Gwaith 20: Leaving Stiwdio Maelor

Last week I finished my third residency at Stiwdio Maelor. My first was eight weeks in 2015 and my second was the five weeks I spent there in September and October last year before I went travelling for five weeks. The third residency was for 11 weeks, broken only by the six days spent in Germany catching up with Jo. So, I’ve spent almost 24 weeks at Stiwdio Maelor, to the point that, as a friend said at the Corris Institute café one Tuesday morning, Corris is my second home.

Clouds over Corris

I do feel I have set down some roots, however small, in the village and I was saddened to pack my bags, say goodbye to all the friends I made, many of whom came to The Slaters the night before for farewell drinks, and jump in a car to be taken to Machynlleth Station for my train to Birmingham International and the start of my trip home.

Now that I staying in the USA with one of my sons for two weeks, visiting another son, and enjoying the snow, which hasn’t fallen so heavily hereabouts for several years, I want to check my achievements during my residencies against the targets I set myself before I left.

Writing

The main target, naturally enough, related to my novel. I had hoped to complete the third draft before I left. This wasn’t the case. I only completed around 75% of the draft, around 150k words. However, as can be seen from below, I wasn’t exactly relaxing. I managed to write a number of other things.

New scene cards for the novel

 Novel:                      75% (150k)—approximately 7k words/wk, 18 hrs/wk

                                  (counting my five weeks of travelling)

Interdraft Work:        39,771 words

Short Story:               One (unexpected)

Poem drafts:              11

Haiku drafts:             36

Blogs:                       18

I also ran a poetry workshop at Canterbury Christ Church University, gave a reading at Stiwdio Maelor during the Christmas Open Day in November, and gave a talk to creative-practise PhD students at Aberystwyth University. Even though I didn’t reach my target, I’m happy with what I achieved.

Night photo of Aberystwyth, taken from Veronica's PhD studio at Aberystwyth University

Language Immersion

I have been learning Welsh on and off for a number of years on a Tuesday night at The Celtic Club in Melbourne. My level of skill wasn’t too great when I left for Wales, mainly because teaching and writing commitments had meant I hadn’t spent as much time as I would have liked on Welsh practice. During my first residency, I attended some classes and groups and I intended to do the same this time around. I knew I didn’t have a hope of achieving fluency, as I knew others had done by virtually devoting all their time when in Wales to finding opportunities to practice their Welsh, but I did hope to improve in some small way.

Mist and snow at Llyn Tegid (Lake Bala), during my two-day Welsh course nearby

Every Monday I attended a class in Dolgellau and every Tuesday morning I joined in Welsh discussion at the Corris Institute café. I also attended several one- and two-day courses, as well as three Noson Siarads, dinners where only Welsh was supposed to be spoken. Although I can’t claim fluency yet, I did find myself holding conversations longer than one or two exchanges and at times felt myself responding automatically in Welsh. I also was complimented on both my accent and my vocab, so I must be doing something right.

Sky and a dash of sun-stain on the trees

Landscape Immersion

As with my hope that learning the language will somehow help me with the writing of the book (and connect me with my ancestral roots), I also hoped that experiencing the landscape of Britain would help me create authentic settings for the novel. I visited a number of sites I am using, both in Wales and Scotland, and was in the country long enough to experience late autumn and winter. While in Corris itself, I went for numerous walks and right up to the last week I was discovering new tracks, one of which took me on a three and a half hour ramble. I have learnt about trees, seen red deer, red squirrels and badgers, seen and heard red kites and numerous other birds, climbed mountains, sat next to rivers, walked through snow, wandered around megalithic circles and sat in tombs. I have probably absorbed more than I realise and can only hope the experiences came out in my words at some point.

Mist over the war memorial of Corris, from the sun melting snow 

Photo of Llyn Mwngll or Llyn Myngul, more commonly known as Tal-y-llyn

Finally, there are the people I have met, from the people in the village of Corris to the residents at Maelor I have spent time with. I want to thank them all for being welcoming, friendly, inspirational, supportive, and encouraging. My thanks to the previous manager at The Slaters, Brian, and the current manager, Mike. To Andy and Adam at their café for the great food and coffee and their wifi. To Eleanor, Chris and the other volunteers at the Corris Institute café. To Jan at the post office for her help with my packages to be sent home. To Ellie, Diane, Inge, Beryl and others in the Welsh conversation group. To Bethan Gwanas, my Welsh teacher in the class at Dolgellau, and Mike H, Mike K, Dee, Sue, Laura, David and other fellow students. To Martin for discussions about Cadair Idris legends and Welsh language and poetry. To Hickey, Jane and Kevin, and the other regulars at The Slaters. To Eileen and Arthur, for their lifts into Aberystwyth and conversations about poetry and geology. To Simon and Andrew for conversations about landscape writing. To Lez, for his blacksmith course and his help with my many questions about the craft. To all those residents I met during my residencies—including Freya, Yuki, Chloe, Linda, Beth, Bronwen, Christina, Gwen and Chris, John, and Brett—for the discussions, the pints at the pub, the shared meals, the trips to various sites, and the inspiration and encouragement.

