The Journey

Good morning one and all.

Once again this is the perfect day for journey day.

I am trying to put into words the way my life has changed over the last couple of weeks.

Sometimes even I have to admit that words are not quite adequate. OK, let me see if I can express how I feel.

I suddenly have all the courage I had as a fresh-faced adolescent. It's as if my life has come full circle back to the days when fear, hesitation, and the possibility of failure simply did not exist in my mind.

I have come back with the benefit of the experiences I have lived along the way. And I use the word lived because I absolutely believe that you must experience the moments you are in to move through them.

I admit that I have not always been able to move through all the moments and have gotten 'stuck' re-experiencing moments that could have been long processed, but, hey, life is all about learning.

I have trained myself to face each moment with an openness that I had as an adolescent when I felt no fear. Now, of course, I do feel fear and the pain that I have had to experience and release has taught me that life doesn't always give you what you hope for. But, I have also learned that life does give you exactly what you need at the time even when that's painful in some way.

It is the painful moments that people get stuck on, or stuck in and some people simply recreate those moments over and over with different people throughout their lives. That happens when we don't allow ourselves to experience the pain in the moment.

I gave up my fear and its limiting factors almost two months ago and the universe gave me exactly what I wanted and needed almost instantly.

Fear creates distance and courage creates love. Of that I have no doubt.

And as I listen to the song 'Union' by the Black Eyed Peas, Sting's voice rings true: I'd change the world if I could change my mind, if I could live beyond my fears, exchanging unity for all my insecurities, exchanging laughter for my tears.

That's it exactly!

And we can all do it and my life has been transformed completely as a result of my courage.

I don't believe anyone wants to be unhappy, but I do believe a lot of people are afraid to really face themselves, and so the barriers go up.

If you are not able to face yourself, how will you ever be in the moment with any person or situation in your life? Quite simply, you won't be.

The Mechanics

Good morning everyone!

I have a meeting this morning so I can't be mechanical today.

Have a productive day!

The Writer's Weekly

Good morning to you all!

Today I want to talk about some writers I know through cyberspace that have won awards or been published recently.

The first writer is Andrew Tibbetts. He won the Malahat Review 2008 Novella Prize and was commenting on the Canadian Writers' Collective blog last Friday that not many of his friends read his work. I thought this was a perfect opportunity for me to mention his prize and to guide people to his blog and the other Canadian writers I've met through their collective. Read, read, read everyone and let them know you've experienced their work.

Bravo, Andrew! What an amazing accomplishment.

The next writer is Amy Shearn. She has recently published her first novel and I just received it from Chapters yesterday. I can't wait to dig into it and her blog Moonlight Ambulette is always fun and inspiring.

Congratulations, Amy! Your book is sitting on my reading table and it's at the top of my fiction reading list.

I think I will keep my Tuesdays for talking about writers who have recently been recognized and also to discuss their work--which I will read!

Remember everyone what goes around comes around and if you want people to celebrate your work you've gotta go that extra mile to celebrate other people's work too!

In other words check your egos at the door and read people, and enjoy!

The Voice

Good afternoon one and all!

I am back from vacation and I had a wonderful week. The cottage I rented was beautiful and the view across the lake breathtaking.

I feel restored!

My voice will be changing in the near future and will move back to children's fiction--which I love. I will be editing a series of books for a publisher friend of mine.

I have worked quite extensively in children's fiction and I always enjoy the knowledge that young minds are going to become enthralled in the stories I'm editing. I feel as if I reach through generations working on children's literature.

I will see you again tomorrow and I wish you all a wonderful summer evening of fun and frivolity.

A demain!

Open Forum

Good afternoon to you all!

Life has gotten in the way of this day and I am behind in my schedule.

Nothing too serious about that.

I will be unusually quiet next week and be reunited with you on the week after that.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend of frivolities.

A bientot.

The Journey

Good morning one and all.

It's journey day and I may get back to you later on that.

I'm off to a business meeting. If I don't return, have a very productive day!

The Mechanics

In my grammar book Collins Good Grammar, Graham King has created a test and one of the questions is this:

Which sentence is correct:

Then, as he lay silently beside her she cried: A broken, hoarse cry that sprang from a buried memory of adolescence.

Then, as he lay silently beside her she cried: a broken, hoarse cry that sprang from a buried memory of adolescence.

Graham King claims that the second sentence is correct because a colon is not a full stop therefore a capital 'A' is not necessary. I agree that a colon is not a full stop but an argument can be made for the capital nonetheless.

