Life and Loss.

My brother died in hospital in Winnipeg on February 15, 2012. Everything shifts. The brother who was always there, from the time I was two, is gone. He was such a gentle man and as a child what one heard so often was what a nice boy he was. A nice boy. Well, he had his moments, ganging up with my younger sister to fight with me. What did we all fight about? It's hard to know now, so long ago were those days. We also played together and either protected or admired each other.

The paths of children raised in northern mining towns often diverged as we grew up and went away to school, to work and/or to get married. Very few returned to live in the place where we shared our childhood. Though many of us have visited and remarked on how things have changed. The underground mine that has become an open pit. The houses that have been torn down. How the town thrives through an economic downturn because of the discovery of more gold..

If someone has a brother or sister there, they are just as likely to have another in some other part of Canada. Or elsewhere. Thus I happen to have a sister in Vancouver and until yesterday had a brother in Winnipeg. Stretched out across the continent from where I live in Toronto. Nonetheless we three siblings have grown closer again in these later years when we could travel more and had also the benefit of Skype, email, Facebook, etc.

It is a sad day. Such a nice boy, yes. Such a gentle and loving man.

The Life of a Writer. #4 .Moving.

I was going to write about Christmas Day and what happens when left alone to cook a turkey for the family who call from their out of town home on the morning of the festive dinner that they are ill. What happened then was that two friends came and a good warm festive air circled us and the next day the grown kids came and enjoyed turkey soup, fitting as stomachs were still settling for them. Aside from those few words, it is old news now.


Now I have moved into another reality. One of decluttering and preparing a house I have lived in for over 40 years for sale in a week or so. It is time for moving into a new phase of life. And during all of this, how does one find time to write? I don't know the answer. Maybe there isn't any  time for that. However, I am prepared to enjoy this transition at this stage of my life and get back to writing in earnest once I am settled in a new and smaller place. A place where my friends who have already made this move assure me I will feel lighter. As junk disappears, I already do and rather imagine that it happens in stages.

How to move with the least amount of stress? Share with me! All suggestions welcome. I am well underway already, but it does seem daunting. I can work from morning to night and then look around and wonder if I've actually done anything. Where did all that stuff that is now in the garage ready for pick up by a man with a truck go? Nothing looks particularly different in the house. Although when my sister visited last week, she said she could see a big difference. Still the question remains, how to shoehorn what I want to take with me into a small kitchen, a small coat closet, a small linen closet and one rather large closet in the bedroom. Where will all the books go? All my papers? Well, some of the books, over 50%, have already gone to a refugee committee at a church for sale to raise funds for the committee's work. And the papers I continue to sort and shred.


In the meantime, I think it is time to read a book and go to a movie. Wouldn't you!!!

The Life Of A Writer. #3. Mentors.

I have been fortunate over my lifetime as a writer to have attended a number of first class workshops, retreats and courses from the Banff Centre of the Arts to the Humber School for Writers. The facilitators and mentors have been top notch, ranging from Austin Clarke at Glendon College (York University) in the mid 1970s to Alistair McLeod at the Humber School for Writers in 2006.


There were two who stand out as my ongoing mentors, both of whom are unfortunately no longer alive. I didn't meet either of them at workshops or courses, but they were the two who became both mentors and friends for the long haul. The first was William (Bill) Kilbourn whom I met through municipal politics (early 1970s) and the other, Adele Wiseman, when I interviewed her as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Toronto (mid 1970s) for a paper I was writing for the MLS degree on the various resources for writers as they learned their trade. Both of these courageous and talented writers encouraged my writing and I enjoyed their support and friendship over a period of over 20 years before they both died in the early 1990s. 

 I have many friends who are writers, but I don't think at the advanced age I have reached I will have another mentor like either Adele or Bill. Neither of them were alive when my first book, One Day It Happens, was published in 2007, but both of them believed there would be books. Especially about the northern mining community where I grew up and my second book, Ile d'Or, is the book they might have envisaged. Or I hope so. It was their faith that often kept me going. Their humourous responses to my despair at that ever happening. Their insightful comments about it. Now my friends and I encourage each other. Sometimes we read and critique each other's work. We go to each other's launches. We discuss promotion and applaud each other's successes, We carry on, knowing how important that camaraderie around writing is, that understanding of the long hours we slog away in solitude that precede any published article, story or book.

Two friends who have shared this journey over many years since I met them in the early 1980s are Joy Kogawa and Ian Wallace and I have appreciated, and still do, our conversations and mutual support. Now I am also meeting many other writers through my writing group and through the Writers' Union. Having books published gives one access to the work that goes on around the writing itself, including the advocacy of the Writers' Union and access to their resources on a myriad of topics (legal, copyright, etc.). But that's another story (or blog post).  

See also — Lisa Young's blog on writing:
www.50essaysonwriting.blogspot.com 

The Life of a Writer. #2. A Week of Avoidance.

