Book review: "Magpies, Squirrels and Thieves..."

“Magpies, Squirrels & Thieves: How the Victorians Collected the World” by Jacqueline Yallop

As someone who is utterly fascinated by the Victorian Era, I’m not one for passing on a book that’ll educate and entertain on that aforementioned topic. Now I bought this book several years ago in Aberystwyth, but I, for several reasons, never got around to read it, until now. And I am very glad that I finally did.

The book starts out with describing the Victorians and their relationship with collecting in general and then uses that as a jumping-off point for looking closer into a handful of specific collectors.

The collectors in question are: John Charles Robinson, Charlotte Schreiber, Joseph Mayer, Murray Mark and Stephen Wootton Bushell. Each of them representing a different archetype of collector, each of them highlighting the good and the bad of Victorian England and the roles they fulfilled and each of them not only watching but influencing the history happening around them.

“…the Victorians continued to debate the ways in which art might influence their lives…making space for objects in their homes because they liked them there and because their desire for lovely things seemed irrepressible.”

Yallop’s writing is very dynamic and engaging, making the reader really get to know and like her selection of collectors. At the same time she manages to weave in other topics like racism, gender inequality and greed, just to name a few. And she does this seamlessly without taking the reader out of the moment or lose the focus on the collector in question.

And while at the surface she appears to focus on some specific players on the collecting scene, her narrative also manages to tell the story of collecting as a business and a hobby, and of how museums came to be as we know them today. All this information is never presented in a boring or “slow moving” way making the book a rather quick read.

“Clubs and galleries and organizations brought collectors together across Britain and Europe, but collecting in the mid-nineteenth century was as much about competition as about cooperation.”

I thoroughly recommend this book if you’re interested in history or the Victorian Era specifically, not only will you learn a lot reading it, but you’ll also go on quite the ride with her cast of different collectors and maybe you’ll even catch the collecting-bug yourself.

Hope you enjoyed this little review, and I’ll see you in the next one :)

Come on a Walk with Me!

So! The world changed. Now let me assure you that I’m not here to reiterate statistics, world news or dwelling in everything that is currently bringing stress and anxiety into our lives, instead I wanna give you a window into some of my thoughts regarding self-care and routine as well as taking you on a walk with me.

In the last month or two I have seen my own personal everyday and weekly routine thrown out the window. Not only have my regular pastimes ceased to be a part of my life, but my social life has become a thing of the Internet and phone-calls. To put it mildly I’m bored! I am bored and craving social interactions face to face! But with all this extra time on my hands I surely have gotten a lot done in the last month? Passion projects? Hobbies I usually don’t have or make time for? No. For the longest time I’ve gotten absolutely nothing done. Fortunately that has now changed.

I am personally of the belief that in order to solve a problem one must first diagnose the root cause of said problem. And for me the lack of productivity appears to come from my fear of meeting my own expectations.
It is a problem that I have encountered many times throughout my life, especially in regards to school. Every little task becomes a giant project and every aspect of it has to be done absolutely perfectly, and should it be anything less than perfect I have failed. This was the mindset that had presented itself once again and it quickly became a self-feeding downward spiral: the less I got done, the more ashamed I became of myself, the more I felt defeated and even more projects and chores were pushed aside because clearly I was not perfect enough to get them done perfectly.
This sounds quite dramatic I know, but that was my mindset. However! With the problem diagnosed a solution could now be crafted!

First things first: a basic routine was needed to restore my energy and give me a sense of normalcy. And I do mean a very basic routine, so do not expect anything fancy.
For me a basic routine includes a time to get up, a time by which I have showered and gotten dressed, times set out for the three main meals of the day, a walk, a time by which the most basic everyday chores have been done (making the bed, cleaning the dishes etc.) and last but not least bedtime. I sat down with one of my way too many notebooks and plotted it out ignoring passion projects and other things I felt that I should be doing and just kept everything to the bare minimum. And though I have not been perfect in sticking exactly to that baseline of a routine every single day (Yes, I stayed in bed watching kpop music videos to 10am before I got up!) It has so far been quite the success.
Second part in beating the Perfection Monster included me making a list of everything I not only want to get done this month, but also what I absolutely need to get done before May rolls around. That list came out to be 24 bullet points and looking quite intimidating, but still it gave me the overview I needed. Lastly I needed a set of tools to get it done, or at least mostly done by the end of April.
Enter Camp NaNiWriMo! If you’re unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo it’s basically the challenge to write 50.000 words in a month during November every year, and during Camp which happens in both April and July you get to set your own goal. So I logged on to their web page and created a project called “Get Shit Done Month” and pretended that my tracker was minutes instead of words. I set my goal to 2.700 minutes averaging out to 90 minutes a day.
With a list of projects and chores, a tracker and some good old fashioned motivation I have been dealing with the Perfection Monster and winning! I have not spent 90 minutes everyday, but every little thing helps and being able to cross off things as I get them done is very satisfying, not to mention that I’ve promised myself a pair of new pantyhose from Pamela Mann should I manage to cross off the entire list.

And speaking of rewards I just wanna take a moment to talk about the difference of self care and self indulgence before I leave you and walk home.
During the time of loosing my routine and being paralyzed with anxiety the one thing I practiced was self indulgence. I deserved it right? I felt so bad and I couldn’t get anything done, the least I could do was being kind to myself. Yes and no. When not kept in check self indulgence quickly becomes sloth and gluttony, and instead of being kind to oneself one ends up making the situation worse and halting any progress that can be made. Do not get me wrong, self indulgence can be good for you in small doses, but the most important thing you can do for yourself is self care.
Self care covers everything from showering and eating healthily, to having a spa-day and watching your favourite movie. It is what lays the foundation to build your mental and physical health upon, and the reason for me working out a basic everyday routine before even attempting working on everything I wanted and needed to get done. Having a regular sleeping and eating schedule, making sure I get some fresh air and basic exercise everyday and keep myself and my home clean and tidy gives me the energy, again mentally and physically, to achieve what I want not only these days, but during other more normal times as well.

