Meet Roy Blomstrom ... How long have you been a member of NOWW? I’ve been a member for about fifteen years. What do you normally write? I try to write in all genres – everything from standard prose and poetry to experimental forms, to theatrical modes, to song. Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? No favourite author. Favourites always get in my way when I want to write. They’re like Facebook and Twitter. Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you found your way to writing: I began writing seriously in grade three when I wrote a story about Peter Parrot who flew through a window of the Empire State Building. In grades six through seven I was the class reader – the kid who read novels to the other students for half an hour each Friday so that the teacher could get her grading done. Ideas don’t really come to me; I have to go get them, but that’s more than half the fun. Words of wisdom: ask yourself who your reader is, what’s new about the story you’re telling, and when you’ve finished a piece . . . recognize that you’ve not. Tell us a bit about your writing and your writing style. I don’t do one thing at a time. The major emphasis this month has been the editing of a novel, proofing and improving a ten-minute play, assembling poetry for a possible submission, and thinking about new places to send stuff out. I’m constantly googling and doing research on things that interest me (Oh, look! Something shiny!) Who has inspired and impacted your writing? I don’t get inspired. I do get competitive. Favourite book? Right now it’s the Swedish/English dictionary, but after I blink, it’ll be something else. I also don’t have favourite writers. Before I start to write, though, I find myself always wondering what people like to read about. Can we see you at any upcoming NOWW events? I’ll be at some of the events. Not sure which. Where can we learn more about you and your writing? I do have a website, but it’s out of date and goofy. It was set up to test out a new way of handling high school English education. The best way to find out about me is to say hello. And to end things off, tell us something surprising about yourself! I play recorder, banjo, and violin – all of them badly (not so surprising to those who have heard me play) – and I sing.
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How long have you been a member of NOWW? I joined NOWW about 3 years ago. What do you normally write? I’m a speculative fiction writer. That includes science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, sword and sorcery, etc. Anything that involves a great deal of imagination! Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? Oh, that’s easy. Canadian speculative fiction author Guy Gavriel Kay is my favourite author, and his novel, Lions of al Rassan is my favourite novel of all time. Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself: I grew up here in Thunder Bay as a quiet, shy, nerdy kid who would rather spend time with books and animals than with people. I studied Zoology at the University of Guelph and worked in the Edinburgh Zoological Gardens in Scotland with lions, tigers and bears (oh my.) I have three dogs, three cats, three kids, one horse and one husband, and while I am still nerdy, I’m not nearly so shy or quiet anymore. And while I still enjoy spending time with animals, now the friends I do prefer are all Foxes! Tell us a bit about your writing: I have been writing since I was in kindergarten and actually finished my first novel at the age of 11. I’m also an artist and I pencilled my way through university with the help of DC Comics. While I have had a New York agent and a book contract, I prefer the life of an indie author. I think it must be the freedom and self-control that I find in that field and if you look for it, you will find freedom is a recurring theme in my work. Whether it’s freedom from prejudice or freedom from societal rules, or simply freedom to be oneself, I think all of my characters are searching for freedom in some form or another. What are your favourite things or some of your inspirations? I love classical music, and I’ll often find myself turning to music when I’m stuck writing a scene, or missing a crucial character point. I also read the works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, etc. when I was quite young, and I think their influence is evident in my work. For me, it is always about the ‘what if’, so I find inspiration in almost everything, as long as I can take it and turn it on its head. ‘What if insanity was simply seeing into other dimensions?’ or ‘What if scientists spliced the DNA of humans with that of big cats?’ or ‘What if Black Beauty was a War Dragon?’ That kind of thing. Can we see you at any upcoming NOWW events? My friend Jean E. Pendziwol and I will be running a NOWW workshop on April 29 called “The Business of Writing” and we’ll also be taking that same workshop to Dryden in May. I do love the Write NOWW events – informal, social yet informative at the same time. How can others learn more about you? I’ve written seven books to date and I’m working hard now on the eighth. The books are available at Chapters/Coles and on Amazon. I do have a fun website – www.hleightondickson.com, am very active on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HLeightonDickson and I do tweet, but I don’t understand why.; @hdickson62. I’m not a terribly prolific blogger. I prefer to write epic novels with fantastical word counts. And to end things off, tell us something surprising about yourself! I have been chased by a lion. True story. How long have you been a member of NOWW? Many years. Can’t remember when I first joined. What do you normally write? I write literary short fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir, essays. Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? My favourite books change all the time. I read about a hundred a year. One or two always speak so strongly to me that I remember them and think about them long afterward. Here are a few: Any Human Heart by William Boyd, The Russlander by Sandra Birdsell, Sweetland by Michael Crummey, The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy. Some books are so powerful they explode in your hand. I felt this when reading In the Darkroom by Susan Faludi, or The Two Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, two of my favourite books of 2016. But books are personal things. What one person loves, another person shrugs off. At the end of every year, I put a list of my favourites on my blog, Literary Thunder Bay. I try to limit the list to the top ten although sometimes it grows to the top fourteen or more. I sometimes add a separate list for non-fiction or for graphic novels which I love. I love short stories and that leads first to Alice Munro. But there are others: William Trevor, Pushkin, Anton Chekhov, Katherine Mansfield, Margaret Atwood, Mavis Gallant. And we have some terrific short fiction writers in Thunder Bay such as John Pringle, Marion Agnew, Sue Blott and many others. I listen to short stories that I find on the net. I buy audio CDs of short stories when I can get them. I believe you can learn a lot about writing from hearing a piece spoken. Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you found your way to writing: I started writing fiction quite late in life. My writing began with a column in the Northern Woman’s Journal about women’s issues and a weekly column in the Thunder Bay Source about immigrants. Then Herizons magazine in Winnipeg phoned and asked me to do an interview with Laurie Conger, a local musician. This assignment led to other interviews for Herizons. I loved talking to people, trying to figure out their motivation, get at their basic story. My first attempt at short fiction described an ideological split in a women’s group. It was never published but I learned a good lesson. All the women I showed it to thought it was about them! So I joined a writers’ group and let my writing colleagues do the critiques, one of the best ways to learn the craft. I now belong to three groups. They motivate me. Analyzing the work of others and listening to the comments helps me a lot. Some people are so insightful they can put their finger right on the problem. The more you experience this and the more you write yourself, and the more you are open to criticism, and the more you read, the more you learn; and of this learning, there is no end. I am still learning stuff: about character, about interior voice, about structure, about slipping in the basic facts at the start. And I am sure there is more that I haven’t thought about yet, but one day I know I’ll go to a workshop which will shoot an entirely new concept into my brain. One of the best things about writing is belonging to writing groups and book clubs and attending readings and launches. I go to at least one writers’ conference a year and I always learn something of value. I’ve also spent time at writers’ colonies in Newfoundland, Arkansas, and Devon England. I like to travel so it is a bonus to add a writing event into a trip. It is a double bonus to hear writers like Joan Clark, Miriam Toews, Diana Gabaldon or Jack Whyte. One thing I have learned to take with a pile of salt is the traditional list of tips for writers. Most of these so-called rules have been broken over and over by the best in the field. Show, don’t tell! I can hear Alice Munro laughing. She “shows” all the time as did the great master, Anton Chekhov. Write every day, another clichéd tip. Says who? Everyone has to find the method that works. A novel must have a certain structure. Rachel Cusk, in her recent wonderful novel, Transit, drop kicked that rule into the dumpster. I have learned to evaluate criticisms. It’s a good exercise which forces you to think deeply what you are trying to do. Even a confusing or off-topic criticism may have a germ of good sense hiding in it. And it is good practice to listen even though you may not follow the advice. I write a lot of stuff that has no hope of being published but who knows, an anecdote or a slight bit of story may be worked into something one day. I keep a journal, also a clichéd tip, but one that works for me. Tell us a bit about your writing and what the process of writing is like to you: Recently I have been working with memoir but it’s difficult