Quail Springs

Welcome to a new year! I am extremely pleased to announce that my article about Quail Springs appeared in the Winter 2010 edition, on page 14, of Edible Santa Barbara. The issue came out in December and can be found, free, at several locations in the SB area for the next couple of months. You can also see the article on the Edible website, here.

Visiting the farm, which I originally found out about through my sister, was a unique and thrilling experience. Below are a few pictures I snapped while there, and some of the permaculture practices I found most interesting.

At Quail Springs, everything has a purpose – in fact, at least three. Take the stone structures in the garden, for example. These structures act as lizard habitats, thermal mass (meaning the stones grow warm from the sun during the day, then release heat through the night, which is especially critical for the plants during desert winters), vining structures, and bird perches (birds’ fecal matter is high in phophates, with the desert land lacks), among other things.

Going to the bathroom is a strange mix of the natural and what we’re used to – structures reminiscent of portapotties are simply a seat placed over a hole. Sprinkle a handful of sawdust after you go, and once the hole is filled, you have ready-made fertilizer, the perfect spot to plant a tree.

On the farm, as in Mother Nature's design, everything benefits something else. Insects embed their larvae in goat droppings, chickens eat the larvae, spreading the feces into the soil (fertilizer); chicken excrement goes to the worms, which feed the fish; fish excrement nourishes the garden soil, which in turn feeds the humans, whose feces becomes fertilizer for more trees. Learning about the way things are done on this farm brings new meaning to the phrase “circle of life.”

Swales (depressed stretches of land) impede the flow of rainwater, spreading and sinking the liquid into the ground. Planting is done on contour, which means there is no erosion and the water is harvested passively – that is, through gravity and without artificial energy. The residents, careful to settle around the wildlife corridor to keep out of the way of animals already living there, build structures facing the sun so its rays warms the floors in the afternoon, and the stone floors emit heat at night in the winter.

As you'll note in the Edible article, Quail Springs has experienced storms and flooding since my visit in June, so my pictures may no longer be an accurate depiction of what the farm looks like. The farm welcomes any support you can give.

Writing in December

With December comes the close of the quarter, which means my short story workshop at UCLA Extension has come to an end. My second critique went much better than the first, partly because I knew what to expect. According to the class, my story was sound on a technical level, few line edits. However, several people felt the characters were flat and wanted to see the story expanded out. The instructor told me I had a publishable work as it was, but it was not publishable as literary fiction. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I am learning, and I consider it a sign of progress that I'm creating "publishable" works. 

The most valuable lesson I learned in this class was that you have to be careful with whom you share your work. Having readers you trust is extremely important. As my mentor said, "You wouldn't let just anyone babysit your children. You shouldn't let just anyone read your writing." However, the class was a strong group, and I've invited several people to apply to become members of my Los Angeles writers' group. I'm pleased that we've had interest, submissions, and that the group will grow. As for my Santa Barbara group, we welcomed a new member I brought in a couple weeks ago. His first meeting went well, and I believe he will learn a lot from us and become an important contributor of the group. 

I also completed my seminar at the beginning of the month, with 115 pages of my novel draft completed. I had hoped to finish the entire draft, between 250-300 pages, but I'm thrilled that I'm almost halfway there. I've gotten down most of the important plot points, so now seems like a good time to explore my characters: put them in interesting situations, fill in the blanks. I met with a former professor of mine, and he had some great feedback. One of the things he told me was that I may not end up getting this published. It might just be a learning process. Of course my intention is to publish, but having that in the back of my mind makes the process a lot easier, especially when writing while thinking about potential critiques kills my creativity.

With my sister's college graduation from Prescott College in Arizona, Christmas with family in Lake Arrowhead, and Tahoe with friends for New Year's, I am looking forward to vacationing, relieved to take a break, and simultaneously concerned about writing. It will be a challenge - how I will manage to write amidst the travel, events, and people. In January I begin a new class at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program: I've been accepted to the Advanced Short Fiction Workshop. I'm considering another contest with a January deadline - last week I submitted an entry to an environmental writing contest. While I don't feel my story was winning material, I was proud of writing over 3000 words in a single day and coming up with something cohesive, that I liked. (Creative writing is very different from the 10-15 page papers I used to punch out in college.) And later this month, I have an article appearing in Edible Santa Barbara.

