on the writer’s life – Page 6

Have Writing, Will Travel

May 15, 2023May 15, 2023 Diane Ferguson Leave a comment

I’m flying the coop! I’ve been a work-from-home mom for almost 21 years now. I’ve taken a couple vacations—a week here or there, but this one feels different. I’m going to Italy for two weeks, without my family. I travelled a lot when I was young and single. Doing two major backpacking trips: the first through northern Europe before I started a two month job in Norway. And then another, I refer to as my beach vacation: Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Venice Beach, California.

It was the time before internet, before a little phone in your pocket connected you to the world. I actually took a camera—and had no phone at the time. I remember the struggles trying to learn the pay phone system in each country so I could call home to my mother and let her know I was still alive. As a mother now, I’m deeply sorry for what I put my mom through!

Novelists and Quiltmakers Bound by Threads

May 8, 2023May 8, 2023 Lori Twining Leave a comment

Often, writers have other creative interests besides writing short stories or novels. There are many pursuits to indulge in, such as painting, clay sculpture, embroidery, knitting, sewing, basket weaving, jewellery, photography, etc. I do many different activities, but this month, I concentrated on creating quilts.

As I pushed a hot iron across a square piece of white cotton material for the next quilt block, I couldn’t help but notice the similarity to a blank white page on my laptop or in my notebook. It struck me how similar being a novelist and a quiltmaker really are for me.

At first glance, a novel is made from words on pages bound together and printed into book form. A quilt is made from scraps of material and sewn together to produce a warm blanket. A book and a blanket are two different items, one hard and one soft, but both are created for you or someone else to enjoy. I thought about the parallels, and I couldn’t help but smile. Check them out below.

Adaptability – An Essential Author Trait

April 17, 2023April 17, 2023 Donna Judy Curtin Leave a comment

I was listening to a podcast this morning while engaging in forced labour. By forced labour, I mean working on my husband’s half of our aspirational weekend job list—the list longer than we have the time, physical endurance, equipment, man power or complimentary weather complete.

My husband grumbled all this winter about how he wanted to cut down the creeping branches along the edge of his fields. Many of our fields are surrounded by bush and eventually, the trees stretch into the unencumbered space to steal sunlight from his crops and barricade his combine.

So, following my husband along the edge of the field as he sawed off pesky new growth, it was my job to drag the bud laden branches into the bush and away from his crops. On the podcast I was listening to, they said we writers need to lean into learning and be willing to grow… to adapt. And this got me to thinking about how, if mother nature can adapt to find the open spaces, surely, we as writers can as well. Read more

Ex Astris

April 3, 2023April 2, 2023 Andrée Levie-Warrilow Leave a comment

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.

Date Night with a Writer

March 13, 2023March 13, 2023 Lori Twining 2 Comments

Over the last few years, Friday nights have become date night for my husband and his favourite writer… That would be me.

We are both book lovers that challenge each other to find books that have been adapted into movies. We read the books, watch the movies, and then we discuss the differences between the literary version versus the cinematic version. We discuss things such as:

Spring is in the Air

March 6, 2023March 5, 2023 Bernice Connell Leave a comment

This year, more than usual, I am desperate for spring’s arrival.

A cluster of personal and professional situations has really sent me into a tailspin in recent weeks. It has been impossible to bounce back easily and quickly as I normally do. The hours spent working and worrying are seriously disproportionate to time spent having fun. I am rarely reading these days and writing has come to a full stop. Even recognizing the possibility that what I’m experiencing right now may be helpful to a future character, there is no energy for writing daily pages.

Essential Ingredients for a Writing Retreat

February 20, 2023February 22, 2023 Donna Judy Curtin 1 Comment

Planning to set aside the time and space to write new words can be one of the best ways to amplify your creative process. Whether your space is an early morning coffee shop, an Irish pub, or a planned writing retreat–scheduling the time to write is essential. For myself, working full-time, raising kids, attending figure skating & hockey with family, and carving out time to cook healthy meals… tends to demand most of my daylight hours. Therefore, dedicating the time to write must be deliberate.

Over recent years, I’ve been blessed to join a couple of writers who similarly battle with this time crunch challenge. We’ve found that planned writing retreats with chunks of undisturbed time, are paramount to moving our writing projects forward. The following is a list of key ingredients to a successful writing retreat.

In the Event of My Death: Burn Everything… or Steamroll It!

January 30, 2023January 29, 2023 Lori Twining 2 Comments

Over the Christmas holidays, I decided to declutter my basement office. The task had been on my To-Do List for far too long. I procrastinated because it was a BIG job, which ultimately took me seven days to complete. Sad, but true.

While sifting through the stacks of papers, books, and file folders, I found some personal notes full of secret information. Information that I don’t need or want anyone else to know about. What if someone else had seen them? What would they think? What would they say?

Category: on the writer’s life