Categories
personal reflection travel writing

#Trust30 – prompt#5 – Travel

Travel by Chris Guillebeau

If we live truly, we shall see truly. – Ralph Waldo Emerson Not everyone wants to travel the world, but most people can identify at least one place in the world they’d like to visit before they die. Where is that place for you, and what will you do to make sure you get there?

(Author: Chris Guillebeau)

___________

Hmmm… not too sure I would place the weight of “visit before [I] die” on it, but Greece is very high up on my list of places to see. And if I stop making short films and web series out of pocket I imagine I’d be able to use my savings for travel, rather than “art”. However, seeing as writing/creating stories ranks higher than travelling for me, Greece may have to wait a little be longer.

With that said, I have read about this hotel in Crete that is crazy expensive, but sounds like a fantasy come true. A private pool lapping up to the ocean? AMAZING. If I ever wanted to just throw $$ way (say if I won the lottery) this is where I would do it, for sure.

Now I must close with a quick thank you to Chris, who gave me a completely legitimate reason to take time out of my work day to watch slideshows & dream of being crazy rich travelling in Greece.

Categories
personal reflection writing

#Trust30 – prompt #4 – Post-It

Post-it Question by Jenny Blake

That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. Where is the master who could have taught Shakespeare? Where is the master who could have instructed Franklin, or Washington, or Bacon, or Newton? . . . Shakespeare will never be made by the study of Shakespeare. Do that which is assigned you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Identify one of your biggest challenges at the moment (ie I don’t feel passionate about my work) and turn it into a question (ie How can I do work I’m passionate about?) Write it on a post-it and put it up on your bathroom mirror or the back of your front door. After 48-hours, journal what answers came up for you and be sure to evaluate them.

Bonus: tweet or blog a photo of your post-it.

(Author: Jenny Blake)
_____________

All my various concerns and worries about my career and the future, yadda, yadda, can be boiled down to one pivotal, major fear that I have carried with me through childhood, but only recently articulated:

I AM AFRAID OF NOT BEING HEARD

So… umm, how to turn that into a question? How do I make myself heard?  I have so much to share, but how do I get find people to listen? ‘Course, soon as I type those words I instantly feel selfish and egotistical, because why should anyone listen to me? Why should I feel like what I have to say is of interest to anyone else? And yet I write. I do have stories to tell, and I do fear that I won’t be able to share them to the extent that I hope to share.

Categories
writing

#Trust30 – prompt #3 – One Strong Belief

One Strong Belief by Buster Benson

 It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?

(Author: Buster Benson)

____________

This is an easy one for me: TRUE LOVE CONQUERS ALL (EVEN DEATH).

I live it, I breathe it, and I write about it. I carry this with me through every dark day, every failure and every painful memory. And it evens me, eases me, smoothes me out. I can find joy just by remembering this thought, this feeling.

Note that I specify TRUE love, because this is an important distinction. Not all love is true. You know it when you’ve felt it. It, in my opinion, needs to be reciprocated to be real. And we are not all lucky enough to find it. That’s not to say you shouldn’t love lots of people in a bunch of different ways, but it is my ultimate belief that true love can overcome any obstacle.

 

Categories
ebook reviews

A mini review of One Size Fits All

I have just had the pleasure of reading Gary Scott’s (AKA Scott Fitzgerald Gray) novella, One Size Fits All.

Now, I must predicate this mini review with the fact that I know the author, Scott, though we have never actually met face to face. Scott has story edited a number of my screenplays, though only the ones I deemed ready for him to read & critique, of course. And though I highly value him as a story editor, I have never read any of Scott’s work.

So… One Size Fits All is a charming tale of love at first sight that hits all the right story points to effectively resonate with a [little bit twisted?] romantic like me… there is a magnificent ballroom action/chase sequence where our hero’s fundamental beliefs are shaken and toppled, some fantastic interaction between father and son, and a nicely executed dose of “the meek shall inherit”. While this is a love story, love however is not the cure for all the ails the hero, but it is the cause, the reason he begins his transformation, and ultimately the reward.

