Filling the Research Bank

This week I have been playing truant - both from the 'day job' and the re-drafts for Riviera book 2. I spent two days at a conference celebrating the Collingwood Archive, and I had a very good time. One of the pluses of  the 'day job' is the occasional arrival of information on interesting events - this was one of  them. It had nothing to do with either the PhD or even a back burner book - please stop whispering 'procrastination' at the back - but it caught my attention and it was about archives, and you know how I am about archives.

This particular archive is lodged with Cardiff University and the conference was to celebrate the work that has been done to open it up for use. The collection comprises private papers, diaries, correspondence, books and art work of WG Collingwood and his family and there is clearly some fascinating stuff there that will keep PhD students in clover for some time. W G Collingwood was a writer, an artist, an academic and a lot of other things besides.The word polymath got bandied about quite a bit, and the rest of the family were also extremely talented. I had never come across the name before, but my attention was attracted by the connection to John Ruskin,  the art critic associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, and with Arthur Ransome, the author of Swallows and Amazons, who were both friends of the family. Now I know a little and look forward to finding out more in the future.

So - why was it not procrastination? Well first I enjoyed it, and enjoyment is not to be sneezed at. Also I think that doing something outside your area of knowledge refreshes the brain - and mine can always do with that, but the main reason I wanted to go was the idea of pre-emptive research - of looking at something interesting that might one day be useful for a future book.

Writers' curiosity. Taking the opportunity to explore something new and unknown. In my case it is always likely to be something academic, or possibly associated with travel, but every writer will be different. Curiosity and taking opportunities when they offer is one of the tools in the box that don't get talked about too often, but it's something to keep in mind. You never know where the next book might come from.

And I have to tell you, it worked. It has given me ideas. None of them will be a book in the near future, or possibly in the far future either, but I know they will sit quietly percolating and one day something is likely to emerge.

Getting my research in first as it were. Before I know what it might be used for.

When I find out, I'll let you know.