This is the first post from my new home in a small riverside village in Essex. We moved from our over large, ancient home in acres of woodland to a small modern house surrounded by other houses and with a courtyard garden. On the plus side I'm five minutes from a bus stop and a station and there are plenty of shops as well.
I don't want to be back in the old house - too cold - too far from shops and creature comforts and far too much needed doing to it - but it still feels as if I'm living in a smart holiday home. Even with all (well half - most of my books and kitchen stuff are in the garage) my things around me I don't feel as if I belong here.
It has been over four weeks since I wrote anything new and this is a real worry. I'm doing edits/blurbs - answering e-mails and so on but have yet to put on my headset and start writing.
I've got as far as opening a couple of files, even tweaked what was there, but nothing fresh is forthcoming.
I wonder if any of you have experienced the same thing after moving house? How long does it take to settle in and take ownership of a new place?
It's a strange new year for me -but with three books coming out with Aurora -the Regency branch of Aspen Mountain Press - I've a lot to look forward to.
I hope everyone has a successful and prosperous 2011.
best wishes
Fenella Miller
5 comments:
I haven't moved house for years but I remember how how disorientating moving can be - especially as you've moved to a very different sort of house in a very different location.
I suspect that you need some mental and emotional replenishing after the upheaval of moving. You need to put down some roots - literally. Plant some spring bulbs in your courtyard garden and get to know your new territory.
Buy an Ordnance Survey map and go exploring. Who knows, there may be some great stories out there just waiting to be discovered!
Don't worry too much, Fenella. It will pass. I wish you the very best of luck for 2011.
My problem isn't quite the same as yours, but rather a matter of finding the peace and quiet to write creatively; but I think I will try your solution of headphones and perhaps you can try my solution of trying to make certain that you write at least one "new and original" sentence a day.
I find that most days I can do more, but the idea of just one a day is not so daunting--even when the world is crowding in on me--but it allows me the freedom to walk away if I find that I simply cannot do more.
Good luck and much happiness to you in your new home.
Teresa
Thanks for the words of wisdom, Elizabeth and Teresa. After writng my post I opened the file and this time managed 600 words!!
You are quite right - it takes time to adjust to new surroundings. Four weeks isn't long - I'll stop feeling so stressed an enjoy the changes.
We moved in June, from a home we'd lived in for 22 years. After living in the 'burbs for 26 years, we moved to a "new urban" setting, to a condo situated above retail. For the longest time, my husband and I felt as if we were staying at a hotel, or otherwise on a trip, that this was not our home. But after we set up our offices, arranged the living area and kitchen, hung our paintings, and lived with it all for a few months, it began to seem like home. I too was concerned about my writing, after leaving what I'd fixed as the perfect writing space in our home. But gradually, my new space seems more and more comfortable, and I find I'm able to get to work as easily as I did before. You will too, with time!
Pam, It's so good to hear that other writers have felt the same way as me. I'm delighted to say I'm working again - I agree it does feel like a smart hotel rather than my home. But it's only four and a half weeks - by the spring I expect I'll be much more settled.
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