RETURN TO EDEN (a "Poemoir")

LALA, Evvia, Greece

LALA: RETURN TO EDEN

I trudge up the familiar road to Lala,
the little mountain village
my Garden of Eden.
I used to say it wasn’t even a hamlet, just an omelet,
a cluster of stone houses,  100 people,  and 1000 sheep.
Past the lone church, up the incline that was once just a goat’s path,
I see desolate houses, shutters closed, doors boarded up.
Once there were open windows
village women  stood on balconies,
waved greetings,  “Kali mera! Good morning!”
Now when I call out
startled birds fly from rooftops.

Kyria Erasmia’s red geraniums still bloom
in clay pots on her patio
Has she gone too? 
Where are all the folk who used to
toil in the olive and citrus groves,
the old women with bent backs
who collected bundles of oregano from the mountain top,
the old men who sat on verandas sipping thick chocolate-flavored coffee?
Where are the shepherds and their shaggy flocks that
jangled up the hillsides at dawn?

On the dirt road I stand, listening…
Far away in the valley I hear a dog bark
I listen for the cackling of hens, a crowing rooster, the bleating of  goats
There is only silence.
Lala.  The name means “chattering woman”,  but where are the women

The day is beautiful, bright,

yet even the sun’s golden light does not penetrate the dismal shadow
that has cast an eerie pall over the village.
There’s not a living soul, not even an animal.
The iron gate that conceals Antonia’s courtyard is locked,
sealing all my memories inside.
I want to go inside,
walk along the familiar cobblestone path
past the stone bake-oven,
go up to the old wooden door of my spitaki.
the little house with its thick stone walls, 
shaded by the gnarled olive tree and grape arbor,
the porch where I slept under million of stars,
counted meteors and satellites in the night sky
I remember over the fireplace, 
the carved corner-stone with a Byzantine cross. 1754.
That house had been there all those years,
the roof and floor repaired,  its two rooms used as a storage place.
I whitewashed the walls, hung herbs from the rafters,
furnished it with things from Antonia’s horde.
A table, two cots, a couple of chairs, an old iron bed.
In the afternoon sun I’d  listen to the cicadas chirring,
watch emerald green scarabs alight
on the shell-pink petals of the roses.

Antonia said there was a ghost in that house
Her name was Evangelitsa
She died in the bed with the iron bedstead where I slept.
“She must look on you with a good eye,” the village women said.
Her husband, the village drunk, died
from a fall off the bridge into the ravine.
Mine had suffered a parallel fate. 
Evangelitsa and I were somehow kindred spirits.

One day a cat came. I named her Miss Kitty,
To me, she was Evangelitsa’s spirit. 
She gave birth to a litter under the bushes in the orange grove
later brought them to me, one by one,
laid them at my feet…a gift.

I want to go inside my spitaki one more time
I want to visit Erasmia in her flower garden
on the patio where the shepherds sat under the mulberry tree
Nobody is there now.  I remember the friendly banter
of the men over their glasses of krasi 
I want to sit on the  patio and chat with them, 
catch up on village gossip,
blush as they tease me when I make mistakes with my elementary Greek,
flirt secretly with Mitso while Erasmia sits knitting, pretending to be our chaperone.

One night Mitso sneaked down to visit me
We sat on the steps and giggled like teen-agers pulling a fast one on our parents.
“This is the best life,” he said. “the Zoe.”
The day I met him on the road to Karystos,
he was riding his white horse, so handsome and tanned,
That smile of his enchanted me.  
He asked me to marry him.
“Come and live in the village,” he said.
I hesitated.  Knew if I did, and it failed, I’d never be able to return again.

Now they are gone, all my shepherd friends:  Themistokles, Vassilis, Mitso
I listen for their voices,
hear only the faint, distant call of a kookovia
 and the mournful bray of a donkey.

I climb down the stony path to the old mill.
It is quiet and cool under the shade of the big plane trees. 
The waterfall makes a soothing splash
as it tumbles from a cleft in the mountainside. 

I pick a spray of myrtle, white flowers with fuzzy stamens,

dark green shiny leaves.
On the stepping stones  I cross the stream,
walk the dusty trail until I reach the hillside
 where a little chapel stands guard over Lala’s cemetery.
There, among tumbled tomb-stones and knee-high weeds,
I search for Mitso’s grave,
trace my fingers over the mossy stone to find his name
remember then, that after five years bones are dug up,
washed in oil, placed in an ossuary.
I put the myrtle wreath on the grave that now holds his sister’s bones,
keep one sprig for myself.

The Greeks say if you take a sprig of myrtle home,
it means you will return again.
There once was so much life here,  zoe.
Now it seems that the village has died.
and I know I can never return.

My last visit to Lala, where I spent several years living part time, I was disappointed to find that the village was deserted, almost as though aliens had taken everyone away.  It was a sad day for me,  a closure, ending all those happy days I had spent in my Garden of Eden.
I don't think I will ever return. What I didn't know the day I visited there, three weeks later, my friend Antonia, who had died of Parkinsons in the UBC Hospital in Vancouver, was buried in the Lala cemetary.

