Lisa Young

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....

Those who say that there's no such thing as writer's block are just trying to cheer us up. It's real all right.  When you're putting off writing, sometimes all you need is a different approach. Here are some ways to fall in love with writing again... 1. Try a different genre. Read all different kinds of writing. Maybe one particular genre will strike you in a new way and you'll finally realize what you're meant to be writing. Sometimes if you're blocked, it's because the ideas that you want to explore need a different form. 2. Brainstorm.  Whatever form of writing you decide to do, brainstorming is always a great next step. Make a list of ideas and pick the most promising one and give it a try. Looking to write a novel? Brainstorm story ideas and then write loglines for each story. It's a bit like a scavenger hunt. But when you hit on the right idea, I'd like to see if you can stop yourself from writing.  3. Set some wr...

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 ...

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...

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. Oc...

Jerry Schaefer as Holloman & Trent McMullen as Lawrence Lawrence & Holloman Starring Jerry Schaefer & Trent McMullen Written by Morris Panych Directed by Jane Ford A Scrim For Rent Production Morris Panych’s Lawrence & Holloman is a darkly comic tale about the destructive nature of envy. Holloman ( Jerry Schaefer ), a nebbish, awkward, sad-sack pessimist envies his “friend,” the handsome, energetic, self-adoring dimwit, Lawrence ( Trent McMullen ). What makes the play so wickedly funny is the element of “friendship.” Even though Lawrence and Holloman only met two days ago, Lawrence considers Holloman someone he can trust and confide in. If the characters were sworn enemies the play would fall flat. What also makes this show so hilarious is the play of opposites at work between the two characters. Pessimist/Optimist. Extrovert/Introvert. Intellect/Dunce. Blissful/Miserable. Holloman’s pessimism stems from his viewpoint that the world is a place wh...

It's Moosemeat time again. I will be reading one of my new stories. I like to begin with a quote that relates to what I'm going to read. Here are the quotes I found...(but I've decided to use a quote from Fight Club ). It is never too late to become what you might have been. ~George Eliot How full of trifles everything is! It is only one's thoughts that fill a room with something more than furniture. ~Wallace Stevens It may have happened, it may not have happened but it could have happened.  ~Mark Twain There are chapters in every life which are seldom read and certainly not aloud. ~Carol Shields There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. ~Nelson Mandela A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. ~Jean de La Fontaine There is a limit to how much you can change to be liked for who you really are. ~Robert Brault, Basically we are all looking...