because you have to be absolutely honest about yourself. You have to study yourself with all the courage you can muster. You also have to consider the historical circumstances of your life, not only your family background but the zeitgeist where chance has placed you. Writing memoir feels like you are pulling your heart out of your body and cutting it up. But I believe that unless a memoir cuts to the heart, it is not worth doing at all. Brutally honest memoirs like Joe Fiorito’s The Closer We Are to Dying or Maria Campbell’s Half Breed stay with you forever while memoirs that pull their punches float away into the land of forgotten books. Once I get an idea for a story, I can’t stop until I get it written down. Sometimes I stay up all night. But I am never sure if it is going to work of not. I put the story away for a month or two and sometimes I am happy with the way it reads later and sometimes not. My main problem as a writer is getting that original idea and then I’m off and running. Basically, I’m a binge writer. What are your favourite stories? What inspires you? My favourite story, by far, is, “The Dead” by James Joyce. It is a layered story revealing several ideas and shades of meaning that aren’t necessarily apparent on first reading. This is my ideal story. It is like turning a beautiful vase around in your hands and seeing different lights and combinations of colours as it moves. Alice Munro does it perfectly. I only marvel. Like many writers, I sometimes use an event from my past and try to work it up as a story. I have written about my childhood habit of breaking into houses and the time I set fire to the staff room during my first year teaching What inspires me? Real life stories. I love listening to people. A Ukrainian immigrant, a doctor, described her experiences during the Chernobyl tragedy. I did a lot of research and wrote a story called, “The Wolves Return” about that terrible event. I haven’t sold it yet, but you never know. I’ll keep sending it out. An aboriginal friend related how all the children in her village were scooped and sent to residential school. All except her. She was helping her dad on the trap line at the time. With her permission, I turned it into fiction and “The Scoop” became my most reprinted story. I have read it in Newfoundland, Arkansas, England, Vancouver and elsewhere. It was published in Room. For no good reason I became fascinated by Prime Minister Mackenzie King, a strange character indeed. The more I read, the weirder he got. The story, “The Monument” was published in the New Orphic Review. In short, I follow my obsessions. That is the only way I know how to write. How long have you been a member of NOWW? I entered the NOWW fiction contest for the first time in 2008 and have renewed my membership every year. What do you normally write? I mostly write fiction, but I have been known to write a little poetry and the occasional self-indulgent essay. Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? As a librarian, I have found a kindred spirit in my favourite writer, Jorge Luis Borges (who served as director of the National Library of Argentina). I’m fascinated by his short stories, most of which blur the boundaries between history and fiction or reality and artifice. Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself and your first story: My first published work was a plagiarized copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. With the assistance of my grandmother, I hand stitched and bound construction paper pages and beamed when I realized she made me author AND illustrator of this masterpiece! This experience served as a premonition of my future as a children’s librarian and author. How did you get your start in writing? What were you drawn to? During my teen years, I wrote a few dozen poems and song lyrics—I am still trying to decode those obscure verses today! The first thing I wrote after high school was a screenplay for a horror movie I co-wrote with a friend and bandmate. In between jam sessions for our fledgling metal outfit, we cranked out a first draft in a few weeks; I immediately became drawn to the process of creating a tiny universe on the page. Shortly after that I spent a summer crafting a novella loosely based upon my grandfather’s life. I then became fixated on short stories and reading books about the history of the form; most of my first stories were imitations of Carver and Hemingway’s sparse style. I took more narrative risks with my first novel, Hands of the Tyrants, in which a CSIS officer joins a troupe of rebel artists. What does your writing look like today? What are you working on? For several years, I’ve been working on a novel that is set in my hometown of Sioux Lookout. I’m starting to feel like the narrator of Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys, in that I have an unfinished manuscript haunting my thoughts and plaguing my nights with regrets—here’s hoping 2017 is the year I finally figure out an ending! The protagonist is a man who bears a striking resemblance to his great-grandfather; he eventually becomes this man in a historical re-enactment as he discovers more about the Pinnacle Theatre, an