SNOW DAY!

This never happens. Sure, statistically, it does happen, and it snowed a whole bunch last year, but still: this never happens!

If you are not familiar with the Pacific Northwest of North America, you may not know that in this little corner of Canada, it doesn't snow very often. Our winters are wet, grey, and steady. I can only ever remember two or three winters in the eighties and nineties where we got a week of good, useful snow (as in: fun-to-play-around-in). Our neighbour says they got snow like this—two feet!—once, twenty years ago. More often, it snows for a day in February, then immediately warms up and the dirty slush makes pools and puddles in the gutters for weeks.

This week we got light, fluffy snow.

Now, I'm writing this from the perspective of someone who has the great privilege to work from home. I don't necessarily have to go anywhere, and I know that not having a commute allows a much different perspective on snowfall like this. I don't get off scott-free; we have relatives flying in from Australia who couldn't land at YVR, and my heart is breaking for a good friend whose extended family won't be visiting at a time when he could really, really use a good family visit. Still…

I love the snow.

( ^ this is not us, and not anyone I know, but definitely one family in our neighbourhood knows how to Do Winter Right. )

I like the quiet—the way the snow muffles everything. I like the sparkles. I like the way the familiar landscape is changed into something new. I like the challenge of navigating this crunchy, slippery new terrain (I really do). I like the free pass to just laze around that you earn after sweating at the shovelling. I like the way it demands that we all do things differently, if only for a short amount of time. I like seeing kids enjoying the outdoors, playing. I like playing, scooping up shovels of the fluffy stuff and tossing it in the air, watching Our Little Ding-Dong giggle as the flakes float down.

I love the snow.

Here's a post from Irene Gallo on Tor.com, "Picturing Winter," sharing some of folks' favourite wintery art (via Metafilter). You might enjoy it! I was surprised that it did not include my favourite Claude Monet painting, The Magpie…

Maybe it's overplayed, I don't know. I will never not love Monet, and this is one of my favourites of his.

In the spirit of the holidays, if you have any favourite wintery art or poetry, why not share it in the comments?

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HARD PIVOT

Stop now if you would like to avoid Story Spoilers as well as Maniac Billionaire Talk! This is what I was going to write about this week, but the snow put me in too good of a mood. Still, I'll touch on it briefly, because it's timely.

This is a tweet that validates a feeling I have had since, oh, let's pick the year "2016" out of the air for no particular reason.

( ^ Cabel Sasser runs Panic Inc., maker of many of my favourite things, from an old Katamari Damacy shirt I have to the tiny Playdate game system, to the FTP app I use every week to upload this comic.)

Here's how this applies to PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY.

As I was writing Chapter Three, I ran into an interesting story choice.

During the ball held at Vignelli's manor, Alexandra discovers that he's left the windows open and the candles burning bright, despite his strict rules banning lights after sunset. The illuminated manor is a glittering nighttime beacon that will surely attract pirates. Alexandra confronts Vignelli, and he doesn't care. He blows her off. Rule or no rule, he's burning his candles.

To explain his absolute disregard for his own rule, I gave myself two options:

• There are no pirates and there never were. All along, Vignelli has been manufacturing the pirate threat to keep his people frightened and easy to manipulate. Vignelli hired a mercenary ship to sail across the horizon every now and then so the fear never fades. He can burn the candles as bright as he likes, because he knows there is no pirate threat. This is the "4D Chess" option.
• There are pirates, the threat is real, and he just doesn't care. That's it. He doesn't even think he can "get away with" burning the lights, because he doesn't think there's anything to get away with. He barely even thinks, he operates purely on whim and self-interest.

I like the first option because it feels like the kind of twist or reveal that you'd read in a book. It feels like a villainous thing for him to do.

I like the second option because—especially after all we've seen over the last few years—it feels true.

Readers, I suspect you can guess which option I chose. My choice fits in line with my goal for this story to offer something for young readers that is (hopefully) reassuring, that says, "if you are confused about the sometimes-capricious ways in which adults behave, you are not alone." Alexandra is there with you, being similarly bewildered.

I'll add this comforting note: you may rest assured that—whether it feels true or not—Vignelli's going to receive his comeuppance, because we all deserve a little justice, even if it's only vicarious.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I needed to hear this, and perhaps you do, too: a lot of really, really good things happened this year. Despite the constant misery that seems to be the stock and trade of most news sources, apparently a lot of things are moving in the right direction. One example: 

…the Department of Justice reported that between 2012 and 2021 rates of violent victimization in the United States (robbery and sexual,  aggravated and simple assault) declined from 26.1 to 16.5 incidents per 1,000 people, youth crime fell to its lowest level on record, and so did the number of young people being prosecuted, giving tens of thousands of teens a second chance.

It is comforting to know that the kind of human rights and environmental victories in the article are not only possible, but that they're happening. More than that, though, I find these sorts of positive stories so much more motivating than the alternative. I invite you to click through and see all the good things you might have missed.

However (and whenever) you observe winter festivities and the changing of the year, I hope they bring you joy and comfort. Whether your family is biological or found, I hope you're able to spend exactly as much time with them as you want.

Warmest Wishes,
TC

P.S. I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION!
CHAPTER THREE PENCILLING IS FINISHED!