Tag Archives: writing

Change is the Air!

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“If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It means you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or one ear peeled for the avant-garde coterie, that you are not being yourself…”

– Ray Bradbury, from Zen and the Art of Writing, Capra Press, 1990.

Empty and ready for change!

Funny the things you find when you gut your office after 15 years. Tucked behind my massive desk weighted down with a ton of books was a slip of paper that had fallen from the bulletin board many years before; it had that quote written on it.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve started to question the direction my writing career is taking. I’m busier than ever, but more and more of the projects aren’t challenging my creative side. I’m not writing with gusto, with love, or having a whole lot of fun. The work has  started to become… well… work.

Finding this slip of paper was just one more sign that I need to lighten up and get back to what made me happy with my writing career. I’m taking it to heart and I’m going to re-kindle the enthusiasm I used to feel about it.

Boxes in the bedroom, computer in the kitchen, desk in the living room – but the writing goes on.

So in the midst of chaos – with an office spread out over the kitchen table, boxes in the bedroom, and a desk in the living room – I’m ditching autopilot and taking back the controls of this flight. Change is in the air!

How does change affect your writing? Does it stimulate creative thought or make it impossible to get anything done?

Stanley Mitchell Hut Inspires

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Daunting? Perhaps. Possible? Absolutely.

Teaching a writing workshop in an alpine hut – without wireless, laptop, or so much as a Writer’s Market guide had my mind buzzing with ideas. Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) Jasper-Hinton Section Representative Wayne Campbell facilitated the four-day getaway by asking two friends to become writer and artist in residence.  I would do “something” on writing; Rory MacDonald would lead the watercolor and sketching sessions.

But, as I soon discovered, whatever I had planned in the way of writing sessions would have to fit into the reality of a long weekend at ACC’s Stanley Mitchell Hut in Yoho National Park.

The fun is about to begin! (Photo: M.Kopp)

The catch?
The sessions had to work around day hiking up to Kiwetinok Lake, scrambling up to the Mt. Kerr Col, summiting to stand beside the mighty cairn on the peak itself, and sauntering through meadows and passing cascades – ranging from tiny to towering – to reach Isolated Peak Col and the Whaleback.

Lunch at Kiwetinok Lake (Photo: B. Kopp)

Writing and drawing would take a backseat to boat building for the 8 pm SM Yacht Club Regatta. Lessons couldn’t be held between the hours of around 5 to 7 pm due to cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and Italian, Indian and Mediterranean-inspired cuisine.

Haute couture... I mean cuisine... in the backcountry! (Photo: M.Kopp)

Botanical identification was a priority – as was map-reading, general chatting, impromptu baseball game cheering, yoga stretching, hut cleaning, campground strolling, creek dipping, ground squirrel watching, and alpen glow observing. Oh yeah – and sleeping!

Stretching in the shadow of Mt. Kerr (Photo: M.Kopp)

The end result?
You’d be surprised. The writers in the group did some free-flow writing, descriptive word listing, set subject writing , editing, topic planning, showing (not telling) with words, and creating – with a short, finished articles to wrap up the three days. I even managed to find time for a little watercolour painting.

Now if only I could carry this productivity and creativity through to the rest of my life!

Seize the day!

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June monsoons hit with a vengeance last night – thunder, lightening, hail, and torrential rain for much of the evening – making me doubly glad I took time for a hike up Forgetmenot Ridge before the weather descended.

Normally running underground at this point, the Big Elbow was showing signs of spring rain and winter melt-off. (Photo Credit: B. Kopp)

Wind gusts of up to 100 km/h added to the ridgetop experience! (Photo Credit: M. Kopp)

As always, there were beautiful things to see! (Photo credit: M, Kopp)

Now that the weather has turned, it’s time to hole up in the office. With no major deadlines looming, I can update the blog, learn more about LinkedIn and other social media marketing tools for writers, catch up on the requisite writer’s bookwork, and send out a couple of new article queries. Making the most of each day – whatever it brings – is what makes being a freelance writer worthwhile.

What are you up to today?

“We would accomplish many more things
if we did not think of them as impossible.” – Vince Lombardi

 

Hiking stimulates the writer’s mind

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If I said I hiked to the summit of Tokyapebi ipa today, you might be puzzled. If I said Yates Mountain, you might still look at me strangely. If I said Barrier Lake Lookout in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, you’d probably be able to find it on a map. It crossed my mind today that clarity is key in communication.

Barrier Lookout Summit

Stoney names are familiar to Stoney tribe members west of Calgary; not so well-known outside this close-knit group. While historians and ranchers in western Alberta might know of Emily Yates and the Diamond Cross ranch she ran (now the site of the YMCA’s Camp Chief Hector) below today’s summit, most hikers commonly refer to this hike as Prairie View and Barrier Lookout. Know your audience and write accordingly, I thought to myself.

I also realised that I would like to let other hikers know that Prairie View trail from Barrier Dam (7.7 km, 500 m elevation gain) was almost dry in the lower sections, while mud and snow patches are still prevalent in the upper. The short 0.6 km (125 m elevation gain) section up to the lookout saw 0.5 m snow drifts. Packing gaiters and boot crampons are a good idea. Need to blog, tweet and share.

Snow lingering in high country.

Now you’d think with all this climbing up the trail, trekking through snow, and thinking about posts and tweets, that’d be enough. Not so! Queries were drafted, snippets of articles were re-evaluated, and future blogpost ideas were stored. Seems this writer’s mind is fuelled by foot power.

What motivates you to compose in your head?

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.

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