Occasional Writing

What is occasional writing? By this, I do not mean that occasionally, from time to time, once in a blue moon or once in a month of Sundays, you pick up a pencil, pen, or stylus, or you sit yourself down in front of your computer, laptop, netbook, iPad, or other device, and write a few lines.

No, occasional writing is writing for a special occasion. For example, your mother's birthday, your niece's wedding, your friend's baby shower, your grandson's soccer victory--an occasion that presents a perfect opportunity to Write Something.

Forget buying a birthday gift, shower gift, or wedding gift! This kind of writing can be a gift in and of itself.

It doesn't have to be long and involved. Start with a couplet! Move up to a quatrain. There are lots of possibilities.

Of course you can always write it in a birthday card or wedding card, just to make it official.

Owed to a Bank

By Pamela den Ouden

Thy mighty halls intimidate the weak;
The poorest men stand mute, afraid to speak;
Thy marble walls guard secrets dark and deep;
Thy stairs, though grand, are never quite as steep
As interest rates.

As did Achilles in the days gone by,
We tackle armies, not afraid to die.
And yet one weak point caused his final fall.
We, too, are weak—our very life and all
Owed to a bank.

Ode to British Columbia

At the suggestion of patb, who commented on my previous post, Think Poetry!, here is my attempt at an ode:

Ode to British Columbia

Columbia! You guard the western shore
Of this great land stretched forth from sea to sea,
Wide azure skies with eagles free to soar
And snow-capped mountains clothed in majesty.
Our motto sings, Here’s “Beauty Without End”—
The coast, the isles, Chilcotin-Cariboo,
The fruit-rich orchards, grapes upon the vine
The northern prairie where wild flowers blend
Their fragrance with the early morning dew.
My heart is conquered, for all this is mine.

Although this land is blessed with great romance,
Our people and their talents are our gold—
Our heritage is rich in music, dance—
In theatre, poetry, our lives unfold.
Our arts tell stories many different ways,
With fabric, film, with paint and words and food.
Contemporary artists fill the air
With magic that will set our hearts ablaze!
The BC Scene will set a lively mood
To celebrate the arts with certain flair!

WARNING! WARNING! BILL C-32

What's Bill C-32, you ask? It's a bill to introduce the new copyright legislation, which will overhaul a law that is woefully out of date, what with all the new technology.

As writers, we need to be aware and concerned about what's happening "out there," even if we are stuck "up here." Watch this video--it's only 2 minutes 51 seconds. Listen to what these writers are saying.




Then call, phone, fax, text, e-mail, or otherwise notify your Member of Parliament. Make sure he or she is on-side with revisions that will protect intellectual property, not give it away for free.

Think Poetry!

Free verse has reigned over Canadian poetry for the past 50 or 60 years. Writers moved away from the formal poetry, by which I mean poetry with a certain and controlled form, and moved towards the anything-goes-anywhere on the page.

In some poems, for example, "I Watched a Snake," by Jorie Graham, the form supports the content in that the lines on the page imitate the content, by creating the weaving-in-and-out of a snake moving through the grass.

Experimental poetry moves further towards the unformed by unhinging the normally accepted meaning of the words from the words themselves.

Returning to formal poetry, however, is a great exercise for the writer's brain. So let's think about those forms that we all learned in grade school and beyond:

Haiku - everyone always liked this because it was only three lines! We all know the formula: five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. Mention a season or something in nature and Presto! A haiku! (A glance at the major haiku journals will show that many of today's haiku writers find a lot of wiggle room in that formula.)

Limerick - We all know about that girl or boy from Nantucket. Perhaps this type of verse is not very high in the hierarchy of poetry, but it's lots of fun to try. Does someone you know have a birthday coming up? Write a limerick for the birthday girl or boy!

