Category Archives: One Writer’s Life Blog
Once Upon a Christmas at Heritage Park
It’s a place where snowy paths lead to adventure
It’s a place where old-fashioned sleigh rides magically warm the heart.
It’s a place where the spirit of Christmas lives.
I hope you find a little adventure and magic this Christmas and enjoy the spirit of the holidays!
Feeling the Spirit of the Holiday – Already!
Magic is in the air! (Photo: M.Kopp)
“It’s your lucky night
Brought you something bright
Something with a twinkle and a glow
To remember
The lights of long ago”
Source: A Christmas Carol, “Lights of Long Ago”
Not even Scrooge could hold a scowl for long in the glow of Calgary’s Zoo Lights. For the past 15 years, this annual holiday treasure has captivated young and old alike. I checked it out last night and ended up chatting with one of the warming fire volunteers, John, for a few moments.
“It’s a cheap date night,” John noted with a big smile, “especially for groups of teens.” And now, some of the teens from 15 years ago are coming back – with young families of their own.
That’s the sweet thing about festive traditions – they have a way of touching the soul and banishing the “bah humbug” in us all!
From penguins to elephants, giraffes to monkeys – animals light up the Zoo! (Photo: M.Kopp)
Did You Know?
- It takes 3 months to set up the display.
- Over 133,000 spectators enjoyed the lights in 2011 (just 3,000 shy of the record-breaking attendance in 2005).
- Ice carving demonstrations are held every Friday and Saturday night.
- If you bring a non-perishable food bank donation, you’ll get a 2 for 1 Zoo admission pass good for the first part of the New Year.
A room, a book, another idea
Ta da!
Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work this writer goes!
Yes, the office is back to its new norm with flooring in place, fresh paint on the walls, and too many years of collected scraps of paper sorted and saved or recycled.
In the midst of the renos, I met my deadline by wrapping up the final edits for a kid’s book on NASCAR drivers (who knew that Jimmie Johnson gets carsick when not behind the wheel of a moving car). If you say you can’t write because you don’t have the space or there’s too much distraction, you’re just not trying hard enough. Proof positive right here.
I also re-discovered a half-baked project idea buried in the depths of the storage closet. The question was what to do with those files. The idea was to explore the fine line between art and craft. I had brainstormed the project with a friend who is an artisan. She had the hands-on knowledge and I had the writing background. It seemed like the perfect partnership, but other commitments got in our way.
With this newly-found idea still percolating through the recesses of my mind, I happened to pick up the September issue of Writer’s Digest. In it was an article about blogging your way to a book. Our idea would work well as a series of blog posts.
I think I like that idea. Time to call Sus and see what she thinks!
Are you blogging about a topic that has book potential? If you stuck with it long enough to build a solid platform to support a book, would you consider traditional marketing of the idea, write an e-book, or look at self-publishing?
“Before writing, think a lot.
After writing, erase a lot.”
– Carlos Herrar Alvarez
Change is the Air!
“If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It means you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or one ear peeled for the avant-garde coterie, that you are not being yourself…”
– Ray Bradbury, from Zen and the Art of Writing, Capra Press, 1990.
Empty and ready for change!
Funny the things you find when you gut your office after 15 years. Tucked behind my massive desk weighted down with a ton of books was a slip of paper that had fallen from the bulletin board many years before; it had that quote written on it.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve started to question the direction my writing career is taking. I’m busier than ever, but more and more of the projects aren’t challenging my creative side. I’m not writing with gusto, with love, or having a whole lot of fun. The work has started to become… well… work.
Finding this slip of paper was just one more sign that I need to lighten up and get back to what made me happy with my writing career. I’m taking it to heart and I’m going to re-kindle the enthusiasm I used to feel about it.
Boxes in the bedroom, computer in the kitchen, desk in the living room – but the writing goes on.
So in the midst of chaos – with an office spread out over the kitchen table, boxes in the bedroom, and a desk in the living room – I’m ditching autopilot and taking back the controls of this flight. Change is in the air!
How does change affect your writing? Does it stimulate creative thought or make it impossible to get anything done?
Stanley Mitchell Hut Inspires
Daunting? Perhaps. Possible? Absolutely.
Teaching a writing workshop in an alpine hut – without wireless, laptop, or so much as a Writer’s Market guide had my mind buzzing with ideas. Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) Jasper-Hinton Section Representative Wayne Campbell facilitated the four-day getaway by asking two friends to become writer and artist in residence. I would do “something” on writing; Rory MacDonald would lead the watercolor and sketching sessions.
