Jan Krause Greene's Blog

What a Heart Can Hold:

This is an important case for authors to follow. I am particularly concerned by it because there has been interest in making I Call Myself Earth Girl into a movie.

Originally posted on The Waking Den:

I have a horror story for you.

For our protagonist, we have a scrappy physicist turned novelist, who developed what can only be described as one of the most massive blockbusters of recent years. I know, so far out there, right���how could someone possibly relate? Well for starters, let me drop another name on you:

GRAVITY

Do you remember Gravity? Flailing cameras? Spinning stars? Shrapnel? Sandra Bullock dancing through Earth���s atmosphere? Yes, that Gravity. Well, did you happen to know that Tess Gerritsen is also the person that birthed that particular entity, originally in novel form? I thought not. Yet it plays quite heavily into the why of this horror tale.

Now suppose you take this character and kindly tell them that they don���t need to be paid for their job���and certainly not for the work that came of it. No doubt that���s quirked a few eyebrows. Well, that���s���

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Filed under: Author, book promotion, Books, movie rights, writing Tagged: Arts, author, books, I Call Myself Earth Girl, publishing, sharing writing, writing

Hi everyone,

I have a new author website and I would be most grateful if you would check it out. I got a lot of help and I love how it turned out. Still tweaking a few things, but figured it is ready to share. Feedback most appreciated!

jkgreene.com

Also, to celebrate the launch of the website I am having a Holiday Giveaway. You can be entered in a drawing to win a free autographed copy of my book, I Call Myself Earth Girl, plus a coffee mug and a pound of organic, free trade coffee by clicking on this link and leaving a comment in the space below the holiday offer.  jkgreene.com/gift/

I’m in the process of learning how to link the posts on the website to this blog and vice versa. So hopefully, I will be blogging here again soon.

In the meantime, wishing all of you peace, love, joy, and serenity as the year end approaches.  Here’s a great holiday to-do list!

Filed under: Author, self-promotion, Uncategorized, writing Tagged: author, blogging, I Call Myself Earth Girl, self-promotion, writing

What a Heart Can Hold:

Considering all that is going on in the world, I did not want to wait until Martin Luther King Day, 2015 to post this. His message is needed every day and, it seems, especially in recent days. We truly must learn to live together and we must strive to protect the environment for ourselves, for each other and for future generations. What could be more important than this?

Originally posted on WHAT A HEART CAN HOLD :

There are so many reasons to honor the memory and the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. My blog will be one of many to praise his courage, his compassion and his gift to move people with his words…a gift that most bloggers would love to have.

I was 16 in 1964 and I was deeply moved by King’s message of non-violent resistance. His cause was just. His words were eloquent and inspirational, moving those who agreed with him, and often those who did not.

I wish that we had such an inspiring voice for the cause of peace, disarmament and nonviolence today, and I truly believe that we need someone whose words can move both hearts and minds to speak to the impending environmental crisis that we, as a global community, are facing.

It is a crisis that we still don’t really see, just as we didn’t really see…

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Hi Everyone,

I hardly know where to begin….it has been quite awhile since I last posted.  I have missed you. I have so much I want to share with each and every one of you. First of all, to those who follow my blog – thank you. I appreciate it greatly and I apologize for being absent for so long.

I have spent the last few months setting some priorities in terms of writing, my personal life and my desire to raise awareness about Climate Change. I want to share all of this with you, but today I am compelled to draw everyone’s attention to the report issued by the   Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.   ( http://www.ipcc.ch/ )

The news is not good:  Climate Change is real. Human activities are the primary cause. Time is running out. We MUST reduce carbon emissions. We have no choice in the matter.

Wait, wait!  Please don’t stop reading now…there is good news too, but first…. 

The report states: “Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and the ecosystem.” 

The ecosystem, by the way, is what allows us to survive on this planet. We need it. Trying to preserve the ecosystem is not an idealistic, do-gooder, tree-hugger nice idea. It is essential to life on this planet as we know it. This is not rhetoric.

For most of us in the developed world, “life as we know it” includes access to clean water whenever we want it, although this is already beginning to change. Just ask the residents of  Tulare County, California.  Their story was profiled by NBC in September.

The report describes ” people who walk through doors with brass knockers and then live like hobos in an abandoned building. They bathe out of a bucket, which they refill at convenience stores, fire stations, and churches. They flush with a bucket, too, and because the water may be tainted, they teach their kids to close their eyes and mouths when they rinse off. They never feel clean.”

One such resident said, “I think of water 24 hours a day. When I go to sleep, I’m thinking about tomorrow morning. If I don’t have any water, what’s my plan? In the evening I’m thinking, what am I going to do?”                                                ( http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/n...)

