walking, thinking and writing

And not to forget talking to one's self. Before embarking on a writing task, and certainly all the way through the activity, my head is usually full of ideas and thoughts and I'm frequently in conversation with myself. There is often the misperception that writing is merely a pyschomotor skill. You sit down at your desk, in front of your computer and 'write'. For me I can't disconnect or untangle thinking from writing. I have to think about my writing before I write. Ordering my thoughts, ideas, argument. I always remember saying to my students, that when writing an essay you have to also allocate time for thinking. For processing your thoughts and working out how to deal with the essay question and all the readings and discussions about the readings. Thinking is as important to essay writing, as writing the essay.

my walking route, just outside the Stefan's flat

For me, walking alone can act as a trigger to stimulate my thinking, especially when I'm at the start or smack in the middle of a writing task. I don't know what it is about walking that takes me, almost automatically, to this space, but it does. I'm lucky at the moment, that I can take walks whenever I want and that I can walk in the most calming and serene settings. I haven't always had this luxury. My self-talk is probably most active when I'm out on a walk. I often wonder if the people passing me, might think that I'm 'not all-there' as I openly talk silently to myself - mouthing words, posing questions, gesturing and tracing words in the air. What do I care - this is all part of the process for me, and at the moment I'm very grateful I can experience it in its fullest expression.

fika in Sweden

This morning I said goodbye to my Uppsala University colleagues at the Division for Teaching and Learning. We had a fika. A slightly special, goodbye fika, but nonetheless very typically of what fika means in Sweden. Coffee and informal conversation.

This goodbye fika signals that my 'formal' time at Uppsala University has come to an end, and I'm on the 'home stretch'. Each day I get closer to the end of my sabbatical. But currently, I'm not thinking too much of my return to 'work'. I'm in a very good space - so far  the sabbatical has done what it was intended to do: Give me the chance to clear my head, try and focus on what I want to do next and of course, write, write and write. 

Cycling in Uppsala

I fell off my bike yesterday, not five-minutes after reflecting on my 'cycling capital' and recounting friends I know who also fell off their bikes and as a result needed plastic surgery. Luckily for me, I don't need plastic surgery - I came away with some bruises, scraps and a sore shoulder.

 Blåsenhus Building. 

the cocoa cha chi replacement

I'm not very good on a bike. I'm stiff and rigid. I can't handle going down hills and nervously approach traffic lights where I have to stop. Also I'm slow. So very slow. All manner of other cyclist whiz past me, the very young and the very old. They all seem so much more confident and adept at what they are doing, while my legs feel like I'm asking them to climb Mount Everest. But I'm in Uppsala and people (everyone!) cycles here. I want to fit in, so I cycle. To work, at the Blåsenhus, or to the city and my new favourite coffee shop.
But I cycle on the wrong side of the cycling lane, I'm nervous about the cycling traffic, I jump traffic lights and I'm not very gracious when I get off the bike. Cycling is not as good for me as walking, because when I walk, I think; I process my thoughts, I talk to myself, I look around and take in the sights and I make sense of my thinking. When I cycle I'm just concentrating on how not to fall off the bike. But this is what I'm going to do for the next three months. I'm going to cycle - maybe I'll continue to be slow, so what. But I'm going to start wearing a helmet. Need to protect my head.

Visiting academic: Uppsala University, Sweden

It's 8:30am, it's 3 degrees and I'm on a bike cycling. First day in my Visiting Academic position at the division for Teaching and Learning at Uppsala University.

The view from my desk for the next two months might look a bit bleak at the moment, with leafless trees, but I have a desk, and internet access and a door pass, and free tea and fruit and a lovely open staff lounge area. I've met several of my 'new' Uppsala University colleagues, who joined in on a short informal chat in the lounge area. Very welcoming. Hopefully I will attend their current 'Academic Teacher Training' course which they run about six/seven times a term and I've been asked to do a short little input at their informal seminar sessions. Overwise I will be allowed to get on and write at my neat little desk, with just a glimpse of Uppsala castle in the distance through the window.

Uppsala Castle - the pinkish circular building behind the leafless tree

thinking retreat in Uppsala

I've been in Sweden for just under a week. My visit was meant, amongst other things, to serve as a little writing retreat. I was hoping to refine the article I'm working on after getting some feedback on it last week. But things haven't really worked out as I hoped. I haven't done much writing. The process has been slow and I've been distracted with completing unrelated administrative 'stuff' linked to my day-job. But I have done a lot of thinking. I've had the time to mull over my ideas, do some supplemental reading, question the logic of my arguments. Think about how to say things differently. So I guess all is not lost. Oh, and I've made good progress in getting through series 1 & 2 of OITNB.