What two fabulous poets have to say + an invite

The launch is not too far away for my LyricalMyrical chapbook, This Cabin. Read what two fabulous poets have to say about it:

This Cabin, by Lisa young, is a collection of spare and striking poems that jump right in, investigating the tension between being in the moment, and being in the mind. As the title implies, the poems are rich with specificity, detail, and the struggles between getting away and coming home. In a Rumi-esque manner, the narrator "welcomes whatever comes," be it encountering the personalities of caterpillars, or washing a small pot; be it rushing with a "mad-hatter to do list" or "seeing the sunrise / for the first time in a year." Young keeps the reader searching as well, punctuating images of the mundane with spontaneous questions, "How do you fall in step ... Without forcing something?" The reader is invited to pause with the narrator and ask, "How do I live enough ... Without scraping my knees." Young sprinkles everyday events with startling insights, "Nothing is as good as now." Like the bees dance in one of the poems, these poems both hum with yearning and home right in. These are deeply satisfying poems, that ring clear and resonate. "Maybe that's why we like / to put our nose to the glass / and look in" with wonder to This Cabin. —Kate Marshall Flaherty

In Lisa Young's poems getting lost is a search, a daily walk is a quest, small mishaps are a road to meaning and self-deprecation leads to the palace of wisdom. Her verse contains the crunch of leaves, the sigh of breezes, swaying grass and the dance of a lone bee. She excels at one of poetry's key magical acts: fashioning silence into words. —Stephen Humphrey

The chapbook is edited by Allan Briesmaster (the same editor who edited my full length collection, When the Earth). The cover painting (to be revealed soon) was done by local artist Mike Lummis.

Come on out to the launch, Thursday, June 13th. I'm launching with two other wonderful poets, Brenda Clews and Pat Connors. Here's the invite:

If you're on Facebook, click here to go to the event page.

A Lyricalmyrical chapbook, a collage & a whole lot of thanks

A collage of images related to This Cabin. 

A June launch for my chapbook is nothing short of fortuitous. Getaways are what summer is all about, and This Cabin definitely pays homage to the great escape.

Some of the poems were written over last summer and fall, when I had the chance to soak up some sun and gear way down. There are some winter poems in there too. You can’t forget winter.

It’s no good launching alone. It’s no fun. Happily, Pat Connors and Brenda Clews will also be launching Lyricalmyrical chapbooks on the same night.

I’m in the process of experiencing some serious anticipation of the event. Luciano Iacobelli, who’s the publisher at Lyricalmyrical, will be hosting the evening at Q Space.

Q Space is not only home to many reading series in the city, it’s also home to Quattro Books. Yes, their office is in the back. Yes, Q Space is a café, a bookstore and (depending on the night) also a bar. I couldn’t ask for a better place to launch a chapbook.

Lyricalmyrical chapbooks are all handmade. When does a poet get a chance to have a handmade book published and in hardcover no less? I’ve always loved the Lyricalmyrical chapbook and am feeling a lot of gratitude for the opportunity to publish with such a great press.

Here's a sneak peek at the Acknowledgement's Page: 

Special thanks to: Luciano Iacobelli, Allan Briesmaster, Kate Sorbara, Martha Heyneman, Johanne Pulker, Lindsay Smail, Chris Rodgers, Craig Proctor, Michael Fraser, David Clink, Maddy Curry, Stephanie Tingzon, Sonia Di Placido, Rod Weatherbie, Cathy Petch, Kate Marshall Flaherty, the Plasticine Collective, Mark Young, David Young, Sandra Young, and all the poets who participated in the Haileybury Retreat.

Save the date peoples! Thursday, June 13th at 7:30 p.m. Q Space, 382 College St. 

I'm writing some short stories. You want to know how it's going?

Well, I'm loving it. I've found a writer that I'm totally in love with and he's helping me out - a lot. Raymond Carver. You're left to fill in some blanks. It's like a make your own adventure story, but much more satisfying.

Right now, I'm barrelling through another Carver collection. Often times, I come to the end of one of his stories, and think, Is this really the ending? For example, in the story, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," the end [spoiler alert!] has everyone sitting around in the dark, in the quiet - and you can hear their hearts beating. And I'm thinking, What an unusual ending. And then I'm thinking, I just love this. He finds a way to tell something as truthfully as possible and that's so deeply wonderful. For example, in another story, Carver has one of his characters, the husband, being kicked out of his wife's house. It ends with the husband saying, "I just want to say one more thing." But then the husband can't think what more to say. Fantastic. I mean you have to read Carver to believe how good he is. I only wish Carver had written more. I'm going to have to just keep rereading his collections. He's like a serious lifeline to writing. Don't know how I ever lived without him.

