Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

still winter January 19, 2013

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 1:33 pm
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Of course it is.  After all, the calendar says mid-January, so what can you expect?  Here is the view from my kitchen window:

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And here’s the view from the living room window:

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Yup.  Definitely still winter.

It’s a beautiful time, full of stillness and rest.  Unless you’re out on your skis or snowshoes, it’s a good time to be inside sipping cocoa, reading a good book in front of the fire, while you listen to some beautiful music.

Which reminds me of a beautiful harp piece by Sharlene Wallace on her album Journey of Shadows.  Listen to “Winter Still.”  Sharlene was my harp teacher in the 90’s, when I would go study at Island Mountain Arts International harp School.  These days my poor harps are sadly neglected, but I still love Sharlene!  After you’ve heard “Winter Still,” while you’re on that CBC site, listen to some of her other pieces!  “Winter Frieze” is another of my favourites.

 

Underlying Grammar January 15, 2013

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Pondering,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:11 pm
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Grammar is not just a pain in the ass; it’s the pole you grab to get your thoughts up on their feet and walking.”

Stephen King On Writing p. 121

I kind of like grammar.  I like the structure of it, and I like analyzing it.  It’s even interesting when I discover I’ve been doing something incorrectly for years.  True, I have an English degree, and I teach English (and frequently I’m the grammar expert on staff), but occasionally there is still a surprise.

Last week, Diana Gabaldon posted a selection of her latest work in progress (My Own Heart’s Blood, book 8 in the Outlander series) which included the sentence, “I saw the seriousness that underlay the laughter…”  I had to study that for a while.

Underlay- a noun- is the padding that goes beneath carpet.  The  form of the word we most frequently use is the adjective  ‘underlying.’  So, whence cometh  ‘that underlay?’  At first glance, I thought it should be ‘that underlaid the laughter,’ but Diana has corrected my grammar before, so I pondered.

Following the lay, laid, laid vs lie, lay, lain model, I realised the verb is to underlie, and therefore the simple past tense must be “Yesterday he underlay the principle with a moral lesson,” and that “Previously he had underlain the principle with moral lesson, until he didn’t any more.”  It still doesn’t sound right, but frequently correct grammar doesn’t.

Good thing someone is keeping an eye on us, and providing an excellent grammatical role model.

More importantly, thank heavens for brilliant editors!

How about you?  Have you had any grammatical epiphanies lately?

 

art is life support January 10, 2013

Filed under: Pondering,Quotations,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 1:54 pm
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Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room.  Life isn’t a support-system for art.  It’s the other way around.

Stephen King in On Writing

There is an inter-connectiveness between art and the artist.  Our lives are fuel for art, a touching point, a grounding place, a beginning, but not a support system.  It’s not the scaffold of bones that holds the art in place, because art should not be tethered.  Art flies.

Art becomes the air that intoxicates and enlivens the life. 

Art supports life.

 

A rose by any other name… January 5, 2013

Filed under: Commentary,Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 4:56 pm
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I’m still thinking about names…

When I was in Junior high I was known as Shawna, because one teacher in elementary couldn’t get it that my name was SHAWN and that ended up on my records.  By the end of high school, I had finally gotten Shawna off all my records.

At our high school reunion this summer, a class mate said, “Your name tag says ‘Shawn.'”

“Yes.”  I agreed.

“This yearbook says Shawn,” he said glancing back to the copy Ralph had brought along.

“Yes.”  I was on the yearbook committee.  I made sure my name was spelled correctly.  I also did the calligraphy on our diplomas, so it’s correct there, as well.

“But we always called you Shawna,” he said, looking down on me with confusion.

“Yes.”

“Did we have it WRONG all those years?”  His eyes were wrinkled in dismay.

I laughed and said, “Yes.”

He gave me the most sincere look of mortification and said, “I’m so sorry!”

I laughed and told him it was quite all right.  The kids I hung around with all knew my name.  I wasn’t to concerned about the rest of them, to be honest.

