About a decade ago, I witnessed an Australian cognitive scientist declare with utter conviction that a person’s capacity for happiness was genetically pre-determined and then refuse to be drawn into any discussion of environmental factors for the rest of the seminar. When asked if he was happy himself he responded "As happy as I am capable of being" and gave a smug, self-satisfied, lips-only smile – a happiness of sorts, I suppose. In contrast, Nancy Etcoff tells us that cognitive scientists have now discovered that, while they do their share, genes are only about 50% responsible for our level of happiness, the rest is a combination of chasing natural beauty, social activity and other such pleasure inducing experiences while avoiding misery inducing ones and the judicious satisfaction of desires (which may or may not be pleasure or misery inducing themselves).

Contrary to the idea Plato’s Socrates gives us, that happiness exists only in as much as we experience the absence of its opposite, our emotional well-being is not a continuum from happy to sad but, rather, a balance of parallel emotional systems. Making ourselves less miserable does not automatically result in a move towards happiness, it acts solely to make us more able to enjoy whatever happiness we find without the chemical fog of depression. Similarly, pursuing what we feel an urgent desire to attain, whether it a material possession, or the love of a person, satisfies only our dopamine-based, "need" system, which is at the heart of addiction; we won’t feel as bad as we do when we are yearning for that thing, but getting it will not necessarily raise the happiness level of the equation unless what is gained is something which also gives us pleasure, rather than merely the absence of yearning.

To be truly happy, if I have understood Etcoff correctly, one must address not only misery and it’s avoidance but our, separate,  desire system and the pursuit of its satisfaction, while also indulging in experiences that give us pleasure (yet another system again). Like an audio engineer finding the perfect mix, we must adjust all three sliders to find the sweet spot, which is likely to be slightly different for everyone.

As a writer, this insight is exciting; I can see how this will be a tool for tweaking characters: which one of the sliders is the character more influenced by, which does he have the emotional skills to manipulate better?

Etcoff is a great presenter, too. Enjoy!

Each week from 7-10pm Sunday GMT (5am Monday, Japan time) there is a Tweetchat under the hashtag #writechat for which I often make sure I am awake. This week’s conversation quickly moved to the idea that, in some way, stories write themselves – that writers know we are “in the zone” when it seems we are not fully in control of the story we’re writing. When in this zone our characters talk to us, they do things which surprise (shock, delight, horrify) us and will even refuse to do something which we know might propel the story in a certain direction but would not be authentic to who they are (and thus prove to be better storycrafters than those of us trying to push a character into an inauthentic action!)

This is not something we writers will easily discuss in mixed company because we know it sounds a little mad (meaning ‘insane’ for the Americans reading) but, for the most part, #writechat is a “safe space” and it became one of the most lively and open discussions since I’ve been participating. It was clear that some of the writers were admitting this for the first time and that they were feeling the joy and relief that always accompanies that “it’s not just me” moment.  I hope that some of them are reading this and will watch Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk and feel even more vindicated/appreciated/confident.

A couple of individuals did suggest that we sounded mad and even declared that the notion that “the story writes itself” was simply wrong – the writer writes the story. For the most part, we ignored these comments, for one thing they were from people who we know don’t write, nor particularly respect those who do write, fiction (fiction was the topic, in honor of nanowrimo) and because we have heard these views before, from our non-writer friends and family, and know that it comes from a lack of understanding rather than any desire to be nasty. Perhaps we hoped that they might come to understand by simply listening to the conversation but it was probably a little unfair to expect that when we were talking on a level that assumed that understanding. It is possibly more honest to say that we ignored them because few of us wanted to jump out of the general conversation to explain what we meant to just one or two people, so let me attempt to remedy that a little myself and then I will introduce Elizabeth Gilbert who brings the process to life most beautifully in her talk (and also writes memoir and non-fiction – so it’s not just fiction writers who go through this).

The “you’re mad/insane” reaction comes most often when we say things like “the characters speak to me” or “do things which surprise me.”

