‘Today, in October sun, it's all gold—sky and tree and water. Everything just before it changes looks to be made of gold.’ Eudora Welty
The flooded blur and gilt-laced light of October is majestic, fleeting and epic. There is nothing fragile about October, nothing delicate, it’s a month of wild weather, astral upheaval and across the planet nothing stays the same. Teetering towards Christmas, falling away from summer, it is a moment in the year for breathless excitement, and the bugle call of change.
So here I am, dragging all my people - which is all of you - over to Substack, and giving you a whole new slice of day dreaming with me and my writing.
It is my belief, after 4 decades of being a novelist, that writing offers a doorway to somewhere else, both for the writer and the reader. The endless musing over ‘what if/’ ‘how?’ and ‘then what happens?’ is vital and fascinating. My Substack, ‘Day Dreaming’ is a kind of soft inviting sofa for the mind. I’m offering items to muse over, from writing tips and reading ideas, to something fast and delicious to cook, or a trick to find paint colours that make a room welcoming and easy to be in. I’m bringing to your attention an exhibition, a great article, an irresistible pair of shoes, a useful head torch or a poem it would be magical to learn by heart. I am making a den, a place where the imagination can begin to play. You can read this lying down, then shut your eyes and let your imagination begin to sidle around you. Who knows what you might find there.
Marylin Monroe photographed by George Barris
Life is nasty, brutish and short, or so sayeth Thomas Hobbes in his philosophical work ‘Leviathan’. So how do you find ways to make a safety valve? Where do you go for peace and freedom? Music? Art? Books? Meditation? Exercise? Cooking? We need time off from the world. It’s not an easy place to be these days, and I’m interested in finding ways through the door to the imagination. I’d like to know how you all open the door. Do you surround yourself with piles of books? Or sew something? Read articles about painters? Listening to podcasts that make you laugh like a drain or plant a few bulbs in the garden. Or do you just breathe deep the scent of woodsmoke hanging in the air on an autumn afternoon as you stroll with your dog around the neighbourhood.
Have a listen to Aretha Franklin singing ‘Day Dreaming’ here to get you in the mood, and then let me know in the comments.
And while you are idling, maybe read this novel, a true delight of an autumn novel or give it to someone who loves fiction for those on the cusp of teens (I don’t love the phrase young adult).
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/october-october-katya-balen/2778314?ean=9781526601933
The way Day Dreaming works
So I will post a monthly natter for free. Plenty to read, plenty to think about and the odd recipe and recommendation.
Beyond that, I will create 2 further posts behind the paywall of £6 a month.
One will contain book recommendations, writing tips, and/or extracts from work in progress.
Plus reading and vaguely related recommendations and discounts that I can share with subscribers.
I will also share news and discussion on what it’s like having writer parents, namely George Barker poet and Elspeth Barker novelist.
The other post each month will be house-based with progress/ideas/ hopes and dashed hopes on renovation, decoration, and gardens.
House and garden chatter and experience/ideas/offerings.
Links/discounts/tips.
Engagement with subscribers through notes.
These 3 posts will land on 1st Monday, 3rd Monday and the house-wrangling extra on 4th Monday of the month, as far as humanly possible.
Thank you for hanging out with me and my dogs on the sofa. These monthly posts are free to read, but there is so much more to delve into.
You might want to think about a paid subscription but then again you might not. Either way, keep Day Dreaming….