Reading "Return to Eden" at Poetic Justice

POETRY & PUBLICATIONS

I have been totally immersed in the poetry world the past weekends.  Two weeks ago I went to the book launch for this poetry anthology "Sudden Thunder" which has 3 of my poems in it,  all thanks to Candice James who is the poet laureate of New Westminster BC.  She and her partner published this anthology.  It was quite a thrill to read from it, then sit and sign autographs with some of the other poets whose words were published in the book. 

Reading at Hyack Square, New Westminster BC

The following weekend I was invited to read poetry at Hyack Square in New Westminster for the annual Culture Crawl.  Again, this event was organized by Candice who has become my poet mentor.
This weekend I am one of the feature readers at Poetic Justice in NW and will read from the collection I am preparing for eventual publication,  "Songs for Erato" (Tragoudia yia Erato) - poems written in or about Greece.  Thanks to all this inspiration and encouragement I even wrote a new (long) poem for the collection this week, prompted by one line in a Yannis Ritsos poem.

Til now I've not taken my poetry that seriously although I've been writing it on occasions for some years.  I have the collection "Hymns for Gods and Heroes" which was a challenge by a Greek/American friend to write a collection with an Alexander theme some years ago. It was read with accompanying flute music with two voices, a long time ago at a writer's event in Burnaby.  And my old novel (which I am reviving now that Shadow is finished) has some chapters written in Bardic verse. (Amazing how I did that!)

So here I am - the poet who didn't know it!  And it's become a fun diversion while I prepare final edits on my novel.

Meanwhile, I am writing up a storm with travel stories and getting a lot of new ones published either in EuropeUpClose, two accepted by Off Beat Travel and two more for Senior Living in early 2012.  Also attempting to catch up with blogs and regain my readership here.  It's been a very productive summer!

MY WRITER'S LIFE

Reading poetry at the Heritage Grill

It seems my writing life has taken a new turn these days.  While I am waiting to resume more edits on "Shadow of the Lion", I have been called upon to read some of my poetry.  Last weekend at the Heritage Grill in New Westminster, I read 3 poems that were published in a new anthology "Sudden Thunder" with thanks to Candice James, poet laureate of New Westminster who has become my new poet mentor.  I had not taken myself seriously as poet until Candice heard some of my work and has been encouraging me to read in public.  Not that I haven't produced or read before, but my main genre in travel and historical fiction, and poetry doesn't always 'happen' for me except unexpectedly. 

 Now I am encouraged to enlarge my collection, mainly one I am working on which will be titled "Songs for Erato" (Tragoudia yia Erato)- poems written in or about Greece.  I already have quite a few in the collection including a previously written collection "Songs for Gods and Heroes", written as 'hymns' or hymnos style when I was challenged some years ago by a Greek American poet friend to write a collection about Alexander the Great. There were written for two voices to be accompanied by music (such as a flute) and were presented at a reading some years ago at the Burnaby Art Gallery.  I will also include a couple of lyric poems from my play about Sappho, "House of the Muses", as well as some new poems I wrote the last two times I was in Greece.

I'll be reading on the street in New Westminster next Sunday and I'm one of the feature readers the following week at Poetic Justice at the Heritage Grill. 

While I am waiting to finalize the work (edits) on "Shadow" and retyping my old Celtic novel "Dragons in the Sky", I will rework some of my poems to get them ready for the collection I am hoping to eventually publish.  Who would have thought?  You know that old saying? "You're and poet and you didn't know it!"  Well, that's me.  A new way to express my thoughts.  And I'm enjoying it! Now if only I could get the Muse to co-operate!

Here's a you-tube video of me reading one of the poems: "Socrates Prison"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v​=7I6HMkp4pyc

www.youtube.com

courtesy of Candice James

A QUICK VISIT TO THE BARD'S HAUNTS & LOTS OF INSPIRATION FOR NEW TRAVEL STORIES

One of the things I love about travel are the little surprises that come along the way.  The first part of my journey this year was to visit England and Wales.  Mainly, I wanted to see my cousins in Caerphilly, and to stop by Salisbury for a quick peek at Old Sarum, in hopes it would inspire me as I begin to rework my old novel, "Dragons in the Sky". ( Old Sarum is the setting for this Iron Age Britain tale.) While there, I was lucky enough to see Avesbury and Stonehenge, thanks to the generous offer of a guide, Keith, who writes for my on-line 'zine, Travel Thru History.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage

After my visit Wales, my cousin Chris drove down from Worcester to pick me up for a short visit to his town.  The next day, we went to Warwick Castle which was another highlight of my holidays.  But one of the surprises was, on route back to his place, we passed Stratford-upon-Avon and I mentioned how I'd always wanted to see Anne Hathaway's cottage, the home of Shakespeare's future wife.  Chris, who is always obliging, said 'No problem', so we made a side trip to this historic site.

