Category Archives: One Writer’s Life Blog

What books are you reading?

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As a writer, it’s only natural that I love to read, but when I sat down today and looked at carefully selected handful of literary treasures pulled from the city library shelves, I had to laugh.

One writer's reading selections.

The Kenya book was an obvious selection as I trolled the travels shelves. In the midst of planning our first trip to the African continent, I’m gathering up knowledge like a thirsty sponge.

Louise Purwin Zobel’s Travel Writer’s Handbook has remained one of the most useful travel writing books in my collection. The 2012 edition, with Jacqueline Harmon Butler, literally jumped off the writing shelf into my arms.

Judith Barrington’s Writing Memoir was nearby and it caught my eye, along with a similar tome by Natalie Golberg. A huge fan of Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, I happily added Old Friend from Far Away to the growing stack.

Like a kid with a bagful of goodies leaving the candy store, I wondered which one I should devour first. Choosing Writing Memoir – which had the cachet of being new and different – I plumped up the over-sized down pillows on the couch, thankful for leaky, grey skies keeping me indoors, cracked it open, and winced. In just a few pages, I knew it wasn’t for me.

With disappointment like a bitter taste in my mouth, I tentatively picked up Goldberg’s book on writing memoir – and immediately began thumbing through with increasing speed. Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir. Practice should have been the key – it’s chock-full of writing sprints, short 10-minute exercises to stimulate writing muscles and build up the stamina and expertise required for bigger projects. I’m going to make it a goal to try one each morning.

I’ll get to Zobel’s newest edition tomorrow, and the Kenya book can wait to fill my knowledge reservoir, but for now I’m going to sit back and try one of Goldberg’s exercises. P. 154 “What’s been on your mind? What have you carried and gnawed over? Go. Ten minutes.”

Think I’m going to be focusing on travel and writing! What’s on your mind and your bookshelf?

New directions in a writing career

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When January flipped the calendar page, I made a resolution. Break into a new market by the end of the month. With a clear slate and no looming deadlines, it seemed dead easy. I fired off three focused queries. The ideas were sound, but the market was really looking for writers with their own travel blogs to help cross-promote. Sigh.

The next day I was offered another children’s book title. I turned it down – sort of.

Less than a week before I was at a friend’s New Year’s Eve party. Chatting with one of the party-goers, I discovered that she was stay-at-home mom very interested in writing a children’s book… about hunting. Not my niche at all, but the conversation wound around to writing for kids in general. I had some resources to share, so we exchanged email addresses.

And then I was offered the book project. The topic was… hunting. I wasn’t interested in doing it, but I knew someone who would be. The only hitch was that she had never had anything published before. I convinced the editor that I could work with the new author to make sure the manuscript met the publisher’s needs.

And so, my first foray into editing – beyond editing my own work – unfolded. I would do this again in a heartbeat. The deadline was met, the manuscript was accepted, and the budding author is over the moon. Win, win, win!

No, it wasn’t the path I had projected at the start of the month, but I’m thrilled with the new direction.

“Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.”
– Denis Waitley

 

A New Year

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Where to go?
Who to meet?
What to do?
How to travel?
Which path to choose?

Pull up a chair and join me on a freelance writer’s journey into a brand new year. My resolution is to prove that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Let’s see how I do!

Task one: break into a new writing market in January.

October is all work – and a little play!

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Where has time gone? This month has been nose to the grindstone with a big kid’s book project, a little non-fiction article for a kid’s science magazine, and a pile of queries for an upcoming travel adventure.

Panorama Ridge meadows. (Credit: B.Kopp) Last of the larch. (Credit: M.Kopp)

That being said, there’s alway time for a hike – or two! Fave of the month is Taylor Lake and the Panorama Ridge meadows. It’s a steady uphill climb, 6.4 km, from the parking lot to the lake and another 0.5 km to the start of the meadows. We strolled past the three tarns in the meadows and scrambled up a low ridge for a view over toward Lake Louise. Larches were pretty much done for the season, but this would the place to go for gold glory at the end of September – no crowds and freedom to roam.

“The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water,
but to walk on the earth.” – Chinese proverb

 

Changing Scenery Brings on the Writer’s Muse

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I played hooky from writing for a couple of days to head into the backcountry with my trail crew girl – and what a blast!

Too much fun! (Photo: M.Kopp)

We hiked and talked and climbed and talked and worked (okay… all I had to do was belay her while she cleaned the backcountry cabin chimney, but I did carry the rope, harness, caribiners and climbing shoes!).

After the chimney we strolled up to the camping area, I watched as she cleaned the outhouse, checked the bear bins for stashes of garbage left by lazy hikers, and removed a couple of random firepits. She wouldn’t let me lift a finger.

We sat up at the lake and enjoyed the glow of evening light before heading back to the cabin, where she filled out the cabin log and I started jotting down a few blog/article ideas. Two pages later, I was done.

Playing hooky is positively inspiring!

Kayaking Desolation Sound

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“Just embrace it,” the staff member said as he ran through the requisite kayaking safety pointers. “If you reach that point where you know you’re going over, don’t fight it, just embrace it. It’s going to happen.”

Packed for five days! (Photo: M.Kopp)

It never happened, but it did become our favourite saying over the next five days in Desolation Sound off B.C.’s Sunshine Coast. Yachters taking dogs through our kitchen for pee breaks – just embrace it. Stove that won’t start after a dunking in ocean water – don’t worry, just… have a lot of patience. Snakes in what we nicknamed “Snake Cove” – okay, I’m working on that one.

A sea full of life. (Photo: M.Kopp)

From seals to starfish, moonlight to sunshine, ocean swims to laughter shared with good friends – I embraced it all and find myself wanting more!

“I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think,
All the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read,
And all the friends I want to see.”  – John Burroughs

The Milky Way and Other Galaxies

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I love getting presents!

Latest Capstone book arrived yesterday, in a small box tucked neatly in between the screen and front door. There’s something akin to Christmas when you unpack a plain cardboard box labelled author complimentary copies – it never grows old.

Latest book! (Photo: M.Kopp)

And that’s one of my favourite things about being a freelancer in general – the work never grows old. One day I’m writing a travel piece about Italy, the next I’m working on an outdoor blog post, the following I’m off on a sea kayaking trip building up new story ideas.

Life – as a freelance writer – is pretty sweet!

“Never tell me the sky’s the limit,
When there are footprints on the moon.”
– Unknown