Some time ago I suggested to my employer the Times Colonist that we run a writing-related promotion where readers get a chance to get in on the action (it’s called So You Think You Can Write and is open for entries now.) I think I was trying to create something I’d be interested in to help kick-start my imagination and motivation. I suspect Lucinda Chodan, our Editor In Chief and Denise Helm our Online News Director recognized this; they challenged me to write a blog and create a place to share related information, resources, ideas and even host the odd guest blogger.
And so, First Draft is launched.
Writing has been a huge part of my life ever since I can remember. Either I’ve been curled up somewhere with a book, enthralled by someone else’s writing or I’ve been scribbling words onto scraps of paper and imagining stories complete with beginnings, middles and ends. I’ve studied writing at university, I’ve volunteered with a writing school and worked at a multi-disciplinary arts festival with a literary program.
I've even spent elementary school detentions writing; we had one teacher (bless her) who made naughty students write stories over lunch hour as punishment. I was usually out on the playground after about 10 minutes, with revisions coming to me unbidden in the middle of a game of tetherball.
So you’d think I’d be a disciplined writing machine paying the mortgage with bon mots and seeing the fruits of my labour in print (and online) all over the place. Ha. I indicated that I THINK about writing and so far I seem to subscribe to Joyce Carol Oates’ idea of a writer:
"If you feel that sitting in a daze, staring at the sky or at the river is somehow a sacred event, that your deepest self is pleased by it, then perhaps you are a poet or a writer and in time you will try to communicate your feelings."
How do you know when to try? Now? Why not? I’m at a point in my life where I think I have ideas that might be worth sharing. I’m out of my 20’s and can actually admit I’m not the centre of the entire universe. Well past my 20’s. Actually, I’ve passed through my 30’s, in my sacred daze, reading, imagining.
The stories can no longer be contained and the time has come for this writer to fledge. I'm not expecting to fly on my first foray, but with some luck and hard work, I'd like to get to the next tree. I welcome company as I try to make sense about this thing that takes up so much of my life.
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Victoria and its environs are home to a number of writers of all genres, all skill levels and all interests. The website of the Times Colonist is a perfect meeting ground to share info and experiences. I welcome ideas and information to share like the following announcement of a local event:
OVERLEAF CAFE-BOOKSHOP invites local writers (including self-publishers and self-marketers) to place books on consignment in our growing books section. We hold regular author readings on Saturday afternoons (prose and poetry, adult and children, fiction and nonfiction) - anyone interested in participating is encouraged to drop in and have a look at the shop between 9:00 and 4:00 Monday to Friday, at 1105 Pandora Avenue (Pandora and Cook, in the "Medical Arts Building").
At 2:00 pm, August 28, Overleaf Cafe-Bookshop will host author Star Weiss reading from her new book Havens in a Hectic World: Finding Sacred Places and Nuu-chah-nulth storyteller Michael McCarthy sharing stories and music. Entertainment and door prizes will raise funds for Grandmothers For Africa. 250-888-7326 for more information.
