Field Notes #1
Stop sign in Joshua Tree, California. Photo: Tanya Clarke 2022
The first in a new series on the exciting contents of my notebooks! In this one there are old names, words and phrases from My Little Book of Names.
There’s a metaphor that's been floating around in my mind. Something about ideas and notebooks and mind-maps and driving. My thoughts collect around the notebooks I have, especially the tiny A6-sized ones I keep in my bag.
I think about driving and the necessity of road knowledge. Keep to the right side of the road (or the left). Always stop at a STOP sign. Anticipate the traffic light ahead. And when you're at an unmarked junction, proceed with caution. This (I think) makes a neat metaphor for writing. To communicate an idea there are necessary pieces of knowledge to know in whichever language is yours. We first learn how to make the phonetic sounds of letters and words, how to say the alphabet and how to hold a pen and write those words.
Finally, we learn how to connect those words through spelling and grammar and one day write a story.
Be Consistent
A small pile of notebooks sit on my desk containing pages filled with my scrawling handwriting: odd snippets of overheard conversation, things I've noticed, and images I've found compelling. But one thing seems to elude me. Consistency. My youngest daughter talks about consistency. She has a very successful TikTok fashion account. Her advice is always: Be consistent. If you can only post once a week, post once a week. But always. Be consistent.
I think about the tiny A6 notebook languishing sadly at the bottom of my bag with only a pen for company. I think about consistency. For me, a free-flowing carefree attitude to my creative efforts usually results in a big fat zero. Nothing happens. A bit like my clothes I dislike anything too flowy. It only gets caught in a door.
In an effort to make more notes, to notice more things to note, I need to be consistent. To help with this - and give me something else to blog about - I will take you on a journey through each one of my tiny notebooks. Welcome to my Field Notes.
My Little Book of Names
This is not a baby name book. Far from it. Unless you're looking for names like Pistol, Crimple or Maude. This is a notebook I started back in May 2020. I know this because there it is written on the first page. Below, in a mix of capital letters and lowercase are words and names written - mostly - in my favourite ink colour, violet.
Many of these words and names are from watching Downton Abbey. They sound distinctly old, English and heavily influenced by the British class system.
Contents
I turn the page and see a hastily written phrase: "Don't be defeatist dear. It's very middle-class." - Dowager Violet
I see a HOBBLEDEHOY, a BROUHAHA and the phrase: NEVER MISTAKE A WISH FOR A CERTAINTY.
There's an ETHEL, a SIOBHAN and a ROSAMUND and another note: IN THE ROAD - TWO QUIET MEN.
I find an AUDREY TEMPLE, a GLORIA WALTER and the helpful remark: SYMPATHY BUTTER'S NO PARSNIPS.
There's FIT AS A FLEA, TAKE-A-NUMBER FRANCINE and THE TOOTHPASTE'S OUT OF THE TUBE.
Another quote: "It felt so surreal. I felt like someone was standing on my chest." Dr Bonnie Henry
On another page, a list of names: SARAH SNOOK, PAGET BREWSTER, PISTOL BLACK. GUY'S BISCUIT BARN, SHYLOCK and ANNIE WALKER. The page ends with a warning: IT'S A DANGEROUS WORLD. DRIVE TO SURVIVE.
There's more: a FLAILING NOODLE (my daughter about ballet), EVA GRAY and a BUTTER-VOICED BEAU (Moira from Schitt's Creek).
And more names: AMBROSE, LOWELL, AGATHA and MAUDE.
Then I find SAINT MARGUERITE - an adventurous 17th-century nun who set up schools in wilderness Quebec. I pause for a moment here. Residential schools? I move on.
I find an ALBERTINE, a MAEBELLE and a CRIMPLE BECK. Crimple Beck. What a name! That could be a family right there; white settlers with French ancestry. I want to know about them. Maybe I need to write another story!
It's a joyful read and I'm surprised. I hadn’t expected in a few small pages to find so much. It occurs to me how much I write down and then never read back. I need to open up the map. Find where the stop signs and traffic lights are. Find a new direction.
Until next time.
