Madison Park Times 05-01-21

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Following a dream

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Retirement keeps Madrona author busy, fourth book released this month

Tree Talk Page 4

By Jessica Keller

Madison Park Times editor Madrona resident Susan McCormick was just a kid when she wrote her first book.

Named “Death in the Cemetery,” McCormick’s first foray into the literary world as an author didn’t lead to publication, but she was chosen to attend a writer’s conference at the time. While McCormick now looks back and laughs at the title of her book, she can’t help but remember how excited she was to attend that writer’s conference.

While McCormick grew up to become a doctor rather than a writer, she never forgot her passion for writing and her childhood dreams. She now gets a whole new sense of satisfaction from merging her two passions, writing and the medical field, as a published author.

“I loved being a doctor, and I love being a writer,” McCormick said. “It’s like a dream come true.”

McCormick no longer writes to gain entry into conferences, although she attends them frequently. Now, McCormick writes for all types of audiences and genres.

“Over the past decade or so, I got serious about writing again,” she said.

Her renewed passion has resulted in her fourth book published book, “The Antidote,” released this month by The Wild Rose Press, is a fantasy for middle-schoolers and up, and features a boy, 12-year-old Alex Revelstoke, who can see disease, injury, illness and anything wrong in the body. In “The Antidote,” like the Revelstokes before him, Alex must fight against an ancient evil — the creator of disease.

While McCormick’s books are not directly about medicine, each has some element of her background in healthcare included. Her inspiration for “The Antidote” actually came when she volunteered in her son’s middle school science class on a day they were dissecting chicken wings.

While the students were excited about the dissection, McCormick said she was struck by how little they knew about anatomy

SEE AUTHOR, PAGE 7

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Photo by Jessica Keller Madrona author Susan McCormick shows the fourth book she has had published, ‘The Antidote,’ a fantasy book for eighth-graders and up, which is available for purchase this month.

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2

May 2021

Navigating the waters off Madison Park

By Richard Carl Lehman Revisiting the Park

T

he kids of Madison Park enjoyed the shallow waters of Little Beach, north of Madison. It became known as Swing Park later when the swings were put in. The official name is Madison Park North Beach.

While splashing about, we nurtured ideas of venturing into other areas of Lake Washington and began to build rafts from logs and scrap wood from Clayton Fishers’ Marina just south of Little Beach.

Never far from shore, small waves would all but destroy our efforts. The easiest place for rafting with only a couple logs tied together was in the swamps in the Canterbury area. All we needed, really, was a plan. A few of us saw a seldom-seen matinee downtown about a group of pioneers in need of something to ride the cascading wild rivers. They felled a huge tree and carved a mighty canoe with makeshift tools.

Aha! That would be our plan.

We found the log, the very log for the three of us, off the shores of Edgewater where many anchored boats were left due to the fuel shortage in World War II. After a trip to the hardware store, we

began to design and build a bow and stern.

The quest began in the nights after school and on weekends, but we barely made a dent in the carving. That was when it dawned on us the log in the movie was shot with time lapse and editing.

Down, but not out, we found a partially sunk 12-foot row boat on Edgewater Beach for sale for $25. Bob Olson, a schoolmate, settled on $20, and we became boat owners! Bill Buchan, owner of the Boat Building Company by the ferry dock, gave us advice on caulking, painting, etc. We bought supplies at the hardware store and began the task of caulking, making sure it was dry, sanding, replacing some wood and, finally, painting. Voila! Shiny, bright, white and blue and ready to conquer the lake. A real find was when my grandfather gave us a Johnson 5 HP outboard!

Our first cruise was through the jungle of cattails in Edgewater, then west of Broadmoor and Monkey Island, which I think is long gone now. We did have some mechanical issues — seaweed in our propeller.

The second voyage was north

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May 2021

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3

Bloodworks Northwest seeking donations With more blood transfusions being performed in hospitals as more surgeries are being scheduled and blood supplies scarce, Bloodworks Northwest is making an urgent call for blood donors to book appointments now.

