I do hope you are all getting some of this lovely Easter sunshine? It is a tranquil day on the island and we are back on mains power so life returns to normal. I had a little count up yesterday and found that I had received over 100 messages of support from blog followers in the period that the power was off. I knew I was getting quite a few each day but I had no idea that the total was that high. That is very humbling and I am so very grateful. Inside most messages were some common questions that people seem to have about my little life on Arran so I thought it might be useful to try and answer some of them. I have tried to reply to each and every message but I am aware the replies have been a bit short so this might help strike a better balance. I am always happy to answer questions and you can email me via my facebook page anytime. These questions aren't in any particular order and I have written about some of these topics before but this puts it all in one place. Let's start with the big one -
What did you do before you moved to the Isle of Arran?
I initially trained as a primary teacher with a specialism in dance and PE and I taught in London for a couple of years before moving to Hampshire to teach in a middle school. I also took my masters degree in education at that time.
I then began working for what was King Alfred's College (now the University of Winchester) as a lecturer in education and human movement. I then worked my way up the university ladder until I was a Principal lecturer and Chair of Quality. .
Why did you leave that career behind?
I think I had taken the job as far as I wanted to go. My immediate boss had resigned his post and I was applying as a natuural successor but I realised that just because I 'could' do the job that didn't mean I 'wanted' to do the job. I was incredibly committed to the job but I was spending a huge amount of time away from the family. By now I had four children. I just decided enough was enough and that if I didn't make the break in my 30s I would be stuck in that sector until I retired. I also felt that I wanted a different life for my children.
Why Arran?
My parents moved there when I went to university. They bought the smallholding and my father ran a free range egg business. Prior to this he new nothing about how to run that sort of business. I am very like my father! He loved a challenge and so do I.
We have visited the island forever and it seemed to offer the 'different' lifestyle we were searching for.
Why home school?
I could write an essay on that but the short answer is that I was not convinced the education system in this country could develop a passion for learning in my children. The National Curriculum was, in my view, ill conceived and over assessed. It didn't represent quality learning and, if I am honest, I thought we could do better. Harry and George didn't like school so we offered them an alternative and they took it. Max joined in as well despite being only 3 at the time and Molly joined in some time later. I don't believe home school is right for every child but it was right for our family. It is a lot of hard work and it can be very testing but it is also the most rewarding thing I have ever done.
How does your smallholding make any money?
This is a really good question. You firstly have to understand that it is not always about making money. It is often about saving money. We do make money from the smallholding and continually invent new ways to ensure that it offers an income. We grow and sell potted herbs and cut flowers and we have recently added willow to that list. But it is in the value added where the money is really made. I dry herbs and use them to make herbal crafts that I sell locally. We used to sell to over 100 shops nationwide but we scaled it back when the recession hit and diversified into new areas. I sell direct to the public where I can as the profit margin is higher. I also run horticultural and creative courses from the smallholding.
We save money by growing alot of our own veggies and we are just about to welcome a new brood of chickens. Pete works for two local shops part time and I, of course, write. Living on Arran is like that. You have to be prepared to do lots of different things to make it work. I also still do some consultancy which is a throw back to my old life.
How important is your faith?
Very. I became a Buddhist a while back but have been a student of the religion for many years. My faith helps me understand people and that is really important to me. Buddhism has helped me make sense of the world and the circle of life and death. It is my daily prop. I meditate every day and I would be lost without it.
This is the most asked question.....
How do you fit it all in?
I would say that I do sleep incase any of you think I don't. I am a quick worker and always have been but my strategy is about making connections. I plan each day with tasks that are connected. That might include a session with the boys on their spring journal followed by a couple of hours in the polytunnel. The two tasks take me outside and while I am out there I do other quick things as I can. I take the connections strategy into my virtual world as I use social media a lot to make connections with other people and share information, ideas and opportunities. I keep moving and only sit down in the evening but even then I have my beloved ipad with me and I use that time to research. I research everything within an inch of its life! I am fortunate that I can take in new information quickly.
Why did you start this blog challenge?
I have been writing for a couple of years now. Two years ago I entered a competition where you had to write something every day for 30 days. It was a real test. It was a complicated competition but the end result was a winning piece. It was all run online and it had over 2000 of us writing everyday. You do the maths on how many pieces of writing that was. The point of this story is two-fold. Firstly, it taught me the discipline of writing every day and secondly I won the bloody thing! It was a piece I wrote about a dance performance I had been involved in many years earlier. The focus of the dance was a re-writing of the character Eurydice. The article was a re-telling of that tale. Winning was one thing but the feeback from the judges was something else entirely. They all encouraged me to take a couple of years to develop my emerging writing voice and to embark on more creative pieces. I have followed their advice but struggled to write every day. Then I came across the work of Julia Cameron and 'Morning Pages'. You need to click on the link to see what that is all about but the work I did with that project got me writing daily again. The blog is really an extension of that.
What next?
I could never have imagined that this little blog about my little life with get up and walk about all by itself. It has done just that and in doing so managed to crack open some interesting doors and now I am writing more than ever. I have commissions to write pieces for orgnaisations and individuals and I am also researching a couple of articles to pitch to wider publishers. In the last couple of years I have entered a few more competitions and been placed in most of them but I don't have time for them now.
If the question relates to the blog the answer is I am not sure. There are themes emerging that I might develop into chapters for a book. I also want to write my first ebook called 'Postcards from Arran' which introduces readers to the people and places that make Arran so special. I have been promising a book devoted to home schooling for years and I hope to complete that by the end of 2014.
Are you writing a novel?
Yes, first chapter written and chapters all planned. I love it but I am biased. It is a tale for a modern world and I think it has a place. The problem is that writing it is proving impossible. I need to really focus on that type of writing and my family life doesn't allow for that at the moment. I need to find somewhere to retreat to and get on with it.
Will this blog finish on 31st December?
Not sure.....is supposed to but it rarely does what it is told.
I hope that I have answered the most common questions. I do love to hear from readers as it gives the blog a dialogue and that is one of the main reasons for starting this challenge. I now have open dialogues with so many more people and that is just wonderful. Last night we crashed through 5000 page views and my review of Angela Elliott Walker's art had over 200 page views alone. I am thrilled about that because work like that ought to be out there.
I don't really consider this blog as belonging to me anymore and I am not sure it ever did. It has taken occupation of a space in the virtual world and who knows where it will go next. Bless it!
Until tomorrow xx
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