My Google Alert for ‘The Mary Shelley Game’ has alerted me to a play in London based on the life of Mary Shelley. I would love to go, but — flying to London to see a play is not on the agenda right now. Too many things to do and too many bills to pay, but I’m not complaining. It’s gotten me thinking about the pace of life when Mary Shelley lived and wrote her masterpiece.
It was a much slower time.
Visiting friends in the country meant staying for weeks on end and traveling to town meant days on the road, stopping at inns and dining in roadside taverns. Between those in-person visits, friendships would be nurtured with long letters. It sounds relaxing until I realize that my fingers would itch for ye ‘old keyboard and the iPhone that keeps me connected even when my head is busy in fiction-land.
Still, I’d like to visit that time — with a pace slow enough for contemplation — I could write and write and write. I’d have an entire nest of monsters. Of course they’d be in my illegible handwriting, so I’m best in the 21st century. I’ve just finished another draft of the second monster — Bram Stoker’s Summer Sublet — happily pounding away on my Mac.
-grins- whenever I get nostalgic for bygone days I remind myself that I’d probably be the parlour maid rather than the lady of the house so my life would be a daily grind of emptying chamber pots, sweeping out the hearth, waxing floors on hands and knees and generally working my butt off.
However if you hanker for serenity just move out of NYC into the fringe somewhere. Waking up to clean air and birdsong instead of traffic noise and pollution is very good for the soul. And my muse likes it too 😀
Glad to hear your muse is gainfully employed. I won’t say hurry up coz I know you’re a perfectionist just… type faster? lol
The cosmic joke is that I’m a completely CITY person. A few days in the countryside is pleasant and then I’m hankering to get back. Last summer, when I was in Berlin (another great city) I wrote a fantasy story about waking up in another time and, yes, the character finds that she’s the cook — not the lady. LOL…
lmao – so not the hausfrau. Well, that may not be such a bad thing as some of them could be a bit dumpy 😀
I’ve been a city girl for most of my life but now I find it hard to go into ‘the city’. Mind you our cities are more like your suburbs with miles and miles and miles of individual houses and gardens and a very small city centre that might be like your Manhattan. We’re starting to get apartments being developed in the city centre but for most people they are still temporary accommodation until they can afford to buy or rent a house. Horses for courses 🙂
Many cities in the U.S. are suburban mixes, but New York is a city/city. In some ways it’s more like a European city than a U.S. city — walking, lots of public transport, owning a car is a hardship with parking fees (like having another rent to pay), etc. One of my friends is a serious horse woman and she mourned the closing of the last stable in Manhattan. Of course she goes out to Long Island — a short train ride away — to ride. And when beach weather starts, I’ll be taking the same train to the beaches. Knowing that the beach is a train ride away is a good thing. Knowing that I can walk to just about everything else — even better. LOL…
P.S. Absolutely love the snippets of your much more rural life in the Meek’s blog!
I haven’t been to NYC but yes, it does sound very European. I imagine it would be something like Paris, especially with that great gothic style Cathedral [I’ve seen pics] you have and the subway. I lived in Paris for about six months so I can relate to being able to walk everywhere or taking the metro. I believe NYC is also very cosmopolitan. I’d love to visit one day but home will always be this little semi rural backwater. Glad you like seeing how the other half live 😀 I’m a terrible photographer but I’ll try to post some pictures of the beasts and of the ‘backyard’ some time soon.
I’d love to see photos of your local beasts!