State of the Schafer: Summer Adventures

I was going to write a proper "2021 in review" post, but I kept putting it off because I am so, SO close to finally completing the revised draft of The White Serpent. This is the Cara novella, except right now it's more like a short novel at 52,000 words, yikes. Maybe since Cara never got a POV in the Shattered Sigil trilogy, my subconscious wanted to be sure she got a solid chance to shine! 

I haven't been neglecting brand new novel The Dreaming Sea, either; I'm chugging along at 500 words per day on that draft, even as I fix up the last few scenes of The White Serpent. Yet as time is flying and it's nearly the end of January, I figured I'd better stop waiting to catch up on the blog. 

I have to say, the end of 2021 didn't go like I thought it would. When I last posted in October, the Delta variant of COVID had finally popped up in the South Island, and I was braced for it to spread.

Yet it didn't. Amazing what high vaccination rates can do! Many areas in NZ reached over 95% double-vaxxed for the 12+ population, and that seemed to stop Delta cold. Our local area hasn't seen a single case. (Our last recorded case of COVID was way back in April 2020.) Even in Auckland, the heart of the outbreak, cases never really took off. Numbers plateaued around 100 a day, and then slowly decreased to teens and even single-digits. People began to wonder if we'd accidentally eliminate COVID again, though everyone knew such a fortunate state wouldn't last, given the planned reopening of the borders.

Then came Omicron. After watching supply chains struggle and hospitals get swamped overseas, even in highly vaccinated areas like New South Wales in Australia, it seems certain that NZ has a rough few weeks in store. Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, and vaccinated people have a very small risk of hospitalization and death. But when everyone gets sick at once, NZ is too small of a country to easily absorb huge disruptions to staffing and supply chains. 

On a personal level, our family has done what we can to prepare. My husband and I both got our booster shots, our son is double-vaxxed, and we've got the food and supplies we need if we're all sick and needing to isolate, or if the supermarkets struggle. It helps to know NZ's government has a plan, and they'll continue acting on the best scientific advice. 

Yet I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling a little nervous, as the wave begins to break. I am deeply grateful, however, that NZ held out as long it has. 2021 finished off for my son and husband and I with a glorious summer. We savored gorgeous days at the lake and on the trails; if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's never to take adventures for granted. Seize the day while you can. 

So that's what we did. I finally climbed Corner Peak, monarch of Lake Hawea, whose majesty I had been eyeing ever since we moved here in 2017. I mean, just look at it:

Corner Peak looming over Lake Hawea on a calm winter's day

The climb is hella steep, 1,683m in only 7.75km--that's 5,521ft in 4.8 miles, for any Americans. Locals had told me it's best to do the peak with someone who's climbed it before, as finding the right route is important, and even the right route has some "sketchy bits." 

The Department of Conservation has helpfully placed a warning sign at the beginning of the route.

Given the Kiwi talent for understatement, I wasn't sure just what "sketchy" might mean. I had visions of peak routes I've seen in the Sierra that are deceptively labeled "third class" (meaning no rope or technical climbing gear is required), when in truth, as a gobsmacked friend once announced, "That isn't third class, that's DEATH CLASS."

So, I dutifully waited until I could join some experienced trampers on a trip up the mountain. Routefinding is indeed key, but turns out the sketchy bits are brief and not bad at all. Nowhere near death class, thank goodness. More the sort of thing where you mutter either a little prayer or a curse under your breath as you negotiate a tricky step. ("Please, please, no earthquakes right now.") 

I'll have to do a proper trip report some day to show off all the awesome scenery from the climb, but for now, I'll just say the views from the summit were absolutely worth the effort.