According to a press release, with confusion over post COVID-19 vaccination donation eligibility lingering, record high blood usage at hospitals across the Pacific Northwest and a national blood shortage, the community blood supply is facing a “perfect storm” that’s having a significant impact on the local blood supply.

In fact, Bloodworks officials are calling it the biggest blood shortage since the pandemic began a year ago.

Adding to this pressure is lingering concern that some donors may still be confused about whether they can donate blood after receiving their COVID-19 vaccination, leading them to delay donations unnecessarily.

As well, the number of donors arriving for scheduled appointments has been steadily dropping since February, according to the press release.

In that month, the attendance rate was 80 percent.

In March, that dropped to 77 percent, and in midApril, it was at 73 percent.

According to the press release: • Patient usage is a record high 18 percent above normal, resulting in 500 additional units distributed in the past seven days. Types O positive and A positive are especially in demand.

• The community’s blood supply is currently 1,700 units below operational levels, meaning

only an emergency 24-hour supply of all blood types is available to hospitals.

• Type O is short 900 units, and Type A positive is short 600 units, leaving empty shelves.

• It normally takes 1,000 donors every day to maintain an operational blood supply in western Washington and Oregon to respond to routine needs for blood and emergencies.

According to the press release, there is no reason to delay donating blood after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

Bloodworks Northwest urges community members of all blood types to book appointments at donor centers and pop-up blood drives in the coming weeks.

Most people in good health, at least 18 years old and who weigh at least 110 pounds can donate whole blood every 56 days.

Information about who can donate can be found at www.bloodworksnw.org.

To find pop-up blood drives coming up, go to www.bloodworksnw.org/donate/find-mobileblood-drive, or call 800-398-7888.

In Seattle, Bloodworks Northwest has two donor centers where people can make appointments: • 921 Terry Ave., Seattle, 206-292-6500.

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PARK, FROM PAGE 2 around the huge log boom in the cut where old houseboats ended up in Lake Union. On the north side by the University of Washington stadium was a garbage dump.

“All the UW property between Hec Edmundson Pavilion and U. Village, and between Lake Washington and Montlake Boulevard, was once the destination for 66 percent of Seattle’s garbage,” according to a University of Washington webpage on the landfill, https://green.uw.edu/ news/landfill-old-problem-now.

From the water, hidden in the cattails, we watched people try to back small trailers of refuse while others yelled, “No! Turn the other way!” The language was a bit much for us youngsters.

All that is left today of that dumping area is pipes poking above ground emitting methane gas from fumes far below. Despite it being a dump, the water was so clear we could see the debris on the bottom of the cut.

“The landfill — commonly referred to as the Montlake or Ravenna landfill — was operated from 1926 to 1966, and was Seattle’s largest dump until, in 1966, it was covered and the UW began to build,” according to the University of Washington webpage on the landfill.

Not having had a chance to put our sea skills to test, we decided on our third adventure.

From Madison Park dock, you could see big ships anchored or tied to pilings off the shores of Bellevue. This would be an open water charter, but being our 12-footer had little free board, only smooth seas would work.

This could also be an all-nighter.

It was a perfect Friday night.

As the sun set west, we entered the lake under darkness on still waters eastward to our first open water experience. Midway, we stopped and listened to the total silence on the lake. We drew closer to an old three-masted schooner that was listing to one side and were amazed by its size — much larger than in any

movie. Cruising around it, we saw a rope and wooden steps hanging from the first deck. Fortunately, the ship tilted on the ladder side, making it an easier climb. It was still a long way up.

With sleeping bags on our backs, flash lights and snacks, we climbed aboard. We dared each other by flipping coins who would be the first to climb the large ropes about as big as our hands to the crow’s nest just three sails away.

The fortunate one started off.