I've  been a Shakespeare fan since I was 13 and saw my first stage production of "Richard III". Up to then I only knew about Shakespeare because I'd lived in Stratford, Ontario, on the Avon River where everything in town was named for the Bard.  Nowadays, I often go to see productions of Shakespeare, especially each summer, here in Vancouver, at Bard on the Beach.

Anne Hathaway, who was destined to become Shakespeare's wife, grew up in a small village just to the west of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.  The farmhouse where she lived in now a major tourist attraction.  She married Shakespeare in November 1582 when she was pregnant with their first child.  There was a fairly big age difference, Anne was 26 and Will was only 18.  Some historians called this a 'shotgun marriage', however it seemed that Will had planned to marry her all along although there was a story that he had another Anne in mind and was forced by Hathaway's family to marry their pregnant daughter.  Whatever the reason for their marriage, he didn't stay in Stratford for long, as he went to London to pursue his career of playwright, only returning to Stratford on occasions, although once he retired from the theatre he did return to live with her in Stratford.

A Bedroom in Anne Hathaway's House

Anne and Will had three children, Susanna who was born in 1583, and twins Hamnet and Judith born in 1583.  Anne outlived Will and when she died August 1623 at the age of 67, she was interred next to her husband in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Anne Hathaway Cottage is a picturesque little thatch-roofed house just as I'd imagined, surrounded by a lovely typical English country garden.  We were able to tour the house and I took a few photos including one of Shakespeare's courting chair.  It was a quick visit, but a nice little bonus on a trip that had been so full of wonderful sites and opportunities.

Now I'm back I have a lot of material for travel stories so while I am waiting to resume the final cuts of my novel, Shadow of the Lion, I'm trying to get caught up.  The first day back I pitched two ideas to a print magazine that were accepted and since then, I've pitched ideas to a couple of on-line travel magazines and they have also shown interest.  So now the holiday is officially over, I'll be grounded and focused on all this new writing.

Shakespeare's Courting Chair

THE END OF A BUSY WRITER'S SEASON, WITH NEW ADVENTURES BECKONING

Gulls flying over the Aegean Sea.

It's been a busy few months and now I'm ready for a rest and change of scene.  So next week I'm heading off to England, Wales and then Greece for four weeks.  It will be a reunion with cousins and friends but also a chance to explore some new territory when I go down to the Mani peninsula in the Peloponnese.

I just finished round #1 of the edits on my Shadow of the Lion manuscript.  I did the spell-checks, formatting and cut a lot of chapters and repetitious passages,  but it still need major cutting.  So I will hopefully get a couple of pairs of extra eyes looking through it while I'm away, to make suggestions on what else can be cut.  Although it wasn't too difficult a task, there are many places where I liked the writing and story and was afraid to cut just in case it would spoil the flow of the prose, or leave gaps in the story.  Someone removed from the story and writing will be better able to decide on this.  As a whole I am very happy with the novel and pleased with the writing so there wasn't much to be done in the way of revisions.  Most had been done during the work on it, when I did a lot of block editing according to notes taken at my workshop group.

This term was busy with my classes as well and I was beginning to feel a little burned out by the time I got to the end last week.  Only one goes all summer, and that's my little group at WAVES coffee shop on Monday mornings.  I have someone to spare for me while I'm away.  And in July, after my return, the school board has me scheduled for two nights of memoir classes.

Last week I was asked to present about writing travel memoirs at a travel writer's symposium, I've also been contributing new stories to www.EuropeUpClose.com  There should be three more stories coming up soon, one on St. Fagans Heritage Park in Cardiff,  one about Parga, Greece and another about the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz Germany. 

The presenter at the Travel Writer's symposium

So you see, never a dull moment in this writer's life.  I'm making an effort to catch up with my blogging too, and hope to regain some of the readership that no doubt I lost when I neglected to post here for months on end. 

I'm not working on a novel now, other than retyping my old Celtic tale "Dragons in the Sky" which I will start work on later this summer.  My plan is to write poetry this summer while I'm on holidays.  I have an idea for a poetry chap-book containing poems about Greece.  We'll see how successful this project will be as I find poetry has to just come to me, a whisper from the Muse.  So, it will be more of a summer of exploring, starting with Stonehenge and Avebury and a visit to Old Sarum on the Salisbury Plain (that is part of my research for the Dragons novel), and lot of new destinations to check out in Greece that will supply me with more travel stories for the coming year.

Stay tuned, and keep track of me on my travel blog.

photo of me by Julie Ferguson
photo of the flying gulls, by me, taken on a boat sailing from Aegina.

TO CUT OR NOT TO CUT? THAT IS THE QUESTION.

To cut or not to cut?  And what to cut?  This is the dilemma of the editing process.  I knew when I started that I had a lot of cutting ahead of me and I've been doing just that -- eliminating whole chapters and many, many paragraphs, excess words, repetitions, excessive descriptions and anything at all that seems to slow down the pace.  Still, I am only half way through the novel and I am already way too many pages over the required amount.  Part of this is because I am using a different font, double spacing instead of 1 1/2 spaces and dropping chapter beginnings down 1/3 of a page. 