Looking up the Hunter Valley from Corner Peak's summit

The next adventure was a family trip on the Milford Track, on which we enjoyed a very rare blessing: clear skies and sunshine for the entire 4-day trek. Fiordland is known for mist and rain; I'd heard of people doing the Milford multiple times before ever getting a clear view of the stunning peaks surrounding Mackinnon Pass. I'm so glad we lucked into great weather, because just look at these:

The waterfalls were also incredible, but again, I'd best save more pics for a proper trip report (lest this post grow to be even longer than The White Serpent!). Okay, but I have to show one sneak peak:

Cooling off at Sutherland Falls

We didn't just stick to adventures in the mountains, though. NZ's beaches are also beautiful, so just before Christmas, we took a road trip up the South Island's wild West Coast, soaking in plenty of ocean scenery along the way.

Shipwreck Beach, near Haast

Beach near Punakaiki

Sea stacks at Motukiekie

The adventures continued in January, when we headed down to Riverton on NZ's southern coast, and I tried surfing for the first time. I had done plenty of boogie boarding and general playing in the waves in my younger years, but never real stand-up surfing. Oh goodness, it's so much fun. Hello, new hobby! 

Surfing at Monkey Island beach. Small waves and soft sand made it perfect for beginners like us.

Granted, the closest beach is a 3 hour drive away from where we live, so I don't know if I'll ever get good enough to ride serious waves. That's okay, I'll have fun trying, whenever we next head to the coast. In the meantime, at least we can cool off from summer heat in Hawea's lake. 

Nothing like glacial lakewater on a hot summer day

The pupster's accomplishment for the summer is that he's finally learned to chill out a lot more in between daily walks and playtime, which sure makes it easier for me to work and write!

Don't worry, he still gets plenty of cuddles:

My son heads back to school next week, which always feels like summer's end, even if there's still another month of hot weather. 2022 looks to have plenty of challenges in store, but at least I can face them knowing I've had a good start. I'm lucky in that, I know. For everyone who's not starting the year off well, my heart goes out to you. My main goal for 2022 is to find ways I can help make the world a little better, whether on a personal or professional level. Maybe that sounds facile, especially in the face of the sheer scope and size of the problems looming over us all. Yet I cling to the belief that every act of kindness matters, especially in difficult times. I don't know if humanity can reach a brighter future, but I still want to strive for one.

Wishing for the dawn of a better year for everyone.

State of the Schafer: 2020 in Review

I started a “2020 in review” post right as January began, but then came the assault on the US Capitol on January 6^th, and I just…stalled out. Whenever I think of the situation in the US, I’m swamped by such a mix of anger and sorrow that finding words feels nearly impossible. I mean, thank God that Biden won the election and tomorrow will take over the Presidency. But so many Americans still believe Trump’s lies, even without a shred of actual evidence behind them, even when the lies lead to violence and insurrection and deaths. “You can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into,” as the saying goes. But then how do you fix the problem?

It's hard to see how the country can survive this, in the long term. “This” meaning a divide not just between political views, but on the very nature of truth and reality. Trump is not the cause, he is only the symptom. When he is gone, the siren song of tribalism and delusion that blinded his followers will remain. How do you reach people so caught in delusion they refuse to acknowledge evidence and facts? Who believe absolutely in a leader despite his constant contradictions of his own words? Who are willing to reverse positions on a dime without a hint of cognitive dissonance? 

I don’t know. I try to focus on the good: not every Republican was willing to follow Trump off the cliff. Some few officials, like Aaron Van Langevelde in Michigan, and Brad Raffensperger in Georgia, stood up to enormous pressure from their own party and President, and refused to falsify evidence and support lies. Even Mike Pence, silent through so many of Trump’s abuses of office, finally hit a line he wouldn’t cross.

I wish I could feel more relieved. But if all that stands between the US and a violent collapse into authoritarianism is the honor and character of a few Republicans…that’s terrifying. While some conservative writers are at least honest in their appraisal of the damage, I haven’t seen any sign that the Republican party as a whole intends to do anything but keep plowing down the same ruinous path.