How lucky he was. Imagine the view! He did not climb as fast as actors in movies, and those guys did it with swords in their mouths. We all laughed nervously; he made it, but only half way to the first sail. He said later he kept looking at us and how little our boat looked. I wondered if he fell would he just fall through our boat and surface untouched like in the movies.

Well, so much for that, let’s go below deck. Flash lights in hand, we walked down some rickety stairs almost to the first landing when we heard something run through the shallow water. A few more steps and we were back on the main deck not feeling heroic.

Before bedding down, we jammed the hatch just in case whatever ran through the water decided to go topside.

Early pre-dawn after a light sleep, we feasted and cruised around the other ships. There was little need to be quiet as there were few houses to be seen. One vessel sat a little below the water line. We climbed aboard while trying not to be seen. Another boat resembled an old tug boat.

All of these boats would be moved once fuel became available.

There were many inactive boats and ships, but also in various neighborhoods, cars and trucks were stilled. Carpools were the only way to transport and had to be by permit.

This voyage was somewhat uneventful but was great for showand-tell at school. The adventures continued when we heard about the Sammamish Slough.

To be continued…

4

May 2021

Inspiration from a giant

Sun Valley Idaho

By Steve Lorton Tree Talk

S

pruces, the genus Picea, have always seemed somehow out of place in our mild, moist, often-overcast weather west of the Cascades.

Spruces are a prime conifer for high altitudes and dry climates with cold winters. It’s a familiar picture on December or January calendar pages: one steel blue Colorado spruce (Picea pungens) standing to the front of a group of pines and other dark green spruces, lit by the sun above a carpet of snow. It’s a spectacle.

Here, however, the same carefully chosen spruce cultivar must be set alone, in full light, and still it never seems to pop with comparable brilliance. Ergo, we tend to dismiss the spruce and stage our garden theatrics with other conifers.

That changed for me, recently.

I’m thinking a lot about spruces these days.

On a trip to the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula in early April, I followed a path that led to what is said to be the world’s largest Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis).

Winding through the wilderness, I suddenly found myself before it. There I stood at the base of a Sitka spruce that was more than 1,000 years old.

Think of that! It was a seedling during the Norman conquest, 750-plus years old during the American Revolution. I sat down on its massive roots, feeling that I was in a holy place. Had this tree been in Japan, shrines would have been built at the trailhead; pilgrims would silently walk to it; bells would ring, and chants would be heard, as incense wafted through the air, eclipsed by the pungent scent of the forest itself.

It was a religious experience, and I cannot get that tree out of my mind.

Gardeners seem to develop through series of obsessions. Most of us have gone through the hellebore or heuchera phase, perhaps scented geraniums, maybe Japanese maples. OK, I just fell into the spruce rabbit hole. It has made me reflect.

Years ago I wrote about the legendary Oregon gardener Jane Platt. In her Portland rock garden she had planted a low, creeping groundcover piece pungens “Glauca Procumbens.”

It sprawled among a grouping of flat — in fact, reflective — rocks. She had chosen this plant for its vivid, silvery-blue color.

[Keep in mind, named varieties can differ in color and even form, just as siblings may or may not look alike.]

Full and lush, this spruce hugged the ground in a loose and wonderfully near-flat circle. The kicker was, under it, Jane had planted a creeping Scotch broom, Genista pilosa “Vancouver Gold.”

This broom is deciduous, but the bright green branches poking-up through the silvery spruce made

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Photo courtesy Steve Lorton Steve Lorton stands in front of a Sitka spruce in the Olympic Peninsula rainforest that is said to be the world’s largest. It is more than 1,000 years old.

“Gardeners seem to develop through series of obsessions. Most of us have gone through the hellebore or heuchera phase, perhaps scented geraniums, maybe Japanese maples. OK, I just fell into the spruce rabbit hole.” a lovely contrast in winter. When the plant leafed-out, it was even more vivid, and when it bloomed an electric yellow, the combination went from excellent to profound!

Dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca albertiana “Conica”) grows into a handsome, almost lime green, cone that can reach 6 to 8 feet in height with a 4- to 5-foot spread in 35 years.

