The Perils and Pleasures of the Creative Life

We are just wrapping up Dani Shaprio’s book Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of the Creative Life. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“Pain engraves a deep memory…These traces that live within us often lead us to our stories. Joan Didion called this a shimmer around the edges….When we stumble upon it we know. We know because it shimmers. And if you are a writer, you will find that you won’t give up that shimmer for anything. You live for it.” 

“My best work comes from the uncomfortable, but fruitful feeling of not having a clue.” 

“No writer I know is confident in her work…we cringe when forced to reread our own prose, we’re plagued by the certainty that we haven’t quite achieved what we’d hoped we could. The work is only as good as our small, imperfect, pedestrian selves can make it.”

“It has been said that the blessing is next to the wound…What clenches and curls in the marrow…The mess is holy. What we inherit—and how we come to understand what we inherit—is all we have to work with. There is beauty in what is. Every day when I sit down to work I travel to that place….because my words are my pickaxe and with them I chip away at the rough surface of whatever it is I still need to know.”  

“If beginning are leaps of faith and middles are vexing, absorbing, full of trap doors and wrong turns and dead ends, sensing an ending is your reward…the thing you have built in the dark that has felt so many times like it might be your undoing, is now leading you along like a gentle giant.”

“I can tell you that the writing of a book, no matter how deeply, profoundly personal…if you have attended the formidable task of illuminating the human heart in conflict with itself—it will do the opposite of expose you. It will connect you. With others.  With the world around you. With yourself.”

I think the Artist Way group would agree that this books gets 5 stars and is a High Recommend for anyone who’s compelled to keep returning to the page. Shapiro is an amazing wordsmith and the memoir part of the book resonated with us all.

Our next book starting mid January will be focused more on craft. It’s Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel by Lisa Cron.

Happy Scribbling,

Kathy-Diane

Digging out the Books

The Artist Way group is gearing up to begin in October. I have to say this group, running for over a decade, was a Godsend during Covid. The connection with writing allies is a heartening boon. A lot of us were disappointed in Julia Cameron’s book The Listening Path. It felt incomplete somehow and was written in a different style, but there was still bits of take away to hang onto.  In the winter we re-read The Hero is You by Kendra Black. She’s a writing coach and sets out a plan for writers using Joseph Campbell’s archetypes for The Hero’s Journey. Loved it! It will definitely be on the read again and again shelf. This October we’ll begin reading Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of the Creative Life by author Dani Shapiro.  This was gifted to me a while ago and I loved it so much decided to share it with the group. Here’s a snippet:

“Don’t think too much. There’ll be time to think later. Analysis won’t help. You’re chiseling now. You’re passing your hands over the wood. Now the page is no longer blank. There’s something there. It isn’t your business to know whether it’s going to be prize-worthy someday, or whether it will gather dust in a drawer. Now you’ve carved the tree. You’ve chiseled the marble. You’ve begun.”

Another book on craft I read recently is Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Page by author Lisa Cron:

“Mirror neurons allow us to feel what others experience almost as if it were happening to us…But here’s the kicker. We don’t just mirror other people. We mirror fictional characters too….The areas of the brain that lit up when they read about an activity was identical to those that light up when they actually experience it.”

A different take and well worth the read

She poses a lot of interesting questions in light of neurological research about the prose you’re writing. I like fielding questions once I’m a few drafts in and the story is solid in my imagination. Questioning the elements only strengthens my vision and direction in the end.

I’m taking a copy of Story Genius, also by Lisa, on an upcoming writer’s retreat where I’ll be shaping up a first draft of a novel I was awarded a Creation Grant to complete during Covid.  It’s been sitting resting all summer and I can hardly wait to dig it out and begin excavating. 

If you’re interested in the Artist’s Way group contact me at kathy.dianeleveille@gmail.com

Happy Scribbling,

Kathy

Perils and Pleasures of the Creative Life

I received this little book for Christmas called “Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life” by Dani Shapiro. I connected immediately with her experience of the writing life from an early age:
“I have been writing all my life. Growing up, I wrote in soft-covered journals, in spiral-bound notebooks, in diaries with locks and keys. I wrote love letters and lies, stories and missives. When I wasn’t writing, I was reading. And when I wasn’t writing or reading, I was staring out the window, lost in thought. Life was elsewhere–I was sure of it–and writing is what took me there. In my notebooks, I escaped an unhappy and lonely childhood. I tried to make sense of myself. I had no intention of becoming a writer. I didn’t know that becoming a writer was possible. Still, writing was what saved me. It presented me with a window into the infinite. It allowed me to create order out of chaos.”

