Blog CPR

I hereby announce that I am reviving my blog. So yup, it’s been more than seven months since I’ve updated here, for various reasons. Anyone who’s visited here during this time has been greeted by a glowing Christmas tree – so I guess it’s been Christmas on my blog all this time. That’s okay with me, I guess, being a total Christmas nut.

During that seven months, every time I considered doing a new post, I just ultimately wasn’t inspired. I didn’t really know what to write about. My blog felt like it had no focus, or that maybe I’d moved past its original intention, or a combination of the two. When I first started this blog almost three years ago, I was heavily influenced by lots of “mama”-type crafty blogs (i.e. the mother of them all, soulemama), and my blog was an attempt to chronicle my attempts to be more crafty and domestic during my first maternity leave with my son, who’s now almost three.The crafty experimentation was fun and all, as were the photos of all the food I cooked up during that mat leave, but ultimately that’s not what I want this blog to be about in the long term. And that’s because, well, I’m just really not all that crafty. Knitting annoys me, sewing gives me a kink in my neck, and I’m just not a natural housewife. That year of crafty/domestic experimentation helped me to realize these things about myself, and that’s helpful in and of itself. But glowbuggirl is not really a mama-type blog, and I wanted to find my new focus.

When I went to revive the ol’ blog, I thought about starting afresh – leaving this one behind, and starting a whole new one. But then I decided, no, I am Glowbug Girl, and I shall evolve! So, what has been occupying my life and body and brain for the past seven months?

Two of my current “projects” – a baby in the belly and a freshly completed manuscript at the ready. The cat’s cute, too. It’s blurry because I took it with my iPhone. Sorry. 

1) I’ve been busy growing a new addition to our family of three. I’m 36 weeks along, and so ready to be done. With my son Keaton I could have kept on being pregnant, but this time it’s different. Something about chasing around a toddler while feeling like a galumphing elephant in the summer heat has taken some of the charm out of the late third trimester. When I was pregnant the last time I could just sit in front of a fan all day and have unlimited naps (when I was on mat leave, of course… although come to think of it I did close the door to my office more then a few times because I was “on deadline.”) Don’t mind me, I’m just feeling complainy today.

2) Just finished the first draft of my latest children’s novel, tentatively titled Mint Magic. I cannot express the relief that I felt when I typed “The End” last week. I started that book six years ago, and I’ve taken big breaks from it in the meantime while I wrote other stuff. It’s a totally different book than when I first started writing it, in my creative writing class during my MA program. But now it is done, at least.

3) Working on a very exciting digital children’s book project with a few other collaborators. I don’t want to say too much in these early-ish stages for fear of jinxing it, but let’s just say I’m super-stoked about where we’re headed with it. More later.

4) Taking courses toward the PIDP (Provincial Instructor Diploma Program), which nerdy me is loving. When I’m done the program I’ll go up a pay grade, which is nice, but just taking courses in curriculum development, evaluation of learning and instructional strategies get me all excited. Yes, I am a nerd. Yes, I love being in school. And for those reasons (and a few others that I’ll write about later) making the career shift from communications and marketing office slave to university instructor a couple of years ago was one of the best things I ever did. More on this later, too.

So there we go. And that’s where I want to head with this blog, too. Mama and baby/kid life is great, but that’s not the focus of Glowbug Girl. I go more than slightly nutty if I don’t have some sort of cerebral/creative outlet, so this blog will (hopefully) be one of my sanctuaries for the preservation of my sanity. I want to talk about creative writing. I want to discuss the intersection of traditional children’s book publishing and digital publishing. I want to talk about arts and culture. I want to talk about childhood nostalgia and my favourite movies and music, and random thoughts, and other things that have already found a place here. And so I shall continue.

Coming up in a future post: why I call this blog Glowbug Girl.

Read Full Post »

Book Launch!

Okay yes, so it’s all the way in South Surrey, but at least there will be free wine and treats. Hope to see you there!

