Simon, this is bliss. There is something so remarkably creative about a 'form' that defies description save for the one you apportion to it yourself. Beautiful writing triggered by beautiful writing ... thoughts evoked by the thoughts of others, captured in words. I love the playfulness of the word play ... as a lover of words, I like nothing more than the unfolding of definitions in lyrical prose. Having missed seeing your words on Instagram - that void into which we all gently insert something of quiet meaning to combat the cacophony of algorithmic rumblings and shouty, needy celebrations of 'self' - I am excited to see them afresh in this space. I have a small archive on our website (written by others) and on Medium (which I cancelled earlier in the year) that might merit a review and a selective migration. Thanks for the nudge to consider doing so.
Thank you! Have you ever ready Ali Smith? She loves her word play, and that has definitely seeped into this bit of writing. It's nice to find a proper home for these words, whatever they are, and you should definitely encourage yours to migrate over from Medium.
I'm slightly embarrassed to say I haven't ... I meant to read the seasons books - how can it be that 'Autumn' was published all the way back in 2016?! I'm a little behind!
They were quite something to read at the time – she captured all the feelings of the times. I recommend How to be Both, it's my favourite and less bound to those crazy years.
I recently read Summer from the Seasonal Quartet and even before you revealed the inspiration for this piece I could detect the cadences! I haven’t read Companion Piece but will have to round out the Quartet with it at some point.
I also followed your goodreads account earlier this year and saw one of your responses to another book, Milkman I think it was, and (before I noticed that you aren’t active on goodreads anymore) commented that you captured the voice perfectly. Really a compelling way to respond to a book, and a talent to be able to draw out its voice while still creating in your own.
Oh thanks Anne! Yes I completely forgot about my Goodreads, where I had been crossposting things for a while. I guess no one commented on them and I felt it wasn't worth the effort – so thank you for being the person who proved me wrong! I loved reading Milkman and writing that piece. Maybe I should post it here someday.
Goodreads is a bit of a desert, haha. Unless you have actual friends active on there. But I’m happy to stumble on your reviews there, and yes the Milkman one would be worth retrieving!
No, haven’t heard of that one. I resisted goodreads for a long time and used a spreadsheet (which I still have) but I decided goodreads was a more shareable way to store reviews if anyone asked for recommendations etc. And now I have some friends I enjoy exchanging with on there. Maybe someday I won’t feel the need to track anymore 😅
I really enjoyed reading this "tangent". And I like this kind of reading, which leads to creation.
I choose the curlew, a bird with an evocative call that takes me back to my childhood in Devon. And as for curfews, I have had to suffer them in one or two places round the world and I hope never to have to do so again.
Thanks for reading Jeffrey. Let's hope we never have to return to curfews. I only visited the coast on holidays growing up, so I have few memories of the curlew. But I do love how birds intersect with so many of our memories, thoughts and feelings.
I’ve been pulling back from Instagram and will one day delete my account. Glad to connect with you here on Substack now so I can still participate in your book clubs and read your writing.
This is lovely, Simon. I'm fairly new to Ali Smith but I get why she's inspired you to write this. A beautiful piece of writing for my early morning walk this morning ❤️
I started recording my readings when I first tried to make reels. God I hate reels. And hate recording my voice. But people were very kind, and I do write things that are meant to be read aloud.
I hate reels, too. I get frustrated by the limits of my ability and by the limits imposed on me by IG. I really hate the way my voice sounds, but it was a great cause of hilarity when I used to be the autoattendant at work. Apparently I sound like the queen 🤦🏼♀️
Simon, this is bliss. There is something so remarkably creative about a 'form' that defies description save for the one you apportion to it yourself. Beautiful writing triggered by beautiful writing ... thoughts evoked by the thoughts of others, captured in words. I love the playfulness of the word play ... as a lover of words, I like nothing more than the unfolding of definitions in lyrical prose. Having missed seeing your words on Instagram - that void into which we all gently insert something of quiet meaning to combat the cacophony of algorithmic rumblings and shouty, needy celebrations of 'self' - I am excited to see them afresh in this space. I have a small archive on our website (written by others) and on Medium (which I cancelled earlier in the year) that might merit a review and a selective migration. Thanks for the nudge to consider doing so.
