And, it's a wrap! I've completed my Space Explorer 365 project posting 365 words of a science fiction story for 365 days about Earthlings fleeing their planet to settle on Pluto. The story shifted point of view with each season from the second-person "you" in spring, to the close, hot "I" of summer, to autumn's third person, and ending with an omniscient all-knowing winter. Here is the very first entry, "In which, you begin your space journey."
Was the Shade Amor he, she or it? Perhaps the aliens just aren't too concerned? Miriam's brother also comes and goes under a couple of different names. Many thanks, dear, for reading 365 posts and commenting!
For the most part I was pretty happy with the coherency of how the story — very slowly — unfolds. It's a little poetic and meditative rather than having the driving "what happens next?" plot of a serial story.
What I enjoyed about Space Explorer 365:
Looking back over this past winter, I reviewed the moods I associated with each post. I was pleased to see there were few repetitions. Repeated moods were: curious (four times), delighted and hopeful (three times), and romantic, playful, confident, reflective and nostalgic (two times).
Posts were largely inspired by optimism: accepting, adoring, at peace, amazed, blissful, celebratory, comfortable, daring, elated, engaged, expansive, fearless, grateful, imaginative, inspired, poetic, resilient, respect, simpatico, soothed, and victorious.
There were also posts that were more uncertain: aimless, attentive, authoritative, awakening after hibernation, childlike, contemplative, defiant, dreamy, drifting, epic, fiery, flighty, industrious, intrepid, obsessive, portentous, questioning, realize, regret, reluctant, reproachful, skeptical, slippery, soulful, steady, uncertain, unctuous and filled with wistful melancholia.
Some post were disturbed: afraid, angry, bleak, despairing, depressed, desperate, destructive, discouraged, dreary, fearful, grieving, lonely, tragic, and violent.
I purposely ended every post with a question. Here are some to ponder:
What's next? Panthera!
Up next on my blog I am going to post daily installments of my novel Panthera from April 1 to July 7. These will be longer posts around 600 words each but ranging from 110 to 1,133 words. Panthera is a utopian fantasy about anthropomorphic leopards which tells the story of a jaguar in the Amazon, a snow leopard in a London Zoo, a forest leopard in West Africa, and a Floridian cougar.
I've discovered that at some point while I am working on a novel I will encounter a book that is the book I wish I had written. That book for Panthera is Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yōko Tawada. It's a beautiful telling of the stories of generations of polar bears. Do read it!
While writing Panthera and learning about leopards I discovered two nonprofits devoted to big cat conservation: Panthera and Snow Leopard Trust. As part of my creativist project in posting Panthera I will be posting links and calls to donate to these two organizations and retweeting their tweets. I have no affiliation with either organization and my novel Panthera is pure wild, fiction of my own invention.
For facts about big cats, do check out these organizations and their work!
I will post more on Saturday, March 25 about the upcoming project Panthera.
I do think I would like to try another 365 project as well...more to come.
See Space Explorer 365: End Season One, ReflectionIt was a fun project and went more smoothly than anticipated. I posted every day and tweeted that day's post out every morning. More often than not I had posts scheduled in advance and never fell behind or bumped up too tightly against my self-imposed daily deadlines. I didn't get too nit-picky about the editing though and let each piece fly out into the world as formed. My faithful reader, my spouse, read every entry and caught some continuity errors.
See Space Explorer: 365: First Day of Autumn Reflection
See Space Explorer: 365: Entering the final season: a reflection on becoming omniscient
Was the Shade Amor he, she or it? Perhaps the aliens just aren't too concerned? Miriam's brother also comes and goes under a couple of different names. Many thanks, dear, for reading 365 posts and commenting!
For the most part I was pretty happy with the coherency of how the story — very slowly — unfolds. It's a little poetic and meditative rather than having the driving "what happens next?" plot of a serial story.
What I enjoyed about Space Explorer 365:
- It helped me work through my grief during my father's illness and after his death.