abandoned building he’s inherited. I’m also drawing connections between episodes of the Twilight Zone, thought experiments, and literary fables as crafted by the likes of Neil Gaiman, Kafka, and Borges. I began this experimentation after exploring the essays of the philosopher Dan Dennett, who speaks of thought experiments and a philosophy of consciousness in accessible and humorous prose. I have plans to self-publish all my short fiction as a way of collecting everything together (my first phase of short fiction) and moving on to a new form. And after reading countless stories to my two boys and little people at the library, I’ve become inspired to write a picture book. Will we see you at any upcoming NOWW events? Living in Sioux Lookout and being the father of two young boys makes it difficult to attend readings and other NOWW events. I will do my best to attend the next gala in Thunder Bay—though I must admit I’ve been saying that for years—and would love to help host a reading in Sioux Lookout. In 2011, I co-hosted a writing workshop with Jenny Morrow at the Dryden Public Library and that’s something I want to revisit. Where can we learn more about you and your writing? I can be found online at www.micheallaverty.ca. I’ve posted a few short stories, poems, and essays there for your perusal And to end things off, tell us something surprising about yourself! I always write to a soundtrack. I’ve found the genre of trip-hop to be perfect for my process. These tracks often feature a driving beat, fluid bass-line, and just enough instrumentation to provide atmosphere. DJ Shadow, Massive Attack, and Thievery Corporation are favourites. I grew up in the 90’s and the lyrics of Axl Rose, Gord Downie, Trent Reznor, Billy Corgan, Thom Yorke, and many others continue to influence my writing. I’m drawn to poetry that has the cadences of short fiction. Bronwen Wallace’s collection Common Magic is a continual source of inspiration. I think she’s among Canada’s finest writers. For the same reason, I love the poems of Al Purdy. Reading him is like sitting down for a drink with a cynical, yet sympathetic grandfather who doesn’t want to teach you a lesson about the world so much as illustrate a single truth in 40 or 50 mysterious, yet prosaic lines. How long have you been a member of NOWW? I have been a member of NOWW for about one year. What do you normally write? I primarily write literary fiction. I try not to limit myself to any specific genre. Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? I don’t think I could choose just one author as my favourite. I do have several that I always return to, including Timothy Findley, Michael Ondaajte, Cormac McCarthy, Jose Saramago, William Faulkner, Pierre Berton, Miram Toews to name a few. Though I can probably name my favourite book as Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you found your way to writing: . I have been interested in stories and writing for as long as I can remember. However, growing up, I was never a big reader. It wasn’t until I entered high school that I truly discovered the many great things that books can offer. I also started to develop my own writing skills when I signed up for the newspaper course at Westgate and worked on the Eye of the Tiger student newspaper. I carried this interest with me to university where I majored in English and history and continued my work in journalism with the Argus student newspaper. This has brought me to where I am today, working as a reporter in the city of Thunder Bay. Journalism has always interested me because it is a profession that relies on a strong ability to write and tell stories. While it is very different from writing fiction, there are many skills that carry over and I feel that it has helped me grow as a writer. In the last ten years or so I really started to focus on writing fiction. It was only recently that I learned that writing, just like any other skill, takes practice, and I started to really focus on building my skills by writing every day. Last year I participated in the 3-Day Novel contest, which has led to my first published novel. For me, ideas come from everywhere. I write stories that I would want to read. I write for me. I write as though no one will ever read it. Tell us a bit about your writing and what your process is like: I have one published novel, Chalk. It was written in a furious three days. I feel that working on writing every day helps me grow as a writer, learn and develop new skills, and get ideas down. I never work from an outline and I prefer to let the story be shaped by what is being written. I am currently working on some new stories in the hopes of publishing a new novel within the year. Who has inspired and impacted your writing? There are several writers and books that have shaped me as a writer. Farley Mowat’s Lost in the Barrens was one of my first introductions to Canadian literature and showed me that stories can take you on amazing adventures. Timothy Findley’s The Wars and Pilgrim introduced me to literary fiction and how writing can tell powerful stories of human struggle. Michael Ondaajte’s In the Skin of a Lion illustrated the beauty of writing and how