Myth and Stories

Projects for the Fall

2010-09-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Fall is upon us, the air is crisp and invigorating, and I'm working on some new things.

Campbell Group: We haven't had a meeting since July, mostly because I was feeling a bit burnt out. Now, with a few months break, I'm ready to start holding meetings again. We're having a planning meeting soon, and new meetings should be with us again in October. Shirley is suggesting themed meetings, and I think that's a great idea. I've been (dare I say it?) a little sick of Campbell, and I want to move in a different direction going forward.

Fiction Writing: I've set aside regular work on my novel for the moment. I've had to acknowledge that, with such small children in the house, I can't string a coherent thought together long enough to sustain writing a novel right now. So, it's on the back burner for now. However, I have a mythic fiction writer named Delia Sherman looking at a short story I wrote a few years ago called "Anya and the Bear", and I'm hoping to have it ready for possible publication soon. Keep your fingers crossed on that.

Blogging: With progress on the novel intentionally stopped for now, I've decided to focus on blogging again, just to keep my hand in. Look for more posts from this blog.

Trickster Links and Info

2010-04-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

We'll be talking about tricksters this month at our JCF Round Table meeting. Here are a list of some trickster-related books and films for your perusal ahead of time:

Books:
1. Trickster Makes this World, by Lewis Hyde: One of the classic texts on trickster lore. A must read.
2. Mythical Trickster Figures, edited by William Hynes and William Doty: Essays on tricksters.
3. The Trickster in West Africa, by Robert Pelton
4. American Indian Myths and Legends, edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz: Check out Part Seven: Trickster Tales

Films:
1. Waking Ned Devine: Story of an Irish village trying to collect the lottery winnings of one of it's inhabitants who recently died.
2. Looney Tunes: Anything featuring Bugs Bunny.
3. Beverly Hills Cop: Eddie Murphy has a trickster role in this film.
4. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Wikipedia link to tricksters

Coyote stories http://members.cox.net/academia/coyote.html#fire including many links at end of section, including Raven, Eshu, Loki and the Archetype of the Magician, a Jungian perspective.

Lewis Hyde: http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment/forum/for_20010325.shtml audio interview

http://southerncrossreview.org/18/trickster.htm

Can you think of any others? If so, let me know and I'll add them to this list.

What I'm working on these days

2010-04-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

The days go by so quickly. I can't believe Easter is already behind us. We had a lovely one. My dear friend Liz, a classmate from Pacifica, came over and we made cod with Sauce Americaine together, which involved killing and cooking two live lobsters. I had planned on watching her kill the first one, then doing the second myself, but I chickened out at the last minute. I hang my head in shame. They were delicious, though.
Alex and Ben are growing up beautifully. Alex is a few weeks from the end of his first year of preschool. Ben turned one last month, and is walking well, trying to do everything his brother does and getting frustrated when he can't. Both are such good, happy boys. We're very blessed in our children.
I'm in the last quarter of my writing class at UW, and I'm enjoying it so much. I'll be sad when it's over! In addition to the slow, steady work on "The Mythologist", I'm planning a workshop on Myth and Writing for the PNWA, at the request of it's president, who also happens to be my writing teacher. I'm hoping to also submit a proposal for a similar workshop at Esalen sometime in the next few months.

Family visiting, working out

2010-02-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

My dad is coming in for a visit today, which we're all really excited about. Things have gotten easier for us over the past couple of years-it feels like he's really making an effort to avoid conflict, which I appreciate so much. We've had our share of head-butting over the years! We're going to Seatac to see my step-sister Julie and her husband and new baby Saturday, which will give us a chance to get a photo of all five grandchildren for my Dad and Valerie. I even got color-coordinated outfits for them all, which Valerie will LOVE. ;)

In other news, I got a package in the mail yesterday; the P90X series of workout DVD's that I had ordered. It's from an informercial (I know!) which is apparently ubiquitous on cable, but since we don't have cable, I hadn't seen it until we went to Cannon Beach last weekend. I watched it three times. It made me able to imagine that I might be able to get into as great shape as some of the people they showed. One woman who was 46 had had seven children, and she looked amazing! We'll see how it goes; I start Sunday. I'm still doing the monthly 5ks, my next one is the Valentine's Day Dash, on the 13th of this month.

I'm working on a blog post about transitional/liminal spaces in myth and story; stay tuned.

Just because I haven't posted one since he was born...

2010-02-04T09:18:00.000-08:00

Here's Ben, age 10 months.

Excited about teaching a new workshop for PNWA

2010-02-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

Been busy these last few months. Taking care of my boys (Alex is 3, Ben 10 months), trying to write every day, get some exercise, and squeezing in reading a book and a few rows of knitting here and there. I'm mid-way through the Popular Fiction certificate program at the University of Washington, which has been enormously helpful with my writing. Last night I talked to my instructor (Pam Binder, who is also the president of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association) about doing a workshop for the PNWA on Myth and Writing, both as a part of their monthly series of talks and for the PNWA conference in 2011. I'm so excited about this! Pam has been using Chris Vogler's book "The Writer's Journey" as part of our course, and last night at class she was talking about the stage of the threshold guardian. As always, when she talks about the hero's journey, I sit there with my hands over my mouth so I won't interrupt her lecture, which is tempting because I have so much I can add. So, we talked about a class for writers who are familiar with the hero's journey, but taking it to the next level. Yay! I'd even get paid. ;) What a concept, getting paid for my work.

Mythic Journeys Documentary

2009-10-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to go up to Whidbey Island for a visit to Whidbey Institute, which was hosting a screening of a new documentary film called Mythic Journeys. Footage for Mythic Journeys was filmed at the 2006 Mythic Journeys conference in Atlanta (which I was unfortunately unable to attend due to being both too pregnant and too poor as a Pacifica student). The film is a combination of snippets from some of the sessions by Deepak Chopra, Ellen Kushner, and others, as well as interviews with people like Steve Aizenstat, Bob Walter, and other luminaries of the field. In addition to the "talking heads" sections, there was also a myth told in segments throughout the film, interspersed with the interviews. The myth was "The King and the Corpse", and the dolls for the animation section were designed by Brian and Wendy Froud (designers of films like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal). Ron and the boys came with me, and we spent the night at Whidbey Institute, which was a lot of fun for all of us.
Last night, at our October meeting the round table hosted Whitney Boe, one of the filmmakers of "Mythic Journeys". She showed us an extended version of one of the sessions at the conference, on how to change the world for the better, and we had a discussion on the film and it's themes.
So, what did I think of the film? I think it's terrific. The intent of the filmmakers is to introduce the themes of mythology to a wider audience in America and worldwide. This is what I've been attempting to do in my own small way through my work with the Campbell Foundation and the round table for the past few years. They are having another showing of the film on Bainbridge Island the first weekend in November, which I look forward to attending as well. Here's hoping the film is a huge success! I know the filmmakers are hoping for a grassroots movement of the type that made "What the bleep do we know" and "The Secret" such successes. The film definitely connects with people; I hope everyone who might be interested gets an opportunity to see it.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming

2009-10-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

Wow. I've really neglected this blog lately. Doesn't mean that nothing is going on here in Stiegerland, rather so much is spinning along; the days are flying by so fast that I barely get a glimpse of them before they're behind me.
Ben is getting bigger and is doing beautifully; he'll be 7 months old tomorrow. Starting to crawl, gobbling down anything we're willing to feed him.
Alex started preschool a few weeks ago, and he completely loves it. He's attending Kirkland Coop Preschool, twice weekly in the mornings. I'm there with him one day a week. We're getting closer to the finish line with the potty training issue, and (drumroll please) he's starting to learn to read! So proud of my boy-not even 3 years old yet! Of course, Ron and I were both reading by 3, so I guess it runs in the family. :)
I've been working out a lot lately, pretty much as often as I can fit it in. Swimming, weight training, and workouts with my trainer, Kellie, twice a month. Getting healthier-it feels good.
I've also recommitted to finishing my novel. I began it in early 2005, and ran into a roadblock in the story right about the time I got pregnant with Alex, and unfortunately the poor thing languished for quite a long time. However, earlier this year I decided that it was time to either finish it or give up the idea of writing a novel, and stop toying with it. So, I created a project schedule for myself (just like I used to do for software projects back in the day), and so far I've done a pretty good job of keeping the schedule. I also signed up for a Popular Fiction writing certificate at the UW, in an effort to help with the process. It started last week, and I'm really excited about it.

In the myth space, I'm still leading weekly meetings for the Seattle Mythological Round Table of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. I've also (just recently) gotten more involved with the leadership of the Foundation, which has me really excited. :)

Review of Daniel X: Watch the Skies, by James Patterson and Ned Rust

2009-08-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

James Patterson seems to have made it his mission in life to provide fun reading experiences for kids, particularly boys. As a mom of two young boys myself, I couldn't be more grateful for his efforts. Daniel X: Watch the Skies is his latest effort, a story of a young alien hunter whose latest mission is to bring down the Number 5 worst alien in the galaxy. Number 5 is the director of a galactic reality show, and is destroying the town of Holliswood as part of his show.
Reading the book (a very quick read indeed), it occurred to me that this book would be appealing to most preteen and teenage boys, but particularly to boys who don't do a lot of reading. The style of the book reminded me of an MTV video, with lots of short chapters, which felt like quick cuts. The action never let up, and the humor was nonstop.
I tried to read the book as a nine year old boy would, and I can't imagine any boy of that age who wouldn't love the book, and devour it as quickly as possible. Daniel's adventures should prove popular for a very long time to come.