The dilemma is in trying not to cut parts that are important to the story.  Some places I have left intact and will have another go-through once I'm finished this first round.  Then I intend to have other eyes peruse the work to see what they suggest.  Trouble is, I don't want to chop too much and spoil the story line.  I think historical novels need to be fairly meaty and I did a thorough job of research locations and developing characters that are realistic and believable.  So I don't want to interfere too much with this.

There have been moments when I felt a bit discouraged and wondered if the novel is as good as I thought it was.  But that is probably something all of us go through.  Then again, there are passages that are just brilliant and I can hardly even remember writing them.  Of course, those are the ones that definitely stay untouched. 

I'd love to hear from other novel writers about what they've gone through in regards to the final editing of their manuscripts.  I have Elizabeth Lyon's good book "Manuscript Makeover" which has been most helpful.  But about now I need someone to cheer me on!







Tip-toeing Thru the Tulips and Lots of Other Stuff

That's a photo of me posed in the tulip patch at Agassiz last Spring.  This year Spring is a little late so I haven't been out to see the tulips as yet.  But I've been wading through lots of other stuff, mainly writing tasks.

The editing on Shadow of the Lion is going well although I can see there'll be a couple more run-throughs before it's agent ready.  Mainly the cutting is what will be the most difficult task.  I'm chopping as much as I can for now but it's going to need more, for sure.  And that will be more difficult because it will be more of my precious words that go to the cutting room floor!

I'm also trying to catch up with travel writing and have just completed another story with two more ready to polish off this weekend.  Still a lot of ideas to work from and I have again fallen behind with blogging.

This week I had the privilege (again this year) of being part of the Human Library at Moscrop School.  This is an amazing concept born in the States because of bullying.  I think Moscrop is the only school here (or the first one) that has held this very worthwhile event.  A number of people of various life-styles are invited to participate as 'books' in the library.  My book title was "Living the Writer's Life" and "So You Want to be a Writer?"  I think next year (if they invite me) I'll add "Senior Citizen Solo Traveler".

There were all kinds of people from a woman cop, a trans-gendered person, gays, a guy living with HIV, a young man who was a swimming champ and ended up having open-heart surgery, someone with MS, a lesbian mom etc.  The school classes choose a 'book' to investigate and come to your table to chat.  They ask questions and you answer.  It's all designed to eliminate prejudices and misconceptions.
The event lasted all day from 8.30 am to 3.30 pm so it was a long day and rather tiring.  I got home just in time to head out to teach a night school class so I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

Then yesterday I had a tourism event which was fun although when I was heading out for it I had some misgivings and almost turned around and came home.  I have been feeling pressured and somewhat burned out lately with all the classes I teach, the hours of editing and trying to get new stuff written.  Yesterday I started out with the gym, waterfit and then a massage. After that I had a meeting with a woman about editing and publishing her book. I would have loved to stay home last night. But I went anyway and was glad I did. It was a tourism promo for Anaheim, Orange Country, California.  Lots of good snacks, endless wine and those California folk are so friendly.  I also had met a travel-writer friend of mine on the bus going there so that added to the fun.  It was held in the beautiful Seasons in the Park Restaurant in Queen Elizabeth Park, and although the weather was crappy and there wasn't a clear view of the mountains, it is still a beautiful place to be. All the cherry trees were in bloom and there were tulips and daffodils and hyacinths in the gardens making a very pretty sight in spite of the misty rain. 

Today there were more writer's events going on but I opted to stay home to do editing and  then I treated myself to lunch at a local restaurant.  Went and fetched my new passport and was thrilled to find my tax returns have been deposited in my account.  Wohoo!  Suddenly Europe seems a lot closer.

OFF THE PAGE And Into the Classroom!

"Off the Page" is a program sponsored by the Federation of B.C. Writers who has a grant to send writers into classrooms (any ages of children or teens) and talk about the writer's life,  read their work, introduce kids to the life of a writer.  I've participated three times in the past and found it a most rewarding experience.  Yesterday, on my fourth Off the Page visit was, as usual inspiring and lots of fun.

I started writing between the ages of 8 and 10,  first writing plays for my classmates and for friends to perform in grandpa's back yard when we lived in Stratford. (What better a place for a budding writer, in that Ontario town with everything named Shakespearean, even the River Avon!)  When my family traveled across Canada by train after Dad came home from the war, I got interested in writing about pioneers, and later about the Biblical lands (Dad was a Baptist minister).  Then it was the Romans, and by the time I was 16 I got introduced to my hero, Alexander the Great.  I wrote stories, novellas, and plays.  I recently found a box full of these old manuscripts which I've kept.  A play about drugs in Vancouver's East End that I first wrote when I was 18 as a cautionary tale in 1953 and later reworked (without family or society censorship) was successfully produced by Theatre in the Raw in 2000.
But all during that time I was scolded for not paying attention to my school work.  I couldn't understand math and science, had no interest in it at all.  I wanted to be a writer and that was that!  And when I got my first old Underwood typewriter when I was 16 years old I was thrilled beyond words!  Now I could write like Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, my literary heroes!  My mom was always being called into the school and told that I should be spending more time at my studies instead of writing.  I nearly failed my final year of high school because I was writing my first Alexander themed novel.