words can paint the most vivid of pictures. Jose Saramago showed me that literature can ask important questions about who we are and our place in the world. And Jonathan Safran Foer’s imaginative stories demonstrated the emotional impact of humour and sorrow in narratives. Finally, going beyond the written word, listening to CBC radio’s Jonathan Goldstein and Stuart McLean taught me how to tell stories, as opposed to just writing them down on the page. Can we see you at any upcoming NOWW events? I try to attend as many NOWW events as I can. I recently did a reading last November. Where can we learn more about you and your writing? My first novel, Chalk, was published in September of this year and was the winner of the 38th Annual 3-Day Novel Contest. It is available at Chapters bookstore or online at Amazon.ca. How long have you been a member of NOWW? I've been a member of NOWW since its inception. What do you normally write? My preferred genre is the short story and I have written dozens of them. Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? If I have to pick only one, my favourite author is Cormac McCarthy. His border trilogy and the two novels following are masterpieces and I can think of no other writer that matches him in style and content. Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself, your writing journey and authors you’re drawn to? I always wanted to write. Ever since I was a youngster listening to bed time stories I yearned to be able you make up engaging fictions. However, for the most part, literature on school curriculums bored me. Most 19th century novels I studied in high school were dull. Jane Austen and Charles Dickens did not impress. Dostoyevsky, Blake and Hemingway had more appeal. Aside from Dylan lyrics, it wasn’t until grade 13 and studying the Theatre of the Absurd that writing began to appeal to my personal thinking. I liked Beckett and Albee and Tennessee Williams. Once I got out of school Henry Miller blew my mind. He was all about personal liberation. The tone was confessional, honest, and it transcended morality. I liked that. Then I wanted to be a poet and a song writer and failed miserably. In my early thirties I spent a winter at a cabin, alone. Although I had little ability, I began to paint and then write. I sent a bundle of stories off to Grain Magazine and they accepted one. Charles Wilkins liked a story of mine and included it in The Wolf’s Eye. I joined the Thunder Bay Writers Guild and learned how to be more objective with my own writing as well as others. I’m still at it and if I don’t write every day, I certainly think about writing and the story I am working on. Share your best writing tips: Fiction works if it has energy and emotion. Learn how to rewrite. Can we see you at any upcoming NOWW events? I hope to be attending some NOWW events this winter. I hosted a book launch at the Waverley Library for my new collection of short stories, Spirals, Stories of Northwestern Ontario. I am also giving a Critique Workshop with other members of the Thunder Bay Writers Guild on March 14th at the Waverley Library. Where can we learn more about you and your writing? I suppose members can learn more about me by reading my stories, writing to me at jpringle@nwon.com or engaging me in conversation. I do not have a website or any other Internet address. My only previously published collection, The Truth Ratio by Emmerson Street Press, 2013, is now out of print but there are copies at two Thunder Bay libraries and I hope to put the book up on the web sometime in 2017. Other than that my work may be found in back issues of NOWW magazine and in anthologies by the Thunder Bay Writers Guild and in anthologies published by The Canadian Authors Association, Ten Stories High. Two anthologies published by Thunder Books in the 1990s also feature my work. Those books are entitled The Wolf’s Eye and Flying Colours And to end things off, tell us something surprising about yourself! Facts that may surprise: I am a hunter, a fisherman, and a gardener and try to follow the paleo diet. Although many of my fictional characters consume alcohol and abuse drugs, I no longer do either. I wrote a book of non-fiction last winter about the ground-breaking psychological insight of Canadian philosopher Sydney Banks. That surprised me. I will probably never publish it out of fear readers might think I am a New Age flake. Here’s a surprise: I admire Jesus, Buddha, Henry Miller and Bob Dylan, not necessarily in that order. How long have you been a member of NOWW? Since May 7, 2016 What do you normally write? I have written one non-fiction book, an autobiographical memoir. I don’t know if I will write much more. I am finding myself thinking about possibilities in the areas of creative non-fiction, history, or even a little poetry. Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? I don’t have a favourite author/writer as I am interested in many genres. I don’t have a favourite book, though I keep handy the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself! I was born in 1942, and after growing up in Port Arthur, I went away to university and the military. I then returned to a life in the new city of Thunder Bay. Much of this time has been spent working on sexual minority and HIV/AIDS issues. It has also been an ongoing spiritual journey. Integrating sexuality and spirituality has been a major theme with variations. Other themes have emerged as well and some have evolved over time. Family and community, the military, union work, theatre, and impermanence have all been part of this lifelong journey. What has your writing journey been like and what areas have you focused on? From 1966 to 1976 I kept a journal on a couple of occasions and did a lot of scribbled writing. After that, any writing I did was focused on work. After taking part in a Wise Elders Circle at Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship which included a focus on harvesting one’s life and leaving a legacy, I was inspired to share my life story. The development of gay and HIV/AIDS community work in Thunder Bay is part of a social history that needs to be remembered. Having been part of the process, it has been my wish that my autobiographical memoir can be a contribution to that history. At the very least, I hope it may interest a few people as a chronicle of a Thunder Bay life that has made some positive contribution to community. What inspires you? Bob Dylan’s work has been an inspiration for me, and I am happy to see the Nobel Prize recognition. Allen Ginsberg has been another inspiration, along with many other writers. Mystery writers such as Joseph Hansen, Peter Robinson, Louise Penny, and others give me pleasure. There are too many writers to name. Major sources of inspiration for me include nature, music, and art. Can we see you at any upcoming NOWW events? I hope to attend and perhaps even participate in upcoming NOWW events. Stay tuned to find out which. Where can we learn more about you and your writing? I have a website www.davidbelrose.ca and a Facebook page www.facebook.com/differentcall. I have self-published Answering a Different Call: My (Queer) Thunder Bay Life available from me or various locations in Thunder Bay (Chapters, Fireweed, LU Bookstore, Thunder Bay Museum, Baggage Building arts Centre, Gallery 33). And to end things off, tell us something surprising about yourself! It’s all in Answering A Different Call. To find out more about how you can be featured in our Member Profile series, click here or email admin@nowwwriters.ca Member Profile - Bonnie Ferrante Meet Bonnie... How long have you been a member of NOWW? I've been in NOWW for 6 years. What do you normally write? I write fiction for all ages, nonfiction for young children, and picture books. And who is your favourite author? I love C. S. Lewis. Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself! My picture book illustrations are in a state of flux as I develop methods that cope with my increasing Parkinson's tremor. I am still working on 3 YA novels for which I have received OAC grants and am working on several picture books in various stages. I had four novels, various short stories, and three years of newspaper columns published traditionally but am now self-publishing. I've placed second and third in several NOWW short story contests. I have more ideas than I have time left to fulfill them. Tell us about a couple of your upcoming books! I plan on publishing two books soon. One is a YA historical fantasy set in Tudor England titled Switch. I spent a year researching although I was familiar with that period from university classes and personal interest. I worked with Tradewind Books in Vancouver for four years on this book but we have parted amicably. I will be extensively revising it closer to my original vision. I haven't touched the work for a year, so I will be reading through and making notes, then devising a new outline, pulling up old files, and rewriting and revising. My plan is to use NaNoWriMo as the impetus for this rather daunting job. The second is a picture book called If You See a Dragon which encourages children to examine the way people treat and use animals. I've tried two (hopefully) unique illustrative representations featuring the dragon and humans. For me, picture books are a true joy to create. However, since I can't control a pencil or paintbrush since Parkinson's symptoms have increased, I hope to develop new ways to use my computer drawing tablet and PhotoShop to continue illustrating my own books. And where do your inspirations come from? What books have impacted your writing? Since I write a review blog, I am constantly discovering writers/illustrators that challenge my concept of a picture book. I frequently babysit my granddaughter (now three-years-old) and we read a great deal. One of our favourites is Jazz Baby, by Lisa Wheeler, with oddly drawn humans and a text you can't help but rap/sing. Writers who want reviews/interviews on my blog send me their books and I donate them to the library. Sometimes it's hard to let them go. Bossy Flossy by Paulette Bogan has become a reference point for behaviour. Herds of Birds Oh How Absurd by S.J. Bushue has challenged us to memorize all the beautiful collective nouns. Donations of children's books to the Little Free Library at 240 Humber are deeply appreciated. Readers