And here we are! It's another new year! The planet has closed another circuit of it's orbit around the sun and the numbers can all fall back to zero. The King is Dead, Long Live the King!
I can't say that 2022 was a bad year, nor was it a particularly good year. High points were the concerts I'd seen, especially seeing The Campfire Liar's Club at Pan Chancho in Kingston, where I was able to share a table up front with Joe Carscallen's aunt and uncle amd witness Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair playing a Hip song together again. I was able to shake hands with Gord and talked to him briefly about how bad the mosquitoes were when he played a solo gig in Calabogie the month before. Other highlights were Great Lake Swimmers in a church in Manotick and Sarah Harmer at the CityFolk festival in Lansdowne Park.
In August, I took a short trip out to a cabin resort off of Weslemkoon Lake near McArthur Mills. I chose that location because, as per in a stargazing map, it is one of the darkest areas in Central Ontario. This would afford a view of some blazing stars and planets, which you just don't get to see living in a metropolitan area like Ottawa, or anywhere else in Southern Ontario for that matter. I was only given one night out of the three that were clear, but it paid off in spades. Sitting in a Muskoka chair down by the shore, I was able to see the Milky Way, had the stars shine so brilliantly I could almost hear them and I was able to catch a flyover of which I am mostly certain was the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night.
But not all was right with me for that trip. I'll admit now that I was not in a good headspace driving up to check in. I was nervous about finances (it all worked out), worried about whether my car was up for the trip (it was), and was fighting the black dog of depression. I'd been letting things pile up on me, embattled with low self-confidence with my writing and my overall worth as a person living alone in the thick of middle age, feeling my health and physical powers dwindling as time went on. I thought immersing myself in the stars, the solitude and the silence would be a good thing, but it turned out not to help much at all. To complicate things more, I had been looking forward to paddling out on the lake, which had always been a favourite thing to do, but on my first paddle I dumped the canoe before even leaving the dock and gashed my leg really bad. That totally blew my confidence away and I was left with nothing but spotty wifi and cable TV for entertainment. I had books there and had even brought my journals with me thinking I might get inspired, but I couldn't get my head there. It shouldn't have been that bad, but it was. When I finally got home, I curled up in bed and slept for 12 hours.
That troubled trip to the lake might have been a sign of the times because the latter half of the year was when things started to get heavy, with the labour troubles in November imposed on CUPE education workers in Ontario by the stingy yet greedy Ontario Conservatives, forcing our political hand to strike- illegally, if only for a weekend. It was fun being part of that movement, being with my coworkers and soaking up all the great support and honking horns of passersby. I was finally able to stick it back to Doug Ford. I pushed it too far though, staying a full 8 hours instead of my assigned 4 and in my fatigue ended up tripping over a curb, seriously pulling my hamstring. Seriously, is there a more stupid way to injure yourself (don't answer that!) The pain was such that I thought I was going to pass out. What followed was two weeks off from work and physiotherapy that still continues today. Compound that with flu episodes, dating misfires and my current flareup of gout from terrible holiday eating, you would think I'd be in worse shape. But thanks to supportive co-workers at my educational assistant day job, and my continuing work on my literary projects, I've been able to keep my head up, or at least keep my nose out of the water. I usually have a serious hate-on for early winter, but I've managed to keep it from sinking in too deep.
So...
... that concludes the Festivus segment of this blog post, now that I've fulfilled the annual "Airing of Grievances,"... Moving right along...
...Now for some literary news...
I've tried my hand at e-publishing with a novelette that I've been working on. The reason I'm thinking a novelette is that the story I chose- 'individe', is too long to fit into a short story collection or to submit to a journal, but too short to be expanded into a novel. I thought I would give Kindle a try since I thought I would have a better chance at selling copies there than through Kobo or anywhere else. There are some problems that I am seeing with using a Pixelbook with a Chrome operating system, which always seems at odds with Microsoft Word. And although I could upload from Word, the final product is off in its page separation. When I consulted Kindle about it they suggested getting an editing app called Kindle Create. OK so I did, and it's not compatible with Chrome. Agh! More grievances to air! OK whatever, so I published it with the wonky page breaks. Turns out it's okay after all, so there it is, put out in the world, its fly down, its hair a mess but ready to be read. You can find it on Amazon books if you want to see (buy!) it.
I've also created a new Facebook page to link up with my photography shop in my author website, keeskapteyn.ca. I've had a a lot of people saying I should sell prints of some of my photos, so I am going to explore this avenue along with all other projects I am working on.
My other works in progress are: self-publishing a short fiction collection that I'm calling 'holophrasis'. If the Kindle/Amazon thing works out, I will consider using that platform for this project as well. I am considering getting a new laptop that works on the Windows system to eliminate the compatibility problems I'm having so I can use Kindle Create. I may consider publishing a limited run of paperback copies if this works out as well.
Work continues on my LefTturn novel. I'm considering some new plot twists- how many plot twists are too many?- so when I am satisfied I've done what I can with the e-books, work will resume in earnest and I can have a second draft ready in the summer. I'm also checking out options for a solo writing retreat in the summer. I've some whacked out ideas, so it will be something if any of them work out. All this e-publishing, all my submitting to contests and journals, it's all really to pave the way for this novel when it's completed. I'm hoping I can have a name out there and the novel will come out with people already knowing who I am. That's what I'm hoping.
So it looks like 2023 has my work laid out for me. There's much to be done, for my physical health, for my mental health and for my literary aspirations. I'm serious about them all (because they're all serious with me), and I get the feeling this year is asking me to cash in on the work I've done as well as lay track for the future to come- the future I want, not the one that will come in like the weather. It's all there, I just need to get moving on it.
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