trust the hidden process
early sketches and scribbles
Hello and happy Thursday!
Every Thursday morning I get up early and go sit in a cafe to write this newsletter. I eat a scone with jam and cream. I have a cup of something hot. I am never entirely sure if the woman working in the cafe likes me or not. Today I had a small victory because when I left she said, “have a good one,” which has never happened before, although when I asked for some more hot water in my teapot, she said absolutely nothing. The jury remains out.
Today I’m continuing my story of How and Why I Started Writing Geology Songs, and I talk a little bit about how the process is often hidden away from us in the moment.
After the life-crisis-inducing conversation I'd had and the subsequent come-to-JesusGeology moment, life picked up quite a bit. In a project that was half-fuelled by inspiration and half-fuelled by spite (let’s be real here), I started to write a song every day, with the aim of writing one for 100 days. Who’s wasting years of their life NOW!?
And so 100 Tiny Songs was born. Alongside my daily geology 101 lectures I was also writing these miniature songs, all less than a minute long, simple and silly on purpose. The aim of the game was to have fun, loosen up my songwriting, and do more of what I was good at: writing little songs that made people smile.
Happily, my daily habit of geology lectures and tiny songs began to merge, creating songs like this:
Other geologic tiny songs included carbon dating, metamorphism, Yellowstone, Juan de Fuca, U-shaped valleys, meteors and the Natural History Museum (one of my favourites). Me and my mum still sing "sediment! monument!" every so often.
Whilst I was writing songs I was also making little visuals to go alongside them. I was drawing in my lecture notes, making little sketches, trying things out in paint and pencil.
Everything I did during this period was experimentation and research for the album I’ve written now, although at the time I didn’t know that that’s what I was doing. I hadn’t really thought about writing an album of songs about geology, I definitely hadn’t written any full-length songs on the subject yet. All I knew was that I was really interested in it, and I was enjoying it.
Even though all these tiny songs were sketches and none of them made the cut to the geology album, it was during this process that I started to uncover some themes which linked geology to life as a human being: memory, nostalgia, growing up, repetition, fear and faith.
You know when you look back, you can see the path you were on, and read it with complete clarity? I guess it’s like looking at a landform and saying “well, these mountains were always going to exist because of a chain reaction of very specific tectonic events” and then you put your hands on your hips and feel very smart with yourself because you have Explained The World. Geology is a science that uncovers mysteries, but also acknowledges that there is still an entire universe of things still to be figured out. The world is full of mysterious processes below its surface. In life, as well as in science, some things can be predicted and other things can’t be, and the process may not look like the finished result at all.
It was going to be a year (a year!) before I even thought about writing my first full-length song about geology. In that time between I released my first EP which was three sad-ish songs about love and… standing at a train station, or whatever. I played a really cool show. I got played on BBC Radio Scotland. I started doing things which made me feel like I was not wasting time.
In the back of my mind, somewhere, I was putting it all together. The process was happening, deep down.
It’s still National Poetry Month and I am still writing poetry… nationally. My favourite one from this week was an imaginary multiple-choice personality quiz:
WHICH KNIGHT OF THE ROUND TABLE ARE YOU? QUESTION 5
Which of these roadside attractions excite you?
A) The Divine Boar Museum
B) Infinite Sword Pool
C) World’s Largest Woodpigeon
D) The Future Birthplace of Your Traitorous Son
E) Gate to the Otherworld
F) Large Bundle of Ferns
G) Hermit Cave of Interpretive Dreams
H) Courtly Love Grotto
I) The Banishment of Satan and Rewriting of Your Intended Destiny Souvenir Shop
You can read all the poems I’m writing this month on my Instagram!
I hope you have a good weekend, I’m gonna leave you now with a song I blasted in my kitchen last night whilst wilting kale. Because, rock and roll. The song is great, the kale left a bit to be desired. Greta Van Fleet is one of those bands which I would really like to see live one day, because I know they will be face-melting.
I think for this track you’ve got to be driving into the sunset after just having finished an important life-arc (like finally learning to wilt kale correctly), wearing sunglasses of course.
Have a good weekend and be good,
Olivia 🌈🌋🎶
