Along with the mid-December blizzards here in Grey County, there’s been a flurry of activity around the launch of a new book.
This blog, I promise, will be the last sentimental gushing from me regarding the Ascribe Writers’ recent project of publishing the short story collection, Beneath the Surface. But gush I must, for just a few paragraphs.
Completing the story-writing marked the end of the project in one sense but once the books were in our hands, the journey continued to unfold. Read more
From the first word we ever typed, penned, or scribbled, all of us who have written anything have always dreamed of one day seeing our work published.
And that’s what happened this week for The Ascribe Writers: the book launch of the first anthology of our short stories, Beneath the Surface: A Collection of Grey-Bruce Stories. Read more
In photography, the golden hour (sometimes known as the magic hour) is a period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the Sun is higher in the sky. In medicine, the golden hour is right after a traumatic event. The first hour after the accident is when the patient is most likely to see the greatest recovery. For me, the golden hour, or my magic hour is before sunrise, when the telephone doesn’t ring, the kids are still sleeping and the demands of email can be forgotten until after nine. Read more
The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines home as “one’s place of residence” but also as “a place of origin”, which are often two very different places. If this is the case, where truly is home? The concept of home is a familiar theme in many stories. Characters often need to return home for one reason or another. Perhaps to take care of a loved one, or because of a death. Sometimes it is to find their way home during a long adventure, or even to fight an evil murderous clown. Over the years I have left and returned to the Owen Sound area for various reasons, though thankfully none of them was ever an evil clown.
Openings of short stories are actually my favourite parts to write. That’s when I am most inspired to capture a potentially great idea and create the story I envision. But this writer cannot resist spending way too much time honing the first few paragraphs, thereby losing focus and enthusiasm to complete what I’ve started.
Thus, a stack of ‘beginnings’ has been growing considerably over several years, but endings? Not so much. Recently a short story writing contest inspired me to sift through the files and choose a story to finish and submit. Read more
When you’re a first-time novelist, there’s no pressure: No one is waiting for your book. In fact, if you never write it the world will never notice. So there’s lots of time for daydreaming and learning and following a whim. But when you have a deadline, the stakes are raised, the adrenaline starts pumping—gotta get this done.
And when you have several deadlines it becomes an exercise of waves of writing and editing. Here I was happily working on my second novel while tentatively pushing my first novel out into the world. It’s met with good reactions, but not great reactions. (i.e. No one has offered to publish it yet!) So I thought I’d find out why. (See earlier blog on substantive edit: https://ascribewriters.com/breaking-up-is-hard-to-do/#more-416 Read more
Yes! I am no longer a virgin!
I will have to say, Saturday was one of the scariest moments of my life. Entering a room full of about sixty people, armed with six copies of 10 pages of my own original writing, about to hand it over for semi-strangers to read and give their analyzed comments and criticism to me. They don’t just write down their comments on your manuscript – NO – these cringeworthy words are said OUT LOUD for ALL to hear. Okay, not everyone in the room is listening, thank goodness, just the six people at my table and any eavesdroppers who were lurking (yes, I was even worried about eavesdroppers).
So, what’s the big deal? They read it, they comment on it and you go home, right? WRONG. Read more
My inspired artist friend; a lover of all things creative, recently sent me a calligraphy set. She is working hard to preserve the wonderful but dwindling art of letter writing. For a couple of years now she’s been perfecting calligraphy-style handwriting and trying to inspire me to do the same. Cards and notes from her are little works of art, often including water colour touches, photographic watermark images and envelops closed with personalized wax seals.
A beautiful, decorative box held everything to get me started; three fountain pens: each with a different sized nib, instructions for basic strokes and common scripts, lined practice sheets and even a tiny pointed sable brush for filling in large letters.