are encouraged to keep the books circulating and seek out more of the author's works. Can we see you at any upcoming NOWW events? I will be reading 2 selections for NOWW in December. Where can we learn more about you and your writing? Readers can connect with me: Website - BonnieFerrante.ca, My Blog - http://bferrante.wordpress.com/, Facebook - Bonnie Ferrante - Author https://www.facebook.com/FerranteAuthor?ref=hl , Bonnie Ferrante - Books for Children https://www.facebook.com/FerranteBooksForChildren?ref=hl, Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/user/Bonnie0904, Twitter - @BonnieFerrante (Also Goodreads, linkedin, Pinterest,Tumblr). All 17 published works are available here: Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Bonnie-Ferrante/e/B007P7LFYG/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1382025411&sr=8-2 And to end things off, tell us something surprising about yourself! I recently started a Little Free Library, with the major focus on children's books, on my front lawn. How long have you been a member of NOWW? Many years a member. What do you normally write? Regional history, non-fiction articles, humour pieces, mystery thrillers. Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? The writer/historian whose subject matter I love and whose prose style I seek to emulate is the late Pierre Berton. In the mystery novel genre, I long admired and collected the works of Ross Macdonald (The Moving Target), and was analyzing his story structures long before I published my first novel, The Beardmore Relics, in 2011. In the field of humorous and whimsical writing, I recall that Stephen Leacock, Eric Nicol, and Arthur Black have been major influences. A lot of my current serio-comic posts aim to raise awareness of the great country we live in and the opportunities to preserve and to improve our way of life Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you found your way to writing: Born in Saskatchewan, I grew up in the bilingual streets of Sherbrooke, Quebec, before returning to the Lloydminster area for a bucolic sojourn of three years. My family moved to Geraldton (Greenstone) in 1953, and in many ways I have never left. When I travelled as a high school Air Cadet to summer camp in B.C., I wrote letters home inspired by the scenery and the experience. From thence I date my writing compulsion. Sadly, no letters have survived. I married Olga Fedorus, and together we raised Rob and Laura, now retiring from their careers. I began my teaching career in elementary schools and moved into high schools, specializing in English language and literature. I settled permanently in Geraldton in 1970, and immersed myself in community activities and volunteerism. In 1975 I launched the region's first little magazine of arts, literature, and history. It was called The Squatchberry Journal. I also conducted interviews of old-timers with no other aim than to record their experiences for posterity. The Town of Geraldton commissioned me to write an official history for the town's 50th Anniversary in 1987. From that point on, history became my passion, and I continued to develop my writing skills in other genres. For the record, I am an indie publisher. I cannot abide the complicated and years-consuming process of agents and submissions that legacy publishers require. Tell us a bit about your writing? My current book project has the working title of The Last Link: Completing the First Trans-Canada Highway. In mid-winter of this year (2016), a former resident of Geraldton phoned me up and asked if I were aware of an important date approaching. The year 2018 will mark the 75th Anniversary of the completion of Highway 11 between Geraldton and Hearst. In 1943, for the first time, there was an all-Canadian road connection between East and West. Very few people today seem to be aware of the historic event that occurred when Canada was fighting in a World War. By the time we're finished, we anticipate that a huge number of Canadians will recognize the national significance of the event, which can be compared to hammering home the last spike at Craigellachie in 1885. So much of this history has been lost forever, and the research is the most challenging I have ever faced. At every trade show and craft market that I can afford to attend, I set up a table and preach the gospel. In Thunder Bay, come visit my tables in November and December. Can we see you at any upcoming events in Thunder Bay? I will have a booth set up at the December Dreams Exhibition at the CLE Coliseum December 3-4th! Where can we learn more about you and your writing? E.J. Lavoie's Blog : ejlavoie.wordpress.com, WhiskyJack Publishing Website: WhiskyJackPublishing.ca, Facebook Pages: Edgar Lavoie, Edgar J. Lavoie, Greenstone History, Twitter Handle: @WhiskyJackPub and on my website is a list of 13 published works, with the latest (Bush Histories I) being released this fall. Several regional outlets carry selected titles, including Chapters/Indigo and Thunder Bay Airport Gift Shop. Enquiries can be directed to me at edgarlavoie@hotmail.com. And to end things off, tell us something surprising about yourself! I never work so hard as when I am having fun, as in portaging canoe and baggage over the Diablo Portage into Santoy Lake, or climbing the Palisades of the Pijitawabik simply to enjoy the view. For more information about the member profiles and how to be featured, click here