Sonnet - Okay, some of you are having flashbacks to high school. Your English Lit teacher, Mrs. Dalrymple, is trying to teach you rhyme scheme, abab cdcd efef gg . . . or was it abba abba cde cde? The terms swim in our heads: octave, sestet, couplet, Elizabethan, Petrarchan, iambic pentameter . . . now we're lost, just like back then.

Step up to the plate. Try writing a sonnet! Taking the strict requirements of syllable stress and line length into consideration is great training!

One more:

Villanelle: a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. The form is made up of five tercets (sets of three lines) followed by a quatrain (four lines). The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem's two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2. (Thanks to Poets.org for help with this explanation!)

Sound complicated? Again, it's great training to think in such a structured way.

Give it a try! Upload your haikus, limericks (remember this is a family-friendly site!), sonnets, and villanelles in the comment section. The rest of you, offer some encouraging comments to those who step up to the plate!

Arc Poetry Magazine Contest: Deadline Soon!

It's time for Arc Poetry Magazine's Third Annual "Poet vs. Poet" Poetry Contest.

They're looking for poets with "talent, drive, kick-ass technique and the ability to meet a deadline."

If you've got what it takes and some poems on the topic of contests, poet vs. poet, competition in art or in life, then get the lead out and send them in.

Please mark your envelope "POET vs. POET" and send to:

ARC Poetry Magazine
P.O. Box 81060
Ottawa, ON
K1P 1B1.

Deadline for poetry submissions is March 1, 2011.

WHAT???!!! No entry fee??? Gotta do this one!

News Pegs as Ideas for Stories

Today I heard on the news about a house invasion in the Vanoouver area. Stolen from the residence was $750,000 worth of silver bars. The police officer interviewed said it is the hope and wish of the RCMP that people do not keep large amounts of cash or valuable metals in their homes, but, if they do, they should "keep it to themselves." She said that it was obvious that the theives knew what they were looking for.

How's that for an idea for a story! Hard to believe, but, as they say, truth is stranger than fiction.

Some questions to ask about this incident to pump it up to a story or a poem:
- why was all that silver in the house?
- where did it come from?
- how long had the owner been "collecting" it?
- what was it eventually going to be used for or what was the owner planning to do with it?
- who else knew about it?
- how did the information leak out?
- what about insurance? (Can you insure that under your regular house insurance??)

Anyway, scan the newspapers. Find the odd stories. Take a line or an idea and go to town with it!

Remember to change the names to protect the innocent and the guilty.

A Simple Task

By Pamela den Ouden

A simple task—
mailing a book of poetry to a friend
I wrap carefully
cheery birthday paper
party hats and streamers
in neon pink and green
(a padded envelope
assures arrival in good shape)

to save five percent
I print my own shipping label
from the Canada Post web site

sender information . . .
recipient address . . .
payment method . . .
a few more clicks on the keyboard
and the printer hums

As I cut on the dotted line
to separate label from receipt
I read the fine print
in both official languages:

The sender warrants that this item
does not contain dangerous goods
L’expéditeur garantit que cet envoi
ne contient pas de matières dangereuses

I put the scissors down

In all good conscience
I cannot mail it

On my next trip south
I hand-deliver the book

Get your Name in Print!

Do you belong to a group or society that has a newsletter? I do, and I know that the newsletter committee is always looking for content. Many offices or companies have company newsletters. Everything that someone else writes is something that someone on the committee doesn't have to write!

Take advantage of your connections and your knowledge in a specialized area to get your name in print. Newsletters are a certain kind of publishing credit, usually not the paying kind, but at least it's experience!



I have two articles in the current issue of the Prince George Astronomical Society Newsletter (January 2011). I just received my copy in the mail today, and the newsletter hasn't been posted online at their web site yet. A previous article that I wrote for this newsletter can be found at on page 8 of the November 2009 issue at:

http://vts.bc.ca/pgrasc/news/news.html

Start thinking where you can exercise your new-found expertise as a writer!

Uh oh, the deadline for the next astronomy newsletter is this Friday! I'd better get writing!

Try Your Hand at This!

