Weekend Thoughts
I’m reminded of that famous line from Downton Abbey, ‘What’s a weekend?’ Every day is very similar these days, and the concept of a weekend doesn’t apply to me any longer. There is no need to have a lie-in on a Sunday because I don’t have to be up for work during the week, but I usually wake at 4.30 anyway. This Sunday, it was 3.30, so I have an extra hour to my day. I can’t count the number of times I’ve asked, ‘What day is it?’ just out of interest, or because I wanted to go to the post office, or, more importantly, because two days of the week I have a video call with Harry for his piano tutoring. Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard routine no matter what day it is.
Did you know that the word ‘weekend’ didn’t exist until the early 20th century? I expect you did, but apparently, some writers of historical fiction didn’t. I’ve read some stories set in the late 19th century where the characters refer to a ‘weekend’ and use words like okay. When writing, if I am in doubt about a word’ usage, I refer to an online dictionary which tells me when that word was used in print. It’s a bit American-centred, and I can’t guarantee its accuracy, but it’s a help. Here’s the entry for ‘weekend’ for example.
I’m very much in writing mode at the moment, being a few chapters away from the end of the first draft of a new Clearwater, and my Saturday blog on www.jacksonmarsh.com spoke a little about my writing process under the title How I Write a Novel. Other than that, I’ve been beavering away on my Phantom of the Opera model kit, wrestling with the fine detail, trying to find realistic flesh tones and wishing I had better brushes. I particularly like building these in the winter when the rain is lashing, and the thunder is rumbling, as it was on Saturday. The wind was also buffeting the house, as it was at 3.30 on Sunday, giving me hope that I will have to stay in and write and build, and won’t expect myself to go for a walk. (Lazy.)
Although I feel guilty as I don’t go out tramping the hillside as much as I used to, I do go out occasionally, as in last Thursday, when I tried to make it to To Vrisi but got caught up in a sheep-jam on the hillside. I think I disrupted feeding time, which has moved to 7.30 now that it’s winter, so for my next walk, I think I’ll just carry on up the road instead.
But that’s for the new week. It’s still the weekend as I write. I have left my character in peril and must go and rescue Silas before he and his assailant get bored hanging around waiting for their author to continue the scene…
