Hunger of the Mind

A tree-hugger's tree-climber 

(don't worry, I photoshopped myself out of the picture)

Back in St. Louis in the early 2000's I stumbled along in graduate school. Call me nerdy, but here's what excited me:

helping baby trees grow in deforested areas of the rainforest

 (you'd be surprised that most tree seedlings die in an area that's been cleared of rainforest)

(For those of you who aren't numbed already by the science of this post, specifically I researched the way a type of fungus (mycorrhizal) helped tree seedlings to grow in cow pastures while insects (herbivores) devoured the nutrient-rich seedling leaves)

It was, in my world, thrilling! I was the mother to thousands of baby trees who were crying out "Don't eat me bugs!"

Now that world of science and research is far far away. I'm probably closer to trees as instruments of perfecting how to climb than how they sustain our planet.

I miss the demands on my mind. Motherhood is demanding, but my mind is not a sponge for things like listening to Dora sing "Come on Vamanos" or reading Big Dog...Little Dog six times in a row or picking up the Tinker Toys again.

My mind is hungry for the intellectual games of being an adult.

How do you keep your mind active? What challenges you so that your brain doesn't become as soft and depleted as Sponge Bob's?

Are You There God? It's Me, Mama.

My four-year-old daughter points to my baby belly and asks, "Mama, did God make the baby?"

And I think, here we go.

The topic of how babies are made physically is no longer a difficult one compared to the new topic my daughter loves to bring up: God and Jesus.

Since this is my blog, I guess I can blog about anything. Right?

Normally I don't write about my spiritual, religious or political beliefs.
The reason: I just like to write about motherhood and writing more than the Bible and the state of our government.

But now two lines have crossed: motherhood and God, so here I go...

My daughter attends the preschool at our church. She comes home singing songs about Jesus. She tells me about her weekly trip to chapel. She asks me to read stories to her from her children's Bible. And I love that she is so taken with the story of God and Jesus, but...

But when she says that God made us, flashing lights go off in my head:

Should I just listen for now?

Should I tell her what I believe? 

(That God is a universal spirit encompassing all life, present and past, and that the Big Bang did occur, that evolution is a process of life, and that God is part of it all.)

Should I tell her that I still don't know after all these years what I believe about Jesus? 

Is it true what the Bible says about him? 

Did heaven not exist before Jesus? 

Should I project my belief about heaven and hell on her?

(That heaven exists for everyone, 

even if it is just a small piece of goodness from someone's soul that is in heaven. 

And that hell does not exist.)

Should I teach her about all religions and their god(s)?

Do I let her find her own way, her own beliefs?

I am still trying to figure out what I believe, but she is my daughter. I attended a church service once and watched the nods of heads accepting everything the priest said: "abortion is wrong, a woman's place should be submissive, sinners never go to heaven unless they confess and even then maybe not."

In that moment it became clear to me: I never want to accept someone's words on blind faith. It just doesn't mesh well with my scientific mind that is constantly searching for the truth.

So instead of preaching to my child, I teach. I ask questions. I listen. I guide her. I wait for her to explore answers in her mind.

She's only four.

Someday I will delve into it more deeply. I am passionate about life, its creation, its miracle, and its evolution.

But it is more important to me now that my daughter is given a chance to think, to learn how to observe and question the world around her.

Welcome Author Danette Haworth

Today on my blog I am hosting Danette Haworth, author of Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning. Following last month's theme on my blog ("Earth Month"), I decided to ask Danette a few nature-related questions about her wonderful book.

I read Danette's book in two days, only putting it down when my toddler was practically begging me on her knees to play with her! Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning is an absolute gem! The voice is captivating, the characters melt your heart, and the plot is unique and cleverly written. Girls and boys of all ages (as well as adults) will be able to relate to the characters in this book, so I highly recommend it!

Danette is giving away a free copy of her book today to one random winner. All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog today and I will pick a winner at random. I will announce the winner on my blog tomorrow, so please check back to see if you won so I can get your snail mail address!

And here is what Danette has to say...

Hi Danette. Thank you for joining us today on my blog!

Thanks Kim! After reading your website, I saw we had much in common!

I read on your website that you grew up in an Air Force family. How did moving frequently and living in different places influence your childhood and your writing?

We did move constantly and I hated it! Because my dad was an Air Force recruiter, we lived in regular towns and my brothers, sister, and I went to public schools, always the new kids. The one time we lived on base was excellent—everyone was new, either moving in or moving out—all you had to do to make friends was step outside and join the kickball game on the playground.

On the plus side, adapting to my many new schools helped me become more sensitive than I might have been otherwise. My brother and I kid that we were trained sociologists before we ever left elementary school! As a new kid, I learned to pick up nuances in the crowd, read expressions, analyze social dynamics—all skills that help me now in my writing.

As a new mom, I'm reliving my childhood through my daughter; many forgotten memories surprise me and help me as a writer. With your book Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning, you took on the challenge of writing about a girl entering adolescence. How were you able to successfully write about such a trying, difficult time in a child's life? Did you use memories of your own childhood to help you relate to Violet, the main character?

Oh yes! I remember boys in fifth grade teasing me about my bra, and yet these boys were my friends. It was weird to be evolving in ways they could see! But the feelings Violet has are feelings we still have as adults: jealousy, guilt, anger, loss, love of family and home, joy. It’s just that in writing for middle grade, these feelings can be expressed in their raw (and more honest) quality.

With summer right around the corner we're all enjoying the outdoors, which ties in perfectly with your book. Violet is very fond of nature and exploring the outdoors as she struggles with her confusion about becoming an adolescent. How did you use concepts of nature to help and/or hinder Violet in her maturation process?