I found the beginning a bit slow and it took me a number of pages to get into the flow of the story… I began liking the story when the hero’s father came into play, and, even more, when the love interest showed up, but the story really began to shine as all these elements were gathered and, literally, placed in the same room. Then the “battle” commenced and I was pleased with the payoff.

I don’t wish to give the wrong impression with the above dramatic rendering of the plot. This my own take on a quiet, with-a-little-bit-of-crazy, sweet story of finding oneself, making a choice, and living happily ever after.

Delightful is a word that comes to mind.

Rating: 4 stars

Why only 4 stars? There is nary a vampire, werewolf or zombie to be found, and I would’ve liked to have seen more of the love interest, even though it wasn’t her story and space is limited with a novella.

I have Scott’s next novel queued: Clearwater Dawn, and I am seriously looking forward to reading it!

Categories
personal reflection writing

#Trust30 – prompt #2 – TODAY

Day 2 of the #Trust30 30-day writing challenge from ralphwaldoemerson.me begins with this prompt:

Today by Liz Danzico

Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

If ‘the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks,’ then it is more genuine to be present today than to recount yesterdays. How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.

(Author: Liz Danzico)

—-

Okay, this prompt is much less scary than yesterday’s prompt, but no less intense. There seems to be the beginning of a theme forming for me here, one of writing in a much more condensed version than I normally do; yesterday it was for 15 minutes and now I am supposed to encapsulate today in a single sentence. And I assume it shouldn’t be a run on. Okay here we go.

Today begins with sunshine, new growth in the garden, and a cat nesting in the papers on my desk, and hopefully those papers…

Sunshine, a napping cat, and multiple piles of papers filled with creative bits spread across my desk, creating comfort and possibilities for today…

Today begins with the warmth of the sun, the comfort of a napping cat, and endless possibilities hidden in handwritten notes spread across my desk.

Today begins with the welcomed warmth of the sun, the comfort of a napping cat, and endless possibilities just waiting to be explored in handwritten notes spread across my desk.

[Hmm… these seem to be getting a little long – more than a mouthful, if I am to “tell today’s sentence to another person”. Let’s try again:]

Today the papers strewn across my desk beckon with endless possibilities and…

My desk welcomes me with a napping cat and haphazard piles of papers filled with possibilities and…

[What if I drop the metaphors and symbols and go for a simpler response?]

Today is a day that anything or nothing at all could happen, and I will be content either way.

Today is filled with decisions and choices, as is every day, just some have more weight than others.

[Well, this isn’t going anywhere terribly insightful – ha!]

Describe today, describe today… Today is barely begun and yet it feels like a day rooted in comfort and filled with possibilities.

I woke up early and quite awake this morning, which is a rare occurrence, with my head filled with thoughts of the future and tasks of the present. Today will be a good day.

[Yes, I know, that’s 2 sentences].

Today is feels like there is only a few moments for all the tasks laid out before me, and yet there will still be time to look forward and revel in the endless possibilities of life and love.

[And with that said it really is just time to just get on with today].

How’s your day going?

 

Categories
personal reflection writing

#Trust30 – 1st prompt

I just signed up to participate in the Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson online initiative.

#Trust30 is a 30 day writing challenge. You receive a daily prompt and respond to it… in writing. So I sign up, THEN I check out the 1st prompt:

Gwen Bell – 15 Minutes to Live

We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.

1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.
2. Write the story that has to be written.

(Author: Gwen Bell)

So, um, ya. Just reading that scared the shit of me… that’s a response, right? Like I actually felt a shot of fear reverberate through my gut…that can’t be good. Now I am thinking, holy shit maybe I should have checked out the 1st prompt BEFORE I commitment myself. Why couldn’t we talk about our 1st childhood memory? Trust me that would have been hard enough. I mean, sure I write about death and destruction and heroes pulling the world back from the brink of disaster (etc) but I don’t really want to imagine myself dying, having only 15 more minutes with so much left undone, unsaid, unshared. The idea of it makes me all heavy and sad, and why go there, why wallow?