Then I went to Finland, and there they call me either “Soon” (rhymes with ‘phone’) or gave me the Finnish name “Sanna.”  When I introduce myself in Finnish, that’s who I am.  In French I’m “Jeanne.”  In Italian I’m “Gianna.”  My doctor calls me “Shawnee.”   I am all those people, and all those identities.  Each one is essentially the same, but a little bit different.  A different language for communication, a slightly different attitude.

So far, I don’t use a pseudonym with my writing, though I imagine eventually I will.

What is your experience?  Have you been known by different names?  Are you exactly the same, depending upon your name?

 

and that’s a wrap! December 31, 2012

Filed under: Pondering,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:16 pm
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So! In a few hours 2012 will be history.  The hysteria of the end of the Mayan calendar passed, and now our calendar is finished, too.

My hubby was given two calendars this year, and I received one.

One of his is an inspirational one, about challenge.  He’s going to put it up in his office to inspire young clients who need all the help they can get.

The second was is Scottish scenery.  I’m hoping that one inspires him to wear his kilt more often, and perhaps take a trip to Scotland some time.

My calendar arrived in the mail today from Finland.  The photos are stunning and it makes me ‘kotiikava.’ Koti is ‘home’ and ikava is ‘melancholy’ or ‘longing.’  The term is more a propos to the circumstance than our English homesick , don’t you think?  I also received a card from the wife of my Rotary exchange counselor, asking when I’d be coming back to Finland.

I’m making plans for 2013.  I will be applying for Master programs in the next month or two.  One could see me in Finland, studying educational theory and practice.  One won’t.   I have a novel project floating in my brain that involves Finnish mythology, but I think I’d better get Grace Beguiling dealt with first.  Finland is floating in my future, but so are a lot of other things.

So the old year is wrapped, and we lead into the next.

Teaching, writing, studying, growing, reading, learning, laughing…  Those are my plans for 2013.  What are yours?

 

Night quote December 15, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:33 pm
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There is so much to be done, there is so much that can be done. One person — a Raoul Wallenberg, an Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Jr. — one person of integrity, can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs.

(Elie Wiesel in Night p. 120)

 

New arrival December 9, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:46 pm
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 My Christmas wish list included only one item this year: a kantele.

A kantele is a traditional musical instrument from Finland.  It’s a psaltery type stringed instrument.  When I was in Finland the last couple of times I looked for one without success.  Now through eBay I’ve found a company, and I have the most basic version, a little 5 string, on its way from Melodia Soitin of Finland!  If you visit their site, you can hear the sound of a larger kantele.  The wire strings make a sound quite different from my harps which are nylon strung.

Here is a youtube video of a lesson on how to play and tune this size of kantele:

 

let go, let in December 6, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 10:01 pm
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 “Notice if you are holding your breath after inhaling, and if so, what are you afraid of letting go. Or are you holding it after exhaling, and what are you afraid of letting in.”

― Shilpi Somaya Gowda, Secret Daughter

 

snow on the blog December 3, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:41 pm
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I confess, one of my simple joys is that come December, it snows on my blog.   I love how the little white dots drift through the post, in serene ambivalence of the topic or tone of the blog entry itself.

I love that it happens every year without me doing anything. I put it in my settings back years ago, and now, like winter,  it comes whether I am ready or not.

This year, December first arrived as a welcome relief to the furious writing frenzy of November’s NaNoWriMo.  It was a delight to look onto the blog, and see the peaceful ‘flakes’ drifting across my posts.  Tranquility amid technology.

Simple pleasures are the best ones, I think.

 

the surreal life November 24, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:30 am
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You know, it is both surreal and humbling to realise that some people are as excited to meet me and have me sign their copy of my book, as I was to meet… (well, you know. 🙂  )   It’s nice, of course, and it is very gratifying to have someone excited about my work, but at the same time, it’s extra-ordinarily surreal.

I wonder if really big name authors find themselves looking around the room trying to figure out how the heck all this happened?

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NaNoWriMo has been terribly neglected due to exhaustion and responsibilities the last few days.  A little attention this evening will hopefully help get things on track.

NaNoWriMo day 24:  1139                November total: 33,532

.                                                                      (6500 below par.  Eek)