Recharging at a writer's paradise

There's a lake under here?

Marsh Lake housesit

Waking up every morning to the view over Marsh Lake is inspiring all by itself, never mind when a grouse casually strolls by in front of the window. Taking his time, he seems to be inspecting the snowy garden with coloured xmas lights strung overhead, birdfeeders brimming with seed and the red paper lantern stilled today in the calm after the storm.

The power was out yesterday for several hours but with no computer access I curled up to reread an early book version of my screenplay in front of the cozy woodstove. I kept the fire and my creativity stoked with this rare leisure. To avoid the icy roads, I had already canceled my plan to spend the day at the Whitehorse Library and then the Archives doing research for both an MFA assignment and the biography I'm readying to submit to publishers.  

Reflective time is so necessary for me as a writer and too often gets lost in the hurly burly of work as a freelancer. That's one of the reasons I applied to be part of Nakai's Homegrown Theatre Festival: http://new.nakaitheatre.com/component/content/article/37-on-stage/87-homegrown-theatre-festival.html

It was even worth staying up until 4 one night to rewrite the opening scene of my screenplay, Hit and Run. It will be produced as a short play, tentatively called, "The Gamble" or just "Gamble." And it
all started with encouragement from my inspiring friend, Anna Hamilton, whose Traveling North had been entered in a prior showcase. Then Jessica Simon, kindly read over my entry - my pitch, sitting steadfastly by while I clicked "send."

Homegrown will give me the chance to work with a dramaturg who can help raise my dialogue up to a level Elmore Leonard or Roger Avery would be proud of - like the infamous Royale with Cheese discussion between Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. A girl can dream, can't she?
Don't discount that dreaming from a snowy oasis can take you to some surprising places.

Another great support was recently offered by Greg Blanchette, who set up our new Clayoquot Writers' Group shared folder on Google docs - the better to review and comment on each other's work. No sweeter words could I hear than Caroline Woodward's "this script is an actor's dream candy."

As part of the Available Light Film Festival this week there are also workshops on pitching your film  project as well as on story with dramaturg Kim Hudson that I'm very excited to be attending. All babysteps towards my bigger goal - a direction I hope to keep developing with scriptwriting courses as part of my MFA in the fall semester. I'm going to have to work hard to make it happen but it's easier when you have great people behind you.   

So next time you picture a writer sitting all alone in a cabin dreaming up their future, make sure you crayon in the denizens of kind friends and supportive fellow writers that help make it happen. Or the homeowner who entrusted you with this handbuilt cabin and K-9 buddies for Wolf and Owl.

Don't forget to colour in the light over the mountains spilling onto the front yard and the dog who paces in through the dog door to remind you that a lot of great ideas are hatched on a walk through the woods, too!

Gratitude

Owl, as you can see, is 99% back to her old self, and Wolf is enjoying having his sister back to play with in the snow. As I look forward to beginning 2012 in a few short hours, I'm hoping that this year I can keep most of the drama on the page. However, I've also come to realize that a challenging year like this past one can help you realize what's important  -- starting with my two K-9 companions. Thanks to Dr. Higgins, Owl's neurologist and all the great folks at www.canadawestvets.com for diagnosing and correcting her degenerative disc, and for providing great directions to off-leash walks for Wolfie and me as we waited. Thanks to all my amazingly supportive group of friends and family (just click on my friends on FB to see my shortlist) and to Gurbeen for suggesting, and Christina for implementing the donate page to help with Owl's costs at: http://freshhorses.ca/Owl.html

Thanks also for all the opportunities I've had to pursue my passion for writing and photography. Thanks to all my amazing editors, Kevin Drews at the former westcoaster.ca, Nora Abercrombie at West Word: Alberta Writers' Guild Magazine, and Elaine Corden at Yukon North of Ordinary, as well as publishers Greg and Krystal Karais. 

I'm grateful to be in the MFA program for creative writing online through UBC - thanks again to all my referees including Myra Kostash!

This year I have lived in some pretty spectacular places from Vancouver Island (thanks Dawn!) to the Sunshine Coast - (thanks especially to Milan Jr. for K-9 company) and back to the north (thanks Anne, Frank, and everyone at www.muktuk.com)

There's something to be said for having a roof over your head, a woodstove to keep you cozy with extreme minus temps outside, and the chance to walk at night across snowy fields under a gigantic open sky filled with stars. In 2012, I'm also looking forward to a more permanent northern home in March  on 20 acres with trails leading into the mountains and surrounded by gorgeous glacial lakes. (Thanks Hamilton family for hooking me up!)

