No, this isn’t a post about the song by John Denver. As I am writing this, I am in Olon, Ecuador. By the time you get to read this, I will in all likelihood be back home in Canada, sequestered in quarantine in my home. I just confirmed our flight tickets on a repatriation plane. All that is left for us to do is to make an eight hour drive to the airport in Quito, by taxi. There is no public transportation running in the country which is in serious lock down at this time with blockades everywhere, including between provinces. It will be an interesting voyage in itself.
The past two weeks have been more than interesting times. Like many, I have been caught up in the day to day, and sometimes hour to hour events here in Ecuador and like many, I haven’t been very productive when it comes to writing or editing. We live in interesting times. There is an old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” For a writer, it might well be that living during interesting times fuels the creation of stories that will seize the imagination of readers in times to come. I have just begun such a story for my grandchildren. I will be recording the story, a short chapter at a time so they can listen to it during the next two to x number of weeks while I am in quarantine in my house. Stories told by me has been a long-standing tradition.
The story may or may not have naturist philosophy embedded. As usual, I let the story tell itself before I get to rewrite it with deliberate intention. It may be that I create two versions of the same story/plot. I have in mind something along the line of a story of a collection of around thirty-two to thirty-six people making an escape from XXXXX via a refurbished space ship to reach an as yet to be determined location where they can establish a new home. Once re-established, others may or may not be allowed to join them. So far, the plot is very, very thin. That said, I’ve begun stories with much less.
When I tell oral stories to my grandchildren, it all just emerges on the spot, no planning, no writing, just open my mouth to allow the words to spill out. They love the stories and always ask for more each time I see them. This will be a new adventure for me as a writer.