Side Projects (or How I Spend My Free Time) II - The Fun Stuff

In a previous episode our intrepid blogger detailed all the usual ways in which she spends/wastes her free time.  Join us now as she details five ways she has fun with her spare time!

Watch movies  - I like to watch movies at the cinema, on DVD, and, on rare occasions, video cassette tape! My preferred genres are mystery, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, action/adventure, western and comedy .  Comedy is a pretty broad genre, so to clarify my preference is for 1930s screwball comedies and crazy, stupid comedies by Saturday Night Live alumni as well as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Knit - I haven't been knitting as much lately.  It could have something to do with the fact that I decided I ought to be knitting more.  I'm like a kid, once I think I 'ought' to do something or I 'should' do something then I stop doing it.  (With the exception of hauling my bum out of bed and going to work, of course!)  However, I just finished a toque for my step dad and I'm making socks for my sister and sister-in-law!  And, a friend from   burlesque has some 1940s knitting patterns that sound scrumptious!

Shop - I'm not one of those power shopping ladies (let's face it, I'm no lady) so most of my shopping is for groceries.   But sometimes I'll head out and go shopping for clothes, bath products or craft supplies.  My most recent big purchase was a bicycle.  Craft supplies are my current weakness.  I have purchased more than enough fabric and must start sewing more things!  I bought some lovely fabric when I was in Hawaii last March and still haven't made my pillow covers!

Sew - I just started sewing in the last year.  Not just replacing buttons, but sewing things with a sewing machine.  I sew costume pieces and I plan to put some crib quilts together this summer.  It's one of the things I need to make time for.  I'm looking forward to really getting into it.

Burlesque - I am a member of Saskatoon's Rosebuds Burlesque Club.  I have never had so much fun in all my life!  It is an empowering, funny, glamourous artform.  I love the history and heritage of it.  I love the spectacle.  I love that it pushes the boundaries of gender, society and propriety.  I love the women and men who are involved.  Without exception they are thoughtful, intelligent, open-minded, artistic, funny and talented!  I especially love dressing room conversations that range from 'Star Trek' and 'Doctor Who' to issues of sexual health.  I love creating an interesting and unique piece - the imagination, the planning, the rehearsing, designing and creating the costume - the whole process is wonderful.  And, I love taking my clothes off and twirling my tassels for an audience!  It's great fun!  If you get the chance you should take in a burlesque show.

Thanks for tuning in!  Our intrepid blogger will take you further into the world of burlesque in our next installment.  Same fun time!  Same fun channel!

Cheers,
Laura

Writing Prompt from Alice Kuipers (yes, the Alice Kuipers!)

Alice Kuipers posted this writing prompt, "It cost a bit more but ..."

Before you go any further this work comes with a language and violent situation warning.  If  you have small children they probably shouldn't read this.  If you don't like salty language, I apologize ahead of time. Here's what I wrote:

"It cost a bit more but, she couldn't see any other way.  She had to get out of Philadelphia.  How the hell did she get into this mess?  Fine, she'd get the ticket to Boston instead of New York.  It would probably be just as easy to get lost in Boston.  And, frankly, he'd probably be less likely to find her there.  He'd expect New York.  They'd always talked about a second honeymoon there.  Jesus, a second honeymoon?!  That seemed like some weird fantasy now.  How fucking blind could she have been?  An affair would have been preferable.  All the secrets, the too late nights.  She'd figured he was cheating.  God, how she wished it had been that simple.  A nice little affair with some doe-eyed bimbo he'd met at the club.  But this?  Holy shit!  A body in the walk-in freezer!?  Thank god he was in Vegas for the next couple of days.  She'd get to Boston, buy a new phone, then call her brother.  He'd know what to do.  Well, not with the body in the freezer - Sean could bloody well deal with that himself!  Peter had some connections in the FBI.  He'd figure it out with her.

