Handling Crisis

April 15, 2020 by Karlissa Koop in Thoughts on Life

I believe even fictional stories have the power to teach us and alter how we see life.

The “Darkness before Dawn” collection has long been among my favourite story archs of Adventures in Odyssey, a long-running audio drama.

Near the beginning of this pandemic, I relistened to them with my husband. And the story spoke to me on a level it hadn’t before. (Spoiler alert going forward!)

In “Darkness before Dawn,” crazy things start happening around the town of Odyssey. Crime spikes suddenly. Scandal surrounds the mayor. The townspeople are left fearful and confused, and for the lead characters, things only seem to worsen as time goes on.

One character, Jack Allen, begins by counteracting the crimes with anonymous acts of kindness. But when this unexpectedly causes the criminals to become more violent, he takes a step back.

For the rest of the story, Jack is mostly in the background, praying.

When another character criticizes his inaction, he argues that he isn’t doing nothing. He believes there is a spiritual side to what’s going on: a battle that can’t be fought any other way, but through prayer.

Jack’s role had previously seemed to me rather uninteresting and a little odd. How does he connect a crime wave and political upheaval with a spiritual battle?

However, being in this pandemic, I heard his side of the story with new ears.

Things keep getting crazier. Death tolls rise. Laws become more strict. Political leaders are called into question.

There are many strategic ways we can fight what’s happening around us: whether we’re taking on the fear, the loneliness, any signs of injustice, or the virus itself. No doubt there are many strategies that are Biblical, logical, or fair.

But I realized that, whatever happens, first and foremost, I want to respond the way that Jack responded: with prayer. I want to be able to see the spiritual side of things. To keep God at the forefront of my mind. To sometimes put aside other plans that seem good, in favour of leaning on His input.

I know not everyone will see things the way I do. I’m learning to be at peace with that.

I’m also aware that there are conspiracy theories and spiritual theories swirling around this pandemic. I’m not talking about taking a side on whether Satan started the virus or whether this is judgement from God.

Rather, I’m wondering if we need to get back to the basics, to realign our priorities and focus: “Our Father in heaven, may your name be honoured. May your kingdom come. And may your will be done.”

This pandemic has changed many things. But it hasn’t changed the mission that Jesus gave us: to spread the story of his kingdom to all corners of the earth. Nor has it changed the fact that God is at work in the world. Or made obsolete the command to pray continually and to trust God over our own understanding.

I want to focus on how God can use this event. How is he changing me? What is he teaching me? What does he want me to do during this time? How is he teaching and changing and challenging his church?

When all this is over, how do we move on, while not forgetting the lessons he’s taught us, the people he’s opened our eyes to, and the actions he’s asked us to take?

I think it starts… with prayer.

Looking Back: First Book

January 09, 2020 by Karlissa Koop in Sneak Peaks, Thoughts on Life

Back in 2013, I published my very first book, Kingdom of Bats. A lot can change - and has changed - in seven years. I got married, had kids, and my writing style has evolved.

I decided to revisit that first book: rereading it and seeing whether my perspective on the story has changed over these seven years.

And… I found Kingdom of Bats to be a good book! But for different reasons than I expected.

The themes of good versus evil, and how the past affects the present, were what stood out to me.

A variety of bat species are introduced, along with other animals, creating a colourful and diverse world.

And I found the climax exciting and well-paced… even if it was too early on in the book!

It’s evident that this was my first published work, with my writing and storytelling less polished and developed than future works. It’s interesting to see how far I’ve come since then, and how much better I feel about how I wrote my most recent books, The Quest and The Loss.

Thank you to those of you who’ve shown an interest in the art contest: it sounds like some artists are hard at work on their pieces! Remember, the contest is currently open for submissions, and will close at the end of January.

My Moth

July 23, 2019 by Karlissa Koop in Thoughts on Life

The secret has been revealed! My moth eclosed on July 21, completing its life cycle. I released it the day it emerged, after I finished snapping off many photos of it (and before I’d gotten it identified).

The moth I reared from older caterpillar to adult was…

A Mouse Moth (Amphipyra tragopoginis)!

Possibly introduced from Europe (oops), these moths eat a variety of plants as caterpillars (mine just wanted dandelions, and lots of them). They can be identified by the triangle of black spots on each forewing.