One night at The Slaters, with Gwen, Chris, Yuki and Bronwen

Most of all I want to thank Veronica Calarco, the founder and coordinator of Stiwdio Maelor, for her vision, her persistence (even in trying situations), and her hard work, in creating such a wonderful place for artists and writers to take time out from their normal lives and explore their ‘craft or sullen art’, as Dylan Thomas put it. Most of all, I want to thank her and her partner Mary for their friendship.

In my last days in Corris, many people asked if I’d be back, then said before I could answer, ‘I’m sure you will’. True. I will be back, for I have made many friendships and I find the village and the landscape around it inspirational. I also want Jo to meet everyone and see the sights I love.

Thanks again, Stiwdio Maelor and Corris.

Corris from near the summit of Mynydd Fron Felen (Mountain of the brown/yellow hillside)

I hope you enjoyed this post. As always, I welcome your comments.

Flying over the pole to Seattle

Cofion Cynnes

Earl

Gwaith 16: Frost at Midday

Helo Pawb

This is just a quick post to show you more of the cold weather under a bright, blue clear sky that I am experiencing here in Corris.

Facing north, on the path running along the fields beside Afon Dulas

After my Tuesday morning Welsh Conversation meeting at the Corris Institute, I went for a walk along my favourite river, Afon Dulas. Even at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, frost still covered the nearby fields. The village is in a valley that runs roughly north-south, so the sun takes a while to climb above the pine-covered hill and start working on the frost. Even when it was visible, the temperature, courtesy of the cloudless sky overnight and during the day, was still low, so that as I walked, my breath plumed around me.

Sheep cropping through the frost-covered grass

Apart from the frost itself, highlights of this walk included seeing two grey squirrels prance away daintily at my approach; standing still in a field and listening to the irregular dripping of frostmelt from the bare branches of nearby oaks and beeches; and watching six F-15Es, possibly from RAF Lakenheath, roar over the hills and across the valley as they travelled the regular exercise route known as the Mach Loop. As if in defiance to their thunderous flights, after their third pass a red kite appeared above the same hill the jets flew over. At first I thought it was a distant plane, but no rumbling preceded it. The bird rose quickly on updrafts, then winged its way high across the valley. Not unlike the Tornadoes banking and producing contrails, at one point sunlight glinting from the edges of its wings, before it disappeared in the pine woods on the opposite hill.

So, below are more photos from the walk:

Frosted plants in the village

Close up of a frost fern

Frost on one of the kissing gates along the path

Frost on a field

Sundazzle on Afon Dulas

Frozen surface of a pool near Afon Dulas

A F-15E banking as it passes over Corris

Frost on the roof opposite my studio, as I was writing this blog.

As always, I hope you enjoy this post and I welcome your comments.

Cofion Cynnes

Earl

Gwaith 7: Leaving Corris (8 Oct 2016)

Helo Pawb (Everyone)

Today I finished the first part of my residency. Last night, the Stiwdio Maelor crew, Veronica and her partner Mary and the three visiting artists, Catherine, Zoe and I, went to the Tafarn Dwynant (Dwynant = Welsh for 'two streams') for a farewell dinner. We forgot to take photos, but below is one of me from earlier in the week, taken at The Royal Ship (known locally as The Ship) in Dolgellau. Not all those glasses in front of me were mine.

Drinking at The Royal Ship

Given that it’s been three weeks since the last update about my progress, I thought this is an ideal moment

to sum up my experiences of my time in Corris.

Writing

Below are my writing achievements since leaving Australia:

Draft 3 of the novel: 30,556 words

Interdraft work (structural editing and conceptual re-jigging): 26,604 words

Blog posts and other writing: 4,217 words

Blog posts (including this one): 5

Haiku drafts: 20

Poem drafts: 3

Short story drafts: 1

Given my daily writing time is 3.9 hours and my average word count is 1589, I’m reasonably happy with my efforts, though I am hoping to do much more than this when I return for another 11 weeks at Stiwdio Maelor.

