September has been a better month for me. It’s not been so tumultuous, and I am enjoying the peace I am experiencing. I know though that I have several important decisions to make, but in the meantime, I am going to savour the peace.
Read 24 books this year for the Mount TBR 2021 challenge.
“The Giblin Guide to Writing Children’s Books” by James Cross Giblin
Though the latest reprint of this book is 2005, I was using it in a course as recently as 2017. I only skimmed it back then, but took the plunge this month to read it as a book study. Read more about it on my Mount TBR 2021 post.
“Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Read more about this book below.
Read 12 nature related books this year to enhance my horticultural therapy study.
“Escape to Reality” by Mark Cullen with Ben Cullen
You may have seen him on TV or heard him on the radio, but have you read any of Canada’s most famous and loved horticultural expert’s books? In this collection of short essays, Cullen (with the occasional piping in of his son) writes about everything from the value of a gardener’s work to how to think like a plant.
Consider this:
“Experience tells us, according to <Peter> Ladner, that local food reduces our dependency on oil. A Canadian study on ‘food miles’ estimated that sourcing fifty-eight food items locally or regionally rather than globally could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about fifty thousand tonnes annually. That is the equivalent of removing almost seventeen thousand vehicles from the road.”
“Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
This is hands down one of the best books I have ever read in my life! My book club partner and I took our time over it, savouring it over several weeks.
There are just too many fantastic learnings to mention here, so I will leave you with this video about “the honourable harvest”.
Read 12 books that are either memoir, poetry, or soul books.
None
Work on my writing 15 minutes a day.
I haven’t been writing every day.
Read related literature to my writing.
Not done.
Analyze two creative nonfiction essays per month. These are the two that I analyzed:
“Why I resigned from my tenured position teaching climate science in college” by Heather Short
Why I like this:
-it’s a timely piece, and it mentions several things I have been thinking about lately
-it’s an expert’s point of view
-it’s a mixture of facts and opinion
Favourite quote:
‘Teaching this to an 18 year old is like telling them that they have cancer, then ushering them out the door, saying “sorry, good luck with that.”’
“On Sept. 30, I hope people will do more than just take the day off” by Andrea Johns
Why I like this:
-it’s written from the perspective of a Mohawk woman
-it’s another timely piece, written as a reflection on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
-it offers solutions
Favourite quotes:
“It’s great to, again, have a holiday that recognizes the legacy of the residential school system. But there’s a lot of things that are tied to the residential school system: socio-economic issues and missing and murdered Indigenous women and land and economic inequalities.”
and
“I hope that people won’t just take the day off, like they would treat it like any other holiday, going to your cottage on potentially unceded Indigenous territories or spending the time not engaging with … the history of residential schools.”
Analyze what I like about two picture books per month.
“Woodland Dreams” by Karen Jameson; illustrated by Marc Boutavant
What I like about this book:
-every creature gets a unique, descriptive name: Big Paws, Velvet Nose
-repetition: every refrain starts with “Come Home…”
-sparse and poetic text is a delight on the tongue
-unique rhymes, e.g., schemer/dreamer
“Butterflies are Pretty Gross” by Rosemary Mosco; illustrated by Jacob Souva
-breaks the fourth wall
-very humorous (I’ll never think of breakfast in the same way)
-plenty of tongue pleasing alliteration (deliciously disgusting, pretty peculiar)
-fascinating facts presented in an interesting way, e.g. read about the sneaky Alcon Blue caterpillar
Special shoutout about the “little senses” series, written for those who are very sensitive, e.g., those on the autism spectrum. I read “It Was Supposed to Be Sunny” by Samantha Cotterhill. A girl adapts to not having her birthday party work out exactly as she wants to with the gentle help of her mother.
Submit one story to a contest per season.
I placed eighth in the first round of the latest NYC Midnight contest, which gives me 8 points. Yay! I submitted my second story. This time I got mystery, which I have never written before, but it was fun writing outside of my comfort zone.
Attend one writing webinar per month. (flexible)
Suzanne Simard on her book “Finding the Mother Tree”. (Guelph Arboretum)
Work on one lesson of a writing course per month. (flexible)
Not done
Attend a writing group session per week. (flexible)
I did this.
Blog at least twice a month.
Not done
Weekly treasure:
Challenges:
HaikuforTwo:
I wrote three.
100 day challenge:
Read two chapters of a book a day.
I didn’t do this, but I intend to get back to it, as there are two library books I wish to complete.
How was your month?
Shoe’s Seeds & Stories
@Copyright 2021 Linda Schueler
Shoe's Seeds & Stories 
You accomplished quite a bit. I agree with you about Braiding Sweetgrass. So much wisdom in that book. The article on Sept. 30 was excellent. Will check out the pbs.
When I do write these posts, I realize how much I accomplish (it doesn’t feel like it sometimes).