Grown in full sun and where it is open to our rainfall, it is seldom plagued with the spider mites that bedevil it in drier climates. If they do infest your plant, a long, strong blast of water from the hose, up, down, all around and into the interior of the plant, knocks them out and keeps the spruce happily moist and inhospitable to the mites.

Long ago, I found an almost turquoise Colorado spruce on a nursery lot. It was marked Picea pungens “Blue Totem.” I planted it facing south and west at my house in the north Cascades.

Then, with good luck, in a wacky moment, I planted a clematis durandii next to it.

Over a 25-year period, that clematis has crawled up and through the spruce.

In leaf, it embellished the twiggy, stiffly-needled branches of the spruce. Neighbors come to see this combination when the clematis is in flower with its large, four-petaled blossoms, colored on the lavender side of periwinkle blue.

I don’t credit any horticultural brilliance to this planting. It’s the product of dumb luck.

As I cruise the internet, I see that the Oregon wholesale outlet Iseli Nursery, famous for their conifers, offers dozens of gorgeous spruces. It’s worth looking at their website and then speaking with your nursery owner to see if they can order what you like. Check out the blue spire-forming Picea pungens “Iseli Fastigiate.”

So now, I’m off to find a source for the native Sika spruce to plant at my upper Skagit property. One day that tree will reach nearly 200 feet in height.

I want my great, great, great ... offspring to stand before something as awe-inspiring as what I’ve recently seen in the Quinault Rainforest.

I want them to feel that religious connection with nature that I felt, that near-trembling sensation of being part of the earth. I’m counting on that.

I fully expect to be a waft of mist perched up there in those limbs, smiling down on them, helping them as they garden, guided by the spirit of the spruce.

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May 2021

Pacific Publishing Company – Queen Anne & Magnolia News • Madison Park Times

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Prepare your body for more activity now O nce we all receive our COVID-19 vaccines and warmer weather arrives in the Seattle area, we will hopefully all be moving around more.

Some of us might enjoy more walking. Some may do more sporting. Others may try new activities. In time, COVID-19 cases will fall and our activity levels will spike, so then how should we all prepare to be significantly more active? By starting now.

While our muscles can easily recover from a sudden spike in activity with a couple of days of rest, persistent and sudden increases in activity can result in joint injuries and tendon injuries of insidious onset that can sideline us for months. Preparing for these movements early is the key to having an active and healthy summer in Seattle.

So here are some tips to help you prepare for all types of activities and an uptick in activity over the coming months. Whether you have been working from home, or you have been exercising every day, there are a few key

things to consider and some tips to help you plan.

Measure your activities by using rate of perceived exertion.

Dr. Dan Michael Take Northwest Sports Mary for example.

Mary is a 50-year-old female who enjoys going for walks three days per week for 30 minutes and plays tennis three days per week for 60 minutes each (two doubles and one singles play). Mary should rate each activity for its average RPE on a 0 to 10 scale, with 10 being the most difficult activity imaginable, and then multiply that average RPE number times the number of minutes of that activity.

So, for example, if her 60-minute walks were a 4/10 RPE, her exercise load could be calculated

“Good performances take months and years to build up to, and, as our bodies age, consistent movement with progressive challenge becomes even more important.” to be 240 units. This calculation can be performed for her tennis sessions or any other bout of exercise, giving Mary a weekly exercise load score.

The goal here is first to track all your activities. The next goal would then be to increase the exercise load by around 10 percent per week.

This might seem easy, and, yes, it probably will feel easy, but some body parts don’t tell you when they are being over-worked, like tendons, ligaments and joints, unlike your muscles, heart and lungs, which do recover quickly after a strenuous effort, usually returning back to feeling good within a few days.

Taking a slow, gradual approach will give your entire body the time it needs to lay a solid foundation,

while increasing the load by 10 percent a week will provide incremental stimulus for continuous improvement.

Be consistent, not heroic.