The characters-speaking-to-us thing is really not that hard to understand. Let me ask those of you who think you don’t understand to think back to any time when you have had an humiliating experience and, on the way home, what you “should” have said “came to you.” Did you not hear yourself saying it in your head? Did you not ‘see’ and ‘hear’ the reactions that you would have preferred your audience give you? In that moment of regret – you have become a creator. The ‘you’ in your fantasy is not really you but a character based on you (because you weren’t that awesome in the actual moment, were you?) nor is the audience that reacts to your better comeback real (because it didn’t really happen and you don’t know for sure that they would even react the way you think/hope they would), again, you have created some characters. I would bet that you don’t actually think to yourself “and then Milly would say ‘wow you’re awesome’ and Chris would applaud” – you’re a pretty odd person if you don’t simply see the scene in your mind’s eye, like a film (over and over as you try different comebacks lol). This is all we mean by our characters speaking to us, that the scenes unfold to us, the diaogue ‘comes to us’. It all happens in our ‘mind’s eye’ – we don’t actually see them standing in our room in front of us (we hear them as though they are standing behind us sometimes but we know they aren’t lol.)

I have to grant that the “characters do things that surprise me” is a little harder to explain and/or accept. First of all, of course, when I say they “do things that surprise me” I mean that my own fingers type out their ‘doings’ onto my page and that I am not consciously aware of what I am typing until I read it off the page a millisecond afterwards. I am not fully aware that I am typing at all, in the same way that, when I read, I become unaware that I am reading, unaware of my surroundings and the book in my hands and aware only of the story unfolding like a film, assuming it’s written well enough (I know not everyone has this experience when they read but I’m sure enough do to understand this).  When I write, when it is flowing, I am in a limbo space between the visualization of the story and the page – I experience what the character, whose POV I am writing from, experiences while at the same time recording it in this other, real, world. It is a split-brain kind of thing but it’s not multiple personality!

This is why our loved ones come home to find us out of breath or in tears or grinning like an idiot at our monitors after we’ve written a particularly emotional scene (and they should all have plenty of emotion!)  It’s also why I can’t write with my back to a door because I will NOT hear anything going on around me in the real world and will be shocked out of my tree if anyone appears behind me! I have been known not to realise Superman is calling me to dinner until my characters start talking out of context: “Dinner’s ready! Do you want juice or water?” Huh? Oh. Ahem.

The less mystical or just cynical of you can argue all you like about whether I “really” don’t know what’s going to happen but what I definitely know is that, in those moments, I have gasped out loud, had tears come suddenly to my eyes or had fear shoot through me as surely as someone had appeared in my doorway holding a gun. I also know, from experience, that it is when I don’t allow myself to sink into this limbo space that the writing stops flowing. When, usually out of fear of failure, I try to bring the ‘craft’ into the first draft writing (and this is ALL about first draft writing – again, we were discussing nanowrimo) I get stuck, nothing comes.  I have been known to describe this as the muse withdrawing because I don’t trust her anymore – and it would be picky and defensively-skeptical to attack the idea of “a muse” rather than focusing on the concept that I feel I have stifled my own creativity by “thinking too much”.

Of course, we must do our best to provide our brains with as much information about the world into which we want to go and about human nature so that our characters are believable – that we cannot write what we don’t know at some level, is true – but I don’t believe it’s possible for the human brain to consciously juggle all the elements required to make a story, a world, a character real in the moment of creation.  We must trust our brain, our muse, or whatever we believe is responsible, to perform the subconscious alchemy that is creativity AND (and here’s the big assertion) we must not pursue conscious understanding of how it works – not if we want to be artists, anyway.  Why not, you might well ask? Shouldn’t everyone who wants to be an artist be hunting down what is going on there? If you knew how it worked wouldn’t you be able to ‘master’ it?

For that I would point you to Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk.

