Reconvening

Since I was last here, I slowed down freelancing work, although I have had some interesting contracts on occasion.

Instead, I've been focusing on publishing others' work. While it's been incredibly rewarding and instructive, it's time I return to focus more fully on my own projects.

There've been many creative inspirations over the past handful of years, but the most noteworthy remain in a stack of notebooks and mish-mash of scraps of paper, and a few hopeful entries and submissions.

Current creative projects (working and parked) include:

• a novella, for which I've completed the third draft, but now wonder if it wants to be a full-scale novel
• a site-specific musical play, with a first draft of the book and half of the lyrics/score 
• a slow-growing collection of stories, which I continue to work on and hope to turn into a manuscript 
• two screenplays that could be resurrected in some way, and the idea to turn at least one of them into a series (TV or web) has been on my mind

There are other ideas percolating and steaming away, and for this I am very grateful. So many ideas and potential directions…

But focus and prioritizing in a fertile creative space is what will bear the better product. 

It's an exciting place to be: at the gateway to a project's conclusion. And it's difficult to resist the temptation to touch everything all at once!

In the coming weeks and months, I aim to report on the progress I'm making, as well as reflect on the many things that continue to inspire me.

Updating

The past few months have been filled with updating my skills and editing my story collection.

I'm still writing over at the CWC every couple of weeks, including a series detailing my experiences in a Master Fiction workshop with Nancy Lee.

For the past month, I've been taking a photography course with the very talented Kathryn Mussallem.

Next up, tending to some slightly neglected script projects that could use a bit of water and encouragement.

Lately

The past few months have been filled with courses taken. I've been stocking up on all kinds of motivation:

*Creative Magazine Writing, with the inspiring Daniel Wood;

*Master Fiction Workshop, with another great writer, Nancy Lee;

*Women's Chorus, with the lovely new mama, songstress Miriam Davidson.

And looking down the road, I see a Digital Photography course in my future, and a summer full of travelling and writing.


Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self- consciousness.
~ Aaron Copland

Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.
~ Pablo Picasso

Overloaded

My pal Tony, over at the CWC posted this great piece today. In it, he muses:

"You reach a certain age, and you begin to wonder how come you never paid attention before, why you never noticed that with each change of season, your life becomes less and less about living, and more and more about something else."

Then I just popped over to The Tyee, and found this great post from James Glave, in which he writes:

"I want my experiences and places and purchases to feel honest, comfortable, deliberately human-scale, authentic."

These subjects are also on my mind of late, and I wonder: Is a collective western-world shift occurring?

The view from here

As a short person, I’ve always been aware of my surroundings and how things are not made for me: office chairs never fit, cupboards are always too high; items I want at the supermarket or the library always seem to be on the shelf I am just inches shy of reaching.

Perhaps because I come from a highly wheelchair-accessible city, or because I have many friends with limited mobility, when I travel I’m often conscious of a city’s lack of accessibility. For instance, last spring in Montreal I was deeply disappointed by how wheelchair unfriendly the city is; only becoming aware of it whilst hauling some cumbersome luggage from the train to the metro.

But Kevin Connolly’s recent photo project has me reflecting on some things I don’t regularly think about. Connolly, a 22-year-old Montana artist and athlete was born without legs, uses a skateboard as his main mode of transport. His perspective from his close-to-the ground camera lens, documenting how people look at him, is a reminder of what we often don’t consider:

"Aside from the enjoyment of working on a challenging photo project, I also got the chance to skateboard some pretty crazy locales. Tokyo and Zurich were probably my favorites due to the immaculate sidewalks. However, most of Europe posed a problem that I hadn't considered upon leaving: cobblestones. Those evil little buggers…tore my skateboard apart and created a terrible racket anytime I would go anywhere… I've never seen such nasty cobblestones as those in Romania."

(Image: Kevin Connolly)

Les inspirant langues de Tomson Highway

The strongest aspect of English for me is that it’s the world’s foremost intellectual language, it comes from the head. The French language comes from the heart, it’s an emotional language. And Cree is a visceral language, it comes from a third part of the human body, a part that’s forbidden to be talked about in English. It’s the garden of joy, of pleasure, from which the English language was evicted 4,000 years ago — to put it in theological terms. It’s hysterical. When you speak Cree, you laugh all the time. Every syllable is a kick in the arse. So when I want to laugh, I speak Cree. When I want to make money, I speak English. When I want to make love, I speak French.

The full interview

A story for the year of the rat

You wouldn't want me, standing here, to tell you, would you, about my friend the poet (deceased) who said, 'My heart has followed all my days something I cannot name'?

The Door, by E.B. White