CV2 (Contemporary Verse 2), the Canadian Journal of Poetry and Critical Writing, published in Winnipeg, has an interesting contest: The Two-Day Poem Contest.

Here's what you have to do:

First, you have to register, and you have until April 1 to do that. When you register, you have to pay $12. There are many choices of how to pay, including PayPal. Complete details are at the CV2 web site.

Then, at midnight (CST), when Friday turns over to Saturday, April 2, contestants will be e-mailed 10 random words. You have 48 hours to write and submit a poem, using each of the 10 words at least once.

Here is last year's list of words:

1. grit 2. bound 3. anniversary 4. table 5. note
6. leaf 7. etiolate 8. magazine 9. slake 10. solemn

Get your creative juices flowing by practicing with these words (or open your dictionary at random at 10 different pages, close your eyes, and point to a word).

Then, after you've written half a dozen or so poems for practice, hemmed in by the need to use the above list of words, go to the CW2 web site and read the amazing winning poems from last year.

I'd better get practising!

A "Reply" but No "Comment"

Once I wrote to Queen Elizabeth. It was at the time that Prince Charles became engaged to Lady Diana Spencer. I wrote to the Queen and said that I had a daughter named Diana and how delighted I was that Prince Charles was marrying a Diana, etc., etc. Or something to that effect.

I did receive an answer: The Queen has commanded me to write to you . . . etc., etc., and the letter, on Buckingham Palace stationery, was duly signed by a Lady-in-Waiting. The receipt of this letter at our house was An Event!

After yesterday's blog post, I wrote to the Queen of Popular Fiction, Jodi Picoult, letting her know that I had mentioned her on my blog.

Dear Ms. Picoult:

I just wanted to let you know that I have mentioned you on my blog, www.northern-night-writer.blogspot.com

I am in a creative writing course (and was heartened to hear that you had studied creative writing at Princeton) and my northern-night-writer blog is part of a social media assignment for the course. In my blog, I examine many aspects of creative writing. Often what I write is based on what I am reading, as in the case of your book.

Unfortunately, I live a long way from Vancouver and will not be able to take in your reading on March 13.

Thank you for telling stories.

This morning I received a reply, not from a Lady-in-Waiting, but from the Queen herself:

Thank you for the mention, and good luck with your writing.

Okay, everyone! Make up your minds right now: when you're a famous author and a fan writes to you, be as gracious as the Queen, and send a speedy reply!

The Plain Truth about Introducing Characters

Jodi Picoult is a very popular writer, with at least 16 novels to her credit, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister's Keeper, which is now a major motion picture. Picoult, who is 43, studied creative writing at Princeton University, and had two short stories published in Seventeen magazine while still a student. You can read more about her at her web site: www.jodipicoult.com

Here, I'd like to look at how she introduces the main character in Plain Truth, the story of an Amish woman and a dead baby.

This woman is introduced on the first page, but she is not named, only referred to only as "she." The first page is entirely taken up with this character.

We don't meet her again until eight pages later, by which time we've been introduced to several other characters: Aaron and Sarah Fisher; Aaron's father, Elam Fisher; cousins Levi and Samuel Esch; and police officer Lizzie Munro. It is only then that we learn the name of the woman on page 1: "she" is Katie Fisher, 18-year-old daughter of Aaron and Sarah, and sister to Hannah, who drowned at age seven.

So there's some mystery. It leaves readers turning the pages because they want to find out who the "she" is and what her story is. So this is one way to introduce a character: give us a sneak-peek, but hold something back! Of course, we're not talking about a short story here; this novel is 404 pages, so perhaps there's lots of room for a slow unveiling.


By the way, Jodi Picoult will be in Vancouver and will give a reading on March 13, at 7:30 p.m. at St Andrew’s-Wesley United Church, 1022 Nelson Street (at Burrard). The reading is sponsored by the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival (VIWRF) and Picoult's publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada.

