What I want this Holiday Season...
I was looking in the store windows today and noticed all those cutesy joke gifts. You know the ones I mean. The Homer Simpson Slippers. The rude-shaped chocolates. The sorts of things you get for people when you really can’t think of anything else that is suitable, so you figure at least you can bring a smile to their face.
But please... I know of local charities desperate for toys to give to needy kids and seeking donations for the homeless. What would really bring a smile to my face is a card that tells me you contributed something to someone who NEEDED it, rather that bought me a little gift I didn’t really need at all.
Goodwill is something that takes many forms. It could be a $10 mosquito net for a kid in Africa. Soap and shampoo for a local women’s shelter. Maybe it’s calling up that someone you once treated badly and apologizing.
A gesture of Goodwill for all men, women, children will mean SO much more to me that that silly ‘Over the Hill and Picking up Speed ‘ t-shirt, or the goofy hat with the bells, or the plastic cow that poops out jellybeans or that knickknack that is very lovely, but frankly, I have no place to put.
Whatever your religion -whatever your philosophy - whether or not you believe there is a Creator or it was all evolutionary chance - strike me off your list of people to buy a ‘little something’ for and put that money and time to where ever you think it would best be served.
It’s win-win. Less holiday stress for you. More goodwill for Mankind.
Imagine if we ALL did this. Next year, maybe... just maybe... we might have a bit more Peace.
Do a mankindness.
And have a Happy New Year.
(Please forward/link this to anyone you feel needs to hear it)
(Written by e.a.b. 2007)
Friday, November 23, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
My speech to the London Writer's Society:
As you may have already heard, I write under the name E. Ann Bardawill. I wanted use the pseudonym J.K. Rowling, but alas, apparently some chick in the UK is already using that one.
Last year I moved to London, and I currently work selling ads for the Londoner, a weekly community newspaper. Before that I lived in Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Barrie and Toronto. I have a college degree in Graphic arts, two surly teenaged sons, a long suffering husband, and a pot of geraniums I call Phil.
I have been seriously writing since about 1992, though it’s always been something I did for fun.
My ambition in high school was, in fact, to write and draw comic books. To me, From Hell by Alan Moore, and Cerebus by Dave Sim, are literature. Comics tend to be dismissed in terms of literary merit, but I like any other form of art, there are always exceptional works. Dave Sim is a writer-artist from Kitchener, Ontario. Along with some of the finest artwork in the comics medium, he brilliantly incorporated the characters of Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Earnest Hemingway into his own work with fascinating results. His research notes on these writers are a tremendously interesting in themselves.
Generally, my tastes include the works of Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, and Stephen Fry. I love the Coen brother’s scripts, the skits of Rowan Atkinson and Monty Python. Frank Herbert’s Dune is my all time favourite novel. Crime novels by Ruth Rendall, comic strips by Berke Breathed & Scott Adams, the quirky short stories of Steve Martin and the epic tales of JRR Tolkien all compete for space on my library shelves. War stories, Fairy tales and myths are a great inspiration to me.
In my youth I discovered the works of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. With Holmes, to my delight, I found organised writing societies like the Toronto Bootmakers. Nothing intills passion for books like being thrown into a highly intelligent mix of intense literary types at an impressionable age. These Sherlockians exposed me the best of the mystery genre, so naturally my first forays into serious storytelling were crime based tales or mysteries.
By 1994, Storyteller Magazine began accepting my work. All my published short stories involved a murder in one form or another. My rule at the time was simple. The murderer had to kill the victim with something unusual. No guns. No knives. They died due to the nefarious use of road salt, a roast beef sandwich or a forged letter. It’s great fun to twist things around, add a huge dollop of human weakness and see what comes of it.
Short Stories are a fine way to master the art of writing. In many ways, novels are a series of short stories strung together. Shorts are also a great way to get publishing credits and learn the ways of the publishing maze.
The first story accepted was titled the Ice King. I submitted it completely incorrectly. Wrong format. No double spacing. A rather flamboyant font, if I recall - but Storyteller Magazine's Terry Tyo just happened to be in the market for a hockey story and I lucked out.
Rejection, I have learned, can be very relative. The trick is timing - as well as writing a cracking good story. Agents reject stories that are well written, because they have seen the idea again and again. They want something fresh. Original.
My latest story published at Spinetingler magazine involved a faith healer that does not believe in God. Turn ideas upside down. Turn the literary sacred cows into beef patties. It’s very liberating. Short stories are rather like exhilarating one night stands – not that I have any first hand knowledge of that sort of sordid behaviour, but it’s a great analogy. I mean, why commit to a long novel when all you want to do is fool around with a concept for a while. A short literary fling also prevents you from making a big mistake in the event it doesn’t work out. Nothing worse that labouring on a novel for years only to find there are irreconcilable differences and it’s going to go nowhere.
