Category Archives: Writing ideas

by | April 21, 2025 · 7:13 pm

Cut loose

Exploring a tactile approach to poetry

April was declared National Poetry Month in the United States in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. Likewise in Canada, in 1998, the League of Canadian Poets established April as National Poetry Month to bring together “schools, publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, communities and poets from across the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in Canada’s culture.”

Here in Ontario, things feel less than celebratory at the moment. Winter is overstaying its welcome, the goings-on of our neighbours to the south are having an impact on us and around the world, a federal election is surfacing domestic challenges and fault lines, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to cover an area of about 1.6 million square kilometres. Yikes, to say the least.

Reading can feel like a wonderful escape right now. Poetry can, too. How lovely to dive into a Mary Oliver poem and feel at peace with the quiet majesty of geese, or trees, or grasshoppers. How tantalising to experience e.e. cummings’ thoughts on the body. How cerebral to spend a few hours (or a lifetime) investigating what William Carlos Williams meant by the red wheelbarrow in the rain.

Poetry is also political–a tool of resistance and protest. As the Editors of the Poetry Foundation have said, “Speaking truth to power remains a crucial role of the poet in the face of political and media rhetoric designed to obscure, manipulate, or worse.”

I have been exploring poetry myself recently, as both a reader and a writer. The world of poetry is vast and varied, and what I’ve read at school or in literary journals is a teensy fraction of all the poetic expression there is to enjoy.

And I want more.

As I continue my poetic education, I’ve decided to forget learning about the “important” poems. Forget about the canon, forget about the Norton anthologies. Instead, I’m reading poems published in The Walrus (like “Honey Crisp” by Molly Peacock). I’m reading poems tagged with #blueskypoets. I’m reading poems submitted to Poetry Week at CommuterLit where I’m a volunteer reader. I’m reading haikus, pantoums, sonnets, and so much more.

In my own poetic scribblings, I’ve been playing with words, imagery, and forms. I’ve written a poem about a spider crawling across my ceiling, a poem about a night out with my best friend, a poem about grapes. I’ve played around with book spine poems–and gotten the other Restless Writers trying it too (here’s Beckie’s, Andrea’s, and Sharon’s).

Something fun I did recently was cut words out of a magazine to create a collection of six-word poems, which I then consolidated into a single poem. I love how this activity is so accessible and exciting. It was tactile. Having my vocabulary limited to the words I had cut out forced me to find powerful and surprising creative combinations.

If you’re looking for a way to make poetry yourself, this exercise has a low barrier to entry. You can use any magazine–I chose the LCBO’s Food&Drink (natch). If you’re creating a book-spine poem, all you need is your own bookcase or a visit to the library. Play, celebrate! You don’t have to worry about being timeless, or cathartic, or insightful, or political. Those are all important aspects to poetry, and I will continue to strive to give my own poems that deeper dimension. But don’t let it stop you from the joyful act of playing with words to describe or illuminate your own experience of the world.

That’s how I’m celebrating this National Poetry Month. Will you join me?

Here’s the result of my experiment:

Armchair Adventurer
 
What flavour is beyond the world?
Meet the soul available for a game
A story about olives and wines
Pour your heart over the star flowers
 
Swap tomorrow to savour new time
Hop down the hour for escape
Drinking seconds by the loved road
Playing with plans for better madness
 
The blues feast at high showtime
Impressed by delights of happy sights
Scoop today – plan a great move
The active solution, a spirit choice
 
Travel to the layers of winter
Two views of the next west
Bench planning and start making sense
Explore the road under buzzing island
 
What has brought in your world?
We sip cocktails and taste culture
Our best pursuits are in adventures
Born yours with the unforgettable infinite

Maria Hypponen

Wishing you an inspiring National Poetry Month!

Maria

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by | November 25, 2024 · 10:25 pm

Are you a starter or a finisher?