When Violet first came to me as a character, I saw her in my mind’s eye. One look at her and I knew she spent all her time outside; she was surrounded by the swampy woods of the Econlockhatchee River, which is not far from my house. I instantly had a vision of her dirt road neighborhood and the smallness of her world. I loved it.

I couldn’t tell Violet’s story without her environment.

Because Violet practically lives outdoors, I wanted to convey the experience of living in Florida—especially in the summer. Florida’s landscape is different from the rest of the continental United States; look in gardening books, and you’ll see that we’re classified as a tropical zone. I want readers to feel the heat pressing down on them; I want them to dart for shelter with Violet when the storms roll in, charging the air with electricity you can feel.

Since Florida is the lightning capital of the United States, lightning took a big role in the book. Anyone living in Central Florida can tell you how frightening it is to be caught outside during a storm in the summer. And dangerous. A few years ago, four houses got struck by lightning in my neighborhood in the same summer, with one house getting struck twice!

Lightning is a formidable, violent force that cannot be ignored. It’s so powerful that it shapes the events of Violet’s life this one particular summer. Lightning storms draw Eddie and Violet together (and provides electricity between them) and at other times, lightning drives the friends apart, including Lottie.

What’s the worst thing that can happen to best friends? Getting separated. What’s even worse than that? Your best friend goes to live with your worst enemy! Lightning struck Violet and Lottie’s friendship and served as the perfect vehicle to throw Violet’s life out of whack.

Thanks for sharing the first chapter of your book with us on your website! It's extremely well-focused and grabs the reader. I love it! You've successfully included in the first chapter a few different characters, the initial ideas of the plot, and great dialogue. One aspect of your writing style that ties it all together so well is the way you've used the five senses (touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell). As a preview to the rest of the book, can you tell us what role the use of senses in your writing had when showing Violet's coming of age? Did her own sensory awareness of her body and others around her help her with her struggle to become an adolescent?

Thank you for the high compliments!

I love this question because it allows me to elaborate on Violet’s relationship with nature. When the woodpecker tree gets struck by lightning, Violet’s first reaction is delight—she can’t wait to see what it looks like now! But when she gets there, she realizes the tree could have been killed. Her heart is full of gladness when she sees it’s still green, and when she touches the scar left by lightning, she’s moved that the tree would hold onto life against such cruel circumstances.

I think this scene displays a subtle shift in Violet, the shift from thinking about one’s own gratification to thinking about others. The “other” in this case is a tree, but that’s valid for Violet because of her close relationship with the outdoors.

Children today are surrounded by technological advancements (e.g., TV, iPODs, computers, cell phones, video games, etc). Consequently, many of them don't spend as much time outdoors and may harbor a fear or dislike of being in nature. How does your book overcome this possible roadblock for some of its readers who may not be in touch with nature as well as Violet is?

When my brothers, sister and I were kids, we’d shout, “Bye, Mom,” race out the back door, and disappear into the woods for hours. That’s freedom! What adventures we had, building forts, climbing mountains, discovering caves, going down to the creek and balancing across rocks. I wanted to deliver some of that experience to readers.

Violet can’t stand being stuck inside. To her, the woods are a friendly place. Readers will be standing right by Violet’s side when she spots an alligator, and they’ll sit with her on the porch swing as she watches lightning crackle the sky. They’ll feel the blasting heat of the sun and the coolness of the shade when Violet slips under the canopy of oaks and palmettos near the river.

You’re right in saying technology keeps our kids inside. Even the structures of planned communities physically discourage outdoor play—unless you go to the community park. Even though we moved a lot, my parents always bought houses right off the woods. I pointed this out to my mom recently, and she was surprised to realize it! She grew up in farm country in Michigan, and I think she has an inherent need for the outdoors, as do I. The woods are at the core of Violet’s being, and I hope readers will gain the sense of how wonderful nature is.

As a final question, do you have any advice for writers who don't place a big emphasis on nature in their writing but still wish to include important aspects of it in their writing?

That’s a good question! The important thing, especially if nature isn’t a big character in the story, is to not throw it in there just to make sure it’s there. You must be true to your protagonist and the story events.

That said, nature touches us even when we aren’t doing outdoorsy things; using little touches of the natural world can not only make a story more real, but it can enhance the emotion or conflict in a scene.

For example, I always get gnats in the house when I have bananas sitting on the counter. So let’s make up a woman who’s sipping coffee at her kitchen table, thinking about the heated conversation she had with her husband yesterday. A gnat flits by a couple of times, and she absentmindedly waves it away. But as she sits there thinking, her anger escalates and so does her annoyance with the gnat. Just as she remembers the worst thing her husband said, the gnat flies into perfect range and BAM! she smashes the bug flat. If only her husband could be taken care of that easily.

Thank you Danette for answering these questions!

Kim, thank you for the great questions! I really enjoyed being able to present a different take on Violet. I loved talking about the nature in the book because the setting, as I mentioned earlier, is based on a real river, a place I’ve hiked and canoed in, and I love it.

Thank you for hosting me!

Danette is giving away a free copy of her book today, so readers please leave a comment on this post and I will choose a winner using random numbers! I will announce the winner on my blog tomorrow!

To follow Danette on her blog tour, please stop by her blog Summer Friend to see the schedule!

Thanks again Danette!

Writers Reducing Waste

My husband and I only lasted about a month with cloth diapers. Poops were too frequent, too messy, too smelly in our tiny home. Sadly, I cannot even begin to imagine the volume of space our daughter's Huggies now take up in landfills. Diapers alone have probably made my "Ecological Footprint" a heck of a lot deeper on Earth's fragile body.

