Monday Music Appreciation #61 -- Jann Arden's Good Mother

I think Jann Arden is a wonderful human being. She's a great musician (I got to see her perform at one of my last Winspear shifts in June), she has a hilarious sense of humour, and she speaks up for important causes, which sometimes gets her into a bit of hot water with the powers that be. She gave a moving commentary on allowing people to be who they are, no judgment, during the instrumental parts of this song when she played here in Edmonton. So good. 

I had heard this song many times, but have never seen the video until now. It reminds me of folks I know who have been "stranded" in Edmonton for one reason or another, and who find themselves coming in to join the Community of Emmanuel for church and a hot cup of coffee on rainy Sunday mornings. Some of them carry pictures in their pockets.

This is for all those good mothers out there who encourage us with words like "feet on ground, heart in hand, facing forward, be yourself," and whose love eventually calls us back home. Have a listen/watch, and enjoy! (Email subscribers can click here...)

Simple Suggestion #284... Nominate a neighbour (Front Yards in Bloom)

Poster borrowed from the Evansdale
Community League Website

I intended to post this a while back, but with garden dirt on my hands most of the time lately, I rarely open my laptop for moodling. So this is a time limited post for my Edmonton neighbours!

It's Front Yards in Bloom nomination season until June 30, and for the next couple of days you'll find me walking the streets of my neighbourhood and noting the addresses of neighbours whose yards inspire me to stop in my tracks and smile, or at least take a second look at the beauty they are creating.

For some of us, a yard is like a canvas, a place to create a landscape that feeds the soul, not to mention bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, jackrabbits and other wildlife that's less visible. My regular readers know that I'm with God and St. Francis when it comes to rectangular monocultures that many folks seem to value, and cheer more for yards full of colour, texture and life.

So the City of Edmonton's Front Yards in Bloom nominations are a wonderful way to encourage neighbours to create spaces that attract wildlife, increase biodiversity and give us lovely things to look at. If you have a neighbour who gives extra time and effort to their greenspace or balcony or tiny yard, or who plants edibles or native plant species where folks can appreciate them, why not visit the city website and nominate them to let them know you recognize their work as something special that makes the neighbourhood more beautiful?

The deadline for nominations is June 30th.

Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

Encouragement

I've been hesitant to post the video below because I don't want to offend my readers' sensibilities. But ever since the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in August, this song has stuck with me, the chorus of Whoa-Oh's bouncing around in my head. And after receiving some rather unhappy news this morning, I decided it was time to revisit Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats' slightly naughty song, S.O.B., for a bit of a pick me up. There's just something about the melody (and the way Nathaniel dances) that lifts me up...

In spite (or perhaps because) of its language, S.O.B. was a real crowd pleaser at the end of the Folk Fest this year -- thousands of us stood on the hill and sang its chorus of Whoa-ohs at the top of our lungs to bring the band back on stage for a lively encore, to which the whole hillside danced. My best friend and I were too close to the speakers for me to make out many of the lyrics, so I looked this video up the next day and realized it was a pretty cheerful hurting song -- an alcoholic's lament, if you will.

"My heart is breaking, hands are shaking, bugs are crawling all over me," pretty much describes the kind of misery in which we find ourselves at certain crossroads in our lives. Change is never easy, but we have no choice but to keep on moving forward in spite of rotten circumstances. Sometimes it helps to swear a little, laugh through the tears, and dance to some rowdy music. So I offer this song in that spirit, especially to my friends who are struggling (you know who you are). Keep on keeping on, and know that you are loved! And really, I'd be happy to get you a drink anytime...

Simple Suggestion #173... Encourage a gardener

This morning on my walk around the neighbourhood with Shadow the puppy, I found two women on their knees in their yards. They were working hard, because gardening is hard work. Knowing how much I appreciate it when someone makes a comment about my garden, I congratulated them both on the beauty in their yards. Of course, then we stood and chatted for a few moments, and they told me what they really liked about their many plants and shrubs. I had to agree with them. Anywhere that there is more than a lawn monoculture, it's a good thing for bees, birds, biodiversity and beauty.

So today's Simple Suggestion is to take a walk, and see if you can find a garden to appreciate and a gardener to encourage.

Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

Writing like myself

For the last few weeks, since meeting with a writer in residence, I've been giving a lot of thought to my writing style. I borrowed a library copy of Jack Hodgins' A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction (McLelland & Stewart 2001, ISBN 07710-4198-5) and read through it, just to make sure that the final draft of my novel is as good as I can possibly make it. I suspect professional writers could pick what I've written to pieces, but I don't really care. I've spent nearly ten years honing my manuscript, and it has come a long way in its improvement. If I go any further with revisions, I'll be writing to appease someone else's sense of style rather than my own.

To put it plainly, that won't work.