So yeah, I find hope hard to come by. Especially with the looming specter of ever harder times ahead, as the world struggles to deal with ever more costly impacts of pandemic and climate change. I believe Biden has good intentions, but he ran on a promise of trying to restore the way things were before. America as it was before is exactly what gave us Trump in the first place. I fear Biden won’t have the courage or political support to enact the sweeping reforms needed to stop corruption, combat the erosion of truth and spread of conspiracy theories and racism, and dismantle the outsize influence of lobbyists and corporate money on US politics. And that will be bad for all the world, not just the US. 

Maybe my inability to see a path forward is a failure of my imagination. I remain enough of an optimist to hope that is true. New Zealand's election did give me some hope that not every country is doomed to follow America's ever-more-partisan path. Here, when the more conservative National party began to dabble in Trumpian disinformation and "blood sport" politics, they were soundly rejected by voters. For now, anyway. New Zealand is not immune to the problem of social media amplifying untruths and conspiracy theories. 

But anyway. My doom and gloom could be the result of exhaustion...2020 was a strange and difficult year, even here where good leadership spared us most of the ravages of COVID. 

I looked back at last January's post about my goals for 2020 and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I didn't finish my drafts. I didn't compete in figure skating. I didn't complete my book recommendation algorithm.

Instead, I was there for my son when he needed me. First to help with his remote learning and keep him sane during the claustrophobic weeks of NZ's strict lockdown in March and April, and then later during the much longer and painful recovery from his trampolining accident. 

I couldn't be happier to report that he's pretty much back to normal now. He’s water skiing and climbing and having a blast. 

Look, Mom, no hands needed! 

The best method of physical therapy

The final surgery to remove the titanium from his right arm still looms at some as-yet-unspecified time in the next few months, but in the meantime he's able to run and play and enjoy his summer school holidays, and that's been wonderful to see.

I did achieve one of my old goals: I started engineering consulting work, taking on a project related to the analysis of climate change, looking at high-resolution calculation of ice volume change in Greenland glaciers using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. That was just the kind of work I'd been hoping to find, so definitely a high point for the year.

Thanks to New Zealand's success at eliminating and controlling COVID, we were still able to get out and explore some beautiful new-to-us areas of the country. Nature is such a balm for the soul, and boy does New Zealand have a lot of balm to offer.

Hiking in Mt Aspiring National Park

Nugget Point in the Catlins

Rhododendrons in bloom (they're not native to NZ, but they sure do make for pretty walking)

Last but not least, in early December, I fulfilled a long-held dream of my son's: we got a family dog. My son has wanted a puppy for years, but the timing never seemed quite right, until now. A backhanded gift of the pandemic: we knew we wouldn't be traveling overseas to see family anytime soon, so during my son's summer holiday in Dec/Jan, we'd finally have the time to devote to raising and training a puppy. If you haven't already seen the new addition to our family on my twitter and Facebook feeds, meet Comet:

Why Comet? He's white, he's fast, he's got a tail.

Comet is adorable and loving and cuddly...and also exhausting and time-consuming and a hell of a lot of work, as all puppies are. It really is like having a baby again. A highly mobile baby with crocodile teeth and the urgent desire to eat everything that could kill him. (We have already had several emergency vet visits due to him snarfling up unfortunate objects hidden in the grass before we could stop him.) I won't lie, there have been sleepless nights and occasional tears and a lot of stressing over naps and crate training. But my son’s joyful laughter when he plays with Comet makes all the work worthwhile, and I’m certainly partial to puppy snuggles. (Comet loves to cuddle in my lap when he’s finally tired enough to sit still. Hooray for cuddly puppies!)

A boy and his dog

The view of my lap these days

So what about 2021? I am too sleep deprived from puppy parenting to have any deep thoughts or high expectations. I would very much like to finish my drafts. That's the part of the past year that feels like an abject failure, even knowing all the reasons for it. The White Serpent (Cara novella) is at least close to done. The Dreaming Sea...isn't, but there's no point in stressing over how far there is to go. I'd rather do my best to enjoy the journey.

