Marion Agnew

It's been a little bit of lunatic heaven in these parts lately. We're getting lots and lots of lovely snow, which will be wonderful when spring finally does arrive. I've been on vacation someplace warm, and now I'm home. And this integrated art exhibition is happening, too. Not only is the exhibit open at the Thunder Bay (Historical) Museum  through June 2, but also there's a reception on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.!! For which I am making cookies! No lie!! That burning smell is not at all related to either my cooking prowess or pants that might (or might not!! liars are tricksy that way!!!) be on fire. (The number of exclamation marks is in direct relationship to the amount of coffee I've had, not to the truth or falsehood of any statements they follow.) Hope to see you there -- and if you're not in the area, the link at the Museum's website has some words about the exhibit from the visual and sound artist participants. I have read all the st...

How does that interior design saying go? Something like this: One is an accident, two is just stuff, but three is a collection. How about ten?  Ten plays in one night? Because that's an option available this weekend in Thunder Bay. The showcase for 10 by Ten will run this Saturday night.  Okay, so technically, it's six full ten-minute plays and four shorter "scenes" from smaller plays. But still -- nine different writers, many directors (some playwrights are directing their own work), actors interpreting creative visons -- lots of creativity will be gathered in one place. I've read a few of the plays that will be performed and they're crackerjack. Of particular interest to my household is this one: Though the showcase is Saturday, preparations began last fall, and bringing together this "grand finale" has meant that many people have sustained enthusiasm well beyond the typical "let's put on a show!" moment. Their enthusi...

As I may have mentioned (a time or two) (often) (repeatedly), I have an essay in Best Canadian Essays 2012 . People up here in Northwestern Ontario are fine folks, and a couple of them have asked me about it. The anthology is available for purchase at Northern Woman's Bookstore , for one thing. For another, I'm currently featured blathering about my essay at Literary Thunder Bay , courtesy of its purveyor, Joan Baril. Susan Toy scooped that interview to her new site, Canadian author Reviews and Interviews . Finally, a review is due to appear in the local paper, the Chronicle-Journal , this weekend. That is plennnnnnty (for now).

One of my favorite places to visit is Indexed, a blog by Jessica Hagy , where she explores relationships between sometimes-disparate things. She uses axes, lines, curves, and sometimes Venn diagrams. I love it. I thought of her this morning, when I was looking at the various short stories I'm (again) trying to collect. They vary along a continuum from "raw" to "stick a fork in it; it's done." They also vary along a continuum ranging from "I'm excited by it" to "I'm sick to death of it," another continuum from "examined" to "unexamined," another from "hardly any time" to "relatively, a lot of time," and yet another from "only tweaked" to "revised extensively," by which I mean "every freaking word has been second-guessed." I hope that the "stick a fork in it" end goes up at the same time that "examined," "revised extensively," a...

I try not to be a snob about much of anything, but I do have preferences about some things, and, it turns out, I have distinct preferences about the tools I work with. I can adapt to pretty well any kind of keyboard or software, but I'm kind of "that way" about pens. I don't write a LOT with pens -- definitely not production work -- but I do write with them often. Just about every day I do spend time writing "by hand," as we now must specify, and I sometimes sketch  zentangles. Generally, I like felt tips and fine points. In the world of ballpoint technology, I have recently enjoyed using Paper Mate's InkJoy pens (and no, they're not paying me to say so). I originally picked up the package because it had all different colors of pens in it, and it said something important on the package: Effortless Writing. Effortless! Writing! In a rainbow of fun colors! Who could resist that? But every time I get on a plane, my pens explode in transit. Even ...

And I'm not actually saying it does , but if age brings wisdom, how come these days I feel I got nuthin'? I'm working the short stories (AGAIN), without much break between them, and at varying levels of "work," from "what was I thinking?" to "is this ready to send somewhere?" I am discovering some very very VERY disturbing things. If you were to name Santa's reindeer after my characters, there'd be Robert, Robert, Robert, James, Jason (formerly James), Jim, Cass, and Carla. I'm tempted to name somebody Rudolph, just to do it. Plus I was looking through notes I've made for stories to come. They feature yet another Robert and another James. But wait, there's more: All these people drink a lot of coffee and talk. A lot. If my short stories were ever to inspire a drinking game, you'd need to watch out for the "drinking coffee" scenes. Sigh. There are a lot of advantages to being an ahem "mature...

A short time ago, I wrote about applying the "mouse view/eagle view" concept to revision . Before I make a pass through a manuscript, I've found it helpful to decide in advance what I'm looking for. Am I checking spelling and punctuation? smoothing infelicitous phrasings? or sending the main character to Gibraltar instead of the mall? On a related note, sometimes it's impossible for your own eyes to give you guidance about next steps. In those cases, it's important to get feedback from readers -- but which ones, when, and why? Here's some useful advice from agent Rachelle Gardner. Boiled down, she says to carefully consider why you want input from a particular person -- is she a subject-matter expert, a wide-ranging reader of your genre, an experienced writer who can step outside of personal preference to read the manuscript on its own terms? That last criterion is important. Say you're lucky enough to find a group of writers to learn from and h...