Being a weekend warrior might feel good in the moment, but it is risky behavior if you want to be consistent and injury free.

Good performances take months and years to build up to, and, as our bodies age, consistent movement with progressive challenge becomes even more important.

Think about playing today so that you can play tomorrow, but if you do have to be heroic, you will at least have a history of consistency that your body can draw from instead of asking your body to “write checks it can’t cash” so …

Use the “ball in a jar” method.

The “ball in a jar” method is a metaphor for consistency and quality. Every day you make your own ball, which represents the physical activity that you have done today, to be placed in the jar at the end of the day.

This jar is large, and it contains every ball from every day from the past 12 months. When a physical challenge presents itself, you must tap into your body’s reserves and take a ball at random out of the jar to “pay” for that challenge.

If you have been consistent, and you have had high-quality activities, you will meet the physical challenge with a “good ball” without difficulty.

The idea is that, if you approach daily activity with this method in mind, you will begin to understand what kind of daily activity you must do now, so that you can do whatever you want to do later.

— Dr. Dan Michael is a chiropractic physician at NW Sports Rehab, 1929 43rd Ave. E., in Madison Park. Call 206-3285466 for more information.

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May 2021

Available housing a setback in solving region’s homelessness

By Jessica Keller

QA&Mag News editor According to two researchers familiar with homelessness and housing in the Puget Sound, one of the biggest obstacles keeping residents, community organizations and governments from addressing the problem is a lack of understanding what is causing the dilemma in the first place.

In “The Real Cause — Homelessness in Seattle,” Kollin Min, formerly of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Dr. Gregg Colburn, of the University of Washington, shared their insights on what explains the homelessness situation in Seattle and what can be done to improve the situation, during a virtual presentation, April 21.

Min, who is an attorney with more than 20 years experience in nonprofit, governmental and private sectors, said he’s lived in Seattle for the past 30 years and has been working on housing homelessness issues for most of that time. The problem with homelessness is as bad as it has ever been, he said.

Many people, Min said, have different ideas on what the problem behind homelessness is, such as drug addiction, mental illness, social services that are too generous and drawing people from other parts of the country, a lack of shelter beds or permanent housing.

“And unless you’re careful and really follow the data and the evidence, and dig deep to understand what is happening, then I think that you set the conditions for the kinds of paralysis that we’re seeing in our region today,” Min said.

“You have communities that spend money on one set of solutions, and when they don’t work, they’re considered a failure, and you wonder why nothing is changing, and so, without a common diagnosis for what’s really causing the problem, it’s very hard to come up with meaningful solutions, particularly on a problem that’s as complicated and as multi-faceted as homelessness,” he added.

Min said, with their presentation, they hoped people will have a better idea about what is actu-

ally causing homelessness and create deeper discussion in Seattle to come up with solutions that work.

AccordGregg ing to his bio, Min is a Colburn former senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation leading the Puget Sound Family Homelessness Initiative, a 10-year study conducted by the foundation that examKollin Min ined family homelessness.

He previously served as the Seattle/Washington state director for Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., a national nonprofit housing intermediary.

Min said the initiative on family homelessness conducted by the Gates Foundation aimed at decreasing homelessness by increasing outflow of families into permanent housing.

One of things researchers studied, Min said, was what measures were in place to help families experiencing homelessness and what was most effective in getting them out.

One thing researchers learned early on is that, while the counties had many good programs to help families experiencing homelessness, few of them were coordinated.

Another finding, he said, was that agencies weren’t doing a good job differentiating the needs between families experiencing homelessness. He said researchers learned that some families needed fewer intervention and services to successfully transition into permanent housing as initially thought.

In those cases, conditions placed on receiving help only delayed people entering permanent housing and were not an effective use of resources.

During the study, there was also

“ You have communities that spend money on one set of solutions, and when they don’t work, they’re considered a failure, and you wonder why nothing is changing, and so, without a common diagnosis for what’s really causing the problem, it’s very hard to come up with meaningful solutions, particularly on a problem that’s as complicated and as multi-faceted as homelessness.”