I was going to share some of the books and other entertainment that helped keep me sane throughout the past year, since I suspect we’ll all need sanity-savers for quite a while yet. But this post is long enough already, and the puppy will soon wake from his nap. I'll have to share those another day. In the meantime, I’ll close with the wish that all of you can find moments of peace and joy and comfort this year, in whatever ways speak to you best.

State of the Schafer: 2019 in Review (Picture Edition)

Happy New Year, everyone. We just got back from spending Christmas with family in Sydney, Australia, where thanks to the worst bushfire season in living memory, the sky mostly looked like this:

My little cell phone camera doesn't do the eerie colors justice. The sky was orange, the sun crimson.

We were lucky during our visit. Our arrival before Christmas coincided with a cool front that pushed smoke away from Sydney and allowed firefighters in the Blue Mountains the chance for vital defensive work. But the day we left, on New Years Eve, conditions worsened again as high winds fanned the flames. Homes are burning, people have died, thousands are stuck without power or safe exit routes--and the only thing capable of stopping the fires for good is heavy rain, which forecasters say likely won't arrive until February.

But Australia has always had fires in summer, some people protest. Yes, they have. But thanks to the changing climate, this year's fire season is far longer, hotter, and drier than in years past. Nor are controlled burns the solution--as this well-researched article explains, the situation is complicated. Plus, during extreme heat and wind, the amount of available fuel makes only a small difference to a fire's intensity; the primary driver is weather.

Even 2000km away in New Zealand, we're feeling the effects. I woke up this morning to a sky so yellowy-orange I thought for a second we were still back in Sydney. Nope. It's just Australian smoke pouring across the Tasman Sea to blanket us.

View from our house this morning. Again, the camera doesn't do the color justice.

Nor is this the only sign of changing climate we've faced here in NZ. While Australia is predicted to get hotter and drier, NZ's South Island is predicted to get warmer and wetter. We had a taste of what that might be like this spring, with epic amounts of rain leading to flooding that destroyed bridges and roads and briefly cut off the entire lower half of the South Island from the rest of the country. We're okay here in Hawea, where the town is on a hill well above lake level, but Wanaka isn't so lucky. 

Flooding in Wanaka in early December

At least the government in New Zealand is trying hard to anticipate climate impacts and address them, as well as reduce the country's emissions, with all political parties coming together to vote for the Zero Carbon bill despite disagreements. 

The most depressing part about the Australian fires is that this terrible season isn't a surprise; scientists have been sounding alarm bells for years. But the Australian government, like the current US government, has prioritized short term economic gain over everything else. Even now, the prime minister insists he won't change policies. The New South Wales government has at least agreed to compensate volunteer firefighters for their loss of earnings while fighting fires in dangerous conditions for weeks on end with no finish yet in sight. Hopefully other regions of Australia will follow that lead.

On a larger scale, I guess paying the cost is all we can do, if governments continue refusing to address the root cause. But governments are put in power by people, and I hope with all my heart that in 2020 more people will understand the stakes we face and vote accordingly. It's too late to stop the climate from changing, but it's not too late to limit the worst effects.

Perhaps it's both the blessing and the curse of humanity that we're so good at focusing on the here and now. There is always light amid the darkness, and savoring the small joys of everyday life is what keeps hope alive.

The fires and smoke didn't stop my in-laws from throwing a lovely Christmas party

Having a great lunch with my husband

With the help of my sister-in-law and one of our nieces, we solved the Wizard's Quest escape room at Escape Hunt in Sydney. 