She paid for the ticket in cash.  Sean would surely notice a thousand dollars missing, but what else could she do?  Well, she'd worry about that once she was in Boston.  The departure was called over the PA system.  She hoisted the heavy duffle bag onto her shoulder and headed to the platform.  She took a last surreptitious look around 30th Street Station.  She shoved her huge sunglasses up the bridge of her nose and adjusted the long black wig.  As she boarded the train she felt as though she was saying goodbye to a dear friend forever.  From this moment on Dina McCann would cease to exist.  Some black haired woman with huge sunglasses and nothing but a dirty duffle bag had replaced her."

So that's what I wrote.  I had no idea what would come to my mind when I first put pen to paper and, I admit, I'm a little surprised.  Pleasantly surprised.  I know what I want to write is detective/crime fiction and that is exactly what came out of my mind and on to the page.  So, what do you think?


Cheers,
Laura

What I Meant Was ...

A couple of months ago I attended the national conference of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE).  It was quite good.  The best bit, however, came at the end.  Dr. Buffy Sainte-Marie delivered the closing keynote address.  She has been involved in education for over 30 years.  Her Cradleboard Teaching Project brings an aboriginal perspective to all subjects in all grades.  Her protest songs were part of my childhood.  She is very inspiring.  Of course, the main reason I know her work is from watching Sesame Street in the 1970s.  So, after her presentation I screwed up my courage and went to thank her for the talk and to say how much I admired her when I was a child.  I believe the exchange went something like this:  "Dr. Sainte-Marie, I just wanted to thank you for the talk.  I loved you on Sesame Street when I was a kid.  I wanted to be an Indian."  WHAT?!  Apparently, my brain and my mouth were not cooperating at that moment! So, Dr. Sainte-Marie, what I meant was ...

I loved watching you on Sesame Street.  I loved your hair and your clothes and your voice.  There was always love in everything you did.  I thought it would be wonderful to be native because then I would have a beautiful voice and shiny black hair and beautiful tan skin.  Around the same time that I was watching you on TV my dad took me to a Pow-Wow at Ska-Nah-Doht - an Iroquioan heritage village near London, Ontario. I fell in love with the songs, the dancing, the food.  I was so jealous that I was just a regular Southern Ontario white kid.  I wanted so much to have what I saw at the Pow-Wow - culture, heritage, history.  I have come to understand that my culture, heritage and history are wrapped up in the story of Ontario, Canada, Scotland and England.  But on that day I wanted to be an Indian.

So, that's what I meant.  It's unlikely that Dr. Sainte-Marie will ever hear this, but I really needed to get this off my chest. Now that this is floating around in cyberspace I feel a bit better.  Confession is good for the soul.

Cheers,
Laura

Mysteries

Mystery is my favourite genre of literature.  Which is why the novel I am working on is a murder mystery.  (I write what I like!)  I got my hands on my mom's copy of  The Hidden Staircase - the second Nancy Drew mystery - when I was 5 or 6.  I was hooked!  My wish lists for birthdays and holidays consisted of Nancy Drew books.  I bought as many as I could afford from the book sales at school. I'm talking about the yellow-spined hardcover books - not these new fangled paperbacks!  One Christmas I hit the jackpot!  I received a parcel that included about 6 new Nancy Drews.  I was in heaven!  I read Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, Dana Girls - all the young adult mysteries I could get my hands on.  I read other stuff - mostly science fiction and fantasy - but, mysteries were still my favourite.  Then, one day, I picked up my mom's copy of A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton.  I might have read some 'grown-up' mysteries before that one, but I really remember my first Kinsey Millhone story.  She was a strong woman - flawed in all kinds of ways - yet smart, independent, tough, funny, and just enough like me for me to want to be her.

I have since read dozens of mysteries - some of them great, some of them good, some that made me wonder how they got published.  Still, I love them.  I'm reading stuff from the 1920s and 1930s to get a feel for the era - the language, the culture, what was acceptable in literature.  I found Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man a little hard to follow actually.  A little too much dialogue and not enough description for my liking.  However, it is a good study in 1930s mystery.  I am interested to read Red Harvest and The Dain Curse - two novels whose main character is the Continental Op, a character with no other name.  I will move on to Raymond Chandler and others soon.  Though on some level I think I have the hardboiled style well engrained in my mind as it is my favourite.

