This poem originally appeared in the journal In Parentheses Vol. 7, Issue 2, Fall 2021. Mount Royal Boulevard, 1966 I will not take Mount Royal Boulevard.Not since April third,the rainy night at the tight curvehalfway down the road,when the tires shrieked,and the maple treecracked in halffrom the forceof the red Ford Mustang.The glass on the… Continue reading Mount Royal Boulevard, 1966
It's high time for me to announce some belated good news here! If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, or if you've looked around the site, you probably know, but if not, here it is: My first novel is getting published! Over the past few weeks. I've been working with the lovely folks at… Continue reading (Long Overdue) News: Debut Novel Publication!
Apologies for finishing this series so late. My goal was to spend, at most, five weeks talking about my goals to feed my creative soul this summer, and, well... the summer is just about over, so I guess this still counts. Over the past few months I've been discussing different ways that, as writers, creatives,… Continue reading Habits to Feed the Creative Soul Part 5: Connect With Nature
What is feeding my creative soul? For the past few weeks, I’ve been exploring different ways of living a more creative life, feeding my creative soul instead of merely expecting myself to produce creative work from a vacuum. After a season of busyness, following a year and a half of general uncertainty, it’s especially hard… Continue reading Habits to Feed the Creative Soul Part 4: Avoiding Monetization
What is feeding my creative soul? I’ve been asking myself this a lot recently. After a season of busyness, following a year and a half of general uncertainty, it’s especially hard to get back in touch with what truly nourishes the soul. But there are some habits I’m working on over the next few months… Continue reading Habits to Feed the Creative Soul Part 3: Tactile Creativity
Today, I want to talk about the second habit to foster the creative life: to read books foolishly. When I say foolishly, I mean to follow my intuition, to read without letting the little voice in my head that tells me I'm stupid, well, tell me I'm stupid.
It's a common adage among artists, that scheduling your work is the key to prolific, consistent creativity. But sometimes this ideal is no more than a dream.
When I was younger, I thought the only books worth reading at all were fiction books. After all, who wants to waste their time not being swept up in another world? What's the point of reading if you can't suspend disbelief and experience a different reality? I assumed all nonfiction books were either dusty trade… Continue reading Craft: Why is Fiction Important?
On a recent reread of Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which led to a massive reevaluation of my life priorities and six bags of stuff being sent to the thrift store (but that's another story), I came across an interesting piece of advice. If you're familiar with the book at all, you… Continue reading Craft: Writing Like a Four-Year-Old
I’ll be honest: I’m a little woo-woo when it comes to developing a fictional world. This is to say that, in my mind, the story exists apart from me; it floats around in the ether, until somehow we are acquainted, and it becomes my job to write it. The author Shannon Hale describes writing a… Continue reading Craft: Writing Characters as Human People
Hannah Allman Kennedy 