Persian school boys

These days, kids are given many more opportunities and encouraged to develop their creativity.  And the Off the Page program is just one way that we writers have of helping to stimulate this interest in the written word.  My two groups yesterday were Grades 9 and 10.  I spoke to them about my early desire to write and how through the years by persevering my dream has come to fruition and now I am a full time writer.  I demonstrated the different types of writing including poetry, and with each group I did writing exercises.  For the older group I had them write about a place they loved in 50 words to get the gist of writing short for the internet.  The younger group had prompts from my Idea Jar and wrote on various subjects.  They were shy about sharing but the teachers were encouraging and believe me, there was some excellent writing displayed!  It was truly an inspiring and rewarding morning spent at Moscrop School with the fine teachers, Leanne Sjodin and Dr. Gail Joe.  I was impressed! 

I'll be going back to that school again next month to participate in "The Human Library" which I was invited to do for the second year. I will be a 'book' in the library titled "So You Want to be a Writer?" The children come into the library, choose and book and ask questions.  It's really a lot of fun and again, a rewarding experience.

It's important to nurture young talent and give encouragement to kids who have a desire to write.  And it's heartening nowadays to see that there are teachers who care and programs to stimulate this creativity.  I am proud and glad to have participated in the Off the Page and commend the Federation of BC Writers for promoting such a terrific opportunity for writers and school kids!

http://bcwriters.com/off_the_page.php

A WRITER'S BUSY LIFE!

Pablo Neruda's House "La Chascona"

Santiago, Chile

Between winding up my classes and catching up on travel writing, besides editing Shadow of the Lion, it seems I have not had much time for blogging, other than to add a couple of new travel blogs (sometimes using old stories!)

But here I am, unwinding on a Sunday night after a productive day topped off with two stories getting accepted for an on-line publication (EuropeUpClose),  posting another travel blog, and going for a nice long walk for some exercise.

The final edits of Shadow went very well -- the red-pencilling part.  Now I have to start working on the new file on the computer and all the little icky-picky things that are necessary to get the novel into tip-top shape.  I'm approaching it in a relaxed manner.  There's been enough stuff going on around here to stress me out, so I want to have a fresh mind each time I sit down to go over the manuscript. 

In between, I've been getting a few new travel stories written:  (1) a story about touring Pablo Neruda's houses in Chile (2) updating some old stories that haven't been published (3) catching up on writing all the other stories I've had on the back-log while busy writing for The Vancouver Guide.  Now my time is a bit more freed up and I am enjoying the change of pace, especially getting used to the more casual 'blog-style' writing. 

Pretty soon I want to start working on my old novel, but I don't want to disrupt the work I still have to do on Shadow.  Hoping to get it all ship-shape in the next month.

In two weeks my classes all start up again for the Spring session, so I have to prepare programs and hand-out material for them.  Also, this week I will be presenting at school,  attending two classes to talk about being a writer.  This is for the Off the Page Program sponsored by the Federation of B.C. Writers.  I've done it three times in the past and it was always a great experience.  And later in the month, at the same school, I'll be participating again in the "Human Library" where I will represent myself as a book about being a writer.

So my life is full.  Really, I work every day on my writing and lately have made myself take a break, so I started back to the gym, go to waterfit twice a week and on the weekend I try to go on a good long walk.  Sitting at the computer for too long is very hard on the eyes and body!

Meanwhile, I'm working on my summer plans.  In spite of the upsets lately -- the unexpected news of my apartment sale and some other sad news about friends passing -- I have decided to take charge of my life and go ahead with my plans for summer.  So this week I'll be checking in with my travel agent and applying for a renewed passport.  Time to hit the road again!

HOW SERIOUS ARE YOU ABOUT YOUR WRITER'S LIFE?

This is where I spend anywhere from 4 - 8 hours a day (or more)

This blog was prompted by a recent comment made to me by another writer suggesting that the reason I wasn't accepted into a big writer's organization was that perhaps I was not considered to be 'qualified', but simply a 'hobbyist."   This really riled me, under the circumstance, when I have been working pretty well full-time as a write for the past few years. Even before that, when I worked either full-time or part-time in daycare, I was careful to spend all my extra time at the computer composing, teaching writing classes, attending workshops and marketing my work.

