sallygander

…flying over mountains

54. Sometimes you read a book that you sink into so completely you don’t want it to finish, and when onward time means that you reach that final page, you want to hang it around your neck on a simple strap so you can wear it always against your heart. So it is with JackContinue reading “…flying over mountains”

…on road trips

53. Some of the best road trips are long-planned and desired, whereas others are best done impulsively, such as driving to the beach on a hot day, or going out looking for one thing and finding another. But always the best trips are when the unexpected happens. An unexpected place, an unexpected person, an unexpectedContinue reading “…on road trips”

…on cars

52. The car is a fragile thing. If it hits another car its bonnet will buckle, its windscreen will shatter, the dashboard will crumble and fall around your legs where you sit in the passenger seat, and you are trapped. There will be miniscule shards of glass in your hair, scattered like gems across yourContinue reading “…on cars”

…books in formation: 6 to 10

6. Winter Journal, by Paul Auster Auster writes his journal in the second person. He is the you of his own story, but the reader is also the you of his experience, living with him and inside his mind. And so my own you is born, a you who is both me and not me,Continue reading “…books in formation: 6 to 10”

…books in formation: 1 to 5

1. Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande Brande taught you how to think into your stories. She explained the strange alchemy between movement and creativity, a cocktail of circumstance that is both individual and universal, and, if the measurements are right, as potent as morning light on a sunflower. Still now you think while washingContinue reading “…books in formation: 1 to 5”

…apophenia: an experiment

apophenia • nounthe tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things (such as objects or ideas) Experiment: To take a selection of random words, phrases or ideas and find a meaningful connection between them (meaningful to you, that is). MethodTake 1x novel, 1x textbook and 1x catalogue and choose items at random. Write them downContinue reading “…apophenia: an experiment”

…the collective thought of snow

48. You live in a town that likes to festival. Back in 1861 the first was founded, an agriculture and cheese show that celebrated country life. For a long time it was held in the small show ground within the town, its gentle slopes filled with stalls to supply all your country needs, cattle andContinue reading “…the collective thought of snow”

…a bed of many things

‘Then here again are two lovers, flesh pressed to flesh … their bed heaves as with the swell of the sea, whispers and sways, as if it were itself alive and joyful because it was seeing the consummation of the rapturous mystery of love.’from Le Lit, by Guy de Maupassant 47.The bed is a placeContinue reading “…a bed of many things”

…fishing for books

46.Today the river that runs through your town is high after days of rain, a fine mist rising from the weir. Her water is brown and thick, the currents and eddies rippling the surface as she seeks out a favourable path, finding pleasure in her intimate relationship with the land. You and your sister haveContinue reading “…fishing for books”

…a hole in the wall

45. The first time you lived alone was in an attic bedsit in Laura Place, Bath. Your window overlooked the rugby field and you shared a cold bathroom with the woman across the hall. You were nineteen years old, and for many years you’d longed for solitude and freedom, but now that it was hereContinue reading “…a hole in the wall”