Writing in company

Bonus day in London

Beach huts are like writers at London Writers Salon: a Community of individuals

Writing is something I love to do, but it is mainly a solitary task. However, once a day I log into a zoom space with a large global group of writers. The space, organised by the London Writers Salon, gives writers the opportunity to write alongside one other. Each of us is alone working on our own tasks, but we are together in virtual company.

The daily hour-long writing session on zoom has transformed my practice of writing: I commit to show up for that hour every day, and do nothing else but write. My body has learned that I write for that one hour, every weekday. It takes a few minutes to get settled in, but then away my mind goes, fingers moving across the keyboard, and the time flies by.

On Monday I joined my first in-person London Writer’s Salon in London. It was a two hour version of our regular one hour zoom sessions.

When I arrived I met some of the other writers sitting around big library tables. When it was time to begin, we set our intention for the next hour, listened to an inspirational quotation about the writing life. And then for the next 55 minutes we were off in our personal writerly worlds to accomplish what we could.

We had a 15 minute break before we repeated the process. In our break and afterwards, I chatted to my table mates about everything from the differences in tea between America and the UK, what to wear to survive the insanely hot weather (it was 33 C; 91 F in London Monday), and how we manage writing rhythms to get our work done each day. If you know anything about the value of loose ties, this was our opportunity to reap that benefit for the day. (I wrote about these as part of creating connections when we moved to our new village here)

As we were leaving, I mentioned that I was going to see Guys and Dolls at the theatre that evening. There was a spontaneous chorus of ohhs and ahhs, and the exclamations that ‘it is an amazing production’ came from many participants. Oh, the excitement was increasing!

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Afterwards I met Pete at Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station (where else?). The rest of our day consisted of exploring new places, revisiting familiar haunts, and mostly recovering from time spent outside in the very hot city. Our afternoon went like this: Walk somewhere, take a look around, find a place out of the sun to rest, drink lots of fluids: repeat.

Towards the end of the day, we walked south over London bridge to have some dinner before seeing the show. Thankfully we found a botanically-rich spot to rest, cool off and enjoy a refreshing drink and light dinner.

London Bridge and view from same

And the show? Well, first off, thank you to Lynn and Mike for telling us we HAD to see this version of Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre in London. It is spectacular! It is impossible to describe except to say that it is very interactive and occurs on a moving stage in the middle of the theatre. Here’s what it looked like just before the show started (and yes, those are mostly audience members wandering around on the stage):

Bridge Theatre, London

It was no doubt the best production of G&D I have ever seen (and I have seen too many). Even after so many different people telling me that is is spectacular, it still exceeded the hype. If you have any opportunity to see it, take that chance. You won’t regret it! Here’s a link to the production.

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Thanks for reading this week! It’s another travel week so I’m not altogether ‘here’ physically or mentally. And goodness, the very hot weather in a big city takes its toll.

Hope you are well and doing the things you want to be doing!

xoxo Sabrina

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