Get inspired: wonderful corkscrew curls

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Enjoy The Traveling Writer 

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By Norma Hopcraft

I'm working on a novel about an Egyptian Coptic set designer in New York City. In this next series of posts, I'd like to give you, dear reader, a window into my creative process. Hopefully it will inspire you too.

Eight years ago, while living in Brooklyn, I was on the lookout for an idea for a new novel and sensed I'd found it when I spotted a girl working in an Apple store in Manhattan. She had corkscrew curls. 

Photo by Rameez Remy on Unsplash

Imagine a head of hair comprising a thousand curls that had each been wrapped around a hot toothpick! 

The effect was stunning.

I knew this was the kernel of an idea for my next novel. It just needed a little fleshing out.

I wanted to talk with her, but she was intensely busy with customers, and I had to leave. But those curls stuck with me, and I regretted this thwarted chance.

A week later, on the way home by subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn, I sat next to a young woman with similar hair! We got to talking, and it turns out she was an Egyptian set designer and also a Coptic Christian. 

I got her contact info and interviewed her more about living in Cairo and about being in New York, being a set designer, being Coptic. She was so helpful. And my novel was born.

I also interviewed two Coptic pastors and several parishioners, who taught me so much about that tradition and about the food, the community, and what it's like to move from Cairo to make a new life in NYC.

I interviewed two dozen set designers, and the directors of three theater companies. I volunteered to work as a set painter in another company. 

Before I interviewed the theater people, I expected that I would meet over-inflated egos and people who fulfilled the stereotype of ridiculous actors. 

I chuckled to myself. I thought I would be able to poke fun at them in my novel.

What I met were fantastic human beings, so hardworking, so generous with their time, so knowledgeable about theater, so expressive about making art, so dedicated to the craft of storytelling--just like me. 

I was deeply impressed with every one of them.

Next time I'll tell you about the set designer I met recently, after seeing the show he designed. More soon!

What kernels of ideas have you had lately? Comment below!

How Travel Inspires Creativity

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Artists have known for millennia that travel can kindle creativity. Da Vinci traveled across Renaissance Italy and France. Mozart's father took him all over Europe as a child, exposing him to different ways of thinking and living. Writers have left home and gone to new lands to experience that sense of strangeness, what the French call depaysement: the feeling of being out of one's familiar country. It gives us heightened awareness and fuels our creativity. 

Before I bought a one-way ticket to Paris (one of the most thrilling things I've ever done), I was also understandably nervous about living abroad for a year or more. But I thought, "Well, it's a Western country, it won't be too different than here." 

Well, everything was different: the attitudes toward life, work, and family; the proportions of the houses; the paving on the streets; the types of trees along the roads; the design of pots and pans; even the color of the plastic wrap -- light green. 

It was a little scary to have my senses flooded with new sights, smells, tastes to adjust to for a long-term expat life in Paris. It was also tremendously exhilarating, and on that wave of joy (and homesickness), I wrote The Paris Writers Circle.

This past year, I visited friends in Paris and Cagnes-sur-Mer, between Cannes and Nice, where Renoir had his final home and studio.  As long as I was across the pond, I made the most of it by also stopping by Dublin on my way back to the States.

I gathered inspiration for my creativity from many scenes in Dublin, which I'm sharing below. More Dublin scenes can be enjoyed in this blog at this link.

Paris beauty here.

At Trinity College, I enjoyed the seagull perched on a statue of a former Provost.

This glorious arch is the gateway to Trinity College.

On the campus, I found the inspiration of a poem.

Does this give anyone the urge to knit a sweater?

It's like the background for an Irish movie set in Dublin.

The set for a nighttime film scene.

A bridge over the River Liffey that runs through Dublin. The blue of the twilight sky inspires me. 

How about you? What city have you been in, or what countryside, that inspires your creativity? Comment below!

How to find inspiration with the Book of Kells

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I went to Dublin on a pilgrimage to fulfill my lifelong heart's desire: to see the Book of Kells.

This 1,300-year-old treasure, one of the world's oldest books, is housed on the campus of Trinity College in Dublin. The book has its own building (with a gift shop, of course! I got a keychain and a calendar) not far from what's known as the Old Library, where it used to be stored.

My first stop on campus was to explore the Old Library. Being in any library is way to find inspiration. "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library," wrote Jorge Luis Borges in his "Poem of the Gifts" in 1958.

This is what's known as the Long Room, located in Trinity College's Old Library. The globe at the end is called Gaia, and it turns. It's made from photographs of Earth taken by astronauts from space.

