Marion Agnew

Yesterday was sunny and warm, almost a summer day, with temperatures in the high 20s C/~80F and the right proportions of sun and clouds.  Today is chilly, cloudy, rainy, with temperatures in the 40s and 50s. Fog is rolling around out on the bay.  So, a big change in weather--the day to day moods of sun and wind. But not in climate--the view of this part of the world over time. (Setting aside, for the moment, anthropogenic climate change. I'm currently more interested in the life metaphor.) My life in 2015, so far, has had a lot of weather-like changes. Ups and downs, sunny and rainy/snowy/sleety/foggy, "yes" and "no," the occasional "maybe" and "okay" and "just fine," too.  Enough walks along leaf-strewn paths to help me get over--sort of--the significant stumble that sprained my ankle, or the pain from the book I recently dropped on that sprained ankle.  Enough chores and delights that I don't have to keep rak...

I'm just home from a lovely conference of the Creative Nonfiction Collective (Society) in Victoria, British Columbia. Many congratulations to the winner of the carte blanche/CNFC competition, Kirsten Fogg! Kirsten is an expat Canadian currently living in Australia. She's at work on a project about belonging, here:  http://www.thebelongingblog.com/   I look forward to reading her essay, "Nana Technology," in an upcoming issue of carte blanche. It was really fun to have an essay on the shortlist and hear comments from competition judge Charlotte Gill  at the gala banquet. In fact, the whole conference was a really rewarding experience, and I also congratulate the people who organized such a successful event. It was great to spend time with people who write in the multifaceted part of the universe that is creative nonfiction. Throughout the days, I became increasingly comfortable saying to strangers, "where are you from?" or "what are you working ...

It's been a hectic couple of weeks. Events have followed their usual tendency to all happen at the same time. In the midst of the hubbub and hoop-de-do, Friday brought some especially nice news: carte blanche and the Creative Nonfiction Collective, by which I mean competition judge Charlotte Gill, have chosen "Schr ö dinger's Dog" for the contest short list. I think this means that in some multiverse, this essay wins! But seriously, in the particular multiverse in which I live, I also feel like a winner--grateful and happy that this work has touched readers. That's the goal! Many thanks to the contest sponsors: carte blanche and the Creative Nonfiction Collective. I know how much work it takes to run a contest, and I appreciate it very much! You can look at the official announcement here . (And remember that moose sighting? Still waiting on that million dollars.)

Because of the date, I felt the title of this post was required.  I have even MORE good news that is--no joke!--extremely pleasing. Another essay, this one called "Schrödinger's Dog," has been chosen for the long list for the Creative Nonfiction Collective/Carte Blanche contest! Yep, another essay about dogs. But different from   the one before .  The winner of the contest will be announced in late April at the CNFC conference in Victoria, BC. Victoria? In April? Yes, please. (Today's weather in this part of central Canada: ice fog. April's forecast for central Canada: mud.) And in other non-fooling news, today I saw a moose running across the ice. I've never seen a moose in the wild before, in spite of all the horror stories and road signs, and have said so aloud. Often. So, you know, I'm just putting this out there: I've never seen anyone come by and give me a million dollars, either! 

One of my essays--about counting dogs as a spiritual practice--appeared Sunday at Episcopal Cafe and is available by clicking here . How this essay came to appear here is a study in keeping one's ears alert--like a dog's, if you will--because I'm not a member of an Episcopal church and ordinarily wouldn't have heard about this publication. My sister is Communications Director at a large Episcopal church in Arizona and participates in several Facebook pages where people share ideas about communication strategies. The editor of Episcopal Cafe posted that they were looking for new voices for their Magazine, which features pieces about a specific topics. Meanwhile, last fall I'd written part of this essay as part of my daily writing practice, and as part of my ongoing effort to write shorter pieces. I'd submitted it to one paying market, and it had been rejected. When my sister pointed out the Episcopal Cafe opportunity, I recognized that expanding on the ex...

Here's where I'll be in a couple of weeks! Ten Stories High Launch  Saturday, March 21, St. Catharines Central Library, 2 PM. Refreshments, even!

So much good news in 2015! I recently learned that one of my essays, "Big Ideas, Small Feet," placed third in the creative nonfiction category of Prairie Fire 's annual writing contest ! Many thanks to judge Wayne Grady and the hard-working people at Prairie Fire , who put out a great publication. I'm particularly excited because this essay came from a year (the first of many I foresee) of reading and writing about the natural world and our--humans'--relationship to it, for which I received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council. It was really fun to encounter many of the fabulous ideas at work in the world and engage with them at the level of the lives we live every day. One of my favo(u)rite books of the past year, which I consider in the essay, was Braiding Sweetgrass , by scientist and poet Robin Wall Kimmerer. I like science, and scientists, a lot. Their passion for what they do is infectious, and Kimmerer combines her scientist-self with a mother-self a...