With shorts you can approach the publisher directly, but it’s a whole other process to submitting a novel. After my initial short story publishing success, I queried agents and ran straight into scam artists galore. I kept writing but stopped submitting. I knew I would have to tread carefully if I was going to do this properly. So I started reading the blogs of agents, professional writers and publisher’s – in short, studying how the industry works. I have learned a great deal in the past few years. I’ve made blunders and mistakes anyway, but that is part of the process of learning.
My best advice is this: Know where you want to be, then plan the route. You just have to know what you want. It’s not easy, though. It took me about eight years to figure it out.
Why write? Well, I have no illusions about being the next Stephen King, but why go to all this effort and not share it? Writing is cheaper than cocaine and certainly more fun... not that I have any first have experience of cocaine either.
Mostly, I write because I am driven to. The ideas are so numerous I can only scribble them down for later consideration. I always have a few projects going. If I am bored or blocked with one, the other can be put aside for when inspiration strikes. Also, it helps to have a few up your sleeve. If the publisher isn’t in the market for your love story, but they like your writing, then you are prepared.
At this time I am now venturing back out into the world of agents and publishing. The internet offers many brilliant resources, but beware. There are traps and conartists so insidious, they are plot devices worthy of bestselling thrillers. Educate yourself. Ask around. Remember, the cardinal rule is the publishers /agents should be paying you, not the other way around.
Do not forget what a writer isn’t. We are nothing without readers. Take your audience into consideration. If you can write for just one person, you still write for the entire world.
Writers are the weavers of dreams. The observers of Human Drama. The keepers of great histories and of individual memories. Stories and poems inspire sculpture, painting, music and dance, which in turn inspired the next generation of writers, poets, and filmmakers. This creative super-consciousness is not to be taken lightly.
We are the Gods of creation.
Isn’t that cool?
As you may have already heard, I write under the name E. Ann Bardawill. I wanted use the pseudonym J.K. Rowling, but alas, apparently some chick in the UK is already using that one.
Last year I moved to London, and I currently work selling ads for the Londoner, a weekly community newspaper. Before that I lived in Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Barrie and Toronto. I have a college degree in Graphic arts, two surly teenaged sons, a long suffering husband, and a pot of geraniums I call Phil.
I have been seriously writing since about 1992, though it’s always been something I did for fun.
My ambition in high school was, in fact, to write and draw comic books. To me, From Hell by Alan Moore, and Cerebus by Dave Sim, are literature. Comics tend to be dismissed in terms of literary merit, but I like any other form of art, there are always exceptional works. Dave Sim is a writer-artist from Kitchener, Ontario. Along with some of the finest artwork in the comics medium, he brilliantly incorporated the characters of Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Earnest Hemingway into his own work with fascinating results. His research notes on these writers are a tremendously interesting in themselves.
Generally, my tastes include the works of Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, and Stephen Fry. I love the Coen brother’s scripts, the skits of Rowan Atkinson and Monty Python. Frank Herbert’s Dune is my all time favourite novel. Crime novels by Ruth Rendall, comic strips by Berke Breathed & Scott Adams, the quirky short stories of Steve Martin and the epic tales of JRR Tolkien all compete for space on my library shelves. War stories, Fairy tales and myths are a great inspiration to me.
In my youth I discovered the works of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. With Holmes, to my delight, I found organised writing societies like the Toronto Bootmakers. Nothing intills passion for books like being thrown into a highly intelligent mix of intense literary types at an impressionable age. These Sherlockians exposed me the best of the mystery genre, so naturally my first forays into serious storytelling were crime based tales or mysteries.
By 1994, Storyteller Magazine began accepting my work. All my published short stories involved a murder in one form or another. My rule at the time was simple. The murderer had to kill the victim with something unusual. No guns. No knives. They died due to the nefarious use of road salt, a roast beef sandwich or a forged letter. It’s great fun to twist things around, add a huge dollop of human weakness and see what comes of it.
Short Stories are a fine way to master the art of writing. In many ways, novels are a series of short stories strung together. Shorts are also a great way to get publishing credits and learn the ways of the publishing maze.
The first story accepted was titled the Ice King. I submitted it completely incorrectly. Wrong format. No double spacing. A rather flamboyant font, if I recall - but Storyteller Magazine's Terry Tyo just happened to be in the market for a hockey story and I lucked out.
Rejection, I have learned, can be very relative. The trick is timing - as well as writing a cracking good story. Agents reject stories that are well written, because they have seen the idea again and again. They want something fresh. Original.
My latest story published at Spinetingler magazine involved a faith healer that does not believe in God. Turn ideas upside down. Turn the literary sacred cows into beef patties. It’s very liberating. Short stories are rather like exhilarating one night stands – not that I have any first hand knowledge of that sort of sordid behaviour, but it’s a great analogy. I mean, why commit to a long novel when all you want to do is fool around with a concept for a while. A short literary fling also prevents you from making a big mistake in the event it doesn’t work out. Nothing worse that labouring on a novel for years only to find there are irreconcilable differences and it’s going to go nowhere.
