the best writing group

Semi-Retired Hens: In praise of the best writing group

| People, Writing

One February morning last year, I shuffled along a snowy Toronto sidewalk, internally freaking out. I was on my way to the very first meeting of my new writing group. My friend Teri had set it up, and while I trusted her, I didn’t know what to expect. Would we all get along? Would I fit in? Would we be able to help each other? One year later, we have a name (the Semi-Retired Hens), our […]

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history of fictional worlds

The history of fictional worlds

| Misc., Myth | Lore | History, Places, Reading, Writing | 2 Comments

In 2016, I wrote the following blog post for my history blog, The Small Histories. I was thinking about it again recently and wanted to share it here as well – book lovers will appreciate it! Also, I had to actually laugh out loud when I read “I’m not a worldbuilding sort of writer” – Oh if only the me of 2016 knew that worldbuilding would be ALL she’d do just two years later!

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DIY writing retreat tips

My DIY writing retreat – what I learned

| Places, Writing | 3 Comments

In 2008, I booked myself a hotel for the night for a DIY writing retreat, after being frustrated at not being able to afford a traditional retreat, and also too impatient to wait for one I could afford. I’d been meaning to do it again since then, and last weekend I finally did. Here’s how my DIY writing retreat went, and what I learned. Finding a good DIY writing retreat location If you read the

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Writing on Manitoulin Island

My summer of sorta writing

| Places, Writing

It’s been fall for a few days now, and it’s probably the third one in a row where I can look back on my summer writing and actually feel fairly impressed. Usually, summer is terrible for my writing. In my part of Ontario the summers are scorching, humid, and long. Many people love this, but I tend to wilt and become sluggish and annoyed. In the past this has meant my writing becomes sluggish too,

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Tove Jansson

“Freedom is the best thing” – Reading ‘Tove Jansson: Work and Love’

| People, Reading, Writing | 2 Comments

I’m half-Finnish, but I didn’t know what a Moomin was until I was an adult. Maybe that’s not entirely true; I do have a dim memory of receiving a Moominpapa piggybank as a child, but I had no idea what what the character was supposed to be. However, as an adult I did finally learn, and I began also to learn about the Moomins’ creator, Tove Jansson. And I began to like her quite a

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don't call yourself an aspiring writer

Stop calling yourself an aspiring writer (please)

| Writing

A couple of days ago, I was thinking about the phrase “aspiring writer” or “aspiring author.” I want to say first that I don’t mean to call anyone out or be a downer. In fact, I hope this is a positive rant! I’ve just been noticing that a fair number of people on social media refer to themselves as an aspiring writer. They post pictures of their works-in-progress, they talk about story ideas they’re fleshing

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novel world-building in pinterest

New novel & worldbuilding

| Writing | 2 Comments

At the end of 2017, I had finished the draft of my novel, and was feeling kind of lost. I had been working on it for a year, I had finished NaNoWriMo with it, and suddenly it was done and off to beta readers. I had this writing momentum I didn’t want to lose, but I didn’t know what to work on. So I dipped back into something I had started years earlier. In 2012,

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Some old new things.

| Writing | 2 Comments

I couldn’t tell you how I started, but tonight I found myself reading through archives of my blog previous to this one, Clock & Bell. I came across some old writing-related posts that, all these years later, were so much fun for me to read. Such a different time. Was I ever really that person? Writing those things? I was a good writer then and I loved it, but I was shaky on my legs

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