on art + books

what a busy weekend we had! but so enriching in many ways, so let me share. and a reminder to me of why i love Madison so much. i just wish i had more energy to go out every time there's something going on!!

considering that i am usually in my pajamas by 7 pm, it was quite a feat that we were out late on friday night, way past everyone's threshold, for Gallery Night. we hit just one spot (i don't think i could have handled any more), Winnebago Studio, where my friend Rachelle has her studio, along with many other artists. there will be more about this great space later as i will be participating in an art show there that Rachelle is putting on for November. it's always such an inspiration to visit other artists' studio spaces and to see the works they are creating. there was great live music too. when the kids started to complain of hunger, we went out to eat dinner with some friends. apart from almost setting the restaurant on fire, we did pretty well. :) (one of the napkins landed on top of the candle and we had no idea until a hole had burned through!)

then on saturday, i attended one of the readings at the Wisconsin Book Festival. it was Ngugi wa Thiongo and his son, Mukoma wa Ngugi. unfortunately, Cordelia did NOT sleep through the talk, but she did very very well and sat through most of it. i had to slip out about 10 minutes before it ended, but i got to buy two books and was almost at the front of the queue waiting to get my books signed. the two writers loved Cordelia and couldn't get enough of her. :) the reading sparked my memory and imagination. it felt good to hear writings about Kenya, so different from my mine, yet the same. i am really looking forward to reading these books: Ngugi wa Thiongo's Dreams in a Time of War, and Mukoma wa Ngugi's Nairobi Heat.

i promise to have more photos posted this week. i dropped off some rolls of film so i should be getting them back soon.

Milwaukee pics + update on my agent search

 

 these are some photos i took when we visited Milwaukee just before schools started. i had heard there were so many kid-friendly things to do, like the children's museum and the mini aquarium, but the weather was so beautiful and we were already missing summer, so we spent our time at the beaches and walking along the riverwalk. 

and i really, really wish i could share great news with you regarding my search for an agent. it has been a year now since my search began. and still no agent. it is very discouraging and i can see how disillusionment can set in. but i must always have a shred of hope in me, because i keep sending those query letters out there. i sent out a batch today. and it hasn't been all nothing. i've had many agents get back to me, asking to read my manuscript, but in the end, the answer has been no. for now. let's hope i'll find that agent out there whose aesthetics match up with mine! i just wanted to share this with you since i've been rather silent about the search. i do get tired of telling people that i'm still searching.

Skye's Golden Birthday

it's hard to believe that my little girl is getting so big. i know people say this all the time about parenthood, that the first years fly by, but i can't help marvelling about it just the same. i guess because i'm not growing or changing at the rate my children are. i'm sort of walking along at a tortoise pace while they are hopping ahead like little bunnies.

while Skye's official party isn't until this saturday, we did manage to squeeze in some celebrating last wednesday. it ended up being a FULL day. Skye was the "Fantabulous Friend" at school last week and her teacher asked her to bring in her violin to play for the class. i was supposed to do that on tuesday but was sick as a dog, so i went in on wednesday. Skye was so proud of herself, to get up in front of her friends and play her many variations of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. then, after school, she had her ballet recital. they did the "Firebird" this time. i'll post some movies of their dance. it was lots of fun to watch.

personally for me, i had another celebration going on inside. i'd started my novel shortly after Skye was born. now, near her 6th birthday, i'm close to being finished with it. i have a final meeting with an editor and then i'll be sending it out to an agent. i feel really mixed up inside, sort of like seeing the children growing up. i'm happy that they are growing up so well and growing more and more independent, yet with each year, i'm letting them go more and more. and while i'm happy the novel is coming to an end, there's a sadness there too.

this saturday, we celebrate Skye's birthday at her ballet school with 10 of her friends. all the girls will dress up, dance and eat cupcakes. i did try my best to convince Skye to have a party at home, but she was quite firm about having her party outside this year. she wanted a fairy party, just the kind they have at her ballet school. :)

Valentine's day?

what is that?? our day was lost in the endless list of activities i had inadvertently packed into the day. first, a special brunch at Marigolds. then, i had promised to pick up my neighbour's kids for part of the day - they have a day old baby in their house, so i thought i'd be neighbourly and take the older kids. Phil and i took turns taking the kids out to various outings. the one i ended up taking them to was Skye's school's winter carnival. crazy. there were so many people and kids running around, i barely had my wits together to keep track of my kids. finally dropped off the neighbours' kids back at their house and then it was off to dinner at a friend's house, but of course, i'd volunteered to make dessert... i'm just thankful the day didn't end in tears. i should be overcome with exhaustion and conked out in my bed, but my mind is going a mile a minute and so i'm sitting here writing.

i'd love to catch you up on my weekend getaway, but the minute i stepped out of the car after i drove back home, it's been crazy. for those of you who are wondering where i've been, i went to this place last weekend to take some personal time to work on my novel. it was great but also really bizarre. it felt so strange not to have my time dictated by my children's schedule/needs. i did get some good work in, but of course, felt i didn't have enough time to do everything i wanted to do. i also had a great time talking, over meals in the dining hall, to some of the other people who were there. it was really beautiful and peaceful. great place for writing, as many other writers have noticed as well.

but the best news is, my kitchen ceiling is finally all fixed!! yay!!!! on friday, the painter came and finished the painting. it is so great to no longer look up into these big gaping holes above us blowing in cold drafts!!

