Going Green

With the (Canadian) election coming up, I've been thinking a lot about the things that matter to me. I think it's safe to say that the key issues that swirl about in the media are Security, Economy, Human-rights and the Environment.

So, I know that I'm over-simplifying things but I've decided to put my environmental concerns at the top of the list. It seems to me that we can hardly work to have a stable, sustainable and environmentally aware society without first embracing some level of altruism. I mean, to survive, we have to share: water, power, food, air. When one suffers, we all start to feel the pinch. Yes, wealthier countries can afford to hoard and be selfish for a time, but in the end, this way only leads to destruction. Our resources are running out, and we need each other.

A caveat: I'm hardly a political science major, I'm just putting structure to the thoughts moving about in my busy busy brain.

So follow me... we go green. We somehow learn to diversify our resources more equally. We eat locally, and in season. We grow gardens, not lawns. Homes are built smaller and come standard with things like composting toilets, rainwater collection systems and solar panels.

We talk to our neigbours, we trade them cucumbers for chicken eggs... and share a glass of the awful wine we made last season, we embrace culture and learn skills from one another. And we make a shift, a change in our thinking. Rather than seeing all the ways we are different, we see first our shared humanity and our need for one another.

I think... this kind of community life would make it harder for extremism to take route.

I'm not talking about a return to the dark ages either. I think there's some pretty rad science out there, that given the chance, can help us change to live in a sustainable and comforable way.

Check these links to see what I mean
http://zerohouse.net/wordpress/
http://www.teslamotors.com/en_CA/powerwall

These are some capitalistic ideas I'd happily give dollars to.

I know there's about a billion holes in my dream, and so many awful gut wrenching 'what if's'. I am not isolated from the horrors of this world.

I just need to choose, to dream or despair. I need to believe that things can get better, not worse for my children. That I can affect positive change.

So I'm going to dream.
And learn canning. :P

 

Crazy got a Job!

Well, I wanted more structure, and it looks like I've got it. I've just joined the team at Hydrolife (http://www.myhydrolife.com/) as a freelance writer. I'm stoked, my muse is all excited and tingly and I like the idea of putting myself on the clock to bang out articles I really care about. Maybe a little bit of structure and deadline pressure will help me focus in the moments when I'm not writing and help me be a little more present for my daughters.

Yeah, this is going to be good, I can feel it.

Focus, purpose... a goal, and still not too much pressure. I love it.

Can't wait for the future... gotta go work.

Runaway Muse

I've been in transition. I've gone from 'puke my guts out I haven't had more than 2 hours of sleep in a row for almost 2 YEARS' to, 'I only had to wake up 3 times last night for the kids'.

What I'm saying is I'm getting slightly more sleep... and with it my creative energy is flowing back. I'm still aware of my limitations, so I made a deal with myself not to pressure my muse to preform in any way. That means no structure, no deadlines.

It's been wondrously fun. My muse has been running from on project to the next like a kid on her first day in preschool. I've been writing songs, sharpening my portraiture work, and teaching myself new curious skills like brewing jam and reupholstering furniture.

The jam turned out great. I want to burn my kitchen bar stools.

I'm also teetering on the brink of not always being the most patient, engaged mother. Nothing like having a little 1 year-old minx confetti-fy the foam padding you've just hot glued into place on the freaking kitchen bar stools for the 5th time... to make you want to want to snap. And yet-she's just trying to help.

And I just want to write that Governor Generals Award novel.

But my kids need me, they need me to be more than a just slave to my muse. And they need me to help them find theirs.

And my muse needs to cool her heels a bit...

I suspect this is a struggle I will have for my entire life (unbridled uninterrupted creativity versus the work and focus it requires to be an engaged mother/wife/friend). Balance, I think, is nothing more than delusion. The best I can hope for is to trapeze from one extreme to another.

So tonight... I'm going to kiss my babies goodnight, and ask my husband about his day.

And then I'm going to eat whipped cream and binge watch Netflix.

Follow the muse... wherever she may lead.

Sigh... it's official. My killer mermaid horror story is going literary. 

I really wanted killer mermaids,  I still think the idea is totally rad... but well,  as I've been writing the book the richness of the setting and the complexity of the characters has captured me more than the ridiculous mythology I was trying to spin. Ach weh! It's better this way...

In other news... I made this tonight. :p My muse has the most beautiful type of ADD. She's kind of hard to nail down.

Whistle in my Pocket

New song! First time ever playing it through...

Here's the words. :)

Setting the Bones: The Elevator Pitch

I'm reworking an old story... again. It's the first book I ever wrote, and it contains a type of raw magic that I think is captivating and worth a good face-lift. The trouble is that it sprawls. Four main characters, a wide roving fantasy world and 190,000 words... uh, think 600 pages or so.

Also, because it's the first book I ever wrote, I didn't know that I needed to lay down some foundational work. Ie: extensive world building, a timeline that makes sense and... a single sentence elevator pitch.

An elevator pitch reveals the strength and focus of your idea. If I can rope mine into one than it's worth the time it will take to untangle the rest of the mess.

Two of my other books have strong pitches:

How would you like to read a young adult western, in the tongue and cheek spirit of Huckleberry Finn?

Or maybe you want to read about killer mermaids attacking an isolated island community on the black rocky coast of BC, Canada.

So that's what I'm doing tonight. I'm hoping to weed out the kernel, the idea that lays at the heart of my first book that makes it an inspiring read.

190,000 words, one sentence...

...

Update:
Here it is so far. How would you like to read about:

A powerful spirit called the Dragon that endows those who allow it to possess them with the magical strength to fulfill any desire. Those possessed cannot be killed and will never die.

But the world just might.

dun dun dunnnnn...

now I've got to go wash dishes.

Chow!

That moment. That first love.

This is a post dedicated to my very first love. Because at fourteen, I truely loved you.

It didn't work out. :) But the moment, the spark, it still rings clear and true. It etched itself into my teenage brain in the sort of enduring way that i expect will survive through age and fading memory.

So wherever you are, I wish you joy and love and to say that

I remember fourteen-year-old you: beneath the apple tree, baggy cargo pants, loose white tee shirt, outback hat, strumming the guitar on your lap.

And that I've played guitar ever since.

:p