Festive Fun with... Camilla Downs

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Camilla Downs back to the blog for the latest Festive Fun with... feature. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m mom to two beautiful people, 20 year old Lillian, and 16 year old Thomas. We live in the high desert of Northern Nevada, USA, next door to Northern California, and about 20 minutes from gorgeous Lake Tahoe.

I love going for walks, taking nature photographs, reading, and going for swims and soaks in our community’s year round pool and jacuzzi. I’m a Shared Living Provider for my special needs daughter, and volunteer 18p- Coordinator for The Chromosome 18 Registry & Research Society. 

My son and I are fans of the Star Wars and Marvel movies and series. We have movie night at least once a week, using a projector, and projecting onto our living room wall. It’s like being in a theater in the comfort of our own home. Lillian enjoys taking nature photographs with me when we’re out for walks. We have many memories of walks, with hundreds of nature photographs. 

Describe your ideal Christmas.
My kids and I would spend Christmas week in a cozy cottage in the forest. I would wake to find a steady flow of plump snowflakes falling, the ground covered in a sparkling, thick layer of snow. While the kids are still sleeping, I sit in front of the fire, with a view of the trees, my hands wrapped around a mug of hot coffee, made from freshly ground beans. I spend time reading while taking in the beauty of the moment. 

Later in the day, after gifts have been exchanged, we bundle ourselves, going for a breathtaking walk amongst the snow covered trees. When we return we unbundle, slip into bathing suits, and have a soak in the warm, relaxing jacuzzi. We end the day by watching a favorite movie before drifting into a peaceful, restful sleep.

Author Interview: Camilla Downs

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Camilla Downs to the blog to talk about her book of poetry Words of Alchemy.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your writing journey started?
Hi Sharon! Thank you for having me on your lovely blog. I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi and Houma, Louisiana, moving to the Seattle, Washington area when I was 19-years-old. The next move in 2006 took me and my two kids to Reno, in Northern Nevada, where we currently live. We absolutely love living here. I enjoy going for walks, writing, reading, and taking photographs of nature. 

I’ve been single parenting Thomas and Lillian since they were one year old and five years old. They are now 14 and 18. I have homeschooled them for the past 4 years, with Lillian graduating June 2019. Thomas and Lillian each have a published book, with my 2nd book being published December 2019.

I loved writing when in elementary school, but I don’t remember being incredibly encouraged by the teachers and adults around me, perhaps even discouraged with the red marks and comments on my writings. So, I did not pursue it, except for writing in a personal diary. I had several traumatic occurrences as a child, and I must have intuitively known that writing in a diary would help in some way. 

When I divorced in 2007, something told me that I needed to learn about this popular online writing tool called blogging. This began my journey of learning all I could about blogging, blogging platforms, and social media tools. At this time another shift happened, in that I felt an intuitive nudge to begin sharing my life experiences publicly via blogging and social media. I began to write and share life narratives, with a shift to free-verse poetry beginning in 2012.

What attracted you to writing poetry and where do you get your inspiration?
I didn’t set out to write poetry, an accidental poet, perhaps? I began an incredibly deep and profound healing journey after my divorce. A major part of the healing was going for walks, lots and lots of walks, allowing nature to help me in healing. When in nature, poetic words would simply bubble to the surface of my thoughts. That was the original inspiration. Following this, I began to receive intuitive nudges to take photographs while on these walks. So began the practice of taking nature photographs and posting on social media. One day I sat to look through the photos, choosing one to share, and as I began to type the accompanying message, a poem landed on the page! It was incredibly magical.