If, after listening to Elizabeth’s talk (and listening again if need be) you still insist on being so very, pragmatic and asking the above questions then I would say this: I believe understanding the neuro-physiology of creativity will, at best, help us to create as much as understanding the physiology of breathing helps us to breathe. We know it’s important to keep our air clean and our blood vessels healthy but thinking about the thousands of complex processes which make it happen does not help us to perform the act in any way whatsoever. In fact, to even attempt to consider those processes in real time is not only impracticable but would take up so much brain power as to render any other thought impossible – let alone creativity.

But I’m sure none of you will ask those questions after viewing her talk Enjoy.

I don’t really believe in piggy-backing of other people’s content for my own but I love it when someone I read points me to something inspirational and TED’s tagline: “Ideas Worth Spreading” and their copyright permissions (for those who were wondering) ask us to do so. To do my part in my little part of the blogosphere, I thought I’d start a series embedding TED talks from over the years that particularly appeal to me and, in doing so, hopefully spread a little inspiration. If you are inspired to hear more from TED, you can find more talks than you throw a failed iPod battery at here.

I’m going to start with Ken Robinson’s talk on taking creativity as seriously as we do literacy, lest we educate creativity out of society. Serious subject but hugely entertaining speaker so grab a cuppa when you can afford to take a 19min 20 sec break and enjoy and absorb.

From Tony’s post, I clicked on the link to the official Ghibli Museum site and was presented with Miyazaki Hayao’s philosophy for building the museum. Most of it was positive and about what he wanted the museum to be and certainly each was a reason to visit. The last paragraph, though, was a list of what he did not want the museum to be like and it struck me that it was something that every film director should have framed on a wall, or tattooed somewhere on their person where they can read it daily – except replace the word “museum” with “film”!

“This is the kind of museum I don’t want to make!
A pretentious museum
An arrogant museum
A museum that treats its contents as if they were more important than people
A museum that displays uninteresting works as if they were significant”

- Miyazaki Hayao “A few words from Executive Director Miyazai Hayao” on the Ghibli Museum website.

There are probably any number of words which could replace “museum” here to create an excellent philosophy to live by!

Alex at Bad at Japan shared his self realization about the way he works

and gives us an insight about how he plays with others!

Jason focused his Random Thoughts on both the physical and psychological changes he has undergone because of his big move to Japan.

Liv who eats her pigeons gave us a wonderful interpretation of the culture shock process as growing up all over again

Over at The Soul of Japan, Tony  warns us never to take anything for granted in Japan but reminds us that this also includes the good things – take time to stop and smell the onsen salts!

Nick’s entry at The Long Countdown had him looking back at England (at risking his mother’s wrath!)

Shane at The Nihon Sun has found that she has learned to live a more simple and less frantic life with an increased awareness of everyday beauty – something we could all learn to do.

Sheena at Girlish/Sheena in Japan shares what she learned about being American in the wake of Obama’s election and the reactions of some the Japanese around her.

My apologies for the tardiness of this post, I’ve been unavoidably off the grid for the last week or so and will probably continue to be so for a little while after this post is up.

One of the things I am really enjoying about living in Japan is re-discovering my love of and respect for the seasons, which had faltered somewhat due to various stressors and, frankly, living in Sydney which doesn’t really have them. The seasons are celebrated here with gusto! Throughout the year there are various religious festivals (matsuris) both national and local, usually based at a particular shrine or temple where the Kami in question is reverenced. Seasonal festivals, like Natsu (Summer) Matsuri which we celebrated in Gifu, are some of the biggest.

The map featured, from Japan Guide.com, forecasts the turning of the leaves all over Japan and are available at websites for the Japanese not just for western tourists looking for views. People will plan holidays or onsen weekends around soaking in the beauty of the turning of the leaves or man’s attempts at controlling the snow and communities around the country will celebrate their local (usually rice) harvest.  Similar maps are available in Spring for the Hanami or cherry blossom viewing which is a HUGE celebration.

