Category: On Writing

The Ant on the Raft

Hello readers. It’s been a while.

I’m currently reading BOOK OF LIVES by Margaret Atwood.

I have to confess that I have not read very many of Atwood’s books. But every single title of hers that I have read has touched me profoundly. Odd that. It seems bizarre that I would not read every single book she ever penned after realizing how much I love her books that I have read. I think I know the reason, though. To be honest with you, LARGE TOMES scare me. As one of the world’s slowest readers, a big book feels like too large a commitment to me. I have a historied past of taking the easiest way out…of literally anything life throws at me. This includes reading. I’ll look for slender volumes to read and I’ll almost always eschew the tomes. I know this means I miss an awful lot of great reading. John Irving comes to mind here. I have also loved all of his books that I’ve read. BUT it seems as though there are always two or three novels hidden within the depths of each of his novels. If you’re a John Irving fan, I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean by this. There is a blurred line with his works. Take the total of all of his published novels and multiply it by 2 1/2, and that’s probably closer to the sum of novels that Mr. Irving has penned.

Side-note: a few years back Michael and I were at the TRANS MARCH in Toronto (we never miss an opportunity to show up for the T in LGBTQIA2S+). Who should walk right past us, marching away with all the trans marchers and supporters, but JOHN IRVING himself. I smiled, made eye contact with him, and swallowed every urge to run out into Yonge Street and hug him and take a selfie with him and beg him for a signature or some such nonsense. He was just a man quietly showing up to support the community. He marched alone…with a look of determination and showingupness. I’ll never forget that quiet moment. No fanfare, no need to tell the world, “It is I, John Irving!” Just a man marching for something he believed in.

By now I have almost forgotten what I began this blog post for…I am meandering again.

Back to (close to) the beginning.

I’m currently reading BOOK OF LIVES by Margaret Atwood.

In it, Atwood speaks of a book she wrote as a child. It was called Annie the Ant. It was such a success with her readers (her parents and brother), that she set about writing a sequel where Annie takes an adventure down a river on a raft. The young Miss Atwood soon lost interest and the sequel fell by the wayside.

Why do I mention this? Because this was one of Atwood’s first writing lessons in the memoir. It was a lesson for herself, as well as a lesson for any writers (or wannabe writers) who may read the memoir. It’s a lesson in moving on when a piece of writing is not working.

“If the ant on the raft isn’t working for you, it’s okay to stop.” ~ Margaret Atwood, BOOK OF LIVES.

I needed that reminder. Thank you, Margaret Atwood. This made picking up the gigantic tome of a memoir well worth it for me. This one sentence is worth the price of admission. We writers do hold on to ideas that become stale and stagnant and shrivel on the vine. Instead of trying to find a way to write ourselves out of the paper bag–the corner we have wedged ourselves into–there is indeed another option. As Ms. Atwood says, it is perfectly okay to stop. Move on to something else.

This is probably glaringly obvious when you look at it. But it’s also something so many writers don’t do. They’ll struggle to re-alive a dead cat (that’s an analogy. It’s not really a dead cat. It’s a story that has fizzled out and died. No cats have been hurt in the creation of this analogy.) rather than bury it.

It’s never a waste to give up on a piece of writing. Spending time with the craft is always beneficial, whether or not you use the bi-product of that spent time. If it’s not working…it’s okay to stop.

That is all.

Writing Life Update – Is it Over? Or is it on Fire?

It’s so hard to see the big picture when I think about my writing life. Sometimes it feels almost non-existent. Sometimes it’s on fire. When I zoom in to a specific period of time I think, ‘Oh no! It’s over!’

But when I zoom out I see that it’s a whole world unto itself…and I calm down a bit. It’s those periods when I’m not writing that I gasp and sigh and just KNOW that it’s over.

But it isn’t. I think I might always be a writer. In fact, last weekend when there was a discussion on retirement I made the very blasé comment, “I just see myself writing all day long every day.”

In that throwaway statement I realized that I have nothing to worry about. Downtime is downtime, nothing else.

This week I’ve been working diligently on my unfinished mid-grade novel with the goal of finishing it by the end of the month. I know it’s ridiculous to throw deadlines around like that, but for me they really spur me on to stay on task. I work best under pressure and under threat of deadlines. They become impossible lines in the sand that I must arrive to at the assigned date and time. I learned this method works best for me when I entered my first MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON. The deadline at that time was to finish a novel in 48hrs. Spoiler Alert—I DID IT! That first MNM novel was Sebastian’s Poet. It won the BEST NOVEL AWARD that year. 2007. A lifetime ago!

But I digress. I’ve been really enjoying this mid-grade novel. It feels good to be reimmersed in it. That’s the thing about writing fiction. The writer really does get inside the story. You can feel yourself falling into it. Sometimes I think, ‘If I looked up right now, I’d see the surface above me‘ as though I’m under water and softly embraced in another world. One of my own creation. That’s the part I love the most…disappearing and becoming the story I’m telling. Once you feel that, it’s like you spend the rest of your life chasing that high. Every time you get drawn into your own fiction, you reach that feeling again–that high–and thank the universe that you’re still able to experience it.

