As an author of eco-mystery adventures, it’s a treat to be Precise
Proofing’s guest blogger in celebration of Earth Day. Even though blogs began
appearing in the 1990s, a period that seems like yesterday, I only entered the
blogosphere recently. It seems time, technology, and celebrations wait for no
one. According to Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day, the first Earth
Day celebration in the USA was held in 1970. And—boom—a heartbeat later, we’re marking the 42nd annual Earth Day
which has now stretched into a month-long celebration.
Every Earth Day involves much consideration of trees: thanking trees, planting
trees, saving trees. Remember when we were told technology would reduce our
paper load and save trees? How has this prediction played out in your business?
Glad I didn’t bet on that one coming true. In my work, I have more paper than
ever to deal with. There are two main reasons for my massive paper collection.
The first reason I’m not
reducing my paper load. has to do with my research methods. When I’m not
involved in primary research with wildlife in the Florida Keys, much of my
research involves reading news accounts and research articles.
Truth is, I’m much better at organizing and processing articles I can
touch and spread out all over the floor than dealing with information that
miraculously appears on my computer screen. Half the time I can’t even figure out how I found the
articles. If I do manage to overcome the data’s mysterious appearance, I save
it. How? The same way you save yours—by hiding it in a tiny picture of a folder
that also wickedly disappears somewhere in my machine never to be found again.
But I know how to deal with this crazy-making situation. Can you guess
where I’m going? Of course you can. I print out the good stuff. File it in a
tangible manila folder, then put it in a heavy, walnut, file cabinet that holds
a heck of a lot of paper.
Oh, the guilt. I’m not saving trees at all. All I can do is hope someone
is replenishing the forests.
The second reason for my paper piles is that to find errors I need to
see my text on hardcopy. My eyes can only handle reading a screen for a short
time. So I print out my draft. I find pesky punctuation and grammar errors, those
ugh!-that-reads-like-crapola parts,
and get back to work on the computer.
Then, I print it again. Of course, there are additional pesky errors I
missed the first time, plus new ones, and Yes,
that’s brilliant! moments when I get a new and better idea for a scene. So
I hit the keyboard again and improve the manuscript for the second time. You
know where I’m going with this.
More printing, more editing, more insights, and with each change more
opportunities for errors. But, no worries, it’s easy to make changes and print
another copy. If I had to do all this by hand...well, I wouldn’t. But I keep producing
mounds of paper because it’s so confounded easy, and it helps make my novels
the best they can be. More guilt.
Why all this guilt? I confess.
I’m a tree hugger. I can’t help it. You can blame my parents. They’ll never
know. But I’m proud to be wild about trees. Heck, we wouldn’t be alive if it
weren’t for their
life-sustaining oxygen. I need their green. Every shade of it. I could
never live on a desert, at a height above the treeline, or at either of Earth’s
poles. Yes, my favorite color is green.
I do my best to make up for using so much paper. I buy
recycled reams. (Do you know they make
bamboo paper stock. Great idea. Bamboo is one rapidly growing
tree—almost Internet fast). I use both sides of every sheet. I recycle used
paper. I’ve even mulched with it.
Almost as an apology for my excess, I nurture the trees on our
property. I move trees from crowded places to locations where they’ll thrive,
relieve them of invasive vines, and weep when they die. And I plant new trees.
Not only on Earth Day. If you, or anyone you know, question the importance of
trees,
Maria Rodale has some answers for you.
If you haven’t planted a tree lately, consider doing so. If you don’t have
an outdoor space, plant one in a pot. Walk in the woods. Listen to the breeze
whisper through branches. Savor the symphony of birdsong. Revel in the variety
of foliage shapes and shades. Sway to the windy dance of mighty trunks,
graceful limbs, and flittering leaves. Get up close and personal. Go ahead. Breathe
deeply. Hug a tree. You might just relax and lose whatever guilt lurks.
Bonnie J. Doerr, a nature lover and lifetime educator, has taught
students from kindergarten to college in eight states. Her acclaimed
contemporary-realistic novels celebrate crime-fighting, fearless teens who take
action with attitude and a touch of romance. Originally from western Maryland,
Ms. Doerr lives in a North Carolina log cabin and spends weeks each year
researching and writing in the Florida Keys. Ms. Doerr’s work has been
described as a “mashup of Jean Craighead George and Carl Hiaasen” by some and
by others “what would happen if Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Lassie teamed
up to crack a case.” She is the author of eco-adventure/mystery novels, Island
Sting, Leap Books 2010 (2011 EPIC eBook Outstanding Children’s Book award),
Stakeout, Leap Books 2011, (finalist 2012 Green Earth YA Book award) and the
forthcoming Busted, Leap Books 2013.