For years now I've kept a daily 'time sheet' to monitor the time I spend writing or in writing-related activities.  This isn't just for my own benefit, but because yearly I declare a self-employment income as a writer and in case I should be audited I need to prove that I'm conscientiously attempting to make a living from my writing.  At the same time, I've warned people who sign up for my travel writing courses and tell me "I want to make a career change", not to quit their day job.  Because chances are, especially in this day and age with cut-backs in the print markets and very little (if any) pay for on-line writing, unless you are employed by a publisher you will not make enough to live on.  I only manage by earning money teaching writing and by collecting the measly pension allotted 'retired' people.  The money I get back yearly from my tax refund is what buys my ticket for another trip.  And if I'm going to join a big writer's organization, I'm not going to pay and arm and a leg to join when I could never afford to fly across the country to their conventions or go on their comp trips.  I do belong to one local writer's organization that I find helpful and beneficial and once again this year got chosen for their Off the Page Program, to go into school and talk writing to kids and get paid for it.  The other group I belong to, the travel writers, has provided a couple of winning tickets for trips but other than their name on my business cards, not much else.

When I've tried joining this other big organization I've been told they did not accept on-line writing (at least not until recently and it all depends on the traffic on the site); they do not consider the fact I edit and publish my own travel 'zine (same reason) and don't recognize that I teach travel writing at night school (though at the moment I don't have a Travel class, just creative writing).  For the last few years I've written daily for another on-line travel 'zine (the Vancouver Guide. www.istopover.com)  and been paid fairly well for my efforts as well as having some print publications (paid) and other on-line publications (paid).  But apparently this isn't good enough and I am therefore labeled 'not qualified'.  Well, piss on that!

I went through my work (on-line links as well as print publications) just to see how many stories I've published since my very first story went into Arrival Travel & Leisure back in 1983 (for which I was paid about $150.)  I was amazed at my body of work.  Everything from shortened pieces in local free newspapers (that paid a whole $5) to my biggest achievement in a glossy magazine that got me $700. including photos.  I made this list not only for my own benefit, but because on my new website, which is to introduce me to potential agents/publishers as I start my journey trying to market Shadow of the Lion, I wanted to have a list of published work available.  It includes the work I did on the APA Insight Guide travel book of Vancouver & Environs in 1993 for which I also got paid a pretty penny and got to learn how to use a computer.

It's true, that if you want to be a writer (and especially if you expect to collect a self-employment rebate on your taxes) you need to prove you are a serious writer trying to make a living.  This means you have to be sending stories out and getting the work done.  Which is, writing more than once or twice a year or giving your work away to these publications (there are too many) who expect you to contribute your work for free while they glean benefits from their own site.  (The reason I started Travel Thru History www.travelthruhistory.com  was because I got sick of being bullied by an on-line editor who did just that.  I decided to start my own site where I could mentor new writers, pay them a small stipend and let them at least get 'rewarded' for their efforts.  No, I don't make money on my site other than what I get from the google ads.  But I find it rewarding enough to see the great stories that get contributed to my site each month and to know the thrill first-time writers feel when they see their work in print.

Besides my travel writing I do other work and recently completed a long historical fiction novel that required tons of discipline to write and many hours of research.  That has been my biggest achievement so far and it will be the biggest thrill of my life when I see Shadow of the Lion in print.  But there's still lots of work ahead, besides the final editing, the marketing process.  Meanwhile I have to get those travel stories written that I've had on hold, and plan new programs for my Spring classes. 

Writing for me IS a full time job.  I spend anywhere from 4 to 8 hrs a day at the computer and sometimes much longer.  That's not counting the time I spend at classes or going to and from classes on public transit.  And then there's my own critique group I belong to each week.  We have to produce writing for that. It helps keep you focused to belong to a writer's group and I've found my Scribblers group to be invaluable as I struggled through the long epic saga of Shadow.  Now I'm ready to start finishing that other novel I'd set aside so long ago to write Alexander's story.  It's an exciting new prospect and one that will be sure to keep me at my computer hours at a time when perhaps I'd rather be out strolling in the sun or watching TV.(The TV doesn't go on in my house until the 11.30 pm news).

Yes, my writer's life is a full time commitment, and I will not let anyone suggest to me that it's otherwise.  I know I am qualified.  My track record for publication, recognition by other writers and by those who have successfully completed my courses and published their own work tells me that.

REVISITING OLD SARUM

Old Sarum

Last night I took my boxes out of the storage closet and found my box of manuscripts, some of them written when I was just a teenager.  The most important one I was looking for was the manuscript of my unfinished Celtic novel, "Dragons in the Sky".  I had half finished this novel before getting bogged down and setting it aside to write "Shadow of the Lion", which at the time was intended as a juvenile historical.
"It'll only take me about a year to write," I thought.  All these years later I finally did finish it and now I want to return to finish Dragons.

Inside the manuscript folder were pages of notes I'd made during my research, in particular for the last part of the book which (yes!) takes place in Greece.  Yes, there is an Alexander connection with this story!  And I found a copy of the MSS and a note I'd written to my dear Aunt Grace who wanted to read it. 
"Dragons in the Sky" is a story about sacrifices - both the literal and personal types.  It's the story of a young girl whose life is spared for the service of the gods and of the sacrifices she makes in her life from the loss of her innocence to her maturity, and eventual motherhood when she must give up her own child in order to return to her homeland.

The story is a first person narrative, the story of a Celtic girl, Olwen, who's 'voice' I have heard from the very first time I sat on the earth mount at Old Sarum on the Salisbury Plain and knew at that instant that this was the place the story took place.  In the novel, I call it "Caer Gwyn".