Melbourne, where I grew up, has its seasons but they are pretty much ignored beyond whether to bring a brolly or a coat (and boy do we know how to read a forecast).  The joke, of course, is four seasons in one day but it’s really only true if you consider that getting a little cool and a little rain on a Summer day constitutes winter-like. As I understand it, the local indigenous population consider that Melbourne has six seasons and I can kind of see that (and wish I could find out more but it’s really, really hard.) The only hint of seasonal celebrations that come to the general awareness of the Australian populous are Easter and Yule though, of course, in their Christian form and they are actually at the time of Harvest and mid-Summer in the Sthn Hemisphere anyway. (Yes, I know that the non-Christian elements are still hugely strong within those festivals but that doesn’t mean those of us who are Caucasian and not “of the book” can celebrate openly – calling it Yule, for example, is only acceptable if it’s assumed I’m using the German term lol.)

The cynical (or those offended by the fact that I’ve just revealed I don’t hold Judeo-Christian views ) will remind me how commercial the festivals seem – Hanami particularly with companies competing for the best spots and it being very much “the thing” to do rather than being focused on which Kami is being celebrated. They will point out that the change of the seasons for most people just means new flavours of drinks and snacks in the konbini or changing wardrobes. Well to that I say: Shenanigans!

First of all, if they know that Summer is being celebrated then they know which Kami is being celebrated and frankly it’s kinda hard to miss. Secondly, those new flavours are seasonal flavours (watermelon kitkat in Summer and apple breath mints in Autumn, how much more harvesty can you get than apples!) being aware of the earth in your every day life is an acknowledgement of the Kami (however you want to define them, I find the similarities to Platonic Forms extraordinary) that effect it. Changing your clothes to warmer ones because its cold is a reverence to the seasons at the most basic level and possibly more so when there’s little need to change clothes beyond your coat with heating available indoors.  But that’s me getting all kitchen-witchy on you so from a more traditionally western “religious” oogity-boogity framework I say: look at the excitement on the faces of the people in their Yukatas on the way to the fireworks. Listen to the laughter and awed “Sugoi!” at the art form that is man’s attempt at mastery over fire. The smile elicited by the sheer beauty of a cherry blossom or the colour of a leaf. That is real emotion, whatever the affectations of the day to please your boss or your boyfriend, and that is the essence of all this – opening yourself to the rhythms of the earth. Even if they only do it once a season, they come together and allow themselves to be effected by the extraordinary beauty and power of this planet which, no matter how much we learn, can still shake us off its back with a good earthquake.

Whether the Japanese population flocking (and boy do they flock) to the many matsuris and enjoying the food and carnival atmosphere are intellectually cognizant of exactly what is being celebrated doesn’t really matter to me (though frankly I think most of them are).  It does a heathen girl good to be able to look ahead to at least a whole year in which she can celebrate by simply joining in with an entire nation!

Afterwards, head over to read Dennis’ post and watch the other just as serious but less funny video he has embedded… it’s getting ridiculous over there.

During investigations for a report entitled “CHILDREN IN STATE CARE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY: ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND DEATH FROM CRIMINAL CONDUCT” which was delivered last week , Australians…

“when asked to place in order the matters in society that concerned them most, rising petrol prices came first and child sexual abuse came 14th out of 15″

Do please follow this link and read Sen. Bartlett’s post.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that people care so little about helping children who are not their own, given my own history, and yet that shocks me, it truly does.

We are not complete new-comers to Japanese, as fans of anime we are certainly used to it’s sounds and rythms and we even studied it for a few months in 2004 – just before we decided to take the plunge and allow me to give up work to write and had to tighten our belts – so we knew what to expect. Being presented with hiragana was not an issue as we had already learned that it is actually far easier to learn in kana than in romaji/roman characters because it is phonetic. What I didn’t expect, though, was that learning Japanese would effect my rusty school-girl French and my approach to language in general.