- It helped me learn more about NASA's New Horizons mission and turned my attention to what NASA is doing and space exploration in general. You only pay attention to what you are paying attention to and I was chagrined with how much had been passing me by. Many thanks for the inspiration:
- I loved reading Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard and my daily slow reading and blogging project of The Snow Leopard which inspired this 365 project.
- Along the way, I discovered other daily works Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History by Eduardo Galeano and A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke by Anita Burrows which I am now reading every day and enjoying. I strongly recommend both of these and the practice of reading a short passage each day. I'd love to hear more suggestions!
- It was fun to read and edit the entries and get a window into where I was, what I was doing, what I was noticing and what I was thinking about precisely one year ago.
- It was fun to experiment with writing styles and allow myself to publish imperfection.
Looking back over this past winter, I reviewed the moods I associated with each post. I was pleased to see there were few repetitions. Repeated moods were: curious (four times), delighted and hopeful (three times), and romantic, playful, confident, reflective and nostalgic (two times).
Posts were largely inspired by optimism: accepting, adoring, at peace, amazed, blissful, celebratory, comfortable, daring, elated, engaged, expansive, fearless, grateful, imaginative, inspired, poetic, resilient, respect, simpatico, soothed, and victorious.
There were also posts that were more uncertain: aimless, attentive, authoritative, awakening after hibernation, childlike, contemplative, defiant, dreamy, drifting, epic, fiery, flighty, industrious, intrepid, obsessive, portentous, questioning, realize, regret, reluctant, reproachful, skeptical, slippery, soulful, steady, uncertain, unctuous and filled with wistful melancholia.
Some post were disturbed: afraid, angry, bleak, despairing, depressed, desperate, destructive, discouraged, dreary, fearful, grieving, lonely, tragic, and violent.
I purposely ended every post with a question. Here are some to ponder:
Where are there opportunities for improvement? In which, Aloe and Grace leave their pasts behind
Where are there signs of hope? In which, Earth shows her eternally optimistic power
What data, what fact, is needed today? In which, we learn how Miriam's parents met
What must still be explored to taste the perfect apple? In which, Miriam learns to plant Earth seeds and loves her Father
What are other lives like? In which, we meet Dolpho Mbeki
Today, what truth is being dismissed? In which, we meet Valerie Mbeki
What goes wrong today, sight unseen? In which, we meet Miriam Abraham
What is worth doing that would take all of our efforts together? In which, Amor is discouraged from its plans to visit Earth
What if there is already a cure? In which, the Earth is blue
Today, what commands attention? In which, the reasons for Earth's extinction and salvation are explored
What can be adored today? In which, Amor's dreams and nightmares are explored
Which animal species should be saved? In which, we meet the Ooze oily metallic Rose
Do you ever think how little of that person is human, how much bacteria invisible to the eye? In which, we meet the Jelly pale green Rose
What will you do now to end global poverty? In which, we meet the Patter grey-blue Rose
When is the time for you to speak up and why will your voice be raised? In which, we meet the Soft light blue Rose
What's next? Panthera!
Up next on my blog I am going to post daily installments of my novel Panthera from April 1 to July 7. These will be longer posts around 600 words each but ranging from 110 to 1,133 words. Panthera is a utopian fantasy about anthropomorphic leopards which tells the story of a jaguar in the Amazon, a snow leopard in a London Zoo, a forest leopard in West Africa, and a Floridian cougar.
I've discovered that at some point while I am working on a novel I will encounter a book that is the book I wish I had written. That book for Panthera is Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yōko Tawada. It's a beautiful telling of the stories of generations of polar bears. Do read it!
While writing Panthera and learning about leopards I discovered two nonprofits devoted to big cat conservation: Panthera and Snow Leopard Trust. As part of my creativist project in posting Panthera I will be posting links and calls to donate to these two organizations and retweeting their tweets. I have no affiliation with either organization and my novel Panthera is pure wild, fiction of my own invention.
For facts about big cats, do check out these organizations and their work!
I will post more on Saturday, March 25 about the upcoming project Panthera.
I do think I would like to try another 365 project as well...more to come.
Congratulations on a wonderful project, and thank you!
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