Lisa Young

There are no travelling adventures in my future. But while I stick at home  –  friends are preparing to go to India and beyond  –  and one is already on a year long trip around the world. This is when the imagination must kick in, so that I too can have a taste of other worlds. I was editing an art book this weekend, and many of the photos that will be included in the book are thought to be some of the most sacred works of art in the world  –  they are said to contain hidden knowledge for anyone who is open and ready to receive it. The Sphinx is one such work of art. Staring at a photo on a computer is not going to cut it. You have to be there in person to feel the impact of the Sphinx  –  or so I've been told. People have been known to weep in front of great art  –  like Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. The Chartres Cathedral is another work of art that I've been told I have to see before I die. Exactly when do my travel a...

Novelist Lisa de Nikolits tells us how she gets story ideas and how these ideas evolve… My brain is an attic filled with psychotic people. And each of these crazies has one thing in common; they’re all obsessed with words. They scurry around with their buckets and pails, pushing wheelbarrows that spill words and fragments of sentences, and each word or sentence is umbilically attached to the embryo of an idea. They’re ravenous, these crazies; they have an aching need for these words and ideas to take shape – they long for me to relieve them of the burden of the tiny letters and they beg me to shape the fragments into coherent sentences and thoughts. I feel the weight of these madfolk in my head; their rat claws bite the undulating surface of my brain as they run, they twist little ankles in their haste to push their way to the front line, and they’re not shy to give my skull a good thwack either, when they’re feeling particularly insistent.   They get their...

 I know my book launch isn't until November, but it's starting to feel like it's getting very close all the same. I don't usually make collages  –  however  –  I decided I'd "get out" all my anxiety about the launch by putting it into picture form. It was a great relief somehow. So here it is for your general entertainment. I continue to be taken by Julia Cameron's writing. The book I have of hers now is called, The Sound of Paper. She's the one who "believes" in collages. She has interesting exercises in her book including one where you write about yourself in the third person  –  distance yourself and write yourself as a character. I've done this exercise once before. I tried it again today and I seemed to be just a little more honest the second time around. It's amazing how I edit myself as I write  –  well I can't say this or that  –  and let's not get maudlin or overly dramatic,...

We are so lucky to have those who are experienced writers circulating in our community and holding workshops. Nothing could be more helpful than direct person-to-person exchange with someone who has gone down the path you hope to go down. Rosemary Aubert is one such person. I was fortunate enough to attend her workshop on the topic of publicity and promotion at Quattro Headquarters. She has a wealth of information that you are not going to find anywhere else. She was a criminologist – so she is good at gathering clues and following up on leads. Aubert talked about how promotion and sales should be fun. She told us it’s an opportunity you’re offering someone – it’s not about forcing anyone into anything. If you’re offering something, you’re already in a better position than asking something from someone. It’s a shift in attitude that makes all the difference. Every time you come in contact with potential readers, you’re also giving them a chance to get to know you (and you th...

A few weeks ago I went to a poetry weekend near Rochester (on East Hill Farm). Here are a few excerpts from the journal I kept while I was away to give you a flavour of some of my time spent there… June 24 I’m just staring into bliss – ferns – a fan of trees hugging the pond on the other side. I’m dumbfounded or is it lulled by the beauty of this place. A very loud wasp is right behind me. The yellow irises are bowing to the pond – are they naturally this droopy or are they dying?  Love and Death. Li-Young Lee says there are no other subjects in poetry – everything else is just dross. I’ll go and pick an iris – I must! There are so many stories afoot. When you’re out on a farm everyone has a story to tell. Apparently the population of deer is so high in Rochester that they eat all the flowers in the city. You can light the water on fire in the creek near Alice’s place – because of the natural gas. I also heard the story about the chaplain who was two hours la...

Guest Blogger: Rod Weatherbie Reviews Just Kids Because the night belongs to lovers Just Kids by Patti Smith  In her book Just Kids , poet/musician Patti Smith details the nature and nurturing of her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in early 70s New York. It was there the two artists took turns playing each other’s parent, lover, mentor, and muse. What may be surprising to anyone familiar with Robert Mapplethorpe’s later work – and his long relationship with art curator Sam Wagstaff – is the lover aspect. Having grown up in a conservative home in a conservative era, Mapplethorpe had no outlet for his sexuality. Once out on the streets of New York he would come to realize his true nature; the freedom of which would allow the true flowering of his art. He and Smith continued to be lovers throughout his period of discovery and their relationship – although diminishing in a physical way as Mapplethorpe explored this new liberty – grew in st...

Finding Water, by Julia Cameron  –  a very interesting workbook designed for "recovering artists". And so I've begun my search for water. A friend of mine gave me this book and so far it's proving to be helpful. Cameron has an excellent section on the inner critic  –  which as you may have noticed in my last post  –  is a topic that has captured my attention. She suggests that you get to know your inner critic: What does it say? What tone does it use? Where is this voice coming from? If this inner critic had a face, what would she or he look like? Well, I went ahead and did this exercise because I come up against this inner critic a lot in my fiction. (Poetry doesn't seem to present as big a problem.) You'll never guess who my inner critic is....and I won't tell you. The point is I was completely surprised with where this exercise led...try it and you also might be surprised at what you uncover. I...