Inspirational Authors...

Okay, so it's been a couple days since I've posted, but not too much has gone on.

Tuesday night I had class, which was super cool, since we had a couple writers come in and read from their short story collections. Brian Panhuyzen read us a sweet short story from his collection called The Death of the Moon, about the affects of forgotten promises, love long lost and the deteriorating forests of Northern Ontario. The story was set in 1940's, and he told us how he wrote this period piece, partly just for the challenge of writing a period peice. He said the research involved made the writing process a bit harder. I love reading historical fictions, and will probably try to include some historical facts in my next short story- it's about a woman on a canoe journey through the Boundary Waters near Thunder Bay, and her refelctions on the Native culture that seems to follow her.

The other guest writer was Heather Birrell, author of the collection I Know You Are, but What Am I? She read us a new story, called "BriannaSusannaAlana", about three sisters living in Toronto, and how they each deal with a murder that's happened close to their home. Her ability to get into a childs mind- in this story three separate children, aged 6, 10 and 13- was uncanny. I especially loved how the 6 year old's dog didn't bark, persay, but spoke words like "Squirrel!!"

Hearing the writers read their own work was cool. It was nice to hear how proud they were of their work, the ownership in their voice was evident. Soon it'll be my turn! I've got to write this story by next Tuesday... I'll post it when I finish it... maybe!

posted by Unknown @ 10:52 a.m.