ONE OF THE BIG THINGS about creative writing is how much a part of one’s self shows up in the work, even when the theme is something completely fabricated.
I liken writing to a piecework quilt: beyond the grammar and words one selects to stitch everything together (although that can colour everything), in most of what we write, what we design – plot, theme, characters – everything originates as a pastiche of everything we have lived and learned. Just like those quilts that use symbols of colour and form to send a message, our minds gather up all those elements that we have to hand from our experiences and knowledge, even when we’re creating something uniquely from our imagination. Read more
Author: Andrée Levie-Warrilow
In Praise of Books
As I write this, World Book Day was just celebrated three days ago. What a great idea!
I love books. I love reading books with facts and I love books with stories. We talk here mostly of stories we as writers create. But do you ever wonder why stories are so important to us? Read more
2024, Self Care, Fact and fiction, and Pearls.
“Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other.” – Somerset Maugham
Perception Is Everything
This week my blog takes me to looking at the shape our world is in.
Perception is everything.
Wars, poverty, pollution, stress, disinformation, mental illness, greed, corruption, isolation, bigotry, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, the 6th wave of mass extinctions.
It’s a mess. Read more
Full of Sound and Fury
What is a blog?
“Blog” : a Weblog, an online journal where an individual or group presents a record of thought, activities, or beliefs.
Here are mine on what has been one hell of a week.
Well, it must be said this past week I have not had to struggle with Blank Page What Do I Write? Syndrome.
Read more
Hanging Out With Great Characters
Ever finished a book and wished it had never ended?
All the writers I know also happen to love reading books. And the great books we’ve read are our inspiration to write. You know the kind I mean: the ones that you close after the last page with a sigh because that’s the end of a visit spent totally immersed in a time and place. Read more
Ex Astris
More than one blog posted here at Ascribe has dealt with the importance of reading books. How reading books makes one a good writer. So much enrichment: escape, inspiration, entertainment, information, healing – all the “tools” someone who hopes to one day write a good book needs.
Then there are the books you don’t really want to read, but know you should. The books that tell the stories of the Other, the disenfranchised, the exploited, of terrible events, injustices, of awful lives lived far away, of miseries lived just down the street. The books that teach hard lessons.
Starting With A Clean Sheet
Spring. Finally.
It’s Spring! And the urge to clean and declutter comes over many of us. I’ve already made one run to the dump, and there will be more, along with side trips to the Sally Ann with surplus household items. This may possibly include rooster – themed dessert plates and tablecloths from well-meaning kin who thought my appetite for rooster collectables is limitless. It isn’t.