Author: Andrée Levie-Warrilow

One of my little writing secrets is being open to sensory embellishments for creating atmosphere and fleshing out characters.

These cues can come from some of the most unlikely sources: a neighbour’s random comment, an event in a park, something viewed while driving my car, standing in line to pay for groceries, the flash of a face in a passing bus. I always try to have a pen and a piece of paper or a small notebook in my purse or knapsack to write notes down with.

Sometimes a whole conversation between characters will develop in my head, sparked by a turn of phrase I’ve overheard. On occasion, physical features of characters will be inspired by actual people I’ve observed in a specific setting. A woman with an interesting style of dress. A man with a heroic Gallic nose.  A crying boy in a field. Read more

So. Writing, eh?

I have a curious relationship with writing. I can’t seem to stop. By that, I mean every day I have to write at least something here and there, days when the words just materialize by themselves. I like days like those. They help build up my novel. Because there are often the other days when I can’t seem to get the words to come at all, or the world conspires to keep me from the computer or the foolscap, and then I just find my fount of inspiration to be as dry as a Californian gully.

I have used the phrase, “I have to write.” Each day, I aim for a certain portion of time to be spent on writing my novel. I bet you have more discipline than me and actually spend part of yours like that. Your words flow out and the project you’re working on builds up each time. The sentences flow.  It’s great! Progress!

I have to write, but I don’t write for very long in one stretch. My poems are short, my episodes of working on my novel jags of writing with an eye on the word count. Sometimes the flow comes and I can get lost in writing for a time. But what if you couldn’t stop? Read more

The Roman author Catullus was writing about his unrequited love for the unrepentantly promiscuous Clodia when he penned the words I’ve lifted for this blog’s title, but I can relate to feeling hot and cold about the same subject.

I love to write; I hate to non-write. Yet, I need to have that “non-writing” state first, for it is my process of preparing to write.

Let me explain about this process I call “non-writing”. For me, the “non-writing” action is a vital step leading to the point where my creative juices are flowing and I’m busily immersed in writing my novel. Read more

I write, therefore I am.

Writing was invented as a form of counting (the Babylonians and Hittites used it to keep track of commercial dealings), but humankind has felt a compunction to write something beyond mere record-keeping. We’ve used writing to express something about ourselves, apparently since the dawn of history. Our lives, our thoughts, our times. But why? Contrary to the old saying, you really can’t eat your words! So, what gives? Read more

I have recently received my copy of The Writing Spiral: Learning as a Writer, a book in which my work has appeared. My words.  It’s a modest beginning, but it is a beginning. I have made it into a book that people are going to buy! How cool is that? I’m a writer.

I’m a writer?  What does it mean to be a writer, and what makes me one? These questions have left me scratching my head, because I don’t believe that I am an authentic writer. You see – I have no imagination.

I write daily for my job, and I am doing my best to write down 500 words a day through an online writers group.  I write in my journal often. But is that all there is to being a writer? I’ve always been a little hesitant. Read more