But that’s not the exercise is it? If I push past my initial reaction, I see I am suppose to focus my attention on the story that has to be written, that I only have 15 more minutes to get out into the world or, at least, out of my head. Well, that’s different, isn’t it? Though no less daunting, because I am not sure that in this particular moment I have any story locked in my head that can actually be told in 15 minutes. And any story I have that can be so concisely related? Well, I share those every day, as they occur to me. I guess I am just lucky that way…telling stories is like breathing for me. They would pour out of my head, or at least dribble out of an ear, the right one, I think, if they had actual mass.

Speaking of only having 15 minutes to live and write, more than a little part of me would die, if I couldn’t be a storyteller anymore.

What about you? 15 minutes to live: GO!

Categories
Knitting photography vancouver

Joanne’s Birthday Socks

A very lovely friend of mine turned 30 last week [ah, 30 I remember you fondly, as you blew by many, many years ago] and I wanted to help her celebrate this milestone in style, so I knit her some socks:

And last Monday, in a brief sunny break, we sipped iced tea in the garden and Joanne modelled her socks for the blog. Here is a detail shot of the stitch pattern and yarn:

In the skein I really though the blue and pink were dominate, but, as you can see, the purple won the pattern.

I don’t think they could be more perfect for my vibrant and, still so young in age but wise of heart, friend.

______________________

Pattern: Bois de Rose Socks – a well-written pattern that complimented this gorgeous variegated yarn just perfectly, plus it’s FREE on Ravelry!

Designer: Nicole Masson [aka stefanina on ravelry]

Yarn: CashLuxe Fine by SweetGeorgia Yarns  Colourway: Stella – This yarn is so soft it is yummy, and the colours kick-ass! Plus it’s LOCAL = one of my favourites!!

My Ravelry Project Page

Categories
gardening personal reflection photography

I am not a late bloomer…

…I’ve just had buds forming for a long, long while now.

[Oh! You thought I was being deeply and unusually personal for a moment. No, no. I was personifying the baby apple tree:]

[Or Not].

On a gardening note, I was really hoping that those ants were eating those aphids, but alas it seems (according to google) they are farming them, and possibly attempting to protect them from the rainfall we had moments before I took this picture.

[Who the ants represent in the extended analogy of the apple buds being me, I have no idea… not sure I like the idea of being “farmed”. The protection bit is certainly sweet, but a little rain has never hurt me].

The End.

[Thank goodness, that was almost awkwardly self-reflective].

Categories
ebook publishing writing

AFTER THE VIRUS – 2nd draft book cover

Thank you for all your feedback (most of it via Facebook). Based on your concerns and, of course, also your “likes” here is a 2nd draft of the book cover for the AFTER THE VIRUS ebook.

I also worked up a version with a biohazard sign and then a version combining the biohazard sign and a smaller bloody handprint, but I like the simplicity of this version and the visual impact (especially in thumbnail size).

Again feedback is welcomed and appreciated.

Categories
photography writing

Writer thwarted, once again, by feline

As I am puttering around this morning–feeding animals, emptying the dishwasher, turning the tomato seedlings–I find I have the opening scene to my story, THE NINTH DRAGON, running around in my head… images, full sentences and all. So I hustle into the office to jot down these thoughts only to discover that I am out of scrap paper. Serendipitously (hopefully!) I have used an entire draft print of my novel, AFTER THE VIRUS, to brainstorm a series of short stories set in that universe.

Anyway, I remember I have some coloured paper upstairs that is who knows how old (5 years maybe) so I grab a 1 inch stack, title and date the top page and settle in to write out the first scene (or at least the parts I have running in my head).

I swear I only turned away for a second, but that is all it took to lose the paper to Leo, pen and all.

I seriously hope this isn’t a commentary on the quality of the writing–the paper makes a better bed than book? Or perhaps I really should just stop reading into every little thing the cats do. They like to sleep on things–end of (potentially dull) story.

Insert even cuter picture here:

Now get back to work! Me, not you. You feel free to do what pleases you.