I have long heard the theory that it is easier to learn a third language after learning a second and easier still a fourth and so on… I have always assumed that this referred to having learned a second language to fluency but my French is far from fluent (even given that Superman is right that I have always underestimated how good it is) and yet I am finding a profound effect. Of course there is the obvious issue of being familiar with the general concepts of language learning but something more fundamental seems to be happening to my brain. As I learn new words I’m finding that the French for the same word or phrase will come to mind totally unbidden and that my entire world is becoming more abstract. Objects and actions are less tied to the words which name them – in a fundamental way. It’s difficult to describe, and when I do it sounds silly and basic but I’ll try anyway.

When we are children and we are told what something is called we are not literally told “that is named ‘a book’,” we are told “that IS a book.” Perhaps we take on a metaphysical belief about the essence of ‘book’ so that when we are taught other languages we simply learn by rote that “un livre” is another name for what is actually, fundamentally ‘a book.’ I wonder if the words of the mother tongue continue to be the fundamental basis not just of all language but of reality itself unless something is done to breakdown that metaphysical conditioning.

Those who become fluent in a language know the importance of the moment when you start to ‘think in

‘ When you are no longer translating, even at extreme speed, then you are genuinely fluent but this is not what I am referring to. When I was still studying French and even now when I am watching a French movie or le Journal in the mornings I have those moments (not for terribly long when it comes to le Journal I’m afraid). I know exactly what is going on, I laugh at the jokes when it’s appropriate for the French rather than the English subtitles and it will take me a jarring moment to switch back to thinking in English if someone speaks to me or asks me to translate precisely for them. But this new thing isn’t just ‘thinking’ in another language – I certainly don’t know enough Japanese to come close to doing that – it’s thinking outside language, observing beyond language to the core of things without need to impose a name or even a description until there is a requirement to communicate … everything simply IS.Hmm sounds fairly zen, really, doesn’t it?

I wonder if children raised with multiple languages from birth have a completely different metaphysical outlook?

After we arrive in Japan, we will continue to be given language lessons for the duration of our stay so there is a real possibility of achieving more than a survival level of fluency. Perhaps I will even be able to make a rudimentary translation of Shadowkeeper for pitching to the Japanese anime production houses which have inspired and influenced my writing since I was a child. At the very least I should be able to collaborate intelligently with a translator. Standby for posts in kana!

“To get our aussie team to the Special Olympics in Beijing” was the reply.

“Oh!” I heard myself exclaim with an unexpected passion. “No! Noone should be going. Not the able-bodied either. Do you know what’s going on over there, let alone because of the Olympics?”

The boy looked at me dumbfounded, the girl recovered faster and said quickly “Sport has nothing to do with that stuff.”

I didn’t want to pick an argument with them so I refused and apologised again but suggested they do some research into it and shuffled inside before I could be overwhelmed by the shame of my deed. You see, many Australians, I’d even venture to say the vast majority of Australians, would consider that behaviour to have been that most terrible of things: unAustralian – not because I said no to some poor disabled kiddies but because I said no to SPORTSPEOPLE. Worse, I suggested that sportspeople should not pursue their sport with a single-minded obliviousness to the world in which they live.

At the time that I committed my deed the issue hadn’t been discussed in the media since the small flicker of psuedo-concern for a week or so after games had been awarded to China. Now, as the games approach, with the Europeans taking the lead the issue is being bounced around again and the usual “debate” is occurring. Those who believe the games should not be boycotted make statements such as “Sport is above politics” they are nodded at slowly as though they have said something wise and proper, as though they have ACTUALLY OUTLINED ANY KIND OF ARGUMENT AT ALL and the issue is considered dealt with. Those on the other side, who dare to possibly consider that maybe the politics of the situation should perhaps be taken into account, are attacked and even intelligent, usually courageous, political journalists will touch on it only briefly and carefully leave it up to the conscience of the viewer as they do when discussing religion or abortion rights.
“Ok,” I can hear some of you saying, “so what’s your argument FOR a boycott?”