2009-08-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

To Muse or Not to Muse

2009-08-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write about this for a while, but things have gotten away from me, as they tend to do now that Thing 2 has shown up.

I've been reading Catherynne Valente's blog for a few months now (see here for my comments upon discovering her work about a year and a half ago). About 2 weeks ago, she wrote an extended post about a lecture Elizabeth Gilbert (of Eat, Pray, Love fame) did on the topic of creativity and inspiration, particularly in writing. Ms. Valente had quite a rant about it (it was wonderful, actually, very witty). I found the lecture on YouTube, and watched it a couple of times, as this topic is very near and dear to my heart, and is the subject of my someday doctoral dissertation at Pacifica.
Watching Elizabeth Gilbert's lecture, I understood her to be saying that, essentially, writers as a group have a reputation for mental illness, substance abuse, and suicide (true). She lays the blame for this reputation on the Renaissance-era switch from attributing the creation of new work to a daimon or muse, to the author owing the creation of the work for him or herself. Ms. Gilbert seems to be in quite a state of anxiety about her own work, understanding as she does how difficult it is to follow a huge success like Eat, Pray, Love, and, for the protection of her own psyche, she prefers to lay the responsibility for her work's creation at the feet of a daimon or muse. It appears to be her way of externalizing the pressure of publishing a new work, after the worldwide acceptance of her last. I suppose I can understand the temptation in her own situation to do this, but I must say I was more in agreement with Ms. Valente, who was calling bullshit on this argument (to put it mildly).
Ms. Valente's point is that writing, like anything else, is extremely hard work, and although sometimes when the work is going well it can seem to feel like the work is flowing through the writer from another source, this is actually a function of the artist's psyche, and the whole muse business is a metaphor for this process.
I was, of course, very interested in this whole discussion, in both sides, but I would take Ms. Valente's argument a step farther. I believe that a great deal is required of the artist in the creation of meaningful work, and that true sacrifice must be made in the journey to the unconscious and back. I use the imagery of Inanna. She descends, is killed, and hangs from a meathook. Her life essence drips from her, into the ground at the lowest point of the descent, and it is only after she has given of herself that she is able to make the ascent back to the light.

2009-07-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

Babies Babies Babies

2009-03-31T14:09:00.001-07:00

So, I had a baby. Another boy, this time named Ben Landis Stieger. Landis is a name from my husband's family. He's a beaut. I think we'll keep him, even if he is keeping us up at night. Here's a picture of him:

The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony

2008-12-18T11:54:00.000-08:00

When we were down in Portland for Thanksgiving, we visited Powell's Book Store, which is a dangerous thing to do for someone like me. We emerged relatively unscathed, with a mere 9 books. :) I had a good time trolling the mythology section. I found this great book called "The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony", by Roberto Calasso. I've been reading it, and it's terrific! Check out my favorite quote from the first 50 pages or so:

"Mythical figures live many lives, die many deaths, and in this they differ from the characters we find in novels, who can never go beyond the single gesture. But in each of these lives and deaths all the others are present, and we can hear their echo. Only when we become aware of a sudden consistency between incompatibles can we say we have crossed the threshold of myth." (Calasso page 22)

Inanna and the Hero's Journey Part 2

2008-12-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

It's snowing here today, big white puffy flakes. Alex is playing with his toys, Ron is working from home, and it seems like a good day to follow up on my earlier post about Inanna. I can't find my copy of the Inanna myth, so I'll be retelling her story from memory. Any errors are solely mine.

Inanna (queen of heaven and earth) gets word that her sister, Ereshkigal (queen of the underworld), is about to give birth. She begins the descent into the underworld, only to be stopped at 7 gates during the journey. At each gate, she is required to give up another symbol of her status, from her crown and scepter to, at the last gate, her robes. She arrives at Ereshkigal's domain stripped of everything that she was, completely naked. Once she appears before her sister, Eriskegal kills her, and hangs her body on a meat hook in a corner of her throne room.
Apparently, before she left the upper world, Inanna suspected something might happen, and she sent a message to her grandfather, the king of the gods, that if she did not return in three days, that something has happened. When she does not return, Enki creates two sexless creatures from the dirt underneath his fingernails, who descend to the underworld in search of Inanna. Arriving at Ereshkigal's throne room, they find her in the throes of labor. She says "oh, my back!" They say "oh, your back!" They show compassion for her pain, and she is moved by this. She offers them anything they desire, and they say "we want the corpse hanging from the meat hook in the corner". Ereshkigal is not pleased with being tricked out of her sister's corpse, but she honors her promise and gives them the body.
They sprinkle the food of life and the water of life on Inanna's body, and are able to revive her. She ascends to the upper world, regaining all the regalia of her position at each gate on her return.
This is a very abbreviated version of the story. Please refer to Diane Wolkstein's translation of the myth for more information.

So, why is this story relevant to what we've been talking about in our last post? How can the creative artist gain inspiration from this story? There are many stories in myth about descents into the underworld, but the thing that I find interesting about Inanna's story is her death, and being hung on a hook. The translation is very specific on this point. It got me thinking about the business about the hook. So, what is a meat hook used for? Well, in a slaughterhouse, the carcass of the animal is hung on a meat hook to drain the fluids out, right? Not only was Inanna divested of all of her regalia on her descent, even as far as her clothing, but she gives even more to the underworld on her journey. It is my belief that, in order to return with the boon of authentic work, the artist must leave something of herself behind. She must be willing to make that sacrifice. The journey is a dangerous one, and if we look at the lives of our great artists throughout history, it is full of drug and alcohol addiction, insanity, and suicide. If you give too much, and are given much in return, the price to pay is large. The trick is in finding the balance on the descent, the path is a razor's edge.

Inanna and the Hero's Journey

2008-12-01T10:51:00.001-08:00

One of the primary focuses I had in my years of study at Pacifica was in deepening my understanding of the importance of story to humankind, and in adding meaning to the process of creating art, particularly the written word. The hero's journey, as laid out by Joseph Campbell in his seminal work "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", illustrates beautifully the process that any creative artist must go through in order to create art. Phil Cousineau talks about this quite eloquently in his new book "Stoking the Creative Fires", and I would encourage anyone interested in the relationship between the creative process and the hero's journey to check it out.
One of the primary issues that artists struggle with is, and should be, how to reach their audience in a meaningful way; how to be the book, or film, or performance that resonates, that touches the soul. It is the power of art to do this that sets the human race apart, and it is, in my opinion, the primary function of art. Carl Jung tells us that when the gods came down out of Mount Olympus, they moved into the body, at the level of the gut, the level of the third chakra. This is that place in the body that art that connects can be felt, that physiological reaction that the body has when art connects with soul. We've all had that experience of seeing a great film, a great performance, reading a great book where we feel the experience of it in our body, at that precise place that Jung describes.
So, the question is, how can an artist, in the process of creating her art, connect with that place? I believe the answer lies in the very descent that is described in the hero's journey. The hero makes a descent into the underworld, and returns with a boon that he brings back to his community. The artist makes that descent into the pool of the collective unconscious, that place where stories live, and returns with a boon as well. It is that descent that sets his work apart, his willingness to make the descent is the key, the thing that separates the great artist apart from those whose work is easily set aside and forgotten. How does this work? I believe this can be illuminated in the story of Inanna.

to be continued...

Alex playing in the snow at Poppa Tom's house in Alaska

2008-11-24T10:46:00.001-08:00

It's been a long time

2008-11-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

Here I am, checking in with this blog after an absence of about 5 months. As it turns out, I was about 3 days pregnant at the time of my last post, although I didn't know it yet. Now, of course, I'm at 24 weeks, expecting another boy on or around March 13th. This second pregnancy has been such a blessing, although it has left me fairly sick and drained much of the time. Alex is almost 2, doing beautifully, talking up a storm and learning new things so quickly I'm astonished. We had a wonderful trip to Japan in September, to visit Ron's sister Theresa, and we just got home from about a week in Alaska, visiting Alex's grandparents and my old friends Kenan and Jana. Things are good for us, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. The month of December is especially rich for us, as Alex and I both have our birthdays approaching.
As far as my myth work is concerned, I haven't been doing much lately, I admit. Pregnancy has kept me pretty thoroughly in my body. Our round table group did have a special meeting last week, with children's book author and illustrator Gerald McDermott as a special guest. I hosted the event at my house, and it was a good time.
Now that I'm back on the blog, I'm recommitted to writing in it several times a week, so look forward to seeing more thoughts on mythmaking and creativity.

