Unexpected inspiration
This morning, at 7:48 a.m., my cellphone beeped to announce a text. I saw that it was from MrD's childminder and thought: Uh-oh. It turned out she'd woken up sick, so of course she couldn't look after MrD this morning after all. I spent the next half hour silently bewailing the fact that Patrick and I had lost the big three-hour writing session we'd had planned for today. Wah! Change of schedule. Wah! Loss of progress in my lovely book. Wahhh - oh, wait.
Patrick had a really good idea. He'd found out about this very beautiful, private piece of ancient woodland within the Forest of Dean: Puzzlewood, which has been used by the BBC to film lots of (literally) magical woodland scenes in Merlin and in Doctor Who. There's also an associated petting farm for kids. Put together, it sounded like a perfect family trip.
Well, I thought, it really was too bad that we weren't going to get any writing done today, but since we couldn't do what we really wanted, that sounded like a pretty good consolation plan.
I was so, so wrong. It wasn't just a good consolation plan. It was The Coolest Morning Ever...and yes, it really was a hundred times better than the writing session we'd had planned.
As we paid our entrance fee, I'd spotted a sign that read: "Many believe Puzzlewood was the inspiration for the fabled forests of Middle Earth". Ha, I thought. Nice tourist line, but really...
Then I stepped into the Puzzlewood, and OMG. I was in Fangorn Forest.
I have no idea whether JRR Tolkien really found his inspiration in the Puzzlewood - my guess is that he built his woods from all the different woodlands he visited over the years - but I can honestly say that I have NEVER been in any woodland that felt so magical and so resonant of Fangorn Forest in my life...and I would have immediately thought "Fangorn" even if I hadn't seen that tourist sign. It really, truly felt like walking into Middle Earth.
And oh, was it inspirational for me! From the moment that we walked in, I was buzzing with excitement and an incredible feeling of bubbling creativity just waiting to be let out. The atmosphere was so - oh, I know I keep repeating the word "magical", but really, it was inescapable. Walking through the Puzzlewood, past its weird rock formations and cliffs covered by emerald-green moss, its ancient trees towering over us in the weird green half-light you only find in forests...it reminded me all over again of why I am a fantasy writer.
We were there as a family, and everyone in the family loved it. If we had let him, MrD would have stayed all day to scramble up the rocks and crunch through the leaves. I loved watching his joy - getting to experience the Puzzlewood with him made it a thousand times more rich and vivid than it would have been on my own.
But at the same time, I also kept wishing I had thought to bring a notebook - because it would be a perfect place to sit and write. And I really, really want to set a story there now.
On our way out, we stopped back at the ticket office and upgraded our tickets to annual passes, so we can go back as often as we want. I hope that we'll be doing that a LOT...and even though we missed today's writing session, I know that tomorrow's will be better because we went to the Puzzlewood today.
What about you guys? Where do you go when you want to fill up the creative well and get inspired?
***
ETA: You can find more photos of the Puzzlewood, including pics of MrD, on Patrick's blog.
Patrick had a really good idea. He'd found out about this very beautiful, private piece of ancient woodland within the Forest of Dean: Puzzlewood, which has been used by the BBC to film lots of (literally) magical woodland scenes in Merlin and in Doctor Who. There's also an associated petting farm for kids. Put together, it sounded like a perfect family trip.
Well, I thought, it really was too bad that we weren't going to get any writing done today, but since we couldn't do what we really wanted, that sounded like a pretty good consolation plan.
I was so, so wrong. It wasn't just a good consolation plan. It was The Coolest Morning Ever...and yes, it really was a hundred times better than the writing session we'd had planned.
As we paid our entrance fee, I'd spotted a sign that read: "Many believe Puzzlewood was the inspiration for the fabled forests of Middle Earth". Ha, I thought. Nice tourist line, but really...
Then I stepped into the Puzzlewood, and OMG. I was in Fangorn Forest.
I have no idea whether JRR Tolkien really found his inspiration in the Puzzlewood - my guess is that he built his woods from all the different woodlands he visited over the years - but I can honestly say that I have NEVER been in any woodland that felt so magical and so resonant of Fangorn Forest in my life...and I would have immediately thought "Fangorn" even if I hadn't seen that tourist sign. It really, truly felt like walking into Middle Earth.
And oh, was it inspirational for me! From the moment that we walked in, I was buzzing with excitement and an incredible feeling of bubbling creativity just waiting to be let out. The atmosphere was so - oh, I know I keep repeating the word "magical", but really, it was inescapable. Walking through the Puzzlewood, past its weird rock formations and cliffs covered by emerald-green moss, its ancient trees towering over us in the weird green half-light you only find in forests...it reminded me all over again of why I am a fantasy writer.
We were there as a family, and everyone in the family loved it. If we had let him, MrD would have stayed all day to scramble up the rocks and crunch through the leaves. I loved watching his joy - getting to experience the Puzzlewood with him made it a thousand times more rich and vivid than it would have been on my own.
But at the same time, I also kept wishing I had thought to bring a notebook - because it would be a perfect place to sit and write. And I really, really want to set a story there now.
On our way out, we stopped back at the ticket office and upgraded our tickets to annual passes, so we can go back as often as we want. I hope that we'll be doing that a LOT...and even though we missed today's writing session, I know that tomorrow's will be better because we went to the Puzzlewood today.
What about you guys? Where do you go when you want to fill up the creative well and get inspired?
***
ETA: You can find more photos of the Puzzlewood, including pics of MrD, on Patrick's blog.