— Kollin Min, Former senior program officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation a culture shift made to get agencies to carefully record different data and use that information to make best decisions on investments.

“We are a very data-driven organization at the Gates Foundation, and we wanted the counties to really up their game in terms of understanding the tools they had available for them to make better decisions about how they invested resources,” Min said.

Even after the improvements and efficiencies were made, however, Min said, at the end of the study, researchers had not anticipated that the number of families experiencing homelessness at the beginning of the study in 2009 would increase as much as it did over the last decade.

In his presentation, Colburn, who is an assistant professor at the University of Washington College of Built Environments, Department of Real Estate, discussed the causes of homelessness.

Colburn is also a member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Family Homelessness Evaluation Committee and co-chair of the University of Washington’s Homelessness Research Initiative.

Colburn shared some of the conclusions he made about the cause of homelessness based on research included in a soon-to-be-

released book, “Homelessness is a Housing Problem,” he co-wrote with Clayton Aldern. The book explores the “substantial variation rates in homelessness apparent in cities across the United States,” according to Colburn’s bio.

In their book, the pair analyzed different factors frequently attributed to contributing to homelessness, such as mental illness, and determined how much of an impact they actually had.

In answering the question of what causes homelessness, Colburn said, “It depends.”

Rather than identifying specific social factors, such as divorce and separation, as the root cause of homelessness, he considers those as potentially precipitating events that lead to a bout of homelessness.

“Because if divorce and separation were the true root cause of homelessness, we should have far more homelessness, given that 50 percent of all marriages end up in divorce,” he said.

Colburn used a game of musical chairs as an analogy in determining what the root cause of a problem is, as opposed to just contributing factors. Rather than attribute one player’s loss of his chair in the game to a broken foot being on crutches, Colburn said, really, the root cause is not enough

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Colburn said there is no doubt that mental illness, drug addiction, poverty and other factors contribute to people’s individual homelessness.

“But the challenge then is, why do those conditions: drug use, mental illness and poverty, manifest themselves as homelessness in some locations but not necessarily in all locations?” Colburn said. “Because if they are the root cause of homelessness, then we should see high rates of homelessness wherever there are high rates of drug use, mental illness and poverty, for example.”

Based on his research, however, which he reviewed in the presentation, that is not the case, and neither are other arguments given as causes as homelessness.

Essentially, Colburn said, the root cause of homelessness comes down to available affordable housing, or in Seattle’s case, not enough of any housing.

While Colburn and Min didn’t provide an easy pathway to solving the homeless crisis in Seattle, they did suggest more housing of all types could offer the best results.

“This is a problem we can solve,” Colburn said. “Poverty is really tough. Racism is really tough, but this is something we can solve.”

The presentation was a part of the Initiative on Community Engagement series, hosted by members of the Queen Anne Community Council.

To learn more about Colburn’s research and his book, visit https://homelessnesshousingproblem.com/. For more information about housing in King County, www.mckinsey.com/ industries/public-and-socialsector/our-insights/why-doesprosperous-king-county-have-ahomelessness-crisis. To watch a recording of the video on Youtube, go to https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=yo8QoMqyotU. social emotional academic artistic

exceptional programs waddler toddler preschool pre-kindergarten

The MLK F.A.M.E. Center) Community Center, is a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to provide facilities for the residents of the greater King County communities and to engage in recreational, social, educational, cultural, community service, civic, and governmental activities. The Center provides opportunities for persons of all ages, races, cultures and ethnic groups to participate in a wide range of programs that educate and stimulate the public, enhance self-confidence, and promote mental and physical health.

MLK Fame Community Center 3201 East Republican Street, Seattle, WA 98112 (206) 257-5572 | www.mlkfame.com | mlkcommunitycenter@gmail.com

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Admissions@HarvardAvenueSchool.com HarvardAvenueSchool.com

May 2021

Pacific Publishing Company – Queen Anne & Magnolia News • Madison Park Times

AUTHOR, FROM PAGE 1 coming into class, compared with other topics, like mythology and author Rick Riordan’s fantasy books incorporating myths and mythology.