But, as I soon discovered, whatever I had planned in the way of writing sessions would have to fit into the reality of a long weekend at ACC’s Stanley Mitchell Hut in Yoho National Park.
The fun is about to begin! (Photo: M.Kopp)
The catch?
The sessions had to work around day hiking up to Kiwetinok Lake, scrambling up to the Mt. Kerr Col, summiting to stand beside the mighty cairn on the peak itself, and sauntering through meadows and passing cascades – ranging from tiny to towering – to reach Isolated Peak Col and the Whaleback.
Lunch at Kiwetinok Lake (Photo: B. Kopp)
Writing and drawing would take a backseat to boat building for the 8 pm SM Yacht Club Regatta. Lessons couldn’t be held between the hours of around 5 to 7 pm due to cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and Italian, Indian and Mediterranean-inspired cuisine.
Haute couture... I mean cuisine... in the backcountry! (Photo: M.Kopp)
Botanical identification was a priority – as was map-reading, general chatting, impromptu baseball game cheering, yoga stretching, hut cleaning, campground strolling, creek dipping, ground squirrel watching, and alpen glow observing. Oh yeah – and sleeping!
Stretching in the shadow of Mt. Kerr (Photo: M.Kopp)
The end result?
You’d be surprised. The writers in the group did some free-flow writing, descriptive word listing, set subject writing , editing, topic planning, showing (not telling) with words, and creating – with a short, finished articles to wrap up the three days. I even managed to find time for a little watercolour painting.
Now if only I could carry this productivity and creativity through to the rest of my life!
Seize the day!
June monsoons hit with a vengeance last night – thunder, lightening, hail, and torrential rain for much of the evening – making me doubly glad I took time for a hike up Forgetmenot Ridge before the weather descended.
Normally running underground at this point, the Big Elbow was showing signs of spring rain and winter melt-off. (Photo Credit: B. Kopp)
Wind gusts of up to 100 km/h added to the ridgetop experience! (Photo Credit: M. Kopp)
As always, there were beautiful things to see! (Photo credit: M, Kopp)
Now that the weather has turned, it’s time to hole up in the office. With no major deadlines looming, I can update the blog, learn more about LinkedIn and other social media marketing tools for writers, catch up on the requisite writer’s bookwork, and send out a couple of new article queries. Making the most of each day – whatever it brings – is what makes being a freelance writer worthwhile.
What are you up to today?
“We would accomplish many more things
if we did not think of them as impossible.” – Vince Lombardi
Weekend adventures
“We all find time to do what we really want to do.” – William Feather
Hiking season is here and even though unseasonably cool, damp weather and ridiculously low snow levels seems to be keeping many people off the trails, we found pockets of perfection in the Kananaskis Country foothills and creek bottoms this past weekend.
Wildflowers are blooming on Sibbald's Deer Ridge Trail
Jura Creek is an excellent 1/2-day hike in low water levels!
Hiking stimulates the writer’s mind
If I said I hiked to the summit of Tokyapebi ipa today, you might be puzzled. If I said Yates Mountain, you might still look at me strangely. If I said Barrier Lake Lookout in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, you’d probably be able to find it on a map. It crossed my mind today that clarity is key in communication.
Barrier Lookout Summit
Stoney names are familiar to Stoney tribe members west of Calgary; not so well-known outside this close-knit group. While historians and ranchers in western Alberta might know of Emily Yates and the Diamond Cross ranch she ran (now the site of the YMCA’s Camp Chief Hector) below today’s summit, most hikers commonly refer to this hike as Prairie View and Barrier Lookout. Know your audience and write accordingly, I thought to myself.
I also realised that I would like to let other hikers know that Prairie View trail from Barrier Dam (7.7 km, 500 m elevation gain) was almost dry in the lower sections, while mud and snow patches are still prevalent in the upper. The short 0.6 km (125 m elevation gain) section up to the lookout saw 0.5 m snow drifts. Packing gaiters and boot crampons are a good idea. Need to blog, tweet and share.
Snow lingering in high country.
Now you’d think with all this climbing up the trail, trekking through snow, and thinking about posts and tweets, that’d be enough. Not so! Queries were drafted, snippets of articles were re-evaluated, and future blogpost ideas were stored. Seems this writer’s mind is fuelled by foot power.
What motivates you to compose in your head?