Doing the memoir exercises in our recent Artist Way group brought me back to how energizing it was years ago when I first attempted writing short stories. I loved following inspiration and letting it run like a hooked fish to the end of the line. I would check collections out of the library, read and dissect them. I loved uncovering a turn of phrase, a description, a character marker, anything in the prose that highlighted what I was beginning to learn in my own writing and enlightened my ignorance. I admired these writers, but I also felt a sense of homecoming. This is where I belonged. This is the portal I entered as a child when I first picked up a book and stepped into an imaginary world and felt their magic igniting my brain, spirit and soul. I sensed even then the power, rightness and wisdom that came with slipping behind the veil. I had a sense of safety, of endless possibilities. I trusted that I was being held, guided, that I would learn things and experience worlds I never knew existed. Writing led me out of a confused childhood. It opened that “window” as Dani says in a stark room. Writing was and is my lifeline into the real world, even if by now it has allowed me live more in the world and less on the page. That’s a good thing. It’s what writing does. It seeps into your bones and lifts you high and carries you until you meet your true authentic self. Writing is the homecoming.

Don’t fear the blank page. Embrace it.

Kathy-Diane

 

Writer’s Union of Canada Short Prose Competition

It’s that time of year again. This is a wonderful competition to submit your short stories to for feedback and affirmation. I’ve helped participate in the judging past years and have always found it invigorating to witness emerging shining talent.

Writers’ Union of Canada Short Prose Competition

The Artists E-Circle is almost wrapping up. We only have a few weeks left to go.  I’m always blown away by the way a group of writers can come together, from various backgrounds, geographic locations, writing styles and goals, and gel so tightly, simply by corresponding weekly by E-mail tasking one of Julia Cameron’s books. I will take away renewed creative insight: a kaleidoscope of possibilities, entertaining directions and synchronous surprises. Thanks all for taking the risk to join in. It’s a great way to while away the longest month of winter!

Happy writing all.

Kathy-Diane

“Leveille knows character…” The Globe and Mail

Interview with David Alan Binder

I really enjoyed doing an interview with David Alan Binder this week talking about the writing process and creativity.  He’s a great supporter of writing for writing’s sake, and you’ll find all kinds of great information on his site:

Writers and Writing

I’ve just finished reading “The Hero is You” by Kendra Levin.  She challenges a writer to use the archetypes in Joseph Campbell’s heroic journey not only in plot and character, but also in their life, all the while guiding them through inspiration to completed MS. I was challenged by the questions it forced me to ask.

We’re half-way through the Artist Way E-Circle group with Julia’s Cameron’s new book. It’s wonderful to join with old friends and new, with keen expectations and trembling fear, to re-kindle the creative fire. We may be unique in our artistic histories, hopes and angst, but we’re comfortingly the same beneath the surface.  I am always amazed that it continues to be a journey of discovery for me.

Artist Way Circle 2017

As the weather turns cooler, I’m feeling the urge to return to the page after being away last year with my essential oil course. To jumpstart the process, I’m organizing the annual Artist Circle to begin November 1st and run for 6 weeks (breaking December 15th), and resuming for the final 6 weeks the first week of January. Julia Cameron has a new book called “It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again.” While geared towards people who have retired, it’s also for “anyone who wishes to expand his or her creativity” or going through a transition in life which may be, as in my case, simply getting back into the writing routine after having been away for a spell.
The Artist Circle is an e-mail group that utilizes the principles of “The Artist Way.” There are 11 spots open, to be filled on a first come, first serve basis. It is not a critique group, but an opportunity to explore strengths and stumbling blocks, and to follow inspiration at your own pace; while sharing discoveries with a supportive group. I have set up the structure, but don’t lead it. Once we get going and everyone is familiar with the weekly routine, I’m simply a participant. For more information you can contact me at:
kathy.dianeleveille@gmail.com.
Hope you’ll join me. Happy Writing!
Kathy-Diane

It’s been a busy year

A big thank you to everyone who volunteered to take part in my case studies this year for the Essential Oil Therapy course. I learned tons about the amazing medicinal properties of herbs and passed with flying colors. It was one of the many things on my bucket list of things I’d like to learn more about. I’m an avid gardener with lots of lovely herbs in the garden. Thanks again dear friends for helping me out. Happy to report: Everyone lived!

Of course this means I have put my writing on hold this year, doing this course and working my day job, but I loved the break. Change can be good for the soul. Still, I am looking forward to scribbling again come Fall. I finished the novel “How to be a Psychic” so it will be time to roll up the sleeves and start editing.

Enjoy the summer everyone!

Artist Circle 2015

It’s that time of year again. The holidays are over and I need some prodding to get back to the page.  So I’m organizing the annual Artist Circle to begin February 1^st and run for 10 weeks using Julia Cameron’s book “The Right to Write.” It’s an e-mail group that utilizes the principles of “The Artist Way.” There are 10 spots open, to be filled on a first come, first serve basis. It is not a critique group, but an opportunity to explore personal strengths and stumbling blocks, and to put pen to page at your own pace; while sharing discoveries with a supportive group. For more information you can contact me at  shadowsfall@kathy-dianeleveille.com

Happy Writing!

Kathy-Diane

Reading In Hartland

If you’re in Hartland next Wed, drop by to say hello. I’ll be reading from “Standing in the Whale’s Jaw” at the Dr. Walter Chestnut Public Library October 22nd at 10:30 a.m. Thanks to the book club for reading “Let the Shadows Fall Behind You.” Looking forward to our discussion!  I’m looking forward to the drive up and enjoying the spectacular fall colors.