Read Full Post »

‘Farmed Out’: on the shelves now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My new children’s book, the aforementioned Farmed Out, is released today! Yippee, hooray! You can order it online through Chapters or Amazon, or ask for it at your favourite bookstore. Stay tuned for news of a book launch in October…

Read Full Post »

The Right Amount of Busy

For the first time in a very long time, I feel like I’ve got the perfect amount of busy going on in my life. A balance between activity and rest, nights out and nights in. It’s the amount of busy that I’ve been hoping for and trying for for so long, but just never achieved. And it’s been years, too, too many years. My too-busy-ness before was entirely self-wrought, I do realise, but still. It’s temporary, I also realise, and all too soon I’ll be right back to too busy again. But for now I’m savouring it. Last semester was crazy, and I barely had time to sleep, but this semester’s workload totally makes up for it. (Funny, now that I’m an instructor I’m like a student again – thinking about the year in terms of semesters.)

So, fortunately, lately I’ve had time lately to:

– Finish that patchwork baby quilt I showed you last post, and now I’ve started on the embroidery for another baby quilt, this time for my sister-in-law’s soon-to-be-released wee one. It’ll be another patchwork quilt, using the most darling charm pack fabric from Moda.

Listen to me: I actually sound like I know what I’m talking about. Really, everything I know about quilting (which is very, very little) so far I’ve learned from the Missouri Star Quilt Company’s online tutorials. Jenny’s my favourite – she’s hilarious and I love her gel nails.

– Take a one-day drawing class on ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ with the Vancouver School Board. Just for fun, of course. I have absolutely no dreams of actually being a good artist – I still draw like I’m twelve, as I’ve mentioned. But it’s something I’ve been meaning to do for years, so I was glad to finally do it. But it definitely confirmed the fact that I still draw like I did when I was twelve. My favourite things to draw then were hamsters and gymnasts.

And the class was in a high school science lab, so that was cool.

– Write a new picture book manuscript. Not sure exactly what I’ll do with it, but it’s an idea I’d had for a while, and I sure was glad that I found the time to write it. And last week I put Keaton in daycare for a few hours and worked on the edits for my new novel that’s coming out in the fall. That’s been my dream for a long time, too, to work on creative writing in a coffee shop.

So yeah, I’m enjoying all this extra creative time while it lasts. ‘Cause I know that pretty soon Too Busy will come along and kick me in the ass again. But, for now, it’s all good.

Read Full Post »

Fan Mail

I now have proof that at least two members of the target market for my book, Explore, have read it – I received my first fan letter on Saturday! Okay, so they were from my friend’s husband’s Grade 7 class – he has them read it as part of their Reading Circle (I know, adorable), but still, they’re two kids that wrote to me enthusiastically about my book, so I’m counting it as a fan letter. Hee hee. And when my friend presented it to me when she visited us this weekend from Prince George, well, let’s just say, it warmed the cockles of my heart to no end. It’s so cute, I can hardly stand it.

I’m so totally going to write back to them.

Read Full Post »

Celebratin’

Okay, so remember this post from all those months ago? (Well, about four months ago, to be exact.) Back then I was burning the midnight oil to get the darn book finished, and… it all paid off! Today at 4:50pm, just as I had Keaton all bundled up in his stroller, ready to head out for some groceries, the phone rang. It was a 250 area code number that I didn’t recognize, so I didn’t pick up. But then I thought, “Wait a minute, it’s a 250 number!” A glimmer flashed into my brain that maybe, just maybe, it might be my publisher. So, with poor Keaton waiting so patiently for me, I checked the message. And yes, there was the voice of my editor: “Hi Christy, it’s Melanie from Orca Book Publishers…” And as she was saying this, I thought, Okay, it’s 4:50pm on Friday. It couldn’t be bad news, could it? “Since you’re not there,” she continued on the message, “I’ll send you an email with the good news.”

So, to make a long story somewhat short – Orca Book Publishers will be publishing Farmed Out in Fall 2011. Oh, you should have seen me leaping around in the hallway!

Read Full Post »

Please Excuse My Absence.

