Kevin

August and Everything After…

How did we get here? The month of August is quickly being eaten up and September is just around the corner. This time last year we were eagerly anticipating a September in India and Nepal. As it turns out, it was far more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

This is the view from the Shanti Stupa, which is situated on a hilltop across from the town of Pokhara, Nepal. You can either drive to the hill, or take one of the beautiful boat rides across Lake Phewa and arrive at the foot of the hill (mountain?). I walked barefoot from lakeside to the stupa and it was a gorgeous and picturesque route…all uphill!

I feel as though I am still processing India and Nepal. I have written about some of my experiences there, but I have only just scraped the surface. It was a profound experience I’ll remember forever.

The nicest surprise in India was a city I had no previous knowledge about. **ORCHHA**. It was a breathtaking city, filled with magical places to explore. The people were friendly and inviting. AND…some of our group went to a cooking class in the home of a local woman who runs her own cooking school. We had THE best time! I *love* Orchha!

India is now behind us by almost a year. I can’t even fathom that truth! It seems like yesterday.

Michael, India Gate, New Delhi, India, 2018

With September 2019 comes…another adventure! I once said there were too many places to visit to go to one place more than once. HA! That was before I met the Camino de Santiago. Yes, dear reader, I’m talking about the Camino yet again. I will probably continue to talk about it UNTIL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU HAVE HEARD AND HEEDED THE CALL OF THE CAMINO!

We are 20 days away from setting out on my 2nd and my SO’s 1st Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Michael is looking forward to it as much as I am, though he may possibly have more trepidation than I have. I remember the days leading up to my first Camino…all I could think of was the impossibility of the whole thing. I was as nervous as I was excited. NOW I know different. I already know I GOT THIS. But that’s probably something one has to come to on their own. It all seems very overwhelming when you begin to think about taking that first step. Can I do this? Is it too much?

You can. It’s not. It’s beautiful and you should.

I’m ready for the Camino de Santiago. I hope these 20 days fly by. We are ready to discover the path together. Come September 10th, we’ll fly into Madrid. By the 12th, we’ll be in Astorga…where we will begin our shortened Camino journey. On the 13th, my 53rd birthday…we’ll be on our way! The walk to Santiago de Compostela will begin!

While I have your attention and I’m talking about the Camino…just a heads up— WRITING NEWS IS FORTHCOMING! MY LIPS ARE SEALED FOR THE TIME BEING, BUT I HAVE VERY EXCITING CAMINO RELATED WRITING NEWS COMING!!!

Come on, September! BRING IT! We’re Camino ready! Buen Camino!

Home from the Marathon – My 11th MNM

I usually write about my Muskoka Novel Marathon (MNM) experience shortly after it’s over. But I wasn’t sure how to deal with this one. I’ve been home from it a week today. I felt like I got nothing done this year. But I also managed to write almost 40,000 words in 72 hours. Perception and reality vastly conflict with one another. It’s the same ole same ole.

Another of the many distraction tactics I look forward to every year at the MNM…a long walk up a short hill to this place. LION’S LOOKOUT. Down below me, in the background, is the MNM venue.

Why is it this way? Because of the automaton feature that writers will often tap into. They can begin a project by being a writer writing and end up just being writing. Writer disappears at these marathons. Writer becomes writing. The act itself…with no one at the wheel.

This is why I always underestimate my creative output and my productivity. I disappear.

These are the 10-Page marker ribbons that all writers add to the clothesline every time they get to another 10-page milestone. They add up over the course of the 72hr novel writing marathon!

I was driving yesterday and a thought about my Muskoka Novel Marathon novel came to me in a flash of brilliance. It was more like a eureka moment. ‘I really should have my one character meet with a therapist.’

I mean, something big and terrible happened to them. Most likely, a therapist would be foisted upon them practically against their will in real life after experiencing what they experienced. I should write a scene where they visit a therapist.

