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Elon Musk is famous for not taking much time off. As are many other hyper-driven people. "Vacation? What's that? That's an entire week (or two or four) I could be working on my genius idea!"
Personally, I'm a big fan of free time, because it can fill your soul with extraordinary bliss—and surprisingly, greater insight and depth than "work" ever could. It all depends on how you do it.
For me, taking time off falls into two sharply distinct categories: Taking Time Off On the Weekend and Vacationing.
The latter is a slam-dunk for me. Get me to a Caribbean beach, a Tuscan villa, or an extreme fishing expedition in South America, and I instantly release any conscious awareness of such concepts as the Internet, work, deadlines, and electronic communication devices. I unplug so fast my devices' electronic circuits spin.
The taking-time-off-on-a-weekend part is a Gordian knot. Do I take advantage of those precious extra hours on a Saturday morning to write, organize my schedule for the upcoming week, or catch up on emails? Do I spend the afternoon on a nice nature walk with my family? Or do we go off on a day trip and to heck with housework?
Weekends are, invariably, a tangled version of all-of-the-above. But it's the weekends when we do something special or out-of-the-ordinary that enrich my soul. Like this weekend, when we saw the gorgeously animated Kubo and spent a day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I stood mesmerized in the Open Sea exhibit, a massive two-story wall of glass behind which a nano-fraction of the great ocean has been reproduced. Hammerhead sharks, blue-fin tuna, swirling schools of fish gliding by, silently, majestically. In the blink of a tuna's eye I was transported to their world, and I wanted to stay there. To be more than a mere mermaid—to be one of them, and leave all this human chaos behind.
Strange, and telling, how a few minutes communing with the ocean can soothe the soul so deeply.
~ Birgitte
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Earlier this month, GOOD published an article about my Chocolate Quests—the workshops I've been doing for children here in the Bay Area. Of course, I'm delighted and want you to read it—what author wouldn't want to fluff up her feathers and strut proudly through the beam of that elusive limelight we're supposed to chase?
But, truly, what's more important to me are the people who made it all come together. My friend Jason at the Santa Barbara Chocolate company who introduced me to the good people at Sprouts Cooking Club, my conspirator-in-chocolate Jonas Ketterle of Firefly Chocolate and my fellow journalist Amy currently living in Lebanon who introduced me to Alisha Lumea, the SF-based writer who attended one of our Chocolate Quests at Alemany Farm and wrote the story for GOOD.
As it happens, Alisha used to be a chocolatemaker herself—what better person to write this story!—and she now runs a marketing agency specializing in artisan food. Her latest work is with the creators of a trilogy on wines: A Year in Port, A Year in Burgundy and A Year in Champagne.
Wow. We need to pair those with a film on chocolate.
Oh, and as if I haven't mentioned chocolate enough... it's International Chocolate Day today!
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No, it's not an error—there are meant to be two "Making the Scene" titles in this issue. On October 8th, libraries across the United States are celebrating the first annual Indie Author Day. They're hosting all kinds of events with their local authors. Authors and readers, are you listening? Save. That. Date!
This is a big deal because according to some people, libraries are old and tired. Passé. Out of touch with the digital age.
Au contraire! Many libraries are right there on that cutting edge, exploring how they can be a vibrant part of the future. After all, libraries are cultural patrimony of civilization. They are the keepers of knowledge. They are community centers. They are oases in the deserts of learning.
I am of course participating, although still not sure which of my local libraries—most likely Santa Cruz. If you're local to the Bay Area and want to come by, just check my web site a few days before October 8th—by then the location will be nailed down.
And if you're a fellow author interested in getting involved, do check the Indie Author Day web site, find a local library in your area, and reach out to them! But do it fast as a lot of them already have authors signed up.
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Fellowship of Fantasy
A really fun live event that took place on Facebook Saturday, Sept. 10. You can still visit the link and scroll down to the Sept. 10, 12:30 PST posts. (That was my time slot!)
Indie Author Day
October 8, 2016, nationwide
I'll be at a local library here in the Bay Area.
Virtual FantasyCon
Another live event coming up October 9-16, 2016. I'll post the link on my site as soon as the organizers open it all up.
NW Chocolate Festival
November 12-13, 2016
I'm giving a talk on how cacao's mythology and biology define our relationship with chocolate.
Will I see you in Seattle?
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