Write Ways
Around the World with AWA and me
In this newsletter:
Book News & Events
Reviews
A Prompt
WRITING TOGETHER
We kept thinking it couldn’t get worse. Boy, were we wrong. To stay sane, more than ever now, we need to find ways to maintain focus and balance.
The most effective way I know to maintain equilibrium is to channel onto paper whatever stirs you. And the most gratifying way to do that writing thing is with others. When we listen deeply to each other it serves and feeds the soul.
I’m immensely grateful for being able to gather virtually most days of the week with honest, gifted writers.
If you’ve written with an Amherst Writers & Artists facilitator you know of what I speak.
This February, AWA offers a veritable feast of workshops from facilitators around the globe who have volunteered their time. There is something for everyone in this yearly fundraiser supporting AWA’s social justice initiatives. I’m offering four of my wide-open sessions with various unique and fresh prompts, but dozens of others have themed sessions—from poetry to memoir to working through writers’ block and so on.
NEWS & EVENTS
Having polished off what I hope to be the final edits on the second novel, I’m back to trying to pull together the third, of which I have 300+ pages strewn from here to there. Since I’m easily distracted, I’m off to Casa Mismac, Cheryl McLean’s divine mountain writers’ retreat in Costa Rica. No shopping, no cooking, no chopping wood—just organizing, editing, and oh yeah—floating around in a pool when my brain wants to explode. It’s a self-directed retreat but I was thrilled to discover that I will personally know three other writers while I’m there, one of whom I’ve never met in person, but have been writing with for four years.
BOOK CLUBS
The Canadian Book Club Awards will be announced on January 22, 2025… you never know, right? (Once chance out of three.)
Last evening amidst a wild flurry of pretty intense snow, thirteen of fifteen Orillia Social Reads book club members showed up to Kelseys Restaurant to chat and ask questions about What the Living Do. Invited by Linda Ryersee, a fine writer in her own right, I spent the evening plumbing the depths of my book’s story with these insightful women.
What amazes me about book clubs is that they ask such interesting questions. They want to get to the heart of the characters and are curious about their psychology. They ask why? as though the characters are living, breathing people. Which of course, to me, they are. And sometimes, I’m challenged in ways that make me deeply consider why I made a particular choice.
I’ve been invited to discuss my novel in person and on Zoom book clubs from Nebraska to London, England. Surprisingly, these events help me contemplate aspects of craft in fresh ways.
I'd love to do more book club appearances, so if you’d like me to come chat with your book club, please drop me a line.
AUDIO BOOK?
There is still no sign of the audiobook completed in May last year. So, apologies if you are waiting on that version of What the Living Do. My publisher assures me that she’s on it.
IN-PERSON
While the flurry of interviews and podcasts has quietened, I have these in-person events coming up.
March 29 at 1 pm - Severn Library in Coldwater
April 15 at 6 pm - Ramara Public Library
THE RETREAT
I’ve received two cancellations for the May writing and yoga retreat in Spain. So now there are three places available if you’d like a private room, more if you’d like to share one of their sumptuous rooms.
REVIEWS
These reviewers made my day/week/month!
A PROMPT FOR YOU
Once in a while, we need a little nudge to get our pens in motion and possibly to take them in an unexpected direction.
See if this does it for you:
Think about “faking it.” It could be about identity, ambitions, or intentions. Maybe your character is the only one who knows they’re faking, or perhaps others are on to them. Is this a one-off fake or part of their personality? You could begin with the way they are standing or moving their body.
Happy writing!