Language

Since arriving in Corris I have attended five Tuesday Welsh Discussion Group meetings at the Corris Institute and three formal classes with Bethan Gwanas at Coleg Meirio-Dwyfor in Dolgellau. I’ve had the occasional conversation in Welsh with shopkeepers, though usually I have had to resort to English after a couple of exchanges. There have been moments when my mind and tongue has responded with Welsh without my thinking about it, which is obviously a result of the immersion I am experiencing over here. Some people have actually noted how good my accent was, which has been pleasing to hear. I’m looking forward to continuing my Welsh practice when I return in November.

Landscape

After my lack of fitness was exposed in the first week when Freya, Yuki and I climbed Cadair Idris, I have been out walking two to three times a week. My muscles and lungs are slowly increasing in capacity, though I won’t know how well I’ve progressed till I climb something equally difficult during my travels in the next few weeks. As for my appreciation of the landscape, I have taken lots of photos and made plenty of notes about the colours and sounds of water, the textures of moss and grass, the colours of the trees as they start turning to autumn splendour, from dull brown to wild yellow to rust red.

Below are some photos of tree, river, mist and cloud.

Some of the woods near Dolgellau

The Afon Dulas, near Aberllefenni

View of the Corris valley, from high on the ridge behind the village

Clouds above the Corris valley

For those of you curious about the village of Corris, I’ve included some photos.

View of part of the surroundings of the village

Andy and Adam's store

Stiwdio Maelor during Helfa Gelf, with Freya out the front doing some writing.
(This was before the new paint job.)

The Slaters Arms and Stiwdio Maelor in purple.
(I'll post a better photo of the new paint job when I return to Corris.)

I left Corris late morning and, after a leisurely drive, with one wrong turn, I arrived at Ty Dderw Country Inn, my home for the next three nights.

Ty Dderw, showing the hedge lining the one side of the long path from the road

After settling in, I went for a walk, but more about this in my next post.

That’s it for now. As always, I welcome any comments.

Cofion Cynnes (Warm Regards)

Earl

Gwaith 3: Residency Update

Helo Pawb

Yesterday (Saturday, 17 Sep 16) marked two weeks I have been at my Stiwdio Maelor residency, so I thought it time to post an update on my various activities.

My major aims for my time in Wales are writing, language and landscape. ‘Writing’, obviously, means my dark ages novel, though that doesn’t mean I won’t respond to other prompts from the muse. ‘Language’, again just as obviously, refers to my attempts at learning Welsh and finding opportunities for practicing it. Finally, ‘landscape’ means my desire to observe and absorb as much of the Welsh landscape as I can, for my soul and for the book. These first two weeks, I would say, have been successful on all counts.

My studio (Stiwdio Chwech)

Writing

Since leaving Australia, I’ve averaged 3.5 hours of writing per day. This may not seem much, but it doesn’t take into account flight days and days spent staying with friends before my residency, as well my time on Helfa Gelf and traipsing the countryside. I want to build this to four to five hours per day, though when I finish this first five weeks of my residency and go travelling for five weeks, my average is bound to drop. Anyway, in my two weeks at Stiwdio Maelor I have managed to accomplish the following:

Interdraft work (structural editing and conceptual re-jigging): 19.971 words

Draft 3 of the novel: 1,428 words

Blog posts and other writing: 3,197 words

Blog posts (including this one): 3

Haiku drafts: 11

Poem drafts: 1

And, unexpectedly, short story drafts: 1

I am quite happy with this output, though of course my focus, now that I’ve essentially finished the Interdraft work, is on continuing the novel redrafting.

My working space

The view from my desk this morning

My Ancient Britain and Roman Britain maps

Language

Last year I went to hear Alan Garner talk about his work, which you can read about here. On the way there, I suddenly felt a little disconcerted, a little weird. I wasn’t sure why, then I realised I had entered England and let behind the dual-language signage of Wales.

Traffic lights in Corris, because of water works

In Welsh, the adjective comes after the noun

While I am still a long way from fluency, my brain is used to seeing and, to some degree, comprehending Welsh words and signs. Since my arrival at Maelor, I have been to the Tuesday Welsh Discussion Group at the Corris Institute twice and am starting a Welsh class in Dolgellau tomorrow (Monday, 19 Sep). And on Friday I will be attending a Noson Siarad Cymraeg, a night of talking Welsh. No Saesneg (English) allowed. I think I might be listening more than speaking. I have also been practising Duolingo Welsh, an online course, and listening to my downloaded Say Something In Welsh sound files. I’m hoping that I can have half-decent conversations with shopkeepers and people around Corris by the time I leave here.

Landscape

As my previous postings (here and here) can testify, I’ve been out and about in the Welsh landscape, even if my fitness level meant I haven’t quite been bounding through the land. In the two weeks I’ve been here I have had four walks in total and, once my knees recover from the Cadair Idris climb, I intend to walk three to four times a week, weather permitting. I feel quite at home in the landscape and become so absorbed in it that I sometimes forget to take notes of trees, bird sounds, colours of moss and stone for my book. I’ll manage better the more walks I do.

