"I see beyond the road I'm driving..."
Tom Scholz
One of the benefits of attending the Write Now (www.modocforum.org) workshop in Alturas was that it gave me an excuse to drive over Cedar Pass to stunning Surprise Valley.
I've been to Surprise Valley twice before but never during spring. Spring, in my opinion, makes the stark difference between the western and eastern slopes of the valley even more obvious and breath-taking.
The Warners...the western border of Surprise Valley...
Surprise Valley, where the Warner Mountains lie to the west and the beginning of the Great Basin is reached by heading just a few miles east, features alkaline pools ringed by crackling kiln pottery shorelines that stretch the length of its 70 mile long valley floor. I considered it other-worldly during my previous S.V. adventures but to me the contrast is even more startling in spring.
Look one direction, you see verdant green pastures with snow blanketed, tree studded hills providing a backdrop. Crane your neck in the opposite direction, toward "the playa" as locals call it, and your vision is filled with an ominous minimalist high-desert landscape. It's downright schizophrenic but that's also the beauty of it, part of Surprise Valley's charm. It's the surprise of Surprise Valley.
The eastern view of Surprise Valley...looking toward the playa and beyond to Nevada and the Great Basin...this photo was taken at the same time as the previous "snow-covered peak" photo...
The duality of this place is emblematic of how I see myself: I'm this and yet I'm that...
I'm a mom and yet I'm still a kid myself...
I'm artistic, yet practical...
I'm smart and yet so dumb sometimes...
I'm outgoing, yet I treasure solace...
I'm serious and silly...
I'm intuitive but can be oh-so insensitive and clueless other times...
I could go on and on.
Am I the only one?
Perhaps that's why I enjoy being in this yin-and-yang valley so much. I can relate to the dichotomy and contrasts.
The Modoc Unified School District Poetry Slam...I got the sense there was something bigger than poetry going on here...
When I started this blog just over three years ago, I did it to serve as a platform for sharing my creativity. A place that in my busy life I could come to keep a creative toe in the water. I didn't necessarily know where doing this blog would lead but the act of posting weekly provided me a crucial outlet. I could put down ideas. I could share my stories, photographs and projects. Also, I could leave my daughters a permanent record of myself and my days. Lastly, I figured if I posted about things I enjoyed, there might actually be others out there who shared my interests. That proved to be true.
I was amazed and gratified that Queen Without a Country, a blog I was really only doing for myself, my friends and family, began to be visited by people I didn't know. The number of page visits proves this. Eventually growing to a modest yet loyal readership of about a thousand kindred spirits per month and 22,000 views in the three years of QWaC's existence - more than I ever dreamed possible.
Over Queen Without a Country's time in the blog-o-sphere, I was surprised to find that I have a true love of story-telling, both with words and with photographs. Initially, I thought QWaC would be a forum for sharing home and craft projects but I found the posts that were most gratifying were the ones in which I told a story. Which leads me to the Write Now workshop...and that road in Surprise Valley...
My compatriots...and Ray March(far right), Modoc Forum and Write Now founder, instructor extraordinaire...
I signed up for Write Now under the impression that it would teach me about the craft of writing. I have a scant year of college under my belt and though I managed to pull off decent grades in English, I suffer from a serious lack of formal education where writing (or anything else for that matter) is concerned. Write Now instructors Ray March, Joelle Fraser and Sara Gooch came through for me in spades. What I hadn't bargained for was what the class would teach me about myself, things that had little and everything to do with my writing.
What I found, not only as a result of Write Now instructors but as a result of thoughts and feedback shared by fellow classmates, is that "looking both ways" is a common thread running through my life. While looking both ways before crossing the street is a good thing and it's good to see both sides of an argument, you also have to focus on the road in front of you. For the sake of a goal one must allow two points of view to come into focus, providing one clear direction. One must commit to moving forward toward a destination.
I realize I've spent a lot of time trying "to be this and yet that". Trying to cover all the bases, trying to avoid putting all my eggs in one basket. I've tried to look both directions so I won't miss a thing, sometimes losing sight of what's right in front of me. If you're some of this and a bit of that, you end up not fully anything. As the old saying goes "Jack of all trades, master of none". That's me. Find one thing, one direction and stick with it, is my new motto. If I want to be a good writer, I have to commit to it. And the first step is the hardest. Here goes, I declare for all to see:
I am a writer.
I bet he didn't see trouble coming, ha!...
Whew, that was scary. Now let's see where it takes me. It takes me nowhere without tons of hard work, that's for sure.
The first place that scary statement is taking me is to the end of the road for Queen Without a Country.
Perhaps not forever but at least for now, this will be the last post of Queen Without a Country. I want to thank all of you who stopped by to hang out with the Queen. You've changed me forever. Thank you for looking in my direction! I will miss you. I hope our paths will cross again one day soon...
Farewell for now,
XOX, VC
The road ahead...watch out for the curves, California Highway patrol, and deer...
I'm going to miss your blog post each Monday, on the other hand, I can't wait to read your book. I love you.
Posted by: Mom | 04/22/2013 at 06:20 PM