21 months later, our daughter is still in diapers, but learning how to use her potty. She did her first poopy in it last night! Although we're trying to get away from diapers and move in the direction offered by the Green Baby Guide, our trash can is full of wipes, uneaten food, and non-recyclable containers that once held certain toys and other products. When we left our home in Canada in October, we also left behind our compost bin and a bathroom close enough to Ayla's changing pad where we could use washclothes instead of wipes.

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. I don't like making them, especially when the real reason I'm wasteful is because I'm lazy. If I weren't so lazy I would make a better effort to be a more eco-friendly mama.

So am I an eco-friendly writer? One the surface I am by reducing and recycling paper, ink, and submission materials. I also try to incorporate nature into my writing to raise awareness and appreciation of the little things in nature.

But waste still accumulates in my world as a writer:

• I leave my computer powered on way too long when I'm not using it.
• I really could figure out for once what is better for the environment: a pen or a pencil.
• My addiction to books translates into extra gas spent driving to bookstores. Is less gas and fewer natural resources used if I purchase my books online?
• There are numerous notebooks, journals, and old diaries on my shelf that are 1/2 to 1/3 full of blank pages that I could use. So why do I still feel a desire, a need to buy a new one?
• By letting dishes accumulate, dust bunnies to multiply, and laundry to sit, so I can spend more time writing, I probably use more water and other resources in the end.

With a newborn soon to arrive, I imagine I am more likely to become even more wasteful than less wasteful. How do other writer-mamas do it? How do you manage an eco-friendly writer-mama lifestyle?

The Little Bugger

I'm not referring to my cutie pie toddler or the gigantic bumblebee trapped inside our screened-in porch that I need to free; the little bugger in this case is this darn flu bug I can't shake off. First it started off as a stomach virus last week that had my little girl throwing up for a few days and me trying my hardest to keep it all in for the sake of the baby growing inside me. Thankfully it wasn't the Swine Flu (or H1N1 strain as they're starting to call it). Then the virus left and in its place a flu bug now plagues my daughter and me with horrible coughs and head colds. Other than increasing our intake of vitamin C and tea, we're just sitting by waiting out the storm. The recent news of the swine flu came after we were sick with the stomach virus, but it is quite alarming how quickly a flu strain can travel.

Our little visitor, however, brings to mind how our world treats illnesses with the use of antibiotics and flu shots. Unfortunately it's an arms race between antibiotics and infectious vectors, like evolving bacteria, and between flu shots and flu strains, like morphing strains of viruses. Do we elect for the preventative band-aid or not?

I constantly wonder every time my daughter is sick, which isn't too often thankfully, how to treat her. How will the treatment affect her now and in the long-term? Are proactive measures really good for her future?

Spinning off on this idea as a writer-mama, sometimes my writing is sick. A particular piece of writing may get stuck in a rut full of text or a character or a direction in the plot that just isn't working. How do I shake the little bugger off? Was there something I could have done before hand to prevent the illness?

Time is the first step towards healing a manuscript. As a perfectionist too often impatient to see a manuscript completed, I have to step away from the piece of writing for a long time. Time away (weeks, even months) helps the bug to fester until I return to the writing and then it's so obvious to me what is wrong with it.

Then it's time to extract the bug before it evolves or morphs into another problem. This requires extreme editing. Not just chopping out a few words here or there, but working on the entire backbone of the writing. Sometimes I have to begin rewriting the entire thing from a new angle with a different voice.

Is there anything I can do to prevent a writing piece from falling ill? The two things I've learned that work for me are outlines and brainstorming. Whether I am writing an essay, article, or story, an outline gives me guidance to follow after giving everything (characters, plot, timeline, etc) a lot of thought. Brainstorming involves research, character descriptions, possible writing styles, etc.

Thankfully bugs and viruses in writing are easier to treat than those in our bodies; however, trying to treat a little bugger in our writing and in our bodies at the same time is not a simple task. Treating flu strains in entire populations is even harder, and I pray this swine flu doesn't reach pandemic levels of seriousness.

The Future World of Writing

Today is the final day of Earth Month here on my blog!

The green and blue hues of my writer-mama world have been described in my April musings. My observations and questions of how writing and motherfood relate to Earth have helped me think about our future.

It is both fun and fearsome to imagine the future 50, 100, and 500 years from now. What does the future paint for writing, books, writers, mothers, storytelling, literature, libraries, and more?
Electronics, technology, the Internet... these are the suns of our future, with everything revolving around this core in a huge network system. Below are some of the ways our world of writing is changing today and in the future...

• Already trees are passed over for becoming pages in a book as digital forms, like ebooks and Kindle, become the trend. Children in school today are definitely used to reading text on a computer monitor and many of them don't seem to mind it.
• As distance education (taking classes online) becomes more prevalent, libraries work harder to keep up with the information provided on the Internet. Articles, references, data, books, and more are uploaded daily.
• Journals and magazines upload articles free to the public after a certain period of time passes.
• Newspapers switch to electronic versions only.
• Publishing companies accept submissions via email only.
• Writers won't need to use their hands to write with a brain-computer taking their thoughts and recording them for the writer.
• Literature may be translated into digital virtual worlds, where the reader may read and experience the literary work with all five senses at the same time.
• Writer-mamas will have more time to write from the assistance of household robots that do the dishes, wash the clothes, and vacuum the house.
• Storytelling will occur between individuals in several different countries who connect online.

These are just some possible images of our future in regards to writing and literature. How do you see our world 50, 100, or 500 years from now? Will libraries have a 'closed' sign on their doors? Will every aspect of our lives run on the Internet?

I just stumbled upon a New Writing Universe that comes with a Writer's Guide for those interested in learning more about the future of digital literature.

What do you think?

