Writing Process "Blog Hop"

My friend, Jane Warren, whom I met at grad school (which she completed and I didn’t!), invited me to be part of a virtual game of blog tag. Fellow writers link from writer to writer, answering a few questions as we go. Since at the moment I am thinking about writing a lot more than doing it (kind of like I was thinking about writing my thesis instead of actually doing it), I thought this exercise was apropos. So, thanks for the invite, Jane. Make sure you take a moment to visit Jane’s site. She’s a very witty, intelligent writer and I look forward to reading her forthcoming work. 

Below I have tagged three writing friends: Kristin Butcher, Shelley Leedahl, and Sheryl McFarlane. Please take the time to visit their websites and/or blogs. (They'll be posting and linking to other great writers after May 12.) 


What am I working on?
I’m working on filling the well. My last major project was Long Beach Wild, which came out in 2012. Planet Ark, for young readers, came out in 2013, but I think it was Long Beach Wild that drained me. I had been thinking about this book for a long time and worked on it for at least five years. A good deal of primary research went into it and then there were the issues of having to pretty much cut it in half when it got to my publisher (sob) and having it just slink in under the wire before my publisher went in to creditor protection. (All resolved now and the book is out there in the world.) Those last two books were good projects I’m proud of, but other than having a few ideas stewing, I’m not working on any of my own projects at the moment. I am helping a friend write down her memories of living on a small island near Tofino, which is very enjoyable, and it's nice just to be the scribe and not the “creative genius” for a while. I also have a small publishing company, and we are slowly (very) releasing books, so that is keeping me close to books, even if I’m not actively immersed in writing one at the moment.

One note though. Even though I’m not working on an essay or book at the moment, I am writing. I’m writing more letters, which has been very enjoyable. And, for the moment, art – specifically collage and “correspondence art” (a fascinating movement I’m trying to learn all I can about) -- is helping provide  a creative outlet. 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
This should be a shorter answer. The work I am most passionate about is rooted in place. My favourite essay, Stone Heart, was written when I was sailing in Haida Gwaii; Long Beach Wild comes from a fascination with local history and after spending years walking that long stretch of sand. I suppose my voice, which I try to stay true to, makes my work slightly different, but I don’t think you could pick it out of a lineup! I’m a fairly “straight up” writer and I think that’s why I’ve had a fair bit of success writing about science for children. You have to be able to explain things in a way that makes sense, while, hopefully, still holding the reader’s interest.

Why do I write what I do?
There are a few ways to approach this question. I write non-fiction because I love doing research. I feel as if I could research forever – visiting archives, doing interviews, travelling, etc. – but at some point you actually have to start writing!

Ideas get in my head that I can’t quite shake. The one and only novel I’ve ever worked on – a novel for children – started from an idea I had over 23 years ago. I can still remember the exact spot I was sitting when the idea came to me. I think about this story often and occasionally jot down ideas. Perhaps one day I will actually finish it. I live in eternal hope. 

More and more though, I write about the history of the west coast of Vancouver Island. Interviewing local people, visiting First Nations communities, spending time on the ocean and in the forest, are endlessly fascinating to me and this has been some of the most personally rewarding work I’ve done. I’ve met entirely new groups of people that I might not otherwise have met because I was interested in hearing their stories. For the most part, people just love to be asked.

How does my writing process work?
I am a morning person. When I was writing full time (and had young children), I could often get up at 5 or 5:30 and get right to my desk. Sometimes it felt like I started to work even before I woke up, because I often had an idea in my head that I just needed to get down. (More often than not it wasn’t actually a very good idea, but it felt urgent at the time!) I would do most of my writing during the morning and would try to save the early afternoon for research, answering emails, tending to the business of writing. By mid- to late-afternoon, I’d be done and ready to hit the beach or the garden. Now that I am working full time (at a "real" job), I  write when I can - in the evening, on weekends, or jot down ideas in a notebook when I'm on the beach. 


 KRISTIN BUTCHER

I’ve known Kristin for several years now. We’ve met at retreats and through various writerly events as we’re both part of the network of children’s writers on Vancouver Island and in British Columbia. Kristin is a whirlwind of energy and output. She is endlessly prolific and when she’s not writing, she’s creating art.