According to ukmoths.org.uk, they may be called Mouse Moths because, when startled, they tend to run away like little mice instead of flying. That would fit with my experience while trying to re-catch it after I accidentally let it escape during its photo shoot.

All in all, raising that little caterpillar was a fun experience! And now I have a souvenir pupa skin to remember it by!

Caterpillars

July 08, 2019 by Karlissa Koop in Thoughts on Life

In addition to writing, I’ve been busy designing a brochure about butterflies and moths of Fort St John. During my research, I learned a little about rearing caterpillars, and thought it would be fun to try raising local caterpillars.

In a lot of cases, caterpillars aren’t as well-studied by scientists as the adults. That leaves room for fun discoveries! So I prayed the opportunity would come to rear a caterpillar, and kept my eyes open to the ground.

While walking up to Tim Horton’s during a rainstorm, I found a caterpillar crawling along the pavement. So I took it home. Believing it to be a cutworm of some kind (some of the adult moths are called ‘darts’), I gave it a home where it could dig, as cutworms spend a lot of time underground. It chewed off a ‘cutting’ of some clover, spent time underground and above, and seemed to be behaving like a cutworm should.

I did a little research, and learned that some cutworms in our area ‘estivate’ during mid-summer - essentially, this is the summer version of hibernation. It appeared to be doing that: hiding itself in the substrate and never coming up to eat.

Sadly, I don’t think I set up the conditions for estivation well; and the cutworm died and shriveled up. Caterpillars get their water from their food, so I’m guessing it dehydrated - maybe they estivate somewhere with a good amount of moisture to make up for their lack of eating during this period.

My disappointment over losing this caterpillar was mitigated by the fact I’d already found another in my yard by a dandelion. It ate well, devouring dandelion leafs, growing, and pooping a lot.

As you can see in the bottom photos, one day, I found it weaving itself a cocoon! It took about two days to finish the cocoon and then pupate. Now, I have a little pupa waiting to ‘eclose’ (emerge)!

I’m not sure what species it is… I had been assuming it was a sulphur butterfly, since I’ve seen those in our yard and they too have green caterpillars. But they don’t spin cocoons, and their pupa looks quite a bit different. I’ve researched, but still don’t know what it is… so I’ll get a fun surprise when it ecloses!

Assuming it does, of course. Things can still go wrong in the pupa stage, and the moth could die during transformation. But I’m hoping for the best.

From what I gather, the transformation usually takes a few weeks. If or when the moth ecloses, I’ll send it in to be identified by the professionals at BAMONA (Butterflies and Moths of North America), then let you know what kind of moth it is!

If you want to learn how to raise caterpillars, I’d recommend looking up “Bart Coppens butterflies.” He actually works mainly with moths, and rears both species that are exotic and ones that are native to his home in the Netherlands.

More Moths!

October 15, 2018 by Karlissa Koop in Thoughts on Life

I’ve been having fun discovering more about local moths, and thought it’d be worth giving an update!

Yes, Moth Week is long over; in fact, there’s a thin layer of snow on the ground and a chill in the air, warning of the looming return of winter. However, I’ve still managed to make some interesting discoveries in the last month or two.

One is the moth below.

Yes, that is a moth! Years ago when I took the photo, I wasn’t sure what it was. It was cool, and a bug, so worth photographing. But recently, I sent the photo below to BAMONA for identification.

This is a Linden Looper Moth (Erannis tiliaria), sometimes called a Winter Moth because of how late in the year they emerge as adults. I did a little research and discovered that the moth in the second photo (just above) is the male. And the weird bug in the first photo? It’s the female!

Yes, in some moths the females have no wings. She lays her eggs near where she grew up as a caterpillar - likely not far from where her mother laid her eggs. The males have wings so they can seek out the grounded females.

Another cool discovery I made is this species, the Cow Parsnip Borer Moth (Papaipema harrisii).

This one is special to me because my sighting of this species is the first verified sighting for it on BAMONA! It makes me proud that I could contribute it.

If you enjoy taking photos of bugs, and want to learn about the bugs you’ve found, I recommend getting an account with BAMONA (Butterflies and Moths of North America). It’s a simple way to participate in scientific research.

Want to find out more about some of the other moths I’ve photographed? I’ve finished putting together the beta version of a brochure called “A Few Butterflies and Moths of Fort St John.” I’ll be handing out these first copies to my ‘test audience,’ so I can get a good grasp on how best to improve the brochure for the second printing.