I'm looking forward to my summer as I plan to do as much mystery reading and writing as possible!

Cheers,
Laura

I Blame My Parents

I started reading when I was about three.  I'm not bragging.  I blame my parents.  They were hippies with backgrounds in early childhood and elementary education.  They did weird hippie things like read to me, sing to me, take me to the library, put books in front of me to look at.  The usual weird hippie nonsense.  So, how could I not learn to read at a young age.  And, now I can't not read!  Everywhere I go there are words to be read!  Words out in public telling me what's on at the movies, how inexpensive bananas are this week (bananas are ridiculously inexpensive every week!), and the name of the restaurant I ought to go to.  Words in books taking me to fantastic new worlds, giving me new insights, making me think about things I'd never thought of before.  I can't escape words - they are everywhere!

I am so enthralled with words that I love to write them, too.  I blame my parents for this as well - crazy  hippies! My parents encouraged me to follow my dreams and do whatever I wanted to do!  One of my grade six assignments was to write about what vocation I would pursue as an adult.  I remember writing the assignment in two parts.  In the first part I wrote about how I intended to be a veterinarian or a surgeon.  In the second part I wrote that my mom was convinced I would be a writer of some sort.  (What do moms know anyway!)  Then, in grade eight, I began my first novel.  It has yet to be finished, and, honestly,  it's better that way.  It was a crazy rambling story about how my friends and I formed a rock band and went to Montreal to meet Cory Hart and Duran Duran.  (really, don't ask!)  I do remember reading it to my friends at recesses as it progressed.  It grew into this odd 'choose-your-own-adventure' story - my friends would request something (like meeting someone famous or playing a certain instrument in the band) and I'd write that into the story.  I was definitely putting myself 'out there' when I wrote that story.  I think I'm going to steal a little of my 13 year old self's confidence and start putting myself 'out there' a bit more.

I've become a member of a virtual community called CrimeSpace - where readers and writers of crime fiction mingle and chat and share.  By the end of the month I should also be a member of the Saskatoon Writers' Coop and the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild.  It's all very exciting to me, actually!

So, I'm now following another dream and doing whatever I want to do!  Maybe something will come of it, maybe it won't.  Either way, I still blame my parents! (crazy hippies!)

Cheers!

Poor Dead Archie

I suspect most writers quite like the characters that live in their books and minds.  I really like Archie, unfortunately Archie is dead.  Poor dead Archie.  When Archie came to me he was already dead.  One reason I like Archie so much is that he is based on Cary Grant - and who doesn't like Cary Grant?  Archie was a petty thief and con man, hiding out from some fellows he double crossed.  Archie was handsome, well-dressed, well-spoken and a gentleman.  Archie was in love - really in love, not just pretending in order to carry out a con - and that's what got Archie killed.  Poor dead Archie.

I guess in a way it's good that Archie was already dead before I met him.  I think I might have trouble killing him.  I think of all the beloved characters in the Wizarding World that J.K Rowling killed - well, some died almost before she could stop it - it must have been devastating for her.   I know I'd be quite distraught if Archie had been killed before I could stop it.  However, Archie was already dead when I met him, so that makes it easier.  Poor dead Archie.

I hope this isn't weird.  I mean, I like Archie almost more than I like real people, is that weird?  Of course it's weird - I'm weird.  Which, in my opinion, makes me a good writer.  I have a ridiculously vivid imagination and all sorts of crazy weird things go on in there!  In any event, I look forward to putting Archie's story to paper even though I already know how it ends.  Poor dead Archie.

Cheers!