I like to upper case letters after a colon when emphasis is in order. In this case the emotions that are coming from her are raw and integral to the meaning of the sentence so I would upper case the 'A' as in example one.

I'm not really concerned that Graham King would have marked my response wrong.

When I worked at the high tech firm downtown I used to upper case after colons too and another editor always lower cased them.

Did that stop me from upper casing them? Not once. If I'd had his position they would have all been left upper cased.

Such is life!

The Writer's Weekly

Good morning!

I am reading the current issue of Poets & Writers Magazine and I always find really interesting articles on various aspects of the business.

This month they have included a book list for summer reading, but I always have a pile already chosen so I don't get into that.

There is, however, an interesting article on how to create complex characters that I intend to read. Even though I don't write short stories I do write other fiction and character development is always worth improving. Robert Boswell, in his article The Practice of Remaining in the Dark, suggests that we should write characters so that the reader only ever knows half of them. Boswell says that including the details one might expect but not anticipate creates rich characters. An interesting idea.

I like the idea of creating a character in the same way we get to know someone, the petals open and reveal the stamen within. You see layers of people as you get to know them, but with many people you feel as if you never really know all of them. That's when it's fun to have a character do something which seems totally out of character.

Isn't that what real life is often like? So many people are out of touch with who they are and that is when out-of-character actions come into play. The quiet family man that breaks under financial pressures and kills his whole family including himself. Or the conforming daughter that marries the 'ideal' husband and then just leaves one day abandoning her children forever.

These are examples of people extremely disconnected from who they are. A lot of the people in the world are like that!

Boswell asks a final question which I think is really interesting, he says: What would your character think of you.

Now that's a good one! Imagine your character looking back at you from the pages of your story. They know you pretty well because they've been inside your head. How would they see you in relation to their perceptions of the world?

I'm definitely going to try that. If I can see what they would see in me I'm on my way to making their character solid yet intriguing for the reader.

The Voice

Good morning one and all.

Why is it that some writer's voices are more accessible than others?

All you have to do is compare H.P Lovecraft's style to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's style and you will understand what I mean.

Many H.P Lovecraft mystery stories are rather esoteric. I realized this when I recommended his stories to a French Canadian friend of mine and then realized that the level of English was simply too complicated for someone who learned English in their 20s.

With H. P. Lovecraft you are often reading at university level (and beyond) and the way he weaves his tales is compelling and chilling all at once. You get the sense that he not only created his stories but lived them too, which I guarantee you is bone-chilling in its implications. That's what I love about his work! I can still remember reading his story 'Reanimator' and almost losing my cookies on the metro platform (it was unluckily right after I'd eaten lunch).

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has an entirely different style. His stories, though original and thoroughly creative in content, always follow a certain pattern. While you read them you sense a tidiness about his work, almost a routine that feels very safe within the confines of Sherlock's mystery scenes. I would think the writing level is around Grade 8, so Doyle's work is far more accessible to the masses.

I have always had a certain kinship with people who push the envelope in any artistic endeavour. I have the upmost respect for Doyle's process and works, but Lovecraft transports me somewhere else. There is something really over the line about some of Lovecraft's stories that appeals to my sense of creative adventure.

Getting work published is such a subjective lottery. If the right person reads your work and likes the voice, you'll get published. If the wrong person reads your work, you'll get passed over.

I always think about that when I research magazines and publishers that I'd like to work with.

How far am I willing to sacrifice my own personal style (if at all) to get published?

Always a good question. But when I come across a voice that I like I realize that sacrificing my own voice to become part of this writing world may actually be a disservice.

I firmly believe that it's the diversity that keeps the arts a living, breathing and growing entity, not the stagnation that comes from conforming.

Open Forum

Good morning one and all!

Happy Friday to you. It's one of those weeks where I feel as if I need some extra energy to motivate myself. I've felt like hiding part of the week (which never helps) and, well, quite frankly the universe bombarded me with too much and I am slowly dealing with all the emotions it has handed me.

Luckily some of the universe's information has been wonderful and happy and loving. That has helped me deal with the other really yucky discoveries that came my way on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I have never been good at dealing with death. I think it's because I have just seen too much of it from too young an age. When I was a young girl I just didn't know how to handle the absolute sadness I was feeling. Tragedy is hard to handle because it can happen so quickly. Suddenly your solid ground dissolves beneath you and you are falling...