Funny Story

2008-06-29T20:47:00.001-07:00

So I'm sitting here in our living room tonight, waiting for the house to cool down after a day of 95 degree heat, dorking around the 'net on my laptop. I decide to check out Neil Gaiman's blog, which I do semi-regularly. Blah blah blah bees, someone named Amanda Palmer, his daughter's eyebrows (don't ask). Finally he posts a letter he's received from someone about a calendar she's created with a bunch of friends, about girls who are geeks. He posts the link (www.calendargeeks.com), mostly (so he says) because he likes the picture of the knitting geek. I wonder what a knitting geek looks like, so I click over. Who does it turn out to be but Ms Lorinne Lampert, my soon-to-be ex sister-in-law, the very person who taught me how to knit myself!

How I'd like my house to feel

2008-06-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

Years ago, when I visited Capri, I was browsing in a souvenir shop, and they had little plaques for sale that had a wonderful quote on them. I could never remember what it said, but I found the quote online today! Google is a wonderful thing:

"My home shall be open for the sun and the wind and the voices of the sea - like a Greek temple – and light, light, light everywhere!"

Hanuman chairman of Indian business school

2008-06-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

Who says myth isn't relevant?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/07/India.god.ap/index.html

What I've been learning lately

2008-04-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

I finally got out my copy of Clarissa Pinkola Estes' book from the early nineties, "Women Who Run with the Wolves". I've been meaning to read it for ages (it actually still has the receipt in it-I bought it at Esalen during my workscholar month), and now I'm finally getting around to it. It's really a wonderful read-very insightful. I'm only about a third of the way in, but there are already some real nuggets of wisdom there. She's had some interesting psychological insights from the stories of Bluebeard and Vasalisa the Wise which I've really enjoyed.
I've also been immersed in my studies for my French 2 class at Bellevue Community College. The material is starting to get more challenging, and the instructor is moving more quickly through it, which makes it more fun for me.

Writing and the Interstitial

2008-04-17T16:28:00.001-07:00

Writing has not gone particularly well for me over the past several months, and I've been struggling to understand why that might be. I know the lack of reaction to my "Anya and the Bear" may have been a part of it, but not entirely the problem. In reading the Endicott Studio blog over the past few days, they had an entry that the Interstitial Arts Foundation will be publishing a second anthology of interstitial fiction, and they're having an open call for submissions. This seems like a good opportunity for me, and is far enough out that I have the summer to work on a story, versus the two weeks that I had before sending my story out a few months ago.
I've been thinking that I would rewrite "Anya and the Bear" as my submission. I think that Anya is, or could be, in an interstitial place, between the ordinary world and the spirit world, and in my rewrite she is pregnant, telling her story of the bear to her unborn child. Being an unborn child is about as betwixt and between a place as anyone ever is. So, I'm going to work on the rewrite, submit it to the IAF, and see what happens. It's a small enough project that it doesn't seem too overwhelming, and it's a rewrite of a story that I've already written.

My son is such a handsome devil

2008-04-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Daddy, I want to go with you on your business trip

2008-04-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

As promised, a pic of Hank swimming

2008-04-16T09:58:00.001-07:00

Things

2008-04-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't written a blog post in a few days, mostly because life has just been moving right along, and no one thing seemed worth a blog post devoted to it.
I've been knitting Alex a new sweater since the Aran sweater turned out so well. The new one will be charcoal gray with an orange star on the chest. Ron's mom mentioned star-bellied sneetches, which I had totally forgotten about, so Alex got a new book yesterday to go with the new sweater I'm making him. :) He's also been really fascinated with cars lately, so he got Richard Scarry's Book of Things that Go. Of course, for him anything with a motor is a car (lawn mowers, trains, etc.), so we've been working on the difference between cars and trucks, cars and airplanes, and so on.
In dog-related news, Hank has finally learned to swim! I'll post photographic evidence tomorrow. :) On Sunday when we were at Magnuson Dog Park he went into the water and was actually swimming to get his tennis ball, and the last two mornings I've been throwing the ball into the river at Marymoor for him, and he's really swimming! It's exciting to see him finally do it-he's figured out how fun it is. He is a lab, after all ;).
This weekend we had my friend Dan Gronwald from Pacifica staying with us. He was in town for a workshop, so we offered him the use of our spare bedroom. On Saturday night we had my friend Liz and her husband over for dinner (Liz was also in our class at Pacifica). It was such a gorgeous day-rarely hot for spring-over 80. We ate outside on our deck, and it was so much fun. Ron Alex and I went down to Pike Place Market in the morning and got a dozen oysters, salmon, fresh asparagus, and a pear tart from the French bakery. It was my first time with raw oysters at home, and they were so delicious! The salmon turned out really good too-Ron cooked it on cedar planks (the traditional NW way of cooking salmon), and it was so delicious.

We also went to my niece Korienne's 7th birthday party on Saturday afternoon. My brother Chris has been urging me to express some of my feelings about the situation with my dad in this blog, but I don't think it's a good idea. For one thing, if I did that, I wouldn't really be on a break from things, I'd just be communicating in a different way. I know he's been really involved in the situation, as he and my dad have been talking things over about me, but I'm really not ready yet to reengage with that situation just yet. I'm still looking for a therapist, for one thing.

Alex's new sweater

2008-04-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the Aran sweater I'd been knitting for Alex yesterday-check it out! I think it turned out really well. :) I'm proud of myself. My knitting has come a long way!

Kairos time vs. Chronos

2008-04-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

I've been having a hard time lately getting myself into a creative head space, particularly for my writing time. I spend most of my time these days in Chronos time, changing diapers, keeping the house clean, running errands, etc. I'm trying to look for ways to bring myself into Kairos time, because without it writing is impossible for me. Today on my morning trip to the dog park I tried to hold onto that state of kairos time from sleep, and let my mind drift in the space where my story lives. It was a misty morning today, and somehow the "mistery" of the mist (sorry ;) helped me to retain my state of kairos time. It wasn't effortless, but I think things will improve with some mindfulness. I think if I use my morning walks with Hank to meditate on my story, I will be more able to write. We'll see how it goes.

Delicious New Writers that I've Discovered

2008-03-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

The other day I was poking around on the Endicott Studio blog, and several people answered the question "What is the best book you've read this year?" with "The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden". I found this book and it's sequel "In the Cities of Coin and Spice" at the library, and I've been working my way through both for the last week or so. They're by Catherynne M. Valente, and they are fantastic, in both senses of the word. Both books are stories told by a girl with tattoed stories all around her eyes-she looks like a raccoon. She lives in the Sultan's garden, and the Sultan's son finds her there and asks her for stories. The stories are nested inside each other like a Russian matryoshka doll. I haven't been this blown away by a writer in a while. I recommend these books to anyone who enjoys mythic fiction, and I look forward to reading more of Ms. Valente's stories and poems. She's also still in her twenties!

I also found a quite different type of book delightful recently, but in quite a different vein than Ms. Valente's work. I was at Parkplace Books with the boys a few weeks ago and bought a book from the children's section called "Larklight" on a whim. It sounded fun, being about Victorian outer-space pirates ;). It was so delightful! I ran right out and bought the sequel "Starcross" the next day. It was about spies, time travel, and curious hats ;). These are the sort of books I look forward to reading to Alex when he's a little bit older. Wonderful adventure stories. I've had good luck with new discoveries lately!

Alex with his chocolate Easter bunny

2008-03-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Silly boy! You're supposed to eat the ears first!

The Pinecone Hunt

2008-03-25T09:28:00.001-07:00

We had a nice Easter at our house-Ron's parents came up from Portland for the weekend, and my brother and his family came over for dinner and an egg hunt. It was pouring out, so we had the egg hunt indoors, but it was still lots of fun. Alex loves having visitors, but it can be hard to get him to take his naps when we have guests over-he doesn't want to miss anything. :) Chris had been reading this blog, and he asked about Artemis, so I was able to explain a little of what's been going on for me recently with that particular archetype.

Yesterday Alex did something particularly cute. We went out to play on our deck, and he grabbed an old bucket that Ron had been using to scrub the deck, and he started picking up pine cones and putting them into the bucket, like he was playing Easter egg hunt. He astonishes me sometimes. See the attached picture.

I'm meeting with my trainer again today. Things are progressing well there, but a little more gradually than I had thought. It's good though-it would be hard to go from basically nothing to two hours of working out each day. I do like the trainer a lot-that worked out well.

Alex at the Easter egg hunt

2008-03-24T09:19:00.001-07:00

Finding Balance

2008-03-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

When I had my first training session at the gym on Tuesday, I was reminded again that I need to keep finding balance in my life as a high priority. I've always been a pretty dominant lefty, and some of the exercises illustrated just how out of balance by body has become. When I had to balance on my left leg, I did pretty well. On the right, not so much. My body is out of balance, as my mind and life have been for some time. However, I'm forced to find a balance now if I want to find time for everything in my life that is important. I can't spend 4-5 hours a day working out (as I did once upon a time), because I also need time to spend with Alex and Ron, to write, to read. I have a tendency toward extremes when I embrace something, but I can't spend all my time doing any one thing right now. So, balance is a focus for me right now.

