UP UPS & DOWN DOWNS

a little newsletter about this and that

Photo by Nijwam Swargiary on Unsplash

In this newsletter, you’ll find a question about what you’re reading and your favourite way to read, some news about what I’ve been up to—my down downs and my up ups, a little about my winding road to publication, some workshop and retreat information (mine and others), news from Amherst Writers & Artists, and some big hurrahs for my writing buddies.

What are you reading? And how do you read – hard cover, paperback, library book, kindle, kobo, or audio?
I’m a big fan of audiobooks, and am currently listening to Bryn Greenwood’s, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. The reader can delight or disappoint, and Jorjeana Marie delights. I’m also listening to (not at the same time) Ann-Marie MacDonald read her own novel, Fayne. She’s very enthusiastic and quite dramatic so it’s a different sort of listening experience, and understandable, given that it’s her own work.
I’m sure that most of us who are writing novels imagine who would be best suited to be the reader for their audiobook. Personally, I love to read aloud, so I would choose me to read my novels!
Any readers you favour or cringe from?

Pyjama Writing

These past weeks have been busy. I’ve rejoined Sue Reynolds Pyjama Writing, a quiet weekday morning hour shared online with over thirty writers. It’s a great way to grease the writing wheels in preparation for the day ahead. At the beginning of the hour, we post our intentions in the chat, and at the close, we post a segment—a phrase or sentence or paragraph from the morning that we particularly like. I’ve noticed that there’s a broad range of intentions—from working on a poem, morning pages, journaling, a scene from a story or novel, creating a lesson plan, editing and revising, to writing a query letter.

Irons in the Fire

Along with running several workshops a week, I’ve been submitting poems to journals and trying not to deflate with the barrage of rejections that seem to run alongside them. I know it’s part of the biz and normally I just search out another journal and fling those poems out again.

One new Beta series I’m leading is about developing characters based on four basic survival archetypes as identified by Carolyne Myss in her book, Sacred Contracts. So far, it’s quite juicy, so I plan to offer it again later in the year.

Spain or Spain

The Spain retreat I had planned for April 2020 is finally happening this coming April. There are three places still open. Check out the venue: Molino del Rey

Begin each day with gentle restorative yoga led by Esana and, after breakfast, enjoy three hours of generative writing led by moi…

The final proofs are almost ready for the hybrid journal each participant will receive. In it, there are poems we’ll use for prompts, historical information about the area, and all sorts of other goodies, with the final pages blank for people to write or draw. The whimsical illustrations and designs are the work of Brian Foot.

If you’re not ready to go to Spain in April or you’re more Barcelona than Andalusia, then check out Sue Reynolds’ October offering.

Writing Residency, Oui oui

My work in progress, now in its ninth or tenth incarnation, needs dedicated time. Lots of it. I thought a residency might be just the ticket, and why not one far away, why not see if there was something in Europe following the retreat? I put on my big girl panties and applied to La Porte Peinte in Noyers, France for the month of May. The worst that can happen, I reasoned, is that I don’t get accepted.

Then I did. OMG.

Dragon Room and Atelier Blue at La Porte Peinte

After the April retreat week in Spain, my friend, Sulochani will fly from her home in Rimini to join Esana and me for a week in Granada and Seville. Then I’ll head to France where I will put my head down. And then up for a croissant or two, and given that this sweet medieval village of 650 residents is in Bourgogne between Chablis and Sancerre, I might have a glass of wine or two.

Grant or No Grant

On Wednesday, The Writers Union of Canada presented a webinar, Get That Grant! It was so informative. Of course, most of the information they provided is available on the sites that offer grants, but this was more like a friendly conversation with the two program officers.

I have to admit, some of what was said made me realize how I may have missed the mark on my applications. Which prepared me, I suppose, for the rejection that I received this morning for one of the major ones to which I’d applied. Sigh. Hopefully one of the other grants will come through. (Wine is expensive!) My fingers are tightly crossed.

