Tuesdays without Inklings

Jacqui Wiley

Another day, another dollar… wait! I don’t live in America, I’m not American and I don’t hold down a job… silly woman.

Tomorrow is hump day. Once I’m over it, it will be all downhill till the weekend. And then I’ll have to begin the week all over again.

A never ending story. Get up. Get washed. Get dressed. Make bed. Get breakfast. Eat breakfast. Wash delph. Put on wash. Fill tumble-dryer or hang out clothes… weather depending. Dust. Hoover floors. Wash floors. Clean bathrooms. Get lunch. Eat lunch. Wash delph. Prepare dinner. Go for walk. Hoover car. Cook dinner. Greet husband and family. Eat dinner. Talk to family about their day. Clean up. Wash delph. Go to bed.

Next day… rinse and repeat.

There are wonderful days in between when tiny feet run around the house and question after question is asked, stories are told and fun games are played. Imaginations fill with cotton candy streets and palaces in the sky. They disappear, leaving holes where hugs were and a silence only a little voice could fill.

With the exception of a trip to the shop, an odd trip to enjoy a play, a visitor calling or an invite to visit, this is my life of… ‘Tuesdays without Inklings’.

Tuesday with Inklings: What a different world. A key unlocking imaginations, doors to magical places, words that dance in rhythm and time. Allowing stories to flow, voices to be heard and to greet friends we had and never knew we had.

Get up. Get washed. Get dressed. Make bed. Get breakfast. Eat breakfast. Hide delph in dishwasher. No washing… no need for tumble-dryer or hanging out clothes. Dusting, hovering, washing floors… they can wait.

Lunch: no preparation. Eat lunch, with pleasure. In the good company of Inklings after Inklings in the warmth of Berty’s bar in the Annebrook House Hotel, with loyalty points.

Prepare dinner later on a high. Greet husband and family. Eat dinner. Talk to family about Inklings stories… prompts.

Chill out, enjoying family’s company while ideas swirl around my head. Go to bed and dream of being able to write poetry, longer stories, novels and winning Nobel literature prizes… getting film deals.

Next day, I wake up, realise it was only a dream. Disappointed, heck no! I have a prompt, I have a purpose. The dust can build, the words come first. I have Inklings.

Let there always be a midwife of literacy called Brian. May he reign forever. May there never be another Tuesday without Inklings.

Tuesdays without Inklings

Louise Ryan

Tuesday without Inklings, oh what would I do?

I’m lost even thinking about not thinking about Inklings on Tuesdays. Wednesday too,

I’d probably spend all my time,

Wishing I was at Inklings making up a rhyme,

So what makes Inklings so special?

It’s the people, the company – we’re all in the same vessel,

We have a love for the written or spoken word, prose or poetry alike,

Then afterwards we can have a chat and a drink before we part ways for the day or the night,

Inklings, Inklings, you call me every week,

There is something that I bring away with me that I will always keep,

The memories of the fun and craic I always have among a great bunch,

so come along to Inklings if you only have an inkling or you even only have a hunch.

Jacqui Wiley and Louise Ryan are members of Inklings Writing Group, who meet on Tuesdays at 11am and Wednesdays at 7.30pm in the Annebrook House Hotel. Aspiring writers welcome.