Mapping and Territory

Mapping

I have successfully taught one of my workshops now a couple of times and past participants are eagerly asking for the next ‘chapter’. I had decided to break down the full day workshop into three parts as each part is really quite a substantial subject in itself.

Surface Rubbings from an earlier workshop.

So literally moving on from ‘Way-finding and the art of Psycho-geography’, there will be another workshop looking at ‘Mapping and Territory’. It is with this in mind that I have been immersing myself in many books on mapping, walking routes using maps and rereading the relevant part of my personal MA research.

Robert Macfarlane has had a lot of press coverage recently as he launches his new book ‘Landmarks’, I love the way he writes, he is a true observer of the beauty of place. I feel an affinity with the way he approaches the subject. Yet to be honest, as I am on the cusp of writing my own book about connecting people to place (through the simple act of walking), I feel hesitant about picking his newest book up and starting to read it. I know it will be enjoyable, beautifully written and informative.

But I need to refine my own thoughts, research and practice and concentrate on finding my own voice in this ever increasing popular subject.

Mapping my post-it notes..

I started to literally map my blog two weeks ago, taking subjects, words and themes and mapping them out on post it notes in front of me. I easily used up a few pads of pale yellow notes, arranged about a third of these on a large sheet of paper and stopped. I have so much information and although grouping a third of it together into specific themes, arranging it in an order that I understand does help, it also makes me aware that collating and bridging all these themes into a concise, enjoyable, easy to read book is going to take a while. And that time will not be found in the Easter holidays!

One page of many to do...

So now it is term time again and even a short term such as this will afford me some time to finish arranging the remainder of my post-it notes into order and start developing chapters. Lets hope so anyhow as now I understand why I hear of writers who take themselves away to remote places to construct such a piece of concentrated creative endeavour.

Territory

We spent an enjoyable week in Wales over the Easter break, 3 days of it was spent about 6 metres up in an Oak trees’ canopy. We had travelled up to the southern edge of Snowdonia to stay in a beautiful tree-house in a remote valley that felt truly magical. This could be an ideal place to write a book as there was no WIFI or electricity; the water came from a mountain spring and the heat from a log burning stove.

Fun was had with fire and glow-sticks.

It was wonderful for my family and I to have a break from virtual technological connection and sink back happily into the true nature of things. The glow from the candles and stove was comforting and real but stopped us from reading late into the evening. There wasn’t a TV or radio to distract us either, so time was spent well, living with the natural cycle of the daylight hours and dusk to dark times.

Our tree-house.

Because of this we all went to bed earlier than I can ever remember doing, as a family and naturally awoke relaxed and happy the next day as the daylight got brighter. This gentle transition time felt so natural, as it would be, that I wanted to try it once we had returned home, but there are so many distractions here that I haven’t even managed to try, maybe we need to book a tree-house holiday for next year to make that happen again.

Nestled in the trees.

There were 5 tree-houses in the valley, there are all located on one side of the stream in ancient woodland, a final and sixth one is now being built. Each tree-house had its own bridge that took you from one side of the stream to the other, these bridges could be seen if you knew where to look, the tree-houses were less easy to see.

From the moment of crossing ‘our’ bridge to climbing ‘our’ tree we felt more familiar to the area and started to know our place. As we timidly explored our surroundings I felt an emerging sense of belonging to the home that we as a family were about to stay in for a few days.

 

At home.

The next day we felt we knew the territory a bit better and became happier to leave it and discover the larger context of the place that we were staying in. In blazing sunshine we walked a large circular route around the surrounding hills and were able to pinpoint our magical valley.

Looking down on the magical valley from the surrounding hills.

As we returned back to the tree-house it felt like home and we had a few daylight hours to ‘hang out’ back at camp, outside, before stove heated water washed us in the open shower cubicle under the tree-house and in the dusk we climbed back up the spiral staircase to spend another early night in the trees, gently feeling the movement of the branches, cradling us as we dreamt.

The tree-houses blend in, even in the Spring.

A Kickstarter Start

A Kickstarter Start

I shall be launching a ‘Kickstarter’ crowd-funding campaign soon. I aim to have the first draft of my book, ‘Walk with me! - Connecting People to Place’ (working title) written by the time the swallows return. This normally coincides with my sister in laws birthday on the 8^th of May.

The path torwards the beach on Seasalter levels.

Last year I saw lots of swallows fly in when I was on the phone to a friend who travels a lot in India and fondly watches them fly in and out of her window in the majestic fort in Jodhpur where she works. It was a coming home for me to see them back again and perhaps a reminder of a more exotic place for her.

 

Beach huts overlooking the sea.

