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I’m interrupting the usual story to announce that I’m an aunt for the first time! Kelsie had her baby and it’s a GIRL! All Croziers are flabbergasted, of course, as this breaks the pattern completely. It was wonderful to get to meet her at the hospital last night with the rest of the family. Her name is Isla June.
In other news, we’re in the middle of moving this week so no story until next week.
Well I missed writing my chapter yesterday due to some major life events. We accepted the counter-offer from the bank on this house:
and if everything goes smoothly we will be moving in here sometime in late August. Woo hoo!! and also EEK! because it needs a lot of work done to it. It was foreclosed on, so it’s been empty for a long time and the yard has gone crazy in the back.
Dear Readers,
I hope to shortly start posting daily excerpts of a novel (well hopefully daily – that may be overly ambitious but we’ll see). I was inspired to embark on this adventure by Alexander McCall Smith’s fabulous serialized novels, 44 Scotland Street and Espresso Tales. I haven’t gotten to read the third, Love over Scotland, yet. He was challenged by a newspaper to write a novel about Edinburgh in daily segments, just like writers like Dickens used to do. The books are fun, light-hearted but never meaningless and they follow the inhabitants of 44 Scotland Street.
After finishing my novel that I had mulled over for almost six years, I spent the last several months wondering if I would ever get a new idea and new characters. I could hardly imagine coming up with new characters after knowing my last ones for so long. But, after just recently finishing Espresso Tales, I thought that it would be so fun to try out this form of novel-writing and almost immediately I had my characters – six of them! All I needed was a four unit condo complex in downtown Edmonds. So I went on Redfin, my favourite real estate website and what do you know? There it was: a unit for sale at 515 Walnut Street, a four unit building. I was thrilled!
I haven’t prepped as much as I probably should, but in a way, I am viewing this as a writing exercise to help me develop the habit of writing daily. I have scoped out the condo building (ignoring the no trespassing signs for once in my life!) and spent some time figuring out what my six new characters look like. I hope you’ll find the excerpts interesting enough to follow along, comment and even suggest things if you want to. Smith says in his introduction to 44 Scotland Street, that he was greatly encouraged by one lady who wrote to him regularly with her thoughts on how the story was progressing. You should see the first post in a few days.
The seaweed in pieces, like so many exploded balloons, in purplish reds, greens, white - as if some grand celebration had taken place the day before
The driftwood, scorched white by sun, scoured by sea until smooth
The sand fleas, disturbed, leaping into a million directions like small fireworks
The sky clear, with only the most elegant thin line of cloud, like a heron stretched in flight
The rocks on the shore, shaped like dark avocados, looking like wet sealskin
And the sun going down, so that suddenly the air is chilled with the loss of light and everyone turns to go home.
Read a great quote today by Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary”
It made me think, does my character come across to others without words? Do I say things to the contrary of who I am? I’m sure we all do but I’d like to always live with my words and action in line with one another.
Noticed today: green shade. I had forgotten that shade changes colors, that it isn’t always blue or black. As I walked out of the library today, a canopy of new green leaves above me made the shade vibrant and airy. It wasn’t black, cold, dead shade, it was alive and you knew the sun was above you somewhere. It brought back a tinge of childhood memory when this light was normal to us as we crouched under bushes and trees, playing fort, enjoying every sunny day outside.
On the drive up to Bellingham yesterday to visit Jess, I realized that while we may be the Evergreen state, our everlasting green gets dusty and tired, sometimes almost black. The evergreens stand in stark contrast to all the deciduous trees that have all unfurled massive amounts of yellow-green leaves in the last weeks. This is a green we don’t see for long around here – it’s so young and so yellow. By summer it will be different again and by fall, the only green we can rely on is our dark greens that never change.
It felt weird yesterday to simply say for the first time, in answer to the question “What do you do?”, “I’m a writer.”
It felt good because it finally felt valid. I’ve spent this entire week labouring on my screenplay which isn’t technically pure writing since it’s an adaptation. It’s the joy of problem-solving and organizing information, the challenge of removing what isn’t needed. I’m finding it fascinating and totally fun.
Instead of saying “someday” or “my career goal” is to be a writer, I’m sitting here actually being one. And it feels right. Although a bit lonely . . . I do think I’ll need extra social interaction, if I’m going to be at home for awhile. If I get a part-time job, shortly, that would probably be perfect.
I’ve done this staying at home thing before (waiting for my work visa when I first moved to the states in 2007) and I know you can go crazy when there’s no one else imposing structure, tasks and deadlines on your life for you.
This time I think I’m more prepared and I’m also terribly excited to have time to pursue the projects that have been dying to get a little of my attention! So I’ll be working on setting up a work schedule for myself and probably having a “team meeting” with John later in the day to see how we can both work on Crozier Photography without killing each other. Apparently I still have to apply for a position though . . . 
These are the projects I’ll be working on:
Screenplay of The Unknown Ajax – I’m participating in Script Frenzy
Plan a seminar on How to Lead a Small Group
Plan/organize a creative non-fiction writing class for the summer
Finish doing my curriculum for our small group
Outline/brainstorm my novel for November
Finish editing my current novel once I get feedback from my readers
Research new health insurance, new jobs, potential classes to take
Talk to church about volunteering – maybe organize 24/7 prayer week
Find other volunteer opportunities – maybe at the art gallery or the internship at Becker&Mayer.
Going for coffee for people more regularly, looking for a mentor and some mentoring opportunities.
I’m so excited to get to work on all these things!
I don’t want to ride the bus – removed in perfect air-conditioned equilibrium
No hint of wind, no outdoor smells.
I want to feel the dirt road under my feet, the pungent smell of cows.
The bus drives through the landscape, not part of it, not in and of it
It leaves no room to pause, absorb
The oak leaf curled crisp upon the road
The rotting wood of this lonely bench
Or the creek splashing over its horde of stones.
There are just certain things about home that I will never stop missing:
- the taste of fresh bread or brotchen with Gouda or Edam
- the necessity/ability to walk everywhere you need to go
- the cobblestones under your extremely comfortable echt leder German shoes
- the church bells ringing every quarter hour
- Turkish Doner Kebaps
- the smell of woodsmoke and wet pavement
- Freschona Cornichons (crunchy pickles)
- the tile roofs
- seeing history all around you – the restored houses, the dates and plaques, the monuments
There’s just something about living in a place where evidence of past generations is all around you. It makes me step out of my own self-centred little world. It makes me aware of the past, aware of my small place in history.
A walk at home is so rich in detail, you feel so much closer to nature with the creeks running through the town, hiking paths leading you into the woods and pastures. The town is contained by hills, you have your bearings, it’s safe, quiet, peaceful.
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