Lots happening lately in my little writing life.
The Mabel’s Fables workshop (aka. George Brown College’s Writing Fiction for Children, level two) started up again last night. It looks like we’re a smaller group than usual, probably because of the winter weather, but there are so many old friends and wonderful writers there, and some new faces as well. It should be a good term. I read aloud the first two chapters of my current project for critique, and got some encouraging (but thorough–believe me, this crowd doesn’t let you get away with anything) feedback.
I’m working on a writing workshop that I’ll be presenting in February. This is one of the Writer’s Circle of Durham Region’s after-breakfast mini-workshops; one hour long. My topic is Writing for the Hi-Low and Reluctant Reader Market. I’ve got lots of good information to share. The hard part will be fitting it all into one hour.
And my husband and I spent last weekend pursuing our respective nerdy passions (mine = writing, his = coding). For Christmas, he gave me a weekend away with him at the Grey Stone Return Bed & Breakfast near Picton, Ontario. It’s gorgeous there.
Grey Stone Return
We went last year, too, but I ended up with a ridiculously bad cold and spent the weekend churning out kleenex instead of pages.
This year was different. The B&B is built around a tiny fieldstone home that apparently used to belong to the teacher at the local one-room schoolhouse. You can touch the stones, and see where the (low) roof used to be. I loved feeling so close to history. I think it helped, since it was a historical project I was working on. Anyhow, I came home with 12,000 new words and a feel for the story. So far, so good.
Finally, I leave you with Kate Messner’s beautiful poem for writers, which I discovered through Cheryl Rainfield’s blog. Read the poem. And then go back to your writing and feel good about what you’re doing.