29 May 2019

Next steps



Today, they announced the winner of the NineDots prize. "Annie Zaidi has won the $100k @NineDotsPrize for innovative thinking with her essay Bread, Cement, Cactus: http://bit.ly/2Qw2GFj" Oh well. I gave it my best shot. I may still write the book. I already have an outline. I should have been writing it all along.

I'm still suffering from writer's block when it comes to starting the new book about my family's journey to America during WWII, but that hasn't stopped my other activities, including planting a vineyard and writing new poetry. So I'll get back to it. But first, I'll have to take a little break to go sailing for a couple of months. If you're interested in 'what on earth is she up to now?', check out my sailing blog. See you later.

08 May 2019

Writer's Block



I haven't written very much in the past year since our nephew Cillian died. Oh, I've written a few bits of poetry, website posts for the Ocean Cruising Club, my blog on sailing - but I haven't picked up a big project in the past year. I seem incapable of concentrating long enough. I suppose the time shall come. I've never really had writer's block so this is new to me. But I think it's a bit more than that.

I think the passing of a young man, combined with all the dire warnings about the state of our precious earth have taken their toll on me. I'm weary. The unprecedented decline in species due to man's trashing of the earth has confirmed what I've suspected for a long time. We're heading for a mass extinction, annihilation. So why bother to write?

In the meantime, I am forcing myself to stop working and trolling the net idly and read more instead. Reading will eventually inspire me to pick up that pencil again. But what I've been reading is Michele Obama's book Becoming, which although inspiring also exposes hatred and divisiveness among people. Destructive people. And Climate Justice by Mary Robinson is supposed to inspire individuals to act but instead points out how little has been accomplished and how difficult it is to move the needle. Maybe I've succumbed to depression again?

I have been trying to get a bit of inspiration for my mom's memoir again and have picked up The Shoemaker's Daughter, which I hope will help. Also waiting in the wings is Red Famine about Stalin's starvation of millions of Ukrainians to death. Such joyous topics, but the background is needed to write my story effectively.

We have released a new edition of Happy Hooking The Art of Anchoring so that's something. It's our third edition -- who would have thought? A webinar is coming up. And we've delivered a webinar on sailing in Galicia, so perhaps a new guidebook is in order. But who knows?  I just know that I haven't been in the mood to concentrate for prolonged periods on starting a big project.

I've installed Grammarly on my laptop and I must say, I am impressed to a degree. It picks up more than Microsoft but it still misses quite a bit and yet insists on things being wrong when they are stylistically correct.  For example, above I said I was weary and Grammarly insists that I'm wary instead. I tell it no, I'm tired but weary is more evocative. They disagree. Who writes the algorithms anyway?  Can someone be both a tech guru and a grammar wiz at the same time? Such important questions beg to be answered.

If I can get past this depressive state, perhaps I can work through such issues and find joy in writing again.