A good majority of Carver's stories always seem to be about a couple breaking up. And he can really capture that kind of moment. But with Carver, even though there are repetitive themes, the writing is always very alive and I never get bored. He liked fishing and drinking - so those motifs show up often as well. Although drinking is really the mainstay motif.

Oddly, even though a lot of his stories, if not all his stories, are dark, they never depress me. He has such a good eye, such good observations, that the reader is somehow lifted up. Perhaps Carver was sensitive to readers and knew how to go to dark places without obliterating them. Yes, I want an emotional read, but I don't much like being devastated.

I still remember reading Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. On page 113, I had to put the book down and abandon it all together. I was bawling my eyes out. McCourt can write - but don't kill me in the process - please and thank you.

Anyway, Carver is like a teacher. I read one of his stories and then I can see where one of mine is going wrong. I try to go for the gusto. Try to stay true to the story. It's a process. I have my own Gordon Lish to help me too (minus the scandals). I have a new fiction editor/mentor that's really helping me along. I sent him one of my stories the other day, via email. Gotta work on the ending, he tells me. Yes I do. That one's been shelved for the moment. Just finished another short story though and I really worked on that ending. Endings are very challenging. It seems to me, if I can get the ending right, it organizes the whole piece in some way, and then I can see where else I might have gone wrong and what to tweak.

Short story writing feels like a juggling act. It takes some work to get all the balls in the air. I can seriously see that novel writing is something that will have to happen way in the future somewhere. Or possibly next lifetime. Or maybe all I have to do is find that one fantastic novel that can teach me. They say reading is the best way to learn to write. Any novel suggestions?

Six Ways to Keep Writer’s Block at Bay

Labyrinth

1. Try a different genre. Certain forms of writing are naturally going to be easier for you to write than others. Experiment. Sometimes it’s the last thing you’d ever think of writing that is really your thing.

2. Set some writing goals and then share them with a friend. Give yourself some homework and tell your friend that you’ll report back when you’re done.

3. Once a month, try to make it out to a reading. Being around people who are doing what you want to do is good for the soul and can inspire you to start putting pen to paper.

4. Find readers for your writing. The whole process of what to submit for publication, how to edit it, where to send it, keeps your writing alive.

5. Schedule time to write. Pick a time that’s doable. If you can only find one free slot of writing time per week – then take it.

6. Before you write: spend a half an hour reading something that is in the same genre and style that you’d like to write in. After reading, you will be well-fuelled and ready to write.

Reading, Writing & Arithmetic

It's the New Year and it seems the appropriate time to start reassessing goals and aiming for that ever-elusive thing called a balanced life. I used to think that if I was going to survive as a writer, I'd need to cut out everything that didn't have to do with writing.

Cooking? Errands? Grocery shopping? What a waste. I could be writing with that time. Going for a walk? How boring. Banking? Budgeting? Ditto. Better to save all that energy for writing. Oh yes and regular sweeping and mopping and things like doing the laundry went out the window too. But the problem with narrowing one's life to focus on writing is that it doesn't really work. Balance, in all things, works.

But for some of us, life has a way of shifting from one extreme to another. Now I walk regularly, have a clean house, budget, do the banking and even cook. So where's the writing gone during these ever-productive holidays? It's dragging behind me complaining about how I don't pay it enough attention. It is only slightly encouraged by all the reading I'm doing.

I keep bumping into this piece of advice all the seasoned writers say: "Don't wait for perfect conditions to write that novel or screenplay or whatever. Do it now." When it comes to novel writing, I drag my heels, hum and haw. I end up writing short stories which I do find satisfying. I also end up working on my poetry - which I find intensely gratifying. But the novel? It's always the last thing on my list and I run into more than my fair share of dead ends.

One of my friends is a novelist and she'll call me with exciting news about how one of her characters just took off and started doing the most wonderful and intriguing things that end up driving the story to new heights. I love to hear about it - it's the next best thing to experiencing it myself.

I'm always dipping into books on writing. I'm reading, Thunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg. She is also a poet and found writing a novel excruciating. It took her something like ten years to write her novel. At the part I'm at now, she's talking about how a long work of fiction needs an organic structure and until you find that structure, you're basically doomed. You can't impose an artificial structure - it has to arise out of what you're trying to write about. So far, it seems like the prescription she's giving is to keep writing until the structure emerges - which might take forever - and which might very well never happen.

In Manhattan, Woody Allen says the most important thing when it comes to being an artist is luck. (I've watched this movie a million times. I can't get over the fact that one of my writer friends hasn't seen it yet. You know who you are - Ms. Owl.) If you just happen to be "lucky" - you'll find all the pieces of the puzzle for your story/novel.


One of my poet friends recently gave up on the idea of writing a novel (see the article here by Matthew Tierney in the National Post). He admitted to himself that he is just too taken by poetry to sacrifice the writing time required for fiction.

