Happy January,
If you like to create like I do, you may find that for some unexplained
reason, some landscapes, colors or animals make all your senses alert and
interested. It's kind of a phenomenon that doing art explores. I've always loved
the intrigue of prehistory, of the possibility of humanlike creatures or perhaps
cultures that will never be known because they've been lost in time. Trolls seem
to be linked to some of the traditional knowledge, told orally from back in the
olden days. My new book tells about a troll boy. When one is little, it's easy
to make silly mistakes because you don't know what's expected. It's part of
childhood that I remember well. Having a troll character run away from home
reminds me of when I had similar notions when I was little and it makes a story
that brings time back to me. I've traveled to Norway three times, to Baffin
island and to Iceland. All three places are in the far north and I'm very drawn
to the stunted birch forests, rich with lichen, mosses and boulders shaped by
the elements. Even the northern animals are intriguing - the polar bear, arctic
fox, ptarmigan, a kind of feather footed grouse like bird, snowy and gray owl
and of course caribou or reindeer.
The compiling of ideas for new book is an exciting time. And although I'm
not a great organizer, I like to plan the different elements I'll need to see in
real life so they'll make my book authentic. On our trip to Iceland in the
December we traveled by super-jeep which is an SUV on giant wheels. We went
through glacial rivers, to a white craggy landscape called Thor's forest. It was
on Thursday too! The trees were birch twisted by the deep snows, and moss and
lichen covered the ground. We saw ptarmigan in their winter plumage, which are
snow white, and a crafty bird-host appeared, a raven who keeps an eye out for
camp fires, because when there is a campfire there is food! Our raven got some
nice salmon tidbits. When I come across this kind of northern habitat I just
want to walk forever. I'm looking forward to returning to Iceland to run the
Laugevegur, a long-distance race over spectacular but difficult terrain. I have
to gear up for it, So I can't go this July, but I have my sights set on 2011.
Luckily I live just south of Boston, which has a wonderful long-distance road
race, and in the summer I'm a stone's throw from the Appalachian trail which
also would be a good training ground. I get a lot of good ideas when I'm
running. My daughter jokingly says that running juggles all one's ideas around
like dice and you can always come up with creative solutions to life's problems
during a good run. I have to say that I've gotten a lot of good book ideas that
way.