Well, that'll teach me. Maybe...

[desperance]

I had to go to the supermarket this morning. Went out of the house, crossed the road - and stopped, and turned round, and crossed the road again, thinking "oh hey, I could take my camera!" And reached the door and stopped again, thinking, "oh, but I'm supposed to be thinking about the book, plotting what happens next; and if I take the camera I'll be thinking about pictures instead; and besides, I've taken the camera that way once already, and it's awkward with the camera-bag and the shopping-bag, and..."

So I didn't. I turned and crossed the road one more time, empty-handed. And went into Birdcage Walk, and lo: the light was all soft and pearlescent, and it was entirely cool and quiet and cathedral-like under the high arches of the trees, and I really really wished I had my camera.

And then there was a little leaf caught on a fence that I wanted to photograph, and great marshy puddles because it's been raining all night, and and and...

And by the time I was coming home the sun was out and the light was all hard-edged, and I didn't see anything at all I wanted to photograph.

Hrumph. I guess I should be taking it everywhere just in case, but it is a little awkward as per current arrangement of bags. Perhaps I need (another!) new bag, that can carry both camera and shopping, or camera and laptop and book...?

Comments

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

I can't deal with the shall I/shan't I crises. I don't go anywhere without my camera.

And I like to think that photography has taught me a lot about seizing the moment.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yup. Whereas writing (at least the way I do it) is often about postponing the moment: the process of generating ideas takes me away from the computer, and then maybe it all needs thinking about and running through my head a time or thirteen before it's ready to be written.

Or maybe I just sit down here with a blank page and a blank mind and let it happen anyway, but even so the moment of generation is usually long gone. The scene I'm writing now has been building for a week or more, in so far as it wasn't inevitable from the moment I first thought of the book; the actual conversation that I'm writing was realised in my head this morning, after I had regretted the absence of camera; word for word it's happening right here right now, because of course I don't remember what the words were before...

[martyn44.livejournal.com]

You could just acquire a servant boy to accompany you wherever you go, carrying all the necessities - shopping bag, camera bag, laptop bag. Why, I'm sure the Lit & Phil wouldn't object to him sitting under the table as you worked. And, of course, the boys would be delighted to have someone else to absuse.

Think about it. You'll see it makes sense.

Me? I think those magic moments live longer and better in my head. Of course, I'm a rubbish photographer.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I generally always take my camera with me, and it's a bit bulky, not the kind you slip into your pocket. I don't always see something I want to photograph, but if I don't have I wish desperately that I did.

[mantichore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know the feeling. Came out of the night shift this morning, and the sunrise was all orange and hazy and shimmering in blue/purple storm clouds, and I remembered I left my camera at home because, come on, you're not going to lug that around for nothing, are you?

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I'm reaching the point where I keep stumbling over the limitations of my camera: macro not that great, telephoto OK until you see what durham_rambler can do, wide angle not at all... But I can put it in my pocket, and forget it's there until I want to use it.

[carandol.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, they're quite vivid images even in words, so you could probably put them in a novel sometime. Maybe when one of your characters forgets to take his camera...

[esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com]

Speaking very tangentially of shopping, and fudz...I ordered some sea salt like you have, and I wondered what the herb mixture was that you had in the mortar with it.

For now I have a mortar & pestle, and fresh pepper, and good salt, and have thrown out the rubbish stuff.

Thanks for the new fetish, pal.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hee. My work here is done...

It was probably a "herbes de Provence" mixture - thyme, marjoram, rosemary, oregano, basil, tarragon - which you should be able to buy under that name at a decent deli. It's the only known use for dried herbs, to mix with good salt and pepper and thus create yumminess by the sprinkle.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

So what do you then sprinkle it over?

(blushes to admit to presence of dried herbs in the cupboard).

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Whut? Dried herbs? Whut? But, but, but - you has a garden! I knows this, you has brought me windfalls... (*surveys rhubarb-and-apple chutney, with pride...*)

My salty Provencale mixture is a good-with-anything sprinkle; you could ask esmeraldus_neo what she used it for, but I often grab it when I would otherwise reach for salt. More particularly, it's the rub I use for my infamous home-made pork scratchings...

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Well that's why I blushed.

[wakaba-chan.livejournal.com]

The Boyfriend is selling a camera/laptop bag for £30ish if you're interested? :o

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Um, description of boyfriend bag? Make, age, sub-species...?

[wakaba-chan.livejournal.com]

Big, hairy, goth, old, yummy... err, here (http://products.lowepro.com/product/CompuDaypack,1922.htm)! Martin says this is a good description of it! Although his one is in black and grey rather than orange.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Cool. If he's happy with thirty quid, so am I. I can do PayPal or cheque - or I could hand it over in person in cash if we were going to be in the same place at all ever, but I'm guessing not: unless you're coming to FantasyCon in Nottingham this weekend, or NewCon in Northampton next month...?