It's been a wonderful couple of weeks in London. I've enjoyed the intense, wacky, creative vibrant pulse of this capital city. Even without my trusty iBook.
To keep it brief, I'll give a few highlights of living the creative life in London. I've had the great pleasure of meeting many creative people and sharing our stories. (Sorry I can't share photos at this time!)
Jacqui Lofthouse, UK writing coach, was kind enough to host an evening
for me, inviting a group of her writer and editor friends. We had
dinner together and then repaired to the pub for more literary chat. I
loved meeting published authors and hearing about their projects. Some
new friends, too!
My friend Jessica e-mail introduced me to her friend Catherine
Davidson, author of The Priest Fainted. I love these email
introductions, reminiscent of another century's letters of
introduction. Catherine and I enjoyed a stroll through the Tate Modern
followed by tea at the seventh floor cafe overlooking the Thames. This
is where I began my new Gherkin series of paintings and what I hope to
be a lasting friendship with a wonderful, dynamic and creative woman.
Another email introduction was made for my by Clydette, one of the most
gracious and generous women I have ever met. Clydette lives in Paris
and we had dinner followed by a stroll towards the Eiffel Tower that I
will never forget. Clydette sent an introduction to Chris Chopyak, who
has a graphic learning company in Denver. We spent a lovely afternoon
at the V&A tea rooms, the opulence of which I will never forget.
Tea and talk and connections and possibilities abounded in our
conversation and I look forward to connecting with Chris in Denver.
The Design Your Creative Life conference, hosted by Swedish writing
coach Ann Ljungberg, was a complete treat. I presented alongside Fay Weldon, Eric
Maisel, Jacqui Lofthouse, Suzy Greaves, Susan Raeburn, and Maggan, a
delightful and inspiring Swedish comedienne. The two days were packed
with inspiration and new friendships. I am becoming a conference junkie
and look forward to this Saturday's conference in Antwerp, hosted by
Martine Vanremoortle, who was also at the London conference. Check out photos by the wonderful Swedish writing coach Johanna Wistrand.
On Tuesday I connected with Tania Hershman, a talented short story writer whom I
met in November at La Muse in the south of France. Tania lives in
Jerusalem but was in London for the Jewish Book Week. We hung out at Organic Planet before heading to a reading. One of her flash
fiction stories was being read at the Liars' League, where the hosts
gather a handful of stories, give them to actors to read, and attract
an attentive crowd. We packed the upstairs room at the Wheatsheaf on
Rathbone Street and passed a few hours being wittily entertained.
Among my own peregrinations as a writer and artist,
- I strolled along
the Thames
- rode the tube up and down and all around
- practiced yoga at
Alchemy studio in the heart of Camden
- caught up on my movie going
- ate
a lot of good vegetarian food
- cruised along the canal
- bought some
clothes and of course a few more notebooks
- had dinners with my friends Antony and Jenny
- enjoyed drinks in the Lamb with the Swede Patrick
- fell in love with Lamb's Conduit street, the most perfect street in London
- made some art
- coached my clients and got an amazing new client
- used my A-Z guide to map my
wanderings, and
- scoped out sites for my urban creative crawl that I
will do next year. My Sketch Crawl did not run this year due to lack of
imagination and lack of enrollment. We'll work on that again next year.
I also got a very very very encouraging email from my agent, who is loving my revision of Chasing Sylvia Beach. I can't tell you how happy that made me and how I look forward to hearing his thoughts on the whole book. Wish me luck!
I'm looking forward to going back to Colorado on the 9th of April. I'm planning an art and performance show, considering things I can write about this journey, and looking forward to seeing my people again.
What a great few weeks in England! I shall be sad to leave but look
forward to returning to the continent on Friday, going to Antwerp for
the creativity conference on the 14th, then to Amsterdam on Monday for
more art making, biking, friend making and wandering. Stay tuned for
updates from the Creative Nomad!
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