view from Nanaimo hotel room
Somehow I find myself in May. April flew by with visits to family, several birthday celebrations, work and writing. I finished off the month by attending the Cascadia Poetry Festival in Nanaimo for three days. My days at the festival opened my eyes to new possibilities in my writing and inspired and educated me in terms of environmental issues. The biggest pay-off was that I treated those three days as a personal retreat. I walked, I thought, I wrote. I listened to many other poets reading their poems. I listened to the sound of their voices, the tone, the rhythm and the way they put their words and ideas together. I came back from the weekend with a better understanding of my writing and a renewed level of energy to tackle my writing projects. The biggest one for me is a pledge to myself – and said out loud here and to my writing group – to produce a chapbook of some of my work. That is my task for May/June.
A task that is almost finished and has a lot of my heart in it is my writing group’s anthology. Fourteen members have submitted their writing and we have the winners of our annual student writing contest. Together they make up a 120 page book that is now in production. You can see more about the anthology at the Sooke Writers’ Collective site.
And then there is my art. It’s in my head and scribbled on paper but not yet in the world. This too must be attended to.
I am so glad to hear that you are going to create a chapbook of your own work, Deb! As you know, I’m a big fan!
The anthology, “Words and Imaginings”, looks amazing, plus I must admit, I’m intrigued by your sketches. Are they leading to your next big art project?
Thanks for the support! The sketch is part of many sketches and ideas I have been hoarding for a sculpture series. I’m hoping to begin soon – I’ve got the “diving board” I just need to get on and jump!