I am giving myself a full month to come up with the first draft of the book. Most of the content is already written within this blog and in my research papers. So I am now in the process of analysing the content and themes, looking for a thread that will run through the work and getting in contact with and creating a team of experienced, inspirational and capable people to make this happen.

Looking east towards Whitstable.

Birds on the shore and bait diggers in the background.

I want the book to be beautiful in every way, this includes the illustrations and layout of the text, but it also involves deciding on the font, the typographic form and layout, proportion, paper weight, finish and final format.

Phew! And if that is not enough, to create a successful ‘Kickstarter’ project, the campaign itself needs to be carefully and professionally run, in time, achieving the full amount of funding asked for, otherwise nothing is received. This makes it an ideal platform for investors to use, they cannot lose; the project will only go ahead and use their money if full funding is procured.

Rewards

A main aspect of most crowd-funding campaigns is the rewards offered. These vary widely; they could be personal thanks from the campaign host, such as a tweet, postcard or mention in the book, to a specific invite to an event, a personalised product or in reality, a million other types of reward for their investment.

Random alignment.

It is worth looking at the projects on ‘Kickstarter’, many of them are great ideas, which once a market or audience is proven using this funding platform, then other investors and funding organisations will ‘want in’. I want to provide about five rewards, they will start at £15 and will be for specific experiences and a copy of the book. I will need to make these really desirable and unique.

Detail of driftwood 'seat'.

I wonder whether this basic need for reward comes from our hunter/gatherer roots. It would make sense, to be encouraged to go and join in the harvest, for example, if we were allowed to graze on the food as we picked it. It fact this is often the reward that encourages a family visit to a ‘pick-your-own’ strawberry field!.

Memory Sketches

I thought I would try out a new way, for me, to experience a familiar walk this week. I recorded aspects of a lovely windswept walk at Seasalter with written ‘memory sketches’ and I asked a friend to come with me and we had our reward of lunch at the nearest café. The idea of writing as ‘memory sketches’ was a realisation after attending the writing walk with Victoria Field, last week.

Whilst walking mindfully through the wood, we stopped regularly to write.

‘I realised then that this is very similar to sketching a place. When I sketch, I look with more depth into the subject, I capture far more of that moment than when I take a photograph. I suppose this is being mindful, both writing and sketching something specific allows for a deeper observation of the subject.’

Seasalter looking west towards the Swale.

When I attended her follow on writing workshop later that week I realised that this observation and writing pattern was something that could be practiced in a group quite readily. Initially, I was quite nervous to share my ‘sketchy’ written work, but as I and others did there was a real sense of creative spirit which was encouraging and fruitful. I didn’t know what to expect but I really enjoyed the experience and will certainly love to do it again.

Looking out at numerous man-made reminders, worn and familiar.

One of the poems that were read out was called ‘Vertical’ by Linda Pastan, it related the idea of verticality to us and introduced us to the theme of the workshop, the Blean environment with its static rooted trees and the flowing movement of birds; over, under and through them.

Landmarks

We then were encouraged to write, using an adjective or observation about our awareness of trees. I used my own knowledge of using them as landmarks to create a longer poem from them, this is just a piece.

‘Landmarks’

Trees denote boundaries,

They mark a specific place and many memories are tethered to them,

Our own and others.

In this day of urban sprawl,

Other verticals replace the tree,

Way-marking posts point to destinations impersonating trees but dead, void of breath, growth and habitat.

These verticals do not evoke memories,

But are merely navigational landmarks,

Polished posts act as metal trunks and metal fingers point the way, away from here.

When I taught my walking workshop a couple of days ago I referred again to the primal need humans have for situated objects in a landscape. These act as markers for many aspects of human culture, which include navigation, territorial boundaries or sacred sites.

Situated objects on Seasalter beach.

A phrase I discovered during my MA was ‘persistent places’. These are places that people feel drawn to and return to regularly. There are many ancient sites across the world, such as the Avebury henge complex in Wiltshire, UK that have attracted humans to gather there for thousands of years, build monuments and celebrate the spirit of the place.

Monolithic type structures.

As I took yet more photographs of the man-made wind and sea weathered groynes at Seasalter beach last week, I realised that these too are situated objects and Seasalter is for me a ‘persistent place’.

 

Beach-combing.

Toddler Chic

‘Toddler Chic she calls it,

A red plaid coat, spotty tights and a red beret,

Pom-pommed scarf wrapped tightly around her neck to keep snug in this icy wind,

Looking down for shells, she stoops and picks up beauteous things,

Discovering forms and colours unusual and rare,

Crunching back towards me on the shell shingle she walks,

Ready to go back now,

Towards lunchtime and our reward of lamb-bacon and cake!’

Toddler Chic.