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A staircase in the Long Room, plus a few of the books stored in this fabulous place.

The Book of Kells was made around 800 AD by Columban monks on the Isle of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. The monks left due to Viking attacks, taking the precious illuminated manuscript with them. Their boats could have been swamped at any time in the stormy seas and their lives and the treasure they carried lost. 

They landed on the coast of Ireland and moved inland to avoid the Vikings, taking the manuscript to the Abbey of Kells in County Meath. But the book was stolen. It was later recovered, but the jewels and gold leaf that had been on the cover had been stripped off and have never been recovered. The manuscript was buried at one time and recovered. Finally, in 1661, it was given to Trinity College in Dublin for safekeeping.

The book is only 10" x 13", so the work to illuminate corners and letters is incredibly fine.

I find inspiration in the artistry, the attention to detail. In writing a story, you have to have a big theme, and maybe some subthemes, but you must at the same time pay attention to the details. Did you say your character is wearing her hair in a braid? Then in the same scene her hair can't be flowing over her shoulders, unless you account for the change.

I've put books back on the shelf for this kind of carelessness, and I watch my own stories like a hawk for these errors.  

To help you find inspiration, here are a few photographs of details from the Book of Kells.

Here's a detail, magnified. I'm highly enamored of the dots.

This detail is in the corner of the page, to give you a sense of the incredibly fine work 

the monk illustrators did.

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Another detail, more delightful dots.

One final photo (with my camera making a shadow) that shows the loving, incredible work the illustrators did.

To find inspiration in more posts, see my post about the beautiful St. Chapelle in Paris and glorious, ancient libraries in Paris.

How about you? Do you find inspiration in this kind of art? Have you been to see the Book of Kells? Is it on your bucket list? 

What is on your bucket list, anyway? Comment below!

A Pause for Beauty and Creativity in Paris

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By Norma Hopcraft

I urge you to take a moment to bathe in stained glass beauty. 

The walls of St. Chapelle in Paris are mostly made of glass! It's an architectural feat by the French who pulled this off in 1248. 

If the wall isn't made of glass, it's stenciled with all kinds of designs in gilt paint (a detailed photo below).

Saint Chapelle is breathtaking. 

What places, either man-made or in nature, have you been in that you thought were exquisite? Please comment below and share it with all of us so we can explore it too!

Now I'll let you enjoy St. Chapelle in peace:

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What places, either man-made or in nature, have you been in that you thought were exquisite? Please comment below and share it with all of us so we can explore it too!

Adirondack High

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By Norma Hopcraft

The scent of a foot of new-fallen snow. Just pause for a moment and imagine it. Take a relaxing break to think about "woodsbathing" (Japanese term) in a forest with every twig dusted by white powder.

Please do come with me now to enjoy the cross-country skiing I did over New Year's.

I was there for four nights, during which we got 16 inches of snow. One morning it was 6 degrees when I got up, with a "feels like" temperature of -1.

But the pristine snow was beautiful!! The woods were beautiful!! 

I was in the Tughill area of the Adirondacks, in a ski lodge called Osceola XC Ski. Kristin and Tom are the excellent hosts, and they're crazy about winter. Good thing, because there's lots of it here.

Blue-eyed Barrow

He's one of Kristin's two Euro Hounds. These dogs are bred to pull sleds mid-distances (30-300 miles in a day). They are a blend of husky, German short hair pointer and saluki. Kristin says she has yet to truly tire them out, but I can testify: they are on the run ALL day.

Barrow went out with me on my first try at snow-shoeing. He would gallop way ahead, turn, and wait. He'd disappear around a curve, and I'd think, I've lost him. But when I got around the curve, there he was! Then he'd dash past me, heading toward the lodge. I thought he was abandoning me in favor of checking to see if there was kibble in his bowl yet. But no, back he would come, galloping at top speed. Then stop, turn, and wait. He stuck with me the whole time I was out, except when we were once again in sight of the lodge. I was very glad to have his company my first unsteady time on snowshoes.

He and his half-brother Slate followed other skiers too, every day, all day. They did not stop for one moment. More pics of the Euro Hounds below.

Me, heading out onto the groomed trails.

The wind would toss the tops of the 40-foot-tall Christmas trees and snow would slip to the next lower branch, and the next -- a mini avalanche of pure powder! Beautiful. Would have filmed it for you but I never knew when it would happen. 

Despite day-after-day below-freezing temperatures, this stream was still running, cutting a path through the drifts.

We got a lot of snow.

My athletic sister, a twinkle-toes on skis.

I highly recommend this place -- rustic, with friendly, helpful hosts. You can rent or buy skis and snowshoes, boots and poles, with personal guidance from Kristin. 