Moving from Athena to Artemis

2008-03-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

Just woke up, but thought I'd get in a quick blog post. Ron has to get into work early today, so I'm in charge solo in about 30 minutes. I have my first real workout with the new trainer today, with the program that she's been planning for me. Ron and I have decided to do the ab workout together each evening-last night was our first attempt. I didn't realize my abs were so weak! Well, nowhere to go but up, right?

I've been trying to focus on the mythological underpinnings of my new attempt to identify with a different archetype. I've always been closely identified with Athena, she who sprang fully formed from her father's head, a goddess of wisdom, strategy, and the intellect, who developed close friendships with men and was never interested in the world of women. In the past few years I've invited the energy of Aphrodite, Hestia and Demeter into my life in an attempt to find balance, and now it is time for Artemis. Artemis is fully in her body, and loves the athleticism of it. I need to find that joy of being in my body, of reveling in it's youth and strength. I need her with me when I meet with the trainer later today, that's for sure. :) Wish me luck.

Babies babies babies

2008-03-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

Before Ron and I had Alex, I was sure that I only wanted one child. I was grateful for the opportunity to have a child at all, really, given that I didn't get married until I was 35. However, once he was born, I was so overwhelmed with the experience of being a mother that I began to be really unsure about that assertion. For the first year of Alex's life I seesawed back and forth between the desire for a second child, and the desire to leave my family the way that it is, to be satisfied with the incredible child that we already have. I started to feel stressed about not being 100% sure one way or another.
I finally decided that I didn't want to decide. Preventing a pregnancy via birth control seemed to be a way of deciding against the 2nd child. So, what I'd like to do is this-go off the pill for one year, leave the door open for another soul, and see if someone comes through. This way, if I don't get pregnant again, I can rejoice in the way our family is, and really enjoy the things that come with only having one (more money, time, etc.) If I do get pregnant, then it was meant to be. I do know that I don't want to be having babies after I turn 40, and if I get pregnant one year from now I'll have the baby shortly before my 40th birthday. So, one year. It seems symmetrical, or something. We'll see what happens. I feel really at peace about this approach. Ron agrees, and is on board with this, by the way ;).

And, just because I haven't posted one in a while...

2008-03-17T09:27:00.001-07:00

Done with the Drama

2008-03-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

Lots going on last week. I had my final class of French 1, French 2 starts the first Wednesday of April. 3 weeks to review the material from French 1, make sure I've got it all down solid.

Thursday night of last week was the monthly round table meeting, and it was a great one! Rich showed up (he's in town consulting for the World Health Organization, although why the WHO needs the services of a mythologist was never clear to me). We also had a Nigerian couple joining us. The guy really knew his Campbell-it was a joy to have him there. Unfortunately, he's just in town visiting his girlfriend, and he goes back to Nigeria before the next meeting. We encouraged him to start a Nigerian Round Table-I hope he does it. When those meetings work well they are so much fun, and the discussion can really get interesting. :) Then I remember why I do this, and I'm so glad that I do.

On Friday, I had my first meeting with my new trainer at Columbia Athletic Club. I'm so excited to be working with her-I really think having a trainer is going to make such a huge difference for me. She wants me working out a lot-30-60 minutes of cardio every day, a weight circuit every other day, ab work every day. Whew! But, this is how to get it done. Alex did ok in the day care-I was a little worried about that. They say he cried a little, but was ok after being comforted.

My big news for the weekend is that I finally did something I've been thinking about and needing to do for a while-I emailed my dad and told him that I needed some time off from our relationship, about 6 months or so. This was a big step for me. I realized recently that I've allowed myself to get caught up in the drama of this business with the lots, but that I don't have to. I DON'T HAVE TO (sorry for the shouting ;). It's like I've been with Ron in a drama-free relationship long enough now to realize how dysfunctional all this emotional garbage that I get into with my family sometimes is. My brother Chris came by for a visit yesterday, and we talked things over. He told me that Dad feels that I tried to cheat him by only wanting to pay the appraised value for the lots, and that I shouldn't think that I was going to get back the $1500 that we already paid toward them. So now my choice is to walk away from the situation completely, let go of all the anger and hurt feelings, and focus on other things. Goodness knows I've got enough going on in my regular life-I don't need this. So, I sent my dad the email. We'll see how things go.

Today

2008-03-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

Last night's cooking class was a lot of fun-definitely more fun doing it with Lizzie. :) We've decided to make the entire menu for dinner when our friend Dan comes visiting Seattle from Marin for a weekend next month. I just had to make sure he's not a vegetarian first-the menu is French, and full of meat ;).

I finally heard back from the trainer at Columbia Athletic Club, so I have my first training session at 10:15 on Friday. Yay! I feel like I'm really ready to get serious about getting into shape, and this is the first step toward that. The dog park visits all these months were excellent ground work, and I'm so glad I'm in the habit of walking every day (that will definitely continue), but it's time to step it up. I took the water aerobics class on Saturday morning, and that was really good.

Leah is back from a two week break from babysitting Alex due to our flu and her spring break, so today is a good writing day. :)

Recent Happenings

2008-03-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

Shortly after our trip to Maui our whole family came down with a strain of the flu that hadn't been covered by our flu shots. I got it first, then Alex, then Ron. Ron is now finally getting better, but the whole thing drug on forever for us. Glad to be feeling better at last.
This is a busy week for me. Tonight I'm taking a cooking class (French Bistro Cooking) at Sur la Table with my dear friend Liz. Tuesday night there is a local Westmont alumni event, to introduce us to the new college president, at Carillon Point, and I've almost decided to go. I don't usually attend the local alumni events, but I may stop by for this one. Wednesday night is my French class, and Thursday night is the monthly Campbell Foundation meeting, this month on The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology. Busy week for me overall!
I've been in a bit of conflict with my dad recently, and I think this may be the thing that finally gets me into therapy. My grandmother has recently moved into an elder care facility (at 98!), and my dad has been soliciting members of the family, including us, for financial assistance in paying for it. We contributed some, but eventually we offered to buy one of three lots that she inherited from my grandfather that have been in the family for 100+ years, rather than just continuing to give money. We felt that this way the lots would stay in the family, and my dad would have multiple thousands for her care, rather than passing around the hat to everyone in the family each month.
The lots are being used for farming-they are part of a field near Nipomo High School, not far from Santa Maria. They won't be developed until water gets into Nipomo, which there isn't enough of at the moment. My dad is hoping that water will be brought to Nipomo soon, and that then a developer will want to build a subdivision on the field, which would mean the lots would be worth considerably more than they are now. So, consequently, as they're still zoned agricultural, they're worth somewhere between 10 and 20k each at the moment. We are still working on getting them appraised.
My dad wants us to pay quite a bit more for the one we would buy then it is currently worth, which we are unwilling to do. This has caused a conflict between us.
He also wants to have a conversation where he gets to tell us all the reasons that he's mad at us (actually, me), and vice versa. My response is that it's not Festivus ;). (According to Wikipedia, "The holiday includes novel practices such as the 'Airing of Grievances', in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year.") Actually, I think anything like that will be really damaging to the relationship, and I don't want anything to do with it. So, therapy seems like a good idea at this point.

Home from Hawai'i

2008-02-08T16:12:00.000-08:00

We got home from our vacation late Tuesday. The trip was good, albeit with a little more rain than I cared for. Our first three days at the Four Seasons in Wailea were incredible. They upgraded us to a suite, and had so much stuff for Alex waiting for us that I couldn't believe it. A crib (with blue bedding), snacks, diapers, swim diapers, toys, basically anything he could possibly need. Having the suite made getting him to sleep sooo much easier. I would recommend the Four Seasons to anyone. They even found a (brand new) earring that I had lost!
We drove out to Hana on Saturday, and it poured the whole way. I was carsick for the entire (3 hour) drive, and when we got there, they had messed up our reservation! Our time in Hana was cursed, I swear. Everything that could go wrong, did. The Hotel Hana-Maui was supposed to be really nice, a luxury hotel (it was more expensive than the Four Seasons), but we didn't get great service there at all. Added to that Ron was sick the whole time, and it rained nonstop. I talked to the manager of the hotel after we got home, and he refunded one night for us, which was nice.
Once we got out of Hana and got to Waikiki, things started being fun again. Ron was feeling better, and we had a good time for the 24 hours or so that we were there.
Throughout the whole trip, Alex was a trooper. He was so good on both flights, and he loved all the new things that we did there. He's a great traveler!

Snow

2008-01-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

It's snowing outside right now, big puffy flakes. Beautiful. Alex is looking super cute today (what is it about little boys and denim overalls?), playing with his dog. I seem to have caught a little something (sore throat and low fever), but I'm trying to ignore it, getting ready to leave for Maui on Wednesday. Alex is talking more and more these days, getting beyond his classic "look!", and "what's that?". He's absorbing things like a sponge-it's so amazing to watch.

Thoughts on life

2008-01-24T15:09:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling good today-I think it has to do with the fact that the sun is out, my French language skills are reappearing at a rapid pace, and I leave for Maui in less than a week. Life is fine.

