We Interrupt This Program

Gripped as you no doubt are by the post nuptial assessment series, I must interrupt it to bring you a W.A.S on my W.I.P. Or in words less acronymonic (new word I just invented), I want to update you on the progress of what will hopefully be my fifth novel, Lovesick. I have now completed 15 chapters and am working on chapter 16. 

I have also made a lot of progress with organisation. Lovesick is being put together in the same haphazard way that Loathe Your Neighbor was which means I need to spend a lot of time concentrating on the timeline. However, I just write chapters as they come to mind. If I have to figure out later how the chapters fit together so be it. I don't have preconceived ideas how about to put my novels together, I just write.

Post Nuptial Assessment Part 4

Curzon Hall on Agincourt Road in Marsfield, Sydney was built in 1898 by businessman Harry Smith and named after his wife Isabella Curzon-Smith. Designed by David Thomas Morrow, it is a large castle-like manor in neo-Romanesque style (for the architecturally inclined) which is now a function centre, and was last Saturday the magnificent setting for my cousin's wedding reception. This beautiful old building actually hosted three other weddings that night, and it is clear from the moment you drive into the wonderfully manicured garden surrounds why it is so popular as a wedding venue.

The Smith family lived at Curzon Hall until 1921. Following its short life as a family home, it was a Catholic seminary for 60 years, and then commenced its current incarnation as a wedding/function centre. It reeks of class, history and money. One look at the superbly crafted high ceilings tells you everything.

Weddings are big business requiring huge investments of time and money, but the emotional investment far exceeds the hours and the dollars. Marriage is a lifelong commitment which forms the cornerstone of society and therefore requires more than the husband and wife alone can provide. It is unsurprising that with around half of all marriages ending in divorce, society is commensurately impoverished. Sad but true.

Nevertheless, the ideal of marriage remains something to which most people aspire. We lament those unions which fail, but we never let go of the dream of lifelong love and happiness. That's why I love weddings because they best represent the pillars of humanity: faith, hope and love.

Curzon Hall

Post Nuptial Assessment Part 3

A harpist (if that's what you call a person who plays a harp) played John Legend's All of Me during the signing of the registers at my cousin's wedding. 

A small team of photographers skittered around inside the chapel, and at the end of the service, as the bridge and groom were leaving, their leader stood up on the mezzanine and had the whole congregation pose for an aerial view group shot. 

The priest loudly whispered instructions to the wedding party, and also the wedding vows for the bride and groom to repeat. There was no sermon but Father 'I didn't catch his name' talked to the congregation like a kindly grandfather would talk to his grandchildren, and he made me smile.

As Maria said, 'these are a few of my favourite things.' 

It was a very relaxed ceremony, although the groom's face at the beginning where a storm of emotion twisted his face, and the bride's inability to remember lines just given to her by the priest might have suggested otherwise

Not for a moment during the service did I want to be anywhere else. I consider, in hindsight, the bride and groom and how they might have been thinking about 'getting through the day' rather than savouring every second of it. I hope the latter was true for them. It makes me wonder how often we miss the full enjoyment of now because of wishing we were somewhere else. Either anticipation or dread, or simply a desire not to be present, steals chunks of our lives which we cannot have again. What a waste. What a shame.

Photo source:

http://www.easyweddings.com.au/articles/indian-wedding-music/  

Post Nuptial assessment part 2

The thrum of excitement swells and abates rhythmically as family and friends await the bride. The groom stands with his best man and groomsmen, at the front of the church, facing the door at the back, through which will soon parade the woman with whom he has chosen to spend the rest of life.

He smiles and jokes with the men who stand with him. The bride is always late, and although somewhat of a tradition, it is the source of some anxiety for the groom. Keen anticipation monsters his emotions as he stands and waits. The bride is busy: she's moving, coming towards him. She's anxious too because she knows he's waiting. She doesn't want to keep him waiting. He would wait forever but she would never ask him to do that. More than passion, a deferential and reverential love has brought them to this place. They are crazy about each other and everyone in the church hopes that they always will be, even though they know they won't.

To last, love must be strong, self sacrificing and reciprocal. It must have the strength to persist when the madness and obsessiveness of being 'in love' fades or dies. No one who comes to the altar and makes their vows realizes how much marriage will require of them. They know nothing of the agony and ecstasy which lies ahead. They are not ready. No one is truly ready for that.

May God bless all those who make the commitment. May He give them the strength they need to find lasting happiness and peace in marriage. The risk may be great but the rewards are greater.

Post Nuptial Assessment

I love weddings. I love them because they make me feel warm and fuzzy, representing as they do the highest ideals of faith, hope and love. I also love them because they are all different. Each ceremony and reception reflects the individual taste, style and personalities of both the bride and the groom.

My cousin got married yesterday, so this evening - not this morning because it was a long day and a late night - I am beginning a mini series of philosophical musings inspired by the joining of Scott and Anastasia in holy matrimony.

The ceremony took place at Holy Name of Mary church at Hunters Hill in Sydney. The beautiful old Roman Catholic edifice was adorned with blue plastic and scaffolding for the occasion which although disappointing, ignited my cogitation with regard to appearances. Once inside the church, and surround by spiritual and elegant artistry, and the heavenly sounds of a harp, I forgot all about the blue plastic and scaffolding. Once I saw and appreciated the beauty inside the chapel, I forgot all about its dishevelled exterior.

Furthermore, I considered the assembly of family and friends, all dressed in their finest clothes, sitting uncomfortably on hard wooden pews: conversation bubbling with anticipation, and perhaps reflecting on the occasion through the lenses of their own relational circumstances. Among them the single, the engaged, the married, the divorced, the separated, the widowed. As many stories beneath the veneer of smiling faces and sophisticated apparel, as there were people. Happy stories. Sad stories. Tragic stories. Tales which undoubtedly coloured their emotional involvement and enjoyment of the occasion. Cynics and dreamers, believers and unbelievers, all gathered in God's house. Fascinating.

Here's you first chance to share your wedding stories: good or bad, sick or healthy, rich or poor. I'd love to hear from you.

Photo source:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/robertcrosby/2012/05/marriage-and-revelation-what-john-remembered/

I'm back in business

A thousand words yesterday afternoon, and another five hundred this morning. The words flow, and I am back in business. Feels good to be moving again. Feels good to be imagining characters and situations, inventing drama, creating conflict. I am a writer.

Ready

Due to a number of factors, only some of which were beyond my control, I have not done any creative writing for many weeks. I miss it, and I'm ready to resume. I've decided to forge ahead with my ten chapter old WIP. For you precious few readers of Square Pegs, here is a scoop: the title of my next book, the aforementioned WIP is Lovesick.

Stay tuned for progress updates. Also, I'm looking for some beta readers, so if you have the time and the inclination, please let me know.