The situation in Tulare  County may be a foreshadowing of what it is to come for much of the country. Most of the states in the west and southwest United States have suffered long term droughts sometime between now and 2010. Some areas have been in drought conditions almost continuously during this whole period.

Hold on there! Don’t stop reading yet. I promise there is GOOD NEWS coming…

These droughts are serious and scary, but they are only part of the picture. Global warming will cause higher sea levels resulting in loss of coastal areas. More extreme weather events such as hurricanes and flooding will impact communities in every part of the world. Agriculture will be more difficult to sustain. Damage to buildings and infrastructure will increase. Our lives will definitely change.

And people in the developing world will see their progress towards a higher standard of living halted. In most cases, they will be hit even harder than the rest of us. But…

Here it comes….THE GOOD NEWS!!!

THERE IS STILL TIME TO REDUCE THE SEVERITY OF CLIMATE CHANGE IF WE TAKE ACTION NOW.  We can make a difference if we choose to. 

As individual citizens, we can begin to find ways to reduce our impact on the environment. Here’s an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint. Turn off and unplug all your electric items for one hour a week. If every household in the U.S did that for one year, we would prevent close to 12 billion pounds of carbon from being emitted into the atmosphere!

Some other things we can do:

We can learn about regenerative agriculture and other ways to
restore the eco system.   http://bio4climate.org/conference-2014/

We can:

Compost.

Stop drinking bottled water and conserve water at home.

Eliminate or reduce our use of all kinds of plastic.

Walk more and drive less.

Use less electricity.

Keep our heat set to lower temperatures and our air conditioners set  to higher temps.

Go solar.

These may be seem like small steps to solve a huge problem, but it is said that big things have small beginnings. Human history has proven this countless times.  Every one is familiar with the saying that the journey of 1ooo miles begins with one step. It is time for each of us to take that step because the time has come for us to act.

We are the leaders we have been waiting for – you and I and everyone who lives on this planet at this point in history has an incredible opportunity to make a difference for all of humanity. I believe we can, and I know we must. 

And here is some more Good News ~~~~~~

A follower of my blog once asked me to write about the possibility of world peace. I believe it is possible and I believe that the issue of climate change will be the vehicle that ushers us into an era of peace.

We must work together as humans to preserve the environment that allows us to survive on the earth. This goal should surpass all others. It must take precedence over political, religious, national, and cultural differences. We must unite to save ourselves.

The task for all humans who are living on earth during this period of change is to renounce violence and division so that we can slow the pace of global warning and create sustainable systems of adaptation that will enable humans everywhere to thrive. 

Our biggest challenge may be our biggest blessing.

Slowing the pace of global warming  provides us with the incredible opportunity to work together in peace as inhabitants of the same amazing planet….the planet that provides us all with sustenance;  that gives all of us immeasurable beauty to behold on a daily basis; that supports over 7 billion people; that became your home, your only real home, the day you were born. Even after you die, your body will eventually return to the earth and become part of this planet. You are part of it and it is part of you.

And, even though, there are so many things that confuse us about what it means to be humans living on Mother Earth together, we are part of each other.

We are inextricably tied, one to another, each of us to all of us, because we share the Earth as our home.

Our task lies shining before us – save the ecosystem that sustains us all. People from every country, every village, every tribe, every family – each one, and every one, we all have a part to play in working together to save our home.  We can not wait. The time is now.

Peace!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VOTE for people who know about, care about and sincerely want to do something about global warming. Tomorrow is election day. VOTE!!  

Filed under: Choices, climate change, Drought, earth, environment, humanity, Interconnectedness, peace, world peace Tagged: 350.0rg, California, carbon footprint, climate change, conservation, Earth, ecosystem, environment, environmental devastation, fossil fuels, Global warming, Good News, Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change, peace, Tulare County

What a Heart Can Hold:

Thought I would share this. Author and playwright, Alex Clarke interviewed me for her blog. You should check out her other blogs. She is a very fascinating person!

Originally posted on Alex Clarke :

Jan Krause Green is author of ‘I call myself Earth Girl’. She’s also a peace activist and lover of the earth. She’s opinionated, passionate and a lover of love. She’s been a teacher, newspaper columnist, bank teller, house cleaner, an executive director of a non-profit dedicated to education advocacy, a diversity trainer, AIDS activist, group facilitator, and waitress. Plus. Take deep breath. She has five children! I caught up with her to simply ask

Me: How unearth did you find time to write a novel? You seem like the busiest woman on earth, what’s your schedule like?