Iron Age village,  St. Fagans, Wales

Last summer I visited St. Fagans Heritage Park in Wales and was thrilled to tour through an iron age 'village' much like the one Olwen lived in. Two years ago I had revisited Old Sarum although I'd like to go again when I'm not so rushed and alone.  I'd been there twice before, the first time by accident when I'd noticed a sign in the bus depot about the Iron Age hill fort, and decided to walk there.  I knew instantly, when I arrived that this was where Olwen's story began.  I went there once again a year later and spent a lot of time wandering about catching the spirits. 

Me, in front of one of the wattled huts like the one Olwen lived in.

Writing "Dragons in the Sky" was as if I was actually channelling the spirit of this girl, Olwen, who wanted me to tell her story.  Maybe her story was mine from another lifetime.  The strange thing was,  Olwen's father had come from Senghenydd (an ancient holy centre in what is now Wales).  When her mother died and her father brought her to the stone circle on the Plain and she was cared for by the Druids, and became an acolyte of the Raven clan.  I didn't know at the time, until my father told me much later when he read the first part of the novel, that my great-grandfather was from Senghenydd and had died there in a mining disaster at the turn of the century.  There were many such deja-vu kind of experiences for me during the writing of that novel.

I was worried, when I took that manuscript out of the box, that perhaps after so many years the writing would not be so good, and the story wouldn't be as interesting as when I started writing it and listening to Olwen speak.  But I started to read through it and was amazed at how her voice 'sang' to me -- the cadence of the prose and the beautiful story unfolding.

I had original written it on a portable typewriter.  Now I must transpose it onto the computer and will do editing as I go along (as well as workshopping in my critique group).  So Olwen's voice will be heard again.  And this time I hope her story is completely told!  I can hardly wait to begin again.



Some Endings, Some New Beginnings

The end of 2010 was exciting for me when I finally finished writing "Shadow of the Lion".  Starting off the New Year, I took a little break from the novel and continued with other writing, tried to catch up with some long-delayed travel stories, and of course my weekly writing for Planet Eye (www.iStopOver.com) which I've been doing since 2008.

In February I went on a little trip to the mountains, a lovely ski resort "Sun Peaks" and when I returned I prepared to write a special assignment story about it for Planet Eye. The day after I returned from my wonderful family holiday in the mountains, I was shocked to learn my landlord had put my apartment up for sale.  The night before, when I arrived home after my short vacation, I had marvelled at how much I loved my dear little place and how happy I have been here for the last 4 1/2 years.  Then the bomb dropped!  I have been living in limbo ever since, not quite sure if or when I will have to move, or what I'll do next.

I did get the assignment story ready for Planet Eye written and also a couple of other travel stories which I intend to market.  Meanwhile, I also began the editing of Shadow of the Lion.

The Acropolis from the Pnyx 

Today I completed Part IV,  revisiting Pella in Macedonia and Athens.  It was interesting reading back the dialogues between the new Regent and his Assembly,  the antagonist Kassandros and his crew as they plot to overthrow the Regent, and the Senators in Athens arguing about how they will get the Macedonians out of their city.  I've been enjoying my journey back to these old familiar places with the characters I grew to know so well.

I'm looking forward to travelling again and hope that the disruption of my impending move does not interfere with my plans to return to Wales and Greece this summer.

Meanwhile, my work with Planet Eye has ended after a long stint with them (since 2008) because iStopOver is no longer publishing their stories.  I will use this new 'free' time to catch up on travel writing.  And as soon as I am able to I'll dig the old manuscript of "Dragons in the Sky" out of the closet and start retyping it into the computer with the intention of finally finishing it. (I had quite working on it when I started Shadow) 

There's lots to look forward to even though I will be regretful at having to move from my cozy little apartment.  Who knows when that will be?  I just have to wait and see and anticipate a bright new beginning.

RED-PENCILLING MY WAY THROUGH: Another Part of a Long Journey

PELLA

My journey through Alexander's world didn't end when I came to the final chapter of the novel. Now I'm retracing my steps, red pencil in hand, this time not as a writer, but as the editor.

I've actually been making good progress.  The first two parts went quickly with not many notes or edits.  Then from Chapter 18 on it began to bog down somewhat and I was marking more parts with 'OMIT'
There are places in Part 3 where I did a lot of research and wanted to use the information which I found very interesting.  Of course now I see where it was not necessary and although I had fun writing it and developing the characters further, it did not move the plot forward and in fact slowed down the pace.

I knew from the start I'd have to cut lots of the novel as it is much to long to be acceptable, so I am able to be more critical and wield that pen like a sword cutting, cutting, cutting, slashing my way through clunky prose, bits of dialogue and internal thought that are too mature for a child's mind, entertaining passages like the Persians celebrating their New Years, which was fun to write but does nothing to increase the tension.  I'm trying to be tough as a warrior here, mowing down all those unwanted passages.

