Writers’ Summer Camp with 13 Strangers

Lori Twining 4 Comments
Lori Twining ~ Camp Zeke

Several decades ago, before I even had a steady boyfriend, I had this weird habit of flipping through bridal magazines, dreaming about the perfect wedding, the over-the-top Royal Princess taffeta ballgown, the jovial bridal party, and spending the most romantic honeymoon hiking through the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania. 

That never happened for me. 

I mean, I did have a wedding–in fact, I had TWO beautiful weddings to two different people, with incredible velvet and satin dresses, and cool-but-not-that-funny bridal parties, but I never experienced the thrill of hiking through the Poconos Mountains… until this past weekend. A part of my old daydream finally did come true, slightly skewed from the original fantasy. 

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Life Happens, Keep Writing

Diane Ferguson Leave a comment
Eden Mills Writers’ Festival: Pathway to Publication with James Gordon, Barbara Kyle and Jean Mills

Before writing a blog, I review my past blogs to make sure I’m not repeating myself too much, and to assess where I was at and where I thought I was going. My last blog was August 28th and I was all set with my “MFA course”, personalized for a student of one: me. Now it’s a month later and have I made any progress?

Fortunately, I kept my plan flexible, I can adapt what I’m working on as life happens. the truth is, I’ve hardly been home in the past month. Labour Day weekend was spent moving my daughter to Ottawa for school. I was also determined to attend the Eden Mills Writers Festival this year. I hadn’t been in about 20 years! But as an almost empty-nester, and the threat of covid fading (not to mention this is an outdoor festival), and a workshop with Gail Anderson-Dargatz, my former mentor—I wanted to make sure I attended. Read more

It’s Too Late

Kelly Babcock 1 Comment

Is It Though?

Smart cat. Smarter than I.

A while ago I began a novel about a cat, and its friends, other cats, who do extraordinary things. It’s been a while since I have visited with those words, with those cats.

One of the things I’ve done in this life to support myself was blog writing. Not this blog, this pays only in satisfaction, though that should never be considered a negative or nil income. Read more

The Joy of Creative Solitude

Lori Twining Leave a comment
Lori Twining ~ Sensational Sunset, Halls Island

Being surrounded by noise all day makes it challenging to be creative. By noise, I mean people talking, children crying, dogs barking, brakes screeching, horns honking, music blaring, cell phones ringing, notifications pinging… it never stops. Your heart beats faster and faster until your blood pressure is through the roof and your anxiety level is sitting at the maximum setting. 

As a writer, how can you find a quiet moment to squeeze out a line or two of a bestselling novel if you can’t even hear yourself think? Most of us can’t find large blocks of uninterrupted time to create, so finding creative solitude is essential. Everyone needs a little space and time to be in the moment, to find their happy place, where they can take a break from the chaos, close their eyes, be clear-headed, and wallow in the silence.

I finally found that perfect place of creative solitude, where you can be mindful and make intentional decisions to find the answers you didn’t even know you were asking the questions for. Let me tell you a little bit about it. 

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Memories Old & New

Bernice Connell Leave a comment

I came across a random writing prompt the other day: ‘What memory do you wish you could remember better?’

Distant memories, especially, often come to us in mere snippets of images or emotions. They can be fleeting, blurry or vague, leaving us wishing for a bit more. The author of the writing prompt was encouraging writers to unearth deeper details of favourite memories through consistent practice. This would be essential when writing memoir or creative non-fiction.

The fun about writing fiction is that memory may provoke a spark but all the story details can unfold any which way the writer conjures.

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Four Contemporary Horror Stories

Seana Moorhead Leave a comment
Image by Lukas Baumert from Pixabay

I previously wrote about reading 3 classic horror books: one about a haunted house and ghosts (The Haunting of Hill House), one about a monster created (Frankenstein) and the classic vampire story (Dracula). I decided it would be fun to find contemporary horror novels in similar subplots. What better way to celebrate the start of autumn? I also looked for stories written outside of the English speaking counties. I wanted to find stories with different voices and perspectives. I found it interesting to look for contemporary stories from classic novels and how writing styles and the choices that authors make have changed or in some cases, stayed the same, over time.  

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Mooning with Purpose

Donna Judy Curtin 2 Comments
Photo by Kerin Gedge on Unsplash

A loon just mooned me.

Well… actually, it was a duck.

But still! He fully mooned me. I was minding my own business, driving home from the veterinary hospital after morning treatments, admiring this last blast of summer, when I glanced out my window to catch the shimmer off a pond in a neighbour’s pasture—I enjoy watching the cattle sipping or the calves playing along the water’s edge or maybe I seek glimpses of water out of a habit held over from my childhood, when us kids used to fight over sitting on the driver’s side of the bus so we could look out the window to count the turtles sitting on the logs as we drove along the Saugeen river, the winding road twinning with the river to sneak into the back of Paisley. Read more