My Boring Novel

I have this story in my head that I'd like to tell.  I gave my family a bit of a brief overview of the main characters, the plot highlights and whatnot.  My daughter thinks it will be boring.  My daughter (love of my life and bane of my existence) is seventeen.  While I believe she loves me, she thinks I'm weird and boring and all that jazz.  And, really I find it hard to disagree with her.  However, I think my story is pretty interesting.  What do you think?

Main Sleuth:   She is a professor of history who consults with the police on unsolved/historical cases.  She interviews people and finds evidence in documents - letters, newspapers, diaries, etc.  My daughter thinks this is boring.  Police, private detectives and forensic anthropologists do their sleuthing in much more exciting ways.  Hunting down bad guys, getting into gun fights, handling putrifying and putrified corpses is, apparently,  far more exciting than reading old love letters, learning stories from old folks and 70 year old police files.

Main Mystery: In the spring of 1939 the body of known thief and con artist, Archibald Lockwood was found in his car in a wooded area along the riverbank just outside of Saskatoon.  The police followed a few leads to Moose Jaw and Chicago (or other cities depending on what I come up with), but couldn't make an arrest.  By the summer of 1939 the case was basically cold.  In 2005 some new evidence turns up in the attic of the house Lockwood was rooming in at the time of his death.  This leads the police and our intrepid historian/sleuth into a 66 year old story of love, passion and murder!

I'd read it - well, of course, my goal is to write the book I'd like to read.  What do you think?  Would you read it?

Cheers,
Laura

Inspiration

I love movies and television.  I blame my dad and my Nana - and her parents, too.  Dad loves TV and I watched a lot of TV as a kid - and, to be honest, I still do.  My Nana - my dad's mom - loved movies.  She was a kid in the '20s and '30s.  Her parents loved drama and costume parties.  I think she might have gone to the movies a lot.  I remember one time when she was visiting, she took me to the Broadway Theatre to see a showing of The Red Shoes.  I remember falling in love with the colour, the glamour, the dancing, the drama!  I remember visiting her and staying up late watching Elvis movies on TV.  I think I love old movies more than I love new movies.

I remember a discussion about oral tradition in a class I took.  It was a course about the co-operative movement, so I'm not certain how we got on the subject of oral tradition.  It was a history course, so the topic of oral history often came up.  In any event, someone said something about oral tradition in Western culture being dead - people didn't tell each other stories, we didn't sit around campfires so much and all our tradition came in written form.  I had to argue a bit about this point.  I believe Western culture still has something of an  'oral tradition' - in that it's more than written - in the form of cinema and radio.  Granted, radio drama is not as popular as it was 60 and 70 years ago, but we still tell each other stories over the airwaves through news, talk and songs.  Cinema engages many of our senses in telling stories.  Unless the film has subtitles, there is very little text to read while watching a movie.  I will concede that all of these things are written down - scripts with all kinds of directions.  However, I don't think that takes away from the fact that when I engage with a story on the radio, on television or in a film I am not reading that story.

The point of all this being that I am inspired in my writing by film, radio and television. What I want to evoke when I'm writing is a picture, a moving picture really.  I want the reader to see what I see and hear what I hear.  When I'm thinking of a story to write I can see the characters, their clothes, the city and everything very clearly.  I want the reader to be party to all of that.

I think I draw the line at smelling stuff, though.  I always cover my nose when the putrified dead body is discovered on CSI or Bones.  I don't even like to imagine that I can smell yucky things.

Cheers!

Side Projects (or How I Spend My Free Time) I - The Usual Suspects

Clearly, I like to write.  I started this blog so I could write about writing.  But, I can't just write all the time - though I do it for work and I do it for fun, so I write a lot!  I thought I should also write about other things I do.  Here is the list of things I do when I'm not writing:

Cook - I cook to feed people and because I have to eat to stay alive.  I'm not one of those 'foodies' who is constantly reading recipes and dreaming about what magic can be had with a handful of saffron and a kilo of kale (which, I'm sure, is nothing good).  Though I am beginning to experiment with new produce - fennel and avocado have recently reached my kitchen.  However, I enjoy cooking to feed people, especially people who appreciate the meal I've created.  I rarely make fancy things.  I stick to those 'meals in 30 minutes' things in magazines and the usual fare - spaghetti, chili, pork chops in mushroom soup gravy and a roast or chicken every now and then.