Kristin’s bio: Award-winning author, Kristin Butcher, is addicted to pencil and paper. She might be reading, writing, drawing, or painting, but it’s a sure bet paper is involved in some way. A teacher for 17 years, but a writer her whole life, Kristin published her first mid-grade novel (The Runaways/Kids Can Press) in 1997. She now has 21 titles for children and teens, with two more waiting in the wings. Look for Alibi (Orca Currents) in the fall and In Search of Sam (Dundurn YA) next spring. Learn more at: www.kristinbutcher.com

SHELLEY LEEDAHL

I first met Shelley about 14 or so years ago when we both attended the Labrador Creative Arts Festival. I suspect we are both still dining out on the stories that came from that experience! We’ve stayed in touch over the years and I am so delighted that she has just moved to Vancouver Island. This is very welcome news. Shelley is one of the most dedicated and hard-working writers that I know and I’m proud to have a section of my bookshelf dedicated to her poetry and fiction.

Shelley’s bio: Shelley A. Leedahl is a multi-genre literary writer, editor, and instructor. Aside from her numerous publications--including her most recent books, Listen, Honey (stories, DC Books),  Wretched Beast (poetry, BuschekBooks), and the forthcoming I Wasn't Always Like This (essays, Signature Editions) -- Leedahl also works part- time as a radio advertising copywriter. She was born and raised in Saskatchewan, and recently moved from Edmonton to Ladysmith, BC. Learn more at www.writersunion.ca/member/shelleya-leedahl.  

SHERYL McFARLANE

Back in 1988, when I first started to get into the publishing biz, there weren’t really that many of us around. But Sheryl McFarlane was and still is. Sheryl’s book Waiting for the Whales, is one of my all-time favourite children’s book. My editor gave it to me when my first daughter was born and I will never give this gem away (except, perhaps, to my own children’s children). Sheryl is a prolific writer of books for children and young adults and she is just plain passionate about books for young people. I so appreciate her work reviewing books and advocating for writers, writing, and literacy, which she keeps up on her blog, sherylbooks.wordpress.com.  

Sheryl’s bio: Sheryl McFarlane is the author of more than a dozen award-winning books and Ebooks for kids and teens, including Waiting for the Whales, Jessie's Island, and Eagle Dreams.  Island Santa, her latest picture book, is based on a west coast tradition of delivering gifts by boat at Christmas time to those living in isolated coastal communities. Sheryl lives in Victoria, Canada. Learn more at www.sherylmcfarlane.ca and  www.sherylbooks.wordpress.com

Have Glue Stick, Will Collage

We some great family time last weekend, a four-day weekend in Canada, visiting family for Easter. For us, that means a couple of trips by ferry, which means waiting in line. Lucky for me, I had a stack of old German travel brochures, wrappers from chocolate Easter eggs, newspapers, magazines, scissors and a glue stick. So...I made a few collages.

Evidence of chocolate consumption in this one. Wish I hadn't included the rabbit, but it's a good record of the weekend!

This was actually started before the weekend, using endpapers from an old book (Call of the Wild),  an image transfer (the nautical image), transparencies and an image from a vintage children's encyclopedia. 

And here's some outgoing mail art I've sent over the past few weeks:

My answer to a mail art call: eggs. This piece was displayed at the Budapest Stamp Museum in Budgpest, Hungary during Easter and was posted (along with many other eggs) on artist,
Eva Mosonyi's site. 

Answering a mail art call for "labyrinths." Glad to see it made it! 

Birds flying off to Australia with a peregrine falcon stamp.

To one of the grand dadadada-dies of postal art, Jas Felter. 

Side 2 of the above envelope. From a vintage chiropractor brochure with an "eye mask" from my stash of old pharmaceutical labels. 

Answering the mail art call from Moan Lisa: 5089. (Yes, more pharmaceutical labels. Can't resist.)

Playing with image transfers (on packing tape), stencils, and my beloved chimera. This one went to Torma Cauli in Hungary and I'm glad to see it made it. 