Below: My workstation in my sister’s kitchen in Arizona. I’m blogging while my mom and sister bake mesquite gingerbread cookies.

Turkey Day Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving, and I have so much to be grateful for. I am so lucky to be spending the holiday at home in Santa Barbara with my family and my boyfriend, and to have my dreams present and real before me. I have written over 100 pages of the rough draft of my novel, and my writers’ group is thriving. After a critique in my intermediate short story class at the UCLA Writers’ Program last week that did not go as I’d thought it would, I felt shot down and uncreative. I didn’t even want to write. My group was an incredible source of support. In addition to working on the novel draft, I also completed a short story to submit to my class. And with holiday coupons, I’ve added a couple of books to my collection and gotten a jumpstart on holiday shopping for my cousins. I am surrounded by people I love, and I’m doing what I love. I couldn’t be more thankful.

SBMag Oct/Nov

I have two bylines in the October/November issue of Santa Barbara Magazine. I was pleased to do the back page again, this time with a photograph of Einstein from when he visited in the 1930s. Researching those is always fun, because I come into contact with interesting people and I learn about the history of the town, both of which make me feel more connected to the Santa Barbara community.

I also interviewed Jennifer Freed, an SB local and author of Lessons from Stanley the Cat, a self-help book of humorous tips garnered from Freed's feline friend. Check out the Stanley website here, and find the interview on page 45 of the Oct/Nov issue of SBMag!

Plotting Along a Straight Line

More novel plotting. Similar to the other sketch, this one was actually done first. I find these useful for reference, especially when I get stuck. A member of my Santa Barbara writers' group, who is further along in his novel draft than I am in mine, suggested jumping ahead as a way to combat writers' block. I found this advice extremely useful. When I'm stuck on one section, moving on to a completely different section can get the writing flowing again, and it's handy to have an outline of what I'm doing.

Novel Plotting

            When I first started planning out my novel, I tried plotting with an upward trajectory, following the classic Cinderella “rags to riches” model. I felt like I had a pretty good start. I had events, details, and clothing. I started in on character sketches and other forms of plotting until a friend finally told me to just start writing. This was great advice and now, I’m 40 pages into the rough draft. Unfortunately, with 4 chapters written, I’m stuck. I don’t know what happens next. Looks like it’s time to start plotting again.

Stop. Start.

It is amazing to me how easy it is to get stopped. And how starting again never gets any easier, no matter how many times I do it. Last week I caught a cold and I stopped writing. It wasn’t until after I started writing again that I realized I’d felt as awful as I had as much because of the lack of writing as because of the cold. And I made it worse by thinking things like, “If I were a real writer, I wouldn’t let this stupid cold stop me. I’d write no matter how sick I was.”

            One of the tasks I’ve assigned myself as part of my seminar is to write 2-3 pages of my novel per day. Some days I write more than three pages. Some days I don’t write at all.

            Yesterday was one of those days. It was a Friday. I babysat for eight hours (a full work day) and then I went out. I saw friends I haven’t seen in months, and I had a great time. I knew as I was leaving my house that it was going to be one of those days. I considered not going out. Missing social events in order to write is something I’m familiar with. I don’t regret going, but I do regret not writing. I spent this morning devolving into thoughts of, “I’ve broken a promise to myself” and “How will I ever become a successful writer if I can’t even write every day?” Which makes it that much harder to begin again, of course.

            I have to take a deep breath, let it go, and jump back in. I have to recognize the awesome parts of setting such goals, even if I don’t always meet them. Because of my 2-3 pages per day idea, I now have 30 pages of my rough draft. Thirty will turn into 40 will turn into 50 will turn into 100, and soon enough I’ll have 250 – 300 pages. Before I know it, I’ll have a finished rough draft.