Dinner with friends

tonight, we had some friends over for dinner. Phil smoked some goat meat and the weather was great we could sit outside and eat. our friends have two kids whose ages are compatible with Skye and Claire, so the kids had a GREAT time together. there was a lot of noise and a lot of running around, but we adults managed to get in some conversation here and there. the husband is a fellow writer, so he and i commiserated on how slow it was trying to write while raising children. too many times, i wonder if i'll ever finish the novel. oh well.

it was great to enjoy good food and decent conversation with friends.

Ballet lesson

yesterday, i returned to weekly ballet classes. it was good, but as usual on the first day of class, i realized how weak my muscles have gotten over my time off from class and sure enough, i'm rather sore today. my teacher is quite eccentric and i was slightly worried about him - i had him for the first time last semester - because he talks incessantly during class and eats away at the time during which we could be dancing. but, in the midst of all his talk, there are some jewels to be found. yesterday, he was correcting us on our cambre into the barre and said we need to look at our bodies as parallel lines that sway together to create a picture. i love it when he talks like that! it is the reason why i take ballet - i'm always creating something on paper, either with paint or with words. ballet helps me get out of that - ballet is movement, creating something with my body and the space around it. and so much more immediate and temporal. i hope it is feeding my writing.

Italo Calvino's "Six Memos for the Next Millennium"

i have loved Italo Calvino's fiction since my graduate school days and have picked up this book recently. it is a series of lectures he was supposed to give when he passed away, so there's actually 5 "memos" - the sixth was never completed. i wanted to share an excerpt from the chapter titled "Quickness". while he writes about the writing process, i think in so many ways, it is about life too.

"A writer's work has to take account of many rhythms...a message of urgency obtained by dint of patient and meticulous adjustments and an intuition so instantaneous that, when formulated, it acquires the finality of something that could never have been otherwise. but it is also the rhythm of time that passes with no other aim than to let feelings and thoughts settle down, mature, and shed all impatience or ephemeral contingency.

"I began this lecture by telling a story. let me end it with another story, this time Chinese: among Chuang-tzu's many skills, he was an expert draftsman. the king asked him to draw a crab. Chuang-tzu replied that he needed five years, a country house, and twelve servants. five years later the drawing was still not begun. 'i need another five years,' said Chuang-tzu. the king granted them. at the end of these ten years, Chuang-tzu took up his brush and, in an instant, with a single stroke, he drew a crab, the most perfect crab ever seen."

Anthony Minghella

i was saddened to hear of the death of Anthony Minghella (who directed great movies such as The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain). he made such beautiful, epic movies. i had always dreamed that if i were to ever write my novel, Mr. Minghella would make it into one of his great movies...well, there goes my dream.

Progress with writing...

so i recently printed out a rough draft of the first half of the novel i'm working on, about 6 chapters so far. i was actually quite surprised at how substantial it was!! but mind you, i've been slaving away at these 6 chapters now for about 3 years. i don't even want to think about how long it might take to finish this book because i'll just start crying. however, i was filled with a sense of satisfaction until i started reading over it. i'm now busy tearing pages out, scribbling all over it, starting the whole revision process.

i was at a party over the past weekend (yes, i sometimes do manage to get out and talk to some adults, albeit rather distracted) and was talking to a veteran writer. when i told him my schedule for writing (uh, whenever i can get an hour during nap time), he sort of shook his head and looked at me like, you're never going to get that novel written. he writes almost every day and sets aside at least two days a week devoted exclusively to writing. "what can you write in an hour?"

still, i'll keep plugging away.

Winter returns

it is snowing again. we're supposed to get a foot of snow. snowing all day and all night...it is incredibly beautiful outside. it's that thick wet snow, so it's covering everything, even the tree trunks. i'm told this is the last of winter - well, it's certainly leaving with one last beautiful snowfall.

watched "Stranger Than Fiction" last night. i watched it at a good time because i'm writing again. i'd gone through several months now of feeling too tired and overwhelmed to write. but the great thing is that i still think about my writing and now have some new ideas. working on a novel that's set in Kenya. it's been in the works for quite some time - it's just slow going. another writer really encouraged me to finish the manuscript, so i'm working on that.

just finished reading Dean Bakopoulos' novel "Please Don't Come Back From the Moon." he's a young local writer who is quite big in this town.