Lisa Young

Everyone has a different writing process. Over time, of course, some methods grow stale and new "systems" take over. Poetry I like to write first drafts of poems in the company of other poets. We read our favourite poems and then dive in and write for 45 minutes or so, and then we share what we've written. It also helps that these writing sessions take place early in the morning, before the inner critic is awake. I usually write whatever I feel attracted to write about...and I don't worry too much about the result. That comes later when I transcribe what I've written and have a look to see what material I have. Sometimes the very things that I thought were working during the writing process are flat, while other bits and pieces that I wrote that I thought weren't working become the actual material that seems to have some energy in it. In terms of editing, sometimes it doesn't work to just keep moving the original words around. I have to basicall...

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 ...