Raven's View

Sorry for the abundance of alliteration, but it just happened. This Sunday I'll be joining some fellow writers in a marketing experiment. We'll be appearing in Ottawa's Byward Market area, doing reading from our books. Which meant I had to get a busker's licence, as the area 'needs' to regulate any street performers. We're trying for two time slots - 2-3 and 4-5 pm - but are competing for the two 'allowed' spots with other street performers, so might just get other times. Or none. No idea whether people will stop and listen, whether they will clap or jeer. Like I said - an experiment. We also have a book stall set up to sell from - not right by the busking area, unfortunately, but we are still hoping we can flog a few.  

This was a quick piece I wrote for an online course I'm taking, Start Writing Fiction. A good course, with the focus on characters. The prompt was to turn on the radio and write about the first thing you heard. They were just announcing Down the Road Apiece, by Chuck Berry. 

Here's my draft - 

A friend posted an article about finding your passion, and then following it. It is a good idea, as an alternative to not knowing what you really want to do in life, to just drifting along the path of least resistance. But maybe some of us have several passions. Maybe there's not a specific thing we want to leap out of bed everyday to start, and keep working at until midnight. Maybe we have something we like yet avoid at the same time. 

Writing is like that for me I think. I like starting with an idea, adding in some characters and plot, tacking on a twist at the end, and then crafting it all into a good story. I'm also keen on reading -can lose my self for hours in books. And photography - especially back alley mural work. None are a real passion but I can get carried away with them at times. 

I do miss writing lately. I've been spending time editing - which is like writing, in that there can be creativity in the tweaking of a phrase or adjustment of a character arc. But it also can be plodding at times. I've also being spending time helping in a publishing group, as well as marketing my first novel. All necessary, all writerly things, but none are writing. I did start an online course, Start Writing Fiction, but the aforementioned 'other' activities have pushed i down in priority, Maybe it needs to be pushed back up. 

No long post, mainly busy editing - see below.

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