to my desk was write freehand and after that I moved through computer based tasks fairly fluidly. Application research, inviting speakers for a panel discussion, organising deadlines. Of course it isn’t always like this but it has felt like a good use of time whilst staying warm and dry indoors.
Emotion of the day number 21, with thanks to Be Manzini
…This is the only way to describe the impact of reading N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth trilogy. Everything else is filling time until I can find my way back to the last book, The Stone Sky, again. I’m planning a Reading section on this site and will talk more about this trilogy then.
Emotion of the day number 20, with thanks to Be Manzini
…What is quite nice about this writing exercise is discovering so many words I’ve been using wrongly. I thought being ponderous was a good thing. Thoughtful, considered, weighty. According to the following I’m roughly 200 years out of date. Also a photo based round up of days I didn’t post might be in order. Partly explains why instagram is so popular, much easier that way but is in opposition to my resolution to manage my own content as much as possible, certainly as the primary source,
The Serious History of Ponderous:
“Ponderous is ultimately from the Latin word for “weight,” namely, “pondus” (which also gave us “ponder” and “preponderance” and is related to “pound”). We adopted “ponderous” with the literal sense “heavy” from Anglo-French ponderus in the 15th century, and early on we appended a figurative sense of “weighty,” that is, “serious” or “important.” But we stopped using the “serious” sense of “ponderous” around 200 years ago – perhaps because in the meantime we’d imposed on it a different figurative sense of “dull and lifeless,” which we still use today.”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ponderous#synonyms
Emotion of the day number 19, with thanks to Be Manzini
… I think completely made up but meaning when I can’t settle to anything. The opposite of focus which is a thematic goal for me this year. It’s apt for this site’s progress too. The novelty of the redevelopment has worn off and it feels not seem less enough again, more of too many unresolved bits. Ngh.
Emotion of the day number 18, with thanks to Be Manzini
… despite the blue skies and crisp air. Recovering from a deadline the day before and generally feeling the weight of things. Not helped by, in site related news, my Reading page still eluding me. I want a simple route to embed books without supporting amazon and the like and may have to resort to photographing covers myself.
Emotion of the day number 17, with thanks to Be Manzini
…split or torn would have suggested too much force whereas I am trying to describe a deliberate separation to be seeking respite and hibernation whilst keeping part of me present, responsible and alert to the current crisis. I’ve learnt leaving this post series too long makes it much harder to start lightly and fluidly as it was intended.
Emotion of the day number 16, with thanks to Be Manzini
Emotion of the day number 15, with thanks to Be Manzini
…a suspicion formed that the later in the day I wrote these posts the more maudlin prone they are. So I set the vague area of emotion much earlier on and in honour of a dear friend who I saw for Bragazzi’s coffee, crisp winter walking and most valuably continuous, ranged and insightful conversation that was so needed.
Emotion of the day number 14, with thanks to Be Manzini
…before settling on Toilworn I went from slog to toil to toiling, enjoying learning the verb toil comes in part from Latin tudiculare to crush, grind. I’m toilworn in body and spirit today and the worn part to the word feels particularly evocative of that knackered feeling. It’s potentially the first word in this writing series that conjures sculpture to mind. More post about The Daily Journeys We Wear to follow to pick up this thread..
Emotion of the day number 13, with thanks to Be Manzini
… a tricky one to pin down this. I was trying to describe the seeking of distance or perspective to remove the immediate Covid related pressures, lack of autonomy, control, the mulling over micro decisions. A brief and cold trip to the allotment helped be reminded of things that follow a different rhythm. Here’s some of my Dwam figures weathering the recent storms.
Emotion of the day number 12, with thanks to Be Manzini
… the longest lapse (four days) yet in this relatively new prompt to write and post daily. I was looking at weary and fatigued and came across this brilliant piece of text on the literal and figurative meanings of lassitude. It particularly won me over with the suggestion of neglect which nailed my sense I could have looked after myself a bit better and also my current preoccupations with how to best look after others.
Anna Kime