Living On Three Continents: Writing, And What It Takes...
"It’s been harder than giving birth and taken longer, much longer. Years of stealing time in bathrooms, huddled under blankets, crouched over laptops, when I should have been cooking supper, ironing and reading the classics. Years of attending writing groups and workshops.''
But Susan Siddeley has aqt last "delivered'' a book - and it is about to be launched this month.
It’s been harder than giving birth and taken longer, much longer. Years of stealing time in bathrooms, huddled under blankets, crouched over laptops, when I should have been cooking supper, ironing and reading the classics. Years of attending writing groups and workshops.
But finally, as with a Caesarean, I have a date! I’m expecting the new offspring to be placed in my arms pristine and perfect, Monday, next week. Except, I’m realising that the hard work is only just beginning, for now, I have to wheel out my precious and not in a fancy pram. I have to launch her from a platform so the whole world can know. A two-line announcement in the Hudderfield Examiner, like my mother used (and followed all her life), is not enough. It has to be a front-pager, a headline review.
I associate platforms with panic. With Sunday School concerts—me a trembling cowslip whose crepe-paper petals fell off, a teenage gymnast out of step, a stuttering Granddad in “The Good Woman of Szechuan.” Heck, I’ve spent my years since those off-ground sufferings, ducking and weaving to proceed through life unnoticed! If I’d wanted a stage, I’d have auditioned for Coronation Street.
But, apparently, I need to have a web-page, to tweet and join face-book—construction planks I’ve avoided, but now a necessary part of being a modern citizen and keeping up to scratch with things.
What’s happened to being called nosey and chided for blowing your own trumpet—sins almost as bad as shop-lifting and throwing fish and chip papers in the gutter? The words, “What are you up to?” “Where do you think you’re going?” still startle.
And even if I could manage a few tweets without a fretful editing, I wouldn’t be able to see, never mind press, the miniscule keys involved, although I did thread a needle to sew on a button last year.
Help! Turns out my elephantine pregnancy was a doddle compared to the imminent delivery of my book, but to get a copy, please email me at motocad@rogers.com and dare I say, Google my name. Amazingly, that brings up details. Hey! A load-bearing plank for my platform.
And—it’s staring me in the face—isn’t that what it’s all about?
Living on Three Continents. I can have three launches. Yes! Santiago, Chile (October 2011). Toronto, Canada (November 2011) and …Huddersfield, England in Spring 2012.
Now… if only I can find three dim bars, rustle up some ham sandwiches and sherry trifle—or next year, rent Room 28 at Greenhead High School (as was) —I’m halfway there!
Watch out for…
Home First—A Creative Memoir by Susan Siddeley