And with that it’s time for me to get back home. I hope you enjoyed this little walk with me. Stay kind to yourself, to others and be responsible and levelheaded.

And I’ll see you in the next one.

Music I Listen to while I Write

Like most people who write I enjoy having on some music at a low volume to one; help me concentrate and two; keep me in the story’s atmosphere.
I personally prefer listening to albums rather than a mixed playlists, because with an album the artists usually invoke the same themes and sounds. There’s an overall arch that a playlist, no matter how well balanced and themed, just lacks. So below I have listed some of my favourite albums to listen to during writing sessions (incidentally they also just happen to be some of my all-time favourite albums and bands, so I’d highly recommend giving them a listen even if you’re not looking for music to write to).

“My New Time”, “Altitude” and “Stacked Smoke” by Autumn
The vast majority of my writing features Gothic themes and Autumn is a band that, at least for me, create an atmosphere that transports me into those stories. However, being a very particular creature, the Gothic setting that I’m brought to with their music is always a post 1920s setting. For an album that takes me to a Victorian Gothic setting look no further than to the next album below!

“Opheliac” by Emilie Autumn
This album works as a two for one type deal. It, as mentioned above, brings me into a Victorian Gothic setting, but it also helps me with invoking a more decadent and mad scene, still very much with either Gothic over- or undertones. I have an affinity for the Gothic Mad Woman, and this album perfectly embodies those themes.

“Violet” and “Walking With Strangers” by The Birthday Massacre
Now these two albums are the only ones on the list that do not take me into a Gothic mood. The atmosphere that these albums draw me into is still dark, still “horror” and definitely modern. But at the same time there is also a childlike glee to them, the song “Lover’s End” especially has that particular creepy-kid factor.

“Dark Adrenaline” by Lacuna Coil
This album brings me back into the Gothic, but keeps the modern setting for me. And since this album is also on the heavier side it is also my preferred soundtrack for when I write more action oriented scenes.

“Century Child” by Nightwish
This album takes me into the mindset of a Gothic fairytale. While the other albums on this list have had a strong sense of modernity to them this album is the only one that takes my thoughts back to a, very romanticized, medieval setting. It is also the only album on here that takes me from an industrial setting into a nature one. The overall puppet theme of the songs also helps to create a dark and creepy setting.

So that was my list! I hope you will check these albums and bands out for yourself, even if you’re not interested in writing with a soundtrack or even writing at all. Have a nice day and I’ll see you in the next one.
Bye!

I’m Back! (and a New Year’s Resolution)

Well it’s definitely been a while! I’ve been wanting to return to this blog for quite some time now, but it took a fabulous lady at the Always Burning event I attended on the 15th of February to provide the last butt-kick I needed.

The blog has gotten a bit of a revamp, and I’ve tried to modify the posting schedule to a somewhat less ambitious level (that’ll hopefully fit me a lot better) and I’m going to take my time trying to find my “voice” in this medium.

Since my last post I’ve gotten older, wiser and more comfortable in my own skin, and I’m hoping that that will shine through in the posts as well as my commitment to make this a regular thing for me to work on.

With the re-introduction out of the way it is now time to venture into the first (proper) post of 2020!

New Year’s Resolution

Usually I’m not one to make one or more of these, because quite frankly I never keep them. There are several reasons for this, but mainly it comes down to me having a goal without a plan to actually reach it. However this year a resolution has been made!
And what part of my life am I going to improve on? Well, since I’m not a smoker there’s nothing to quit, and considering that I’m in decent shape there’s nothing new to start up. What I want to do instead is bring something back into my life that I lost a few years ago: my habit of reading several books during a month.

When I was a fledgling teen I used to read all the time and consume book after book, and I loved it. It greatly enriched my life and provided inspiration for all my various creative endeavors, and I miss that. The lack of reading has become quite severe within the last few years and I’m at a point now where I almost feel left behind.
Another thing that truly bothers me is my inability to talk to my friends about books, because on one hand I can only contribute with books I’ve read years ago, and on the other hand I’m incapable of talking with them about the books they’ve read.
But no more!

This is the year where I’ll bring an old habit back to life. And that’s the key word: habit.
While I am going to track the amount of books I’ll read this year, I do not have a set goal for the amount, or kinds of, books that I’m going to read. This is about building up a habit of reading on a regular, or even just a semi-regular, basis.
Simply put; I won’t be reading any books in 2020 if I do not make time for it. And so, how’s it going so far two months in?
In my personal opinion it’s going rather well. So far I have finished one book, and I’ve begun on another. What I still need to work on is making time for and prioritizing reading over browsing the Internet.
WI-FI is most definitely my main downfall. I often find myself going to YouTube, Netflix and many other sites where I’ll then proceed to dive down a rabbit hole. A rabbit hole that’s almost impossible to get back out off.

In order to combat this I’ve tried to do the old “reading before bed” - routine, but unfortunately there are many evenings where I’m just too tired to concentrate on reading, so even though I have gotten some extra pages turned it’s not enough for what I’m trying to do.
Another thing I’ve done is turning off the devices that connects to the WI-FI which have produced much more reading time. One thing that has really helped me in that tactic is my old iPod: while it connects perfectly well to my laptop, it has no way of connecting to the Internet on its own. Not having to go online for music prevents any temptation to start browsing.
The second method has so far proved to be my favorite one when making time for reading, I just have to get better at actually doing it. So I guess that’s going to be the next step.

Fingers crossed that I manage to make my resolution a reality, and I’ll see you all in the next one!
Bye!