book rec

100 Day Project – Halfway There

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Within the last fifty days, I shared with you my intention to begin and complete a one hundred day project following Suleika Jaouad’s The Book of Alchemy. I’ve read her chapter introductions, and then each of the ten essays by various authors, absorbed their stories, dove into the prompts, and for the most part wrote for as long or as short a time that my essay needed.

Before I get into the weeds of this project and process, I would like to readily admit that I think I’ve succeeded in my non-stated goals. I am writing every day; not just these prompts, but working on my book, writing posts to publish on my website, taking notes for future writing projects.

Because the authors are so varied in their backgrounds, their writing styles, and the stories they choose to share, one thing that I’ve been doing is thinking and contemplating what I want to write about, how much of my personal experiences I want to share, and really concentrating on continuing to grow as a writer. I’m seeing that many of the prompts can be blended together, I can create multi-part essays and longer pieces, and there is a lot of inward looking. I can see going back again to some of the prompts and expanding what I’ve already written, starting the prompt anew, continuing or creating a chapter/monthly series on one or more of the prompts.

I do intend to share some of what I’ve written with the world.

Word counts are not the end all be all of writing. I could easily write over 1000 words a day, but is it worth reading? Not if it’s crap. Having said that, it’s still important to have touchstones to know where I am in the writing process. While the essays I’ve written with these prompts can be left as standalone pieces, some may be refashioned, edited, and of course, everything can be made better.

For the fifty days so far, I have written approximately 25,133 words, which amounts to 503 words per day. Some days there were a hundred words written, some seven hundred, and there were one or two days when over a thousand words were completed.

While the book gives you no special rules, and you decide what you want to get out of the project, I started with six simple suggestions that I fashioned for myself. They were to keep me on task, accountable, and focused.

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Book Rec – Embrace Your Weird

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Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity by Felicia Day

I originally downloaded a sample of this ebook, and soon discovered that I needed the printed copy. The printed book gave me the opportunity to write in the book in the space provided, and really let me unleash my creativity in colorful ways (see the pens in the photo).

Unfortunately, I put it aside for quite some time, and it wasn’t until I started reading The Book of Alchemy and following those prompts for a 100 Day project did I come to the realization that I wanted to continue with Felicia Day’s inspiring book.

While both books are gateways to jump starting your creativity, they are vastly different. Jaouad’s Alchemy, I think is geared more towards the writer. All of the prompts, so far have been excellent for my writing. Sometimes I write short little vignettes, sometimes thousand word think pieces. I’m looking forward to re-reading all of these once the hundred days are completed.

Day’s book is written perfectly in her voice – irreverent, with gameplay, fantasy, oddities, and fun, and truly speaks to my Gen X brain. I found some of the exercises nostalgic, some tough to get through, but mostly they were deep thoughts that could be examined seriously or frivolously. And one of the good things about Embrace Your Weird, is you can return to it and try the opposite tack – if you began frivolously, now you can do the same exercise with a bit more serious take.

I thought returning to Felicia Day’s book during the solemn, contemplative time of Lent would be a double exercise to explore myself, my spirituality, and my awkward outwardness.

Embrace your weird, and give Embrace Your Weird by Felicia Day a try. I’m excited to return to it in the next days.

Pardon My English

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As you may know, and as I may have mentioned at least once, I have recently been obsessed by Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache book series. This could be a good as well as a bad thing. I’ve read the series twice now and have taken a few forays into the depths of some plot points. I am immersed. One of the negative things I find in binge reading and re-reading so closely together is noticing things like continuity errors that pop up on occasion, things that would typically slip by the reader if the books were read as they were released rather than all at once, the change of a pet’s name or a grandchild’s nickname; the age of someone when their parents died. There is also the redundancy that follows a book series in order to catch-up new readers with things that series regulars know, like the physical characteristics of the characters (I’ve had some issues with a couple of the women characters’ descriptions), their phobias (heights & closed spaces) and their foibles, their likes and dislikes (like Beauvoir’s love of steak frites – why mayonnaise with fries, someone please, please explain this to me, and his dislike of Anglos), their idiosyncrasies (the poetry), their hidden agendas and pasts that play into how they act and react to others and to situations. One of the things I do love about binge reading and re-reading is discovering the Easter eggs hidden and the foreshadowing that are only visible in hindsight.

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Tell Me What You Know

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Mont Royal.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
(c)2024

My first introduction to Louise Penny was with State of Terror, the book she co-authored with Hillary Rodham Clinton, which admittedly was what drew me to the book in the first place. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in mysteries and state department/political thrillers. It’s taken me a few years since then to rediscover the author Louise Penny when her Gamache Series was recommended to me recently in a writing class.