The Restless Writers have just returned from our annual writing retreat. It was filled with stories of true confession, a lightning round of Trivial Pursuit (Canadian edition), a birthday party with Sparkling Stars, beaucoup prompts, a new word (deliciate: to indulge and make yourself happy), and…something very special.

We’ve been working on a collaborative project for a couple years now that we’ve finally committed to finishing—and launching in the Spring of 2025. You heard it here! It’s a project we’ve been weaving together that commemorates our sixteen year friendship. Our hope for the project is it will allow us to support and celebrate writers on a similar journey to ours. Writers helping writers.

Like any creative project, it’s been a challenge to keep it moving forward. Each one of us brings a different productivity persona to the table. Meaning, a couple of us live for the creative beginnings of a new project and a couple of us are eager to execute! Lucky for us, we’re the perfect combination of ideas, plans, skills, and whimsy. We can do this, and we will.

As writers, we have always approached our individual creative journeys differently. We daydream. We abandon. And when it feels right, we give life to those ideas that tug on our shirt sleeves and keep us up at night. We live for these moments! Some projects completed, some published, some still living in notebooks and on USB keys, enduring edit after edit. And that’s okay. It allows us the freedom and flexibility as writers to use the right approach for the job, and at the time when it suits us.

We’re starters. We’re finishers. And we need each other. For encouragement, for accountability, and for butter tart runs to the farm. These are just a few of the things that make us a badass writing team. More to come on our pet project.

Do you consider yourself a starter or a finisher or somewhere in the middle? Tell us more in the comments.

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by | May 6, 2024 · 9:38 am

Wine, Space and a Cat Joke

My take on our poetry workshop

Maria wonderfully captured the poetry workshop we attended recently through the Burlington Public Library: Lynda Monk’s welcoming and positive approach; prompts that inspired our writing; our collective “affirmative noises” throughout the session.

Like Maria, I had also hesitated attending, but not for the same reasons. I don’t have a “prejudice against poetry”. I dabble from time to time and submitted my Your House is Not My House poem as pages for a Restless Writers meeting not that long ago. I also don’t hate journalling. While I may not journal every day, I am an “out loud” thinker, and when no one wants to listen, my journal pages are always willing.

I hesitated to participate because my brain prefers the ordinary. On the evening in questions, she said, “You’ve worked a long day. You’re tired. Wouldn’t you rather settle in to a night of watching Derry Girls episodes? Plus, you’ll have to do the dishes if Maria is coming over.”

But Maria had texted and offered to bring wine. So, what was I going to do? Say no? That’s funny. And I’m glad she did – come over, I mean. Not just bring the wine. (That said, Riesling on a Tuesday evening is a nice treat.)

For me, the gift of Lynda’s workshop was allowing in quiet and connection. It was a needed opportunity to tell my work and home brains to take 60, go commiserate about me over their own glasses of wine, and let me enjoy mine.

Lynda talked about how visceral poetry is. That it cuts to the essence, reveals the unspoken and digs into the senses. She shared this quote by Allen Ginsberg, “Poetry slows me down and brings me back to myself.” For me, on that Tuesday, I didn’t realize how fast I’d been moving until I followed Lynda’s instruction to close my eyes, listen to her recite Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese poem and write down any words or lines that stood out to us. That’s when I felt my breath deepen, and my body settle into her voice as I became drawn in by the verse.

And in that open space, she invited us to paint our own pictures through the prompts she provided. “I dwell in the possibility of…” “Silence is like…” or to fill in the blanks, using Jane Kenyon’s Otherwise poem as a template. Some participants chose to share what had sprung up in their writing. Usually, I’m one of them, but on this night, I was with the others who chose to simply listen and absorb.

To me, poetry is about presence and play. Experiencing it and then toying with the words, the shapes, the sounds, the spaces. You can choose the structure of a haiku or dance freely with your own use of the page, colour, fonts.

Toward the end, Lynda summarized our experience in the “5 Things to Practice to Free Your Inner Poet”:

  1. Breathing
  2. Stillness
  3. Listening
  4. Receiving
  5. Giving

These were the reminders I forgot I needed. Through this workshop, I expanded and found new creative energy. Maria opened up her imagination.

