walks and solitude and creativity

Spent a few hours Sunday afternoon in what will be our new neighbourhood, exploring the park system. I definitely need to take a compass with me, and find a Toronto parks/trails map; I was trying to find a route up to Edwards Gardens but kept getting sidetracked...too many interesting trails to explore. Ended up walking about 25 km (over 15 miles) over hilly terrain.



While I love walking with Jeff or with friends, it's a different experience to go out walking alone. I'm starting to opt to leave my iPod behind, not just for safety reasons but also because I find I enjoy the experience more that way.

Listening to what's going on around me, for example. In downtown Toronto, this was mainly the sound of traffic. But on my walk, I could hear...BIRDS! And the sound of the creek nearby. The rustling of leaves. Those of you who already live within easy reach of this kind of area may be jaded about this sort of thing, but I was astounded and delighted by the fact that we're going to be living a 20 minute walk away from this kind of forested area.

And instead of inhaling exhaust fumes from the traffic from the Gardiner Expressway, I'll be able to do my running and walking smelling GREEN things. It's going to be quite the change for me. My lungs are probably going to go into shock.



Another reason I'm starting to not bring my iPod on walks: it gives me room to think. Sounds odd, I know, but I'm enjoying the chance to reflect, to think about what I've done and what I want to do next (both little and big). I also get all kinds of inspiration for my writing during these walks; the space to think, physical activity and the change of scenery make all the difference.

I also find I value my solitude more and more over time. While I greatly enjoying hanging out with friends and family, I find that if I don't get enough time by myself on a regular basis, I start getting restless, bitchy.

Then my writing suffers.

So does Jeff. :-)

When I was much younger, I used to seek out company all the time; the bigger the crowd, the better. Why on earth should I want to spend time alone when I could do it with friends?

I feel differently now. Not exactly sure why. Could have something to do with life experience and age, could be because I'm more self-confident, more comfortable with who I am. I'll still seek out other people's company and enjoy it, but it's because it's my choice, not because there's "nothing better to do."

Fortunately Jeff is of a similar mindset, and we don't get insulted when one of us sometimes wants to do something or go somewhere without the other person; we've never been one of those couples who always seem to be joined at the hip. I recently had a conversation with a friend who said that this was one of the main reasons his relationship has stayed strong over all that time.

Considering his marriage has lasted nearly 30 years, I figure this piece of marital advice is worth paying attention to.

Fun link:

20 Questions (thanks, Jeff): Pretty impressive. We played this last night with my nieces, who thought up objects like "fence post" and "piece of chalk". In both cases, the program guessed the correct answer in less than 20 questions.

ELEVEN DAYS.

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the dilemma of choice

After choosing and ordering a tub, taps, and a sink, Jeff and I went to World Mosaic for another time and finally decided on bathroom tiles as well. I found it a somewhat agonizing process, somewhat like having to choose from a gigantic menu of a zillion items in a restaurant.

Except a lot more money's involved and you can't eat what you've chosen.

World Mosaic Stone & Tile

I also don't tend to care as much as Jeff (our master bathroom will look nice because of Jeff, not me) so tend to lose patience early in each "shopping" session. I tend to focus on the practical aspect: Does it work? Is it easy to clean? Let's get it! ... Not always a good attitude when we're going to have to live with the choices we make for (hopefully) many years to come.

As Jeff took our choice into the office to figure out payment, I felt like rejoicing. No more agonizing over tile colours! Texture and glazing! Limestone or porcelain! 18" or 12"!

Mike from World Mosaic helping us find matching grout.

Partway through the paperwork, Mike turned to us and asked, "So what about grout colour?"

AAUUGGHH.

Grout colour? Who thinks about GROUT colour? Apparently a great many people, because Mike proceeded to pull out a number of different choices. A BIG number of different choices.

Which brings me to a dilemma which seems to face all of us more and more often, it seems: the dilemma of choice.

Grout colours!

You walk into a restaurant, for example, and are handed a menu. Do you prefer a single piece of paper with five choices? Or do you like to luxuriate over a thickly-bound menu offering a wealth of different dishes?

In recent years, I find myself leaning towards the former. Too much choice saps some of the joy out of the luxury of many options. I find myself craving simplicity in all things. Is this just because I'm getting older, or because we've been inundated with all the bells and whistles for so long? Maybe a combination of both.