A Fairytale World

My daughter is just starting to get into tales of fairytale creatures and lands that paint magical worlds, worlds that I grew up with as a little girl. The trials and obstacles in fairytales may have appeared fantastical to me when I was young, but they taught me more than just how a fairytale world differs from the world we live in. I learned to relate to the turmoils a fairytale creature experienced and how it overcame so many challenges. The tales showed me numerous different ways a character may be satisified with an outcome, some that I would not have felt comfortable with if I was the character, some that I questioned whether or not they were important, and some that surprised me and gave me a better understanding of how to reach goals.

I've been enjoying reading the fairytale books from my youth to my daughter, but one line that really grabs hold of my joy and makes me want to dive into reading and writing:

"Once upon a time, long ago and far away, in a deep forest, there lived a child - much like you." (Bruno Bettelheim)

What enchanting words to ease the reader into a fairytale world. As a writer-mama, I wonder if my daughter will find herself longing for fairytale lands more throughout her life as nature on our planet diminishes and changes even more during her lifetime. I usually begin my day by reading the news online and there is always at least one story that is about the depressing state of nature on our planet. Whether certain lands are bulldozed over or particular species are going extinct, our children may not have as much of a fantastical world to explore when they are adults. Perhaps the fairytale worlds will mean even more to them.

When I incorporate vivid images of naturalistic details in my writing, I wonder if the children who read it will feel inclined to believe the details as real and tangible or if the details will seem so foreign and rare that they must be make-believe, or even worse maybe they will feel unsettled reading about a piece of nature that is vanishing in their world and one they may never see or experience?

Would they rather read fairytales that they know aren't real to avoid feeling uncertain about the reality of nature and the direction it is heading?

Celebrating Earth Day

Yay! We've reached the peak day, Earth Day, here on my blog, where for the month of April I've been relating writing and motherhood to the theme of "Earth Month." Happy Earth Day writer-mamas!

I am looking forward to celebrating this day by taking my toddler outside with me, but before she wakes, I want to share a simple question with you. Our perspective of Earth comes from images taken out in space, and all too often we see photos of Earth with the North American continent in the center of the image. But do we ever see a photo of Earth "upside down?" Can Earth really be viewed as "upside down," or is that just how we think of it? So challenge yourself today to think about how you might answer the following question:

How do you see our world?

Smallness in the Supersize World

I'm embarrassed to admit that my daughter knows and loves McDonald's. I've never enjoyed fast food, but on Friday nights when my husband and I take our daughter to Gymboree it's the easiest way to eat dinner together since my husband gets home late from work and we jump in the car to get to the play place for our daughter. An excuse, I know; I could probably make us sandwiches to eat on the way there, but my husband loves McDonald's and as a pregnant mama, I don't find their hamburgers so bad.


Our children are growing up in a Supersize world that we didn't begin to experience until we were adults. Supersize drinks and fries are just the start of it.

• Supersize the caffeine rush with Red Bull (several of my previous high school students physically couldn't sit still after drinking one of these before coming to my class; what does that say about my teaching that they needed a caffeine kick?).
• Supersize the speed of connectivity with friends via text msg, IMing, Facebook, and more.
• Supersize the space needed to hold the large amounts of clothes and shoes (it wasn't so long ago that an individual owned one or two dresses instead of 10 like I have in my closet).
• Supersize the television screens we watch movies on (our daughter gets to watch movies on a screen that is like a mini-movie theater compared to the Zenith I grew up with).
• Supersize the connectivity to music, tv, books, media, and more with the Internet

A writer-mama observing her child in this Supersize world may begin to ask herself the question "How can I teach my child to notice and appreciate the smallness in our world?"

My absolute favorite poem by William Blake, Auguries of Innocence, begins with the simple yet deep lines...

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour.

A writer-mama's audience, whether it happens to be children, young adults, or adults, is going to be influenced by the Supersize world we live in, which makes it more challenging to write about the world in a grain of sand.

As I work on my young-adult fiction book, I often stop to ask myself, "Will the reader really want to know this detail? Will the reader be able to relate to the character that doesn't want everything Supersized? How can I share my passion for appreciating the little things in life that require slowing down when many young adults are running on Red Bull?"

When I lived in the rainforest it was easier to share the smallness of the diverse world with people, because we could use all of our five senses exploring and investigating. I spent an entire 30 minutes examining tiny orange cup fungus on a nurse tree with two children. On a night hike I once got a group of 15 teenagers to turn off their iPODs and stop talking to simply listen to the tree frogs in the dark forest surrounding us. During a plant workshop, I taught students to use magnifying lenses to see tiny pores of citrus plant leaves, which they then tore up to smell the citrus odor. My favorite memory is of a time when a few teenagers came in from the rainforest to the biological station carrying an enormous boa constrictor. As it began to regurgitate a partically digested oppossum, the other teenagers put down their MP3 players and laptops to race to the snake to watch the gruesome scene.

How can I extract this excitement for the small wonders in children and young adults in my writing? I want my writings to achieve this and any less will make me feel like I have let down my readers.

Good writing is the start of meeting this challenge. Knowing my readers is also an important component. And keeping myself immersed in both worlds, Supersized and smallness, will help me create that bridge to connect the two so children and young adults can travel back and forth.

The 'Genetic' Twist & Shout

Nature vs. Nurture

My daughter prefers to dance and run over almost any other type of physical activity. At Gymboree, a place full of slides, tunnels, balls, wedges, hoops, and beams, Ayla spends 90% of her time dancing and running on the large open mat. She shrieks and giggles with glee when her favorite dance songs come on the stereo at this magical play place.

Our bodies aren't the only things that twist and shout. The genetic make-up of our bodies, our DNA, also twists and shouts. A double helix in shape, DNA 'shouts' in the sense of being translated from code into physical manifestation.

The nature of our humanity stems from our genetic twist and shout, but the nurturing we receive in our lives, especially as children, also influences who we are and our behavior. (This is a hot debate among scientists right now).