I encourage you to give yourself the gift of a writing workshop. Many are free or inexpensive and offered by local libraries or authors looking to inspire other writers. Maybe pick one that isn’t in your usual wheelhouse. You can certainly take one alone, or better yet, invite a fellow writer who never comes empty handed.

When it was done, Maria and I shared what had resonated with us from the workshop. We also shared some of our own verses inspired by the prompts. Maria, who is skilled at bringing levity to the heavy, wrote a a melancholy piece about a solitary meal, mixed with a little gratitude for her cat.

“The cat and I ate dinner,” she recited stone faced. “Not the same dinner. We both had tuna.”

I burst out laughing at her unexpected ending. Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious and one of the highlights of the evening! After finding a tissue to wipe my tears, and saying goodbye to Maria, I pondered what may be my next poem: I dwell in the possibility of wine with a friend.

Cheers!

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by | October 29, 2023 · 6:21 pm

The fear is real

Photo by Vadim Bogulov on Unsplash

Dig into your characters’ phobias to add depth, detail, and humanity

Content warning: This blog post touches on some common and not-so-common phobias. If you struggle with a phobia, feel free to skip this post. Also, I recognize that phobias are anxiety disorders and can impact a person’s life in profound ways. My writing here is meant to explore, in a light-hearted manner, the ways that writers can grant characters life and depth by giving them a phobia. In no way is this meant to downplay the very real impact that phobias and anxiety can have.

I have a phobia of bees.

Yes, all bees. Even bumblebees, those guileless panda bears of the apian world.

All stripey stinging insects set me off. In fact, if anything buzzes near or past me, whether it’s a fly, hummingbird, or a slight breeze, I’ll do my little frantic bee-flee dance until it’s gone.

The origins of my fear of bees lurk deep in my psyche, and I may never know why that part of my lizard-brain responds to a buzz. But I have a theory. My phobia may derive from a childhood visit to the local pick-your-own apple farm. I got lost in a “corn maze” and was swarmed by big angry wasps. My young and impressionable self was confused and trapped in a dark, creepy, fire-hazard labyrinth, and attacked by flying monsters. Even though I ended up with only a few stings, the experience stuck with me. No wonder my instinct is to run away.

My friends can get pretty impatient about this phobia, especially if we’re trying to enjoy a lovely summer evening outside on a patio. It’s okay, I get it. I’d be irritated by me too.

Pretty much everyone’s got a phobia – or phobias. Whether it’s bees (apiphobia) like me, or clowns (coulrophobia), dentists (dentophobia), teenagers (ephebiphobia), holes (trypophobia), or books (bibliophobia), a phobia is a uniquely human condition.

For some people, phobias can lead to intense symptoms – from chest tightness, racing heartbeat, and difficulty breathing, to anxiety, confusion, and dread. Phobias vary in terms of degree too. They can be a mild irritation or have a debilitating impact on a person’s day-to-day life, or anywhere in between.

As writers, we aim to create colourful, relatable, flawed, complex, and authentic characters. As you build out your characters, you might want to think about whether or not they have a phobia, and what that phobia means to their life and their story.

Here are 8 ways a phobia can add depth and layers to your characters and your story:

  1. Internal conflict: Your whole story might focus on a character’s struggle to overcome their phobia, which may have been brought on by an unresolved trauma of the past. A detective who comes face-to-face with his fear of confined spaces. A parent who must combat their agoraphobia to keep her daughter safe. A child prodigy pushed into a musical career by over-ambitious parents must fight their fear of loud noises.
  2. Relatability: Some phobias can help to make a character relatable or humanly flawed. An estimated 77% of people have a fear of public speaking (glossophobia), so giving your character a case of nerves before a big speech would make them pretty darn human.
  3. Comedy: While it’s never nice to mock the afflicted, a character’s phobia can give you plenty of opportunities for humour – whether it’s slapstick, gross-out, physical, punny, or ironic. Some of those opportunities are driven by the kind of phobia at play. For instance, trichophoba (fear of hair), decidophobia (fear of making decisions), and chronomentrophobia (fear of clocks) all seem like they could lead to some laughs. Just try not to be mean about it, gosh.
  4. Horror: The opposite is also true. So many horror elements derive from phobias. Spiders, snakes, sharks, clowns, garden gnomes, mirrors, demons, dolls, blood, the dark, fire, sleep – you name it, and there’s probably an absolutely terrifying horror story to write about it. And if the phobia doesn’t exist yet, just make it up. Guaranteed you’ll scare the pants off someone.
  5. Motivation for action: Writers must regularly shove characters into shitty situations to drive the plot and reveal the character’s growth and transformation. Having a character encounter their phobia will lead them to take an action. That action could be retreat, charge ahead, cry, faint, scream, what have you. The action your character takes in response to a phobia can provide a transition into the next beat of the story and provide deeper insight into your character for the reader.
  6. Signature quirk: A phobia can also be a kind of personal branding for your character. Indiana Jones Jr.: afraid of snakes. Indiana Jones Sr: afraid of rats. Ron Weasley: afraid of spiders. Wolverine: afraid to fly. Peter Pan: afraid of growing up. Maria: afraid of bees.
  7. Revelation: Your character’s phobia can be a clue to be unravelled over the course of the story. It could be the key to a shocking childhood accident, a genetic link to another character who has the same phobia, or the real reason why a villain does what she does. Go deeper, and make it matter.
  8. Novelty: If you ever feel stuck for an idea for a story, just google “list of phobias” for instant inspiration.

It’s easy for me to write about a character who’s afraid of bees (or sharks, deep water, or the shrill of my smoke alarm), because that’s what I struggle with. As I proceed with my WIP, I’ll be challenging myself to open my mind to other types of fears that my character could have, and all the ways that I can make my character more human.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words), anyone?

What are your characters afraid of?

Maria

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by | July 17, 2023 · 8:20 pm

Future you will thank you

Think of something you regularly resist doing. Something you make excuses to avoid, that you always put off until the last minute, or that you dread until you actually get started.

What comes to mind? Paying your taxes? Leg day? Going to the dentist? Flipping your mattress? Writing thank you letters? Leg day? Is it leg day?

For me, it’s timed writing exercises. (And leg day.)

There’s something unsettling about being given a tightly constrained topic, coming up with an idea, writing under the clock, trying to write well, and—gasp—sharing whatever writing you’re able to churn out. In our writing group, I’m usually the one who greets a new writing exercise with a groan and lost-my-pen-sorry-can’t-write excuses.

I don’t really know where this resistance comes from. My inner asshole will say it’s because I’m lazy. My inner therapist will say it’s because I have a fear of failure and a fear of success. Let’s say they’re both right. Writing, and writing well, is hard work, and sometimes it’s easier to do just about anything else.

I got to face this resistance head-on in a Restless Writers meeting back in April. We had just wrapped up our pre-meeting ritual of Sun Chips, sparkling wine, and catching up. Beckie’s idea for a “pen-to-paper power 10” activity was the first thing on the agenda, and she asked if we were all still up for it.

I felt the resistance burble up immediately. I knew that this activity was meant to spark some creativity, activate our writing muscles, and give us some quick writing wins. Still, I piped up with, “I’d be okay with skipping it.” I assumed my mind would be blank, I wouldn’t know what to write about, and whatever I did end up writing would probably be garbage. Yikes. But the others were gung-ho, so Beckie pulled out a stack of prompts.

The prompts were simple but intriguing:

  • Write about an item you have that isn’t expensive but means a lot to you.
  • What colour do you feel like today and why?
  • Write a recipe for something abstract like a feeling or an event.
  • Write a magic spell for something you need right now in your life.

