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In time, I met a number of writers online who assisted me a great deal. They mostly lived in America but some lived elsewhere. These people were and are talented, helpful, amusing, stunningly genius at times and also, like me, entrepreneurial. We formed a kind of online community and a more varied bunch of personalities and styles I could not imagine, except perhaps for the workshop group I work with here in NZ, Eye Street Poets. On msn groups we met and posted work at writethis, in Creative Writers and a few other places. writethis also spawned pretendGeniuspress. When msn groups were archived and we had no forum but myspaaace I felt rather lost, faceberk also is nothing like as good for posting writing for discussion.
I missed those writers I knew online and their work and comments.
Recently, I decided to take up a dream to go on a cruise, (after seeing my grandparents off to Fiji on a cruise ship when I was 12, I fell in love with the vessels. They also use far less carbon per head for long-distance travel, than jet planes do). I wanted to combine this sublime idea of a holiday with promoting the idea of planting trees, every time I travel a long distance. It is, I believe a cost of one tree's worth of carbon every 1800 miles when we fly in a jet plane, for instance.
So this way I get to see my daughter's tipuna's homeland of Tahiti, (some of her forebears came from there anyway), visit my writer friends who I've never met in fact, but feel I know well or very well, and do a bit of eco-friendly promotion along the way.
The little films I make of this exercise shall be posted on youtube and here. It will be like a fairy-tale quest. I go somewhere, then ask local people if I can plant a tree. This could be possible and may not be, but the info., should be useful and maybe I'll encourage people in the places I visit to offer a tree-planting service to tourists and travellers?
I hope you stay with me on this journey which starts 3rd March 2012, (co-incidentally my birthday), when the Oriana sails out of Auckland harbour, the lovely Waitemata, (sparkling waters) towards Bora Bora, then Papeete and on to Honolulu and San Francisco. That's about two weeks and then, for around a month I visit my friends across the top of the Yoo Es of Ay. I finish up in NY, where I will fly home with a stop-over in LA to change planes. It's 47 days and the longest time I have been out of this country since my 20s when I did my big OE for a year and a half in Singapore then lots of places in Europe and Britain, with a wonderful boyfriend who did most of the planning. This time it's up to me to plan, but thanks to friends and family I've done an okay job of it so far.
Please do attend the send-off party we're having this Sunday combined with a book launch of two books and a CD, plus and art exhibition. More details here - http://familyofartists2012.blogspot.co.nz/
Any comments, handy tips or feedback most welcome. I'd rather not have a repeat of this incident however, (let me tell you about it). I rang to let the credit card people know I would be in various places for a while and so not to stop my card, thinking it may've been stolen. Once I calmly listed the many places I was going, the female operator said, 'Do you mind if I give you some personal feedback on what you've just told me?' She sounded a little bit snappish, but I paid her tone no mind at that point. I was just pleased I'd managed to recall all the stops and also, to ring them so I'd have alternate funds if needed.
'No, go ahead,' I said.
Then she hung up on me abruptly and the phone went BERP BERP BERP in my ear.
I believe she was envious and wanted to show her annoyance.
Those deadly sins, they're everywhere, I guess. Best avoided if possible.
Of course, this could be my vanity talking, I may be mistaken in guessing her motives for that strange action.
Please, in any case, wish me luck. Again too, thanks to all the people who help me and support my work, I'd be nothing without you.