Sometimes avoidance is necessary. Or is that just another excuse? No, there are too many events this week that nourish my mind and spirit. And after three months on crutches (another excuse?) when I read and wrote much more than usual, I need that nourishment. Or I need some level of change. So on Monday evening I went to the Toronto Dollar Supper Club to hear David Crombie speak. What a treat to hear a talk on cities within the context of ideas and vision. There is such a lack of that at the municipal level  in Toronto (not to speak of other levels of government) these days. My mind was challenged again to think of what can happen in positive ways as the democratic process leaves room for ideas to thrive. And for people to make their voices heard. Yes, such an evening (when my friend, Joy Kogawa, was also honoured for her work around the Toronto Dollar) helps replenish the spirit.

Tuesday: A friend took me out to dinner at Zucca's where we both ordered black cod with an olive crust. After admiring the presentation, the meal then melted in our mouths. Ruby has done so much for me over the time of healing from foot surgery that I felt I ought to be the one treating her to dinner, but she reminded me that I'd given her my Metropass for three months and how she had been able to use it to find out if it would be useful for her. Of course, that led to some discussion of the deterioration of the TTC. Unfortunate reality as the infrastructure seems to crumble and service is about to be cut. Not to mention fare hikes. In any case, she enjoyed the flexibility of the Metropass and wanted to treat me. Thanks, Ruby.

Tonight I will go to my local library to hear a talk on Chagall given by David Wistow from the AGO. I took a course from David on the Group of Seven many years ago and know him to be a fine, informative speaker. I have seen the Chagall show at the AGO twice as well as many years ago his work at the Chagall Museum in Nice. I look forward to tonight's speech.

The week goes on. And the truth is that this week I have also been revising some stories and as well have read an unusual novel by Teju Cole, a Nigerian born author, set in New York City called Open City. I am now finishing a book of essays called Why Not?, such a literate little book, by Ray Robertson, a thoughtful Canadian writer.

After tonight, two evenings of socializing.. Open House at Dance Cafe and Christmas party of my writing group, Moosemeat. Better to avoid writing for a while than these stimulating events!!! Or better to take them in along with a bit of writing on the side. The balance will shift the other way soon enough.

The Life of a Writer. #1. What I do to avoid writing.

Ah well. I think about it a lot. I make my bed. Do the laundry. Cook. Bake. Do you want a recipe for cheesies made with rice krispies? Or an apple crisp made with cinnamon raisin bread as a topping? I've made both of these this weekend. I ate the apple dessert in two days. The challenge becomes not to eat the cheesies before going to the Christmas party of my writing group later this week. I think I'll make a salad for that as well.

Oh yes, I went to St. Lawrence Market yesterday morning. Then had a friend over for lunch. She is en route from the east coast to Saskatoon where she lives now. She brought the flowers!

I also read both the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, Saturday editions. And am reading a couple of books. And I guess while all of it was interesting and even necessary, now it is time to do some work.

McGILL ALUMNI (TORONTO) BOOK CLUB. NOVEMBER, 2011

 A wonderful evening of conversation with a group of McGill Alumni in Toronto. I had the opportunity to speak for half an hour and then to answer questions for another hour. What a privilege for a writer to spend that amount of time with a group (over 30) who know one's book and want to talk about it.

Each format for a reading or presentation is different and I stayed pretty flexible because what I was requested to do was quite open-ended. The closer the event became, the more time I was given to present and/or speak at the beginning. When the time came, I spoke with a couple of short readings interspersed when they fit what I was talking about. For instance, I talked about a character who popped into the book in the final revision quite spontaneously. I was surprised and not sure what to do with Marcel, the ten year old boy, but he demanded to be there. So he stayed and wound his way through the book as I proceeded with the final revisions. The section I read was about his first appearance next to a rock where Nick, a man who had returned to the town for a visit, was sitting deep in thought.

Ah yes, Marcel appeared on the page fully formed and demanded to be there. I have no idea where he came from, except I wrote him. Writing is sometimes such a mysterious process. One has to be open for what arrives. And then there are all the hours of sheer work as while something may present itself spontaneously, one then has to work with it.


In any case, this book club was one of my best experiences and I will cherish it for a long time. An honour to have been asked and to have met with so many others from my Alma Mater for the evening.

HOW TO WRITE A MEMOIR. A FEW HINTS!

1. READ. 
William Zinsser's Writing About Your Life is a particularly helpful book to read if you are contemplating writing a memoir. Also, read lots of memoirs. As you learn about the life of someone who interests you, you can also see how that person tells his/her story.What makes it interesting? That may help you decide what it is that makes your life interesting that you can make into an appealing story for your readers.

Pick a point in time at which to start. This does not have to be in chronological sequence. In the same way a novel may go back and forth in time, so can a memoir.


2. WRITE.
At some point, it is necessary to start writing. At the beginning, get things down. You can choose what to keep later when you have thought about what stands out about your life. And what story you want to tell about it. You will have to decide what to include and what not to include. It is important not to include everything.


3. REVISE.
You have to create a narrative of your life. writer of a memoir doesn't simply try to convey every detail of an entire life, but has to select what is important to the narrative chosen. And to tell a compelling story.

Everyone has a story, but do you have a reason for wanting to share it? It might turn out that your reason is the hook for your readers. And provides you with the thematic unity your story requires.


Note: It may be presumptuous of me to try to convey how to write a memoir when mine has yet to be published. However, I've almost finished it and what I have learned thus far is fresh in my mind and may be helpful. And I have had both a short story collection and a novel published.

Good luck with it!