My interest was piqued. I ignored the remnants of resistance hovering at the edges of my brain and told myself that at least this would be over in 10 minutes.

We all picked out the prompt that worked for us. I chose the magic spell one. Beckie set the timer, and we settled into silence.

The first minute was bleak. I told myself I could literally write whatever I wanted, even if it was a magic spell to win the lottery. Because if there’s anything I need in my life right now, it’s cash-ola. This got me thinking that winning the lottery isn’t the only way to get money—I could get a windfall some other way, or snag a promotion, or one of my business ideas could hit pay-dirt.

The second minute was when the prompt clicked. I came up with a pagan-inspired spell to put me on the path to good fortune. (I’m still on that path, obviously, otherwise I’d be on a beach in Cabo right now.) I wrote as quickly as possible in my signature chicken-scratch, and even had some time to edit before time was up.

When the timer dinged, I had written something I thought was funny and clever, with a tongue-in-cheek style and a smidge of satire.

In fact, everyone had written something. We read our writings out loud, which led to new conversations and tangents and ideas. I had a frisson of excitement in my tummy, like I just accomplished something a little bit brave. I get that same feeling when I single-handedly exterminate a centipede or put an Ikea bookshelf together.

It felt…good.

On YouTube, I follow Kara and Nate, an adorable couple from Nashville who have a travel channel. (You should follow them; they’re a blast.) Kara has this saying that goes something like, “Future Kara loves past pain.” That saying helped her power through extreme challenges and achieve impressive things. She might not have wanted to do the thing—like go skydiving or hike up the equivalent of Mt. Everest—but her future self was really glad she did.

Participating in a short timed writing exercise may not be apples-to-apples with skydiving, but it was still the thing I didn’t want to do. Getting myself to get started and do the work was the hard part. While I was writing, the words came easily. When I was done, I felt energized and exhilarated—and ready to do more.

We tried out the same writing activity at our next meeting. And guess who was a convert? Yours truly. I may now be our group’s writing-exercise evangelist. Those 10-minute sprints are fun, unpredictable, challenging, surprising, and real. They remind me that if I want to accomplish my writing goals, I have to put in the work.

If you’re resisting getting started on your writing project, give a timed writing exercise a try. Or book a writing session in your calendar, or have your SO/best friend/accountability partner harangue you into writing.

Lean into the discomfort. Future you will thank you.

Maria

PS: Have you tried a timed writing exercise before? How did it go? Do you have a favourite prompt to share? Leave it in the comments.

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by | December 19, 2020 · 3:48 pm

Character development: COVID style

When I was in theatre school, each time we took on a new part, we had a list of questions to answer to help us analyze and begin to embody our characters. Questions like:

  • What is my educational background?
  • How much money do I have?
  • Who is my hero?
  • What’s my favourite colour and why?
  • If I were an animal, which one would I be?
  • What’s my biggest pet peeve?

While I haven’t been on stage for a while, I am writing a play…in the middle of a pandemic. And even though I don’t want to accept the reality that family Christmas dinner will be done over Zoom, I can accept that I have been given a new set of questions to answer about my characters:

  • Would they wear a mask? If so, what kind of mask – N95 or homemade?
  • How many swab tests would they have gotten by now?
  • Would they punch anyone at Costco for toilet paper?
  • Would they host parties despite gathering restrictions?
  • How many bottles of hand sanitizer would they have gone through?
  • If they have kids, would they allow them to physically go to school or would they choose online?
  • Would they have bought a puppy?
  • Would they be first to line up for the vaccine?

Despite our current state of affairs and the overall unrest it has caused, as writers wanting to create characters that reflect our humanity, the answers to these questions can guide us.

All around us is conflict, paradox and controversy. The stuff of novels we can’t put down. So, while we wish this virus was Orwellian fiction, we might as well accept what gifts we can for the sake of our craft.