Okay, that's enough nonsense for now. I also have a whole whack of "incoming" mail to share. That will have to wait for another day.

(It was nice to see some of the collages I posted on April 8, made their destination. Here are a few: Dale Roberts' Mailmania 5; Peter at Flip Flop Mail Art; Goop Mail Art (love how their display their incoming mail); Dame Mailarta (this is an older mailing for World Banana Day) and finally, Philip Leclerc received my brilliant red dragon envelope. Thanks, all! It's great to see things make it through the postal system relatively intact.)

Tidying Up

As of Friday, I had a pretty messy work space and a stack of mail to attend to (yes, a very nice problem). Saturday evening, I found myself alone for the night, so spent that evening and the next morning playing catch up. Collaging, writing, scanning, etc. It nice to have some devoted time and the space to make a mess (in various rooms). I had a stack of sign language cards parents use to teach pre-verbal children which were about the perfect size for small collages/postcards, so that's what I focussed on for the most part.

This was one of my first experiments with packing tape transfers and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Not sure how it will stand up over time though, considering that this kind of tape eventually becomes brittle and cracks. Perhaps I should seal them with matte medium? 

Another packing tape transfer experiment. 

This might be my favourite of the lot. I used an image from this great podiatry book my sister gave me for Christmas. (She knows me so well.)  It was serendipity that the word "foot" lined up with the pig's feet. 

More serendipity. I had already started this one with an image I had cut from an old issue of New Scientist and then I found the mail art call for "Cradle of Cosmonauts." You just have to go with those things. 

Weekend catch up: awards and art

It's a very rainy weekend, so I've been making lists, crossing things off said list, and playing a bit in the "studio." (Sounds fancier than it is.) I'm just a week back from another holiday in the US, but this time I took my husband. We toodled down the Washington and Oregon coasts as far as Tillamook and then headed inland to Troutdale (had a surreal evening - St. Patrick's Day as it turns out - at Edgefield) and then Portland. The way home was via the Columbia Gorge and wine country. It was a wonderful, relaxing week, full of poking around and great discoveries. The only stressful point was nearing the craziness of Seattle rush hour on a Friday afternoon at the start of spring break. That's when our plan to just explore with no plans hit a snag. But, all in all, it was a success. I had a few collage/mail art scores and even had time to finally learn about "gelli printing" (printing on a gelatin plate) during a course at collage in Portland. I resisted the urge to run out and get all of the supplies as I am wont to do. I have more than enough art supplies to deal with at the moment, but it's definitely something I'll explore more later.

I've been scanning away, trying to capture some of the goodness arriving in my mail box. First though, I did get a nice piece of electronic mail a few weeks ago when I learned from my publisher at Kids Can Press, that Planet Ark has been short-listed for a "Green Book Award" from The Nature Generation.

Envelope made of a page from a typewriter manual, washi tape, slide holders with vintage typography. 

I'm very curious to see how this one makes it through the mail. I've been wanting to play around with the plastic "sleeves" for slides and after finding a box of them, I took it as a sign. Here's the reverse of that envelope.

I thought this envelope was the perfect one to hold a strip of stamps Canadian authors that I've been holding on to for a long time. 

Here is some other mail art that I made while on our trip. It was a bit random, using bits and pieces I found along the way. And I made pretty good use of the pharmacy label dispenser I scored on the first day of the holiday at an antique mall in Port Angeles. Be prepared for lots of "May Cause Drowsiness" stickers.

My beloved chimeras yet again. 

And I've received some nice pieces lately as well.

A wonderful chicken-themed envelope from Pamela (she of the Cappuccino and Art Journal, which you really should follow.)
It also included a lovely, newsy type-written note from Pamela, so that was a real treat. 

These are the two stamp head ATCs I received from the swap Karen organized over at Mail Me Some Art. 

(Update: I realize I neglected to identify the artists. Bad form. The ATC on the left comes from Jo Murray in Australia, who I seem to be connecting with on all sorts of fronts. And the card on the right comes from Michele in Alexandrai, Virginia. Thanks you two!)

