December Newsletter 2021
A chicken picture apology
Cam’s chickens: Wilma, Freya, and Phoebe
Yes! I am late!
After making a decision to always be on time with both my first and fifteenth of the month posts, no matter what, here I am on December 2. (I mutter consistency, consistency, consistency consistently.)
Late this afternoon, I picked up my computer after too many anxious hours, and after two days of scrawling by hand in my notebook. (Will I be able to read those notes?) Cam, the computer-guy I have worked with for years, lives in a farmhouse and has somehow grown a living farm around him. He has a yardful of goats, and now chickens, and an ancient kiwi orchard. (If I’m around after the first frost of the year—when they ripen—I get to taste!)
When I dropped off my computer, it was Monday night. I thought all I needed was a new power cord. (Or a re-built cord. Cam does not waste.) But it turns out that my hard-drive was about to implode—and took its sweet time healing from my abuse.
Monday night, I passed by his new addition of a homey chicken coop in the yard, in the pouring rain. As I walked the muddy path to the kitchen door, I could hear a radio, a voice to keep the chicken company, and all three of them were huddled next to each other on the coop roof listening. Apparently, they are truly We(s)t Coast chickens, and they like the rain.
But today was sunny, and they were toodling around the yard, at the gate even, to greet me. So with great thanks to the back-ups of Wilma, Freya, Phoebe, with Cam, the newsletter is here. And I can get on with writing feedback for the mini-course subs tomorrow.
Mini-course
Speaking of: I’m so pleased with how this has worked out for our first round ever. So far, five stories with three poems posted today. (Thank you for your patience, Shirley!)
I hope to run another mini-course in the early spring. If you’d like to see a particular focus, let me know of any thoughts on this.
Monthly Prompt/Exercise
Goats and chickens for rural stories. And back in the city, things that pass for garbage underfoot. I often walk one or the other of the Vancouver viaducts that connect the downtown core with my east-side home. In between the two viaducts is a mini tent-city at the moment, a collection of about eight tents with giant tarps pulled over. Three weeks ago it was two tents.
I often find bits and pieces of people’s lives as I walk those sidewalks. And this was one such bit:
Where does this note take you? Have you found such notes and scraps from others’ lives on your own paths as you walk? Or from your own life?
You might create a vignette from such a piece, or a poem. Or create a note. From a character, maybe.
Or perhaps you want to write about gifts—maybe, in particular, mailed gifts.
Every Christmas, my father’s cousin mailed large brown paper packages from West Vancouver to South Delta. That is not a long distance, but it seemed a world away when I was a child, and the phone calls to her were long distance. Inside that brown paper, there would be Books. Maybe half a dozen, of stories and poetry and pictures. Those packages birthed my desire to write.
I will send you… To you, or from you.
Keep the pieces short, and post in the thread I’ll set up.
November posts - summaries
The posted pieces for November have been fewer than in previous months as we’ve had a number of pieces posted for the “holiday writing” mini-course, and those have kept us busier.
The final day to email pieces to me to post was supposed to be December 8, with a final day of the 15th to post feedback, but I’m going to extend the submission deadline to Dec. 10 because of my computer mishap. It’s a pleasure to read these works, and I don’t want to rush them.
I did a second post in the “close reading” series, working with Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation. Reading is such a significant piece to growing as a writer. In some ways, the “pleasure” of the experience dims somewhat; you’ll find your at-work hat on as you read. But there are those times where the hat slips off and as you close the last page you’re left scratching your head, wondering, HOW did the writer do that? Which means you have to re-read. Get used to reading with a pen and your reading journal nearby.
I posted a piece on the bug-bear of flashback, with the question of transitioning in and out of the device. As I post about such elements, don’t hesitate to ask questions, or even to post an example (“Is this an effective approach?”) and we can weigh in. Writing is discovered in the doing of it.
The piece on COMMUNICATION began life as a dialogue primer. Dialogue was an element that I struggled with as do many new-ish writers. And then, deeper into this work, we can all struggle at times with the communication piece. How do characters interact? It’s worthwhile to shift to thinking of “communication” as opposed to “dialogue.”
And another challenging element—creating “scene.” Moving away from telling a story to evoking story. Again, as you read these pieces, any questions you have, post them. Even posts that are months old, let’s keep the discussion going; we can revisit.
What is the subjunctive mood in English? This post could fall in with the grammar series… yet has to have its own. How do we deal with our language—English—to express “possibility”?
Last, a short post looking at the strengths of various genres—what we might learn from one to carry over to another. You might even take an idea or scene from one form you are working within and try it in another to deepen your own understanding of the story.
I re-posted my Canadian Thanksgiving piece last Thursday.
And I also posted a “quick links” piece to connect to The Unschool easily if you are having any issues.
What I am working on
I’ve had a couple of requests from subscribers and as a result, I am writing posts on world building and outlining. These will be posted at some point during December.
Do let me know of any writing questions you have: alison@alisonacheson.com.
Wishing you the very best through this coming month. And always glad you are here with The Unschool. Thank you for supporting my ad-free-venture!
Alison