Looking back over 2019, despite all the horrifying developments in world politics and climate, I have a lot of good memories to savor. We visited a bunch of cool places in New Zealand I hadn't seen before, like the wild southern shores:

Windswept bluff near Gemstone Beach

and the busy, beautiful city of Wellington (SFF fans and authors, you definitely want to come down here for WorldCon in August!):

Wellington is gorgeous on a sunny day

Plus we visited the cozy homes of Hobbiton in Matamata:

I would totally live here if I were a hobbit

and Rotorua's steaming geothermal field:

Don't wander off the trail

and the lovely alpine scenery near Glenorchy and Kinloch:

View from Kinloch, at the head of Lake Wakatipu

not to mention the incredible Milford Sound in Fiordland:

Mitre Peak in Milford Sound

In late September, I took my son to visit family and friends in the US, where we saw Hogwarts Castle:

My son loved all the Harry Potter stuff at Universal Orlando (and yeah, I did too)

We played in a really cool water park (Universal's Volcano Bay):

Plus took a cruise in the Caribbean with my mom and brother:

I realize I need to plant about a million trees to make up for the environmental impact of this...or better yet, contribute to the development of a planetary sunshade. I think we're unfortunately past the point at which lifestyle changes are enough to make a difference. It's technology that will have to save us.

While in the US, we visited familiar, much-beloved haunts:

Boulder, Colorado...I do miss the Flatirons!

Wandering the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park

Delicate Arch at sunset

And also enjoyed some new adventures:

The kiddo on a long rappel on the Rock of Ages route near Moab

Our guide helps him negotiate a downclimb in the slot section

Back in New Zealand, we spent plenty of days enjoying Lake Hawea, just steps from our front door.

Lake Hawea's beach is rocky rather than sandy, but the rocks sure are pretty

I never get tired of the view from the lakeshore walking track

The very best way to see the lake

 Although the ski season came very late this year (more reason to hate climate change, arrrgh), I still enjoyed some great ski days.

So did my son, who's good enough now to ski the infamous Motatapu Chutes with panache.

Celebrating a successful ski of a very steep chute

He also took up trampolining, and competed for the very first time, which is pretty darn cool. He's excited to progress further in 2020.

I, meanwhile, returned to figure skating--a lot more cautiously than I'd like, thanks to my aging back, but I've been delighted to find I can still jump and spin. I'm training for my first competition in over ten years, eeek! (The NZ Masters Games in Dunedin in February of 2020.)

Blurry pic, I know, but hey. It's hard taking pictures in a dimly lit rink.

But Courtney, what about writing? you may ask, assuming anybody's still reading this extremely long post. Where's your next book? 

All I can say is that I'm still working on it. Or rather, working on them, plural. I've still got The White Serpent novella and short stories in the works--Tales from Ninavel, I'm thinking I'll call the collection as a whole. Plus, I'm still plugging along on my new fantasy adventure, The Dreaming Sea. 

I'm bummed that I didn't publish anything in 2019, but I also don't want to put out anything less than the best I can write. I ran into a couple roadblocks toward the end of the year, on both projects, and realized that I need to correct course, which means revising and rewriting. But I've got a path forward, and I mean to use it. I may not be a fast writer, but I get there in the end. I definitely will attend WorldCon/CoNZealand in Wellington in August, so readers and fellow SFF fans, I hope to see you there. 

What else is ahead for me in 2020? Oh, I've got a few goals:

1) FINISH MY DRAFTS. FINISH MY DRAFTS. FINISH MY DRAFTS.

Really, that's the biggest one. But okay, I've got a few more plans and dreams:

2) Compete in Adult Gold figure skating at NZ Nationals, assuming my back holds out

3) Complete a coding project I've been working on: a fantasy book recommendation algorithm that uses book content/theme/style rather than sales information to produce results 

4) Formally open a consulting company here in NZ for my algorithm work

5) Find ways to contribute to climate change solutions

6) Keep exploring NZ's amazing landscapes with my son and husband

So, yeah. Busy year ahead. But exciting, too. Best wishes to all of you in 2020--let's hope this year becomes the start of a better future for everyone.