In addition, I printed a guide to local bats, which I’m excited to see arrive! Yes, it’ll hopefully be here just in time for Bat Week (the last week of October).

You can find out more about my local animal projects on my fsjcritters and fsjmoths pages.

Growing Where Planted

October 08, 2018 by Karlissa Koop in Thoughts on Life

Back in the summer of 2016, a lady from our church received an honourary Degree of Arts for the work she has done in Fort St John.

Our pastor recognized her accomplishment, and asked her to share a little during the church service. As she came to the front and told her story, I sat fixated on what she said.

She spoke of how she’d arrived in our town a few decades ago, and was greeted by dirt roads and wooden sidewalks. (Our people have a lot of complaints about this town, but at least that’s improved!) Yet she knew that this would be home. Because before she departed for Fort St John, her father had left her with these words:

“Grow where you’re planted.”

And she followed his advice.

Grow: that’s a verb. It doesn’t imply sitting around and wishing things were better. As a plant grows, it takes in nutrients, reaches towards the light, and sends its roots down. It expands and does its best with what it’s given.

This lesson hasn't been an easy one for me. After traveling the world, and all the amazing places I've seen, settling down in Northern British Columbia was not my idea of a great life. I never felt at home here, and I long believed I never would.

But this is where I've been planted. And this is where I want to grow well. Not haphazardly. Not begrudgingly. With intention and strength.

So I took the message to heart, and applied myself to accepting - no, creating - a home here.

Two years later, and I can look back with gratitude for that decision. I've married and started a family. I've involved myself with a local Christian missions event. I'm caring for and updating our church's library. I've even volunteered for my community's gardening committee. Each decision has grown me in a new way, planted my roots here deeper - and, I hope, made a difference in this little corner of the world.

Pictures and the Words They Speak

February 27, 2018 by Karlissa Koop in Thoughts on Life, Designs and Art

It occurred to me that I'd made the chibi art project way too complicated.

Fighting over draft after draft, doing sketch after sketch. I at last remembered why I'd started this: for fun! So, instead of trying to wow you with my art skills, I returned to the simple pleasure of making a picture.

A playful sketch of BookBat enjoying a warm drink!

Rough draft of Chibi characters... Tsingy (far left) left me unsatisfied, and the designer in me cringed at the big white space beside him...

Shortly after coming to that decision, I made a discovery while sorting through old notes. I uncovered a few of the pictures I'd made for Kingdom of Bats - back in the days before I'd published my very first book! Most of these pictures never made it to the final draft, and by extension were never shown to the world. I myself forgot they existed.

One of my cover design ideas I sent to the publisher, of the vampire bat Patas looking down on the portal spiderweb to the Underworld

Another cover design idea I sent the publisher, this one of Bai'ic in armour

Sketches of the main characters in "Kingdom of Bats"

Seeing these images reminded me once more of where I've come, and the time, effort, and courage it took to get here.

I've been thinking about what started me on this authoring path. And though I've enjoyed writing since I was a child, I trace my decision to publish back to a day in my early adulthood.

I was in Switzerland, studying communications. Some of the weeks I struggled through. But the week on writing - ah, I came alive that week! Our teacher was a published author, and he led us in creative exercises, like "showing not telling" and writing a story about God watching people kiss (seriously). In nearly all exercises (except the kissing one) I blazed ahead confidently and excitedly.

At the end of the week, the teacher and I were together chatting. He told me something that would set me on my new path: a published author told me, "You're good enough to be doing what I'm doing."

Not many years later, I published Kingdom of Bats.

These pictures I re-discovered remind me of what I've learned. I hadn't been to design school yet, so didn't know the ins-and-outs of book cover designs (I forgive the publisher for not going with my designs). I actually did a lot more pictures than these, but didn't understand things like 'resolution,' so sketched them too small to be of any use. Eventually, I scrapped all but two images (the map and one good sketch).

The map that actually made it into the book!

Each book, I've learned something new, and I believe I've grown in skills. But it all started with that one encouragement from my teacher.

Who has inspired you to take the next step in your dreams?

Coming up: two short stories are ready for sharing! Keep an eye out for "Bridging Worlds" - the story between Kingdom of Bats and Dwelling in Darkness - and "Ramanga's Lightning," a playful prequel to Dwelling in Darkness. I'll begin posting the first story Monday.