With shorts you can approach the publisher directly, but it’s a whole other process to submitting a novel. After my initial short story publishing success, I queried agents and ran straight into scam artists galore. I kept writing but stopped submitting. I knew I would have to tread carefully if I was going to do this properly. So I started reading the blogs of agents, professional writers and publisher’s – in short, studying how the industry works. I have learned a great deal in the past few years. I’ve made blunders and mistakes anyway, but that is part of the process of learning.
My best advice is this: Know where you want to be, then plan the route. You just have to know what you want. It’s not easy, though. It took me about eight years to figure it out.
Why write? Well, I have no illusions about being the next Stephen King, but why go to all this effort and not share it? Writing is cheaper than cocaine and certainly more fun... not that I have any first have experience of cocaine either.
Mostly, I write because I am driven to. The ideas are so numerous I can only scribble them down for later consideration. I always have a few projects going. If I am bored or blocked with one, the other can be put aside for when inspiration strikes. Also, it helps to have a few up your sleeve. If the publisher isn’t in the market for your love story, but they like your writing, then you are prepared.
At this time I am now venturing back out into the world of agents and publishing. The internet offers many brilliant resources, but beware. There are traps and conartists so insidious, they are plot devices worthy of bestselling thrillers. Educate yourself. Ask around. Remember, the cardinal rule is the publishers /agents should be paying you, not the other way around.
Do not forget what a writer isn’t. We are nothing without readers. Take your audience into consideration. If you can write for just one person, you still write for the entire world.
Writers are the weavers of dreams. The observers of Human Drama. The keepers of great histories and of individual memories. Stories and poems inspire sculpture, painting, music and dance, which in turn inspired the next generation of writers, poets, and filmmakers. This creative super-consciousness is not to be taken lightly.
We are the Gods of creation.
Isn’t that cool?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
I've been married for nearly 19 years now. My kids are on the cusp of being university bound. If I get hit by a northbound moose, they really don't need a guardian anymore. In short, things have changed a bit since my last will.
I am in the process of drafting a new one, but until I tripped over Niel Gaiman's blog post I have to confess I never gave this idea consideration. I should have though, heaven knows!
http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html
Do you have a will?
A what will happen to your writing kind of will?
Check out the link. Neil makes a very valid point. If you haven't thought about your literary estate, then think about it. If you don't have a will at all, then for HEAVEN'S sake! get one done.
Neil even makes it easy by providing a sample to take to a lawyer.
Thanks, Neil.
I am in the process of drafting a new one, but until I tripped over Niel Gaiman's blog post I have to confess I never gave this idea consideration. I should have though, heaven knows!
http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html
Do you have a will?
A what will happen to your writing kind of will?
Check out the link. Neil makes a very valid point. If you haven't thought about your literary estate, then think about it. If you don't have a will at all, then for HEAVEN'S sake! get one done.
Neil even makes it easy by providing a sample to take to a lawyer.
Thanks, Neil.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
So my chiropractor asked me to write a testimonial.
Now, you guys know me. Could I write anything normal? Of course not! It was twisted and messed up, not unlike what my spine used to be. Anyway, think Bridget Jones meets Dr. Ben Lerner.
He asked me if he could quote it at his seminars to inspire/crack up others. I said yes, because I am, at the core, an Attn:ho.
Speaking of being an Attn:ho - I will be the speaker at the next meeting of the London Writer's Society (http://www.londonwriters.ca/) on Nov. 15th. I will be talking about my writing, my ambitions, the writers who have influenced me, etc. etc.
Am I pondering clever turns of phrase designed to inspire the burgeoning literary masses of London, Ontario? Hell no! I'm agonising about what to wear.
Once I've given my talk, I shall post it here and hope it will be of interest. I'll know better once it's been actually - yanno - written.
But enough about me.
Let's diss celebrities!
Lord Conrad Black of Crossharbour is, in other news, completely screwed!
What will Babs wear to the sentencing? Something conservative? A little Chanel number that screams please don't lock Conrad up for too long, mmm - Judgesy-wudsy sweetie darling, mmmm?
Now, you guys know me. Could I write anything normal? Of course not! It was twisted and messed up, not unlike what my spine used to be. Anyway, think Bridget Jones meets Dr. Ben Lerner.
He asked me if he could quote it at his seminars to inspire/crack up others. I said yes, because I am, at the core, an Attn:ho.
Speaking of being an Attn:ho - I will be the speaker at the next meeting of the London Writer's Society (http://www.londonwriters.ca/) on Nov. 15th. I will be talking about my writing, my ambitions, the writers who have influenced me, etc. etc.
Am I pondering clever turns of phrase designed to inspire the burgeoning literary masses of London, Ontario? Hell no! I'm agonising about what to wear.
Once I've given my talk, I shall post it here and hope it will be of interest. I'll know better once it's been actually - yanno - written.
But enough about me.
Let's diss celebrities!
Lord Conrad Black of Crossharbour is, in other news, completely screwed!
What will Babs wear to the sentencing? Something conservative? A little Chanel number that screams please don't lock Conrad up for too long, mmm - Judgesy-wudsy sweetie darling, mmmm?
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