“I think the human body is something kids aren’t as savvy on as they are with other things,” McCormick said.

While the seed for “The Antidote” was planted in a middle school science class, it actually didn’t blossom until years later, but before the coronavirus pandemic.

The book took two years to write, McCormick said, as she was still a practicing gastroenterologist when she began. She retired last year, as did her husband, who is also a doctor, to pursue other goals and interests.

“We had a lot of things we wanted to do,” she said. “One of the things I wanted to do was write more.”

In addition to “The Antidote,” McCormick has published three other books.

She self-published her first book, “Granny Can’t Remember Me,” after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s to help explain the illness and dementia to children.

Her next two books launched her cozy murder mystery series, “The Fog Ladies,” which feature “spunky senior sleuths and an overtired medical intern” who live in an apartment building in San Francisco, which consequently is where McCormick launched her medical career. Her third “Fog Ladies” book is due to come out this October.

She is also working on a thriller, which will be set in Leschi, as well as her fourth Fog Ladies book. McCormick said she has not ruled out writing another children’s book or dipping into other genres, but she will always return to her original series because she is attached to the characters

“ You sit there and write, and magical things get created.

Because of all that spontaneity, all that magic, all that fun, I love that first draft.”

— Susan McCormick Local author she has created and loves the cozy mystery genre.

“I love my Fog Ladies, so they have to continue on,” she said.

While other authors develop their own style and process for writing books, McCormick starts out with a loose outline when writing but leaves a lot undeveloped.

She said she doesn’t like to plot out too much of the story arc ahead of time because she likes to see where her imagination and creativity take her.

Her favorite part of the process is writing the first draft, McCormick said, when she takes that kernel of an idea and puts it on to paper.

“You sit there and write, and magical things just get created,” she said. “Because of all that spontaneity, all that magic, all that fun, I love that first draft.”

In the second and following drafts, using her editor’s suggestions as a guide, McCormick takes a critical look at her writing, making additions or tightening up the text, tying up loose ends and “giving up all your favorite words.”

“So while I love the first draft, and I could write a first draft all day long, all those other drafts are painfully tedious but necessary,” McCormick said.

When she is not writing, McCormick is active in the world of authors, expand-

ing her knowledge by attending writing conferences, and participating in a podcast with other authors locally.

“The more you know how other people do it, the more you see ways to do it yourself,” she said.

McCormick said that is a good practice for all writers, including those who are just starting out.

The best advice she has to offer young or new authors in the making is to just carve out the time and sit down and write.

Starting each session with a smile and a positive attitude, even on challenging days, is also key.

Before she retired and the coronavirus pandemic, McCormick said she would wake up early before her family, and write.

To this day, when she gets stuck she clears her head by going for a run.

She also takes inspiration wherever and whenever it comes to her, even in the middle of the night. Frequently her ideas are not fully developed when they come to her, and can percolate for a long time, even years, before they take off.

“So the kernel just sits in there and festers for a bit until you finally say, ‘Oh I’m going to do something with it now,’ ” she said.

She also said authors should not expect to be picked up by a large publishing company, either.

While the publishing world is changing, and the number of large publishing houses becoming fewer, this is actually a good time to become a new author, McCormick said, especially for people taking the self-publication route, like she did with “Granny Can’t Remember Me.” “There are a lot more ways to get your book out there than there used to be,” she said.

People interested in buying McCormick’s books can do so through a number of ways,

Music and performance returns to Museum of Pop Culture with the 20th annual 21-and-under music showcase Courtesy MoPop

Seattle’s nonprofit Museum of Pop Culture prepares for the Pacific Northwest’s 20th annual premier 21-and-under music showcase, Sound Off !