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by | May 20, 2018 · 10:34 am

Your writers’ retreat guide

quote calligraphy under cup of lemon tea

Photo by Studio 7042 on Pexels.com

For weeks, I had been counting down the days and hours to my trip down the QEW in my black Yaris, to Niagara-on-the-Lake, mounting over Lake Ontario on the Skyway bridge thankful the winds weren’t threatening and the bridge was open. I passed the usual industrial parks on my right and the Stoney Creek Furniture warehouse from where I dream to one day afford a couch. Eventually, the stores changed and I saw Magnotta Winery and signs for Niagara wine tours. I turned onto highway 55, past Trius Winery, Pillitteri Estates, Stratus Vineyard. Oh yes. I was close and I knew a glass RELAX Riesling awaited me. I envisioned the blue bottle catching the sun from the window and my shoulders relaxed. I looked at my computer bag on the passenger seat. The first printed shitty first draft of my play slept there. She’d been beckoning me to get out and run amok with her – soon, my sweet. Very soon. And then I pictured the two smart, fun women and cheerleaders I was about to spend my long weekend with, who I’m sure already had a glass in their hands. I grinned. Life was as it should be. I was ready to let go of the usual daily stuff and dive into another writing retreat. We’ve got a number under our belt now and the system is honed. I knew a great, productive weekend awaited.

So let me give you a guide to a great retreat and share some key principles we live by:

  1. Start with good snacks, food and drink. This one has never been a problem for the Restless Writers. We usually have a signature cocktail each retreat, WAAAY too many Pringles and a fridge that is still too packed by the last day. We’re slowly learning realistic quantities of food to bring, but at least we know we’ll be well fed. We are also budget and time conscious. So we share meal prep (each taking charge of one) and rarely go out because it’s expensive and takes away valuable writing time. Go with what works for you, but whether you go Skip the Dishes, potluck, or venture out for meals, plan it ahead of time, so you’re all on board.
  2. Bring your comfies. This means moccasins for me, fuzzy slippers for Sharon, an electric blanket for Beckie, and Prosecco for Maria – for that girl, comfort is defined by a glass of the bubbly in her hands, no matter the hour! Ego is left at the door for RW and you’ll find no fashion shows at our retreats.
  3. Have a kick off and write down your goals. We like starting our retreats by having an activity to shift our minds into creative mode. Keep it simple and consider a writing exercise or guided meditation, or something to open your mind and help release fears and blockages. We also always discuss and write down our goals for the weekend. It forces us to focus in and remember this isn’t just a girls’ weekend away. We’ve got work to do and we’re here to help each other get there. Writing it down makes us accountable to each other.
  4. Have your materials ready.  Bring your favourite pen, lap desks, sticky notes, markers, cue cards, extension cords, earphones, whatever you need to be productive. For us, these are precious weekends, so we don’t want to waste them not having what we need to get busy.FullSizeR001(1)
  5. Don’t over plan or over schedule. We’ve sometimes done this in the past: had a strict agenda detailing every hour, invited a yoga instructor to run a class for us, booked a few wine tours. We’ve relaxed a lot over the years and try and let each retreat flow as it needs to, which leads me to…
  6. Respect each other’s needs and be honest. Everyone’s creative process is different, and as a group you need to both recognize that and respect it. At the same time, each person needs to feel safe to be honest with what that means for them. The writing is about you in the end. So speak up for what you need, and give space to others at the same time. As an example, this past retreat, I felt in my zone and was happy in my pajamas indoors all day. Sharon needed to get herself outside and walking. We know we don’t have to do everything as a group. We are our own guides in our work and we appreciate that in each other.
  7. Be kind to yourself. The purpose of a retreat is to give you time and space for your writing project. Give yourself the freedom to explore. Let go of judgment. Don’t worry if you’re “doing it right,” nor compare what you’re doing with the others in the group. They’re slogging it out in their own way. And if you don’t meet your goal at the end, consider that maybe you set the wrong goal, or if you’re frustrated, figure out if you spent your time the way you wanted to, or were more focused on mixing drinks for everyone, procrastinating. Either way, take stock and learn from it. It’s all good.
  8. Do a postmortem. We’ve gotten better at our retreats because just before we leave, we go for coffee and do a final check in. Did we like where we stayed? Was the space good? Did we like our kick-off meeting exercise? What do we need to bring next time that we forgot? Was the price right and the time of year good? Do we want to have a more formal agenda? Take notes and learn each time how your group ticks.