Taking the middle ground approach, a writer-mama is influenced by her nature (DNA) and nurture (environment).

NATURE

From the determination of our gender to our physical appearances to our taste buds to which thumb we place on top when we clasp our hands to the type of earwax we have to disorders of the body and mind to our height and weight, DNA has a direct impact on who we are.

Our DNA may therefore contribute to the writer-mama inside of us. But it's difficult to say how our DNA impacts our abilities as writers and mothers without also considering the influence of nuturing.

NURTURE

The influence of family, friends, peers, and strangers; music, tv, and books; school, church, and community centers; sociey and cultures on our personality and character from birth to present also shapes who we are as writer-mamas.

Whether it was a friend in childhood requring help up from a fall or a bully pushing us down, a book instilling a dream or a song bringing us to tears, a teacher punishing us for whispering to a friend or a minister providing a new opportunity, a society creating expectations and images or a culture providing stories of heritage, the environmental nurturing we received shaped us who we are and plays a role in our writing and parenting.

If my daughter's love of twisting and shouting is a result of her DNA and the nurturing she receives, then I'm looking forward to discovering what other magical talents and traits lie hidden inside of her waiting to come forth from the twist of her DNA and the environment around her.

Food For Thought

I've been trying to teach my daughter that she can touch a flower gently but shouldn't pick it. A colony of bees have created a home in our front yard, underground among the flowers. My daughter and I observe the holes and mounds of freshly excavated dirt daily as the bees buzz around us. She calls them "Happbees" and listens as I tell her the flowers are food for the bees. She stares in concentration as I tell her the story about flowers and nectar and pollen and bees.

Thinking she finally understood me and the importance of flowers, I stood back yesterday as she bent to examine another flower. As fast as a bee darts in and out of a flower, my daughter picked the flower's petals. She turned to grin at me before she began to sprinkle crushed petals on top of all of the bee holes.

Ayla understood me after all, flowers do provide bees with nourishment; I just didn't imagine she would actually try to feed the bees!

This experience has given me a lot of "food for thought" as a writer-mama. Are there taboos or hands-off limits I place on my writing? Do I avoid certain topics or experiences in my writing only to indirectly feed them in another way?

Who do the bees and the flowers represent in my writing?

If the flowers represent details, secrets, or past events of people's lives that I know and the bees are my readers, then I would be harming the individuals if I shared their secrets by writing about them and possibly not benefit the readers as well.

Perhaps the flowers stand for my free creative writing that feeds the bees, my self-confidence as a writer. If I pick, chew up, and scatter the petals of my writing by over-analyzing, over-critiquing, then the bees are denied their food and my opinion of my writing diminishes.

Or maybe the flowers are simply flowers and the bees are just bees, and the only thing I can do to give justice to both is to simply write about the nature of flowers and bees.

Cycles of a Writer-Mama

Earth Month continues...

As a writer-mama of a toddler with a second baby on the way, I'm more consciously aware of sleep cycles than I have ever been in my life. When my daughter's sleep cycle is complete and peaceful, then the following day is blissful! But if her sleep cycle hits a bump during the night, then watch out, the crazy, high-sprung, spaz of a wild beast comes out of my little Ayla! I don't even care anymore about the lack of sleep I get from being pregnant; all that matters to me is how well my daughter sleeps because it's so much easier on me if her sleep cycle is a good one.

Before becoming a mother, I was more aware of other cycles and their role in my life. I used to study the moon cycle when living in the rainforest, because I would hike through the rainforest at night without my flashlight and depend on the strength of the moon's shine to guide me. The habits of nocturnal animals changed during the course of the moon's cycle. My menstrual cycle followed with the moon's cycle. Even the wind seemed to follow the cycle of the moon's phases.

While growing up in the midwest I was more aware of the cycle of seasons. My absolute favorite season was/is the fall. Fascinated with the question "why do leaves change colors?" and "where do all the insects and birds go during the winter?" I couldn't get enough of the outdoors in autumn, especially when the smell of a fire in a fireplace diffused throughout the air from chimneys and the colors of leaves held the promise of snow and Christmas to come. But the other seasons were also enjoyed and I looked forward to each one for different reasons.

In addition to cycles of sleep, moon phases, and seasons, my experiences as a writer-mama-naturalist-teacher have taught me the importance of other cycles: tides, water, nutrients (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen), migration of birds and butterflies, metamorphosis, flowering/fruiting of plants, recycling of materials, human life cycle (and other organisms), and the writing cycle.

In my mind the writing cycle goes beyond the routine of writing a book (e.g., open notebook, read previous day's work, review outline, begin new chapter, complete new chapter, let chapter sit and simmer for several days, reread, edit/revise, work on new chapter...). For me the writing cycle encompasses my entire approach to writing, which involves journaling, blogging, reading, filling up notebooks with ideas/words/research/descriptions, attending conferences and workshops, observing, critiquing, and more. My writing cycle may be complete in one day, one month, or one year. But the concept of being a writer is complete when I get to participate in all of these activities over and over again as I become a better writer.

How important is our awareness of cycles in our writing? What role do cycles take in your writing pieces and the writing process itself?

A Sense of Community

Depending on the piece of writing I am working on, the presence and importance of community varies. But it wasn't until I was in grad school when a professor asked us on the first day to define community that I realized how everyone sees 'a community' in slightly different ways.

There are nine different definitions for community according to my dictionary online! The most common definition that many people think of when they hear the word community is a group of people living and interacting with one another in a certain location. As a writer and a mother, I interact with members of my community in many ways for many reasons. These experiences benefit me, my daughter, my writing, and hopefully my community.

