Humour
An off-beat look at writers and memoirists and the work we produce.
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Showing Off
Entrepreneurs (and if we want to be published, we writers are all entrepreneurs aren’t we?) are often told, “Face your fear, get over yourself, just do it.” But it sometimes helps to look at the fear and figure out exactly what it is that we’re afraid of. Recently, I was challenged to post some of my own memoir pieces, short stories, here on my blog — in particular, a story about my short-lived career as a shoplifter at age 6. Immediately, I felt reluctant. I didn’t want to, not because I thought it wasn’t any good, but because I didn’t want to show off. Which is a…
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One Artist’s Journey
I like to call myself a recovering artist. I like this description because it has a certain curiosity-piquing je ne sais quoi and it references my lifelong addiction to art and creativity. It also raises the question of why anyone would voluntarily quit the enchanting life of an artist. Spoiler alert — doing shows all the time becomes increasingly physically demanding for an ageing painter. All those classy exhibitions certainly look glamorous on the outside, but behind the scenes, there’s a whole lot of grunt-work, and I was fed up with grunting. There’s a classic artist’s joke — Q. What’s the difference between an artist and a puppy? …
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I’m Old, Dammit! Not Dead!
A few months ago, I received an email from a subscriber and it got me thinking… This lovely lady said something that’s been tickling away at the back of my mind for some time, and I thought I’d take this opportunity to explore it a bit. Here’s what she said: “Beverley, I love your website. It feels warm and soothing, like slipping into a warm bath. Ahhhhhhh… “It’s so nice to feel appreciated as a senior. As I scrolled through your blog posts I said to myself, ‘when seniors feel isolated, this is a good place to visit because it honors our life experience.'” “Honours our life…
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Letters
Gotta love letters — A. B. C.’s. Without ‘em, our civilization wouldn’t exist. Other languages – other letters: Cyrillic, Arabic, Greek, Chinese pictographs, Druidic runes, Egyptian hieroglyphs. Throughout history, in all cultures, somehow, someone has figured out a way to record our activities in a more permanent way than fickle memory allows. The alphabet used in many modern language groups is made up of 26 letters and has the most versatility, as it doesn’t rely on the principle of one symbol, one concept. Our alphabet, our letters, derive from Latin. The modern English alphabet consists of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. The alphabet’s current form originated in about the 7th…
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Writers’ Generic Disclaimer
There’s something that every writer I’ve ever met has, at one time or another, said to their friend, writing buddy or critique group. It’s the dreaded Writers’ Generic Disclaimer, or what I like to call the WGD. The WGD goes something like this: “I had trouble with this piece. It still needs a lot of work.” Another common variant is: “It’s only a first draft,” or possibly, “It’s still pretty rough.” Occasionally you’ll hear: “Promise you’ll tell me if it’s no good, but please, be kind.” There are hundreds of variations on this theme. We all do it. But why? In the vast majority of cases, use…