One gets tired of looking for that elusive thing that is actually going to get a novel up on its feet and running. Perhaps it's all the planning that has to go into a long story? Perhaps there's a bit of mathematical thinking involved in novel writing? Like budgeting and banking? Maybe novel writing comes back to the old grade school adage, "Reading, writing and arithmetic." Or maybe it's all about what desk you write on. Jane Austen did well with her little table.

Writing Together/Writing Alone

Photo by Allan Briesmaster

Last weekend I went to a poetry retreat in Haileybury and as I told one of my friends the other day – I had a breakthrough. I don't know what I broke through – or what broke. (As my friend said - the important thing is something broke.)

Back home, I'm still riding the Haileybury high. Writing together is such a rich experience. But what about writing when it's just me? No writing friends to inspire you. No mentor to lean on. The words just don't seem to come as easily. But then it hit me. It's usually near the end of a workshop, when I'm "warmed up," that something more "real" and "fresh" can emerge. I just never noticed this trend before. When writing alone, I need to push past the initial "cold" writing.

Writers are, after all, like musicians – we have to warm up our instrument – tune it and be ready to hear some flat notes and squeaks in the process. I've heard this idea before – but you know – it's starting to really feel true.

River Rocks - Tools for Poems and Stories

River rocks - pick one and tell its story.

I was recently away at a poetry retreat in Burnt River. A wonderful getaway that turned out to be the best vacation I've had in a long time - thanks to the finest and purest river in Ontario and great poets for company and inspiration. 

After so much immersion in poetry, I came home feeling refreshed and oddly gung-ho to switch gears and start writing some fiction.

In what ways do poetry and fiction overlap? Here are some poetry tools and ways to transfer some of these tools into the world of fiction. 

Some Poetry Tools	Some Fiction Tools
Make sure you include concrete objects.	Concrete objects expand to amount to a setting. (Some poets say: location, location, location! So the difference here is perhaps a matter of magnitude.)
Try to write about an "occasion" - however small it might be. Occasion is a tricky word - I don't mean Christmas or anything like that (although you could write about Christmas) - but whatever it is, it’s something that has importance to you.	The "occasion" or "event" might be minute or huge - but even if it's a bird's eye view - you're taking us through a series of events or at least expanding the event to include more parts of the experience.
Look for fresh ways to express things - as in stay away from cliches. Be careful of overusing abstract words like the soul, evil, hope, eternity and freedom. You have to work for these words (somewhat)!	Is the word choice in fiction just as crucial as the word choice in poetry? For some authors you would think so.
Look for some rhythm in your words - if it's disjointed and sounds like you're trying to say a whole bunch at once - you might need to think of another way to say what you're trying to say.	When you read a story aloud - you do hope for a certain rhythm to the words - although in general you don't want it to be so pronounced as to make the listener overly conscious of it.
You want to open with something inviting - conversational even. However you start it needs to be a strong line - which will help form the whole poem.	Fiction writers swear by the importance of the first line. The word "hook" doesn't quite speak to me. Invitation - sounds more appealing.
There is a progression - a middle where certain ideas/images/emotions are expanded upon - perhaps you might call it the "meat."	The middle is often where fiction writers tend to sag - and there's a lot of talk about increasing the tension and number of obstacles - but perhaps you could look at it as simply going further in-depth about your story to convince the reader (and you) that this is a "real" world.
The end hopefully has a feeling of completion - even if it drops off - it drops off at the right moment - which somehow magically brings some new aspect / new twist / new way of looking at something - that has come out of the exploration/writing of the poem.	The end is another trap for fiction writers (and poets). I get intimidated with phrases like "growth of the character" and "epiphanies."  If the end is something that comes out of the beginning and the middle - I wonder why so many authors have to see the end before they begin writing? Whatever works.
Of course the structure of poetry includes such things as stanzas, different forms and line breaks (or lack of line breaks in prose poetry). I find the options so helpful and varied.	I find structure the most elusive aspect of fiction. Perhaps the epistolary novel would be the easiest for a poet to write - as each unit is contained and has a visible structure.
I don’t necessarily think in terms of “characters” when it comes to poetry  – although of course “characters” do show up. They may be part fictional – but I don’t feel as if I’m “making them up” – they are real within the context of the poem.	The idea of  “creating characters” has never been a particularly helpful phrase for me. And creating a “cast of characters” seems all the more daunting. Better to just begin to tell the story and see who shows up.

Some people don't know what poetry is and it bothers them (actually even scholars of poetry can't define it).  I often wonder: what is fiction?  

Poets and fiction writers - please post your thoughts and suggestions! What "tools" leave you feeling blocked and what "tools" open the door for you?