Being "Earth Month" on my blog, I have been thinking about another definition of the word community: an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area (dictionary.com). An example of this is my backyard where my daughter loves to roam around. From the cardinals nesting in one of our trees, to the ants crawling over the groves of its trunk, to the moss spouting up in pockets between stones, to the occasional butterfly getting drunk on nectar, to the bees burrowing and excavating underground... the community is alive with life and full of interactions.

Writers may or may not use the specific details of such organisms in a community in their writing; however, we can all use the information such a community teaches us. Here are just a few examples of ways the ecological community impacts my approach to writing...

1. The interaction between the dead tree trunk on our property and the fungus decomposing it makes me think about how characters in my writing might be affected by the knowledge that one day we will die. A main character I've been working on lives each day as if it is her last, and this motto gets her into trouble.

2. The bees burrowing underground (I had no idea they could do this) are not deterred by the Spring rains that fall, my toddler's occasional stomping through their grounds, or my dog sniffing the little mounds of dirt. How often do I incorporate the effects of the environment, like weather, into my writing? How are my characters impacted by the actions of others?

3. I know it might sound strange, but the language of organisms in my backyard community helps me think about dialogue. What are the cardinals saying to each other as they work to build their nest? Are commands given? Details given of a particular twig? Some scientists believe plants communicate as well. How does the energy and body language of one individual tell another individual what is going on?

4. The fallen oak leaves from last season pile up among the ivy, decomposing and sending nutrients back into the soil. What resources supply my plot and characters with life? What is a constant input in my writing that I may not be consciously aware of?

These are just some ways the natural community has been teaching me more about writing. Some times the things I learn from my observations work their way directly into my writing, but more often they have an indirect presence in my writing.

Planting an Idea

My daughter and I pass an hour or two every afternoon running circles around our house. We have a bird bath in the back yard, but shoots of wild onion grow in the front yard among the ivy. So Ayla runs to the front, picks just one shoot of wild onion, runs to the back, places it in the bird bath to watch it float, and then repeats this cycle over again! I imagine our neighbors are amused at watching not only my daughter's actions but also my attempt to waddle-run after her in my 3rd trimester state of pregnancy.

I love plants, and I have always been more inclined to study plants than animals. There is a lot of great imagery that the life cycle of a plant offers writers. Poet John Soos' description of a seed and seedling paints a picture of how I've felt during the creation and development of a manuscript.

He writes, "To be of the Earth is to know
the restlessness of being a seed
the darkness of being planted
the struggle toward the light
the pain of growth into the light
the joy of bursting and bearing fruit
the love of being food for someone
the scattering of your seeds..."

One of the most exciting things for me as a writer is the first spark of an original idea, the seed. Whether I'm browsing fresh produce in the market, tossing and turning with insomnia at night, getting my daughter dressed for the day, or driving on a long road trip, the initial moment a new idea hits me I feel a jolt of electricity. And then the restlessness sets in. I want to stop whatever I am doing and get to work on expanding the seed of the idea.

But once the seed is planted and begins to take root, there are some dark moments when I am almost nervous to proceed. There is so much energy wired in my brain that I feel too excited to write. The roots can go anywhere, but after some time I begin to see the light, the direction to take and I can breathe easier.

Growing into the light has its rewards, but a writer also knows there is pain involved. Writers block, self-doubt, distractions, and a shortage of input are just some of the ways we may struggle with a particular piece of writing. But when the writing project comes to fruition and we see the beauty of our writing, we feel joy and relief and love.

Our writing has succeeded and will now be shared in the minds of others, scattering more seeds of ideas and understanding among readers and writers alike. We go along for the ride until a new idea, a new seed hits us and stirs our soul into writing once again.

Mama Hugger - Tree Hugger

Except for a single curl of hair on her head, my daughter Ayla is my husband's identical twin. Their baby photos are exactly the same. Their minds favor an engineering, mechanical approach to the world around them. They both eat spoonfuls of ketchup all by itself (Yuck! I'm a mustard girl). And they both love loud, fast music.

I thought the genetic contribution of a man and woman to their child was supposed to be 50/50. My daughter is more 98/2. The 2 from me includes the single curl of hair (my head is covered with them) and a passion for trees.

I don't know if she's passionate about trees, and my husband certainly likes them enough, but my daughter does have a strong interest in trees like her mommy.

From trying to reattach fallen branches to trees to touching the bark to moving her arms like she is a tree blowing in the wind to examining leaves to hugging tree stumps once she's climbed up on top of them, Ayla appears to love trees.

If trees are capable of feeling or sensing love, then they certainly attain this emotion from my daughter. I certainly do when she hugs my belly/baby. Her hugs do many things for trees and me, one of them being a healing power. When she wraps her little arms around my strained, tired belly I feel rejuvinated and blessed. I like to think a tree stump may feel the same way when she's laying on top of it, hugging the entire stump.

As a writer-mama, I wonder if I hug my tree stumps, my writing pieces from my past that have been chopped, cut down, and abandoned.

When I go back and read my writing from my childhood, my high school and college years, and my initial start as a full-time writer, I often cringe and feel slightly embarrassed. My writing has come a long way since I was a little girl, but I know I still have a long way to go and a lot more to learn.

Can I hug my tree stump writing pieces?
Or even more important, can I love them?

Tree stumps are like iceburgs, the mass of the tree is invisible above the soil, buried in a network of roots deep underground. Although my writing pieces of the past may be poor, they did establish a root system that has been the foundation of my self as a writer.

From the stumps, I can see my growth as a writer over the years like tree rings marking periods of high rainfall, drought, infestation, and generous growing conditions.

Perhaps I can and do hug my tree stumps. Afterall, they were once glorious trees in my mind just like the trees of my writing today that will one day become tree stumps as my ability as a writer improves.

