Burns Supper

Happy Rabbie Burns Day

Mark and I anticipate preparing a belated Burns Supper for our Turkish friends this coming weekend, with our own blasphemous twist (ie. vegemetarian haggis & Canadian whiskey). We're really excited because after treating us to traditional Turkish fare, of the vegetable kind, our friends wanted something either British or American – anything a bit different from their regular hog and schlog. I think this is going to blow their minds.

Basic format of a Burns Supper according to Cassie:
1. Carry the food in, respectfully. Talk to it in a silly accent.
2. Eat, and take turns reading a bit of poetry by Rabbie Burns. Everyone gets a chance to try out their best Scottish accents.
3. For every poem you read, you will be rewarded with a shot of stinking whisky, if you call such a thing a reward.

By the way, Robert (or Rabbie) Burns was a poet who influenced the works of Wordsworth and Coleridge. He was voted the Greatest Scot of All Time last year by STV. He also died of a tooth extraction, more or less. But let's be honest, Wikipedia knows more than I do.

The Cupcake Reading

Photos by britburger

Thanks to everyone who came out for the reading. This was only the second event in a start-up series by Sherry Isaac and Brandon Pitts (Brandon owns the Prana Coffee bar). The next one will be Feb 19 with more info on Sherry's website.

For anyone curious, I read five poems: My Finger and I at the Fair, an adventure series of a finger that travels through space and time, exploring various sensations and memories; two pieces in my sound series called Sound of Someone Leaving 2 and Sound of Someone Leaving 3; Toronto, Texas, about being an invisible immigrant with no discernible accent; a whimsical elegiac piece for Michael Jackson: MJ and the Deep Sea and finally rounding out the evening with Hideous Human, ultimately an uplifting piece once you make it through the "halitosis summer". I'll post some video whenever I figure out how to edit mpgs easily without illegal software. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Cassie reads aloud to the public.

(this flier designed by Brandon Pitts.)

I have my first reading ever this coming Tuesday, the 19th out in West Toronto. I believe I will be reading some poetry. Might throw in some postcard prose.

Schmoozing and seat-finding starts at 6:30, readings commence at 7.

There will be eight readers with ten minutes each, so the event should last about an hour and a half or so.

Prana Coffee Bar, INSIDE Swirls Cupcakes
4158 Dundas Street West, Etobicoke
on the north side, near Royal York. Parking is available at the rear.

Here's a map:

View Larger Map

More about the venue: http://www.pranacoffee.com

Thanks in advance for your support. I hope to see you there!

The Queen of England Congratulates Me

* Thanks to the Staplehurst family for this card ('Merry Christmas Peasants!') with the queen's photo from which I did this drawing.

I finished NaNoWriMo, tucked a nice little winners badge on to my profile, and settled into this week of having no 1669 words to write a day... Frankly I've been looking around the house wild-eyed for something else to do and it's left me zit-faced and manic depressive. I have rearranged the plants, more than once, done five loads of laundry, cleaned out the drafts in my email box (down from a hundred to twenty-five), painted a tiny picture of Mark's shoes, made two smoothies, and decided that I'd better share what I learned from NaNoWriMo, lest I forget. With no apologies, here are some things I've learned about myself:

1. Write on the computer instead of freehand. I used to like freehand because I could edit while transcribing to the computer. That might still be a valid process but in terms of getting it all down, being fed up with doing work twice I believe will make me a more efficient writer.

2. Get on with the story. Not lingering over the poetry of my words has given my story a faster pace, forcing me to try a different kind of writing than I am used to. Again, it is more efficient; if I can force myself to write then I won't be caught up in self-pity, aka writers' block (ouch, harsh, I know, but maybe there's a bit of truth there?). The story, too, ends up leading the book which I think is important and readers will find more enjoyable.

3. Learn your own process more intimately. Some people write with a plan with specific things they want to happen over the course of the story in order to drive the plot forward. Others don't. I found out that I feel comfortable writing with just a scene or a character in mind and making sure it connects with the other pieces as I go. Having a finished piece built in that fashion lends credence to my own process, and I think this is how all people should write. Intuitively. Instinctively. Know thyself, right?

4. Creating the habit of 'Do it now' or it will never get done. I have the same approach to my emails. The ones I don't answer right away are the ones that sit in my inbox and get buried under other tasks. Writing is the same. If I have an idea for a scene, a character, a piece of dialogue, I have learned that I have to write it down right away or it will leave me. I've found that not listening to your creative urges sends you on a downward spiral where you start to contrive situations instead of being inspired by them. And the writing comes out more forced. Less genuine. Just do it.