Below are photographs from a walk I took along Afon Dulas late in the day:

The start of the path along Afon Dulas. For some reason my camera was on a Soft Focus.

Night haze above the river

View downstream

That’s it for now. I hope your own works and days are going well. As always, I welcome any comments.

And more jackdaws, for those who remember my fascination with them last year. Photo was taken this morning.

The mist on the hills behind my bedroom

Cofion Cynnes

Earl

Cyfaredd 11: Farewell to Corris, With Thanks

Haia Pawb

Now that I will be heading back to Australia, I think it opportune to detail the benefits of my eight-week residency at Stiwdio Maelor. When I applied for the residency, I had hoped the time away from normal routines would dramatically help me with my dark ages project. It certainly did this, even if I didn’t achieve exactly what I had hoped.

As you may have gathered from previous posts, my achievements during this trip, like climbing mountains, don’t usually happen in the way I expect. Sometimes this has been because of a tendency to jump into a situation without given it the right level of planning. In regard to my novel, I thought eight weeks would be enough time to redraft the 100,000 words of the manuscript. That I didn’t achieve this was more to do with the over-estimation of my editing and rewriting pace than with a lack of foresight or planning. For example, I found myself spending the early period of the residency in an unexpected structural edit of the manuscript, before resuming the line editing.

Still, I'm happy with what I achieved during the residency, which I’ve listed below:

Fiction

Editing of previously redrafted novel chapters          =           11, 864 words

Writing/editing/re-writing of new chapters                 =          50,195 words

Notes and other interdraft materials                           =            21,077 words

(However, the novel is growing in size, to an estimated 150,000 words, so I still have a long way to go.)

Poetry

Number of old poem drafts completed           =          3

Number of new poems written                       =          2

Number of haiku drafts written                      =          25

Other

Number of blogs written         =          11

(So far. I'll write up the rest of the trip after my return to Australia.)

Blogs and other pieces            =          10,703 words

This is all very good for my writing goals, but the residency meant I could also explore other pertinent interests. Every few days I went for a walk, taking tons of photos and making notes about weather, trees, water flows, birds and flowers.

I also attended an Easter School in Welsh language, a weekly conversation group and, for several weeks, a formal class. This immersion in landscape and language I hoped would inform my writing: its rhythms and textures, its colours and contours, its character and story arcs. Certainly I feel more in touch with the mythic and spiritual aspects of the Land and know this will, at some point after I’ve processed my experiences, help authentic the tone and content of the novel.

I also received benefits I never expected, like stimulating conversations with fellow artists at Stiwdio Maelor, with neighbours, and with folk met at the pub next door and at the Welsh language sessions. Such conversations included the history of slate mining in the area and the foundation of the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), the nexus between language, landscape and worldview, the changes in the local landscape over the years, and the increasing friendliness of the village, possibly because of the influx of artisans and others with alternative ideas and careers. Some of these people have become friends, another bonus.

All in all, my experience at Stiwdio Maelor has enriched my work, my soul and my life. I would like to thank Veronica Calarco for accepting my application and for being such a hospitable, helpful and supportive studio manager, a wonderful conversationalist and a patient occasional Welsh language tutor. A residency at the studio is a fantastic opportunity for an artist to find the freedom, the headspace, to create new work, or edit old work, or explore ideas and techniques that may or may not result in any work but at least enhance the artist’s creative processes. For those wanting their work to flourish, put in an application and enjoy the experience and the results.

Thanks, also, to those who made my time in Corris fun, warm, informative, interesting and stimulating: Mary; Brian, his staff at The Slaters Arms, and the pub’s friendly patrons; Inge; Ellie and the Tuesday Welsh conversation group; the volunteer staff at the Corris Institute café; Jan at the Corris Post Office; Adam and Andy (best of luck with your new village venture); Adam and his son, Arthur; Lee Berwick, a fellow artist-in-residence; Martin and Beryl; and the many smiling, welcoming people of Corris I met in the street or during my walks around the village. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

So happy and productive was my experience in Corris that I have already promised I will return as soon as I can, maybe not for a residency but at least for a visit so I can catch up with everyone and introduce them to Jo, while showing her the village and the landscape around it.

Farewell drinks: Martin, Earl, Marilyn, Bill, Andrew, Simon
(from the Stiwdio Maelor Facebook page)

Till next time.

Cofion cynnes (Warm wishes)
Earl

PS. For those of you interested in applying for 2016, see here.