Home Again (Home One)

In which Cecil lands back in North America, but is still trekking...

Nov 30, 2022

Hello from Montreal.

I feel as though I am at a home away from home when I am here. That is the nice thing about cities that one knows so well. It’s cold here, but warm with friends and family. Soon it will snow and soon I will leave for real home and sunny weather.

First up, speaking of things Canadian, I was recently a guest on CBC’s Day Six with Brent Bambury talking about SHIFTING EARTH and crafting hopeful stories. Fun fact, the first time I was ever on the CBC was being interviewed by Brent Bambury on his iconic 90s CBC music show Brave New Waves for my band Bite (and then later interviewed for Nerdy Girl) (Reminder you can listen to Nerdy Girl on spotify or apple music). I also did an interview on Comic Book Live and one of the viewers crafted a cocktail based on the book. Fun and delicious sounding!

THE SHIFTING EARTH

2 oz Gin, 1/4 oz Ancho Reyes Liqueur, 1/4 oz Dry Vermouth, 1/4 oz Orange Liqueur, 1/4 oz Lemon juice, 1 spoon Agave Sweetener, 2 dashes Paychaud’s Bitters, 2 maraschino cherries. Put in cocktail shaker with ice. pour into chilled Cocktail glasses.

One thing that I always find so strange is that you can be away on a voyage but as soon as you are home, the trip feels like a dream. I suppose it has to do with our human ability to adapt to whatever circumstance we’re in and I guess, to make any place that we’re in feel like home. But I won’t forget that I had a great time in the UK. Saw so many friends, went to Thoughtbubble which is one of my favorite comic festivals as it’s so much still about the books. I felt nourished there talking with fans and also fabulous creator folks and pals. Those con conversations are so vital and still so precious after so much time not being in person together and able to gather. I hope I never take that for granted. It was also so great to see some of my former Viborg Graphic Storytelling Students tabling and thriving in their post graduation lives.

One thing at Thoughtbubble that I will never get over is how big the Men’s bathroom at the Majestic Hotel is. I plan to throw a cocktail party there one day, even if it is surreptitiously. Security actually threw me out because a gent said that we gals were making him uncomfortable (boo!) but I am truly uncomfortable with how large that men’s bathroom is! Rumor has it men would go there and have meetings and smoke cigars, and so I say Smash the Patriarchy and let me have my moment in the bathroom lounging on the couch with my gals!

In London and Paris I saw a lot of theater. That’s one of the things that I love about London is the ability to just go and see a shit ton of theater. It is something that I miss about living New York City. I love Los Angeles, but it’s just not a theater town in the way those two cities are. And that’s OK! It’s a cinema town and I love the movies! But I really do want to start writing plays as well as opera librettos and so going to the theater there inspires me. Here’s what I saw in case you are interested.

I’m now settling back into the writing cave. As you all probably have gathered with all my WWI talk, I have this WWI novel that I want to make headway on. I got to go to the Imperial War Museum archives while in London and do some research, but I’m not yet really great at doing historical archive research so I’ll have to go back. It’s hard to search metadata! There’s not much on Private Matthews battalion as they were decimated and not many survived the war and so I think I have to search for things in a different way. I did find a Pastor’s memoir who was embedded with the Loyal North Lancashire 9th who survived and that was a wee bit helpful. But I am accepting all tips on how to better do searches for things that will help me. If you have historical research expertise, please let me know! I’m learning, but it all means that I’ll have to go back overseas sometime in the next year to do a deeper dive.

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