How to Feed the Writing Muse
Photo by Colin Rowe
Last week, I moderated a session at the Ottawa International Writers Festival in the cabaret-style basement of Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts, stayed for the Plan 99 reading series 10th anniversary bash and lingered at a table of writers trading tales of what motivates us as writers, namely attending events like these. Here is just a brief overview of some of our “aha” moments:
- David Small’s powerful tale of how presenting his memoir Stitches to his previously estranged brother mystifyingly transformed their relationship.
- Jane Christmas and Catherine Gildiner argeeing it’s better to base your memoir on memories, not the research you do afterward (which you’re probably doing to procrastinate, anyway).
- Elina Hirvonen explaining how her generation in Finland is better able to address the repercussions of civil and international conflict three generations post-Winter War.
- Dave O’Meara and LM Rochefort handing out wax-paper cups of champagne to toast 10 years of Plan 99 and business owners who support the arts in meaningful ways (read: with their wallets).
- Struan Sinclair recounting the tragic consequences when you leave two bags of candy tied to a doorknob in Winnipeg and then get on a plane to Ottawa.
- Getting the backstage intel on David Byrne’s and Nick Cave’s recent appearances at the festival (all gracious, all good).
- rob mclennan and I trading stories of how so many international authors name Ottawa as their ideal city to read in because the audiences are informed and unpretentious.
And finally, as an author, how it is so necessary to attend these types of readings and debates, how they feed you creatively far more than your average (often expensive) writing workshop. During Plan 99’s celebratory readings, when I wasn’t tweeting+ clever lines from the readers, I found myself compelled to sketch an entire a chapter for my next-next novel (the one in ethereal thought-to-first draft stage). Today, I’ll dive in and flesh out that sketch, that unexpected gift that you sometimes receive when you aren’t expecting it but are unintentionally feeding the muse.