I may have mentioned in a previous note, here or on Facebook, that I’ve become obsessed with Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series. I’ve read the entire series and am less than patiently waiting for the next book that will be released in October. I am about halfway through a second read-through – did I mention that I was obsessed?! I had recommended them to a friend of mine and it turned out she was already reading them! It is so hard to talk to her about them and not give her any spoilers. I had planned to write a proper review and recommendation for next week or the week after, however, today is a special day in the books (and in my own life as I’ll explain).

There should not be any spoilers not found in the synopsis on the backs of the books.

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Author & Books Rec: Jane Yolen

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Jane Yolen turns 85 today. She is the prolific author and/or editor of over four hundred books for both children and adults. She was born in New York City, and now resides in Massachusetts. The book that I loved as a teacher was Owl Moon. I read this to my young classes all the time, and it cemented Jane Yolen as a favorite author of mine. I also remember reading an anthology that included her when I was in college. Back then, I read nearly anything with the science-fiction/fantasy label.

She’s received numerous awards, including the Nebula, the Caldecott, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and most recently, the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.

She is still quite prolific and released three books in 2023 – yes, three books:

Schlemiel Comes to America (illustrated by Oscar Perez)

The Scarlet Circus (introduction by Brandon Sanderson)

Smout and the Lighthouse (with John Patrick Pazdziora; illustrated by Lyndsay Roberts Rayne)

Valuable Links to Check Out:

Jane Yolen (Website)

Bibliography

Writer’s FAQ

For Writers

Happy Birthday, Jane!

Election Connection – Watching Virginia and Maryland

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We are 269 days out from the 2024 Election.

Two races I’d recommend getting involved with are Harry Dunn and Eugene Vindman in Maryland and Virginia, respectively. These two names may seem familiar.

Harry Dunn is a former Capitol Police officer who was at the Capitol the day it was violently attacked by insurrectionists. He has a book out Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th, and he is running for Congress in the 3rd District in Maryland.

Eugene Vindman is a retired Army officer targeted for retaliation by the Trump Administration when he and his brother, Alexander, also an Army officer at the time came forward as whistleblowers when the then President Trump extorted the Ukraine government. Eugene is now running for Congress in the 7th District in Virginia.

Harry Dunn
for Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District.
2024
Eugene Vindman
for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
2024

Please give them whatever support you can.

Providence

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Fate. Coincidence. Providence.

Are they real? Really real?

Thinking about them happening, they might be far off and existential and not as real as touch, but when they happen –

BOOM!

The slight increase in heartbeat, a hitch in breath, the exhilaration of being aware as something remarkable happens right in front of you.

I’ve been aware of the spiritual, the extra-natural, and they are few and far between. Sometimes they travel to my consciousness after the fact, but when they happen within the moment, in the context, they become something special, something extraordinary, something to be held close for all time, and beyond time.

I had two times this week that something like that occurred.

Fate?

Coincidence?

Providence. All the above.

—

Several months ago, my memoir teacher recommended a book to me – one of many – The Cartographers. I presumed it was about maps or map-making, and I wasn’t able to find it in the library app on my Kindle. In the meantime, I read a bunch of other books. On Monday, I decided it was time to try again, so I checked the library app, and there it was: The Cartographers. I checked it out and began to read. Even in the pre-table of contents pages, I wasn’t sure about it – there was a warning of suicidal ideation and self-harm and to take care reading it. I burrowed on.

The main gist is a high school graduate who is lying to her mother about going to college; she lives in NYC with two roommates, meets an odd boy and just shows us her life and gives us some insight and lessons along the way. This did not seem like a book my memoir teacher would be drawn to, but I was definitely drawn to it. I couldn’t believe how much the main character, Ocean, resonated with me in very familiar and emotional ways, sometimes painful. I really related to her, the existential crisis that was continually her personality – I feel that in my bones. As Queen sings, “Is this the real life; is this just fantasy?” Or a simulation on some alien being’s computer. As Ocean asks, “Are you dead too?” I don’t feel that despondency, but it’s a good question.

Are the fate moments real and everything else is fluff? Or the opposite: all the misery and doldrums are real, and the fate moments are the fluff – the golden fleece, the silver lining, the gold at the end of the rainbow.

About halfway through the book, I suggested to my daughter that she would really like this book. She’s seventeen, and it seemed like her kind of style and subject that she might enjoy. She told me to text her. I searched for the book on Amazon to give her the link, so she’d know the title and the author, and I told her to borrow it from the library. It popped up on Amazon: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd, but the cover seemed different. I thought it was the difference between hardcover and softcover editions, and then I realized that I was reading The Cartographers by Amy Zhang.

Not the same book at all.

My teacher had recommended a book about maps and murder and mystery – all in my wheelhouse, and I was reading a book about teen angst and friendship (and loving it by the way), and I suddenly realized that I was reading the wrong book.

Although was it really the wrong book?

It was the perfect book for me, at this moment in time.

Is that fate?

I don’t know, but it was perfect.

