Peeking Duck

Here’s a note from K.L. Denman about spring!

For me, spring is a time of celebration. I live on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast and over the past few weeks I’ve seen signs of spring arising all around. Sometimes it’s a subtle thing, like a whiff of warming earth on the air. Other promises are more obvious, like my horses starting to shed their winter coats, the first crocus blossoming, the intermittent croaking of frogs (not yet a full throated chorus), and maybe best of all, the silver sheen of pussy willows silhouetted against a blue, blue sky. I’ve been inspired to attempt starting seeds indoors, and we were recently visited by a woman who wished to harvest earth worms from our manure pile. The worms are destined for a life of luxury in bins where they’ll be fed organic kitchen waste in return for their garden enhancing output, and all this together looks like a metaphor to me.

The metaphor is an obvious one, but no less powerful despite its prevalence. Spring is when newness, awakening, rebirth, all the hope of life comes bounding to say, “Hey! Whassup?”

I even had a renegade duck stop by for an afternoon on our deck, though I must admit, I’m quite sure he (she?) was looking for handouts (which he got) rather than a mate. Whatever the case, the photo I got of him peering hopefully through the door clearly looks like the duck version of, “Whassup?”

So what’s up in the realm of books and writing? For me, there’s my new Orca Currents novel, The Shade. If I had to compare this story to a spring thing, I believe I’d liken it to one of those moments when the sun shines forth after rain and everything — the ground, the fence, the roof — begins to emanate mist. This is a phenomenon that doesn’t go on for too long (also true of Currents stories) but it’s always captivating and a little bit spooky. The Shade is a little bit spooky too but like the light showing up, it’s got a sunny side.

One of the questions authors are often asked is where their story ideas come from. Most of the time, this question stumps me because the story I end up with is an evolution of ideas that can be difficult to trace back to an origin. However, in the case of The Shade, I know exactly where at least part of the story originated — the apparition seen in the novel is very much like one I saw many years ago myself. Weird, yes. Thankfully, I’m not in the habit of seeing ghosts (that was the only time) but it was an unforgettable experience and I felt that by writing about it I might better understand it. That didn’t happen because the characters in The Shade had their own ideas about the apparition and who was I to tell them otherwise? In the end, my greatest delight in writing this story was found in the characters so I don’t begrudge their take on shady visitations.

My thanks to Orca for the invitation to guest blog and best wishes to all for a misty, willowy, ducky spring!

- K.L. Denman