Ravens' View

Welcome to my blog

 

For my author page, go here.

For my Short Stories, go here.

For my graffiti photos on Flickr, and other sets, go here.

This blog may seem a little unfocused, but then so am I - I'm a writer, photographer, trombonist, grandfather, and promoter of graffiti as an art form and a community change agent. You can subscribe to my posts, over on the right hand panel, via RSS feed or emails, or follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

I retired twelve years ago and quickly overfilled my days. I've no idea how I found the time to work before. I'm now downtown in the Parkdale/Hintonburg area, and love it. No house to maintain, walk everywhere, cafes, groceries, beer store, library, even a "local" nearby. 

I'm a writer now, a new career. I was more reader than writer, but in 2010 I tried the NaNoWriMo writing challenge. Thirty days (November) to write a first draft of at least 50,000 words. I met the challenge, and repeated it for several years - five more novels in fact. Kirk's Landing was published in 2013, and Return to Kirk's Landing in 2016. I also have written a number of Flash Fiction stories, inspired by several online sites that give a prompt, such as a phrase, opening line, photo, or genre, a limit of usually 800-1200 words, and less than a week to write in. It's a great way to practice and expand your skills, get some feedback, and see if there's a novel lurking in there. Here's a link to my stories . I've joined several writer related groups, I follow many writer/editor blogs, I read about writing, I dream about writing - it's my passion! 

ROW80-3 -23/07 -Late bloomers

I was a latecomer to serious writing, starting my first book in 2010. But I did 'bloom', in  the sense that I published it, and my second one, and wrote another five novels, as well as many Flash Fiction stories. I have slowed down, but maybe it's like a garden. The planning and planting is fun, but then the editing starts, the weeding, the moving around of plants as some look better than others, then some additions, some culling of a few.  I really don't like weeding or editing. The good news is that if I procrastinate editing, things don't keep growing. 

ROW80-3 -07/18 -Belated Birthday check in

Well, as often happens, I'm late with my check-in. But my excuse is that yesterday was my birthday. It was #72, and with no regrets, no "If only I had" thoughts. It is what it is. My girlfriend is up from Toronto, and we met my son, his wife, and two young kids at a nearby park. There's a small wading pool so all had a good time. Cake and pizza and pop. My girlfriend and I stopped in at my local for a drink, then to spend the evening on my back porch, drinking beer and cider, checking out the stars and planets (a beautiful clear and cool night), talk about Trump vs Putin, and then muse on the scale of the planets, and our galaxy, and the universe. Just to put it all in perspective. This was helpful - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk

ROW80-3 -15/07 -Writerly Blogs

One of the many writerly things I do is follow a number of sites related to writing/editing/publishing. I use Feedly to collect them in one spot, and can follow them via my desktop, laptop, or smartphone. Between them they generate 3-4 posts a day - not a lot but I still keep getting behind. 

The sites are:

• Writer Unboxed
• Fiction University
• The Write Practice
• Writing Articles -Writer's Digest
• Chuck Wendig: Terribleminds
• Janet Reid, Literary Agent

The last two are my favourites, but there is some overlap in the others. Fiction University is interesting, but it also the only one to publish just an excerpt in the RSS feed, so I usually just see an announcement of an article, and a bio about the author, and a link to the web page. Dropped it today. 

So, an update: I met my 2hr/day every day so far. This post, plus dealing with all them blogs. And strategizing on choosing the next story to edit and send out.  

Now it's back to chores. Soccer is done - great final game, in spite of some questionable calls.