Then I got to the Interlude for Part 3 and again the action picked right up.  I thought that interlude might be too long but it is packed full of action and violence ramping up the tension full-force.  And the last scene of that interlude, with the dying Regent sets up very clearly all the conflict that is about to happen in the last half of the story.

So progress is good and I'm enjoying the process, distancing myself from it as a writer but still having fun on the journey.  And because I haven't read much of it for some time, there are always surprises, and little trips down memory lane remembering when I visited places like Samothraki, Amphipolis and Pella, and I see how my research notes for setting details etc shine through and breathe life into those ancient places.

Once I finish the red pencilling I'll start working on the computer again.  And then there's things like checking name spellings, correct terminology for the Macedonian army officers etc.  It will take me awhile yet, but I can see that it is going well and that is encouraging.

Meanwhile, I'm not doing much other writing except for some travel stories.  And one of these days when I feel it's time, I'll dig the old manuscript of Dragons in the Sky out of the box and start retyping it.
Til then, I'll enjoy my journey through Alexander's world.  I miss my old friends there!

LIVING THE EDITOR'S LIFE

Me, reading from "Shadow of the Lion" at the wrap party.

These days, aside from some travel writing for http://www.istopover.com/ and working on some of the travel stories that I have back-logged in my files while I spent time on Shadow of the Lion,  I have begun the final edits for the novel.

I try to do a few chapters a day, red pencilling in corrections and making notations for changes or omits.

Yesterday I spent 3 hours with my critique reader going over some of the parts she has been reading for me.  She was enthusiastic about the story, amazed at the research and the character development.  And was impressed with the way I've built the tension throughout, which was good to know because in such a long saga it's hard to tell if you've done this or not.

She says she is enjoying the story so much it's hard for her to choose what I should cut.  But I know the novel needs lots of cutting so I guess that means the 'editor' (me) will have to be a bit brutal.  For now, though I'm just noting the places that probably can be eliminated.  After all the red pencilling is done, I'll start working from hard copy to computer again and set up a new file for the more polished version.

It's a bit strange being the 'editor' now, instead of the writer.  I have to admit I miss my characters and wish they were still running around in my head, but I can't let them interfere with the technical work so I've had to put them out of mind.  I think that taking a week or two break before starting the editing was helpful, as I am now more distanced from the story and can be more objective.

Today I spent several hours with an actor friend who is going over the first act script of my play about Sappho, "House of the Muses".  She has been reading and critiquing it and gave me loads of helpful hints for improving it.  Looking at the play script is different from the novel and what she has pointed out is important for me to know.  She also suggested perhaps I should take another playwright's course to workshop the script which I think would be an excellent idea. 

However, one thing at a time.  I must not get sidetracked from the work on Shadow so I am not intending to work on the play until later.  When I took the workshop at the playwright's centre a couple of years ago I didn't get any of this valuable feedback and that's why I got discouraged with it, even though I knew it was a good idea.  Now at least I know where I can begin and what to do to make it better.  That in itself is pretty exciting.

So, for now, the busy bee editor has lots to do with her novel manuscript.  But sometime before too long the writer will go back to work on new projects.  I'm quite excited about those prospects!

Oh yes, take a look at my website and you'll see a page about Shadow of the Lion.  I still have another couple of pages to add later on -- one for plays and one for travel. http://www.ruthkozak.com/

WHERE AM I NOW?

My writing space

This week I have started the final editing on my manuscript of "Shadow of the Lion".  I bought a very useful book "Manuscript Makeover" by Elizabeth Lyon and recommend it to anyone who is planning to edit their novel or short story manuscript in preparation to send it off to a publisher.  Besides that, I've had someone doing a thorough reader's critique and making notes where I need to change or cut.  So far the job is going quickly. Today I already finished red pencilling Part One with very few corrections or necessary adjustments or tweaks.  It's amazing how 'polished' it was and that is because I did block editing and workshopped each 'scene' as I was writing it.

It's also interesting to go back and read 'fresh' what I had written so long ago.  Amazing, really, as some of it seems as if it came from someone else. I can't remember where I got those words or when I put them down so astutely!  I'm sure, though, that as I go through it I'll find the parts that are not so smooth and those will likely be what gets cut.  Because I do have a lot of cutting to do in order to keep the manuscript to a workable and publishable length.

I have a good team lined up - my critique reader and a professional editor and someone else who offered to do proof reading.  So that's a good start.  And already I've had a little 'bite' about it although I am not going to start the big pitch to agents just yet.  I could though, as the first 3 chapters are pretty polished.  But I still have to set it up in a new file on my computer and make sure it looks as professional as possible. And that will come next.

Pretty soon I'm going to set up a special blog for the novel where I can add links to interesting facts about Alexander and the history that I have written about in the book.  I also have an "Introduction to Shadow of the Lion" group on Facebook, so if you're a Facebooker, take a look at that!

Meanwhile, stay tuned for the next reports.  These are a different type of 'progress report' that I was blogging about before when I was still writing.  Now you'll be hearing from the Editor's Desk!