Tag: writing

creativity

A Year of Yes: Marrying writing, storytelling, business, product development, and science through biomimicry

Christa Avampato

Some news. Shark mucus sounds like an odd inspiration. Stay with me. After the podcast Ologies released its shark episode, I re-examined biomimicry as a way to marry my product development, business, and storytelling experience with my love for science. I owe host Alie Ward and Chris Lowe, who was the shark expert on the episode a million thanks. Here’s why:

I always loved science and actually started college in the engineering school. After a professor told me I didn’t “have a mind of physics”, I believed him and left all my dreams of working in science behind. I changed majors entirely and have always wondered what might have been if I hadn’t let this professor get into my head.

Fast forward a number of years. I’ve continued to learn about science and its applications. Over the years, I’ve thought about different ways that I could have a career that combined science with all my other experience & interests. Enter Ologies and sharks…

Shark mucus acts as a built-in antibiotic bandaid that allows sharks to rapidly heal. This may contribute to their long life spans of – wait for it – up to 470 yrs! We should apply this to our own medical research, right? We do! In the field of biomimicry.

Biomimicry is an applied science field in which the wisdom of the natural world plants and animals is studied and applied to the human-built world of products & environments in a sustainable way that benefits all beings.

After some research, I learned there’s a Masters of Science in Biomimicry through   that’s a dream program. Multidisciplinary, online, created for working professionals, and with a travel research cohort component. Best of all, it leverages ALL my prior experience.

I’ve been a fan of Janine Benyus‘s work since reading about her 10 yrs ago. She founded this program. It’s exciting how much the field has grown & how vital it will be to use design + business + science to build a better world for all beings as we grapple w/our changing planet.

I’m now in application and scholarship hunting mode, hoping to begin the program in 2019. Finding the work we’re meant to do is a long and winding road. I hope my story inspires you to stay curious and to keep reaching for a life fueled by passion and goodness. The world needs us.

 

 

creativity

A Year of Yes: Trying my hand at some poetry with lessons learned

Christa Avampato

I’m trying out something new in my social media feeds – short poems about daily learnings. You can check them out on my Twitter and Instagram feeds. Here’s the one I put up yesterday:

What if you
could run hard
to the edge of the cliff,
take to the sky,
and fly?
Where would you go?
What would you do?
And why?
Me?
You’d find me
soaring higher, higher, and higher,
just to see how far I could go.
~CRA

 

creativity

A Year of Yes: Writing my novel in 30 minute increments as soon as I wake up

Christa Avampato

To move my second novel along, I’m waking up 30 minutes early to immediately write whatever stories come to mind about Emerson Page. That means 1/2 an hour into my day, I already feel like I’ve gotten good work done. Here’s what happened Monday morning, in its completely raw, completely unedited form. It needs a lot of work; and that work begins by getting it down.

I think it’s important to show our work as writers, rough as it may be, so that we can understand and learn from each other’s process. It is a slog, but how lucky I am to be able to write freely. There are so many people in this world who live in places where that’s not possible.

Emerson was frantically digging in the rich, deep dirt. As luxurious as it felt in her hands, her heart was racing. They didn’t have much time. She could hear the group approaching from behind—snapping twigs underfoot, the brushing aside of the thick brush. The jungle was a frightening but beautiful place. The darkness often hid danger but it could also provide a place of protection for those who needed to be hidden. Their voices were growing louder and spoke in a language not her own but one she clearly understood.

“Get the girl and then find what she’s looking for.”

A shockwave of pain radiated through Emerson’s right pinky finger. She had jammed it on something hard in the ground where she was digging. Moving her hands so quickly they were nothing but a blur to her sore, tired eyes, a shiny gold surface caught what little light there was filtering through the tangle of vines.

“Here it is, here it is, here it is,” she thought, her mind reeling.

Quickly making her way around the small box, she could see it measured no more than the size of a loaf of bread. Made of a dark wood with a sheen and brass handles on each side, there was a metal plate neatly tacked to the top of it with one word etched on it in curly script: Erato.

Knowing she had very little time left, Emerson grabbed both of the brass handles and pulled as hard as she could. Heaving herself backward into a giant [name of species of tree in the jungle], her head knocked right into the trunk of the tree. Rubbing the back of her head, the box now squarely in her lap, she looked up to see a team of men looming over her, their smiles wicked and filled with broken, dirty teeth.

“So this is the girl, the girl we are supposed to fear so much? How pathetic she is.” The group sneered and laughed as if they had just corned a prize they hunted. Emerson’s eyes and belly burned.

“And look,” another one said. “She’s shaking.” The crowd of men roared with laughter again.

Emerson smiled. Slowly she let her grin expand across her lips. She felt wild and free, as if she knew a secret that none of them knew and were about to learn in a way that they would never forget. She let her body shake and her light flood into every part of her. It grew brighter with every second, making her glow with such force that the men had to shield their eyes with their arms. Like the blazing, burning sun, they could barely stand to look at her but they were so fascinated and stunned by her that they couldn’t look away either.

