Seasonal Reflection - Newsletter 4
Hello everyone
I hope this newsletter finds you well.
It’s late Spring in South Africa as I am writing this and already I’m starting to enjoy the lighter mornings. Even though I much prefer the rainy colder months, I have to admit - I really love Spring! The freshly green leaves and flowers fills me with excitement and joy.
This year in September, my husband and I went to see the wild flowers in the northwest coast. It is truly amazing seeing so many different flowers. All of them with their own design. It is so inspiring knowing we get to live in a world created by a God who values creativity and who is the ultimate Creator. I’m planning on doing something special with all the reference photo’s I took on our trip, so watch this space :)
As for the creative things I did during the winter months (June to August), let’s see and take the time to reflect …
Creative Writing
I’m still slowly and diligently chipping away at my Afrikaans fantasy novel, Fynbos Feë. I think at the start of the year I had ambitions to finish with the third draft in the middle of this year, but now I’m realising I might not even finish with it at the end of this year. So, now I only have the goal to try and revise for one to two hours from Monday to Friday and see how long it takes me.
Apart from my novel, I wrote three flash fictions stories and entered them into three separate competitions;
I started writing two of these stories, Shared Custody and Haunted by Time, during a flash fiction workshop in June. The workshop formed part of Open Book’s Workshop Week and was led by Kerry Hammerton. During the workshop we learned more about what Flash Fiction is and read a few different examples. Along with this we did a few writing exercises and prompts. At the end of the workshop I had a few written snippets.
I ended up reworking three of these snippets into a flash fiction piece called, Haunted by Time. It’s about the feeling of not having enough time to do everything you aspire to do and also the painful feeling of loss when you visit family (who lives far away) and realise how much time has past by how older everyone has gotten.
Shared Custody is a piece based on an idea I had during the last writing prompt at the workshop. We had to pick a picture from a pile on a table and do free writing on that picture for five to ten minutes. A black and white photo of a newly married couple stood out to me. It remined me of a very old photo of my mom and biological father before they got divorced. Looking at it remined me how weird it felt as a child (and still now) to look at the younger versions of my parents together. It often made me wonder how two people who looked so happy could grow apart and live such different lives.
The third flash fiction piece I entered, Stronger than a lie, is something I wrote last year. It’s about a character pondering about the power and the weight of words in modern time versus fantasy stories. Ultimately, it’s a story about forgiveness. I entered it to Flash500 with the critique option at the end of last year. After receiving it back, I reworked it and entered it to the Wow Women on Writing competition - also with critique. I’m curious to see if the alterations I made has improved the piece. However, even if it doesn’t do well in the competition, I feel receiving critical feedback on my writing definitely made my writing better and I would encourage all writers to enter their work for critique as well.
Depending on how it goes with the competitions will determine when and how I’ll share these stories with you, but hopefully I’ll be able to share it with you all in my next Seasonal Reflection.
Illustrations
Sadly, I haven’t progressed much with my Weltevrede story. I’ve outlined and planned a few scenes continuing where I left off, but I’ve yet to colour them in. I also haven’t started writing Chapter three yet.
I have however, created the first YouTube video in my Weltevrede Illustration Series. It is uploaded and available to watch.
I’ve already started editing the second video, which should be uploaded to YouTube soon. My plan with these video’s is to document my progress - mainly for myself - as a way to look back and see what I’ve done. It is also a nice way for me to learn new skills.
In regards to learning new skills, I’ve slowly started working through an art book called, Drawing in Pen & Ink by Claudia Nice. Ever since I was inspired by Beatrix Potter and Tony DiTerlizzi’s work, I wanted to get better in using pen and ink as a medium.
Learning has been slow and all I have to show at the moment is pages and pages of line exercises, but I’m hopeful to improve the more I spend time with it.
Art & Artists
I’ve read and listened to a fair amount of novels over the past few months. Here is a list of those I especially enjoyed:
The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
The Secrets of Ormdale Series by Christina Baehr
Witch Hat Atelier (Volume 1) by Kamome Shirahama
“My story will be over soon. But it’s not something to be sad about. As we count up the memories from one journey, we head off on another. Remembering those who went ahead. Remembering those who will follow after. And someday, we will meet all those people again, out beyond the horizon.”
I’ve had The Traveling Cat Chronicles for a while now, but for some reason I’ve been putting it off reading it. I knew that the story was written from the cat’s perspective and I think for some reason I was afraid it might be stiff to read. Oh boy was I wrong! The cat’s voice in the novel is so playful and full of spunk. I would also argue that it isn’t told solely from the cat’s perspective, but a variation of characters. So, in a nutshell - the story is about a man who adopts a street cat. Due to health reasons he cannot take care of the cat anymore and travels with the cat, visiting friends and family. All the while searching for someone who would be able to look after the cat for him. Throughout the novel the cat, its owner and the owner’s friends reflect on their past. It’s a beautiful story about life, death and the relationships we form in our lives.
The Secrets of Ormdale is a series of five books I listend to on the LibbyApp. It’s a story set in 1899/1900’s about a clergyman’s daughter who writes detective novels under a sudo name and a secret world of dragons! One of my favourite things in the series is how effortlessly Baehr blends theology with fantasy. I definitely recommend people to have a listen to it on Libby!
Witch Hat Atelier is a manga I’ve recently read after hearing an announcement that an adaptation of the manga will be released next year. The manga is set in a world with an interesting magic system, where anyone can do magic if they know how to write specific magical symbols. I find the connection between writing/creativity and the magic found in the world extremely fascinating! Apart from this, the manga’s use of panels is different from anything I’ve seen before. An image from one panel flows into another, creating the sense of flow, movement and the passing of time. I’ve only read the first volume, but I’m excited to read the others and to see how the show will be adapted.
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Apart from the books I’ve read, a recent anime show I’ve watched and loved is called, The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity. The show is a sweet and beautiful love story between two teenagers from two different schools. Apart from the breathtaking artwork, I absolutely love the writing of the story and how conflict gets resolved quickly. It’s just a masterpiece of mature characters, conversations and representation of friendship. I want to scream from the rooftops to everyone in the anime industry to “Pay attention”! I NEED more shows like this :)
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Before I sign this newsletter off, I just want to give a shoutout to two last things I enjoyed:
I’ve recently discovered this cute one to two minute anime videos. If you are looking for something cute to watch, check it out. My favourite episode is called, “Patience”.
Then, I’ve also really been enjoying the YouTube channel, JGV Illustrations. Jasmine is an illustrator who is currently documenting her progress on her comic, Girl Knight.
That is all for now. If you’ve made it to the end of this newsletter, thank you so much for reading. If there is any art or artist you think I should check out, please email me at irene@schoonwinkel.co.za, I’d love to learn more about other artists.
I hope the next season will treat you well and that it will be filled with creativity and joy.
Until next time, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Totsiens,
Irene
