It’s been a great start to my year.
-Read 24 books for the Mount TBR 2021 challenge.
This month I read “The Happiness of Pursuit” by Chris Guillebeau and “The Kindness Diaries” by Leon Logothetis. Click here to read my summaries of the books.
-Read 12 nature related books to enhance my horticultural therapy study.
I only read 1/3 of my book club selection for my CHTA book club meeting, so I’ll have to do some catching up. I did, however, read one other related book this month.
“Vitamin N: 500 Ways to Enrich the Health & Happiness of Your Family & Community” by Richard Louv
-A huge selection of nature based activities for kids and/or adults and individuals and /or organizations to engage in
Favourite quote:
“The point isn’t that technology is bad for kids or the rest of us, but that daily, monthly, yearlong electronic immersion, without a force to balance it, can drain our ability to pay attention, to think clearly, to be productive and creative.”
-Read 12 books that are either memoir, poetry, or soul books.
I read one memoir.
“Field Notes From An Unintentional Birder” by Julia Zarankin
From the jacket cover: The book “…tells the story of finding meaning in mid-life through birds. The book follows the peregrinations of a narrator who learns more from birds than she ever anticipated, as she begins to realize that she herself is a migratory species…”
Favourite quote:
“What I love about birding isn’t so much the birds I see but the circumstances within which I see them. That seeing the birds allows me to reflect on my own life, to forgive myself for things I’ve done, or to understand how they might not have happened otherwise.”
I particularly liked the chapter called “Going Solo”, in which she observes “Birding was helping me develop affection for Toronto, the place I’d always wanted to flee, and that might have been the biggest surprise of all…The most unexpected fringe benefit of birding has been falling in love with my own city.” I can relate. Since I’ve started to learn horticultural therapy and really pay attention to my surroundings during my walks, the urge to flee has been lessened.
-Work on my writing 15 minutes a day.
Completed!
-Read 3 creative nonfiction essays a week.
Completed! Here are my favourites:
“The Serviceberry: an Economy of Abundance” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
One of my favourite authors writes about different types of economies. It’s a longer read, but it’s worth it.
Favourite quote:
“I want to be part of a system in which wealth means having enough to share, and where the gratification of meeting your family needs is not poisoned by destroying that possibility for someone else. I want to live in a society where the currency of exchange is gratitude and the infinitely renewable resource of kindness, which multiplies every time it is shared rather than depreciating with use.”
“After my miscarriage, ‘hope’ isn’t what I needed to move forward” by Sarah Faye Bauer
The author writes about a different way of viewing hope, and it really made me think.
Favourite quote:
“Chodron describes hope as the opposite of mindfulness. Hope “robs us of the present moment,” whereas mindfulness means, “being one with our experience, not dissociating, being right there when our hand touches the doorknob or the telephone rings or feelings of all kinds arise.”
Hope assumes a future time and place of stability. Chodron believes nothing is stable, ever. We are groundless. All we have is right now, just this very moment. This golden, terrible, elevating, horrifying, gigantic moment. And then, if we’re very lucky, another moment more.”
-Read 5 picture books a month.
Completed! Here are my favourites:
“Pirate Queen: A Story of Zheng Yi Sao” by Helaine Becker; illustrated by Liz Wong
Did you know that the most powerful pirate of all was actually a Chinese woman in the 18th century? Read about her in this book.
“Harlem Grown” by Tony Hillery; illustrated by Jessie Hartland
Written by the founder, this picture book is the story of how an urban farm transformed the neighbourhood kids and their families.
“The Great Realization” by Tomas Roberts; illustrated by Nomoco
The poem about 2020 that went viral is recreated in picture book form. Click here to view a reading.
Bonus book:
“Music for Tigers” by Michelle Kadarusman
Set in Tasmania, this chapter book explores the rumours that the Tasmanian Tiger—the last known captive one died in 1936—still exists. The main characters are neurodiverse.
-Submit one story to a contest per season.
This was a biggie for me. I entered the NYC Midnight Short Story Contest. I had 8 days to complete a maximum 2500 word story.
Luckily I came up with an idea right away with the genre of historical fiction, subject of a long journey, and character of surveyor.
This is the most challenging contest I have ever entered, but I am glad that I completed it.
-Attend one writing webinar per month.
I signed up for Jael Richardson’s launch of “Gutter Child”, but unfortunately missed it, so I will watch the recording when I can. That means watching two writing webinars in February.
-Work on one lesson of a writing course per month.
I did several lessons of “Write, Heal, Transform: a Magical Memoir Writing Course” from DailyOm. I have now completed the course. Yay me!
-Attend a writing group session per week.
I have done two a week.
-Blog at least twice a month.
This is my third blog post this month.
-Weekly treasure:
Other Challenges:
Storystorm
Completed with 50 ideas!
New:
100 days to work on a project of your choosing starting today.
I chose to read 2 pages every day of the German novel I started 2 years ago, because, hey, it’ll motivate me to finish the novel ,and also I’ll spend some time on improving my German every day.
HaikuForTwo
I love this idea of taking two words from the current book that you are reading and creating a haiku poem from it. You can read more about it in this Storystorm post.
Shoe’s Seeds & Stories
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