Alex is such an awesome little kid. Exhibit number 234: he spent most of yesterday walking around the house, babbling to himself, with his arms bent at the elbows, straight up (his fists were next to his ears). Not sure why he does this-I suspect it's because he can and does fall down regularly-to catch himself. It's soo cute. He loves to watch Hank play with his food bowl-he laughs and laughs. It's so much fun to be a momma. :)

Doing well on the weight loss front-down two more pounds as of this morning. Somehow, sunny weather seems to help. I made an appointment to meet with a trainer at the gym when we get back from Maui.

Alex and Ron at the Seattle Asian Art Museum

2008-01-17T10:38:00.001-08:00

Catching up part deux

2008-01-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

Haven't written here in over a month-now that the holidays are over, it's time to catch up again.

Alex is doing great-walking up a storm, getting into all kinds of trouble. ;) He's also talking a lot more as well, pointing at everything, saying "look", or "that", etc. It's so fun to watch him develop.

I've still been walking Hank at the dog park every morning. I feel healthier as a result, but I'm going to have to ramp up the exercise to see real results losing weight.

We're leaving for our trip to Maui in less than two weeks. Woohoo! I can't wait. Ron and I decided to upgrade our hotel, changing our reservation to the Four Seasons Maui for the first three nights, then the Hotel Hana Maui for the last two on Maui. We'll be on Waikiki Beach for the last night. We are also planning a trip to Japan this fall to visit Theresa, Ron's sister. Should be a lot of fun.

I started taking French classes again last week-French 1, at Bellevue Community College. It seems to be coming back pretty painlessly this time. I'm determined to stick with it until I become fluent. It's embarrassing to speak only one language. I've been enjoying it a lot.

We had our first round table meeting of the new year last week-two guys showed up. We talked about Campbell's book Primitive Mythology. It was an interesting discussion, to say the least. We spent some time on threshold rituals for the boy moving into manhood. Campbell talks about that topic quite a bit in PM. Next month's meeting will be on Oriental Mythology.

As far as the writing is concerned, it really hasn't been happening much lately. I've even been reluctant to write in this blog. I'm hoping that writing in the blog regularly again will get the creative juices flowing again.

See you all tomorrow-same place. :)

Alex-Touched by His Noodly Appendage

2007-12-13T09:23:00.001-08:00

December Thoughts

2007-12-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

December is always a busy month for me-for all the obvious holiday-related reasons, plus my birthday falling on the 12th and now Alex's on the 20th. I become contemplative in December, what with rolling over to a higher number on the birthday (next week will be 38), and the end of the year. This year it's also the end of the first year of being a mother. Questions such as: what do I like about my life (lots), what would I like to change (a couple of things, already discussed on this blog), what do I need to deal with.
On the health front, walking every morning has been doing good things for me-clothes are loosening, energy levels are rising, change is coming slowly. I still hold the 40th birthday goal in my mind, and try to make decisions accordingly. I'm feeling ready to ramp up my exercise amounts.
I'm thinking more about the possibility of becoming a school librarian. I do need to go back to work once Alex starts school, and becoming a novelist is to ephemeral a goal to count on. Ron has been incredibly patient with me (I stopped working as a technical writer in February of 2005), but a reliable income will be necessary once Alex doesn't need me at home anymore. At first, the thought of doing the librarian thing depressed me, like I was a failure as a writer if that happened, but now I think that it may be part of my path in life, just as writing is. I don't have to do it for the rest of my life, but it feels like a good fit during Alex's early school years, at least.
Another thing that has been on my mind lately has been my relationship with my mom. Our relationship seems to be degrading, and I'm not sure why that's happening. I know that I need to talk to her about it, but I'm scared to. There are complicated psychological forces at work here, for both of us, and I'm trying not to let myself fall back into the mind state of the 4 year old whose mother left her. It can be difficult at times. I'm sure I'd benefit highly from the work of a good therapist. :)

Lots to think about.

Cool Image I lifted from Endicott Studio blog

2007-12-06T16:09:00.001-08:00

I couldn't resist posting this-it's by Tom Canty.

Writing

2007-11-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

I've been reading Mark Helprin lately (such a wonderful writer). Somehow reading his wonderful prose seems to be inspiring me to write myself. Reading him is lifting me up, in a way, bringing me out of my funk. So, right now I'm plowing my way through his entire bibliography. :) If you haven't read him, pick up a copy of Winter's Tale ASAP. I recommend it highly.

Catching up

2007-11-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

Haven't blogged in a while-sorry about that. Let's catch up.

After the funeral, Alex and I both caught colds, just as we were ramping up for Thanksgiving. I was feeling better by Thanksgiving am, in time to get the turkey into the oven. The holiday was great-we had 13 for dinner. Friends and family, it was exactly as the holiday should be. I'm definitely looking forward to Christmas. Ron's sister Theresa will be home from Japan, and all of his siblings but one will be at our house for the holiday. We'll also be celebrating Alex's first birthday party on the 22nd.

My birthday is also approaching (my 38th) on the 12th of December. I'm finding myself a bit melancholy this year. Not really sure why, but I suspect that it has to do with the fact that I don't find myself with a completed novel and an in-shape self, as I had hoped to by the end of 2007. Now that Alex is getting a little older and into his toddlerhood, and I've got the whole "being a mother" down a bit, I'm hoping for a rosier 2008 in those two areas.

On the getting in shape front, I've been walking with my friend Anandi at the dog park every morning. It's great for Hank, and she brings one of her two dogs as well. After a mere week of this, I'm feeling more energetic and ever so slightly slimmer. I'm still committed to my goal of being in great shape when I celebrate my 40th in two years, and I finally feel that I'm making progress.

As to the work on my novel, things are not as rosy. I took the situation with Charles de Lint perhaps harder than I should have. National Novel Writing Month has not gone as well as I had hoped either. However, I will persevere.

Our December round table meeting is on Zeus and Hera and the Royal Marriage, with delvings into the archetypes of the father and the mother (via Demeter). I've just started work on that material this week. I'm actually looking forward to moving on to our meetings on The Masks of God-it doesn't appear that this Greek Gods series was of interest to anyone but myself.

A Funeral and the Round Table

2007-11-09T10:55:00.001-08:00

We're headed over to Eastern Oregon in a couple of hours for my Granddad's funeral-he passed away on Monday. I feel sad that I didn't know him better-when I was growing up, I didn't see my mom too much, and consequently I didn't see her parents much either. I know his death was in some ways a relief (his body had been failing him for a while), but it's still a bummer when someone passes on. It is a chance to see some relatives that I don't see often from my mom's side, and we get to show off our cute baby. :)

In other, cheerier news, the November Round Table meeting was last night-two people showed up. We really didn't talk about Apollo and Dionysus much-they didn't seem too interested. Instead I spent the time getting to know them better. It appears that this series on the Greek gods hasn't been a big hit. I'm hoping for a better turnout with the "Masks of God" series I'll be getting started in January. Oh well.

Apollo and Dionysus thoughts

2007-11-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

Our RT meeting on Apollo and Dionysus is coming up on Thursday, so I've been thinking about the two of them a lot this week. As I was walking Hank yesterday I was contemplating the joy of being around animals and in nature-the earthy, natural smell of dogs and horses. So much of my day to day life is caught up in the world of Apollo-even this act of writing a blog post belongs to Apollo. But, my early morning walks with Hank take me into Dionysus' space-watching the mist rise off the river, the dogs playing with each other.

Alex's First Haircut

2007-11-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

Fate of the Seattle Round Table

2007-11-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

The writing has been going better recently. I'm enjoying participating in NaNoWriMo so far.

I sent out my monthly newsletter to the members of the Seattle RoundTable a couple of days ago. In it, I asked people to switch over to the group on meetup.com, to make it easier for me to manage the group. I got quite a few emails of complaint, enough that I'm wondering if I should just shut down the RT altogether. I spend a fair amount of time each month preparing for the RT meetings, and I'm not sure if I should continue if the group doesn't like my leadership, or whatever. Maybe I should just step down.

Wow, I realize that I've been doing a lot of bitchin' on this blog over the last couple of days. I'll try to perk up. :)

Today, its a special shame that my writing sucks

2007-11-01T18:22:00.001-07:00

As you may be able to tell by the title of this blog post, not feeling so great about myself or my writing today. Got quite a bit of writing done today, as it's the first day of National Novel Writing Month. I changed my mind back, and I'm again working on The Mythologist. The work may not be much good this month, but at least whatever is good can be applied toward the cause.

The thing thats got me banging my head against my desk today is this. About a month ago, I met a writer who's one of the shining stars of the Mythic Fiction movement. He was doing a reading in my area. Through an odd sequence of events, he offered to read and give advice on where I might submit a story that I've written called "Anya and the Bear". So, off I sent it, full of hope, and I never heard back from the guy. So, fine. I'm sure he's busy, and if he didn't like it it's easier just to never answer than to tell me so. However, today I found out that Terri Windling's next anthology of mythic fiction stories is on the subject of animal transformation. If my story had been any good, this writer (who is good friends with Ms. Windling) could conceivably have sent it to her for possible inclusion in her anthology. "Anya" is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, set in the shamanic tradition of the Inuit tribe of Alaska. Clearly not going to happen anywhere other than my imagination. So, feeling a bit hopeless today. Not a great start for a month in which I'm supposed to produce 50k words.