Fair question and it is better answered by Chinese activists who are closer to the situation than I. Sen. Andrew Bartlett, whose blog is a great one to read to keep the faith alive that there are politicians who apply both intelligence and conscience to their work rather than PR, provides this link to the article “THE REAL SITUATION IN PRE-OLYMPICS CHINA” by Teng Biao and Hu Jia (who was arrested and sentenced to 3 and a half yrs jail in China this week for writing such things.) It is a good article for those with sport tunnel vision because it addresses Olympic-specific related abuses – and not just human rights abuses but sportsman’s rights abuses too. For example, the Chinese government is barring their top sportspeople from competing if their political views are suspect, or (as in the case of their national disabled discus champion who received his disabling injury at the Tienanmen Massacre) if their injuries remind people of the truth.

“Sure that’s bad, really awful,” some will continue to argue “but it’s not the individual athlete’s job to make political statements”

First of all this is just a politically correct way of asking: why the hell should an athlete give a damn about another human being? and, frankly if I have to answer that one for you then get the hell away from my blog. No, seriously.

But lets assume that it is arguable that the athlete’s shouldn’t have to care that they will be performing in stadia built by the forcible removal of people from their homes some of whom are in prison or re-education labor camps for objecting. The sheer fact is that there is no way round a political statement in this case. There is a choice which must be made here: to go or not to go, there is no default position, a statement WILL be made one way or the other. If you go you support the Chinese government AND the olympic committee’s choice to award the games to China, if you don’t go then you care about human rights. There is NO ESCAPING a statement. SPORT IS NOT ABOVE HUMANITY. The olympic committee has put every athlete into this position – not China, not political philosophers or activists – by awarding the games to China in the first place.
I am not suggesting that any individual athlete should have to bare the weight of a boycott on their own, I am suggesting that every single athlete should refuse to be used by the olympic organisation and China. Look at that phrase: “every single” or “every one” – it takes each individual for it to happen, each person who says they won’t do it because others won’t do it is guilty of stopping it from happening AND is either a supporter of China and the olympic committee’s choice to award the games to China, or, quite simply, a selfish coward.

“But what do you say to an athlete who doesn’t want to give up the opportunity to achieve what they have spent so much of their life working towards?”

A) It’s bloody horrible and the olympic committee should not have put you in this situation but frankly the olympics doesn’t deserve to be the focus of anyone’s life ambitions if it is this kind of an organisation. If you really care about being the fastest, strongest, highest, get your sports union to organise alternate meets where you can do your best times and prove you’re all about the sport and not the fanfare which feeds the corrupt olympic movement… or are you wanting to jump on that gravy-train yourself?

B) Sit down for two seconds at a computer, google torture and get some damn perspective. It’s not that I don’t support and admire anyone who strives to be the best at anything they do – nor that I am oblivious to the important role that sport plays in western countries inspiring technological and medical breakthroughs or allowing people to channel tribal emotions safely into the love of their team instead of into violence (not always successfully.) But sport is a pastime, an entertainment just like any other pastime and equal to them: despite the Australian worship of sport the truth is that a brilliant runner has no moral superiority over a brilliant chess player and in fact both are morally inferior to a doctor or a charity worker or a human being living under an oppressed regime who has the courage to become an activist. If you are really honestly willing to actively support the pageantry of the Chinese government and the olympic committee which was willing to be bought by them for the sake of a few minutes of your life which, experience tells us you will spend the rest of your days struggling to get over and move on from, then you need a serious adjustment. If you make a stand for humanity, you’ll still be wheeled out every four years to wax nostalgic about your olympic experience but yours will have made more of a difference and lasted longer than it took for your record to be broken – and it won’t just be on sports shows either.

“Why not go and say something on the podium about human rights?”