5. Excuses aren't relevant for long-term goals. In most cases, being that a goal is realistic, I know what needs to be done in order to attain it. I didn't write a book for the first twenty-six years of my life, even though I always remember wanting to. Maybe I didn't know how, but I read a couple books and they inspired me to try (Stephen King's On Writing, Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, Bird by Bird, all gifts from my motivational mother). Just trying lends so much momentum toward attaining a goal. In fact, there is no other way to do it!

The word count doesn't go up unless you add to it. You can't just sit there and twiddle your thumbs. Very simple, really.

6. Perspective. Writing a book may be a lifelong dream. Getting published is another aspect to that. Getting people to actually read, and even buy, what you publish is yet another goal. But none of those are as important as the people in my life. For instance, I would never have been able to write as much as I have without the support of Mark who makes my lunches, does the laundry, cleans the house, makes my dinners, does the shopping, brings me tea and snacks, and otherwise puts up with all my irritation and grumpiness while I am writing. It became so important for me to take a break one weekend, even though I was behind on my word count, and spend some time with him, who I was very much neglecting. Some of those breaks – like Mom's visit mid-month – could be planned for, and others – like my time spent with Mark – could not. But stepping back from the book and realizing why I'm doing it is really invaluable. Much more important than writing a book.

And now that I've finished, I'm sitting here wondering, Now what? I feel I have a pretty shitty first draft, but at least it's something. Learning to be happy with what I've done might be a whole different story.

Thank you to everyone who's supported me all month in my goal! I can't wait to share my book with you. Might have to get through Drafts 5 & 6 before I do so... but now I can feel confident that it will happen eventually. A special thank you goes to a very deserving Mark who puts up with me every day and supports me in everything I do. Thank you.

Portrait Sketches from Banff Travels

I signed up for NaNoWriMo. You may already know this since I've been trying to shout this to the wind, in order to make myself feel responsible enough to carry out my pledge. Anyway, I'm going to keep this short as I have 50,000 words to make up over the next 30 days. I just wanted to share some sketches from my trip to the Canadian Rockies. The scenery is utterly incomparable to anything I've seen, and I would love to go back with a paintbrush in hand. I will, in fact, some time in the future attempt to paint one or some of those photos.

This trip though, was as much as anything, about family and enjoying one another's company. Which is what these sketches are. Enjoy!

Sketching began on the plane out – Mark and I didn't bring headphones, deliberately leaving all electronics behind for this vacation, and Air Canada charges you for them now. So we watched the silent old comedies and I paused the screen sometimes to make a sketch.

The matriarch of the Family of Readers.

Patricia Lake, where we stayed in Jasper, Alberta. That's water and mountains behind the trees. Can't see it here for the lack of color.

Sometimes you don't get the proportion right and the drawing speaks for itself.

Mark and Missy, the resident border collie at Tuxedo House B&B, where we spent a night in Calgary.


My favorite of this set.

Another avid reader... sweet Auntie Lynn

Mom ignoring the world for Sudoku. Typical.

And always a lovely sight, Grandma's feet and the ankles of her nighties.

Which is a nice way to end the night. Maybe next time I post, I'll have written a novel?!? Night night, world!

Designosaurs Really Can Change

Here's a little poster for a cause that I believe in.

Museo is the font, designed by Jos Buivenga - you can download it here (you have to register to 'buy' it, but a couple of the weights cost $0.00). Thanks for sharing Jos, it's been a lovely find.

As for the hidden word, I'm not sold on it. Can anyone find another that makes greater than or equal to sense? Because I'm all about sense. Read up on the Delta for an extra gooey layer of meaning.

Nobody Knows Like the Forest Nose

A collaboration between Mark and I. I scanned a drawing from my sketchbook and he's working on his photoshop skillz so did some touching up and texturing. Click for some mad close-up detail.

The lettering underneath the drawer, btw, reads: Piano Sweat. We were watching Ulee's Gold (has anyone else seen this masterpiece?!?) from 1997 with Peter Fonda as a beekeeper in Florida. The unbelievable outlaw hijinks he gets up to, such a stoic North Floridian. Anyway a punk-rocker Jessica Biel says at one point, "Yeah no sweat" but she says it with such 'tude that it comes out as "Piano Sweat." Which was an image too lovely for this writer/imagist to pass up. It deserves its own illustration really. Someday, piano sweat, someday.