Lion's Mane: Cognitive Boosts in a Writer's Life

Lion's Mane, Hercium erinaceus, with its distinctive shaggy look

Lion's mane is typically difficult to find in the wild, but earlier this week I spotted this beauty on a fallen tree a few steps off a city park trail. I left the lovely specimen tucked under some foliage undisturbed, hoping it will continue to grow and no one else will snag it before I return to harvest.

Though experts disagree on efficacy, lion's mane shows promise as a nerve regenerator that functions as a cognitive enhancer, as well as serving in traditional medicinal uses for a variety of health concerns, including digestive and cholesterol issues.

I've been getting another kind of cognitive boost this past week. I've been taking an online writing class from the University of Iowa, and in my first assignment I wrote a short story based on a character and an event that Virginia and Gordy witness in Mission to Green Tara. It's the moment when a colonial pod stuffed with "volunteers" from the cruise ship is released into deep space and dropped off in the middle of nowhere. The Maderas kids know the pod has no navigation, communication, or oxygen filtering capabilities. In other words, it's a death sentence for the volunteer colonists. Story structure wise, it's the moment when Virginia crosses the first threshold and takes action. Specifically, it's the moment when Virginia decides to defy authority in a really big way, escape from the massive cruise ship controlled by ruthless despots, and rescue her mother after a decade of being lost in space.

My new short story, "Release and Settlement," is told from the perspective of a young girl who is released with the volunteers. After fielding notes from my writing group and my revisions, I plan to submit the short story to sci-fi publications.

To learn more about why I write sci-fi eco-adventures, and to find out more about my work-in-progress and how writing Mission to Blue Grannus requires my research into fungi and myco-remediation, tap on KHBrower.com.

Digging Deeper: Why Fungi Matters to Space Travelers

Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria variety formosa.
past its prime and shrouded in a lacy, miscellaneous mold

My literary research includes thinking out loud with experts about what types of fungi space travelers would need and why.

For Mission to Blue Grannus, my work-in-progress, I sketched out the major beats of the story for both the plot line and what I call the heart line of the story. However, as I'm drafting I still must answer many detailed questions.  So even when I'd like to whip through scenes, simply adding words and paragraphs and pages to my manuscript, often I need to pause and dig deeper into the character's inner life and the demands of the natural world Gordy and Virginia encounter.

This past week I've been toggling back and forth between the emotional arc, the lessons that come out of Gordy's experience, and the scientific motivations of his mission.

Spoiler Alert! Here's a passage from my current draft of chapter 14. The Council Circle, in which the community's need for fungi is outlined:

     Jimmy continued, “The Blue Moon Trading Post is a regular stop for us and typically we would pick up mushrooms and fungi supplies for terraforming trade. Unfortunately, our normal contacts are missing, so we need to trade directly with the mushroom man, the primary source of product, supplies, and propagation knowledge.” 

     The crowd murmured, and I had an aha moment about the renegades around me. They weren’t just pirates—though that’s how I’d first known them—they were active in the terra-forming trade. As fungi were the absolute foundation of a healthy soil of a thriving ecosystem, and it made sense they would be involved. 

     I leaned over to Virginia and shared a memory. "Remember our fungi forays on Green Tara?" I explained to Lora and Lee, "On our planetary trek we hunted mushrooms for dinner." 

     "Better than cicadas!" Virginia screwed up her face in mock horror.

     I chuckled, remembering some of our more gruesome dinners. I asked Lora and Lee, “Is terraforming the main business of the tribe?”   

     “Fungi,” Lora said. 

     “… is our biz,” Lee said. 

     “Mycelium networks,” Lora said. 

     “ … connect all of life,” Lee said.

     “Fungi are valuable for,” Lora said. 

     “Terraformation,” Lee said.

     “Myco-remediation,” Lora said.

     “Medicinal extracts,” Lee said.

     “Medicine for things like radiation poisoning?” Virginia asked. I knew that officially mushroom extracts were not considered effective beyond a general immune system boost, but renegades and colonial cruisers alike believed in them. So they'd be a valuable product to trade. The twins nodded. 

     “And you said myco-remediation. You mean using mushrooms to restore a compromised environment?" I'd seen signs of radiation poisoning in the Blue Moon Trading Post. "Near here? On the Grannus Moon?"

     "They poisoned ...," Lora nodded.

     "... the water," Lee nodded. 

     "All of it downstream ..., Lora said. 

     "... of the old dam," Lee said.

The decaying mushroom has one last
ecstatic reach to the sky.
Within hours of this snapshot
the delicate mold and most of
the mushroom body had disappeared.  

You may be wondering how my visuals of moldy mushrooms relate to this part of the story. They don't. But the magical, lacy fringe will most definitely make an appearance later in the story, once Gordy and Virginia make it farther upstream into the heart of the ice caves.

To learn more about why I write sci-fi eco-adventures, and to find out more about my work-in-progress and how writing Mission to Blue Grannus requires my research into fungi and myco-remediation, tap on KHBrower.com.

Daily Rhythm & Pace of Author Activities

Often it feels like I'm taking one baby step at a time,
without a clear path more than a step or two ahead of me.

Ever since my spectacular bicycle accident I have been developing new habits around writing. I pay attention to when and where my body needs to stretch and elongate. Doctor's orders. Sometimes I stand to write. Sometimes I speak into an audio recorder while I pace and voice recognition software translates my spoken words to text. Right now I'm at a regular height desk on a bouncy chair made of bungee cords, but I know I cannot sit for long at any one time. So, I pace myself and throughout the day I integrate my hands-on research into my daily actions.

I take care of a short section of a stream,
picking up trash and keeping a log of water quality.

For example, this morning I took my dog Lucy for a walk with my writerly friend, M., in our favorite local park. We catch up on family and home remodel stories, and often discuss how we're handling a particular rewrite or a breakthrough in how we've found to connect with our readers.

When we crossed the creek I saw how low the water is right now. We've had rain all summer, so the partially dry creek bed exposed all sorts of trash. I'm an adopt-a-stream volunteer for our Parks Department and this section is mine, so I got my trash picker, bag, and badge and did my civic duty.

Three Sisters is a classic southwest
American Indian combination of
squash, beans and corn

Then I came home and  prepared a bowl of Three Sisters, dancing while I heated and stirred. After my brunch and a short burst of writing (the first draft of this post), I managed several pieces of business communication and scheduling.

The pattern of a typical writing day for me includes:

• Move - dance/swim/walk
• Cooking meditation
• Write for a short burst 
• Connect with other creative partners and champions
• Hands-on research
• Eco-warrior actions
• Read 
• Repeat, with loose variations 

What I look for in each day is a healthy balance. I write about eco-warriors and scientists, so each day I incorporate activities that at least honor the spirit of intention of the heroes in my adventure stories.

To learn more about why I write sci-fi eco-adventures, and to find out more about my work-in-progress and how writing Mission to Blue Grannus requires my research into fungi and myco-remediation, tap on KHBrower.com.