Friday, June 7, 2019

Greywood Arts, final thoughts

I wanted to do a post about yesterday, but the day conspired against me.

I woke up late-ish but managed to sit down to work by 10:41am, still in the sweats I slept in. I wasn't warm, but the content must have been hard on my nerves because I could feel lines of sweat dripping down from my armpits. The next thing I knew, it was half past four and I hadn't even taken a break for lunch. But instead of eating, I went for a run because the weather was gorgeous and I thought a run would help me unwind from the hours of difficult writing.

And it was a brilliant run. I ran a longer distance than the run earlier in the week, but somehow it seemed to go by more quickly. I showered, changed, and planned to go for dinner with Mary and Yoni in a couple of hours. Mary gave me a handful of peanuts and I munched on a few corn cakes to tide me over.

But within ten minutes of sitting back at the computer, I felt a strange sensation, as if my hands weren't attached to my body. I stopped typing and realised that I was having the outer body sensation that signals an oncoming migraine. Oh no! Yup. I got up and walked around, trying to figure out whether I was right. The visuals hadn't started yet, but all the other signs were there.

Luckily the others decided to go to dinner an hour early. I took a boat load of nurofen and hoped for the best. The visuals started on cue about 15 minutes later, but I powered through them as well as the foggy brain and trouble finding words or stringing sentences together! Eventually I felt mostly normal.

We got Colm's number and sent him a text to meet us at the pub. The four of us enjoyed our last night together, telling stories and making each other laugh. I wish we could have had a little bit longer here, in this oasis. Today, I'll head back to Dublin, Mary goes to Cork, and Yoni will stay on in Greywood for a couple of weeks more. But the good news is that both of them are stopping in Dublin before they leave Ireland, so I don't have to say proper good-byes today! My bus will arrive to bring me to Cork in about a half hour, and then I'll return to regular life.

In terms of results - I have over 34,500 words of my book complete. It's maybe about half of what I was going for, but actually I think I'm about 2/3 finished. That's something I feel really proud of. I know it won't be long before I'm done. I worked my way through the tough bits that had been the real hurdles, so from here on out I have a very clear vision of my process. I am actually looking forward to the process, whereas before I thought mostly about the product.

So, all in all I know I wrung the experience as best as I possibly could and made the most of my time here and I return to Dublin with a feeling of great satisfaction.

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