And more birds from Jennifer via a mail art swap on Swap Bot. This was a very cheerful surprise to receive. 

The reverse. 

From Petropetal in South Africa. 

Finally, here are two outgoing collages.

Out to Beth. Book cover (Call of the Wild), paper bag (the red dots), graph paper, vintage map,
vintage image of a mosquito larvae, printed on tissue paper. 

Outgoing to Australia for a collage swap I'm part of. Not sure about this one. I like the vintage wallpaper (the stripes) and the map and
partial raincoat-clad child, but I'm not over the moon with all the pink. Trying to use up some of the many things I've been receiving through ephemera swaps. Pink it not usually my go-to colour, so this took me outside my usual palette. 

Enough for today. It's looking like more rain, so we'll see what I get up to with my scissors and glue stick today.

Bird on a B (plus bananas and art)

Yes, I put a bird on it. But this bird is on a nice red B and it's winging its way to the next person in the collage swap I'm part of.  I have to say that there is something about a bird on a collage. I'm not quite sure what it is - the shape, the colours, or the fact that they naturally perch on things? Not sure, but, for now, I'm going with it.

I recently picked up Nick Bantock's The Trickster's Hat, which is full of great activities that help ones get over themselves and their fear of putting something on the page. (At least I hope so; it's been good so far! The subtitle is hopeful: A Mischievous Apprenticeship in Creativity.) One of the exercises had you playing around with letters, which is when I realized the beauty of cutting letters in half. Be prepared for more of that.

Recently, I also did a few more grid collages for Karen over at Mail Me Some Art. I wasn't super happy with the way a couple of the ones I made turned out (I called them the Washi Wall of Shame #1 and #2, but I worried that the washi tape on a naked postcard wouldn't withstand the postal system) so I replaced them with these, which used up some of the gazillion stamps I have of Queen Liz:

I also received some nice mail art over the past few weeks. Here are a few pieces:

Thanks, Stacy. I don't get called adorable too often! 

A stunner from Richard Baudet of Marseilles.The envelope is made of wallpaper. 

And I keep meaning to do a post on Ex Postal Facto, but realize I didn't really capture it very well in pictures. I'll post a few things from time to time, but here is the custom cancellation from the event. (When in doubt, mail things to yourself.)

Finally, one of the things that mail artists get up to is to have slightly random (or not) calls for mail art around a particular theme. One that came up on the International Union of Mail Artists was a call for banana-themed mail art in time for International Banana Day (who knew?). So, I played along. So far, one of my envelopes has arrived at its destination. You can see if here on Rebecca Guyver's great blog, The Postal Ledger. Mine is the second image down on this post.

There's lots more to write about, including a few scores I found yesterday when, on a whim, I went to a postal stamp exhibit and show, but I'll spare you - oh, anonymous readers - for now.

Par "Avian" and other things of questionable worth

After a few weeks of constant posting, there was a bit of radio silence around here. I was off in San Francisco having a bit too much fun. More on that later, but let's just say I was here, attending Ex Postal Facto, being inspired and making new friends. I'll eventually get around to doing a post on it, but, for now, head on over to Pamela at Cappuccino and Art Journal and Donovan at the Letter Writers' Alliance (who I missed saying hi to!; boo) for their report on the weekend. For now, here's a bit of in and out from my office.

A new rubber stamp: "par avian." Clearly, I am easily amused.

 I think I will re-do this as the ink isn't picking up that smoothly, but I love the play on par avion.

Outgoing collage for the next person in the collage circle that I'm part of.

Grid paper, shorthand textbook, Japanese text, rubber stamp, tissue transfer, map and other bits.

Envelope for collage: side 1. This is a page from an old stamp album (with a new fish stamp.) 

Envelope for collage: side 2. 

Mail art to my new friend, Pam. Side 1. 

Mail art to Pam, side 2. 

Mail art to a swap-bot friend, Amy.

Mail art to Jennie, who organized Ex Postal Facto. Bits of used envelope. (Not entirely happy with how this turned, out so she might be getting a follow up.)

Mail art to Karen. These images from an old dictionary just cracked me up.