But my daughter teaches me to love more than just tree stumps. She shows me the importance of also loving the tree's tunk, branches, and leaves; the tree's motion, shade, and spirit; the tree's roots, interactions, and connections.

This is why I hug my daughter whenever I can, all day long. And I'm so lucky that she hugs me back.

Can You Guess April's Theme?

What's happening this month that gives writer-mamas and children lots to write and think about? The theme of my blog this month is based on it! Need some clues...

• My post on this very green fairytale creature discussed how our heroes shape our lives!
• We shared our stories about the relationship between our senses and nature and children!
• The wildness in wilderness was discussed, so we could learn about the importance of it in our writing!
• We measured our Ecological Footprints and discussed the impact of a writer-mama on children's perception of Earth.
• On April 8th, Rachel Dillon, author of Through Endangered Eyes: A Poetic Journey Into the Wild, appeared as a guest blogger, giving away a free copy of her book!

Taa daa... Yay! You guessed correctly! It's Earth Month, or Earth Week, or Earth Day, depending on which you choose to celebrate! I made it Earth Month on my blog here, so we can learn how matters of the Earth influence our writing and parenting.

Earth Week is April 19th - 25th and Earth Day is April 22nd!

A theme such as Earth Month opens many doors for writer-mamas that bring new ideas, new questions, and new experiences out in the open. Create a bubble idea map with "EARTH" written in the center bubble, and expand outward. How many new writing ideas come to mind? Check back here for the rest of April to see where the spin of Earth takes us!

Fading Footprints

One of my favorite lessons that I used to teach when I was a biology teacher involved the concept of "ecological footprints." The main idea of a person's ecological footprint is the measured impact an individual has on Earth through the resources he or she uses as well as lifestyle choices. (If you are interested in knowing what your ecological footprint is, then take the Ecological Footprint Quiz!)

When I became a mother I realized that my ecological footprint deepened despite my efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle. I hope my conscious effort to minimize my individual and my family's ecological footprint is effective, but I know I could be doing more.

As a writer-mama aware of my deeper imprints on Earth, I try to bring more awareness of nature into my writing for children. Although this is small step forward in reducing my impact on Earth, I hope with time it will lead to other changes and improvements in my lifestyle choices to help the planet.

My first step as a writer making an effort to minimize my impact on Earth begins with my observations of and interactions with my daughter Ayla. She loves to chase her shadow, fascinated with her silhouette on the ground and the fact that she can't seem to catch it. When we draw on big sheets of paper on our kitchen floor, Ayla displays her hand or foot or her whole body for me, wanting me to trace around it with a crayon. When we walk hand in hand, I show Ayla the imprint of our feet in the dirt or I point out the tracks of an animal's own footprints.

From these observations and interactions, I question what her own eyes see and how her mind interprets the images she takes in. The small questions gather together to amount to a big question: How does a child, my child, see the world and what does this mean for her future? This question has long fascinated me and I've developed a children's book manuscript that is based on it that has been submitted to a publisher.

My child's actions and developing relationship with nature inspire me to write for her so that she may learn from this day forward the impact of her footprint on Earth, on life, on her future.

In time I hope the impression of my own ecological footprint with begin to fade to a faint step on Earth. I want to set a good example for my children by 'showing not telling.' But 'telling' in words as a writer is also a step forward in the right direction.

If you wish to take the Ecological Footprint Quiz, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! Do you agree with the results? How does being a writer-mama impact your ecological footprint?

According to the results of my Ecological Footprint Quiz, if everyone lived like me we would need 5.43 planet Earths to sustain life as we know it. Before I was married, my result was 1.5 planet Earths. Once I was married but did not have children yet, my result was 2.3 planet Earths.

Yikes! What happened? My husband and I recycle almost everything, practice low water and electricity usage, own a Hybrid, but since we moved from British Columbia to the Washington, D.C. area we no longer compost, buy locally grown foods, bike instead of drive, or go without AC in the summer time. Is this the main reason for jumping up to 5.43 planet Earths? I'm curious to hear what your views are on the Ecological Footprint Quiz!

Making Sense

My toddler is fascinated with my ever-expanding pregnant belly. She holds it, hugs it, rubs it, kisses it, and talks to it, knowing there is a baby inside. Recently she started waving hi to the belly and then immediately puts her ear on my belly to listen for the baby. It just so happened that my baby kicked at the same moment Ayla put her ear on my belly, and Ayla jumped up in excitement and squealed "Ooooh!" Now she does it all the time, hoping to hear her baby sister's response.

From the moment she was born, my sensory development and awareness has taken on a new role in my life. The sense of touch, smell, taste, sight, and sound are magnified in a child as well as in the relationship between a parent and a child. Senses teach the basic steps of life that we often forget about in our busy adult lives.

Prior to giving birth to my daughter Ayla, I had one other major learning experience about my senses. Upon graduating from college, I moved to Costa Rica to live alone in a small hut in the center of a rain forest. Until then I enjoyed being in nature, but lived the majority of my life in houses, schools, libraries, gyms, art studios, etc. The sudden immersion into a rich diverse environment threw my senses into overdrive.

From mice running over my face during the night to waking up to the sight of snakes dangling down in front of my face to the crunch of bones on top of my roof as a mountain lion chewed up its dinner at midnight to the bitter-sweet taste of wild lemon-oranges growing outside my hut to the smell of a herd of stinky collared peccaries plowing past my doorstep, my senses awoke for the first time in my life. Granted I was fairly safe, so my survival did not depend on the acute awareness of my senses, but they were very important in keeping myself out of danger. Over time, however, my senses taught me more about nature, particularly my place in nature.