This year’s showcase features eight artists from Everett, Federal Way, Issaquah, Puyallup, Seattle, Shoreline, Tacoma and West Seattle in a virtual presentation from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. May 15. Details and pay-what-you-can tickets are available now at MoPOP.org/ soundoff.

In the past, Sound Off ! has taken place over the course of six weeks with a handful of lively in-person, competitive live music performance experiences.

With social distancing and safety at heart, MoPOP opted to do away with the competition and move the showcase to a virtual concert format, which allows the program to reach a far wider audience online and gives program producers the opportunity to tell

deeper stories about each artist and their craft.

This year’s artists are: Aurora Avenue, West Seattle Aurora Avenue is proof that necessity is the mother of invention.

Forming a few months into the pandemic, the J-pop-influenced indie outfit with a 3-piece horn section has honed their bright pop songs in backyards and under carports. A culmination of the diverse music tastes of its members, Aurora Avenue blends their influences seamlessly into a sprawling, unique sound.

Trevor Eulau, Seattle Trevor Eulau is a composer and guitarist based in Seattle, Washington. He is equally at home in the classical, jazz and pop realms, writing music for string quartets, voice, jazz combos and rock/pop bands. Above all else, Trevor makes music that is visceral and that freely combines ideas from his disparate musical

7

Courtesy Susan McCormick Madrona resident Susan McCormick’s fourth book,‘The Antidote,’ is now available for purchase. The book is a departure from her others and is a fantasy book for middle schoolers and older. including placing an order through a book store, off Amazon, at Third Place Books in Ravenna and at Leschi Market.

“They support neighborhood writers, which is very fun,” McCormick said.

People can also order books from her website, www.susanmccormickbooks.com, which also more information about her books and links to different webpages and interviews.

backgrounds.

the present moment.

CANNXN, Tacoma CANNXN is all about blurring the lines between glitter and grunge. Mixing high-energy guitar riffs with sparkling synths and vocal melodies, their music transcends the pop genre by creating something organic. Starting as the solo project of Megan Cannon, CANNXN has since evolved to a collaboration between friends who want to capture lighting in a bottle.

Kiddus Fecto, Federal Way The first thing you hear when Kiddus Fecto takes the stage is the deep bass of his voice, and though he immediately commands a space when he sings, you’re also drawn into the depth of his craft as a songwriter, producer, and performer Swinging naturally between hip hop and R&B, and fiercely devoted to the music community, Kiddus lifts his listeners up.

Aurelio Valdez, Everett Aurelio Valdez is a MexicanAmerican, Seattle-born hip hop artist with a potent style. With songs about a range of topics, spanning from politics and history to identity and his upbringing, Aurelio’s music focuses on what it means to truly embody hip hop culture by empowering himself and his people. Influenced heavily by those who pioneered the culture such as Nas, 2pac, and KRS One, his alluring lyrics provoke thought with every track.

Brenna Bruce, Issaquah Brenna Bruce captures a folk sound that makes you nostalgic for voices from the past. Moved by the honest writing and soothing melodies of Americana, she is inspired by the universality of telling stories through song and sound.

She has one of those voices that captures all the air in the room, leaving the listeners stunned, curious, and viscerally connected to

Sundust, Seattle Rooted in Seattle, electronic duo Sundust combines the intensity of dance music and the melodicism of orchestral music to create new, yet accessible sonic landscapes.

Building upon danceable beats, Xander Johns and Sam Clement lay down dazzling synth lines with bright bursts of saxophone and vocal melodies into songs that are impossible not to move to.

Lexi Lalauni, Puyallup Lexi Lalauni describes herself as a dreamer, lover, singer, songwriter, and performer. Her soaring, dynamic voice and contemplative lyrics show that she is all those things and more.

Drawing inspiration from the natural world and a desire to connect directly to her listeners, Lexi’s mix of dream pop and indie style invites listeners along for a musical adventure.

8

May 2021

Once we know what you love, we won’t stop until you have it.

All in, for you.

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