Healing from the Inside Out: A New Age for Collaboration, Community, and...

Doings since April

Ahniin, Greetings, one and all!  I’ve been pretty busy since April. Mostly trying to get myself situated legally as a business here in my home state.  And trying to find out more about international legalities.  I’ve got a weekly planner in Ojibwemowin with English translation in very small print up over to Amazon.  Course looking over that, I need to make a better copyright page as you’ll notice that for some reason, the copyright isn’t there.  

Making myself a list of items to make sure I have what I need.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I did have a couple checklists for self pubbing that I got from Jane Friedman and Carla King.  Manuscript checklist and self publishing one.  Yep.  Didn’t follow those lists.  Raced through cause I thought I’d made a template to use.  Deleted the wrong one when I was clearing my files.  And, of course, didn’t have a backup.  Ratted, dratted.  Methinks those grem…ah so called friends had a bit of fun once again.  

T’any rate, those of you who follow me over to Fa…well those of you who are friends with me over there know I had big plans in July.  Yep, spent May and June making sure we’d followed all the recommendations for overseas travel.  

I finally made it to London along with some family and friends.  Had a blast.  It was a whirlwind of activities with the main ones being Buckingham Palace for my sister and Stonehenge for me.  Along the way, we went to King’s Cross and Platform 9 3/4 and took the obligatory pictures of all our adventures.

I’ve spent August getting the pics ready and am making a video of them with the telling of those adventures. I am brushing up on my editing skills to do a few videos of one or two of my stories I will self publish in the coming months. 

I’ve already got a couple friends who are willing to be beta readers.  Methinks I’ll have to give those short stories one final going over.  I found I’d made two copies and had written in one or the other and now have parts of stories in one or t’other.  Ratted, Dratted…haauh.  And now I’ll have to relearn FB’s new posting rules and regs for posting to my FB pages.  

As for the business side of things, I’ve attended a conference or two on starting a business.  I have now got two mentors who will be advising me on those aspects.  Website, accounting and marketing are going to be a much bigger part of my life now.  Something I’ve not really been looking forward to overmuch.  I’ve taken a couple courses from Sarrah Cannon on a how to streamline my goals and hopes and dreams.  

I tried writing a business plan from government sources and thought this was how I was supposed to try running my business.  I couldn’t make the connection between my goals objectives and tasks with what I was seeing in that plan.  Nowhere was it really explained in terms I would understand.  Then I read what Holly Lisle had to say about this subject that was sort of included in her writing a series course.  After listening to and doing the HB90 course of Sarrah Cannon’s in her Heart Breathings courses I realized I could just adapt things to what made sense to me.  And yeah, that is something my mom and aunties among other elders had been trying to teach me all those years ago.  

I am now in the process of actually finishing her Publish and Thrive course since that is what I originally signed up for. I’d taken advantage of the deal for both courses.  

I will be printing out a bit of that journey for younglings in my tribe and elsewhere.  Thankfully, there are now more Indigenous role models in the arts and entertainment industries.  

I have also decluttered a huge portion of my house which I inherited from my mother with my siblings blessing.  Each load that left the house lightened the weight that fell upon my shoulders when my mother and father journeyed on elsewhere.  Here’s hoping I am now carrying only the weight of things I was meant to carry.  Still, I aim to continue lightening that load for the younglings who come after me, namely my sons, although I do have nieces and nephews. 

You may be asking yourself “why is she mentioning decluttering as part of her writing life?”  I prefer to work (and live) in a clear, open space.  Room to spread my papers and other necessary writing implements, laptop, coding things as I work.  And then to have space to put them when I am done is my idea of living.

Some other doings with which I busied myself was the Family Christmas in July event the next generation is putting into effect.  Us Elders have been told to rest and let them take care of things.  Naturally, a lifetime of doing doesn’t easily let us rest with such a habit to be let go of.  It’s hard to sit and watch some unattended item just wait until someone has time to get to it.  Ahh well, schedules need to be more flexible, priorities changed and patience put into practice to wait til we’re told to eat.  Brings to mind my elders looks when we were taking charge of things.  

It also brought back a memory of a powwow when I was younger.  Pony rides for a nickel, dime, whatever.  My parents put me on the horse and I went around in circles.  I hope the younglings bursting round the Migizi Room will remember this day when they're watching their children, grand children and great grandchild at family get togethers.  Perhaps I will write stories that will come alive in someone’s imagination.  That is the reason why I write.  Thanks Mrs. Selnes where ever you are. 

I realize a lot of this was already said one way or another. Doesn’t hurt to remind myself.