#10 Press Pause: Quote Hunt

This week’s mini creative retreat comes from an unusual place: my attic. After the recent storm in Ireland I went up to check on the roof tiles, and came across a box of my old journals. One of those journals is a weighty tome, which I carried all around China when I was living there in my early 20s.

Over the years, on the end papers of my journals I have taken to writing quotes which catch me at the time. The late Irish poet Seamus Heaney featured heavily in the Beijing journal, and his words and advice feels as relevant to me now as it did to me then.

I share a little of this story in the audio accompanying this post.

On from first page, some very wise words flipping the notion of pure talent:

Talent and the art of writing is
”Boldness in the face of the blank sheet”
- Heaney, on Boris Pasternak

And the end pages is the quote which I really want to read to you today (which I do in the audio). It is from a commencement speech which Heaney gave to students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Flipping through the journal, I want to reach back to that young Clare, and give her a hug. I was teaching at one of the top universities in China (Beida), and was working on my first novel (never published, phew -more on that another time), but was simultaneously feeling so isolated and out of my depth. Yet despite all this, I was ridiculously committed to my work, my students and my words. Reading the journal, I want reach back in time and tell Clare tell that she’s on the right track, to trust herself, to just keep writing, learning, creating. I want to tell her that it is OK to ask for help, that she doesn’t have to do it all alone. And I want to reassure her that twenty years later her words, and the quotes she scrawled on a notebook during a time of intense challenge and incredible growth, will still be relevant, speaking from the past to the future with such tenderness. I think this is one of the powers of a journal; to be a thread line through experience, connecting all the selves we contain in a narrative which often only makes sense looking back; one of the original tools of time travel.

Which leads me to this week’s creative retreat— an invite to go on a quote hunt for yourself. Is there a poem, a piece of prose, song lyrics or other quote which speaks to you at this time? What feels relevant, nourishing, thought provoking? Then, once found, I am inviting you to write it into the front page of your current journal (if you keep one), or any book. Then, maybe one day in the future, you will go up into your attic or your house or of your mind, and find it there, speaking through time; a gift from a past self to a future self, helping to thread those stories together.

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And some bonus content for paid subscribers

Flicking through that Chinese journal, had me smiling, cringing and remembering. It is filled with so many snippets, and I think gives a good insight into how a journal might take shape on the page, and lay the seeds for shaping the person writing it in turn. In it there are newspaper clippings, lists of poems, my own drafts of poems, novel outlines, sketches, language learning (Irish, Mandarin, Ogham), hand drawn maps, confessionals, draft love letters, and more.

I have decided to share a few photos and notes with paid subscribers. If you’d like a little more, it is below the line. I am keeping this behind the paywall as it feels a little more personal, and the boundary of the subscription gives me scope to share work which I previously would not have shared on the whole wide web.

Thank you all for being here.

Imbolc Seasonal Salon Reminder.

Also, a quick reminder that the Imbolc Salon, marking the beginning of Spring in the Celtic cycle is today, Friday 31st Jan. Gold Members have a ticket. You can purchase tickets independently here.

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Looking for the full Chapel Hill Heaney Commencement Speech? It’s here.