Goings on

2007-10-30T16:24:00.001-07:00

Posts have been a bit scanty recently. I've been reading up on the Apollo and Dionysus business for the next Campbell RoundTable meeting on the 8th, but mostly I've been getting all my non-writing business caught up in preparation for participating in National Novel Writing Month, which is held in November. I've decided that I won't be working on "The Mythologist", as it's already in mid-stream. Instead, I've decided to try to write a children's novel that I've had in mind for some time. The goal is to complete 50k words in the month of November, which comes out to about 175 pages, which should be just about right for a children's novel. I don't have a title for it yet, but it's about two siblings who discover a magic book. When you write words in the book, then put your hand on the pages, you're sucked into a story based on the words that you wrote in the book. The kids discover the book in the house of their new next door neighbor, a kindly old explorer and professor of (you guessed it) mythology. So, we'll see how it goes. I think it'll be interesting to see what happens if I just write full out for a month, and see where the story takes me. I think it'll be an interesting experiment.

Novel Writing Month

2007-10-23T07:41:00.001-07:00

It's been a few days since I last posted, sorry about that. I've had some things I've been thinking over throughout the weekend, mostly related to whether or not I'm serious about committing to losing weight. A friend responded to my recent post about the pursuit of perfection with an offer to work out together, so I'm deciding if I'm ready to get started for real.

In other news, next month is National Novel Writing Month, and I've decided to participate this year, in an attempt to get The Mythologist written once and for all. I figure if I work, balls out, for one month, I can get about 200 hours in over 30 days, which may be enough to get a first draft finished, which would be such a relief. So, that would mean, no housework, no knitting, no reading, no working out, etc. for one month. I think I can do it.

Interesting Article about George Lucas

2007-10-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

can be found here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21365041/

titled: Can Lucas be trusted with the Star Wars Universe? Key Quote:

"What sent us out into the summer air from the theaters in 1977 and right back into the ticket line to see it all again was his ability to hit on a combination of certain mythological truths so ancient they’re practically embedded in our DNA, and he played that chord with big spaceships exploding in the background."

Thoughts on a new book

2007-10-18T15:53:00.001-07:00

It's amazing the things that come to me when I'm hovering in the state between sleeping and waking. After I put Alex down for afternoon nap I lay down for a few minutes, with random thoughts flitting through my mind, nothing settling. I started thinking about the non-fiction book I'd been planning on writing eventually (on the journey of the artist through the underworld), and it came to me that the book I need to write (other than The Mythologist, that is) is on why story is important. Simple as that. Once Upon a Time: Why Story Matters. I need to think this through some more, but I believe this will work.

Apollo and Dionysus

2007-10-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

So, the babysitter is here and I finally get a chance to write my blog for today.

I'm getting an early start on next months RoundTable meeting, which is on Apollo and Dionysus. It was interesting having Rich at last month's meeting-he brought up a lot of stuff on Artemis that I hadn't made the connection to, so I'm going to range a little wider in my research this month in an effort to make the conversation deeper. So, I've just ordered a book on the psychology of Apollo and Dionysus, plus I'll read Ginette Paris' chapters on Dionysus. We'll start there, and see where we end up.

On a related note, I knew I was married to the coolest guy in the world when I called him the evening after our lecture at Pacifica on Apollo and Dionysus, and he sent me the lyrics to this song. Ron is the best. :)

Writing novels is haaaard!!

2007-10-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

I'm such a whiner today. I've been reading Neil Gaiman's blog recently, and he's working on finishing his latest novel. I believe it was due to his publisher a few days ago ;). I can't decide if I feel better or worse reading his thoughts about the hard work of writing a novel. I think I feel better, because, when the time comes to sit down at your desk and get the words onto the page, his experience and mine aren't all that different. The only thing that's different for me is that I have a baby that's due to wake up from his nap anytime now, and when he does I have to stop working and tend to him, which can be frustrating when you're really rolling.

Christina Rosetti's Goblin's Market

2007-10-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

After reading Neil Gaiman's essay on the fairy tale yesterday, I was inspired to post Christina Rosetti's poem Goblin's Market. It's a bit long, but here it is in its entirety. Enjoy.

Update-I realized that the poem was entirely too long for a blog post, so theres a link to it here.

There are some interesting essays on Goblin's Market to be found here.

Fall Festivals

2007-10-15T12:28:00.001-07:00

Ron and I took Alex to a harvest festival at a big farm nearby on Saturday. See the photographic evidence in the post immediately prior to this one. :) There were so many people there-it was like visiting Disneyland. They had hay rides, a pick-your-own pumpkin patch, a corn maze, etc. It was such a huge deal, it got me thinking about harvest festivals in general, and what an ancient part they are of human culture. I remember reading The Golden Bough years ago; how James Frazer talks about the sacrifice of the king that would happen during harvest festival, to ensure the return of the crops the following year.

More thoughts to come later.

Image is "Corn King" by Charles Vess.

PS-Neil Gaiman's recent essay on fairy tales can be found here.

Alex's First Caramel Apple

2007-10-14T09:20:00.001-07:00

Worlds Cutest Baby

2007-10-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

Round Table Meeting

2007-10-12T09:52:00.001-07:00

We had the October RoundTable meeting last night at Third Place Books. There were six of us there, including me. Rich Schwab, who used to be the RT leader was in town and was also there, which always makes for lively conversation. There was also a woman there named Artemis, which, given our subject manner, was appropriate. :)

The discussion was interesting, and the meeting was a lot of fun. We talked about Artemis for a bit. Rich told the story of The Handless Maiden, whose themes of purity fit in well with the Artemesian subject of the meeting. He also told the story of Sedna.

Overall, a successful meeting.

(The image is an art piece by Caz Love)

Update: I found an interesting essay on The Handless Maiden by Midori Snyder here.

Phil Cousineau

2007-10-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

I wanted to take a moment here to talk about writer, filmmaker, and Campbell friend Phil Cousineau. Both the man himself and his work have had a real effect on where I am today, and I'm so grateful to him for that.
About the same time that I discovered Campbell's work about 7 years ago, I also went through a phase where I was reading anything I could find on pilgrimage. I discovered Phil's book The Art of Pilgrimage, and really loved it. I also read a book called The Joseph Campbell Companion, written by a woman who had spent a month (!) in workshop with Joe at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. I went to Esalen's website and discovered that Phil Cousineau would be leading a workshop that fall, so I signed up. Phil had just come out with a book called Once and Future Myths, and I thought to myself "I like this guy-he's talking about travel and myth, my two favorite things".
I'll save my experiences at Esalen for a later post, but, after attending that workshop with Phil, I found myself back at Esalen a year later, this time for a month as a work scholar, and I met Phil again then. He vaguely remembered me from the year before (I think), so we chatted for a bit.
I saw Phil again a third time at Esalen a year and a half later for the Joseph Campbell Centenary Celebration that was held in March of 2004, and again at the Mythic Journeys conference in June of that year.
Everytime Phil and I have spoken he's been incredibly kind and encouraging. Meeting him, seeing what he was doing in his career, made me think that it might be possible for me to follow my bliss myself. Perhaps I didn't have to be a technical writer forever, working a job that made me want to cry at the end of every day. Now, 6 years later, I have a masters degree in Mythology, and I'm teaching and writing on myth and the other things that I'm passionate about.
Now, although Phil does recognize me now when he sees me (the last time was at a talk he gave here in Seattle last December, just before I had Alex), but I'm still not sure he remembers my name. ;) However, it doesn't matter-he encouraged me just enough when I needed the courage to follow the left hand path, and I'll always be grateful for that. Maybe someday we'll be leading a workshop at Esalen together-who knows? :)

Further thoughts on Artemis

2007-10-10T13:18:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about Artemis today, after my reading on her yesterday. One aspect of her archetype that I think will be most valuable for me personally is the ideal of the lithe, athletic woman. I have the image of her bounding through the forest with her animals, being fully in her body. I have spent too much of my life with the archetype of Athena, dominated too much by the intellect, fully sprung from the mind of the father. I was raised by a single father, in a home and community dominated by masculine energy, so the archetype of Athena has always been a very safe and comfortable place for me. Over the last few years, I've had the privilege and opportunity to begin to explore the Aphroditic side of my nature, and, more recently, I have come under the influence of the archetype of the Mother. This has been wonderful, of course, but I also look forward to welcoming Artemis into my life-I've been looking for ways to be more in balance between body and mind.

Artemis is fully in her body. She enjoys her body, the athleticism of it. Thinking of her brings up a memory for me. I think I was about 9 years old (coincidentally, the age that Artemis prefers her young tomboy companions to be). I went on a hike with my dad and brother. As a kid, I was tall and lanky, all arms and legs. I can remember bounding up the mountain like a gazelle, calling back to my dad to hurry up. I remember the joy of being in my body, of having long legs that ate the trail as I climbed up and up. I've lost that sense of joy; I've spent too much time with mind, and not enough with body. I hope Artemis can help to bring me back into balance with my natural self.

