Maureen Bush's Blog, page 8

Feather Brain, Book of the Month

I’ve just finished my first TV interview, via Skype, with TVO (Ontario). Feather Brain is the Reading Rangers Book of the Month for June, and I had a brief chat with Melissa about the story.

I’m hoping the kids who read the story will check on-line and discover the website, howweirdcanyouget.com, where Lucas bought the magic dinosaur-making kit. And send me an email, perhaps with their own ideas for magic for the website.

Maureen

Too Many Booboos

My family and I have had a tough couple of weeks. My mom fell and spent a week in hospital and then a couple weeks in a rehab place while her hip healed. My older daughter flew off her bike face first into rocks. I was hit in the face with the corner of falling plywood. After cleaning up the blood… I had a banged up face and an impressive black eye. Then I fell for a really good Royal Bank phishing imitation, and am now fighting back against identity theft.

Next week we get planned chaos, with some landscaping work to complete the back garden rebuild partially triggered by the house that went up next door last summer.

I’m not sure where to go with this, except to try to keep writing through it all. Maybe some of this will end up in a story.

Maureen

Bunny Watching

I’m watching a bunny watching me. The bunny is sitting in the garden, at the base of the pear tree, in the little bunny-sized divet in the earth the bunny settles into each morning. I’m walking on my treadmill in front of the window, pretending to write while I watch the bunny. Rabbit. Hare. It’s not fully grown but these guys get big – long. They’re a bit scary when they leap across the road. So we call it a bunny, to emphasize the sweetness.

Will this lead to more bunnies in my stories, the way I like to add crows and apple trees? Maybe a really big hare. Hmmmm.

Maureen

Apple Blossoms

Playing With Story

I just wrote 2 1/2 pages of a new story. I have no idea what it’s about, but ah, that feels good.

I’ve been playing with exploring story through writing, and sometimes fall into something totally unexpected. This is some of the deep magic of story, when the story has its own idea of where it’s going, and my job is to play along and let the story emerge.

This story began from a writing prompt I read today, and a photo that caught my interest yesterday, and now I have an intriguing beginning and no idea of what it’s about or where it’s going or why the characters are who they are, although one is already quite clear and the other is emerging.

I have no idea if this will develop into anything – well, it will, because it’s bursting with energy. But I have no idea of what it will become, or when. And that’s part of the magic of writing too, like the magic of babies. So I’ll sit with my baby and nurse it along and see what it grows up to be.

Maureen

Robins Nesting

We’ve been watching robins nesting in our garden – finding bits, tugging at string, and today I saw one of them sitting on the nest. The nest is tucked up in a pear tree that’s not quite leafed out. I’m hoping we’ll be able to watch once it’s fully leafed. I’m sure there’s a wonderful analogy between nesting and writing – collecting bits, weaving them into shape, sitting and waiting, watching the babies hatch and then leave home – but for now I’m content to just watch the birds. (The nest is in the middle, just below the horizontal branches).

Maureen

Story Wrestling

I’ve been story wrestling, figuring out where the bits fit into place around each other, walking on my treadmill while I think and read and work. While I walk I’ve seen the neighbourhood bunny doing his (her?) rounds every morning, nibbling on my just-emerging irises. Now the pear tree outside my office window is coming into bloom. It all makes the wrestling easier, adding a layer of joy to my day.

Maureen

Stuck In A Story

I’ve been stuck in a story for the last week, struggling to move it forward and failing. Today I changed the plan a little, introducing something I’d thought about but hadn’t developed. It’ll add another layer of tension to the story.

As I worked on it this morning, another piece fell into place, something that had inserted itself in the story earlier, but that I hadn’t explored further. Now it all fits together, and I’m no longer surprised the story got stuck.

At least, that’s my theory. Writer’s block, my style. This week will be the test – will the story move forward now?

Maureen

The Accidental Snowman

After the storm brought down a limb of a tree, my daughter and I built a snowman. Well, the snow wasn’t wet enough to roll into big balls, so we built a snowkid. Now we need some dialogue.

Help me!

or

Oops. Sorry, Mom.

or ???

Calgary Weather Strikes Again

Thursday – balmy, a touch of summer.

Friday – rain, all day. Soggy mail.

Saturday – snow. Lots of wet snow on top of rain that froze, so heavy snow. A big limb came down in the night. We’re waiting for a city crew to cut it up enough to clear the sidewalk; then we’ll need to call a friend with a chainsaw to break it down the rest of the way.

Happy spring, everyone.

Maureen