Spotlight on Creator Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Over the course of this month I want to take a moment to shine a spotlight on some of the creators who have signed up for this year’s Giftmas Create-A-Thon. I think it’s really easy to get caught up in the numbers of, like, how many donations, and how much money is raised — and obviously that is important. But it’s also really important to celebrate the people who have signed up to participate in this fundraiser in an attempt to leave the world better than they found it.

Today’s spotlight is on Laura VanArendonk Baugh

🙂

What made you sign-up for the Create-A-Thon?
I signed up for the Create-a-Thon because I’ve participated in Giftmas for at least 10 years now, and I think it’s important to be involved in charity events–always and in general, but also especially right now as I perceive so much hate, division, and more that makes community hard. I’m trying very hard to remember that I follow a faith of love and light, even to those who work against us, and additionally I feel the burden of knowing so many are hijacking that to cover their own ambitions, and sometimes the best I can do is just to do a Right Thing and hope the rest follows. (Sorry — I didn’t mean to get a little intense when I started this answer…but I’m going to write and do what I need to believe.)​

What is your favourite or least favourite thing about the month of November?
There’s no month I really hate in the year (though if we’re honest, February doesn’t seem to have much going for it). But November would never top a list of favorites. In my neck of the woods, November can start with some glorious color left from October’s foliage display, and some lovely slanted sunlight and crisp temperatures, but then it quickly turns into a mass of brown: dead leaves, their colors faded or simply the last to drop without offering color first, and then rain and mud when the shifting climate cannot commit to snow. Yards fill with plastic Santas and half-inflated Grinches, ridiculous in the muddy rain and silly in their petrochemical incarnation of a commercialized sentiment. It’s easy to feel depressed and cynical.

But it’s not always as bad as I can make it sound. Business slows down a little as people get distracted with the holiday rush, and I can gorge on favorite foods, and I love the Christmas lights, even the early ones.

Can you tell us a bit about your goal?
I’ve been a longtime participant in NaNoWriMo, so ordinarily I’d have a goal of 50k words for November. This year, however, I started November in the mountains of Japan, backpacking along an old route from the early Edo period. (Don’t be terribly impressed; it was a series of day hikes with comfortable evening lodging, rather than a completely backcountry hike in which I camped each night. But I did hike through bear country and see monkeys, so it counts!) I knew that would put me well behind on any similar word count goal, so I chose a much smaller number, which also meant I could also do some editing without feeling like I was sacrificing writing time for fresh words.

But so I wouldn’t feel the mountain time was “wasted,” and because I want to improve my social media offerings, I determined also to make some short travelogue videos to share. These won’t be in depth dives, because I don’t have the computer to edit much video, but I hope they will be a bit of fun and education for you! So please follow me and check them out! (And of course, no hike is ever “wasted.” My latest novel was set on an ancient Japanese pilgrimage trail I hiked in 2022, and even if I don’t turn the experience into a book, hiking and forest bathing is a hugely beneficial experience in many ways, and more in a cross-cultural setting, and a much-needed mental recharge.)