The Time of Plans and Projects
These days, in wintertime, I love to slow down, take a lot of outward facing things off my plate, and be still, so I can see where I am and where I want to go.
“Spring is the time of plans and projects.” said Tolstoy in Anna Karenina and accordingly, once it’s spring, I begin to want to emerge again and do things.
It’s February 2024. The groundhog predicted spring, then a huge winter storm raged into town, downing trees, sending our basement sump-pump into overdrive, and filling the roads with runoff to beyond their brims. But whatever the weather, February 2nd is the cross-quarter day, and is always the beginning of Spring — with the vernal equinox being the midpoint —and my experience is that whether it’s gentle showers or a bomb cyclone (which is what we just had, apparently), new beginnings happen anyway now.
New Job: Making it Local
I started a new job this year as the editor of Made Local magazine! My first issue will be out in March. Made Local is the bi-monthly print magazine of the Go Local network. It can be found at stands around Sonoma County, (including Petaluma Market and Penngrove Market) and it’s also online if you are outside the area, or prefer to read on your phone or computer.
I’m looking forward to curating (and writing) a diverse, locally-focused collection of articles for the magazine about the amazing folks in Sonoma County, including our farms, food, and other local businesses and makers. I’ve been working with a great team to bring my first issue as editor to all “locavores” in Sonoma County and beyond this March. I’ll share more in the months to come as the issues are released!
A Howling Good Time
This one is more of an ending and a beginning. Werewolf Serenade, the feature film my partner Daedalus and I have been working on for a year-and-a-half is finally almost finished!
We were just at Institution Post in LA supervising color correction for the werewolf comedy, and will be returning in a few weeks to Blu Digital Group for the sound mix. We’re in the home stretch, and I’ll keep you posted about how that goes — and where you can watch it — as things unfold.
Poetry
I’m writing a new book this year. It’s a follow up to my last book, 1912: Poems of Time, Place & Memory, this time focused on our connection with the natural world. Accordingly, I’ll be reading poetry occasionally during the year, including Saturday evening for The Last Kiss, a poetry event at Bump Cellars in Sonoma
Workshops
Join me this year for three workshops: Two you may have participated in before: a creative writing workshop: Writing with a Sense of Place, and a media writing workshop: How to Write a Press Release.
I’ve added a new one this year: How to Make a Press Kit, for artists and entrepreneurs. Find out more here and email me to be added to the list if you’d like to be contacted when they are scheduled.
What about you?
Those are the main things I’ve planned for this year, work- and creativity-wise. What about you? What are your creative projects this year? If you don’t know, it’s not too late to decide — in fact, the beginning of spring is perfect timing.