Sister Writes

10 Best Books

It's New Years Eve and I'm thinking about the books I loved and learned from this year.
The list is a mix of fiction, poetry, memoir and the craft of writing.

If you aren't a regular poetry reader, but want to dip your toes into the genre, I recommend:
Best Canadian Poetry 2021- guest editor, Souvankham Thammavongsa. You'll find both established and new Canadian poets represented. And make sure to read Souvankham's warm and inspiring introduction.

If you want more poetry, please try:
Broken Dawn Blessings- by Torontonian, Adam Sol

Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds & Lesser Beasts, by American poet, J. Drew Lanham

77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin, by Thomas King

Then Now, by Daphne Marlatt-a loving tribute to her father

My favourite collection of short stories from the past year: Irish author, Kevin Barry's- That Old Country Music.

And the novel I read in a day: Emma Donohue's, The Pull of the Stars.

Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate of the United States, published a new memoir this year- Poet Warrior. Read this for sustenance.

And when I needed some guidance, a push, inspiration, these two titles on the craft of writing came through:

Writing Alone and With Others, by Pat Schneider

Ordinary Genius: a Guide for the Poet Within, by Kim Addonizio ( not just for poets, but for all writers!)
***
May 2022 bring you many moments of joy

I feel guilty admitting that I don't look forward to long weekends, especially Victoria Day, the unofficial start of summer. And when the weather cooperates, like it seems to be doing this year my anxiety increases.

Memories of Sparrow Lake live with me and at this time in May, they begin to speak. Of the water still cold against the skin as we tiptoed towards our first swim of the season. The rush of putting your head under, shivering and smiling at the same time, knowing there were so many swims to come.

Cruisers up from the city and slower moving, six horse-powered fishing boats, plying the waters beyond our bay, sights and sounds heralding this beginning.

The last minute rush to prepare the Lodge for the first guests of the tourist season. Crisp pressed sheets on every bed, winter's dust whisked away.

That rolling front lawn, newly-mown and the tang of still wet paint on the red Muskoka chairs.

From the kitchen, scents of apple and cinnamon in flaky pastry, buttery chocolate chip cookies and date squares, filling the air with sweetness.

The Lodge has been gone a long time, but on this May long weekend it all feels within reach, close enough to grab onto.

Work has been my escape for years.

I met a man whose father owned a business tied to the tourist calendar, and the two of us worked every long weekend. Then our own business was open, seven days a week, holidays included.

My stint in retail followed, and I logged 11 years in the mall on Victoria Day.

When I finally began to write seriously, it helped me see the patterns; how my choices were attempts to recapture what was lost.

***
Does this weekend stir up special memories for you?
Can you see the patterns of your choices and how they've shaped your life?
Free write for 10 minutes (or more).

April begins with a writing quote and seven writing prompts to inspire you:

Writer, Dorianne Lux says:
"Good writing works from a simple premise: your experience is not yours alone, but in some sense a metaphor for everyone's."

Use the prompts below, to help you tap into your experiences. Each prompt can be the basis of a free write. Set your phone timer for 10 minutes and write without stopping.

Put each free write aside for at least a day, then go back and read it aloud. Are you surprised by anything you hear?
Take those paragraphs, or sentences, or words and keep going.

Give yourself permission to see where the story goes.

Here are the prompts:
1. Describe how the light falls in through your window in 3 different paragraphs. (from the "Writers Write" website)

2. Include these 3 words in your free write: foist, ungainly,
meticulous.

3. Convince a stranger that ghosts exist, and that there is one right behind them. (from the "Writers Write" website)

4. What gives you butterflies in your stomach? Do you like the feeling? (from, "500 Writing Prompts")

5. What instrument would you love to learn how to play?
(from, "500 Writing Prompts")

6. What do you need a dozen of right now?
(from, "500 Writing Prompts")

7. Write a story based on this premise: One day all the trees in my neighbourhood pulled themselves up by the roots and walked away. (Kim Addonizio in "Ordinary Genius")

Kickstart the New Year by reading:

Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design
and Pattern in Narrative
by Jane Alison, c.2019

I read Australian author, Jane Alison's, Meander, Spiral, Explode, in an afternoon- it's that good.

Alison writes with exuberant delight about narrative form.
Throw out all your preconceived notions about the traditional dramatic arc, usually shown as a pyramid of- introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. Alison presents a convincing case for a different vision:

"Rather than expecting the "soul" or animating shape of fiction to be a plotted arc, why not imagine other shapes?"

Why not indeed! She takes us on a visual word journey through alternate narrative patterns: waves, wavelets, meanders, spirals, radials and explosions, networks and cells, fractals and tsunami.

Alison includes excerpts from an eclectic mix of short stories and novels by such authors as: Raymond Carver, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Marguerite Duras, W.G. Sebald, Joyce Carol Oates.

Using language plump with images, and backed up by illustrations by Ethan J. Feuer, Alison ignites our creative soul. Here she is on Meander:

"If a narrative naturally wants to flow toward its end but doesn't want to get there yet- the pleasure's in the journey- it might hold back by strewing conflicts, boulders, along the way...But it might be bored by classic conflict, so instead lingers by flowing along an extravagant arabesque of detours: This is what meandering narratives do."

There is a tactile quality to this book that sparks all five senses.

Before delving into Patterns, Alison discusses Primary Elements - point, line texture, movement & flow, colour- including this take on the role of complex sentences:
"You lose a lot if you run from complex sentences with their depths, the way they pull one time zone or idea into the light and let another sink."

In her epilogue, Alison says she hopes that her book,
"...might let us step away from the arc sometimes, slip under or through that powerful wave, glorious as it can be. I hope that other patterns might help us imagine new ways to make our narratives vital and true..."

I can't think of a better way to write in 2021- in new creative ways that showcase our truth.