Just one of the beautiful trails.

Left a Mohawk on this big car, where I couldn't reach.

This is how folks who live in the Adirondacks get around in winter. Snowmobiles parked outside the self-styled "World Famous Osceola Hotel."

Tom grooming the trails with Slate and Barrow supervising.

They do rest, but they don't really NEED to rest.

Be sure to see the short video of the two black dogs frolicking with each other on pure white snow, below.

Getting home was easy. The roads are thoroughly sanded after every snowfall -- it must be like Jones Beach around here in summer. I was able to easily drive home to Rochester. Don't let fear of the roads stop you from XC ski! 

This poem explains winter in the Adirondacks beautifully. It crossed my path by pure serendipity. I would credit the writer if I knew his or her name:

And one last glimpse of Slate and Barrow:

 

Seven tips for greater creativity in the New Year

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By Norma Hopcraft 

Take some basic steps toward exercising your native creativity in 2026.

The first step is to realize that you ARE creative -- every human has to be in order to 1) survive and 2) thrive. Give yourself credit for the coping mechanisms you've developed, and for the cooking, workplace strategies, fun childcare, homemaking, garage organizing you've done. You ARE creative!

Be open to the idea that in art, you can't do anything wrong. Even something that you'd like to label a mistake can be worked in to make something better. 

Cultivate a mindset of readiness to be delighted. This could be with people you see every day -- you feel like you know them, but be open and ready to be amazed. And inspired.

Is surfing in a storm creative? Say why or why not below! Was my sister creative to capture this moment? You betcha! Watching for serendipities counts.

Take an awe walk. Be open to being awestruck by clouds, trees, sky. This practice has been studied and found to be effective in alleviating pain and depression, if practiced regularly. It will lift your mood for creativity too.

Strike up conversations with strangers, if you don't already. Chat about the weather and listen for a quirky comment -- then ask a polite follow up question. Get ready to laugh, or disagree quietly, but we all have much in common that can be explored.

Then do some sitzplatz: that's German for stay in one place (I call it "butt in chair") long enough to apply some paint to canvas, get some words on paper, pick out a woodworking project. Some people stride around as they paint, but they stay near the project they're working on.

Set a goal for what you want to work on in 2026, then make some room to do sitzplatz every day, even if only for a short while. Best if it's at the same time every day. That way, your muse will know what time to meet with you.

Please comment below with your goals and plans. What will you be working on in 2026? I'd be delighted to learn from you and encourage you!

Dublin, Paris, the Irish and the French

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By Norma Hopcraft

Dublin was just okay after the beautiful architecture of Paris. Dublin was gritty and reminded me of NYC. 

But the Dubliners are so nice! I stepped off the bus from the airport, completely disoriented, not knowing which way was which. I asked an older gentleman to point the way to the street I needed. "Let me help you, pet," he said with a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous smile. He got me oriented and then said, "You just go like t'at, and you'll be fine, love!" 

So kind and charming, the Irish! No other stranger could get away with calling me "pet" and "love"!

I was at Dublin Castle and asked the man at the information desk, "Where's the Beatty Museum," which is on the same large grounds. He was a little Irish man leaning on a cane. 

“If you’d like, I’ll show you the secret door so you don’t have to go all the way around,” he said in a marvelous brogue.

“I love secret doors in castles!” I said.

I found on this trip that I was liking the Irish but not Dublin that much -- scooters and bikes whizzed in every direction, stepping off the curb was to risk your life, buses coughed by constantly, and the architecture just wasn't beautiful like it is in Paris.

A young French guy was handing out headsets at Christ Church Dublin. He said he likes Dublin better than Paris.

“Why?”

"It’s vibrant. There’s music everywhere. And the people are so nice.” 

Yes, whereas the Parisians are so glum, I admit it. Complaining is a national sport in France. But the buildings in Paris are far more pleasing to the eye than the gritty thoroughfares of Dublin. 

I have the answer: Let’s take the cheery Irish on another one of their diasporas (America, Australia, the Caribbean), only this time we'll ask the Parisians to leave and put the Irish in their place. 

Voilà! The perfect city! 

Compare for yourself:

The Louvre and the Seine by moonlight.

The Musée D'Orsay and -- guess what?

L'Institute de la France.  Can a city be this beautiful?

Now for Dublin:

The bell tower of Trinity College. Not bad.

The Dublin riverfront at the River Liffey.

The riverfront in late evening.

Looks like the set for an Irish movie.

What do you think? Which city would you prefer, and why? Comment below!