Jan: Alex, first of all, let me take a moment to thank you for this interview. The long wait may give you some insight into where this answer is headed.
The question makes me laugh. I truly wish that I could say I have a schedule. I have the opposite of a schedule…

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Filed under: blogging, book promotion, Books, Fiction, publishing, self-promotion, writing Tagged: author, blogging, books, I Call Myself Earth Girl, publishing, reading, self-promotion, sharing writing, writing process

What a Heart Can Hold:

I am reblogging this because I so agree with these words:

“You cannot get to peace through war. You get to peace by choosing peace. By being brave enough to counter critics who urge you to fight and kill. By having the courage to trust, when people tell you to fear. You get to peace through the heart, love is the gateway to peace.”

The suffering of people on both sides of the conflict in Gaza is an immense human tragedy. The suffering in any war is an immense human tragedy made all the more immense by the futility of trying to solve conflicts through violence. War is not a solution. Even the “victors” are damaged by it for generations to come. Humanity has the capacity to live in peace. We must find the will to do so.

Originally posted on Alex Clarke :

This is not a political piece of writing. Nor is it religious. It is my human-spiritual response to the photographs I’m seeing of the suffering human beings in Palestine. That’s what’s sparked this piece. I’m reluctant to share my opinions on war, conflict, genocide and other atrocities as doing so sparks conversations on a political level – it is intellectualised and compartmentalised, legitimised and minimised in the name of upholding structured ideology, rightness and reasons for retaliation. War and conflict to me are not intellectual. Nor are the reasons which create them. Intellectual ideals are sparked by emotion. Therefore, war and conflict are emotional responses which are intellectualized until they become legitimatized. I’m attempting to speak from the heart. That is why I proceed with trepidation as what I say will not be popular and to some will sound like rampant idealism.

I am idealistic. I believe humanity are breathtakingly…

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Hi dear readers,

I am going to be on vacation for about a week, but before I go, I wanted to remind you of this:

What ever you are yearning for is also yearning for you!

Have a great week!

Filed under: Beauty, Interconnectedness, Joy, Life, life force, Love, peace, self-acceptance, Wisdom, Yearning Tagged: belief, Good News, heart, hope, joy, life, love, peace, Perception, yearning

 I love having a garden. It can be a lot of work, but it has great rewards too. I have a vegetable garden and a perennial flower garden.

Garden in my front yard

Here I share 5 tips and 5 quotes that express why I love gardens.

“One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.”                  W. E. Johns

1. Coffee grounds to the rescue! I love to start my day by drinking coffee and inspecting  my flower and vegetable gardens. It makes for a very efficient gardening morning because coffee is great for your garden! Coffee grounds add nitrogen to the soil and they increase the soil’s acidity. But, even better than that, they deter some garden pests. Slugs, cats and even some deer really hate coffee grounds.

Warning: Make sure you never put un-brewed coffee grounds in your garden.  Before brewing coffee grounds have way too much nitrogen for you garden soil.

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.”                              May Sarton

 2. Ugh…slugs!!!   Yes, they are part of nature, but if you are like me, you think they are pretty gross. Worse than that, they will eat just about anything you are growing. But, luckily, they are pretty easy to trap. Save the rinds from oranges, melons, etc. Place them in your garden at night. Make sure to leave them with the fruit side up. The slugs will be attracted to this tasty treat. First thing in the morning, check on your rinds and you will find some fat and sluggish (yes…I know…) slugs in the rinds. Now you can throw them in the trash, or better yet, put them on top of your outdoor compost pile and let them decompose.

Note: If you think your slugs are the partying type – leave them a little saucer of beer. It will work the same way as the fruit rinds, but your slugs will have a great time.

“I think this is what hooks one to gardening: it is the closest one can come to being present at creation. ”                                                                                                                           Phyllis Theroux                

3. Easy dried herbs! You know how annoyingly hot your car gets in the summer. Well, now you can use that heat to your advantage. If you want a speedy way to dry the herbs you have grown in your garden, try this little trick. Put a sheet of dry newspaper on the seat of your car. Close the doors and windows. The herbs will dry quickly and the car will smell yummy!

“The garden is a love song, a duet between a human being and Mother Nature.”                 Jeff Cox

veggie garden early stage

4. Recycle veggie water!  When you have picked veggies straight from your garden or bought them at a farmer’s market, don’t you hate to throw away the water you used to steam or boil them? After all, it has a lot of the vegetable’s nutrients in it. You can save the water and add it soup or use it as a base for a smoothie, but you can also use it to water your house plants.

