THE CONFESSIONS

With Makers and Muse we were inspired by, - and rewrote the original
Proust Questionnaire to become the Makers and Muse Confessions.

I have an idea to interview some other makers and muses later this year
and thought I'd better start by sharing my own confessions.

1. What do you make?

Photographs and love.

2. What is your current state of mind?

Excited, confused, rebellious, tired, in love, curious and longing.

3. Which living maker do you most admire?

The ones who use their vocation to also make a difference to people
and / or in the world.

4. Describe what the word 'muse' mean to you? 

Mm.. Whiskey in a teacup.

Meaning power and influence out of an often illusory delicate source..

that's powerful to me.

5. Do you have one.. muse that is?

In work, yes. In life, no. But I must find me one for that, methinks..!

6. What is your most treasured possession?

My health if that can count as one, no question.

7. Describe yourself in three words.

Mellow, passionate and peculiar.

8. How do others describe you, in two words?

Laidback and creative.

9. What do you most like about your appearance?

My eyes perhaps. They give us away all the time..!

Not practical at ALL, but quite endearing somehow.

10. What do you find attractive in others?

Complete presence, beautiful hands and whiskey voices.

11. What virtue do you find overrated?

Honesty.

 I think it's a bit of a muddy concept and it's so subjective.

We often confuse it with 'truth', I think, and while

the truth can set us free, honesty can be very selfish.

12. What surprises you?

Countless things..! But I have the memory of a goldfish apparently.

13. What is the lowest depth of misery to you?

To lose sight of one's soul. Bad things follow that one.

14. What is the highest form of love for you?

Agape.

Agape love is always shown by what it DOES.

15. Which famous muse do you admire?

There are so many remarkable women.

I want to say womanhood as a whole, as one body,

is the most admirable muse. And it IS to me at the moment.
I'm on a very palpable journey in that right now
and I'm most probably far from alone.

16. On what occasion do you lie?

To get into parties and to get out of going to parties.

17. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Being in the moment.

18. What word do you most overuse?

'Truly.'

19. What inspires you?

The unexpected.

20. If you could be anyone, who would it be?

I'm kind of busy doing the me-thing, figuring that one out.

21. What do you most value in your friends?

The ability, or quality of the friendship, to be able to naturally

share both dark and light rooms together, with equal love, understanding,

humour and respect in both.

Shared history also more now, living abroad and 'away'.

22. If you were a thing, what would it be?

Ooh.. the possibilities..! 

A lottery ticket that gave the right person the high of a lifetime.

A lie detector if we're talking what I'm most like rather than what I'd love to be.

I'm intuitive and read people quite well without meaning to or really thinking about it,
so I can most often tell when people are lying or 'feel' what is not said.

A most cruel gift at times. One I think comes from being very much
an observer growing up.

23. Where would you most like to live?

Part-time between England, the south of Italy and Bali.

24. What is your greatest fear?

Death too soon and death too late.

Also great whites and death by choking on a piece of candy,

perhaps the most unnecessary way to die there is.

(So any real friend of mine knows that if the latter was to happen,

the official story is I died saving someone e l s e from a great white.)

25. What trait do you most deplore in others?

Abuse of power.

26. What trait do you most deplore in yourself?

My forgetfulness always. And sometimes my own romanticism.

27. Which late maker do you most admire?

Frida Kahlo. A cliché answer perhaps, but true for me in so many ways.

Except for her artistic talent, she had such an amazing resilience 

and I so admire that she lived her life entirely as she w a s.

28. Name the fictional character you most identify with?

Mm..tricky one..! Perhaps somewhere in between the lines of
Persis [from Louisa May Alcott's 'Diana & Persis'] and
Lily Briscoe [from Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse'] mixed with
Maria Elena in the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona.

That or Sherlock Holmes. I'm a natural-born conspiracy theorist.

29. What do you spend your money on?

Wine, books, flowers and candles.
And travel, - back and forth between the people I love.

30. What do you consider your greatest achievement so far?

Staying true to myself and not going altogether insane in the process.

31. What quality do you most like in a man?

Self-knowledge is very sexy.

That and loyalty is a killer combo for me.

32. What quality do you most like in a woman?

Guts.

33. What is your favourite swear word?

Fuck trumpet..!

Although I'm not that musical so most often I leave the trumpet out.

34. What is your motto?

There's only one I really, in real life, come back to,

- Just Go.

35. If heaven exists, what would your God say when you arrive there?

- "Welcome back, honey..! The others are waiting."

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