Picoult will read from her new novel, Sing You Home, accompanied by guitarist Ellen Wilber. Tickets are $21 general/$19 students & seniors, available through Vancouver Tix.

Major Non-Fiction Writing Contest - an EVENT!

NON-FICTION WRITING CONTEST

EVENT is both a literary journal showcasing fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction and a sponsor of an annual non-fiction contest.

The deadline for submissions to the 2011 EVENT Non-Fiction Contest is:

April 15, 2011.

Three winners will each receive $500 (plus publication payment). Publication in EVENT 40/3 (December 2011).

Submission details here: http://event.douglas.bc.ca.

Introducing Characters

When you read a novel, notice how the author introduces the characters. Does the main character appear “on the stage” in the opening scene? The first paragraph? The second page?

If we analyzed 100 famous novels from all ages, what would we find out about how characters are introduced? What about 100 best-selling current novels? (There's a research question for a research paper!)

As writers, we may want to strike out in a different direction, develop our own method of introducing characters, but best-sellers are at the top of the list for a reason.

People read them.

Reading Like a Writer

I just finished reading The Summons, a novel by John Grisham. He has zillions of books in print, most of them about the legal profession, since he used to be a lawyer. I'm sure that however much he was making practicing law, it is nothing compared to what he's making as a very successful writer. I chose this book because my sister is reading it and we thought that when we had both finished it, we might discuss it, like in a book club. Last week, I read his novel, The Associate, and I'm working my way through Ford County, a book of short stories also by Grisham.

Here's a six-minute video of Grisham talking about the creative process:




Normally, I might not choose this writer, but I'm trying to put it all together. The question is, What makes this writer so successful? How does he put his stories together? What drives the story? What can I, as a neophyte, learn from the expert?

Here's the scoop: I'd say that the novels are plot-driven. That means something happens, something outside of the characters' heads. Someone is after someone else or something. They want to get something and someone or something is in the way. This makes the conflict. The plot consists of conflict, resolution, another conflict, resolution, more conflict . . . and finally, the final resolution. In literary terms--the denouement, the untying of the mystery.

Hmm. I think it's harder than it sounds. First, you have to plot the plot. Now some writers say they have NO IDEA where the story is going to end up or where it's going after the first page. It has a life of its own, they say.

If your name is Margaret Atwood, Yann Martel, or John Grisham, this may be true. For most of us, though, we probably need to have something a little more solid than this.

I wouldn't say Grisham's characters are all that memorable in the sense that we love them and care deeply about them. His books are not really about the characters; his novels are about the plot.

So that's one kind of novel. What are you reading?

What are you reading like a writer?

How to Write Historical Fiction

Here's a link to a pdf file on how to write historical fiction. There are some good ideas that some of you may be able to use.

The above link is from the web site mentioned in the previous post (Canadian Aboriginal Writing and Arts Challenge).

Allons-y! Vamos! Let's go! Let's get writing!

Contest: Canadian Aboriginal Writing and Arts Challenge - Deadline March 31!

Are you between the ages of 14-29? (I'm not!).

If you are, you can showcase your creativity and explore your heritage. This is a major contest with great prizes and recognition for the winners.

The contest deadline is March 31, 2011. Click here for details.

Or you can call toll-free for more information: 1-866-538-4704

Pass this information along to others who might be eligible to enter.

Acclaimed Poet Lorna Crozier Visits our Class

"I write and I read because I want to hold another human being close to me."
Lorna Crozier

Thursday's class was special. Our guest was Lorna Crozier, an internationally acclaimed writer and poet. She has been writing for more than 30 years and is the Chair of the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria.

Her awards include:

the Governor General's Award for Poetry
the Pat Lowther Award
National Magazine Gold Medal
Canadian Authors' Association Award
CBC Literary Competition

In introducing her, our teacher, Donna Kane, said that Lorna has the gift of clear thought and words and has it in spades. Her keen attention to craft and hard work over thirty years has brought her recognition both nationally and internationally.


