I joined a live co-writing call with
and at the a few days ago. I felt I needed a kick up the old writing bum because I have been away from home a lot recently (Glasgow, Bologna, my folks' house) and haven't written anything for ages.Come on, Helen, you can do it; stop looking at pictures of the Bologna Book Fair on your phone and get your writing act together!
Sara explained that at the end of the session, we would have a piece of writing ready to post on Substack. And she was right, here it is!
She linked to a spinny wheel of prompts. We could spin the wheel and write about whatever came up.
I pressed the spinny wheel of wonder and got 'Ernie'. I was astonished because I had spoken on the phone just that day with my 80-year-old artist pal, Ernie.
Sara said Ernie wasn't a choice on the spinny wheel of wonder, so explain that to me! I followed the link again, and I got 'respond'. I took it as a sign. I would respond to my phone chat with Ernie.
I like chatting with Ernie because he has no time for small talk and always dives straight into the deep and meaningful.
Topics of discussion today:
He told me he was exhausted and needed to prioritise what makes him happy. He tried to quote a John Lennon song to me to illustrate the point, he couldn't quite remember the words, but it sounded as if it was probably something wise and profound.
Anyway, with or without the quote, I was in. This would be a good conversation.
He told me he was fit and knew with certainty that he was fit because two large weights fell on him, and he was fine. He got back up with no injuries. Before I could ask him to explain more, like: What weights? How? Why? - he had moved on to tell me to read The Seagull by Anton Chekhov (he quoted something about the messiah but he forgot the exact words). He suggested I watch Heartbeat because he finds the mix of story and music very moving. I might try The Seagull, but maybe not Heartbeat. Or perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to judge; maybe I will watch Heartbeat.
What I loved about this chat was that even though we are at different life stages, me at the youthful age of 52, busy making books and courses, and him 80 years young and still teaching, we are both excited about new possibilities.
The world is still our oyster (oysters?) 🦪
I am loving, SERIOUSLY LOVING, working on some new books that are a bit different for me. Can I tell you? Oh, you persuaded me, I will!
Me and
are writing some books together. Yes, happy days! It's so lovely to write with a pal, and Katie and I make each other laugh so much; it is fun and easy, like Good Ship Illustration art club*, but with writing.Why hadn't I thought of the possibility of writing with a friend before? Sometimes, when you feel you have something sussed, a new idea comes along and boof! You're off in a new direction. I love that.
Ernie told me he has been saving and that he has built up a nice nest egg. He said he could leave ‘said nest egg’ to a cat shelter, but better still, he could spend it. He said it felt like a revelation to him, and now he's deciding whether to retire from his part-time teaching job and live in his head (the John Lennon song was something about living in your head; any ideas?).
I will tell you something: if he decides to stop teaching, his students will be heartbroken. He taught me drawing for years, and he was brilliant. One of a kind. A true friend and mentor.
I once told him about a dream I had: I was in the driver's seat of a car. I was parked on the beach, and the sea came in, and the car drifted out to sea. I told him I decided not to panic. I said to myself that the tide would go back out soon, and I would be dropped somewhere else, and I would be fine.
He grinned at me and nodded. That's all he did. Grin. Firm nod. He got it.
At the end of our call, as a parting note, just as I was about to put the reciever down, he said, 'Lots of people seem shy until they murder someone.' 😂
Bye for now, bye, bye, bye.
Helenx
*P.S. TONIGHT, Katie and I are going live on The Good Ship Illustration Instagram for Art Club. It's 'Make your own tools' week. We start at 7pm UK time, come along!
During Art Club, we open the doors to our Find Your Creative Voice course, and early birds get special Good Ship badges! One lucky early bird, selected at random gets a bag of cheap (squished in the post) crisps! Yes!
I think I know who Ernie is! Always a source of solid gold inspiration and life wisdom ❤️
Hmm I wonder what this new Katie/Helen book is about? 🤨 Very interesting news.