As I reflect back on our last retreat, I guess the last lesson is: Be ready for anything. I mean anything. Because just when you think you’ve gotten used to being down from the usual four to three because one of you is across the country, that fourth girl just might shock the shit out of you and show up at your doorstep!

You just never know what a retreat will bring. Have fun and happy writing!FullSizeR

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by | September 5, 2017 · 10:53 pm

6 Ways to Quiet Your Inner Asshole

kristina-flour-BcjdbyKWquw-unsplashYou know who I’m talking about. I know you do. I call mine Anders. He’s a big, bulky, piece of shit of a guy who’s actually sly and sneaky despite his size. He knows me well—oh so well—and can spot the tiniest crack in my psyche and bust it wide open with a single punch: “You’re not that good. Why bother?”

He’s an asshole.

And when I talk to other writers who are frustrated and feeling defeated, I know their inner Anders’ are showing off their bulging biceps. Natalie Goldberg, in Writing Down the Bones, calls this your “monkey mind.” (Clearly, I haven’t done the Zen acceptance work she has to be as composed about it.) It’s that voice that never shuts up and makes up excuses why you shouldn’t or can’t write: Too untalented. Too unworthy. Too busy. Too poor. Too tired. (Feel free to add your own to this endless list.)

Goldberg continues to say that the monkey mind will never leave. It stays with her even with all her success as an author. It is persistent, determined, smart, and doesn’t need any sleep.

On the other side for me is Ariadne. She is my goddess who barely has a form because of her brilliant light. I can make out hazel eyes like the sea, scarlet lips, and tresses of golden locks that flutter over a silky whiteness that flows into eternity. She sings when I write – just because I’m writing. She asks nothing more of me.

Elizabeth Gilbert says all she promised the universe is that she will write. She never promised she’d be good. That’s how I feel with Ariadne. She doesn’t wonder why my character just asked for soup. She simply tingles with anticipation when I open my notebook and pick up my Bic Round Stic pen. (Yeah, I don’t need anything too fancy.)

For Ariadne, the exploration writing allows is what matters.  Anders, on the other hand, gets all caught up in wanting to know where it’s all going and makes me second guess every word I put down.

So, how do you quiet a guy like that? While you’ll never shut him up completely, here are six ideas:

  1. Shut up and write. (This is Goldberg’s mantra. And really, all six of these could be this one.) When you write anyway despite his resistance, you make him weaker.
  2. Create structure. (This is another steal from Goldberg.) Make an appointment with yourself to write and keep it like you would any other meeting. He’ll always try to throw you off and send you a grocery list or a great Old Navy sale reminder.
  3. Read your favourite book that gives you chills and made you want to be a writer in the first place. It drives Anders nuts when I pick up Shakespeare.
  4. Talk to a close friend who inspires you and reminds you who you are. Anders hates the Restless Writers!
  5. Go for a walk and be present with the earth you are walking on, the maple trees on your way, the pansies you pass. Take notes as you walk to notice what is extraordinary around you. That’s our gift as writers and Anders gets bored pretty quickly.
  6. Remind yourself you’re an artist and create. “Dependence on the creator within is really freedom from all other dependencies.” – Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way. Anders’ mission is to make me completely dependent on him.

Even now, he is telling me, “You’re a fake. There’s nothing original here. You just took all this from other authors.”

Well, Goldberg, Gilbert and Cameron wrote their books to inspire other writers and they have inspired me. That is my truth today.

Anders can have his tantrum. He’s an asshole anyway.

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by | September 17, 2016 · 6:40 pm

Pedal to the metal!