What the Living Do

I’ve just sent the proofreader back my manuscript… step three or eight or twenty completed in the long list to actual publication. What the Living Do will be released by Regal House early next year. Now, I’ve got to get my ducks in a row for a big splashy launch, book signings, media releases, blog tours, and what have you… It’s as overwhelming as it is exciting.

I’m not likely to be the lone author who cringes at the thought of having to promote my own work. But that’s the current nature of the publishing beast. Blog about it, urges my publisher. Get the buzz going even though we’re a year away from release. So, while I’m editing the next novel and writing the first draft of the one after that, and reading (because one wants to, and has to, keep reading), I’m joining organizations, online book clubs, and wondering what to say about my book to get that buzz buzzing.

My sister asked me, “What makes your character unique? What’s interesting about her?”

I opened my laptop to read my pitch. “No,” she said. “I want to hear it from you.”

“Well,” I said, summoning Brett Catlin to stand in front of me. “She’s scrappy, tough, independent. She has what’s generally considered a man’s job. She’s a 37-year-old road worker who scrapes up roadkill and drives a snowplough and big trucks. She has a lover ten years her junior and uses sex to dull emotional pain.”

“Good,” my sister said. “I would read about a woman like that.”  

I thought more about Brett and why she is the way she is. Why so tough? Early heartbreak. Early loss. Early guilt she carries as if it were a bag of rocks. She loves the dead things she has to dispose of; the injured and the broken creatures. She wants to learn from Mel, her Ojibwe work partner, how to pray.

Some Good News

My poem, Ghyu means love in Nepali is included in Last Stanza Poetry Journal’s Outsider issue. It was nice to have something accepted amidst the swamp of rejections.

Then, finally, a truly bright spot in that tough arena of submission (perfect word for it, by the way) –the Emerging Writers Reading Series seemed to like the first pages of my novel, One Way Home. When I was writing it a few years ago, Porcupine Quill recommended it to the Ontario Arts Council for a grant, which was thrilling. It’s been on submission for quite some time with no takers yet, so this was a big bump to my confidence about the manuscript. I’ll be reading on May 8th at 7 p.m. Eastern, which will be 1 a.m. for me because I’ll be in FRANCE!

After I received my invitation to read in May, Anna van Straubenzee, who told me about this series and suggested I apply, also received an acceptance and invitation to read on February 13. I’m pretty sure she’s going to read her phenomenal piece that was a runner-up in WOW – Women on Writing’s essay contest. So be sure to tune in.

Barbara Krasner has been burning up the writing road: three of her poems will be published in a Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 Anthology on January 27. She also has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes for fiction. That’s just the most recent news from Barbara. Stay tuned for her upcoming novel in verse.

And Finally…

Another piece of wonderful news for everyone and anyone who loves to (or must) write - Amherst Writers & Artists has just launched a new series of monthly writing workshops in a novel format. Each month, a skilled facilitator chooses prompts to lead a two-hour workshop for as many as a hundred participants. After a couple of timed writing periods in response to the offered prompts, writers are split into breakout rooms of five or six where they are facilitated by another AWA leader to read and offer supportive feedback. Part of the inspiration for this new way of delivering workshops is, for a small investment of as little as $10, to give those who might be curious a yummy taste of the method. What is so marvellous is that even for seasoned writers, it’s an opportunity to meet new writers, hear new voices, and continue to learn in a safe and intimate setting. The other part of the initiative is to introduce a new level of AWA membership, where for $50./year writers can attend eight of these workshops. There are several other perks planned for this writer’s level, including a reading series and blue pencil sessions. If you’re interested, you can click here.

About You

That’s a lot, I know, but I just had to share. And if you’ve read all the way to here, I thank you. We write alone, but when we share we don’t feel so alone.

What’s up in your writing world? What are you reading? Have you submitted anything lately? I’d love to know.