Thanks to all my supportive writer buddies who patiently read, encouraged and kept me going on the page and elsewhere especially Emilia, Dave, Lenora, Diane, Gord, Chris, Lorna, Greg et al, Jessica, and Anna. 

Thanks too to all my amazing clients who brought me such interesting work - Donna and Gord at cynamoka.ca, Oyster Jim, Marny Saunders, Bob McAlpine and Blair Randle. A special thanks to Judy for introducing me to Babe, my biography subject, and to Babe herself for providing such a wonderful role model.

Thanks to Margo for being an inspiration after Doug's death and for ensuring his book Nokomis had a life of its own, and to the hospice staff in Ucluelet for helping me come to try and come to terms with his loss.

Long as this list is (I'm pretty sure I'll edit it several times), it doesn't begin to cover all the people I'm grateful for, or all the things. 

A few things I'm working on in 2012 - getting full mobility back after last year's car accident so I can surf again; Creative goals - getting Babe's book out to a publisher, shepherding a 5 minute-segment of my screenplay through Nakai's Homegrown Festival,  and enrolling next fall in advanced screen and TV writing courses through the MFA. Things I'm hoping for - a successful Canada Council application to help finish writing The Surf Cure - a story of learning to celebrate life after loss - this year we survived a car accident, a tsunami warning and a canine surgery --- and a story about saving a certain much-beloved dog named Owl. One you all helped me craft.

Happy New Year! May you all get all your hearts' desires in 2012.

Powell River cabin

This is the Powell River, BC cabin we are housesitting thanks to friend and photographer, Ron Smid (http://www.ronsmid.com/).
It is the perfect writers' retreat, at the far end of road 20 minutes outside town and situated on 12 acres with a meadow and a bear who likes to play there, shaking trees not yet ready for fruit. Behind the meadow is old-growth forest shooting impossibly high into the sky.

In the morning, the dogs and I like to sit on the porch - me with my coffee or tea, the house copy of The Artists' Way and my morning pages.

 As you can see Wolfie and Owl enjoy the freedom of our new locale and there are plenty of oceanside beaches and backwoods trails to explore. On the weekend we drove up the Goat's Mountain Lake hookup to take a swim at one of the Powell River canoe portage points. It was bit harry on the way back as the normally single lane logging road was temporarily used for both lanes, with the Stillwater road that circles back to town blocked off. Picture clouds of dust coming at you fast around a corner and only revealing a car with living beings in it at the last second. It was an adventure and we'll get ourselves a backcountry map and be back to check out more of the 32 nearby lakes.

I'm working on getting Wifi in the cabin via a Telus stick, but as luck would have it, they didn't have any in stock at the "town centre" and had to order one in for me. It may come up by boat later today, or tomorrow. Powell River is accessible only by ferry, we came across via Comox but it is indeed part of the Sunshine Coast - there has been sun for all or part of almost every day we have been here so far. (The Sunshine Coast is on the mainland north of Vancouver. For more info on where we are check out www.discoverpowellriver.com)

We hope to go exploring the coast by heading north to Lund, a fishing village only an hour away. We can also take a ferry hop south to Sechelt, where the annual writers festival is held, and Gibsons, famous as the home of the Beachcombers.

I've been to Gibsons to eat at Molly's Reach almost two years ago now - great seafood and oversized baskets of fries.
btw my friends at writerswest put me on to the best local place for coffee and WiFi in Powell River- Breakwater Books downtown at the corner of Alberni and Marine Drive. From the window where I'm writing this post I can see Willingdon Beach, quieter now during the week and with the carnival rides taken down to reveal wide stretches of shoreside sand. I'm feeling about as relaxed as Owl, camped out on the air mattress below, after my great swim at the local complex. Now that Owl's back is on the mend - she's swimming again, running in short bursts and has a lot more stamina and just general frisky Owly-ness, I can begin healing the damage to my back from our car accident last winter. And I can sit on the cabin porch and just breathe, dream, write and plan for the future.

New blog to update you on our adventures

Watch for upcoming posts. With Owl still recuperating from back surgery we're taking baby steps with camping and have only ventured as far as the BC provincial campground Sproat Lake, outside Port Alberni.

The tent you see behind Owl and Wolf is a little weathered but has a lot of tales to tell. It's traveled with us from Toronto to the Yukon, into Alaska and all the way down the west coast through Washington and Oregon to San Diego, CA. While we may not be able to travel much yet, we have a lot of adventures to fondly recall.

Please check the link list at right for articles on our previous adventures and for Owl's page.

Owl and Wolf are also featured in my article, "Four-footed Muse" in the current issue of West Word.