May/June 2023 Newsletter
Bimonthly (maybe) updates on storytelling!
Hello!
I'm going to try to do a bimonthly newsletter for Sparrowhawk Stories with updates on writing, photography, adventures, and stories I'm enjoying. And maybe other random fun things!
I haven’t done a newsletter before, but I’ve heard that it’s good for authors and storytellers to have an email list. And maybe it’s fun? We’ll see how this goes.
Writing
I recently finished writing two articles about young Canadian Christian adults and climate change. This was my first writing project that required interviews, and I loved learning from my interviewees. It was a challenging but rewarding project, and I'm so excited to share these articles this fall!
In June, I also was honoured to visit Hamilton District Christian High (HDCH) and talk to the Writer's Craft class about publishing and encourage them in their craft!
I shared about my writing journey, the trials of publishing, and my experiences writing for magazines, devotionals, and other publications. It was so much fun talking to the students and teachers, and it reminded me how far I've come since graduating from HDCH in 2021.
Photography
At the start of May, I photographed the Kuyper Conference at Redeemer University! This was the biggest event I've photographed and my first time attending an academic conference.
I loved discovering how the Japanese art of Kintsugi (repairing broken pottery with precious metals) is a picture of God's grace and restoration in our lives, transforming brokenness into beauty.
It was an amazing time learning from scholars, theologians, artists and philosophers, and I got to meet so many cool people.
Also, over the past few weeks, I've been sorting through all the photos I've taken throughout my life and am enjoying seeing my (sometimes humorous) progress over the years.
My post “Sorting Through Old Photos” has some of the funny “then and now” comparisons!
Sorting Through Old Photos
Over the past weeks, I started sorting through my photos — an archive of thousands of digital photos I’ve taken over my whole life. It has been overwhelming and tedious, to say the least, but also fun. I’ve laughed plenty of times at how bad some photos are and wondered why I kept so many blurry photos from the zoo when I was little!
Stories I'm Enjoying
I'm reading the Harry Potter series for the first time and am just about to start the fourth book. The world-building is delightful, and I'm pretty sure I'm a Ravenclaw.
Also, somehow I’ve managed to avoid major spoilers all my life, so no spoilers, please! I genuinely do not know what happens next, except that apparently there will be more dragons and Voldemort does not have a nose.
Adventures!
I learned about iNaturalist at the start of this year, and I love this program so much. Recording biodiversity observations makes going for walks so exciting. Many times I've been thrilled just by a wildflower on the side of the road!
Here is my profile if you would like to follow along on my nature-identifying adventures: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/6466688
That is all for now. Newsletters are not as hard to write as I thought!
See you in two months! (Maybe?)