Bake - I don't bake as often as I cook, but I do like it.  It takes a bit more concentration than cooking.  And, to me baking is pretty much the same as love.  I don't know about your family but in my family love is usually expressed like this:  'I love you.  Eat some pie.'  'I love you. Have a cookie.'  'I love you.  Here's a slice of cake.' (yes, I am significantly overweight ... I'm working on that.)  Now I find that I'm often on the other end of this equation: 'I love you. I baked you a cake.'  And, as long as I don't eat the whole thing, I think that's alright.

Fart around on the computer - Every now and then I do something of value on the computer.  I might order flowers for my mother, look up new recipes, read the news, check in with friends and family, write a new blog post and stuff like that.  However, usually I'm farting around.  I am most often found  playing Farmville, Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma Blast, or looking up whatever just popped into my mind on Wikipedia (did you know that tamarinds are native to Africa?).  I suspect this takes up way more time than 1) I think it does, and 2)  it really should.

Read - I think it's impossible to be a writer without being a reader.  I suspect that if I cut out a lot of my farting-around-on-the-computer time I would find a lot more time to read.  Because I have a giant stack of unread books on my nightstand and very long wish list at amazon.ca!

Watch TV - It's almost embarrassing how much I love TV.  I blame my father.  Apparently, when I was little - not even a year old - he and I would watch reruns of 'Star Trek' early in the morning so my mom could sleep.  I recall many a happy time at my grandparents house watching cartoons or Charlie's Angels or Lawrence Welk in colour!  (We didn't have a colour television at home until 1984.)  We would actually watch TV as a family!  Well ... my dad and brother and I would watch 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and 'The Cosby Show' together. And, now I have a computer thing in my basement that is full of nothing but episodes of television shows!  An embarrassment of riches for sure!

This has been a good exercise.  I've realized that I do an awful lot of farting around and that there are other things I like to do that I ought to do more often.  Tune in next time for the next installment of 'Side Projects (or How I Spend My Free Time)'!

Cheers,
Laura

Reading is Good for Writing

Apparently, reading is good research for writing.  Who knew?  Well, a bunch of people, I guess.  Anyway, I love to read and should probably do more of it.  Reading good stuff - and bad stuff, for that matter - is inspirational for my writing.  I remember having a conversation with a friend about the Harry Potter series.  She wondered why I found it so compelling (for those of you unaware, I am a complete Harry Potter fanatic).  I went on for a while about the depth of the story - clearly, Ms. Rowling has reams of notebooks full of information and ideas about the whole wizarding world and its population.  I chatted about the timeless, human themes - good vs. evil, the heroic journey, love and romance, mythic beasts and metaphor.  The last thing I said was that I loved the series because I wanted to be able to write like J.K. Rowling.  That was the one thing that my friend didn't get - that wasn't something she thought about when she read books.  I was surprised.  I thought everyone read books because they wanted to write books.  Apparently not.

So, now that I've got a really good (well, I think it's really good) idea for a novel I'm reading for research.  Not just non-fiction and archival sources - part of the story is set in the 1930s.  I've started reading mystery novels published in the 1920s and 1930s to get a feel for the literature and language of the period.  Reading is very good for writing!

Cheers!

