Question for 2009: What can you do as a writer to leave less of an eco-footprint on the world?

Answer – plenty. While every suggestion will not work for every person, one or two small steps can actually help.

Paper and pens are two of the most basic office tools, but while we’ve been recycling paper and using recycled paper for years, pens have mostly gotten left out of the recycling picture. Enter BeGreen pens, which are sold in packaging made from recycled materials. You can find the BeGreen line at major office supply stores and national retailers including Office Depot, Office Max, Staples and Target. Add Pilot’s BeGreen line and the pen is now greener than the sword. (Unless we’re talking about recycled swords, which is a whole different story).

ForestChoice® pencils are manufactured from the finest California Incense-cedar wood, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council to have originated from environmentally well-managed forests. ForestChoice® now offers consumers a high-quality writing instrument that demonstrates a serious commitment to the environment.

And then, there are pencil sharpeners. Do you really need an electric or battery pencil sharpener? No.

We’ve been using rescycled paper for years (at least we should have been) and now by adding the eco-friendly lights bulbs when we can, we’re on our way.

Other things we, as writers, can do to help include”

• Take “no tech” days. Writers, especially web writers, spend a whole lot of time online which means they’re spending time using up energy. Turn off (and unplug) computers and other electronic devices.
• Get into green computing. There are many different ways that you can make your computer more environmentally friendly. Get an energy-efficient computer; refill ink cartridges instead of sending them to the landfill; do all the day’s printing at once and keep the printer unplugged the rest of the day. These little things add up to big energy savings.
• Submit your next manuscript electronically whenever possible. Even my publisher, Avalon, is getting into this submission policy.
• Reduce the number of mailings you send out by using an electronic query whenever possible.
• Swap one regular promotional mass mailing in favor of an electronic mailing
• Skip one cross-country convention and do an online conference instead
• Switch from press kits and full-sized mailers to postcards
• Make one book appearance–or tour–a virtual tour online
• Use solar rechargers for equipment like your PDA, cell phone, MP3 player
• Reuse/recycle writing equipment/computers by using the Freecycle Network rather than just trashing them than buying new and trashing.

The Freecycle Network is wonderful. You can post anything you don’t want on it and before you know it someone else does! They even come pick it up. A friend of mine got all new kitchen cabinets because a woman didn’t like the cabinets she custom ordered once they got in her kitchen remodel. You can’t charge for anything on the Freecycle network, but that is made up in the fact that the unused item is gone from your house.

The URL is .www.freecycle.org. A screen will come up and ask for your town that then lists all the freecycle networks in your area.

Take one step, take them all. But let’s all try something to help.

Happy Green Writing in 2009

Kathye Quick
Cynthia and Constantine – Beyond Camelot – The Wild Rose Press
digital 2/09, print 3/09
Grandmother’s Rings – 3-book series contemporary from Avalon Books
Amethyst 8/09, Sapphire 12/09, Citrine early 2010

Sources –

I-Planet shopping, 8Waysto Green your Writing, the Green Writing Challenge, Writing Green/Planet Books

Believe it or not, the concept for Cynthia and Constantine, my new release from the Wild Rose press, sprang up during a season of American Idol.   

I work for county government and we have several satellite offices around the county.  Once a month seven of us get together to have lunch.  We call it the Lusty Ladies Lunch Group.  Other times we keep in touch via email. 

During this particular season, Bo Bice and Constantine Maroulis were competing.  Two of the Lusties choose these guys as their favorites.  While we didn’t agree on who should win that season, we did all agree that they had ‘romance book cover’ hair; the long and flowing kind of hair usually depicted on Knights in Shinning Armor on historical romances. 

After one particularly hot and heavy day of emailing (after our constituents were served, of course) I went home and wrote a small piece about a knight meeting his ladylove.  The next day I sent it off to the Lusties and got requests for more.  Well one thing lead to another and I began to serialize a story about Bo and Constantine as knights in the Arthurian days.    I named my hero Constantine and his lady was Cynthia, one of the Lusties.  I gave Sir Constantine a brother, Sir Braeden and named his lady, Jane, another Lustie.   

The story just evolved on a weekly basis with email scenes going back and forth until I had 100 pages.   

I thought that was the end of the adventure until I decided to flesh out Constantine and Cynthia’s story and turn it into a 55,000-word book.  I was fortunate enough to have the Wild Rose Press expressed interest in the novel and then publish it. 

And yes, you’ll either love this or hate this, but the antagonist of the story is named after one of the American Idol Judges.  I’m sure you can guess which. 

There will be a sequel to this book called Jane and Braeden because in the course of fleshing out the story so it would be long enough for a book, Jane’s character became an integral part of the story and now we need to hear her story also. 

The moral of this story is that you never know when or where inspiration is going to sneak up and bop you on the side of your head.    In my case it was with a microphone on Fox-TV.