The light soothed the pain in the back of her head. Firmly holding the box handles in her two hands, she rose to her feet in one swift action. Standing at her full, though petite, height she walked toward the men. Now that they shook with fear, some falling to the ground, some hiding and cowering behind one another, the group parted neatly down the middle and Emerson walked straight threw the clearing the men had made with their machetes just moments before.

You see the jungle is a dark and dangerous place. It’s stuffed with mystery. It’s laced with fear for those who don’t understand it. But for those who realize and cherish its magic, the jungle possesses a wisdom that speaks directly to our souls. It holds treasures richer than we have ever dared to dream. As Emerson walked out into what was left of the light from the setting sun, she knew what she had, she understood the power of the treasure she now held in her hands.

creativity

A Year of Yes: Climbing to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge

Christa Avampato

Hi, friends. 2 of my adventurous friends and I are trying to find a way to climb to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. One of them is writing a book about the Brooklyn Bridge and getting to the top would be the highlight (see what I did there?) of her research. We’ve heard that with permission and accompaniment by Homeland Security, you can go. Anyone know anything / anyone who could help us fulfill this dream?

creativity

A Year of Yes: How fiction helps us survive reality

Christa Avampato

How are you doing? This week was a heavy one. I hope you’re taking good care of yourselves and each other.

Whenever I feel like reality is too heavy and I need a break, I turn to fiction. This passage was particularly powerful for me:

Harry: I’ve been thinking about something Dumbledore said to me.

Hermione: What’s that?

Harry: That even though we got a fight ahead of us, we’ve got one thing Voldemort doesn’t.

Ron: Yeah?

Harry: Something worth fighting for

creativity

A Year of Yes: Writing at dawn

Christa Avampato
Sunrise over the River Liffey by Christa Avampato
Sunrise over the River Liffey by Christa Avampato

“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” ~Rumi

When everything’s quiet, late at night and early in the morning, there’s a magic time when anything we dream with raw creativity and hope. That’s when I write, when I’m fearless.

creativity

A Year of Yes: What to do when you don’t know what to write next

Christa Avampato

We don’t always know what’s around the bend in our stories. What can we do? Stay open. Stay curious. Stay committed to building a better world through writing your story. Keep learning. Opportunities to do well and do good are everywhere. Find them.

Central Park. Photo by Christa Avampato.
creativity

A Year of Yes: You can’t wait to have time to write

Christa Avampato

“No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time
No such thing as down time
All you got is life time”
~Henry Rollins

“When I have the time…”

Does that sound familiar? We all do it. We say we’ll do what we really want to do when we have the time. The truth is that the only time you have is right now. There isn’t going to be some magical day when all of a sudden you finally have extra time. Or energy. Or money. Or resources. You have all of those things right now. And no, they may not be perfect. They may not be how or how much you imagined. You find time in drips and drabs, in fits and starts. And that’s when the work gets done, not in one smooth continuous line but in the constant, daily commitment to do as much as you can with what you have right now. I often have to tell myself, “Stop making excuses. Just do the damn thing.” It’s not the most elegant motto., but it’s how things get done.

creativity

A Year of Yes: How Neil Gaiman changed the way I write in one minute

Christa Avampato

“I’m not an outliner or someone who free writes. I’m more of a gardener. I plant seeds and I see what grows. I plant pumpkins and I expect a pumpkin. But if I get a tomato, I’ll figure out what to do with that. That’s how I write. I love that magic moment when something happens on the page we’re writing that we didn’t know was going to happen. I get to be the first reader of my work, and it’s very exciting. And quite frankly that magic doesn’t happen often enough. A lot of writing is just laying brick.” ~Neil Gaiman, International Literary Festival in Dublin, May 2018

By an amazing stroke of luck, Neil Gaiman was speaking as the headliner at the International Literary Festival in Dublin while I was there doing research for my next novel this week. He’s one of my favorite writers, an inspiration for my own work, and to see him in person was thrilling.

Of all the beautiful advice he offered (and you can see my tweets from his talk here: https://twitter.com/i/moments/1002678622765887488), this quote above is the one that affected me the most because it made me change the way I think about my own writing.

I’m a planner. If I were to self-analyze, I would say I like plans because I grew up with a lot of instability. I like order and organization of my tasks because I like to know what I’m doing and where I’m going, and I absolutely hate wasting time because I know what a precious and finite a resource time is. I can’t imagine a world in which I completely let that go. However, Neil Gaiman made me realize that maybe, perhaps, I can loosen the reins a bit. I certainly allow for new information and imagination in my writing. I’ve absolutely had moments where new characters and circumstances and obstacles show up that I never saw coming. That’s the fun, the magic, of writing.

But maybe I don’t need the next bit figured out before I sit down to write every single time. It’s at least worth trying, and giving something a try is where everything begins.

creativity

A Year of Yes: Off to Ireland to research and write my second book

Christa Avampato

I’m off to Ireland today to do research for my second book in the Emerson Page series. When I booked the trip, I didn’t know that one of the most historic votes on human rights would happen during my trip. I also didn’t know that the Dublin Literary Festival was happening while I was there. These are synchronous events where I will meet so many people and be able to bear witness to subjects and issues that mean so much to me.

I’ll be doing some on-the-ground reporting, and sharing pictures, encounters, learnings, and experiences. You can find those on Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc and Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc. See you there!