I’m totally stalling like a 57 Chevy. And umm… waiting for a tow from my fellow restless writers.

I start. Then I stop. Then weeks go by and I’m bummed by my lack of progress on my new writing project. What gives? I mean, does anyone really feel quite ready to write?

I seem to be getting bogged down by deciding where to begin. I’ve written a handful of chapters of a memoir, a genre new to me, but they don’t seem to fit together. And hastily, I’m learning there is no one perfect place to start. So instead, I write this blog post in hopes it will propel me forward in delivering pages to my writing group by next weekend. That’s only seven days from now. Ah, crap.

After reading much advice from other writers online about how to break through barriers when beginning new projects, I’m left wondering, will any of that fluff work for me? I already practice much of it now in my writing routine, like setting goals, making a plan, and committing to other humans (i.e., the Restless Writers)—I am the Leckie after all. I do that stuff, and yet, I feel overwhelmed. I doubt myself and I allow life to get in the way of my progress. Excuses, really.

I need to just start, dammit. And to stop overthinking my story and just get to free-writing.

It’s time to put the pedal to the metal and enjoy the ride!

“It’s better to write for yourself and have no audience, then write for an audience and have no self”.  

~ Cyril Connolly

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by | December 8, 2014 · 5:00 pm

Chasing tales

Scary_roadMy feet tend to take me to dark places when I run. And not just because I run in the very early morning before the sun rises. The dark and quiet play games with my mind, and I have to talk myself out of my creepy thoughts.

I sometimes wonder if I should be running all by my lonesome when it’s so dark out. What happens if I sprain my ankle? What happens if I get hit by a car? What happens if that other runner over there turns out to be a serial killer?

My fellow early-morning runner raises a hand in greeting. Not a serial killer, as far as I can tell. I try to run with better form and less wheezing…at least until he’s out of sight. Soon it’s just me again.

There’s a rustle of leaves off to my right, and a rabbit darts across the street. What is that rabbit so scared of? Should I run a bit faster too?

My pace picks up a bit, until I manage to get my heart-rate back under control.

Good lord, is that a bear? No, it’s a hedge. A bear-shaped hedge.

A vaguely man-shaped figure appears out of the mist in the local park.

Sweet heavens, is that a zombie? No, that’s just an early-riser, taking his dog out to do its business. You say hello to him every morning. And everyone looks like a zombie before they’ve had their coffee.

“Morning!” I say. He says hello back. His dog hunches and watches balefully.

A few blocks further, a dark shape lurches towards me from the gutter. Gah, it’s a C.H.U.D.! Wait, nope, false alarm—it’s just a skunk.

Gah, it’s a skunk!

I pour on some speed and soon I’m at the half-way point of my run.

I glimpse the shadow of something gnarled and limb-like and sinister reaching across the sidewalk. My heart jumps into my throat once again—a gigantic spider!! Um, no. No gigantic spiders here. That’s a tree-branch. A tree-branch that someone really should move off the sidewalk.

Although, that tree-branch kind of looks man-made. Like machinery. Like maybe a drone, but one that short-circuited and then fell from the sky and smashed to pieces. Wait—did one of the drone’s appendages just move? No, it’s still just a branch, caught in a gust of wind.

Okay, maybe it’s not a drone today. But there could be drones here tomorrow, doing drone-y suburban tasks like delivering newspapers or surveying the golf course or baby-sitting small children. Soon they’ll be everywhere. Next thing you know, the drones become self-aware and demand better working conditions. Then there’s an uprising and a counter-revolution and the whole world goes to shit. That’s how Terminator happened.

My running route takes me through a stately suburban neighbourhood, where the biggest threat to public safety is kids riding their bikes too fast. Yet somewhere between minute 7 and minute 26 of my run, I’ve encountered enough beasts and ‘bots to populate a few new creepy short stories.

As I slow to a walk and approach my driveway, I wonder if this is how Russell T Davies gets his ideas.

And then I get writing.

Maria

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