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I’m an MFA Graduate!
Graduations are bitter sweet. I loved my two years in the Masters of Fine Art program at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. I met many wonderful writers, both those that sat beside me in classes and those that taught us – but from all those creative individuals, I have learned a great deal.
I needed a wider-angle to get all the students and faculty into the picture!
It is sad to move on, leaving a fabulous cohort and regular residencies behind. Cambridge was a hub of creativity and vibrated with people and ideas. Yet, it’s the possibilities of the next horizon, so they say, which is wildly exciting.
I am an extremely planned person, so I know my next few steps, but at the same time the possibilities astound me. I’m open for whatever may come next. I’m thinking PhD, new writing assignments and my next memoir, which is already in the works.
Waiting to give my graduation speech in which I told a story about two characters: Muse and Writer.
I’m the kind of person that thrives on activity. I may not be working hard for university classes after this, but I’ll be putting that same determination into whatever is to come. And don’t worry – I’ll keep you posted!
Graduation speech given. Degree received. Now on to the next adventure!
Happy writing, my friends!
Happy Fourth of July!
Happy Fourth of July to all of you American writers! I wish you all a great day of celebrating the country you love to live in. I love to travel to the United States and I really enjoyed my time going to Lesley University in Cambridge Massachusetts. Although I’m going to be finished school this year, I’m sure I’ll be back in the United States a lot in the future.
“Only in America can someone start with nothing and achieve the American Dream. That’s the greatness of this country.”
-Rafael Cruz
I hope inspiration comes your way this Fourth of July!
Happy Writing!
Encouraging Quotes for Writers
Here are ten quotes by great contemporary writers on topics regarding rejection, writers block, and not just the want, but the need to be writer. These words encourage me and I hope they do the same for you. These quotes will enlighten you to the fact that all of the most successful writers have dealt with and still deal with their fair share of rejection and writers block. However their love of writing never faltered and they never gave up. All successful writers learned the hard way that getting rejected doesn’t mean you aren’t talented.
Nobody chooses to be a writer because it’s easy! As long as you love the process and take every chance you can to improve, you have the ability to be a great writer.
“I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized, and I still had a daughter who I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
-J.K. Rowling
“With a book I am the writer and I am also the director and I’m all of the actors and I’m the special effects guy and the lighting technician: I’m all of that. So if it’s good or bad, it’s all up to me.”
-George R. R. Martin
“By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.”
-Stephen King
“Creativity itself doesn’t care at all about results – the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless.”
-Elizabeth Gilbert
“Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing. It’s one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period.”
-Nicholas Sparks
“I just give myself permission to suck. I delete about 90 percent of my first drafts … so it doesn’t really matter much if on a particular day I write beautiful and brilliant prose that will stick in the minds of my readers forever, because there’s a 90 percent chance I’m just gonna delete whatever I write anyway. I find this hugely liberating. I also like to remind myself of something my dad said in [response] to writers’ block: ‘Coal miners don’t get coal miners’ block.’”
-John Green
“If I waited for perfection… I would never write a word.”
-Margaret Atwood
“As things stand now, I am going to be a writer. I’m not sure that I’m going to be a good one or even a self-supporting one, but until the dark thumb of fate presses me to the dust and says ‘you are nothing’, I will be a writer.”
-Hunter S Thomson
“When you’re a writer, you hear your internal critic, and that’s really hard to get over. And then sometimes you hear critiques from classmates and stuff. But when a book comes out, it’s just hundreds of opinions and you have to learn to separate out the ones you want to listen to or figure out many you want to listen to.”
-Veronica Roth
“Don’t ever let the other stuff get in the way of your inherent skills as a kick-butt storyteller. Move the reader, make them happy and sad and excited and scared. Make them stare into space after they’ve put the book down, thinking about the tale that’s become a part of them.”
-James Dashner
“It’s not easy. I got lots of rejections when I first started out. If you want to write, you have to believe in yourself and not give up. You have to do your best to practice and get better.”
-Rick Riordan
Alexis Marie Uncensored Debut Article in Edmonton Woman Magazine
I have been reading Edmonton Woman Magazine for years, so when they offered me a column in their glossy pages, I was honored to accept. My first article in my Alexis Marie Uncensored column was published in their May/June 2015 issue. The topic: Motherhood, just in time for Mother’s Day.
While I could write a book on my almost six years’ worth of practice being Mom, I chose to focus on what has changed and what has stayed the same over the years. In the end, moms are still crazy busy, they still put their kids first though take time for themselves and their careers, and moms still drink crazy potions their children mix together. Being a mom really is the best job.
The July/August 2015 issue is just around the corner. No spoiler alerts but I will share about my article here once it hits the newsstands.
Happy reading!
Publication Update
As I diligently work away at some of my big writing projects, it’s always nice to pause and celebrate the smaller works that have made their way out into the world. Here are some of my publications from the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015:
- “The Quiet Rebuild” Portraits – Bellingham Review, Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, USA
- “Legacy of Love,” Perspectives Magazine, TSC Alliance
- “Her Opinion: Art and the Canadian Landscape,” Women’s Art Museum Society of Canada, Anthology
- “Her Threads: Spotlight on Current Artistic Practice,” Women’s Art Museum Society of Canada, Anthology
- “How to Honour a Bereaved Mother on Mother’s Day,” Today’s Parent Magazine
- “The Tiny Voice that Saved Me,” essay in the Three Minus One anthology, She Writes Press
- “NaNoWriMo: An Exciting Challenge for Writers,” Branchline Magazine, Canadian Author’s Association, Alberta Branch
What have you been working on lately?
Writing about Difficult Subject Matter
Writers amongst other artists have the amazing ability to challenge, question, critique and explore our society.
They ask:
– What do we believe as a people?
– Why do we believe this?
– Is there another way?
Many individuals have mixed feelings about writing about controversial topics and taboo subjects. There is a part of me that relates to that and wants to keep the peace, not rock the boat, and ensure everyone is happy. That’s the boring side of me though and she often takes backseat to the other part that’s BOLD and COURAGEOUS.
I want my work to matter and because of this I need to write about what matters to me first and foremost. My topics often seen unpopular or reflect a concealed part of accepted human behavior. For example, for the last two and a half years I have been writing about the death of my son, managing grief and finding healing. It never fails to amaze me how these topics make people uncomfortable – unless they have lived through them. People who have lost a loved one speak my language and I to them. Those are the people who I write for with this focus on bereavement.
The Three Minus One anthology features an essay I wrote where I reveal my raw state of sorrow in the early days after my son died. Read more about Three Minus One.
The different topic I’m embarking on with my new writing at the moment is also somewhat taboo yet equally important I believe to bring into the open. That’s what I care about: opening up topics that should be talked about, breaking the silence. I ask myself all the time: Why are these things hidden? Should they be? What will happen if I talk about them? Will I tarnish my reputation? Spontaneously combust? Will my work be accepted? How can I change the world?
Here are four principles that provide internal navigation for me in writing about difficult subject matter:
– When you are just beginning to write, do not think about who will read your words. Write from the heart.
– Tell the truth. The truth is scary but needed in our day and age. Your work will matter and stand the test of time if it reflects the time it which was penned.
– If it matters to you, it will likely matter to other people. They are who you write for.
– If it crashes and burns, who cares? You only live once and might as well give it all you’ve got.
What helps you when you have a challenging topic on your mind? How do you get your thoughts down on paper and out into the world?