I found an interesting piece of Jack Hodgins' writing that explains perfectly why I think this is so:

I once complained to a writer friend that every time I start a new story my goal is to write it in fast, tight, clean, clear prose... but that once I get into the job, prose springs up all around me like a jungle: new people get into the act, the story becomes more complex and mysterious than I'd anticipated, all of the world seems to want to be part of the action. Less puzzled by this than I, my friend suggested that things could not be otherwise. "You were born and raised in a temperate rainforest. You have a rainforest brain, fecund and complex as a jungle. Don't fight it... this is not only inevitable but appropriate." (p.77)

Reading that paragraph was an "Aha moment" for me. Not because I was born in a rainforest... no, the exact opposite. I was born and grew up on bald, flat Saskatchewan prairie until we moved to Edmonton when I was nine-and-a-half. I've always been a prairie girl at heart, and perhaps that's why I write plainly, simply, focused on the plot rather than the description of setting or the use of alliteration. I like to read writing that is poetic, metaphorical or full of tricky literary devices sometimes, but that's not my style. I know that my writing will never be considered great Canadian literature because of it, but I have recorded a few stories that came out of nowhere that I really like to read (including my novel), so I won't apologize for not fitting in with the talented Canadian literati. I write like myself, and that's good enough in my books.

If you're looking for encouragement to write, Jack Hodgins' book is a good one, with many ideas and interesting exercises. But if you don't need encouragement, that's even better. Write for the love of writing, and "it's all good," whether literati think so or not.

A song of encouragement for a Sunday

Time for another tune from my favourite folk singer's repertoire, a song of encouragement. It's a wonderful song if you listen to the words... everyone has some sort of gift to offer, and even listening is a gift. I would argue that it's one of the most valuable gifts in our hustle bustle world, and definitely undervalued. Listening is good for us, body and soul, and is essential to our relationships. If you listen, you'll hear Pebbles the budgie, singing and whistling along in the background. He whistles better than I do!

Coming into my own as a writer

Today is a writing day for me. It's also laundry day, and housecleaning day, and order-from-the-seed-catalogue day. So will I get any writing done at all, you ask? Well, chances are, all those other things will fall by the wayside once I get going on my present writing project. So I'll moodle a little here, order those seeds, hang out some sheets, and throw another load into the washing machine before I dare to open my novel's file.

I've been working on my manuscript for almost ten years (busier being a mom most days), and in the last few weeks, have realized that if I'm going to get a finished book out there where other people can read it, I might need the help of other writers. And if I'm going to talk to other writers, I need to get my head around the fact that I'm really a writer, too. I mean, up till now, the only people who have read my stuff are family and friends, mostly, and they tell me my work is good... but being a writer outside of my family and friends' minds is something else altogether.

So last Sunday, I took an important step in the process of seeing myself as a writer... I attended a "Writers' Corner" event at the main branch of our public library. And I met Marina Endicott, a local author who has written 5 novels, one of which, called Good to a Fault, won the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, Canada/Caribbean region. I'll admit I was feeling a little shy about meeting a successful writer and gathering with a group of strangers to "talk about your writing in a friendly and supportive atmosphere," but there wasn't a lot of time for that anyway in the hour we were together.

What was really useful was what Marina had to say during her presentation. She was speaking about some tips and tricks she uses for developing character in her novels. The longer she spoke, the more I thought, I understand this woman, and if she knew me, she would understand me because we are both grappling with the same issues as we craft our stories. So when it came time to talk with her after the session ended, I was over my shyness, and our conversation was most helpful. After speaking with Marina, I also met Jocelyn Brown, Edmonton Public Library's Writer in Residence, a warm and friendly person who seems most eager to help. So she and I have set up an appointment to talk about my present project... and for the past week or so, I have been moodling in my mind about what I need to do to finish my novel once and for all.

It's sort of funny... all along I've been telling myself and others that my manuscript has too many words. Friends have made several suggestions about what I might do to cut it down to size... but it took Marina's comments to push me to action. I approached her about how a writer knows when a character is superfluous to a story, and she told me, "I overwrite all the time. Cutting is hard, but it has to be done. Why not save your extra characters for your next book?"

And that was all it took. If a successful novelist like Marina had to cut out characters, then I guess I can, too. It's painful to say goodbye to some of them, whom I've known and loved like real people since they came out of my keyboard, but Marina was right. It has to be done. I'm not sure I will ever write a "next book," but I may share my extra characters in other ways somewhere down the road.

I've been shy about connecting with other writers, and now I think that's probably been a mistake on my part. So if you're like me, and you're hesitant, take yourself to a Writer's Corner or whatever kind of literary meeting you can find. It can't hurt. It's helped me to start coming into my own.

Okay, enough moodling. Laundry out on the line? Check. Load in the washer? Check. House cleaned a little? Check. Seed catalogue order done? I think that can wait a few more days can't it? Today is a writing day for me, after all.