Well, that's what it felt like when I was five. Now I know what reactions death brings up in me. I fight the panic and isolating feeling of it and make sure I look around and feel how solid and alive my life is.

That has been my struggle this week. I have moved past the sadness and now I'm angry. When people choose to kill themselves it is such a selfish act in some ways. I know why he did it. I knew him well enough to really get what he carried around inside. The battles he must have fought to stay real and present and gentle really must have been monumental. I understand all that, but now that he's at peace where the hell does that leave all the rest of us?

Well, here I guess. Here knowing we will never see him or talk with him again. That's pretty painful.

I have known for years that he could choose to give up, that maybe one day he just wouldn't be able to handle the memories and the emotional scars he carried with him. But I never gave up hope that maybe he'd have enough strength to fight it. I am an optimist and a fighter.

I must now come to terms with the fact that he just couldn't do it and that this planet has lost another person that is so sorely needed in this world.

All I can do now is never give up myself and help as many people as possible along my journey through this world.

With all my heart and soul I wish him peace.

The Journey

Good morning to you all, it's journey day!

I have had an incredible journey this week filled with wonders and heartbreaks.

My life is suddenly filled with a huge amount of love. I was doing pretty well before but my love meter skyrocketed in the last few weeks. It's a wonderful place to be and I wouldn't change it for the world. I finally feel as if I've come home after a long time of wandering (figuratively speaking). I'm home and the fireplace is on filling my space with the aroma and the essence of connection.

Death also came to call this week--the silencing discovery that someone you loved is no longer.

The hopelessness of suicide makes me wonder how being alone made it easier to face.

It is with my heart and soul that I lay to rest the person I once knew. Their energy is now transformed and they are freed from whatever earthly bonds they could not undo in their mind.

I will honour their memory with my continued survival, living my life to the fullest in every sense.

The love that I am blessed with has expanded me and I know that I was meant to be right here, right now.

Please, keep passing the open windows.

The Mechanics

Good morning to you all.

Do you know what a synecdoche is?

I don't think I had ever heard this word before when I came across it in my Collins Good Grammar book.

Synecdoche is a figurative device in which a part is substituted for the whole or the whole for a part.

Having said that, what does it mean? Well, even though I didn't know what the word was I've been using the convention for years.

Here's an example: We sent over 200 head to market yesterday. This sentence has been shortened and head is replacing cattle in this example.

The king assembled a fleet of some 600 sail: Here sail is referring to some 600 ships.

In these last two examples part of a cow and part of a ship are used to indicate the whole.

England beat Australia by three wickets: Here England and Australia are used to indicate part--the English and Australian teams.

This device is used to achieve brevity and avoid repetition and is used extensively in newspaper writing.

One of the most common--and contentious--synecdochic expressions is man, which, in the sense of mankind, is only part of the whole--man and woman.

Yes, I can honestly say that is one synecdochic expression that I don't like at all. I never use it. Being the part of the whole that is being left out has never sat well with me.

Have a great one all! A demain.

The Writer's Weekly

Good morning one and all!

Honestly, I'm not sure what to write about today. I don't know if it's the heat or humidity (or the weird combination of both), but my brain doesn't feel like thinking too much.

I suppose this isn't the greatest scenario for a writer. I'm supposed to be thinking all the time, right? Well, I am but not necessarily about writers in the media. I guess that's the thing.

I'm thinking about new ideas for queries, I'm thinking about what it will be like to write articles for magazines, I'm thinking about other writing jobs I might like to do and whether I should get a new cell phone.

It's just all over the place in my brain today.

I'll have to try and rein it all in and come up with some coherent decisions.

But, then again, maybe not.

Maybe I'll just let all this stuff float around and fall into place by itself.

Isn't that what hot summer days are for after all?

Enjoy everyone! Enjoy!

The Voice

Good morning one and all!

I got a great response back from my query writing teacher. Apparently I have passed her query writing course with flying colours and can now put together enticing queries for magazine editors on my own.

For any of you that don't know, to get published in a magazine you have to send them a query that outlines your idea and how you would construct your article.

The query has to be concise and packed with information or the editor won't even bother reading it all. (Magazine editors are insanely busy!)

So basically, to even get your foot in the door the editors have got to like your query. And not only that. Your query has to stand up to scrutiny from all the editorial staff of the magazine before it gets chosen. Since I have never been published before in a glossy my query likely has to be even better. Being unknown means you've really got to prove yourself.