More grout colours!

Jeff and I have tickets to Lord of the Rings: The Musical! We're taking Sara and Annie to see it next February. We're all hyped. :-)

We got take-out chirashi last night and watched October Sky, really enjoyed it.

I also rented Van Helsing, which I'm not enjoying nearly as much but feel compelled to watch because of my soft spot for Hugh Jackman. Still, not nearly as bad as Real Life, which still wins my vote as the Worst Movie I've Ever Seen.

Can't believe it's only TWELVE MORE DAYS until we get possession of our new house.

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new nephew!

I have a new nephew! Jeff and I got the call from my mom-in-law yesterday morning and went to the hospital. While Jeff and his dad went to pick up my niece from school, I stood on the other side of the curtain in Larkin's delivery room and listened to my nephew being born.

It doesn't matter how many times I've heard it; the first cry of a newborn is unforgettable.

Larkin & Rick are doing fine. Jeff and I now have four nephews and four nieces!

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Just finished reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, quite enjoyed it. Thanks to my friend Ray for the loan.

THIRTEEN DAYS until we get possession of our new house!

Thanks to Keith Vaugh for his help with the following strip, which was inspired by a brief exchange he and I had in Flickr after I posted my last comic.

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productivity and Internet surfing

Still finding Backpack immensely useful. I check my main To-Do list every day and e-mail myself a copy so I can take my laptop offline and still have access to the list. Thanks to the Backpack people for posting my cartoon in their Web log!

After posting the picture from our Nahanni trip yesterday afternoon in Blatherings, I got distracted and started fixing up some of the pages in my old trip report. Augh. I'm so bad.

I'm going to follow a tip offered by writer Jennifer Gibbs in this excellent article she has on her Web site. She warns new writers that the home computer is one of the dangerous enemies of productivity; I think her advice easily applies to many seasoned writers as well! Her advice:

"...Be sure to make an accessible list of what exactly it is you are looking for, and even better, give yourself a maximum time limit that you can spend. If you don't already have one, go out and buy an egg timer and keep it handy. This single purchase has increased my productivity and prevented me from wasting a lot of time."



Instead of an egg timer, I'm going to use the computer timer I use to remind me to take arm breaks. Whenever I start "just checking e-mail" or surfing in the middle of the work day, I'm going to set the timer for five minutes. I tried this yesterday, and I was shocked at how quickly the time went by.

When I'm working on fiction writing, I can take my laptop somewhere there's no Internet access. When working on nonfiction projects, I find the Internet invaluable for checking facts, doing market research, etc. The challenge, however, is not to let a so-called "just checking this fact for work" session turn into a "well, I might as well catch up on some blogs and HEY, what an interesting news story, must follow that up for just a bit..." tangent.

For those who work with constant Internet access, especially those who work at home and therefore aren't being supervised by anyone other than yourself...what tips do you have for staying productive and minimizing your time online? Please post your answers in Livejournal or Blatherchat (see links below). I'll compile answers and link to the results from Inkygirl as well as here.

Thanks!

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William Shatner and Fairy Tails

I was browsing through the Toronto Star on Saturday and my attention was caught by the familiar-looking face to the right: William Shatner. Looked closer at the so-called "appointment" (click on the image to see the full clipping) and realized it was an advertisement for All-Bran. Pretty amusing, once I got over the bizarre first impression....

Anyway, I visited our old place on the weekend to check for mail, and found a priority mail delivery from Tekno Books with page proofs for a short story I co-wrote with Michelle Sagara West several years ago. Looks like DAW's publishing the anthology after all, yay! It's called Fairy Tails, and will be coming out in September. In case you haven't guessed already from the title, the common theme involves cats and fairy tales. Ironic, really, since both Michelle and I are allergic to cats.

Other authors in the anthology include Charles de Lint, Alan Dean Foster, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Josepha Sherman, Jody Lynn Nye and Andre Norton. I'm sure Michelle's jaded about this by now, having published a zillion short stories already, but I'm pretty darned thrilled.

18 more days until we get possession of our new house. Jeff and I have decided we're going to stay over the first night even though we aren't officially moving in until after renovations are finished; we're going to bring sleeping bags and stay in an empty house. OUR empty house.

Are we excited? Ok, maybe just a tad. :-)

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