New Exposure

I started writing for Demand Media Studios last month, which has been beneficial for me in several ways. I've learned how to improve my article writing, for one thing - by paring down, being more succinct and to the point. I've also lined my pockets a little bit. Being rewarded for doing something you love is truly one of the most satisfying things in life (especially when you've lived much of your life thinking this kind of reward for your efforts is impossible).

My articles have been fun to write, and have mainly been on subjects like fashion, home decorating, sewing and crafting.

Here are links to the first three articles I have written for eHow.com, which were recently published:
Ideas to Make 1950s Dresses
How to Customize Your Own Bedsheets
How to Make Your Own Side Skirts

In addition to article writing, I have been spending a lot of writing time on a chapbook I hope to have finished by August, and on submissions to contests and such.

As I always say: No rest for the wicked.

Fumbling

A long, great silence after my last post in March.

I try not to be too hard on myself for letting myself get so behind. There was my return to work the day before my last post, when I was optimistic my blog would be unaffected by this enormous change in my work and family life. Several weeks post-return-to-work, my son was sick - sick enough to require surgery at Children's Hospital. Over two miserable weekends, he was all I could focus on or think about.

In the meantime, while I haven't been regularly updating my blog, I have been writing. Writing constantly, with sharp focus and ambitious variety. Writing for hours without realizing how much time has passed. Writing up until bedtime and then getting up in the morning and writing on the train. Writing until I can't keep my eyes open. I love it. This, I finally know, is what I'm here for. I prefer this feeling of being aligned with a purpose, if frequently squeezed for time, to that wandering, aimless feeling of my 20s, where I couldn't stand up or commit to it. I wrote, but I also did anything but write (oh, mis-spent youth!). In the past few months I may have seemed silent, but have also been loud - in my writing, in my work, in my process...I am, in truth, sometimes too busy writing paid assignments, sketching out a new idea, or revising old words to submit somewhere, to consistently write about all the writing I'm doing.


While there is much more I could report on, I will say that my proudest achievement this year has been selling my story "For Tristan: A Meditation on Grief, Healing and Loss" to Wombat Book's upcoming anthology. I have now been through a few rounds of gentle edits, which has both made the story better and allowed me my first experience of working with an editor. I was lucky to have an amazing one, which made the process so much easier; naturally, both faith and trust are needed to hand over a work that is so personal to someone else, but Ms. Irma Gold made it easy. I am pleased to have learned recently that the anthology, The Sound of Silence: Journeys through Miscarriage, will be available October 1st at fine Australian bookstores, and launched on October 15th to coincide with International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Once my website is up and running, I'll have copies available.

On another note, since my last blog post I have created a writer/reader mail list for anyone interested in my writing. This week I sent a poem called "Me, Again" about a moment from my childhood. The poem was also submitted to Vancouver's Pandora's Collective "Kisses and Popsicles" Spring Poetry Contest (winners announced June 15).

If you'd like to join the mail list, I'd love to hear from you.