I find the whole process kinda thrilling really. I love challenges. Always have!

If I decide to tackle something, the harder it is the better. It's as if all my resolve grows and I find out I had more in me than I ever imagined. I love that!

So, now that I've mastered query writing it is only a matter of time before a magazine gives me a chance. Now that's really, really exciting.

Have a great day everyone and a demain!

Open Forum

I can't believe it's Friday already! How wonderful is that?!

I'm taking my son out for breakfast this morning--a ritual that we both really enjoy.

I have a thing for breakfast and apparently my son does too (it was his suggestion to go this morning).

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

See you on Monday.

The Journey

Good morning one and all, it's journey day once again.

Do you ever underestimate your abilities as a writer?

I wonder how many writers do this? I definitely do.

Sometimes I almost have to get smacked upside the head before I wake up.

I read a comment by a successful short story writer named Kris Babe in Poets & Writers Magazine (who was supporting himself and his family through his writing income) and he said he didn't think he was better than a lot of the other writers he'd met, just more persistent. He said he just kept sending out his stories until they were published and that he'd met more talented writers that gave up way too soon.

I found his comments interesting because having guts and being resilient and determined make a lot of difference to how people approach and succeed in this world.

It is a myth that great writers are 'discovered' almost instantly.

It is also a myth that writing is an elitist profession only done well by a small group of special people.

Writing is hard work, but it's work like any other kind of work.

Margaret Atwood, J. K. Rowling and many others have been rejected by publishers on countless occasions. We all have to start somewhere--yes, at the beginning.

I think that one of the mistakes I make is comparing my writing skills to other people rather than to myself. It's been several years now that I have been writing freelance and I should compare my writing now to what I was producing 7 years ago and realize how much more I know now.

Every writer has their own experience and background and likes and dislikes that they bring into their career.

Writers, in other words, each have their own universe. My writing universe won't be like anyone else's, nor should it be. But is it growing, progressing and am I getting more confident and stronger with every project I complete?

Those are the important questions. If the answer is yes, then I should throw caution to the wind and go for it. If the answer is no, I should take some courses and retrain myself to gain whatever confidence I'm lacking.

I'm happy to say the answer is yes.

So my journey now begins with a plan--just do it!

The Mechanics

Good morning one and all. It's mechanics day.

Between and among--when do we use them and why?

Between is used to connect two persons, objects or ideas: There is little difference between the two of them. She couldn't tell the difference between either of them.

Among, on the other hand, is used to connect several entities: There is little difference among all five candidates. He shared the reward among his friends.

However, where several things are considered individually between might be the better choice: He divided the reward equally between the five of us.

It's also worth remembering that when describing a choice, between is followed by and, not or: It's a matter of choosing between Jane and Matthew (not Jane or Matthew).

I hope you enjoyed another day of Grammar Girl and her quick and dirty tips.

A demain.

The Writer's Weekly

Happy Canada Day to you all!

I didn't get a paper today so I don't really have an idea for my writers in the media blog.

I still can't quite work up the habit to look at newspapers online so I will leave my media blog until next week.

Reconnecting with old friends is a really wonderful experience. I found a high school friend on Facebook and she seems so much like she was at 17. She is my age now of course with a daughter and all that, but her essence is the same and it's really wonderful to know about her life again.

Reconnecting with her has brought me back to myself somehow.

Relationships are so important to our lives, but North American culture focuses on quick and fast and convenient in just about everything. Food, money, sex--it's all about more, more, more.

There is nothing genuine in that however. In fact, that is in direct contrast to how most people live their lives. Maybe that's why, when we are lonely, we buy into that idea. But it is just that--an idea.

There is nothing even vaguely fulfilling about living a fast-paced life and treating everything, including people, as disposable. That is a recipe for disaster!

I think a lot of people find it overwhelming how important people are to their lives. It's also very hard to come to terms with the fact that we make our own realities so we should really spend a lot of time looking after ourselves.

A fast-paced life implies that other people should look after you, but that it's an 'in and out' kinda deal. Never stay too long in one place, no emotions, just satisfy your desire--whatever that may be--and run. Ooohhh...that gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

That's the way you hold people at arm's length and self-protect to the max.

I think reconnecting with my school friend made me realize that I was very alive when I knew her. I was 17 and the world didn't scare me and I just lived and really cared about the people in my life.

It is so great to feel that way about life again and it was no accident that I found her now. That's where I am and exactly where I want to be.