Alex lovin' on his momma

2007-10-09T21:00:00.001-07:00

Artemis: Wilderness and Wildness

2007-10-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

I've been reading up on Artemis for the next meeting of the Joseph Campbell Foundation Seattle RoundTable. It's been interesting; Artemis is not a goddess that I've taken much time to think about before, so I've been grateful for the opportunity.

Artemis is Apollo's twin sister. They are the children of Zeus and Leto. When Hera found out that Zeus had been unfaithful (again), she put a curse on Leto. Leto was in labor for nine days and nights. Artemis was born first, without pain, and she then helped her mother with Apollo's delivery.

The goddess Artemis is a remnant of an earlier paleolithic goddess of the hunt. She is a virgin goddess, of wild spaces and animals. She is also, interestingly, the goddess of childbirth. When a woman gives birth to a child that process is part of her animal nature, therefore Artemis is there for her for that (breastfeeding as well).

An interesting aspect of the Artemis myth (explored in greater detail in Ginette Paris' book The Psychology of Abortion) is that, while she is the goddess of birth, she is also in charge of the quick death. In her book Dr. Paris explores the notion that whether or not one is capable of being a parent is the first decision one must make as a parent. So, if a woman cannot be a mother, she must (as a mother) provide the quick death.

Artemis' influence is also increasingly relevant to the ecology movement as well. She is the protectress of wild spaces, and of solitude. In her role as virgin goddess, she stands alone, not in relationship to a lover (as is Aphrodite), a spouse (as is Hera), or a child (as is Demeter). She is the guardian of those times in our lives when we need to be in solitude.

More to come later.

Books used as research for this post:

Pagan Meditations
The Psychology of Abortion
The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image

How I came to study myth

2007-10-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I loved reading fairy tales and myths. I always loved stories, and read obsessively since I was three years old. Books helped me get through my parents divorce at age 5. When I got to college, I majored in English and writing.
After I graduated, I wanted to go on for more schooling, yet I was having a hard time deciding what to study. Literature appealed, of course, and comparative lit, but it wasn't the only thing I was interested in. I also considered anthropology or archaeology, and I was also doing a lot of reading on religion, after I left the evangelical church of my childhood behind at age 25.
In the late nineties, I discovered this new web site called amazon.com. Surfing around Amazon was always a wonderful adventure, and, given my interests, I eventually found books by an author called Joseph Campbell. I found a series of his called "The Masks of God", and I eventually ordered the books. It took me a year to read all four, but once I was done I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

My dog Hank and the pursuit of perfection

2007-10-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

It's easy for me sometimes to labor under the delusion that it's possible for my life to be perfect. I didn't always have this problem, but ever since I met Ron it seems like occasionally I have thoughts along these lines: "well, if I just get in great shape, and write a perfect, amazing, bestselling novel, I would have everything I wanted and my life would be perfect". A few years ago, the big things in my life that I didn't have that I wanted were a husband and baby. Then, in 2003, I met this amazing guy, and, like dominoes falling, all these things that had been on my "wish" list for life started coming to me. The engagement ring, the wedding of my dreams, the graduate degree in mythology, the world's most beautiful baby-it was coming hard and fast.

Now, my life is so very happy and fulfilled. The two things still "out there" that are on my wish list are a career doing what I love, writing and talking about myth, and to get healthy and in shape, and I'm actively working on those two.

I used to fantasize about what the perfect life would look like-husband, baby, dog, house in Queen Anne with a view of the ferry boats. However, now I don't think of that life in the same way, having three out of the four. My dog helps me with this.

When I finally talked Ron into adopting a dog (all part of my plan for creating the perfect life), we found a breeder of beautiful English labs in our area. Her stud dog is gorgeous-almost white. When the puppies were born and we first saw the pictures, one of the pups in the litter had a black spot on the back of his neck. My first thought was, oh, I don't want that one-it would interfere with my idea of the perfect life. How can my beautiful dog in my perfect life have a black spot? Of course, given the way that the universe works, it was that dog that the breeder chose for us, mostly for his temperament (he was the most mellow pup in the litter, and she knew we had a baby on the way).

So, I had to let go of my ideal of the life that looks perfect. I love Hank so much, and I would never trade him for any other dog, just because he's mine. However, I'm also so grateful now that I did get so lucky as to get the pup with the black spot. He reminds me every day of how silly I was, thinking that if I could just get things a certain way, my life would be perfect. Of course it never would have been, and I would never want it to be. Every time I slip and start to think "if I could just...", I look at my beautiful dog Hank, and say a little prayer of thanks.

Thoughts

2007-10-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I read Elizabeth Gilbert's wonderful memoir Eat Pray Love, and yesterday I made a point of catching Oprah because she was being interviewed. Of course, being me, rereading the book (as I've been doing over the past few days) and hearing the interview made me long even more than I already had been for some travel. I knew when I got married and had a baby that my travel would be reduced for a while, that I wouldn't be as free to go when and however I could as I had been. However, every time Alex smiles at me or Ron kisses me I remember that it was worth it.

Anyway, one of the things Ms Gilbert told Oprah is that there are three things she does every day that anyone can do. The first was this-every morning, get out your journal and ask yourself the following question: "What do I really really really want?", then answer the question. I pondered that question for the rest of the day. For the most part in my life, I have the things that I really really really want-my husband and son. The only big things that are still "out there" for me are getting in shape, and getting my career going. So, I had to ask myself the question-do I really really really want those things, which was something I hadn't honestly asked myself before.

I was reminded of the first chapter in Phil Cousineau's book Once and Future Myths, where he talks about the myth of Sisyphus as a metaphor for the creative struggle. The idea is that the work of writing the book (or creating whatever it is you're trying to create) is rolling the boulder up the hill. You get a moment's rest as the boulder rolls back down, as you walk back down the hill. This is the part when your book comes out, you go on tour, get feted, etc. Then the struggle starts back up again. Camus tells us in his essay on Sisyphus that he learns to love the struggle, and we must too.

I've been working so much this week on my Anya and the Bear story that I've reminded myself of the joy of the work itself, although it is work, a lot of work. I've realized that it's too easy for me to procrastinate my life away, and that I must write every day or lose my momentum. Hopefully writing daily in this blog will help with that. I'm still working on the getting in shape question. wish me luck.

Round Table Discussions for next year

2007-10-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get more RT members interested in coming to the meetings, so I've got some new strategies for after the first of the year. This fall we've been discussing the archetypal roles of the greek gods. The first meeting, in September, was on Aphrodite, but unfortunately only one person showed up. Partially my fault, though, because I got the word out late. This month the meeting is on Artemis. I'll be sending out a newsletter to the RT later today on what we'll be doing going forward. In November, we'll talk about Apollo and Dionysus, and December will be on Zeus and Hera, the Royal Marriage. I'll post a little essay on each class the next day.

Anyway, going forward I thought we might do a series on Campbell's "The Masks of God". I think many Campbell fans may be intimidated by them, given the length and intensity of the series. So, one discussion each on "Primitive Mythology", "Oriental Mythology", "Occidental Mythology", and "Creative Mythology". We'll see how that goes.

Recent events

2007-10-04T15:32:00.000-07:00

Joseph Campbell says in The Power of Myth that when you follow your bliss, doors will fly open where there had been none previously (I'm paraphrasing). That has definitely been the case for me over the past couple of weeks. I've had some wonderful opportunities come up for me career-wise. Fiction writing wise, I've had one of my favorite authors ask to see one of my stories. He asked for it, I didn't ask him to read it-important point. Anyway, he's going to give me some help/advice on where I might publish it. So-woohoo!

In more myth-related news, I've been invited to submit papers to two conferences in 2008-one in Santa Barbara, and one in Zurich. I'm also preparing a paper for an upcoming issue of Spring Journal. So, overall, lots going on, and it's exciting, after so many months of treading water, primarily caring for Alex.

mythicstories.com

2007-10-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

My website is finally getting updated! It's still immature, but there is some information about my work up at www.mythicstories.com

Seattle Mythology Meetup

2007-08-14T15:54:00.001-07:00

Click here to check out
The Seattle Mythology Meetup Group!

Hank found a good place to lay down ;)

2007-08-14T09:31:00.001-07:00

Review of James Patterson's Maximum Ride 3

2007-08-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to read James Patterson's new YA thriller, about kids with wings. It's called Maximum Ride 3: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. I had read his adult books featuring some of these same characters, so I was really looking forward to hearing what Max and her flock of kids were up to. Given the title, it seemed likely that I was in for quite a ride. I was right.

The book was an adrenaline rush from one end to the other. I found myself a bit breathless as I was reading it. The voices of the kids did seem authentically teenagerish, and I could easily picture the conversations taking place among teenagers.

I hadn't read the first two books of the series, but there were enough short descriptions of the earlier adventures dropped here and there throughout the book that I was able to follow what had gone on before.

