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.

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.

Get started

Writing poetry

I was inspired by a radio programme interview with Michael Longley, whose poetry sang to me over the airwaves. He inspired me to continue to write poetry, even though I really don't know what it is anymore. It used to rhyme. It used to have rhythm. Today, it is just a shorter collection of words strung together in a way that may or may not speak to someone. Michael said poetry is best written by the young and the old. I used to write poetry when I was young, as so many of us do when we have powerful emotions battling inside us through hormonal surges. Now that I'm older, I've started again, in tune with what he said. Perhaps it's because in the middle, we're too busy to be emotional. At both ends, we can't help it. Here goes...

Emotion on the ocean

by Daria Blackwell

Getting Older

I used to be honored to be carded for being under 21 when I was 30. Now I find myself honored for being carded for not being over 60. It's interesting how that dynamic has changed over the years. To get discounts at museums, shops and public transport, I'm being asked to show my ID. The other day, I had to show my ID at the supermarket, for buying wine for god's sake. Truly, I do not look a day under 60. I certainly don't feel like it. So get with it, young whipper snappers. I deserve those discounts for all the years I've been paying full freight.

Journalism

I used to be a medical writer and a creative writer in the ad business. Then I became President of a marketing communications company and had multiple divisions reporting to me, including the main ad agency, a PR group, and the web development group. I became dangerous as I got to know a little about everything.

Immigration and the concept of home

It's a long time since I made an entry. Christmas and New Year's Day were gentle this year, and I spent most of January in the US with my niece and her two children, a newborn infant and 2.5 yo, both boys. It was busy and lovely. As a result, I haven't been writing much, although I did manage to enter the Nine Dots Prize competition. It's a project of Cambridge University Press. The subject this year was right up my alley. The question to answer was, "Is there still no place like home?" Naturally, since I've been thinking about this for a lifetime, I had my thoughts pretty well defined. I had to provide a document exploring the topic and how I would approach the writing of a book on the subject, including sample chapter titles (which I had already outlined in a book proposal several years ago and was able to refine), as well as a rationale for why I will be able to complete the writing in seven months. Suffice it to say, I had sufficient evidence to present about years of working toward deadlines.