Happy Writing and Happy Reading!

My Piece on Walking & Writing…

Last week, I did a reading at Glad Day Bookshop for Brockton Writers Series(click the link for pics). I read from two of my books, The Camino Club and Pride Must Be A Place.

I thought I would share the blog post I contributed to the Brockton Writers Series blog prior to my appearance. Here it is in its entirety.

Walking My Way into Creativity

One thing you should know about me is that I perform feats of magic simply by walking.

One of the novels I plan to read from at the upcoming Brockton Writers Series at Glad Day Bookshop is The Camino Club. It’s the story of a group of delinquent teens who literally walk across Spain as participants in a youth diversion program. Think The Breakfast Club, only with a much more diverse cast. And instead of spending one Saturday in the school library, my characters spend weeks walking across Spain together.

There’s been a number of studies in recent years looking into the link between walking and creativity. This is something I have always sensed intuitively, but never really thought all that much about. Until, that is, the day I brought my backpack to Spain and walked across the country on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.

When I set out on the Camino in May of 2014, I did so with the intention of brainstorming The Camino Club. I put faith in the concept of the link between walking and creativity. While I walked, I gathered all the ingredients needed for a novel—characters, scenarios, plot, everything. Essentially, I walked the story into existence one footstep at a time.

Michael and I waving our tubed compostela certificates in the air in front of the Cathedral in September, 2019. Victory!

As I walked, my creativity took on a life of its own. It felt as though I was in some kind of hyper-intense creative mode for the entire duration of the trip. In the quiet moments on the path—when I wasn’t meeting and getting to know people from all over the world—I walked and talked my way through the entire novel. I didn’t write much down. I was certain the movie-in-progress that played out in my mind’s eye would remain intact for later. I created a tapestry and I carried it with me until the walk was complete, confident the ideas that formed would come back to me once I sat down in front of my laptop back home in Toronto. I was certain of it.

The walking worked! By the time I was ready to write the novel, I knew exactly what it would look like. Every step I had taken on the Camino de Santiago was another word, another sentence, another paragraph, another chapter. All I had to do was type it out.

Two years after Spain, I would once again resort to walking to help me complete a novel. I wrote most of Pride Must Be A Place at that year’s Muskoka Novel Marathon. As this 72-hour novel writing marathon is a sit-down event, I was left with some creative struggles with the story. I knew exactly what would cure the problem. Having incorporated walking into the creation of The Camino Club, I was ready to explore this device again.

Once the marathon was over, my partner Michael and I spent a week at his sister’s cottage. Together, we walked mile after mile after mile as we discussed Pride’s plot problems and worked out all the kinks. By the end of the week, the novel was completed. Walking had once again propelled my creativity. This experiment was even better, as I had someone beside me every step of the way. I bounced ideas off of Michael and he bounced them off of me. While walking, we both had some amazing creative moments that eventually took the novel in new and exciting directions.

With this full week of walks behind me I had confirmed that, for me, foot-meets-earth is the creative path to novel writing I require. Whether I’m struggling or just working out my next novel idea, I take to the streets or the trails and I walk my way through. I find it doesn’t matter if I’m in nature or surrounded by concrete and glass… the walking stimulates creativity.

What I discovered about the link between walking and creativity is that freeing myself up from the impetus to write everything down actually helps with the creative flow. I can sense the ideas swarming in my head as I walk. It’s like I leave the desk with an empty glass, and the further away I get from the keyboard, the more the glass fills. Soon, it’s overflowing and I’m ready to write again.

A photo of my desk at the Muskoka Novel Marathon, where Pride Must Be A Place was mostly written.

The best part of walking with creative intent is that it promotes divergent thinking. This means I’m free to go madly off in all directions. I can generate copious different concepts and explore each one while walking. For me, walking promotes the “what if” of creativity. Whether I do it alone or with someone else, I find that the more my feet take me away into a walking adventure, the more my think-tank fills with ideas.

From the Creativity Walk at the annual Muskoka Novel Marathon…

Last year, Michael and I walked all of Paris. I carried with me the kernel of an idea for a young adult novel set in Paris. As I walked the streets of Paris, the novel was the ghost at my side, willing itself into existence by the power of my own two feet. I’m getting that novel down on paper now. If I ever get to the point where I’m not sure how to continue, I’ll just take a step outside and go for a walk. I might even bring Michael along with me. He’s my perfect “what if” walking companion.

The city of Paris percolates…weaves its way into my fiction.

Do me a favour and bookmark the BROCKTON WRITERS SERIES website. Support them by attending their bi-monthly events at Glad Day Bookshop. And support Glad Day Bookshop while you’re there.

Here are links to the two novels in the piece:

THE CAMINO CLUB

PRIDE MUST BE A PLACE