Have you read my wonderful quote from AS Byatt's 'Still Life', which I have posted elsewhere in the blogosphere? It's all about woolgathering and I love it:
" She remembered from what now seemed the astonishing free and spacious days of her education the phenomenon of the first day's work on a task. One had to peel one's mind from its run of preoccupations: coffee to buy, am I in love, the yellow dress needs mending, Tim is unhappy, what is wrong with Marcus, how shall I live my life? It took time before the task in hand seemed possible, and more before it came to life, and more still before it became imperative and obsessive.
There had to be a time before thought, a wool-gathering time when nothing happened, a time of yawning, of wandering eyes and feet, of reluctance to do what would finally become delightful and energetic. Threads of thought had to rise and be gathered and catch on other threads of old thought, from some unused memory store."
I too am a wool gatherer of some note, though I like to do a bit of knitting between times.
And it takes time to kill the Angel in the house. They don't just lie down, it takes effort and time to fight them... (and that includes doing practically nothing while you gather the strength)
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Trying to think of something witty and failing. It must be Monday. Or perhaps coming down off reading the latest Val McDermid. I'll blame that.
ReplyDeleteCan't finish a thesis without knitting... lots... I call it thinking time but maybe I'll change that the woolgathering. Hmmmm...
ReplyDeleteHave you read my wonderful quote from AS Byatt's 'Still Life', which I have posted elsewhere in the blogosphere? It's all about woolgathering and I love it:
ReplyDelete" She remembered from what now seemed the astonishing free and spacious days of her education the phenomenon of the first day's work on a task. One had to peel one's mind from its run of preoccupations: coffee to buy, am I in love, the yellow dress needs mending, Tim is unhappy, what is wrong with Marcus, how shall I live my life? It took time before the task in hand seemed possible, and more before it came to life, and more still before it became imperative and obsessive.
There had to be a time before thought, a wool-gathering time when nothing happened, a time of yawning, of wandering eyes and feet, of reluctance to do what would finally become delightful and energetic. Threads of thought had to rise and be gathered and catch on other threads of old thought, from some unused memory store."
I too am a wool gatherer of some note, though I like to do a bit of knitting between times.
"A Room Of One's Own, and five hundred pounds per annum" ...
ReplyDeleteAnd it takes time to kill the Angel in the house. They don't just lie down, it takes effort and time to fight them... (and that includes doing practically nothing while you gather the strength)
ReplyDelete