Me reading this out loud: I might have known I was asking for it by deciding to write a novel called Everything Will Swallow You: that, in doing so, I would be giving it an invite to lock me between its teeth, roll me around on its inflamed tongue, gulp me down, then regurgitate me and gob me out onto the muddy ground, before repeating the process all over again. I am by no means registering a complaint: when you’re as far into your writing career as I am, when you have spent as many years training yourself to dive deep off high cliffs into a fictional universe, a project like this is probably the wildest ride available to you without the help of Class A drugs. Not that I’d know from personal experience: at the point of my life when I would have have been most likely to try some of those, I was in the unusual position, by the standards of my music journalist breed, of being perfectly content with a few pints of beer and a boogie to some the funkiest offerings from Motown and Stax circa 1970.
"There’s the same sense of tapping into a mystical rhythm, of letting some nameless part of me take over, following the beat of something in the air that I can’t see, the same enthusiasm for attempting new moves, the same awareness of the potential for falling over as I do, the same strange, earned trust that I won’t and that, if I do, I’ll soon be back upright again and in the groove."
I've been making art (especially painting) for the majority of my life and I've never quite been able to put into words that feeling of being overtaken by the spirit of whatever the canvas and the paint have to say. I also write, and your words about a universe in your head are spot on for how it feels to constantly have characters talking themselves into existence in the back of your mind or jotting down phrases for chapters or dialogue. Way to be incredibly introspective and eloquent! And way to make me choke on my tea when I opened this article at my desk at work to see the Giant, lol.
luv it, tom! thank you. the trance. i know what you mean. i love to be in it. but it's consuming, too. like a hot fire. and your winged frank! here's my ballad to the crow that occasionally visits my yard: https://xxmusic.bandcamp.com/track/mr-mo-the-crow
No such thing as getting lost, just exploring a new place . Love it that the Cerne Abbas giant could be a Muse. Love Waylands Smithy and the Uffington horse or dragon and the Long Man … so many chalks all over Britain. Good walking!
I read this edition when you first published it, then I went back and listened to it today. I know I’ve said it several times, but I love the audio on your posts and your audiobooks very much. I also wanted to tell you that, like your crow, we have a demanding squirrel named George who knows where our bedroom window is and loves to chitter outside until I get up, go outside and fill the bird feeder. I’m not kidding.
What a pleasant surprise to see a photograph of the Cerne Abbas Giant gracing the head of a post here. I used to live in the village, could see the giant from my study if I chose to, and will be heading back there in a couple of weeks for an event about dating the giant through astronomy as part of the Cerne Giant Festival. Thanks for the reminder Tom.
A really great description of being 'in' a fictional world but living and moving around in the real one as well; I recognise it well and it's exhilarating, as you say, but a weird and tiring way to live for too long at a time.
You are lucky to get your cues from places near to where you live. I have just been on a 'research' trip to Paris for my novel about the Surrealists and having to give in to these strange promptings as well as have a holiday with my husband was, to say the least, demanding.
But your writing style, Tom! I would read anything you write and find it interesting. You have such a strong, unique voice and I guess all that journalism in your past was the road towards it.
I think I would like reading more about your walks. Yes, please write something about Frank the crow.
Sorry, you’re not allowed to read the rest. You’ll have to wait until next March
- alas the fickle finger of fate depounces my appleat and i say 😁 good chap - how much is that book?
Tom - you are looking mighty spry for 77. What is your secret my good man? Does all that cavorting with farm animals keep you young?
"There’s the same sense of tapping into a mystical rhythm, of letting some nameless part of me take over, following the beat of something in the air that I can’t see, the same enthusiasm for attempting new moves, the same awareness of the potential for falling over as I do, the same strange, earned trust that I won’t and that, if I do, I’ll soon be back upright again and in the groove."
I've been making art (especially painting) for the majority of my life and I've never quite been able to put into words that feeling of being overtaken by the spirit of whatever the canvas and the paint have to say. I also write, and your words about a universe in your head are spot on for how it feels to constantly have characters talking themselves into existence in the back of your mind or jotting down phrases for chapters or dialogue. Way to be incredibly introspective and eloquent! And way to make me choke on my tea when I opened this article at my desk at work to see the Giant, lol.
Well I’m a fan.
Just purchased 4 of your books. Looking fwd to the summer reads!
luv it, tom! thank you. the trance. i know what you mean. i love to be in it. but it's consuming, too. like a hot fire. and your winged frank! here's my ballad to the crow that occasionally visits my yard: https://xxmusic.bandcamp.com/track/mr-mo-the-crow
No such thing as getting lost, just exploring a new place . Love it that the Cerne Abbas giant could be a Muse. Love Waylands Smithy and the Uffington horse or dragon and the Long Man … so many chalks all over Britain. Good walking!
Hi Tom,
Are you reading this yourself?
………it’s very good.
The reason I ask is, I would like to read my own work. However, I think it might sound fuckin awful.
Cheers.
I read this edition when you first published it, then I went back and listened to it today. I know I’ve said it several times, but I love the audio on your posts and your audiobooks very much. I also wanted to tell you that, like your crow, we have a demanding squirrel named George who knows where our bedroom window is and loves to chitter outside until I get up, go outside and fill the bird feeder. I’m not kidding.
What a pleasant surprise to see a photograph of the Cerne Abbas Giant gracing the head of a post here. I used to live in the village, could see the giant from my study if I chose to, and will be heading back there in a couple of weeks for an event about dating the giant through astronomy as part of the Cerne Giant Festival. Thanks for the reminder Tom.
A really great description of being 'in' a fictional world but living and moving around in the real one as well; I recognise it well and it's exhilarating, as you say, but a weird and tiring way to live for too long at a time.
You are lucky to get your cues from places near to where you live. I have just been on a 'research' trip to Paris for my novel about the Surrealists and having to give in to these strange promptings as well as have a holiday with my husband was, to say the least, demanding.
But your writing style, Tom! I would read anything you write and find it interesting. You have such a strong, unique voice and I guess all that journalism in your past was the road towards it.
And now I am the one who's rambling!
Another fan from New Zealand, who loves the English countryside.
A delightful, bizarre, droll world you occupy! Thank you for inviting us in!
I wonder where the 40 subscribers went and what they are doing, nervously?
An entertaining read. "BY GOLLY!" is an expression I imagine you do not use very often, especially not at 3.15am.