T is for tripping

It's the A to Zed Challenge! I'll be posting the first half of the month from Ottawa where I'm staying with my youngest and his partner and their newest - a little guy who was born the end of March. Yay!

Theme? Writing and Life is what comes to me... how to balance the writing life with the other tugs you may have...

The ABCDEaria of the Writing Life -


T is for Tripping

Yep, tripping I say! Tripping up, falling down, failing, struggling. When I trip I know it is because I'm moving too fast, not paying attention. When I fall, or struggle with something that I know I can do it is because I need to pay attention. Quit having my head in the clouds. So when I trip it is like the earth reached out and gave me a little shove - a little reminder that I live on the planet and need to be awake.

The earth doesn't need to be gentle all the time, like some airy-fairy new-age goddess. Sometimes we need to feel the pain to pay attention.  The antidote to tripping is to slow down, to take time to do one thing well at a time. I am not a multi-tasker. I don't believe anyone is but some people can do a lot of things successively and make it seem like they are doing it at once. When I try to do that I do nothing well. 

Now I'm going to go sink into a deep deep bath of very hot water because I spent a few hours banging around in the back of a komatik and need to recover! When I lie in the tub I will ALSO read, I can do both of those things at once.


here is a photo of beautiful Mokami Mountain...

s is for slow

It's the A to Zed Challenge!I posted the first half of the month from Ottawa where I stayed with my youngest and his partner and their newest - a little guy who was born the end of March. Yay!Now I'm back home in Labrador...

Theme? Writing and Life is what comes to me... how to balance the writing life with the other tugs you may have...

The ABCDEaria of the Writing Life -

S is for slow.  . . 

I need to remember to slow down. How can I be patient enough to achieve balance if I'm always straining against the harness? I can't, that's clear. My impatience is my biggest bugbear. For instance, right now I keep getting a notice saying that an error occurred when trying to save or publish this post. But I haven't been trying to save or publish this post so I keep hitting Dismiss. It comes back and I feel like driving my fist through my monitor screen. Nice huh? Why should I get so aggravated? It doesn't hurt, it just causes me to slow down. I want to write this quickly so I can read or lounge around but why? I have heaps of time to do what ever I want. And I chose to do this so why not just slow down and enjoy it. 

Ah, there...

When I made the quilt for my newest grandchild I sewed it all by hand. Every bit of it. Not because I belong to some religious sect that forbids the use of electricity (obviously) but because I liked thinking about it and being with it all as I made it. I know quilts sewn on machines are just as good and can be better, but I wanted to slow craft it. I like hand-writing letters, baths not showers, and I was all into the slow food movement before it began. I like making risotto and enchiladas with hand-made tortillas and I like embroidering great involved flower gardens on a friend's shirt. I like walking, not running.

But for all that.

I'm impatient so I think I'll put big slow down signs all over the house. Yep. How about you?

Yesterday I visited a friend's cabin in the woods...so quiet and slow there, I wish we would've stayed for days.

R is for Radical

R is for Radical

And what might radical mean? The American Heritage says -

Radical 

 adjective 

1.of or going to the root or origin; fundamental: a radical difference.
2. thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms:a radical change in the policy of a company.

3.favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radical ideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues.
4.forming a basis or foundation.
5.existing inherently in a thing or person: radical defects of character.

noun

6. a person who holds or follows strong convictions or extreme principles; extremist.
7.a person who advocates fundamental political, economic, and social reforms by direct and often uncompromising methods.

I like the connection between radical and root. To be truly radical one must go to the root. Surface radical changes are not truly radical - they are just optics. 

How does this pertain to my quest for balance? Being a radical or making radical changes doesn't seem so balanced you might think. I believe differently. I must go to the root of the question here - my life is more than my art or from a radical point of view - it is all art. Everything I do whether it is rock a baby, make a meal, or write a poem. All art.  I don't believe I am #6 above but I do believe I am #7. My art and my life must support this. If I am not advocating for social reforms I am not existing. This world is in the dark ages - we are living in a sea of materialistic muck - we have forgotten the wild, the wonderful world of nature, the rhythms of the seasons and the fundamental, radical roots of existence - of understanding the interdependence of it all. 

So wear your radical flag proudly. Form a basis or foundation of difference - it is part of your inherent nature.

Q is for Questioning

It's the A to Zed Challenge! I'll be posting the first half of the month from Ottawa where I'm staying with my youngest and his partner and their newest - a little guy who was born the end of March. Yay!

Theme? Writing and Life is what comes to me... how to balance the writing life with the other tugs you may have...

The ABCDEaria of the Writing Life -


Q is for Questioning

Questioning what you question? Everything. Ask and then listen. Actually listen, then ask,then  listen again. Yes - make your question the filling of a listening sandwich. Lots and lots of listening. Asking questions bugs the average person but that is because often the question is just a way for the questioner to insert their own ego into the mix. But questions that arise from deep listening are questions that might scare the recipient a bit, but will be rewarding for both parties.

Not so long ago when I was an undergraduate (yep, that wasn't that long ago - late bloomer) I had an English prof who taught our small Honours 16th century Literature class very well. Each of us was expected in turn to come with THE question for the class. It was a brilliant way to work (thank you Dr. Huebert!) and we all learned so much from that exercise.

We should question everything after scrutiny. Of course we aren't questioning ANY THING - we are questioning the people who appear to be in charge of those things. So we might need to remember to be respectful.

How does this help me in balancing out my life? Well, a person who reflects and then questions needs to extend that to themselves no? I need to question why I think I have to do certain things and avoid other ones. I need to question my commitments, my choices, my schedule - everything!

Here's the wee fella I am missing so much. His father, my youngest, asked so many questions that I paid him quarters to be quiet for stretches of time when we moved across the country on the train!

P is for Peculiar

It's the A to Zed Challenge! I'll be posting the first half of the month from Ottawa where I'm staying with my youngest and his partner and their newest - a little guy who was born the end of March. Yay!

Theme? Writing and Life is what comes to me... how to balance the writing life with the other tugs you may have...

The ABCDEaria of the Writing Life -


P is for Peculiar

Peculiar? Yes, you know - downright odd. Gawd I love being older. Not that I'm old but I have white hair and people know that I'm not young. I'll give you that much. And it has its rewards, yes it does. For one thing, you can be peculiar when you are older. Yep! You can be downright barmy if you like. People expect it. Sometimes I mutter but only when I'm in a large city. In Prospect or North West River I try not to act too odd because, especially in NWR it would reflect badly on the fella whose family hales from here so...

Peculiar, of course, can also mean something that belongs to someone or something - there was a smell in the air peculiar to kindergartens. 

Now why would they both mean the same - something unusual and something that belongs to something or some set of someones? I can't figure it but anyway I'm not talking about that meaning - though I will if I want to as I'm peculiar that way.

Why is peculiar a good way for someone who is trying to balance their creative pursuits? Because people will think you are peculiar if you tell them not to visit you when you are writing because they simply don't get that as a 'normal' way to behave - then they'll talk about you to others who will then not ask you to make cookies for the church bake sale because you are a bit 'you know, funny'. Excellent good I say!

Here's a photo of me working on Rorric's quilt. So fun to do, so grandmothery and yet creative too. An excellent way to marry the creative drive with the other stuff! And just so you know - I made it out of old men's shirts or uh...old shirts that belonged to men at some point - it is impossible to say that right! These nice stripey materials are peculiar to the sort of 100% cotton shirts one might find in a church basement jumble sale!