 “Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul.”                                                        Terri Guillemets

5. Oh no, frost!  What if the weather does something weird – I still remember a snow and ice storm in May of 1977 – and you have to contend with frost during the summer? Those little clay pots that you have hanging around make great little houses for protecting your tender young plants. Place the pot over the seedlings. They should survive frost and freezing temperatures for a night or two.

Bonus quote:                                                                                                                                       “For every garden one plants on the outside, 700 gardens grow within.”            Unknown

Bonus tip: Use large pinwheels and wind chimes to deter pests.

 

Jan Krause Greene is the author of I Call Myself Earth Girl, a novel which explores how a woman gradually opens herself to mystic wisdom when she discovers she is pregnant and is convinced that she conceived the baby in a dream. She is currently working on the sequel, as well as two other books. She also helps individuals embrace their authentic voices through Finding YOUR Voice Writing Workshops.

 

Filed under: Beauty, earth, gardening, quotations Tagged: coffee, coffee grounds, drying herbs, Earth, flowers, garden pests, gardening, gardens, herbs, Jeff Cox, May Sarton, Phyllis Theroux, pinwheels, quotes, recycling vegetable water, slugs, Terri Guillemets, vegetables, W.E. Johns, wind chimes

 

Recently, I was asked by Danielle Boonstra to participate in the IC Publishing Summer Blog Tour in order to share my insight into the Writing Process. I think it is so interesting to read about the unique ways writers go about our craft and I am happy to share my own approach in hopes that it might be encouraging to others who find it challenging to commit to a regular writing routine.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to Sheri Andrunyk.

Sheri is the founder of I C Publishing (sponsor for this blog tour) and the I C Bookstore, entrepreneur expert, and author of Working From Home & Making It Work and Hearts Linked by Courage. She is extremely passionate about providing more choices and high level support to other writers, business professionals, wellness coaches, and spiritual mentors.

How Do You Start Your Writing Projects?

In reality, my projects usually find me before I find them.  Back when I had a newspaper column with a deadline I started writing about an hour or two before deadline, but the idea had probably been marinating in my subconscious for a few days. When I sat down to write, the words just flowed, almost magically, it seemed to me. It was the easiest kind of writing I have ever done. Comparing that to my writing now, I have to admit that I think much of the ease of the process came from having a deadline to meet.

Now I don’t have a deadline and it takes me a lot longer to get started. The ideas grab me in the least expected places and then they nag me to write about them. I might be going for a walk and notice something about a tree that reminds me of something about life in general and I say to myself, “I should write a blog about that.”

For the rest of the walk, I keep hoping that I don’t forget this insight. If I have my mobile phone with me I usually call my land line and leave myself a message. If my husband (poor patient man!) listens to the voice mails before I do, he is likely to hear me ruminating about this new idea. Not in just one message or two – more than likely, there will be three or four!

By the time I get home, however, the reality of my daily life in my four-generation household sets in. There are grandchildren to play with and my almost 99-year-old mother to care for. So I put off writing the blog. But, if the idea is good and really does resonate with me, it will remain a nagging presence in the back of my mind. It is almost as if it is saying to me, “If you don’t sit down and write this soon, I am going to keep interfering with all your other thoughts. So get to it!”

 That, of course, should be enough to get me to the computer and it usually does. But once I sit down to write I am likely to be waylaid by email, Facebook, etc. Usually, I end up writing the blog late at night on the day before I have a really busy schedule. It is almost as if knowing that the next day won’t provide any time for writing is what gets my creative juices flowing. As you can see, I am easily distracted from what I intend to do and I write best under pressure, which is why the writing process for my novel required me to literally get away from my family, friends and online life for a period of intensive writing.

Writing my novel ~

When I finally decided to fulfill my lifelong dream of writing “the great American novel” I decided to turn my allotted week in November of 2010 in my parents’ Newport timeshare into a writing week. My husband was my only companion. He spent the days sight-seeing, visiting museums, reading, and eating (all things I really love to do with him!) and I was able to concentrate completely on writing the novel from 8 a.m. until about 6 p.m each day. Then we would go out to dinner and I would talk about what I had written. This is where   I Call Myself Earth Girl was born

The hours flew by. I felt as if I had been writing for two or three hours by the time 6 pm arrived. I had tons of energy and felt very happy during the entire week. I dreamed about the story almost every night.  For me, this immersion was the perfect way to get started and I made so much progress that by the 7th day I had completed the first half of the book. By that time, I had also revised my goal from “the great American novel” to “a really compelling story.”

How Do You Continue Your Writing Projects?