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Then today. This morning, I had time to attend mass. The homily was about the poor. Blessed are the poor. But not just bless them but look at them. See them. We all come to the poor and houseless with preconceived notions and judgments; even me. Some of the things my priest said resonated with me, and tears welled in my eyes – I felt seen. I wasn’t, and haven’t been at a poverty level, but I understand not being able to move up, not being able to break even, being embarrassed and isolated. I was seen, but that’s not why I’m writing this.

While my priest was talking about seeing the poor and understanding how difficult it was for the poor to rise from their circumstances, I was wishing that a friend of mine could have been there to hear this homily. This friend is a good and decent person. They do so much for so many without asking for anything in return; it is just in their nature to give more; to volunteer; to be Christ in the world. I’ve witnessed that and have been the beneficiary of that. But I’ve heard them talk about people helping themselves and wanting to do more to get people back on their feet, and I wished they were there in the church this morning, listening to this homily that I thought was something they should hear.

The mass goes on, we say the Our Father, and offer peace. I turned to acknowledge the parishioners behind me with a hand wave of peace, and there they were – the one person I wanted to be there listening to the homily – they were there in the pew a few feet behind me listening to the homily.

I smiled.

I was pleased with how the world works.

And I guess that’s how the world works: being where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there.

Providence, maybe.

The Cartographers by Amy Zhang

The Cartographer by Peng Shepherd

Book Rec (And a Bit More): Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur

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I’ve been really immersed in Native American spirituality and history. I have always been intrigued and felt kinship with Native American/First Nation people, being drawn to their stories, their history, and their lives since I was a child. It’s been something that has ebbed and flowed throughout my life, even with the insensitive and appropriated costumes of my childhood. I know better now, and I hope that in my past teaching in early childhood, I’ve lessened some of those stereotypical ideas as those children grow up and remember their experiences of the culture as best offered by an outsider and non-Native person.

I’ve recently mentioned attending a weekend retreat with Terry and Darlene Wildman and learning about the First Nations Version of the New Testament. It was enlightening and eye-opening, and I enjoyed the ceremonies we were invited to participate in. I’ve been a visitor and participant at the nearby St. Kateri Shrine when they’ve had those ceremonies open to the public.

I spent all of June reading the Daily Readings from the FNV New Testament; it really highlighted the beauty of Native American storytelling, and I felt that I was hearing some of these Scriptures for the first time and in a completely new way.

Which brings me to the most recent book that I’ve been reading: Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur. I must say that I started the book in a naive headspace. I was looking forward to her interviews with modern Native people across Turtle Island (North America), hearing about how they keep their culture and religious rituals alive, and while I’m aware (more than the average person) of the history of the US’s forced removal, forced assimilation, and truly what can only be called genocide of the Native Americans, I was still surprised by so many things in this book that took  me by surprise.

Author/Photographer, Matika Wilbur.
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Book Rec – Embrace Your Weird by Felicia Day

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FELICIA DAY!!!

Felicia Day, taken from her book jacket. (c)2019-2023

Felicia Day is Human Extraordinaire. She’s talented, cute as a button, and has the perfect color red/ginger hair that I strive for. I had known her in geek and fandom circles, and then she appeared in my favorite television show of the moment, Supernatural. Her character was the epitome of geek, nerd, D&D master that I grew up with and grew up as. In honor of her birthday, I am recommending one of her books that I am currently reading.

I borrowed her book, Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity from the e-library at the end of 2019. I read about two chapters in, and knew that a borrowed book, an e-book would not do. I was expected to write in this book – something both foreign to me and impossible to do with an e-book. I broke down and ordered a hard copy in paperback with my Christmas Amazon money and waited until the perfect moment to start.

One word of advice: there is no perfect moment.

Embrace Your Weird book with my go-to post-it notes
and the pens I bought especially for working in this book.
(c)2023

Some of the tasks are really thought-provoking, and some were emotionally draining, but also exhilarating. I was proud of getting through the tasks thus far. I am not even halfway done with the book. I did put it aside for a time for other (creative) projects, and I’ve picked it up again, and in picking it up, I wanted to share it with you.

There are seven chapters with several parts in each chapter. Each chapter lets you look into yourself and learn what might be holding you back from busting out the creativity and finding your jam. That sentence channels Felicia in all the best ways. Don’t be afraid to try. A lot of the hesitation for me (and for Felicia, as it turns out) is anxiety. Name the monster and it can’t hurt you, or something like that.

The book is go at your own pace, which is why I’ve been able to start it, put it down, and continue it. Notice that I said “continue;” not “start again.” The book, like your creativity, is a never-ending journey that pauses when the need arises and continues when you’re ready. I was ready last week, actually, but the book’s been missing. It was a victim of cleaning for guests, and shoved in a large green tote bag, which I only remembered yesterday morning.

This book breaks two of my rules:

  1. Read and follow the directions as closely as possible.
  2. Write in the book.

Despite my guilty childhood of scribbling in books, writing in books is anathema to me, but I’ve adapted with this special book.

I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I am!