Tag: writing process

A Year in the Life of a Writer

Diane Ferguson 4 Comments

It’s been over a year since I’ve done a blog post. I was taking a break to focus on my ONE writing priority: FINISHING MY NOVEL. It’s been a long project since I was learning how to write while I raised a family, worked, and tried to keep up with our house. My struggle is every artist’s struggle: How to keep creating when life is overwhelming you. (Unless of course you have a fabulous patron and you’re living in some historic castle writing away while dragons play outside.) But for the rest of us, here’s my story on how I kept to my goals when life was super challenging. And the tips, techniques and resources I used to keep myself on track even when life was busy making other plans for me.

Read more

The Weird Brother, Onomatopoeia

Seana Moorhead Leave a comment
Picture from Pixabay, SashaNebesuyk
I don’t think he got the same advice as I did about running in zig zag patterns

When being chased by a rhino, you should run in a zig-zag pattern. The wildlife guide in Nepal provided this advice to me. Zig-Zag is probably my favourite onomatopoeia word. The very sound of “zig” and “zag” suggests its meaning. I was “almost chased” by a rhino three times— still don’t know if it was a set up for an extra tip by the guide— and yes, each time, I duly ran in zig-zag patterns. Zippy-do-da! I’m still alive to write this blog.  

Onomatopoeia refers to a word that imitates or suggests the word’s sound. It can bring language to life by capturing its sound in the word itself.  Buzz, crash, whisper are all common examples.  Animal noises (bark, meow, chirp) are all onomatopoeia words.  Nature sounds lend themselves to be onomatopoeia. (The drizzle of rain; the swoosh of the wind; the gurgling creek).  

Read more

Consulting an Expert

Seana Moorhead 1 Comment
Image by mohamed Hassan, pixabay

Margaret Atwood upon writing “Oryx and Crake” found a young man with commitment issues to read a draft of her story.  She wanted to make sure that she got things right with her main character (who had commitment issues) and didn’t make any major errors.  Atwood explained about how important it is to find a reader similar to a character whenever you write a character who is not yourself.  Small details can make a difference between having a reader commit to your story or fall out of it.  

I had already heard that it can be helpful to have a reader review your work when you add in characters that have a different ethnic or racial background than you.  This is called a “sensitivity reader”. It’s important to ensure that you have the details correct and prevent yourself from falling into stereotypes with these characters  I had never thought I expanding that concept to all my main characters regardless of their ethnic background. Read more

Not Lucky

Seana Moorhead 4 Comments

Do you remember the scene in Harry Potter when he won the tiny bottle of Felix Felicis or “liquid luck”? The magical potion guaranteed that the person would be successful at whatever they attempted for a short period of time. When Harry used the potion, it steered him to be in the right place at the right time and helped him say the right thing. Ironically, it didn’t allow him to have something “magical” happened for him—he just knew the right path to be on but he still had to walk along it. Don’t you wish you could have that precious jar of liquid luck to use?

Read more

Letting Go

Tracey Richardson 2 Comments

 

“The most exquisite paradox: as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can’t have it. The minute you don’t want power, you’ll have more than you ever dreamed possible.” ~Ram Dass


As writers, sometimes we want so badly to be published, that we will do just about anything to make that success happen. What ultimately happens is that we get stuck on a gerbil that’s spinning so fast, we can’t get off.

Read more

Fall Harvest Sauce

Seana Moorhead 2 Comments

I invented a new condiment. 

I know you’re probably thinking we don’t need a new condiment. After all, we’ve got ketchup, soy sauce, mustard, relish, plum sauce, salsa…is there space in the fridge and on the table for another one?

As a writer, I sometimes wonder if I have anything new to contribute to the book world. Occasionally when I enter a bookstore I have a moment of panic. There are so many books in there and how can I write another one to jostle for space on the shelves? Would anyone even pick up my book if I ever get published?

Read more

A Writing Place of My Own

Donna Judy Curtin 1 Comment

     Before Covid-19 hit, one of my favourite writing spots was the local café. I loved seeing friends and neighbours, watching people chat and order their coffee, while I wrote. I have this unique skill, this ability to ignore everything around me and get fully engrossed in my own made up world. I took pride that some of my scenes were so engaging, I could disregard the rest of the world and fully immerse myself. I remember these times fondly.

Since March, with the cafés closed and my writing space stolen, I’ve been displaced. I’m nothing if not persistent and so I took to writing at home. The best time was early in the morning, before my family arose. I would claim the couch in the living room, coffee in hand, doing my best to shoo away the cats and dogs vying for my attention. This was heavenly, until my teenage children woke. Then they invaded, turning on the television, complaining about missing laundry and overall… just being their noisy selves, so I would stop writing.

This summer, my teenage son decided to move downstairs, leaving his bedroom upstairs empty. So… I’ve begun to dream of a writing space. Read more

Winter is Coming – Hurrah!

Seana Moorhead 1 Comment

Don’t get me wrong. I love summer time. Strangely enough, I especially enjoyed it this year. It became a time to reconnect with friends in outside spaces, to play charades on the driveway under the stars, find new kayak paddles in crystal blue-green water and to weed my flourishing Covid-19 garden.  

But I’m kind of exhausted by summer. Like an excellent party – it’s great fun while it lasts but the clean up the next day is daunting. I’m canning my garden bounty (turns out that 40 tomatoes plants are too many), experimenting with a dozen ways to eat zucchini and discovering that not everyone loves cucumbers. Sadly, my writing got shelved during this time of outside merriment.  

Read more