Dear Loyal Readers (of which there are approximately two),

Please excuse my absence from the blog this week! I wanted to post more images from my childhood sticker book (my unicorn shinies page is to die for), a recipe on Thursday, and a “this moment” photo from the week today, but I didn’t.

My excuse? I was finishing my latest children’s book, a second hi-lo chapter book for Orca Book Publishers… putting in hours reminiscent of my college all-nighter essay-writing days (ie. staying up until 4a.m., except now I have a baby so that’s a really dumb idea). I was just so determined to get the blasted thing done, and I’m really happy with it. I’d been writing it for waaaay too long (since I was newly pregnant with Keaton), and it is so very wonderful to have it all sent off to my editor. Who knows, my publisher might want it, they might not, but it’s a satisfying feeling to know that it’s now in their hands and our of mine. Phew. And now I am so excited to finally be able to start something new!

But first, my little family and I are off visiting the various grandparents in Chilliwack, Vernon and the Kootenays for the next almost two weeks. I’m so looking forward to days filled with river floating, drinking & eating, lolling and other fun summery-ness.

Love,

Christy

Read Full Post »

BGUDs (Big, Grown-Up Decisions) & Serendipity

A nice, foamy Snakebite (cider and lager) always helps me with my BGUDs.

My fabulous Nia teacher, Jasjit, wrote about a great idea in her latest newsletter:

to start at the “End.” Enter a state where whatever you’re struggling with is already sorted, handled, completed in the most contented way you could imagine. Sit with this. Sense your body, feel your feelings, imagine the situation, and notice where you are. Breathe it in. And then return to the present moment and choose what to do now, if anything, knowing full well that you’ve already seen the End, it’s good, and everything is leading you there.

Okay, yes, to my often-cynical self this sounds s bit New Age-y cheesy, but seriously, it’s really helped through all this. (That and the aforementioned Snakebites. Do I drink too much? Possibly.)

There’s been some turmoil in my life lately, more specifically in my what-the-heck-am-I-going-to-do-after-maternity-leave life. My wonderful, blissful year of mat leave ends next month, and I had been trying to decide what to do. Ever since I knew I wanted to have kids, I knew that I didn’t want to work full time when they were still very young. Also, working 5 or even 4 days a week, with daycare costs taken into consideration, just doesn’t make much financial sense. It would either be that we were broke with me going back to work (not to mention stressed out and going against our parenting philosophy with putting Keats in daycare a bulk of the time), or ever broker with me trying to freelance and keep Keaton at home with me.

But there’s the small problem of our debt load – my husband and I have such a huge debt to pay off on a tight payment schedule (not to mention the costs of living in the world’s most expensive city!) that if I don’t make a certain chunk of money every month, we’re basically screwed. This left us in a bit of a pickle, to say the least.

So, I wrote up a proposal to my boss at my library job (which I was on mat leave from) to work part-time hours, but for various reasons that I won’t get into, she didn’t go for it nearly the way I’d hoped. To be honest, I really didn’t want to go back to that job anyway, but I thought I’d try the easiest thing first. When my boss didn’t go for my proposal (I won’t even get into all the details around that), my heart sank. I had it all figured out, but then she didn’t go for it. I cried as soon as I left the meeting room, and cried all the way home. On the way home I got a bubble tea, and then I talked with my sister and started to feel better.

Because my library job wasn’t my only option. Something about staying home with a baby for nearly a year had shaken my confidence in the professional realm a little (I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised), but then I started to snap out of it. I thought, “okay, I’ve freelanced before, I have an MA, I’ve got a pretty good resume by this point. I can freelance and/or get another job.” This thought was inspiring, as I’ve been wanting to seriously get back into my freelance writing/marketing business, but hanging over our heads the entire time was the whole money thing. And then, when the stress was really, really setting in, my husband spotted a part-time faculty job posting at a local university. How perfectly serendipitous that it didn’t start until September (so I could spend the summer at home with Keats), and that I had a connection in that university department, so I could find out the inside scoop.

