Word In The West

Friday night I spoke at Word In The West, a literacy event in Mountainview County, north of Calgary. I presented to a crowd of kids and parents, from babies to older elementary kids. It was a bit tricky, because of the number of younger kids. They’re adorable, and restless, and their questions tend to be “I have a bruise under my chin,” or “my dog threw up.”

We talked about what we’d like from a magic store – one wee one wanted a magic horse. The horse showed up in the story we made up, along with a dragon that needed to be rescued, but not brought into the human world because… well… dragon. I talked about writing and read from my stories, too.

On the way we stopped at a small wetlands filled with birds and madly croaking frogs.

Maureen

A Spiral of Learning

I’ve been working with an editor (thanks to Wordfest for two free sessions, and the introduction to Caralee). I’m working my way through a long list of books, suggestions, and links to articles, and then editing, editing, editing.

Pollen and poor air quality are keeping me indoors and quiet, so I have lots of time to read and think.

I hit a wall last week, feeling like I couldn’t see anymore, and would need to go back for another round of coaching. Then I read one chapter that contained every problem I’m supposed to be working on, and blam! I could see it.

I hadn’t the brain to fix that chapter, but I went back through the manuscript. I did a global change for the words I needed to find, putting them in all caps so they’d pop in the text, and then worked through the previous chapters, one more time.

I feel like I’m circling around the same issues over and over again, but each time a little deeper. A spiral of learning.

Now I’m rereading Donald Maass’s 21st Century Fiction, the last of Caralee’s recommendations, knowing that will trigger at least one more round of editing before I’m ready to go back for another lesson.

This morning I took a break, slipping outside to take pictures of my garden in the smoke-reddened air, knowing some colours would pop in the warm light.

Maureen

Snow on Apple Blossoms