Siobhan Farrell How long have you been a member of NOWW? I have been a member of NOWW for just over a year. What do you normally write? I write mostly poetry, although I have written some plays and stories as well. Do you have a favourite book or favourite author? I like many types of fiction and poetry. Ian McEwan is a favourite. I love Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Jim Harrison, Doris Lessing, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Julian Barnes Anne Marie Macdonald, Jane Hirshfield. Recently, I have really enjoyed all 3 of Joseph's Boyden's novels, particularly, "Through Black Spruce". I love many poets and back when I studied film, I made a film based on the poem "Walking Around" by Pablo Neruda. It was shot in Montreal and is bleak and moody. Let’s get to know you a bit better. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you found your way to writing: I came to poetry again in a big way after years of writing sporadically I think because of my years of meditation practice and time spent in nature where no pretention or artifice exists and also because after years of being a very active mother with a full-time job it did not leave me with a lot of time and energy for writing. But I studied and made films when I was younger and I have always loved films and was recently asked at a NOWW event whether my love of film affects my writing. I did not answer the question very well at the time, but I think actually the imagery of film and poetry share some similarities. I often start with my experience of images in my poems, like a bird on a branch, an unusual cloud, hydro lines crisscrossing the sky, a tired wrinkled face. And my meditation practice has given me a certain freedom to sometimes have the ability to avoid the tired predictable ruts that my cognitive linear mind imposes. I can just be and hear and see what is around me and connect with it to write about. This connection is very powerful which I use to discover what is really important to me. Tell us a bit about your writing and what writing means to you. Where do you find inspiration? I recently won first prize in the NOWW poetry contest which was a complete surprise to me, to know that my work can touch others. I see writing poetry as play, as allowing me to be a child in an adult world. As I get older, I care less about being a respectable and responsible adult, and want to enjoy the beauty of the world. Natalie Goldberg, who is a Zen practitioner like me and a writer who has written a lot of books about writing, has been an inspiration for me by encouraging me to kill my censor and just write. I write constantly, almost 3-4 poems a week and it is an escape in a highly busy stressful job. I have a confession. There is a meeting room in Toronto I go to regularly, and so many offices are full of ugly art, but this room has a painting of a cowboy beside his horse facing a mountain. It looks like Montana. And I sit so I can face that painting, and when I need to, I just go into that painting to exist under that sky beside that horse, feeling the wind and the sun. That is what I do. I am planning a month long trip to the wilds of Mongolia in June because it is one of the places left in the world, where people are nomads and live very directly with the earth and nature. I love adventure and would be a nomad if I could. Poetry allows me to be nomad in my mind, using my imagination to travel and see and hear and feel the wonder of the world under my fingernails, down the street, across the world. Can we see you at any upcoming NOWW events? I will be reading at the November reading and plan to attend the workshop in November as well. I really enjoy going to these nights and hearing other writers. Where can we learn more about you and your writing? I have a FB author page called Siobhan Hilary Farrell, but tend not to use it very much. I will try to do more of that. I have not published much yet besides The Walleye, NOWW and Literary Thunder Bay but I am now making a concerted effort to start publishing more as I have amassed hundreds of poems. And to end things off, tell us something surprising about yourself! A detail about me that not many people know is that I have a small tattoo of a hummingbird sipping nectar on my back, which I got 2 years ago in a small village in Thailand. I had a sunburn at the time, but my daughters dared me, and since it was done in the traditional old-fashioned, dip a needle in ink and jab multiple times into your spine method, it was quite painful. When it was over, I was so teary that the nice tattoo artist gave me a bunch of lychee fruit he had picked. I ate them with my girls later. For more information about our Member Profiles and how you can be featured, click here.
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NOWW Writers
Welcome to our NOWW Blog, made up of a collection of stories, reviews and articles written by our NOWW Members. |