As you may have gathered from what I have already written, I am not very disciplined about making sure I have daily writing time. To be honest, I really want to change that. But in the recent past my writing projects have fit in when and where they can.

Blogs don’t take me that long to write. I only need an hour or two from start to finish. I always have a backlog of ideas and topics so that is never a stumbling block. If I had the time, I could write three blogs a day and never run out of ideas. Some times this is very frustrating because I can’t find the time to write about all the things I really want to explore through writing. I think it is important to emphasize that I really do mean “explore” because most writing for me is also a process of discovering more about how I think or feel.

With my novel, I needed another period of immersion to continue with the process. So a year after the first week, I spent another 7 days at the timeshare with my husband. I wrote from morning until dinner time and finished the book the night before we checked out. (We had a late dinner that night – a very celebratory one!) To be honest, I could have used more time, but I had a burning desire to finish this story and I did not want to wait another year to do so.

I would not actually advise other writers to use this process unless you can get your weeks of immersion much closer together. It can be very frustrating. I thought about the book on some level almost every day for the year between writing weeks. But I did not outline it or try to set up plot points. I did not want the year in between the writing sessions to interfere with the flow that I had while writing with intensity during my writing week.

Each day as I wrote I just let the words come. I did no revision during these two writing weeks. The story revealed itself to me and I simply tried to add details to support it and keep it coherent. Much of what I wrote actually surprised me. Writing the messages from the spirit in the story told me things about what I believe that I had never put in words before. I discovered a lot about myself while writing this book.

How Do You Finish Your Project?

I knew that my first draft needed revision and I knew I wanted to find a publisher. So, I spent my timeshare week the next year doing the revisions and looking for a publisher. Luckily I was able to complete both tasks during that week.The main reason I could find a publisher so quickly was because a friend told me about a publisher who could be queried online without the help of an agent. Once I had signed a contract, I spent time revising without the benefit of a week away. I managed to fit the revisions into my daily routine, wedged here and there between my family obligations. Of course, having a contract had the same affect as having a deadline. I knew I had to make steady progress to in order to submit the final manuscript. I completely changed the first chapter and even added a character who has turned out to be an important figure in the sequel.

All in all, it took me from November 2010 to November 2012 to write, revise, and find a publisher. From November 2012, until February 2013, I worked on revisions. The book was released in August of 2013. One of the things that held it up was how long it took me to settle on a cover. But I am glad I took the time – I love my cover! Actually, I love the whole book.  So, despite the fact that it took so long, it was definitely worth the time and effort.

What’s One Challenge or Additional Tip That Our Collective Communities Could Benefit From?

Trust yourself!!

Trust the process of letting words flow. I know so many people who get stalled out in the writing process because they worry about being skilled enough, unique enough, interesting enough. My advice is just keep writing. You can always “fix” it after you have finished, but if you self-censor and self-criticize while you are writing, you may lose your authentic voice.  If you are inspired to write, don’t let self doubt stand in your way.

I do Finding Your Voice writing workshops with individuals and groups in order to help aspiring writers to find, or reclaim, their authentic voices.

Passing the Pen

And with that, I pass the pen to one of my favorite fellow writers, Kathleen O’Malley. I met Kathleen shortly after my book was released and I was immediately drawn to her warmth and insight. We have appeared together at various events talking about why and how we write. Check out her links and be sure to look for her post on July 16th.  Check out her links and her post on July 16th!

Kathleen O’Malley, DC is passionate about transforming lives. She is an integrative wellness chiropractor, mentor to adolescent and young women and has authored two inspirational books – Messages from Within: Finding Meaning in Your Life Experiences and Messages from Children and What They Can Teach Grown-ups.

Find Kathleen on on Twitter @KOMalley and at her website.

Thanks for reading and following the IC Publishing Summer Blog Tour.

Jan Krause Greene is the author of I Call Myself Earth Girl, a novel which explores how a woman gradually opens herself to mystic wisdom when she discovers she is pregnant and is convinced that she conceived the baby in a dream. She is currently working on the sequel, as well as two other books. She also helps individuals embrace their authentic voices through Finding YOUR Voice Writing Workshops.

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Author, blogging, Books, Fiction, publishing, writer's isolation, writing Tagged: author, blog tour, blogging, books, I Call Myself Earth Girl, publishing, sharing writing, writer's isolation, writing, writing process

I love this post by Gabe Berman. So simple. So true. Anyone who takes it to heart will be, almost instantly, happier.

And The Killer Is….

Filed under: Choices, Joy, Life, self-acceptance Tagged: attitude, heart, hope, I Call Myself Earth Girl, keeping up with the Joneses, life, Perception, self acceptance