• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Danika Dinsmore

Storyteller / Activist

  • Writings
    • White Forest Series
      • Brigitta of the White Forest (Book 1)
      • The Ruins of Noe (Book 2)
      • Ondelle of Grioth (Book 3)
      • Narine of Noe (Book 4)
      • Voyage from Foraglenn (Book 5)
      • Song from Afar (Book 6)
      • Omnibus Edition Vol. 1
      • Omnibus Edition Vol. 2
    • Poetry
      • 3:15
      • Her Red Book
      • Everyday Angels and Other Near-death Experiences
      • Between Sleeps
    • Other Words
      • Online Appearances
      • Reckoning Press
      • Now reShowing
      • And the start line is…
  • About
    • Bio
    • Interviews and Press
  • Events
  • Resources
  • C.A.R/E.

Inside Story on the Inside Passage – Part Two

August 29, 2009 by openchannel 3 Comments

I’ve never been on a cruise before. If I had been given a choice of vacations, it’s not the one I would have picked. And ironically, this was the year I was going to go to Burning Man. A cruise to Alaska is about as far away from that as I could get. Dara Marks thought it was funny, Burning Man vs. The Feminine Heroic (the name of her workshop on the cruise).

DSC01163

To tell you the truth, I find all this to be a bit surreal. Right now I’m sitting in the deck chair of a moving city, levitating above the ocean, staring out as the Canadian coast rolls by. When I’m in the belly of the ship, I feel like I’m inside an enormous hotel and easily forget we’re moving. I mean, there’s a casino, a library, a huge theatre, cinema, and miles of long halls that remind me of The Shining.

I’m in an inside cabin; not the original plan. The group did some trading around of rooms yesterday and I just said put me anywhere, I’m easy. If I ever in my lifetime take another cruise, I will not book an inside cabin. I realize some people get sick watching the world move by, but I get claustrophobic in a windowless room. So, a note of caution if you ever book a cruise and you’re at all uneasy in small spaces.

In any case, it was so dark and disorienting when I woke up this morning that when I hit deck 10 and saw the coastline, I started to cry. Okay, I tend to cry at the drop of a hat these days being pre-menopausal and all, but it was just so stunning. So much wild, untouched land. I was reminded, once again, that I’m part of something much larger than myself.

We all met up for the first time last night. Fourteen women workshop attendees and our fearless leaders: Dara Marks and Deb Norton. As we each introduced ourselves, Dara handed us a present: a workshop binder, journal, pens, crayons, coloured markers, and chocolate – all inside a beautifully decorated gift bag. We’re loving it already.

Most of us are over 40, but we’re not all writers. We have a few brave visual artists along for the ride. And even as writers, we have differing backgrounds. Dara’s background is in story development for screenplays and Deb is a playwright and theatre actor. The title of the course is Engaging the Feminine Heroic and the idea is not to negate the masculine side of story-telling, but to understand the differences and how to use them together for a fuller, deeper, richer story.

More on that later… right not it’s time to do my homework. 🙂

Ketchikan_20090831_0039

Filed Under: Archived Blog, serious play, workshops Tagged With: dara marks, engaging the feminine heroic, inside passage, inside story

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michelle Johnson says

    August 30, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    sounds like you’re having some mixed feelings about your cruise but loving the class thus far. i don’t think i’d like a room without a view either. hope you’re making lots of new friends and writing some good stuff. see ya at your next posting.

    Log in to Reply
  2. art predator says

    August 30, 2009 at 8:11 pm

    remember to set your alarm for the alst night of the 2009 :15 experiment! every night this year I have been HOME–how boring!

    have fun on your cruise–I’ve never been on one!

    Log in to Reply
  3. openchannel says

    September 5, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    Michelle,

    When I reread that it sounded a bit negative. You are right about mixed feelings about the cruise… because at times it was such an odd experience… but I do think cruises have their merit. There’s no shortage of things to do, that’s for sure, and they’re great for groups of people and families.

    The workshop was one of the best I’ve ever taken.

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Footer

AMAZON GOODREADS
  • Archived Blog
  • Contact
  • Credits
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© Copyright 2025 Danika Dinsmore • Developed with ♥ by Ming Liu

Manage Cookie Consent
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, check out their Cookie Policy & Privacy Policy
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}