The Big Shrewsbury Editing Trip - Part 4

Day 4 - Tuesday 7th April - More walking, more editing, and an unseasonal roasting!

The benefit of early morning walks is something I’ve really begun to discover this year. As part of managing the misery (and I mean misery) of perimenopause is having a consistent wake up time, which for me effectively means that I am able to just go straight to sleep at night, instead of lying in my bed, tossing and turning, with my brain nattering away to itself.

I’ve stuck with this (and many other strategies) since the beginning of January, managing an annual step count of around 12,000 a day so far this year.

It’s not the way I usually operate, but after three months of continuously adding little changes into my life - 2L of water a day, cutting down a lot on sugar, no alcohol, more exercise, consistent wake up times, and a plethora of HRT and supplements, I’m teetering on the brink of feeling sort of normal(ish!).

I took a lengthy walk before breakfast, which took me along the towpath that runs along the River Severn.

It was another sunny morning, and I took advantage of the weather, taking lots of photos, while listening to my podcast of choice - Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place. She was speaking to Jimmy Carr, who came across as so much nicer than his stand up comedy would have you believe.

There was one window which had a series of casts of hands effectively sticking two fingers up to the people passing by. I love the humour of simple acts like that.

Black Forest Breakfast

After my lunch with my friend yesterday, I wanted to go back to The Cat’s Pyjamas for breakfast, as I had been tempted by their Black Forest Granola. I have to say it was delicious, albeit a lot sweeter than I had expected, so I won’t be having it again.

I was looking forward to today’s day of writing, as I planned to get into Shrewsbury Library. It’s a wonderful old building, and I know from previous visits that they have seats overlooking the castle on the upper floor, and I wrote many passages from ‘Charlotte - The Lady in White’ there.

Since my last visit, there have been a few additions to the library, including a shop selling work by local creators and a seat commemorating the centenary of the WW1 Armistice, which is dedicated to Wilfred Owen, and features artworks depicting Owen and another soldier. I am always delighted to see that he is still being remembered in an active way in the places he came from, as well as elsewhere.

Unfortunately, my favourite spot in the library was already taken by the time I reached the library and I took a table on the ground floor. That’s always the downside of doing a trip during school holidays!

The atmosphere was studious though and it was really nice to work on my writing surrounded by other people who were working quietly on their own projects.

From the point of view of the writing, I did a lot more rewriting and adding text, than I edited existing text. I only edited five pages of the manuscript, but I added about 5 handwritten pages, which have added colour and sensory description to the first flashback in the story, and have resolved one of the plot related issues which has to be tied up in the later part of the story. This was a huge development, as it is the plot related issues that need so much more thought than simple edits or enriching the language.

The other challenge I face with elements of the novel is the emotional component. The nature of the story is quite upsetting in places, as it is written from Charlotte’s own perspective. As a writer, this means inhabiting her experiences to a certain extent, in order to express how she might have felt. Yesterday’s extract involved describing the decline of her health and witnessing the emotions of her family, as they come to terms with her imminent death. It took a lot out of me, so I needed to take a break.

I went off for a walk around town and popped into Shrewsbury Market, which has been voted 'Britain's Best Market' on many occasions.

I had some lunch in a lovely cafe called The Birds Nest in Shrewsbury Market. I remember writing there on a previous visit, and being struck by the fact that they used Marmite jars to store the cutlery. Sadly, the Marmite jars are no more, but they have giant Heinz baked bean tins as lamp shades, which is still an interesting idea.

I had a nice African sweet potato soup and hummus with flatbreads and cucumber, which was a lot more filling than it looked.

After that, I went for another walk. By now, the temperature had gone from ‘normal for April’ to ‘roasting in August’. I was wearing two jumpers, jeans, and knee high Doc Martens, so even when I took the jumpers off, I could feel my calves and feet boiling. I decided to head back to the hotel and cool down for a bit.

After a cup of tea and a 20 minute lie down on my lovely, cold sheets, I changed into my gym gear and headed to Anytime Fitness, who gave me a day pass for £8. I did an upper body workout and felt much better for it, although by the time I had finished there, I was ravenous, so I finally took myself to the fish and chip shop I had had my eye on since I got here. The cod and chips was really good - crispy batter, juicy fish, and perfect chips. I was very happy with that. By now though, I had walked over 23,000 steps, so I headed back to the hotel, where I did a little more editing, and then rested up for the evening.