Spotlight on Writing
Over the last two weeks, I haven’t been very active at the keyboard. To do credit to the next chapter it makes more sense to wait for some of the blanks (Ashley’s chapters) to be filled in. This isn’t to say that I am in any rush for her to finish…we are both very good at giving each other time to work through our chapters, and in complete honesty, a break has been good for my brain. In the last post Ashley talked about the negative aspects of getting too close to a character’s mindset. I haven’t had the same problems but I am not immune either. My brain tends to become fixated on projects, and I have found that with little else to occupy me my brain has gone into a sort of hyperactive state, and it has been affecting my sleep with too many thoughts sprinting through my head. Instead, I have turned to other creative outlets. The first creative outlet I tried was sketching. They’re not 100% perfect (see pictures below), but it is a fun way to get the creative juices flowing. The other creative outlet I turned to was poetry and I wrote a short poem that is inspired by themes and images in our first book.
When the Rain Falls
Skies are growing dark
Purpling clouds roll in from the south
In an upside down world
My hair is charged
Frizzing around delicate shoulders
Waiting for release
Our land is quiet
Suspended in an eerie, noiseless vacuum
The storm is coming
It is calm,
When the rain falls
Bleak fog sets in
Trees; shapeless monsters in the mist
Rising with victorious arms
Creeks become streams
And streams become rivers, cascading
Such a long way down
Mud is thick
Suctioning and slurping at boots
But they do not belong
To us
Personal Update
Happy New Year, everyone! 2019 was an eventful year for me. I finished up at a temporary workplace, completed one of three nursing courses (for more information on where I’m at with getting Canadian nursing registration see my previous post), I got married in July, went to China on a honeymoon, and began writing again. I am in Vancouver as I write this; we’d planned to visit with family over Christmas for a few days and then return to Calgary. However unfortunately our plans have gone slightly awry as my husband ended up in hospital on Christmas Eve. I won’t go into depth here, but the doctors have a good plan in place so hopefully things will be looking up by the time this post is published, though I don’t expect we’ll be back in Calgary until after the New Year.
On another note, 2020 beckons as the year crawls to its end, and although I don’t usually make end of year goals, this coming year I am determined to see our book When the Rain Falls finally published. You’ll note that Ashley and I haven’t set an exact time when it’s coming out yet—this is because we are currently pitching to traditional publishing houses, but, if nothing comes of our gentle prods to interest publishers, then it is totally possible in today’s world to publish ourselves. Our book has some unique aspects to it, and although publishers claim to be interested in unique stories, they do have an inherent risk, too. It goes without saying that risk reduction is of prime importance for any business, especially in recent times. Indeed, traditional publishing is becoming less of the norm with many small independent publishers closing their doors as Amazon, Kobo, and Apple all have begun to dominate the marketplace. At the moment, we’re not sure what lies ahead, but one way or the other, we will succeed.
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