My Original Blog

I originally opened this blogger account to start a blog containing useful hints and tips for Unitarian Universalist Religious Educators.  I had been one for seven years, served two congregations and really loved the work.  I was thinking about ways of keeping involved and on top of the current issues, etcetera.  I opened the account, made a pretty page, wrote an introductory message and made a list of topics to blog about.  And, never did anything with it again.  I thought that was my passion.  I thought it was the one, most important thing I ought to and could do with my life.  I kept looking at the Liberal Religious Educators Association website for job postings.  I volunteer for children and youth things at my home congregation and with the national organization.  When I started the blog and the volunteering, I was doing it to keep involved when the time came for me to be a Director of Religious Education again.  I'm not saying it isn't important work anymore, just that perhaps it's not my most important work anymore

Then, I had an idea for a novel.  I'd started something last year.  I had about 20 handwritten pages introducing my intrepid sleuth.  But, a few weeks ago a real mystery came into my mind.  I'm pretty sure this big idea had to do with all the Cary Grant movies from the '30s I was watching.  No matter - it was a real idea for a murder mystery and I actually had the important parts of the story formulated in my mind before I got out of bed that morning.

Then, I started thinking about an MFA in Writing degree.  The program helps writers complete something for publication while learning more about the craft of writing.  Then, I found out that the University of Hawaii at Manoa has a big language, linguistics and literature school with a doctoral program in writing.  (I am actually interested in completing a Ph.D.  I'm also really keen on spending at least four years of my life in Hawaii!)

Then, I read a blog post about being an artist.  The fellow told me to: write what I like; use my hands; read what I like, then read what those authors liked; do good work, then put it where people can see it.  So, I started writing.  I started writing and putting it where people can see it.  Granted, I don't know that it's particularly good and I only have 8 friends and relatives following this blog.  However, I am writing and putting it where people can see it, if they want to.

The moral of the story?  What I'm really passionate about is writing.  So, I should do that.  A lot.

Cheers!

Deep Meaningful Personal

I really like reading Schmutzie's stuff at schmutzie.com.  Sometimes it's just cute pictures of her cats, or her toes, or a tree and a poem or something.  Sometimes she writes about shoes - super, awesome shoes.  But most of the time it's deep, meaningful and personal.  Like her most recent blog which is hopeful and beautiful while being tragic and sad at the same time.  I hope one day to be as brave as her.  I often feel like I'm reading her diary - which feels voyeuristic and weird.  Then, I remember she's put this out there for me to read.  Which still feels weird when I think about it really hard.

I love to write - the act of writing is satisfying to me.  Do I need others to read it to make it real?  Like that tree in the forest thing - if there are no ears to hear the sound is a sound actually made?  If there's no one else to validate the writing has the act been worthwhile?  Well, sure - I write in my journal and it's very cathartic.  But, would I feel comfortable having others read it - strangers who live a million miles away and have never met me?  Would it be easier for strangers to read it and less comfortable to have friends read it?  Or vice versa?  If I write a book that an agent actually reads it won't be my diary, but it will still be part of me.  Part of me on the page, in black and white for all to see.  That sounds a little scary.  And, yet, I really appreciate the posts that Schmutzie puts out there.  They are heart-warming and heart-breaking.  I love that connection  I make with another human being when I read her stuff.  And, I'm an extreme introvert, so I don't make connections quickly. Of course, in a way I've known her for over 20 years - but, not really.

It's amazing what you can do with a piece of paper and a pen, or a keyboard and a website!  Bare your soul and connect with others in deep, meaningful and personal ways.

Cheers!

Write What You Like

Thanks to Austin Kleon for his post about being an artist.  His third suggestion for being an artist/writer is 'Write the book you want to read', and he gave me permission to 'write what I like'.  As he says, the maxim 'write what you know', is not only cliche but boring.  I have to agree - I'm pretty sure that no one is really interested in a long, meandering story about a woman (nearly forty and lowering her cholesterol) who spends her days as an assistant to a university vice-president and her evenings and weekends as an amateur burlesque performer ... hmmm.  Seriously, my life is actually quite mundane and would not make for interesting reading.  However, what I like is mystery novels and history.  And, I can write that!

My plan is for this blog to become an exercise in 'publishing' something at least once a month - I'm trying not to be too ambitious.  I'd love to publish a post once a week, but I don't know if I have that much resolve.  My dear friend at A Blissful Life posts about once a week and I love it!  So, hopefully I can do the same.

For now this is a small blog.  My personal exercise in writing what I like and doing it often!

Cheers!