MAY IS FOR FLOWERS
WHAT IS APRIL FOR, AGAIN?
It’s almost here. Open to everyone, AWA is hosting a myriad of online writing workshops throughout May for the annual Write Around the World event.
For a small donation, writers of all shapes and sizes can sample and experience new facilitators while supporting AWA’s social justice initiatives. For one workshop the suggested donation is $20., but for a pack of 5 sessions, it’s $15. each, and $14. each for 10. There’s something new almost every day, many with unique themes, and some especially for marginalized groups. If cost is a barrier, please reach out to request a discount or have your donation waived.
Every year dozens of facilitators volunteer their time to support this project. I have four sessions available—two open-prompt sessions, such as the ones I offer regularly, one focussing on dialogue, and one on creating tension in a scene or poem. So come on down.
Next up is a little thing I’m hosting on May 5. Regal House Authors from the Spring 2024 frontlist will read from their brand-new novels. You can log in via the Zoom link or on Facebook Live.
Everyone is invited to attend. There will be a Q&A after each short reading.
Crissa-jean Chappell reads from SUN DON’T SHINE
Mark Wish reads from NECESSARY DEEDS
Beth Uznis reads from COMING CLEAN
Diane Josefowicz reads from L’AIR DU TEMPS
Gerry Wilson reads from THAT PINSON GIRL
Susan Wadds reads from WHAT THE LIVING DO
Karen Holmberg reads from THE COLLAGIST
M. M. Downing & S.J. Waugh introduce THE ADVENTURES OF THE FLASH GANG
Topic: Regal House Authors Read
Time: May 5, 2024 at 1:00 PM America/TorontoJoin Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2722990593...Meeting ID: 272 299 0593
Passcode: uapryNS60-
Next Up: No one gets out alive. Nope. Not even me.
Folks seem to be leaving at a faster rate than ever before. It might be the age, but youth is no guarantee, and it sure doesn’t seem that way when a dear friend doesn’t make it to sixty-two. One day she’s strolling the grounds with her beloved mare, the next day…
We, and I mean I, go on as though life will carry on in a similar fashion to the day before. Foolish, I know, but…
I try to plan my exit. Not the actual exit but the fallout afterwards. Anyone who’s had the honour of being an executor/trix knows it’s a dubious honour. These days most of us have a long list of automatic payments, household tasks, people we call when things go wrong, and oh yeah, STUFF no one wants.
One of the hardest parts of having someone close to you gone is that there’s so little space to grieve in the mad bureaucratic shuffle that follows. All the tasks to undertake, certificates, notices, arrangements, personal belongings, and for many, others squabbling over details. It knocks the stuffing out of any pure emotion resulting from deep loss.
I’m looking at everything I own now with an eye to how it will sit when I am gone. The list of what my son will need to address continues to grow. My hope is that he will have some space to feel what he needs to feel.
We’ve all lost someone we love. Lately, several friends have experienced the loss of a parent. It just doesn’t seem fair that this monumentally significant passage is often complicated and marred by greed, power struggles, and/or entitlement.
I have to wonder if some people’s logic buttons in their brains are out of order. The ones who for some wildly illogical reason believe they are entitled to money/property they did not earn. I’ve witnessed this nonsense even when the person who did earn it specified otherwise. I suspect that those who contest what is clearly marked as not theirs fear their insignificance. Being angry could be a way not to feel. Or perhaps a way to assuage guilt. IE: if this person left me something it means I’m absolved. (Truthfully, I don’t know. This is just me trying to make sense of actions and words that make no sense to me.)
Let loved ones grieve, please.
No one gets to keep anything in the end, anyway.
It’s a beautiful spring morning and I am grateful for this life, this body, these friends, and for you.
I leave you with a field of sunny flowers.
This is lovely Deepam and timely for me.