Coming to you from CBC Homerun

By ad | Published: March 21, 2011

What was supposed to be a quiet Monday has turned into a whirlwind of activity.

I’ll be the Internet reporter all afternoon long on CBC Homerun with Sue Smith and we’ll be talking about Twitter’s 5th anniversary.

Follow the fun today on my Twitter profile and on the CBC Homerun Twitter profile too.

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Details

By ad | Published: March 14, 2011

They say that “God is in the details“. Considering that the only divinity in my life comes through words and images, then this saying is definitely true for me. A love of details defines–even inspires–everything that is important to me.

Being in the present moment draws my attention to the most extraordinary of details.

Writing is capturing those small details, weaving them together to make life from words.

Reading is being seduced by a writer’s ability to depict those small details. Like how ”She had her gloves in one hand like a crumpled bouquet“, right there on the bottom of page 37, left me breathless.

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My life in 12 photos, Seven

By ad | Published: March 11, 2011

These are the members of my family that are willing to be photographed – and barely at that. My niece is 13 years old. The only way she’ll agree to being photographed is if it’s in profile and if she has the right to delete snaps that do not meet her strict standards. My almost-10-year-old nephew though is a total attention junkie (like his aunt). He’ll pull out my iPhone and request a photo so that he can play with the filters in Instagram.

Our family in Canada in a small one and it’s certainly not perfect, but we love each other enough to keep coming back when all the yelling is done.

How best to encapsulate the Palanca family? My niece said it best when referring to my dad, “Nonno has a hard head, but he doesn’t have a hard heart.” All we need is a coat of arms to boot.

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Happy birthday to me!

By ad | Published: March 8, 2011

Or should I say Happy New Year’s Eve? My new year starts on my birthday–March 9–after all.

There’s something special about being a spring baby. Just as nature is being reborn, so am I.

As we shed the last cold mists of winter, so I shed the cold mists of the last year. For me, February is about looking back at the last 12 months, being grateful for everything I’ve accomplished, making some plans for the future and cutting off the dead weight that’s been dragging at my heels so that I can walk into a new year feeling fresh, free, unencumbered, ready to make things better.

When I wake up tomorrow morning, I will do so like the lilac branches pushing through the snowbanks in my front yard. Thanks to all who have made the last year so special – I look forward to more adventures in the months to come.

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New fiction: Eddy takes a yoga class

By ad | Published: March 4, 2011

Is it a cliche to be a little in love with your yoga teacher? If so, then Eddy didn’t mind admitting it. He liked Natalie and the way she walked the rows between their mats, the movement of her legs outlined in tight black yoga pants. Her thighs whispering as she passed Eddy’s mat, her bare feet making kissing sounds as her right sole, then left, lifted from the polished wood floor.

He especially liked it when they were seated, legs extended on the floor, fingertips reaching for toes. If he had forgotten to take a strap, Natalie would bring him one. Her ankles would appear first and then she’d crouch down, lining the strap across the bottom of his feet and holding up the two ends for him to grasp and pull back on. Eddy almost always remembered to take a strap, but sometimes he forgot on purpose just to get a little attention.

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My life in 12 photos, Six

By ad | Published: March 2, 2011

My home in Montreal. Where I sleep and eat. Where I welcome friends. Where I work.

Where all my books (old friends) are kept.

The one place that I will always be able to come back to, no matter where I go.

See that glow? It’s spring, pressing its face against my window.

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A note about yoga and writing

By ad | Published: February 28, 2011

I love myesore practice on Mondays.

Even if I’m not entirely awake as I ride the metro downtown, I love being in the studio that early in the morning. And if I get there by 7am, the studio is sometimes all mine. At that hour, there’s a warm brown-yellow glow in the studio as the subdued winter light reflects on the wood floors and casts a glow upwards.

Jessie keeps the lights in the studio low and then puts on some Bonobo. The space feels intimate, even if it is just me and my mat. I hear and feel my breath more clearly and I can practice at my own pace, choosing the postures that my body most desires that day. Lulu usually comes in shortly afterwards and then the shared quiet is equally nice–companionable, even though we’re not talking.

As the sun lifts, so does the mood. Jessie comes in and rabble rouses a bit. Others arrive. Jess starts cracking jokes as she nudges students deeper into a posture. By the time I leave just before 9am, the music has been turned off and the sun is fully up, but the ambience is still lively.

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Where are you doing your writing?

By ad | Published: February 20, 2011

I have been a paper and pen junkie for as long as I can remember.

The story goes that when I was a child and my mother took me shopping, she would plead with me to come away from the books and buy a doll instead. Or maybe even a dress. But all I wanted was “bookies” and paper and fancy pencils that I could display in my ceramic Virginia Beach is for Lovers mug.

Although the cup is now broken, my home is still littered with notebooks, books, newspapers, pencils and pens (some “fancier” than others). And now that I’ve returned to my writing practice, these longtime friends have found new favour with me.

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The ethical writer

By ad | Published: February 2, 2011

Blurgh!

I am trying to write a short story about a man who decides to take a yoga class (you knew it was bound to happen). Obviously, I’ve been drawing on my own impressions and experiences in yoga classes to recreate the scene on paper, but there’s more scratching out than filling in.

The problem? I keep inserting real people into the scene.

To create colour, I’ve been describing some of the people that take this yoga class. Although I don’t say anything negative about these people, I’m still describing their bodies and their attitudes during the class. In most cases, I can make a sweeping statement about the “dancer types” or the “university women” without being specific, but on occasion I get a little too specific and I have to pull back.

So when does borrowing from real life impinge on the private lives of others?

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Thank you Zachary Kanin

By ad | Published: February 1, 2011

For those wondering where the blog name comes from, “Wouldn’t stop picking at it” (left) was a cartoon by Zachary Kanin published in the New Yorker on October 16, 2006. I cut it out of the magazine and it was posted on my fridge for years before it got lost in the move.

I went looking for it on the ‘net today and it only took me six minutes to find it. Thanks to the Interwebs, I can even order my own framed copy. Technology, huh?

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