The HEA Cafe

Happy New Year! And all the best to you and yours for 2008.

I’ve been thinking about New Year traditions and superstitions this past week. There was once a belief in Scotland that the first person to cross your threshold after midnight on Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) would bring a portent of your year ahead. Mostly this portent was determined by the colouring of the individual (and maybe gender) and reflected the usual medieval distrust of outsiders. This person was said to set “first foot” into the house.

I have this mental image of everyone clustered in the house at the stroke of midnight, waiting to see who knocks on the door first. Then I wondered - if you had colouring that indicated good luck, would you go and knock on as many doors as possible to spread that good luck? Would that bring good luck to the knocker once he/she came home? There had to be an upside for thinking of other people.

And this led to the inevitable writer question - what if? What if you made your own luck? What if the way you choose to start the year shapes your own luck for that year? What if we all make our own luck and part of the way we make that luck is in our approach to the world? We can sit by the fire and wait for someone to knock on the door - and hope it’s good luck, not bad - or we can go out and spread some good luck around, knowing that a bit of it will stick to us too.

On that note, I’ve decided to start the year off by giving. It seems likely to me that charities collect a great deal in December, but in January, they might not do so well. Where I live, there’s lots of cold winter left in January. I like to do charity knitting - mittens for the foodbank - but this year, I haven’t made as many as I like. I usually take them down there in December, but this year, I’m going to knit as many as I can in January then take them down.

Here’s the first basket of wool that I’m going to knit my way through. (The scary thing is that when this is done, I have lots more!)

I’m going to challenge you all as well. What can you do in January to spread some good luck and incidentally make some luck of your own? Can you do charity knitting? Charity crochet? Work a few hours at the food bank? Teach someone to read? Run errands for a person with less mobility than you? Take a hot meal to an elderly neighbour? You know the perfect thing to do and I challenge you to do it.

Just imagine how much better we can make the world, if each and every one of us does one small, kind thing - each year, each month, each week. Let’s do what we can in January and see how much difference we can make.

Claire
Visit my blog, Alive & Knitting

Then it’s both Breast Cancer Awareness Month and time for the KIA Writing Marathon at RWA Online.

Once upon a time, there was a member of RWA Online named Kia Cochrane who developed breast cancer. In her memory, the chapter coordinates a writing marathon each year for the month of October. During this month, those of us who sign up for the marathon cheer each other on, share recipes for quick meals (so our families don’t starve) and get a whole lot of writing done. This year, the volunteer organizers have added links for us to donate to breast cancer research programs and to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer (in which one of our members is participating). It’s also a reminder to all of us to book a check-up.

I joined the chapter after the loss of Kia and never had the good luck to meet her, but each year, this marathon takes on an extra layer of meaning for me. One in four women contract breast cancer, and each year, I can add a few more names to the list. Many of those friends and associates are fellow writers, even other members of RWAOL, and they are foremost in my thoughts in this month of months.

We don’t have to lose our friends, family, sisters, selves. Cancer can be beaten, with spirit and with medical research, and October is our month to make a difference.

The KIA Marathon is a celebration of life, because creating in any media is a celebration of what it is to be alive. It commemorates the past by honouring Kia and all the other woman each of us have known who have fought this far-too-familiar battle. It gives strength to the present, but allowing each of us to build bonds with each other, to cheer for those among us who have been triumphant, to offer a helping hand to those facing their battle. And it gives hope to the future, by encouraging us to involve with research groups and charities, by reminding each and every one of us to book a boob-smash mammogram, by helping us to reach out to our sisters facing this challenge.

So, whether you’re a member of RWA Online or not, put on your pink ribbon bracelet for the month of October, get your butt into your chair, book your boobies to be smashed, and write your heart out this month. Honour the past, fortify the present and build a better future for women everywhere.

We can dream it, so we can do it. It’ll be easier if we work together.

Claire

Château Delacroix
Claire Cross online
Deborah Cooke’s site
Alive & Knitting blog

Today I’m beginning my annual journey of doing the exercises in Julia Cameron’s book, THE ARTIST’S WAY. Her program takes 12 weeks and helps you boost your creativity. It’s designed for people with writers’ block (or any creative block) and although I first did it in just such a situation, I find it helpful to repeat the exercises annually.

“Creativity lives in paradox: serious art is born from serious play.”

One of the things I found (and still find) most exciting is Julia’s notion of creative play, the idea that you have to give yourself permission to just fool around in other media to find the true power of your creativity. I have always worked on my knitting while solving plot puzzles, and have always pieced quilt tops while figuring out what comes next in the book, so this was an endorsement of something I’d instinctively discovered. Not only is creative play a useful tool, in Julia’s view, it’s a critical part of the creative process.

Recently, I bought several quilting books which were visually exciting. One was Valori Wells’ RADIANT BEAUTIES and the other was Karen K. Stone’s self-titled book (it’s turquoise). New York Beauty is one of my favourite blocks - it looks fussier to piece than it is and makes for stunning compositions. I liked how Valori used plaids and stripes in her blocks and I loved the fussy piecing that Karen did. Combining both of those ideas, I’ve been sewing some blocks of my own.

The days that I sew are incredibly productive writing days for me. I write a scene, then choose fabrics for a block. I never piece the whole thing before I hear the next scene in my thoughts. Back and forth I go, between sewing machine and computer, as toying with colour and texture teases the words and scenes from my imagination. It’s incredible. It’s magical. And it happens because I let myself play with fabric.

“Remember that art is process. The process is supposed to be fun. For our purposes, ‘the journey is always the only arrival’ may be interpreted to mean that our creative work is actually our creativity itself at play in the field of time. At the heart of this play is the mystery of joy.”

For the next 3 months or so, I’ll be following the path in THE ARTISTS’ WAY. Why not embark on the journey yourself, as well? We are all creative individuals, whether we earn a living with our imaginations or not, and exploring the power of our imaginations can make us feel more complete. Drop by my blog, Alive & Knitting, for some discussion of how we’re all doing.

And yes, there will be the occasional picture of quilt blocks and knitting projects, as well!

Hello everyone!

Just a quick reminder that we have some upcoming workshops booked at the Café. Workshops are held in the third week of the month and they’re free. They can be held all on one day, or on specific days, or broken down into Monday to Friday lectures - the format is up to the presenter. We have two booked already for this fall:
During the week of September 17, Sierra Donovan will be teaching ON (AND OFF) THE AIR: AN INSIDE LOOK AT RADIO.

During the week of October 15, Renee Russell will be teaching FACTUAL FICTION: Using Genealogical Resources To Create Accurate Historicals.

You can find out more about both authors by clicking through to their bios on the sidebar and visiting their website. Here’s hoping both of them will stop by in advance to update us on the schedule for their workshops.

See you here!

We’ll be starting to feature individual authors at the HEA Cafe in September of this year. There are so many of us and we were all just too polite to leap in , so now we have booked days. There’s a calendar in the sidebar that you can check for the daily featured author: these dates are perpetual, so you can visit with each author each month.

This doesn’t replace our Shameless Self Promotion week - the first week of the month - or our workshop week - the third week of the month - or just general chatter in the cafe. I’m thinking it’s going to get busy around here, so you’d best snag a good table early and get your mug filled up by one of our cute cabana boys before the line gets too long.

We’ll start Guest Author Days on September 1. See you here!

Claire