The books are quite squarely aimed at the preteen and teen age group, and I must admit I did feel my age in a way I don't always do when reading a YA book, and that was a bit of a disappointment for this 37 year old. However, I did pass the book on to my 13 year old babysitter when I had finished with it, and she loved it. I'm sure I'll find myself recommending it to my son once he gets a little older. It's a great summer read for a teen, and the fact that it leaves out adults would probably be perceived as an advantage by many kids. So, if your son or daughter is in need of a good fast fun read just before the grind of school gets going again, hand them a copy of Maximum Ride.

If you have a child (particularly a son) who doesn't particularly enjoy reading, I suspect that this is one series that he or she would like. It feels more like an action film than a book, honestly. In fact, there's a movement on at the books website (www.maximumride.com) to get a certain number of hits to a) persuade James Patterson to write another book in the series, and b) to convince Hollywood that there is enough interest out there for a film to be made. At the rate things are going there, both seem an inevitability.

Favorite Shel Silverstein poem

2007-06-19T15:30:00.001-07:00

If you are a dreamer,come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer.
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in! Come in!

The guys on our Fathers Day hike to Cape Flattery

2007-06-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Seattle Joseph Campbell Round Table

2007-06-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that I was recently asked to resume the leadership of the Seattle Joseph Campbell round table group. :) A little history...

After attending the Campbell Centenary celebration at Esalen in the spring of 2004, I was asked by Robert Walter (president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation) to start a round table group in Seattle dedicated to discussion of Campbell's work. I did so, and we had our first meetings in the summer of 2004, with membership quickly growing to 40plus members. In the fall of that year, I began work on a masters degree in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and quickly determined that I couldn't continue to run the RT and give it the attention it deserved. Luckily for me, there was a new member of the group who had lots of energy and enthusiasm for the work, and he took over the leadership role in my place.

Now, 3 years later, I've completed my work at Pacifica, and Rich has moved on from Seattle to other projects. I've happily resumed the responsibility for the RT, and I have lots of good ideas for meetings. They will be held monthly on the 3rd Thursday of the month. We had our first meeting on June 7th, on the hero's journey. Next months meeting will be on Campbell's life and times.

Sleeping with momma

2007-05-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

World's Cutest Baby

2007-05-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

Not so thrilled about solid food

2007-05-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Reality is an oil slick on the ocean of the unconscious

2007-04-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

My characters have the ability to traverse the spirit world, or the dreamtime, or the unconscious, or the underworld, use whatever term you prefer. They are shamans, of sorts, and the ability to do this runs through their family. They gain a special level of power by being twins in that family. The family legacy has been a responsibility to maintain a certain level of order in the world (in order to keep humankind from descending into chaos) by keeping order in the collective unconscious. However, there's a problem. A member of their family has a twin level of power despite not being a twin, and no one can determine why.

More to come later.

Title for novel number two

2007-04-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

I've been rereading Neil Gaiman's Sandman series recently, and I think I've got the title for my second novel (the first being "The Mythologist"). In the introduction for the second volume, written by Clive Barker, he mentions "the dream travellers", which I think would make a terrific title, given my subject matter.

What I've been reading lately

2007-04-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

Now that I've finished my masters at Pacifica I've had the opportunity to read with a lot more breadth than before. It's fun reading fiction again. Some recent reads are:

1. The Historian: I just finished rereading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It was a big deal when it came out a couple of years ago-the author got a $2m advance for it. I loved it, actually. I buzzed through it in 3 days-didn't get anything else done. This time around, I wanted to reread it to see what she was doing that I liked so much-what kept me going on to the next chapter, and then the next. I also was able to notice when I started skimming (somewhere around page 500 or so).

2. A Short History of Myth: I finally got around to reading Karen Armstrong's take on myth. It's a small book, only about 130 pages, part of Canongate Books "The Myths" series. She has some good insights on myth and why it's important in human culture. I've been a big fan of Ms. Armstrong's ever since I read The Battle for God a few years ago, and I was really excited to hear what she had to say about my favorite subject. I did a lot of highlighting, which is always a good sign.

3. Succubus Blues: A couple of years ago I attended a writers workshop up in Vancouver, and I met a writer named Richelle Mead there. A few months later I met her again at the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association annual conference. She was trying to find an agent for her novel Succubus Blues. I got an email from her last fall, where she told me that not only had she sold Succubus Blues, but that she has three book series under contract! Maybe there is hope for me after all. Anyway, Succubus Blues finally came out this spring, and I got it read a couple of weeks ago. I really liked it-it was a fun read, sort of a romantic/fantasy/comedy, set in Seattle. Since it's set primarily in Queen Anne, I tried to convince her to include my favorite coffee shop El Diablo in the book, but she stuck with her invented locales. Author's perogative, I suppose. :)

4. Sake and Satori: Sake and Satori is Joseph Campbell's travel journal through Japan and other parts of the Far East, from when he traveled there in the 1950's. Since Ron and I are planning a trip to Japan to visit his sister soon, I thought it would be fun to read Campbell's take on the culture. Haven't finished it yet, but I'm enjoying seeing an informal, unguarded side of Campbell through these journals.

5. Tropic of Night: I've also been rereading Tropic of Night, by Michael Gruber, another book I read a few years ago and loved, because it's about shamanism and sorcery, which is tangentially related to my book. It's also interesting to read it again now after my graduate work, especially the class on African and African Diaspora Traditions, as there is so much in it about the Yoruba, divination, Santeria, voudoun, and other cultural aspects of that part of the world. I'll tell you, he really did his research. It's an incredible read, even the second time through, but dark, very dark. Not for the faint of heart.

Parking lot conversations about myth

2007-04-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

An interesting day in the life of a stay at home mom with literary/mythological aspirations.

Alex was a very smiley boy all day. I love to play the game where I tickle his cheek with his toes, and he loves it too. Now he's starting to laugh before I even touch his face, which is hilarious.

Took Pepper to the vet today-she looks good, for 13 years old. He is having me put all the cats on Revolution for parasite control, rather than Advantage, in order to keep the worm situation under control, because of the baby in the house.

After the vet, we dropped Pepper off at home then headed to Costco to pick up a few things. In the parking lot, the lady parked next to us told me that she was going to check the web site on my bumper sticker. A little background-a few weeks ago, I ordered a bumpersticker from the Mythic Imagination Institute's Cafe Press page. It says: "a story can change the world", then has the website address. She told me that she's been getting interested in meditation and similar things, then asked me what it means that a story can change the world. So, I got to go into the 30 second version of my schtick.

Soon after we got home Leah came to watch Alex, so I got a few hours for the novel. I'm getting really excited about it and how it's going. I think I'll have the opportunity to really get into some of the things that I'm interested in talking about with myth and story and their importance in the world.

Interstitial blog

2007-04-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the new, Interstitial Arts Foundation blog:

http://interfictions.blogspot.com/

Philip Pullman's words on myth

2006-07-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

After many months of neglecting this blog, I thought it might be nice to finally get it started with a wonderful quote on myth from a favorite author of mine, Philip Pullman. It's a bit long, so be patient. Well worth a read through, though!

From time to time someone comes up with the idea that there are only seven stories in the world. Or only three, or only eleven, or whatever. Or else they claim to have discovered that every different story is a variant of one basic story, such as Cinderella, or the quest for the Holy Grail.
And they find no lack of listeners, because our interest in how stories work and in what sort of stories there could be is almost as powerful as our appetite to hear them told. We could argue about it forever, and our pleasure would never pall.
But what is certain is that writers and novelists and poets, people who have a visceral need to tell stories, find themselves coming back again and again to those narrative shapes and forms and structures we call myths.
There’s something sensuous about the attraction they hold, something almost physically satisfying about their shapes; we like to run them through our minds, we like to stroke their contours, we like to arrange the light so that it brings out their features and throws interesting and form-revealing shadows. A myth is intoxicating, because it is something other than just a story. In one way, it’s the very opposite of poetry. Robert Frost said that poetry is what gets lost in translation: we could say that a myth is a story that is not lost, or harmed, or diminished as it sheds the skin of one language and assumes that of another, because as C.S. Lewis pointed out, a myth is a story whose power is independent of its telling. Our first experience of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice would affect us just as strongly in whatever version we came across it, because it’s the shape of the events that contains the power, and not merely the language.
This is a fact designed to keep writers humble; the brilliance and dash of our sentences are of little importance beside the events we try to describe. It’s a reminder that most of our readers still regard our words as a window and not as a surface: they want to see through them to the great and tragic forms acting out the passionate drama of the story. The cosmic events the characters repeat in this driven and compulsive way are far more interesting than our prose style.
Nevertheless, each new writer does bring something never seen before to a story that might have been told a thousand times. It might never have been seen from quite this angle, it might never have been suffused with quite this emotional tone; the intelligence that plays over the events might never have glittered with quite this silvery wit. This is what makes the telling, and retelling, and retelling of myths such an endlessly refreshing struggle, such a demanding privilege, such a humbling joy.

Philip Pullman
Canongate Books
Edinburgh
2005