In the meantime, your writing is enviable.
Thank you! Have you ever ready Ali Smith? She loves her word play, and that has definitely seeped into this bit of writing. It's nice to find a proper home for these words, whatever they are, and you should definitely encourage yours to migrate over from Medium.
I'm slightly embarrassed to say I haven't ... I meant to read the seasons books - how can it be that 'Autumn' was published all the way back in 2016?! I'm a little behind!
They were quite something to read at the time – she captured all the feelings of the times. I recommend How to be Both, it's my favourite and less bound to those crazy years.
Thank you for the recommendation. We’re back in UK in November so I can indulge in an indie bookshop or two.
I recently read Summer from the Seasonal Quartet and even before you revealed the inspiration for this piece I could detect the cadences! I haven’t read Companion Piece but will have to round out the Quartet with it at some point.
I also followed your goodreads account earlier this year and saw one of your responses to another book, Milkman I think it was, and (before I noticed that you aren’t active on goodreads anymore) commented that you captured the voice perfectly. Really a compelling way to respond to a book, and a talent to be able to draw out its voice while still creating in your own.
Oh thanks Anne! Yes I completely forgot about my Goodreads, where I had been crossposting things for a while. I guess no one commented on them and I felt it wasn't worth the effort – so thank you for being the person who proved me wrong! I loved reading Milkman and writing that piece. Maybe I should post it here someday.
Goodreads is a bit of a desert, haha. Unless you have actual friends active on there. But I’m happy to stumble on your reviews there, and yes the Milkman one would be worth retrieving!
Did you ever use LibraryThing? I feel like I've used so many different apps to track my books. And now I don't track them at all.
No, haven’t heard of that one. I resisted goodreads for a long time and used a spreadsheet (which I still have) but I decided goodreads was a more shareable way to store reviews if anyone asked for recommendations etc. And now I have some friends I enjoy exchanging with on there. Maybe someday I won’t feel the need to track anymore 😅
Simon, this is beautiful. Just beautiful. Res ipsa locquitor.
As usual I had to resort to google there. My grasp of Latin is pretty negligible.
I really enjoyed reading this "tangent". And I like this kind of reading, which leads to creation.
I choose the curlew, a bird with an evocative call that takes me back to my childhood in Devon. And as for curfews, I have had to suffer them in one or two places round the world and I hope never to have to do so again.
Thanks for reading Jeffrey. Let's hope we never have to return to curfews. I only visited the coast on holidays growing up, so I have few memories of the curlew. But I do love how birds intersect with so many of our memories, thoughts and feelings.
I’ve been pulling back from Instagram and will one day delete my account. Glad to connect with you here on Substack now so I can still participate in your book clubs and read your writing.
Oh wonderful. Yes, I'm fed up with IG and spending all my time here now.
It is such a good idea to revisit old words - as a new audience, it will be delightful to read them for the first time.
Thanks Kate. I feel this is where they belong.
I love that you are bringing some of your older insta posts over here, it's a joy to re-read them
Any excuse to replay the classics.
This is lovely, Simon. I'm fairly new to Ali Smith but I get why she's inspired you to write this. A beautiful piece of writing for my early morning walk this morning ❤️
Ah lovely to hear it accompanied you Kat!
I'm sorry if I'm repeating a question or have missed something but is that you reading?
That's me! 🙈
That's very (a) brave and (b) cool. It just improved like a thousand times.
I started recording my readings when I first tried to make reels. God I hate reels. And hate recording my voice. But people were very kind, and I do write things that are meant to be read aloud.
I hate reels, too. I get frustrated by the limits of my ability and by the limits imposed on me by IG. I really hate the way my voice sounds, but it was a great cause of hilarity when I used to be the autoattendant at work. Apparently I sound like the queen 🤦🏼♀️
Thought provoking
What a gorgeous piece of writing - thank you for bringing it over to Substack ❤️
And thank you for reading!