On Becoming a Bird by Emily Darrell

in the new SLQ!

A  rich issue, as usual. But now I'm on the editorial team, and I'm proud.

Check out Winter, by Alec Niedenthal.

And Four Disconnected Truths about my Father  by James Tadd Adcox.

Well, check out the entire issue! It is delicious.

I've been pondering this quote today

What a writer wants to do
is not what he does.



                      Jorge Luis Borges

Potted and live

Christmas trees. My daughter wouldn't have it otherwise, and I've been researching my options. My thumbs are rotten black, so it is likely I'll kill the tree. And then, what's the point? As I was gathering information about care of a live tree and the subsequent replanting (we do not have a hole prepared!) I stumbled upon this article from the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/734418--rented-christmas-trees-a-booming-business Christmas tree rental! What a marvelous idea!

Sometimes kids just do the right thing

Yesterday, as my kids were mixing wet and dry ingredients for two batches of chocolate chip-blueberry-oatmeal muffins, a small woman knocked on our door kitchen door. She was collecting money for a family who lost everything in a fire. Just a minute, I said, and went to get my wallet. But then I remembered I didn't have any cash. And the last coins were given to our babysitter (because I didn't have any other cash). Before I could apologise, my seven year old daughter ran to me with her pink poodle wallet. Mind you, she didn't have much there either, as her last coins went to that same baby sitter (because her parents forget that they need to have cash at home).

***

I push about 5 dollars worth of coins into the slot. The woman leaves.

A minute later my daughter runs to me with a toy--a gray bunny.

I dont' really play with this one anymore, she says. Ask the lady if there were kids in the fire who lost their toys.

At that time I see the woman make it around the corner. I also see that my 20 months old, happy that the muffin making process was left entirely up to her, poured almost an entire carton of milk into the batter. She is quite coordinated for a 20 months old--most of the milk actually did go into the batter, but she is naked and is smeared with chocolate chips.

I'm barefoot, in my pyjamas. Running after that woman seems like an impossible task.

At that very moment my husband walks through the back door and we instruct him to run, run, run after that woman and give her the gray bunny. And he does. And saves the day.

Want to design a flag?

If it wasn't for my ever-curious kids, I would've remained an ignoramus forever. But this morning we stumbled upon National Geographic for Kids contest for ocean flag design. Since my daughter is crazy about everything related to oceans, she got really excited about trying to design a flag. Now, two things: the contest is open to the US residents only (ouch) and it is for kids ages 8 to 14. She's 6 months too young.


But after a bit of clicking I learned what vexillology means. Vexillology is the study of flags. There are five principles of flag design. They are all pretty common sense, but reading through them helped me to organise my thoughts about flags.

1. Keep it simple.
2. Use meaningful symbolism
3. Use 2-3 basic colours
4. No letters of seals
5. Be distinctive or be related

My most favorite flag is Japanese. I've always loved it. I just spent 3 minutes searching for a nice clip art, and the ones that I like want me to pay for them. I'm not willing to spend more than 3 minutes on flag search. At least it is not an obscure little flag. You all know how it looks like.

Canadian is a close second.

Now, she is designing an ocean flag, and I'd like to create a flag for our family. For some reason this activity appeals to me. Now, what colours to I choose for a diorganised wife who should be sweeping the floor at this very moment?

Ideas for book promotion

I was chatting yesterday with a friend about alternative and fun ideas for book promotion, and he suggested I might claim I had an affair with Tiger Woods for a bit of free publicity. Funny, he was not the first one to mention this in the last couple of days. (I don't think I'm capable of having a serious conversation about book promotion.)

Our culture is celebrity obsessed. One thing I'm curious about--how someone who presumably has to work out and practice, finds the time?

Margaret Atwood's gift ideas for beginning writers

This is a great list (from Ms. Atwood's blog). I've wanted a moleskine journal for years, so I just told my husband that the item is number one on my favorite writer's list. Obviously it is a must.

Boxes (#2 on the list), I already have. More than I can handle (we haven't upacked. STILL). I'm going to pry the empty ones away from my kids. How many submarines does one need? Certainly not 5!

Number 3 is compilation of awful things that will happen to you in public (I'm slightly paraphrasing that one. Because I'm an optimist, you see.) And yes, there's a morbid attraction between me and the Number 3.

Number 8, the Art Instinct--I almost placed an order for this one, only to realise that my credit card has expired, and I must have thrown away the replacement. I can be absent-minded at times. I should be receiving the new on in 5 to 7 business days.

Number 10: I've owned and loved for years. YES!

I love when writers I love blog!

Uninspired?

Bored with regular writing prompts? Awkward Family Photos is a marvellous resource of visual writing prompts. Or you can add it to the list of things you waste your time on when you'd rather be writing. But do yourself a favour--skip the comments under the photos. Just skip them.

Meeting with the publisher

Today it poured from early morning to about 5PM. I met with hopefully my future publisher at Good Food Emporium to discuss editing options. I was not impressed that my 20 months old wasn't feeling well and thus she spent the last 30 minutes of the meeting trying to pull my shirt up. Apparently spilling milk and crumbling cookies wasn't entertaining enough for her. I was, however, very impressed with the publisher, who maintained his composure. I was also impressed with myself--nursing in public doesn't phase me out anymore.



Because of the rain I took a cab both ways, and consequently didn't have enough cash for the baby sitter. Luckily she lives next door and I can easily drop by tomorrow for the rest of her fee.



When I came home, we saw the most amazing rainbow out of our window--bright, wide, and huge.

Back to blogging? I'm trying to.

Piotr Siwecki from Minimalbooks (a Polish zine devoted to translations of contemporary English-writing writers) put up an interview with me on his site. There's an English version, the one I linked to, and a translation into Polish. Cool!

So it just happens that Minimalbooks was the first one to semi officially hear from me that there are semi official good news about the publication of my novel, tentatively titled Swearing in Russian at the Northern Lights. But I won't tell more for now.

But if the semi-official good news become more or less official, I hope to be blogging about the journey towards a publication, in more or less positive tones, I hope.

I recently read this essay, published in 2004, I noticed. It was the most depressing piece about being a writer I've ever read. Thanks, Len, (no, really), for sharing this. So the bottom line, I'd like not to succumb to this kind of thinking, and I will chirp cheerfully about the good stuff. There must be good stuff. I'm an eternal optimist.



This is a picture of Halifax that I like.