Artist Way + Poet Cheryl Batavia’s New Book + Podcast

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1bKmdGi98yHTSe70pLcbyf?si=c6db0642ecf34488

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Thanks to my dear online friends for suggesting that I might be better off not slashing my 180,000 word novel down to the customary 95,000 words (I initially wrote about that here). My sweet husband was on the same wave length late last week, when I asked for his help with a spreadsheet that I’d put together — and proceeded to follow in error. Haha — ulp! — for a week and a half, I’d been diligently slicing and dicing way too much! Horrors, I’d mentally transposed my ‘page length’ goal with my ‘words to cut per page’ goal — or was it the other way around? The brain cringes…

Anyhoo, with Khashayar’s help, I was back on track, fingers to keyboard, when he suggested making two books out of my novel. After all, early on, I’d cut a long version of it into two and now I have two novels — so why not convert this ‘book 1 of 2’ into a ‘book 1 of 3’?

At first I replied, “No way,” adding various absolutes in terms of twisted facial expressions, gnashing of teeth, and so forth…

Lo and behold, a couple of days later, I started Julia Cameron’s latest in her “Artist’s Way” series of creativity workbooks that can be done alone or with pals. Since she published her first in the early 1990s, she’s built quite an industry out of publishing variations on the theme. Many moons ago, I did the pilot one, which immediately hooked me. Years later, I’ve kept up with her subseqent books, including her fiction.

“Write for Life,” her newest, takes a scant 6 weeks to complete, half of her typical 12-weeks. By two nights after I started it, I awoke at 3am with my mind churning in a different direction. Suddenly the idea of making the one book into two books seemed doable and a great idea. Turns out, the novel splits down the middle amazingly well, with minimal fuss!

In addition to activities that change every week, Cameron’s mainstays throughout the process are assignments to write daily, go on weekly outings, and take a couple of weekly walks. My, oh, my, I can be so truly grudging about doing them, every single time only to be absolutely blown away by how much they help me. So far they’ve never failed to result in fresh insights.

Now for this week’s wonderful guest, poet/blogger Cheryl Batavia, who has contributed here before. As much of an environmental activist as she is a writer, she lives on the gorgeous Florida Gulf Coast.

I invited her back so you can again sample her newer poetry in time for the release of her latest book, wherein she explores life, love, and nature. For info on preorders and orders, contact her at her website…

Carbon Farming & Fighting Climate Change by Cheryl Batavia

Pale

hardpacked,

lifeless soil,

cracked and gullied,

eroded by wind.

Run-off pollutes water..

toxic pesticides seeping

into waterways already

challenged by over-irrigation.

Nutrient-deficient food was grown here.

Toxic residues, detectable

in both humans and animals,

causing illness and disease.

This abandoned farmland

was the battleground

of Man versus

Mother Earth.

We all

lost!

Dark,

moist soil,

soft, fertile,

hospitable

to friendly earthworms,

healthy microbiome.

Nutrient-rich food grows here,

fertilized by organic waste.

Carbon dioxide removed from air,

carbon deposited deep within soil.

Can lifeless soil ever live again?

With a few years of mindful care,

working with Mother Nature

instead of against her,

soil fertility

can be restored.

No more war!

We all

win!

Copyright © 2023 by Cheryl Batavia

Resources

There are many wonderful Regenerative Farming videos available on YouTube, and I have watched several of them. I especially enjoyed this delightful YouTube video, NHK World Prime, “Carbon Farming: A Climate Solution Under Our Feet ” NHK Japan.

Interesting topics in the video:

• Information about both organic gardening and organic farming
• Using biochar, a byproduct of biomass gasification as a carbon fertilizer that lasts for decades
• Fermentation of organic waste to be used as fertilizer
• A demonstration of composting weeds
• Integrating grazing animals to enrich the soil, and rotating pastures to prevent overgrazing
• Carbon Credits

Have you done a creativity course?