Author: Donna Judy Curtin

Donna Curtin practices veterinary medicine in Bruce County, Ontario, close to her poultry and cash crop farm where she lives with her husband and two children. As a compliment to her veterinary career, she aspires to become a published novelist. In Dr. Curtin’s writing, animals play important characters just as often as people.

Have you Fed your Writing Muse Today?

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What is it about this writing thing that we enjoy?

Why would anyone want to rise before the sun, to plunk away on a keyboard in the dark and put their precious words and feelings up for the judgement of others?

Is it all about the imagining of a character’s challenges and how they can overcome them in a heroic way? Or perhaps this writing thing is a way to come to terms with our lives or to imagine how the story could have ended differently.

 

When I consider the moments and life experiences that have inspired my best stories, I clearly see the muse for my writing.

Do you know yours?

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Were Your Hands Made for Writing?

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There have been times, many times actually, where I’ve doubted my ability to make it in the writing industry–to put something to paper that will resonate with others and cause them think and feel something new.

The truth is, although I’ve been writing since I was a young girl; journalling, crafting stories from any experience and writing letters, essays, scientific articles and recording medical records–I hold no degree in creative writing.

Any yet, there are so many things I have mastered in my life, that I learned with my own two hands–not from school. Read more

Your Novel Through the LENS of THEME

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The title of this blog was originally, ‘Deadlines be Dammed’, which sounds brash, but that isn’t what I needed to write.

I came across a Writer’s Digest course being offered by Paula Munier, called the Plot Perfect Bootcamp and something in the title called out to me.

Not to mention, I thoroughly enjoy sitting in a lecture room while Paula captivates her audience with her smile, her love of dogs and her bold encouragment to do better.

So, I signed up.

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5 Ways to Actualize Your Writing Dreams

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In grade two, I declared I was going to become a veterinarian and even though my personality quizzes in high school suggested I would make a better florist, my heart was set on becoming an animal doctor.

I’m nothing if not determined.

And I’m great at dreaming.

Throughout my grueling University undergraduate courses, I kept visualizing the moment I would receive my acceptance letter to the Ontario Veterinary College. I could hear the envelope ripping, smell the glue, feel the rasp of the paper between my fingers, see the welcoming words on the page and when I was exhausted and frustrated and about ready to give it all up… I imagined a victorious jump into the air with a viscous fist pump. Read more

How To Support an Author… Other Than Buying Their Books

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I came upon a Twitter thread where a frustrated author was venting. This author, who I might add, is already at least a decade ahead of my writing success because she has a published book that in my imagination has a stunning hard cover hugging her words. She was asked by an interested party, “So, how many books have you sold?”

My first thought was, ‘what an honour—to have a book to sell’ but the author was quite upset by the question and expressed how she felt the person had blatantly asked, “So, how much do you make?”, as if the curious person had requested to see her undergarments and T4.

The remuneration we receive for our work is intimately personal. We don’t actively speak about what we get paid in society and often times, the amounts don’t compute. Why does a home care provider, nourishing the future generation and tending to the family home, essentially get no pay, while others make millions buying and selling businesses?

How do you put a value on art? On someone’s creative ability to share a fearfully thrilling, heartwarming or life altering story? Read more