Refreshing the Wells 11

My weekend was very social, with trivia, laughter, wine, cheese, Argentinian Salted Beef, more laughter, conversation, a fete or two and more. Lots of human interraction, which is a good way to refresh most things.

I’m not well today (not connected to the wine, let’s be clear) and so I will be tapping into dreams. Letting my subconcious have a go at all that data.

Here’s Thoraiya Dyer:

“I refresh by going to new places. Or wilderness, which always changes, so it’s always new.

I’ve been to Merewether Beach thousands of times, but I’ve only ever once seen a blue-ringed octopus, only once walked on the crunchy corpses of ankle-deep dead beetles and only once seen a lost fur seal. Sometimes there’s eroded cliffs, naked rocks, whale bones and broken surfboards, and sometimes there’s smooth, Sahara-like swathes of golden sand gently sloping down the the sea.

Last time I was there, I put my bare foot in a green ant’s nest. Today I have a short story I really like about genetically modified ants.

But even though I write a lot about animals, it’s not always about stealing the actual things I see. Characters should be like Merewether Beach. When people are content, they’re all smooth and golden, but insert a powerful storm to find out what sharp or broken things are underneath, that’s what fiction can be about “