Well, here we go: after four and a half years in the beautiful north, we are saying ‘see you later’ to The Pas. Last weekend, in the midst of packing boxes and preparations for our yard sale, J. got a call and, to make a long story short, early this week he was offered a […]
It’s poetry month, and I’ve been doing NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month). Each morning, I grab my phone, check out the day’s prompt, ignore the prompt (usually) and then write a poem or three. Most of them are about my brother (big surprise) or somehow twist their way back to him, meaning, I suppose, that I’m working […]
Well, now. How’s everybody doing? A little bit of this? A touch of this? Yeah; I hear you. I’m not sure what to say. I could reiterate my own outrage; I could talk about fascism; I could point you to this excellent (and, yes, frightening) article by David Frum (uh huh, that David Frum, who […]
Home. Giving myself some time. Taking a few days to rest, process, walk the dog, knit, read, take photographs, sip tea and keep walking this trail… My compatriot, Pam Bustin, put this poem by Mary Oliver up on her blog on Tuesday, and it gave me peace and solace and a finger pointing towards the bigger […]
I’m pretty pumped about Sunday – and I hope you are too. Normally my offline day, this Sunday I will be launching my first online course. Called Nine Simple Steps to a Solid Writing Practice, it’s one that I’ve poured my heart into and that, I hope, will serve many would-be writers (like you?) who […]
Last year, when Liz Howard won the Griffin Poetry Prize, she told the audience that writing saved her life. “[F]or me, poetry made life possible,” she said. I get this. I understand this a lot. Lately, things have not been easy for my family, and I’ve been at my mother’s. Before coming here, I was in […]
This week, writer Rea Tarvydas shares the songs that power her brand new short story collection. Read and give a listen! Music is a big deal for me as a writer. I use it in different ways. Sometimes it’s to condition me into a piece of writing and, in that instance, I listen before I […]
Remember last week? When I talked about irons in the fire? Well, I’ve been busy, busy stirring the flames this past week, so much so that my planned post isn’t actually ready to go up. That’s the bad news. The good news is that said post is by my friend Rea Tarvydas, whose new book of […]
J. and I have this thing we do. We move through the (sometimes) long months of the school year by breaking them down into days of the week. May and June are Friday. January and February are Wednesday. No doubt, you’ve already figured out what this means but I’ll spell it out anyway: September is […]
I’ve been printing maps lately. Screen grabs of the UK’s ordinance survey to help chart our way around Struy, near Inverness, site of the Clan Chisholm’s burial ground. Originally, we’d planned to visit this area and then find our way to Loch Ness and start our hike at the marked trailhead. Then, our plans changed […]