One interview and a 10-minute lecture/demo later, and I found out a week later that I had the job! I’ll be teaching as part of an arts and entertainment management program. I resigned from my library job (I’ll miss the people there, but not really the job itself), and now I’m thrust into something totally new – switching from marketing and communications work to university teaching. Wow. It’s weird to think that for the first time in years, I won’t have to worry about whether the correct logo is on something, or if the latest newspaper ad got in before the deadline. Instead I’ll be teaching 26 first-years about computer applications for arts workplaces. I don’t think that I’ve totally grasped that idea yet. Maybe I’ll worry about that later, after some more summer fun.

So here I am at the “End” – the decision has been made, things have been put in motion, and what I was struggling with is sorted, handled, completed in the most contented way I can imagine. I stil can’t believe how serendipitously well it’s all worked out. After what seems like way too long (a couple months, maybe) of attempting to make Big, Grown-Up Decisions (BGUDs, as Joshua and I call them), they’ve now been made. And I feel so. Much. Better. There will be stress involved with my new direction, of course – money stress, learning curve, taking on a whole different job, etc. etc., but so much better than the stress dropping Keaton off at daycare 4 or 5 days a week and then bitterly dragging myself into work, knowing that the whole time I was going against my principles. Nope, that just wasn’t an option at all.

Hmmm, this is some pretty heavy Friday reading I’ve given you isn’t it? Well anyway, have a happy weekend!

Read Full Post »

100% Christy

I feel at my best, my sparkliest, my most alive, my sunniest, my most 100% Christy when…

…I have a creative writing project on the go (such as my latest children’s novel, above – just want to get the #$%@ thing finished, though!)

…I have a nice, juicy book to read (still in the midst of my Marian Keyes kick)

…I have another creative project or two on the go (knitting, sewing, etc.) that I’m not feeling frustrated with (yet)

…I take the time to cook and eat good, nourishing, delicious foods

….I’m acting silly and laughing my head off

…I’m well-rested (totally self-inflicted, but that’s pretty rare these days)

…there are fresh flowers in the house

…my workspace is tidy and organized (it certainly isn’t right now!)

…I’m in the fresh air and can hear the birds singing

…I’m going to Nia class regularly

…I’m dancing in general (even to Cyndi Lauper in the kitchen – I have a firm belief that dance parties can change the world)

…I’m surrounded by close friends and family (and acting silly and laughing our heads off, as above)

…when I have a glass of wine on the go and the promise of more to come (v. important)

Many of these things never actually happen all at once, but I know that I’m at my most optimal state of being when I have the above things going on in my life. If not (and too often I don’t), I become grumpy, tired, grey, and totally unproductive. And that’s not fun for anyone. I decided to make this list to remind myself what I need to keep calm and carry on.

When do you feel at your optimal state of being?

Read Full Post »

Recipe Thursday: Cardamom Apple Cake

In the same vein as my “What’s For Dinner?” schedule that I wrote about earlier this week, I’m going to attempt to bring the same rhythm to my blog by identifying a few days of the week for theme posts. Not sure what I’ll do with the other days yet, but I’m going to start with Recipe Thursdays. Pretty self-explanatory, just some of my favourite things to make, either my own creations or those adapted from other sources. Enjoy!

Cardamom Apple Cake
(adapted from a recipe on a Safeway All-Purpose Flour bag!)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 heaping tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed, plus extra for sprinkling on top
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup applesauce
3 cups apples – peeled, cored and chopped (I used organic Gala apples… yum!)

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, sugar and salt. Stir in eggs and applesauce. Stir in apples. Transfer batter to greased pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Delicious served warm with ice cream (see example, above, which was gobbled up about 5 seconds after this photo was taken, by the way… please note the ready-and-waiting fork.)

P.S.: This recipe and baking tomfoolery is all in the name of procrastination, of course. Aren’t I supposed to be Cracking My W.I.P., for chrissakes? Gaaaaaaad. I’ll never learn.

Read Full Post »