20190714_004105 — This is the Active Living Centre in Huntsville, Ontario, at night. Shot from the dock at the water’s edge down below during Saturday evening’s distraction period of socializing. (-:

Then, when I finally sat down in front of my manuscript to continue my read-through, a funny thing happened. I came upon a fairly long scene (several pages in length) where my character visits a therapist. Who knows, there may even be more therapist meetings in the manuscript. I’m still reading through. This is one of the reasons I try not to edit while doing that first read-through after arriving home from the marathon. I often have no recollection of what my manuscript contains. And I never know what I’m gonna find. Literally, I have no idea. The therapist scene is a case in point. Blindsided.

A shot from the dock beside the Muskoka Novel Marathon venue.

I also know that I’m a monumental distraction to other writers at the marathon. I do my best focusing when I’m not focusing at all. I have too much energy to do things in another way. I write my ass off while drinking coffee and eating garbage candy and shooting myself madly off in every direction. Somehow, I walk away from the marathon with most of a novel…and somehow I get that novel completed in the few weeks immediately following the marathon. It’s how I function as a writer.

Another year in the can, another diabetic coma narrowly avoided. My novel is coming along. I may even like what I came away with. I’ll like it more once this read-through is complete and I know exactly what it is I wrote.

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The Camino de Santiago Part II is Coming!

When we first decided that we would walk the Camino de Santiago in September of 2019, the month and year seemed so impossibly far away. The little number in the corner of today’s date on my desktop calendar tells me the divide between then and our departure date has somehow become so much smaller! Practically insignificant in comparison. The excitement grows every day. Once you walk the Camino, it scratches at your thoughts like a lost home that keeps calling you back. It’s almost as if the Camino aches for you as much as you ache for the Camino…and it keeps reminding you. “I am here. I am here. I am here.”

Camino de Santiago 116.JPG — This is a small clock tower that leads to a piazza in Ponferrada, Spain. I have arranged it so that Michael and I will be staying right inside that piazza during our September, 2019 Camino pilgrimage. We will need to walk through the small corridor beneath this clock in order to get to our rest stop for that particular night. (I snapped this shot during my 2014 Camino)

September 10th is when we fly to Spain. 54 days from now.

Camino de Santiago 856.JPG — One of the biggest thrills of my 2014 Camino was when I discovered the murals on the walls of the Monastery of San Xulián de Samos in Samos, Spain. I mean, it took my breath away. I think about it still with some kind of loving devotion that makes no sense to this heretical atheist. I can’t wait to see these murals again. The murals depict scenes from the life of St. Benedict. Shortly before SAMOS, SPAIN, there is a fork in the CAMINO ROAD. One way goes to Samos, and one way bypasses the beautiful town to save a couple miles. TAKE THE ROAD THAT WILL TAKE YOU TO THESE MURALS! It’s worth the extra miles.

We will not be doing the full Camino Frances, but that is no matter. The Camino is not about that, as much as some people who don’t fully get it would have you believe. We will be flying into Madrid, and then travelling from Madrid to Astorga. Once there, we will begin our Camino de Santiago adventure from that beautiful town…from the shadow of the gorgeous cathedral there.

Camino de Santiago 1234.JPG — The vistas you come upon on the Camino will steal your heart and hold it captive. This shot was taken during my 2014 pilgrimage. This is a typical scene in the GALICIA REGION of SPAIN. It’s big sky and big universe country. It will stay with you forever, but it will also demand that you one day return.

I will be taking notes this time. I’ve already decided. I’m not finished writing about the Camino. It has decided to become a greater part of my story, and I have decided to keep listening, to keep reflecting, to keep projecting. So stay tuned, OR BE FOREWARNED. There will be more to come.

camino2 — I wrote a novel upon my first return from Spain. One day I hope it finds a way to the light of day. This time? I think I’m going to write about our journey. That’s the plan, anyway. But what happens on the Camino happens…there is no way to predict your journey. We shall see. I will be looking for a sign…and I hope to write about it later. I know one thing for certain. We will be putting one foot in front of the other.