From sensory awareness of nature to making sense of my daughter's development, I am learning every day how important it is that we keep in touch with our senses. As writers, we try to incorporate all five senses into our writing to enrich the reader's experience. But how often do we approach the use of sensory writing to go beyond enrichment to a level of teaching awareness and helping children reach a new level of understanding of their senses and their importance in our world.

This is a goal for me with every writing project I take on, but it means taking steps to get myself outside in nature, around people, and more so that I don't lose my own sensory awareness.

What role does your sense of touch, smell, taste, sight, and sound play in your writing?

Eve

We have thousands of tiny structures inside our bodies functioning like "Curves" or "Gold's Gym." These little energy powerhouses, called mitochondria, contain their own DNA. This mitochondrial DNA is different from the rest of our DNA genome, called nuclear DNA.

Scientists have learned that only women pass on her own mitochondrial DNA to her children. (Sorry dads, but your mitochondrial DNA stays put) So my grandmother's mitochondrial DNA is part of my daughter's mitochondrial DNA.

Our Ancient Mother

Even more fascinating is that scientists have used this information to trace the passage of mitochondrial DNA from mother to daughter back over 140,000 years to a single woman considered to be the maternal-line ancestor. Scientists call her "Mitochondrial Eve." I like to call her our ancient mother.

(Before I continue, however, I should state that it's probable that there were other women alive at the same time as Mitochondrial Eve, but they were either childless or had only sons who didn't pass on the mitochondrial DNA)

The Writer-Mama's Mitochondrial Eve

When I became a writer-mama 20 months ago, I began to think of my own mother's story and her mother's story and so on. Every day is a learning experience for me as a mother, and I'm quite certain I have reinvented the wheel hundreds of times. If only the female passing of mitochondrial DNA could tell me what my mothers have learned from trial and error when it comes to parenting.

But learning the dance steps as a new mom is what gives my story a purpose. Our mothers from generations and generations past all had unique stories. How often do we think of them when we write?

The lessons I received from my mom during my childhood are reflected in my writing, but I wonder what parts also reflect her mother and all the women before in our ancestral line.

Tracing back to Mitochondrial Eve, I wonder what her story could have taught me. In her day, what did she learn as a new mother? As a storyteller, did she pass on the skills we use as writers today? How did her highly-sharpened animal instincts influence her story-telling?

Instinctual Writing

A key to successful writing is understanding the nature of humans and our surroundings so well that we can touch the core truth of life in words. Unlike Mitochondrial Eve, the majority of my days and nights are spent inside walls. My animal survival instincts that I inherited from my ancestral mother have dwindled into cobwebs and dust bunnies in the dark corners of my mind.

As hard as I try to touch on the essence of human nature and nature itself in my writing, I wonder if every mother going back over all the generations did it better with their story-telling. I like to imagine Mitochondrial Eve utilizing metaphors and similies in ways we can't even begin to create, because she could not only hear Earth's heart beat, but she could feel it, smell it, taste it, and see it too.

How do your instincts weave their way into your writing?

Your Evolutionary Path As A Writer

Evolutionary biologists theorize that biological evolution on earth occurred in two possible manners: (1) Punctuated Equilibrium or (2) Phyletic Gradualism. These two schools of thought on evolution can be applied to a writer's career; well, my experiences as a writer so far at least!

Punctuated Equilibrium - Species undergo little change over the course of geological time until a rapid change causes them to evolve into a new species.

Writers may experience this theory of evolution in either their ability as a writer overall or in a particular piece of writing. The event(s) that cause the change (hopefully a positive change) may range for each individual. Here are some examples of events that have caused a drastic sudden change in my writing:

1. After the birth of my daughter I did not write for a few months. The experience of being a mother brought a radical new change and perspective into my life. The time away from writing also gave me a giant gap of time to step away from my writing. When I returned to my writing I found it to have improved greatly. My writing was sharper, more creative, and better suited for the market's needs.

2. In the late-fall of 2008 my husband, daughter, dog, and I packed up our house in British Columbia, drove across the U.S. (stopping in MN and PA to see grandparents), and moved into our new home outside of Washington, D.C. The long drive and change of living environment was a difficult adjustment for our high-spirited daughter, so once again I had a break of about three months from my writing. When I returned to it I was amazed to find that my ability as a writer grew even more, almost at an exponential rate compared to the first time.

These two punctuated events helped me evolve into a writer that is more capable of surviving. But it would be ignorant of me to believe that I have not been changing and growing as a writer slowly.

Phyletic Gradualism - Species change gradually and continually over time by adapting to changes in a uniform manner.

One of the most common pieces of advice writers receive is to write, write, write. The more we write the better we become. There are numerous experiences we adapt to and learn from as writers that don't drastically change our writing style or a particular writing project over night, but slowly enhance or direct our writing into a new fashion. Below are some examples of gradual influences that have helped me to evolve as a writer:


1. The Institute of Children's Literature course
2. Discussion boards at SCBWI and VerlaKay.
3. Writing on this blog.
4. Working on writing pieces that range from children's fiction to non-fiction science to young-adult fiction to non-fiction education to poetry.
5. Attending a SCBWI conference in Western Washington.
6. Reading a wide range of books.
7. Following various blogs on writing, publishing, editing and more.
8. Creating and actively doing writing lessons to improve my writing ability.


Although the first type of evolution (punctuated equilibrium) was the eye-opening experience of seeing how far I've come as a writer, I know that without the gradual changes provided by the second type of evolution (phyletic gradualism) I would not be where I am today. I also know that because I have come so far in my ability as a writer, I have a lot further to go. Although biological evolution does not occur in one particular pre-determined direction, I do hope that my writing will continue to evolve in the positive direction so that one day it is worthy of being published and shared with others.


What major events in your life have altered you as a writer in a rapid, drastic way?


What gradual events in your life have helped you to develop slowly as a writer?