Piecemeal

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

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.

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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.

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