Because this stand isn’t just about China, it’s about standing up to the olympic committee for giving it to China in the first place. The committee’s protestations that the focus on China would help were disingenuous at best. Sport simply does not matter enough for it to make any positive change for China – OFCOURSE this was going to be negative for Chinese citizens, OFCOURSE it would be taken as/spun as support for the Chinese government. And the olympic committee did not care. We all know how corrupt the olympic committee has been for decades, who knows what China offered them but it was enough even to overlook the very suspect drug-use if not at least child-abuse practices of Chinese sporting associations let alone the wider political abuses. Going to the games and saying “I support human rights” while wearing your medal will be a thoroughly empty, hypocritical PR gesture – because you have allowed the games to occur and the olympic committee remains immune. Make your human rights statement at a press conference the night you make the team and say how you lament the posiiton you’ve been put in by the olympic committee but that you will not be going – that AND empty stadia will make an actual impact – not easily editable too-late-now statements. Don’t allow yourselves to be used by an organisation which has shown itself to care about nothing but that its members may continue to live the lives to which they have become accustomed… where’s the sport in that? And where’s your dignity?

Having followed the link from another blog which referred to it as amusing, I began to read it to Superman but was very soon hindered by severe lack of breath, sniffing back tears and the whole when-I-shake-with-laughter-the-screen-shakes issue… I invite those of you with a similar bent to enjoy and those who really don’t see the humour to roll your eyes and declare how odd I am once more…

Today, I found my premise.

How I came to find my premise is worth writing about here because, as my writing friends know, lately I have been exploring the creative process behind how people choose which project to work on. I’ve asked writer-friends and scoured blogs and sooo many writers, it turns out, do what I do: let the ideas take us as far as they are willing, file that away then work on the next till that runs out, then pick up either the next or return to a previous one and so on, until one idea has developed far enough to become dominant (I’ve described above how I know that has happened.) And here is why I’m calling this an epiphany – what I have realised today is that this idea actually pulls together many, many of those embryonic, under-cooked ideas in my box files – going back so far that I feel that I may have been working on this all my life.

When I was about 15, I was lying in bed in the dark looking up at the moon when a huge black cloud drifted across the sky, obscuring my view – at that moment a title came into my mind, fully formed “The War of Wind and Moon”. I turned on my lamp and began to pen what I thought should be an epic poem (obsessed with Vikings as I was at the time.) I wrote two stanzas about the wind deliberately but somewhat impotently obscuring our view of the powerful moon with clouds … but I had nothing except a vague sense that it was “really deep” but beyond my understanding at the time. The title stuck with me for years and every now and then I would ask myself if I was ever going to write it and wonder at the mystery of it … then, one day several years ago (in a screenwriting class actually), I decided that it was just a damn good title and I had just been another teenage writer with a title and no story lol!

Well… today, as I was putting away the shopping at the same time as preparing lunch (for which Superman returns home each day now – sooo cool!), my mind wandered again to the question of why I was embarking on a story set in the mythology of the Christian world when I had spent my life researching so many other mythologies. Why was I putting my protagonist into a story in which she discovers angels and god and demons are real? Was I just trying to undermine my own spiritual exploration? Where do all the other mythologies fit in the story I’m writing? I thought about the other snippets of stories involving spirituality that I have in my box files. I thought about how, in exploring religions and spiritualities (including Christianity) I’d found that they all come back to the same ineffable “Source/Love” whatever the many faces of “gods” and “angels” the mythologies offered … and suddenly everything pulled together and the title came back to me with bright, full understanding.

“The War of Wind and Moon” is the eternal struggle between trusting in that ineffable “Source”, the ‘connection’ to which is so elusive and heavy with personal responsibility, and the desire to pour devotion onto something solid and seen in return for rules and rituals which allow us to avoid that responsibility. And that, my friends who have been wanting details about the new project, is the axis around which this novel will turn. The actual story? Well, there are angels and ‘gods’ and demons at war for the hearts of humans and a young half-human woman struggling with the responsibilities that great power brings.

Now I’m off to write and find out more ^_^