Maureen Bush's Blog, page 11

May You Live In Interesting Times

When I wrote our Christmas letter, our year sounded so difficult, I had to ease back in the writing so I didn’t depress friends and family with it. And yet it’s been a year of incredible growth, too. I guess they come together – struggles and growth.

Our year included malaria, lesser illnesses, the house next door torn down and replaced by a jerk builder who damaged our property, and the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history, as flooding tore through the city.

We’re fine now – the family, the house next door, our city. My wish is that next year be a little quieter. Just a little less interesting, please. I’ll be glad to live a little more quietly, and put the chaos into my stories.

Maureen

 

Returning to Sentience

Somehow in the chaos of Christmas, a series of furnace repairs culminating in a furnace replacement, and a cold that sucked my brain down to my toes, I completely forgot I have a blog. I did remember I’m a writer, but knew there was no point in trying to write without a brain.

I’m now returning to sentience. We’re ready-enough for Christmas, and I’ve actually excavated the debris on my desk. And I’m making writing plans for the new year. I have several projects to edit, and when that’s done, a new project to dive into. And a whole series of ideas. Oh, there are so many ideas. That’s the best part of writing. This is one of the greatest joys of being a writer – those ideas that leap out of the ether, with their siren call. Come, come, play with me. Forget the world. Come and play.

Wishing everyone their own particular joys this season,

Maureen

How Language Changes

There’s a line from A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens that has me thinking about how language changes over time, not just in word choice, but in the very meaning of the words.

From the last paragraph, about Ebenezer Scrooge: “He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived up on the Total-Abstinence Principle ever afterwards…”

I’d love to discuss this with a high school class!

Maureen

From Quiet to Chaos

I’m back from San Diego, feeling deeply quiet, plunging into the chaos of Christmas. The next three weeks are completely booked, with baking scheduled, shopping to finish, wrapping, an airport run, a couple of birthdays to tuck in, and a Christmas caroling party with a crowd sardined into our little house.

The trick is to maintain the quiet. My preference would be to return to a month of silence – instead, I launch straight into Christmas.

May it be a deeply peaceful Christmas, underneath the chaos.

Maureen

On Nelson Mandala’s Death

I was in a Buddhist retreat session when Rinpoche received a text informing him that Nelson Mandala had died. He immediately began to practice, and then spoke about him for a little while. It was exquisitely beautiful.

This may be retreat-influence talking, but while I feel grief, my greatest emotion is glory. What a glorious man. What an example of who we can be, every one of us. Not President of South Africa, but deeply compassionate. This is what human beings are capable of. This is who we can become. This is what we are meant to be.

Maureen

 

Flying Away

I’m off to San Diego for a meditation retreat. I’m planning some writing, too, in the quiet. And some walking on the beach, listening to the ocean, and watching the palm trees sway.

Maureen

A Challenge to Writers and Illustrators for Kids

As part of my Christmas giving, I have decided to donate a buffalo through plancanada.ca. Why a buffalo? Because I have buffalo in my story The Veil Weavers. Of course, mine are bison and this is a water buffalo, but hey… it’s still a buffalo. And it will make a family very happy. https://plancanada.ca/GiftsofHope/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=16&cat=Animal+gifts

My challenge to all my kid-writer and illustrator friends (and writers for adults) is to find a donation that fits with one of your stories. Plan Canada has a catalogue, as does Operation Eyesight and Unicef.

Derek Mah, there must be a Save the Komodo Dragon fund somewhere. Monica Kulling – an animal shelter? And Art Slade, Plan Canada has a pig just for you. To anyone who accepts my challenge: please let me know, and pass on the challenge.

Maureen

 

 

 

 

 

Writing for Children II

At the end of the course I taught on Writing for Children, I asked my writers what they would suggest I keep or change, if I taught it again. Collectively, they liked what I taught, but wanted more writing time. I joked we need Part II in January, focused on writing exercises, and they said Yes. So we are. Writing for Children Part II, at the Alexandra Writer’s Centre, focused on in-class writing exercises and critiquing of student stories. Want to join us?

Maureen

 

Journey

I have found the book that exactly captures why I love fantasy. Journey by Aaron Becker, is a picture book without words, in which a girl draws a doorway on her bedroom wall and steps through into another world.

The blurb about Aaron Becker says, “To this day, his favorite destination remains his imagination, where he can often be found drawing secret doorways and magic lanterns.”

This is why I love to write, because I can play in my imagination.

Maureen

 

My Mini Writing Retreat

I was given a wonderful gift of two nights at a condo in Canmore, for a writing retreat. I leapt in, editing a long manuscript I really needed to concentrate on. Somehow, I miscalculated and planned for three days of hard work, in what turned out to be 47 hours at the condo (between arrival and departure times). When I got home I dove straight back into it, and have finally managed to get through it. There’s more work to do, but that’s for next week. For now, I can consider my writing retreat a success.

Maureen