A Room Of My Own

Dear Emily, A mishmash of The Smiths and Eminem; I find you sexy, cheeky, a quirky little thing. Of the writers in attendance, you appear to be the youngest (I think), sitting at an honourable table amidst Lorna Crozier, Gil Anderson, Kim Echlin, Jeanette Lynes…to name a few – there you sit sporting a freakin' crazy ass tattoo on your right arm – your favourite lines of a Patrick Lane poem – ensconced in your sacred skin – swaddled about your forearm…my mind swirls about thinking of Lorna there - the star - there - Patrick, not there, but present...thanks to you. You emerge from the crowd of well endorsed writers to read about 'things to do in heaven if you're bored' because Heaven Is Small  – over and over we are pounded with the abused Harlequin known word “whilst”…and whilst, and whilst again… Lorna pictured enjoying Emily, as much as the rest of us did... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/article986294.ece As observed by myself, Well done, Janet Jarrell

I am up early, enjoying a rather cool but sunny summer morning quietly. I go for The Globe and religiously seek out and remove the Book Review section first. I scan this section for key words that catch my eye, pull me in and this determines which of the articles I read first (however, I will eventually read the entire section). Al Purdy’s name jumps out and I settle in on ‘Shadows and footsteps’ by Alex Boyd. The main point of his article was to read and respect the writing of good authors that have gone before. To paraphrase, read good books, be humble and this will make you a better writer. “Young writers need to be inspired and to admire older writers…meeting them can be a very different experience.” He goes on to recount a meeting he had with Al Purdy in Toronto at the library where Purdy had been giving a reading. After waiting for his turn to speak with the author, Boyd mentions to Purdy with some energy that his poetry was along side some of Purdy’s in Ink Magazine (not very hu...