Marcus Lopes's Blog, page 42

A Routine Matter

Routine. As an artist, routine is one of the most important tools in my artist’s toolbox. Routine — showing up daily to write — is what keeps my projects moving forward, ensures that I finish something. As a writer, routine is the lifeline I reach for when my schedule is thrown off kilter, and me along with it.
I’m reaching out for that lifeline now.
I spent September and the first 20 days of October criss-crossing the country, on a special assignment during the federal election campaign. Late...

Know Thyself: Take 2

I spent the past seven weeks working on a special assignment for my day job. Seven challenging weeks that rocked me physically, mentally, spiritually. Challenging because of the long days (on average, I put in 16-hour days). Challenging because most of the days I was on my feet (no time to sit) and eating, not so well, on the fly. Challenging because of the different personalities clashing, testing the limits of my patience (I “snapped” during week six when one colleague had gone too far). Ch...

Snapshot

Summer is officially over, displaced by fall — a sign that winter is just around the corner. And winter, should it dare to cross my lips, you’d think, by the adverse reaction of those around me, that I’ve uttered a four-letter expletive. No one wants to think about winter as we’re still trying to hang on to the dying days of summer. So let’s talk about fall. It’s one of my favourite seasons. I love watching the leaves turn from green to yellow and gold and orange and red, and then float to th...

Perspective

It feels like summer is spent, and I don’t know where it went — like I blinked and I missed it. That’s a bit dramatic. It’s just that this summer felt like a struggle, from my writing, to running regularly, to everyday life activities. Maybe part of it, too, was the summer’s intense heat and humidity; on days when it felt like 39C (102F), that type of heat drained my energy, left me breathless. Now, the approaching Labour Day long weekend heralds the end of summer, and as I look back on the...

The Art of Keeping On

One of the things I love about my day job is the flexibility it affords me to write and pursue my artistic projects. Even now as I write (on Monday, 10 August 2015), I’m somewhere between Toronto and Fort McMurray, cruising at 37,000 feet, a bed of fluffy white clouds below. I am literally soaring above the earth while, internally, involuntarily riding an emotional rollercoaster.
Over the weekend I celebrated my 42nd birthday. Another year older. Another year gone by too quickly. Another year...

The Art of Work and Play Revisited

It’s a sunny day here in Toronto. A hot and humid summer day. I don’t want to complain and say it’s “unbearable” because soon enough it’ll be December and we’ll all be complaining about how daftly cold it is. Despite the heat warning issued by Environment Canada, I’m doing my best to enjoy the day, to simply, as Corita Kent advised, “Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.”
Loving the moment, I am listening to my body and letting myself rest. Too ofte...

Social Media and Me

On a recent flight to Edmonton, my colleague and I found ourselves discussing technology. She doesn’t have the internet in her home, or cable, with the intent of limiting what her young son is exposed to. There is, after all, a lot of material — on TV and the internet — that some may consider “questionable.” I could see her point of view. We had four hours to discuss the issue, and while we both saw the pros and cons of technology (in particular the explosion of social media), I think what c...

Undercurrent

On my blog, I write a lot about my writing and my creative journey. This week, I thought I’d do something different and share some of my writing. In-between my longer writing projects I’ve been experimenting with flash fiction. This is one of those pieces.
Undercurrent“What’s going on?” David asked, at the loud thud in the front hall, from the living room where he was seated on the deep, oversized sofa.Peter, standing by the front door and facing into the living room, waited until David looke...

Flow

Another bright, sunny morning to start the day here in Toronto. But if the weather forecast is to be believed, the evening promises rain, at times heavy, with a risk of thunderstorms. Of course the weather can change on a dime, just like a career in the arts, and we have to be willing to just go with the flow.
As we roll into summer, I’m learning to go with the flow. And it’s not easy. That’s because I’m in the homestretch of my current writing project, arriving at the point where I have to s...

Touchdown

Written Thursday, 4 June 2015

It’s one of those bright, sunshiny days, a day where possibility abounds. Writing, I’m seated in the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The view is of the tarmac, and I’m watching the planes take off and land, and taxi to and from their gates. I’m in-between flights, heading to Halifax in about an hour.
Lately, my travel companion has been my novel. Actually, we’ve been together daily (or almost daily when my day job hasn’...