Just finishing the second chapter of the latest novel project in my life, I learned two things: always finish your chapters with a crisp, cold drink, and with an expectation to deviate from your plan. For this novel project, the fourth I’ve ever seriously worked on in my lifetime, I tried something different. I tried … More The Learning Series: Chapter 2
Thanking the barrister, I sit down with my double chocolate chip, coconut cookie and open my laptop, punching the Wi-Fi password with flare. I’m ready to work. My notebook, stuffed with hand-written sentences, crossed out and re-written to almost illegibility, is beside me. My iPod is fully charged with my favourite instrumental, not-too-distracting-music. My fingers … More TTQ: Cafe or Quiet, Where Should You Write?
Welcome, to the very first Thoughtful Thursday Question, a new weekly series where I answer any question and spin the answer to relate to writing. Today’s question: Alcohol or drugs, do they enhance or hinder your writing process? This one is a hard one for me to answer, mainly because I have little experience writing … More TTQ: Alcohol or drugs, do they enhance or hinder your writing process?
I fear the second draft. While other writers use this time to carve their rough diamonds to perfection, I stare at my manuscripts and wonder how to start. What do I peel away? What words will be left behind? Will the draft only need stitches, here or there, a slight Botox fill, or total facial … More Polishing a Diamond in the Rough—aka, Your First Draft
The move from child to teenager is an anticipated moment in our lives. Who among us doesn’t have a memory of watching an older brother or sister and admiring their freedom, their apparent maturity, and their knowledge of “adult-like” issues? In our tween-age years we count the days until we too are considered mature. The … More Book Review: This One Summer
Challenge one of three, on Esther Newton’s blog, was to use “chocolate” in a limerick. I got a little carried away and wrote three, although only the last one follows the rules. We’re trying, Mother Earth. The air is ripe with money, And the screaming fans, sweet honey. When oil is on the plate, … More An Inspired Writing Challenge
Technology in medicine has made an astounding breakthrough: your disease or illness can be cured… if you transfer it to someone else. This concept, although fascinating in its concept, quickly becomes a frightening aspect of the book. Illness is passed to criminals in a revised judicial system. But even petty crimes and children are punished, … More Book Review: Transferral
The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation exists as more than a simple tool for spiritual reflection. It can be a way to take a step back from life, and all of its hectic parameters, and re-center yourself. What exactly do I mean by this? I mean it helps you take stock of who you are, your … More CentreYourself and Rock Life
Congratulations on Everything, by Nathan Whitlock, gives a window, with magnified detail, into someone’s very realistic and human life. Jeremy and Charlene, the two main protagonists’ of the novel, are not super-human, or thrown into super-human situations. Their trails are linked to the very real struggles of dealing with the limitations of our mortality as … More Book Review: Congratulations on Everything
A short story can have many faces. They can span lifetimes, or show a snapshot of one particular life changing moment. What the short story can accomplish is up to the writer–how they utilize this story telling tool. A stories effectiveness in relaying a message is usually tied to how the writer chooses to showcase … More What Can Crisis Do For You?
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