She read from her memoir, Small Beneath the Sky. She describes "First Causes" that prairie dwellers and Peace Country dwellers are familiar with: light, wind, dust, gravel. Her writing is lyrical and struck a chord in this long-time Peace Country denizen. She said that when the book was first proposed to her, she thought it was "arrogant to write a memoir," but she began to see that it was not really about her but about "the influence of the landscape of your birth on your character."

Then the poems! She read several from "The Sex Lives of Vegetables," avoiding the ones that got her in hot water when she appeared on Peter Gzowski's radio show. Ah, now I've got your interest. She was inspired by baking a sweet potato. Check them out in The Garden Going on Without Us (1985). You'll never think of vegetables in the same way again!

Following the reading, there was a question-and-answer period. Lorna said she writes to serve the reader. "You write a poem and send it off into the world on its own; you give it a set of wings or feet. When readers enter it, they should smell, feel, touch what the writer has felt."

Words and language are the tools of poets and Lorna said we need to try to get "as close as we can to say what we want to say." Although some people--warmongers and politicians--may use words to twist meaning and "obfuscate" intention, Lorna wants to "open doors into feeling and thought."

One piece of advice she gave is to "be someone who sees things." From that, I take it that poetry hovers around us all the time. Or maybe it's just the inspiration for poems that is airborne. Regardless, we must be observant and reflective.

That all sounds a bit airy-fairy, but Lorna said she believes "155% in technique." She teaches at UVic and says there are many things about poetry that can be taught: cadence and rhythm, for example. "If there's no music in poetry, there's no poetry."

One of the poet's job is to "make a noun feel as if it has the 'oomph' of a verb." Too, the way the lines are laid out on the page can "unsentence the sentence as no other genre can."

In closing, Lorna read a poem, "Mildred," which was a special request from someone in the audience.

We use what we know to find out and explain what we don't know. Poetry is one of the tools that can help us in our search for who we are as humans. One way of creating the unknown from the known is to "estheticize your life."

Here is a link to Lorna Crozier's web site. Watch for her new book of poetry coming out in March 2011.

Another Contest - Try Your Hand at Playwriting!

I must be on somebody's "list" because I received the following notice, personalized with my name! Anyway, read it and write!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The British Columbia Drama Association / Theatre BC News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition is now accepting entries.
This competition, made possible by a generous bequest from Voaden's estate, is dedicated to his memory and honours his goals to develop a distinctively Canadian art of the theatre, and to encourage the writing of Canadian drama.

Follow this link to a pdf. of the competition poster for details

The deadline for submission is April 15th 2011.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Any questions? Phone: 250-591-0018
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's big money! Even the response from professional dramaturges would be worth it! Get writing!

How to Put a Header in a Word 2007 document

Sometimes a little bit of help is all we need:

To put a header in a Word 2007 document:

Open a document or create a new document.

Click on INSERT (the second tab from the left across the top ribbon).

About half way to the right-hand side there is a tab HEADER. Click on it.

This will bring up a menu: click on BLANK 3 COLUMN. This will put your cursor into the Header area at the top of the page. You will see [Type text] at the left, in the centre, and at the right-hand margin.

Place (hover) your cursor over the left-hand [Type text] field. It will highlight. Type your name.

Hover your cursor over the middle [Type text] field. It will highlight. Type your Student Number.

Hover your cursor over the right-hand [Type text] field. It will highlight. Type a short version of your title.

To enter the page number, type Page, then one space, and then at the top left of the ribbon, third tab from the left, click on Page Number. This will bring up a menu. Choose Current Position, then choose Plain Number. The number will appear in the header, and will automatically advance for each page.

To get out of the header area, just double click anywhere on the actual document page. If you want to go back into the Header area to change it, just double click your cursor anywhere within the header area. The Header font looks dark grey instead of black, but when it prints, it will print in the same black as the rest of the font.