Month: May 2015

Read and Write with Pride

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Guess who’s going to Edmonton?

I’m going to be taking part in the Read and Write with Pride event taking place at Audrey’s Books Ltd on June 9th. The event starts at 7:00 and runs until 9 pm.

Read and Write Write With Pride-2 copy

So what’s going on?

Seven different local authors will be sharing their fiction, memoirs, and poetry. Who are those authors?

Heidi Belleau
Bio: Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, but now lives in Beaumont,
Alberta. A proud bisexual woman, her writing reflects everything she loves: diverse casts of queer
characters, a sense of history and place, equal parts witty and filthy dialogue, the occasional
mythological twist, and most of all, love—in all its weird and wonderful forms.
Chosen Work: Wallflower

Rob Browatzke
Bio: Rob Browatzke (born 1977) is a proud Edmontonian, proud homosexual, and proud writer. His reading and writing tastes vary though, so some books might take you on a comic journey through classic Bible stories, some might be filled with graphic sex and drug use, some might mash-up cherished childhood tales. You never know what you’re gonna get.

Rob has been writing since he was able to pick up a pen, and is excited to finally be sharing some of those words with all of y’all.

He has been working the club scene in Edmonton since the late 90s, and that has definitely enabled him to create some authentic nightlife in his works. Four years sober as of March 2015, he thinks the stories he’s lived himself add some true color to the stories he’s now sharing with the world at large.
Chosen Work: Through the Mirror Ball

Sheldon L’Henaff
Bio: an author blogs through the age of sex, drugs, and techno
Chosen Work: Joy (Maybe This Christmas)

Marc Colbourne
Bio: Originally from Newfoundland, Marc Colbourne comes by his love of tea and storytelling honestly. His non-fiction and fiction addresses themes of social justice and LGBT culture and history. His latest book, Exiled for Love: The Journey of an Iranian Queer Activist, is the memoir of Arsham Parsi.
Chosen Work: Exiled for Love

Marina Reid Hale
Twitter
Bio: Marina Reid Hale is an Edmonton spoken word poet and writer. She can’t remember a time when
she didn’t want to be a writer (with the notable exception of a week in grade two when she wanted toMagazine, the Rat Creek Press, and the #yegwords Coffee Sleeves project, and she has co-written
plays for NextFest, KidsFringe, and OverActing Imaginations. She performs and competes at open
mic nights and poetry events all over the city, and was a 2015 Edmonton Poetry Slam semi-finalist.
Chosen Work: slam poetry piece

Laurie Macfayden
Bio:LAURIE MACFAYDEN has lived in Edmonton since 1984. Her second poetry collection, Kissing
Keeps Us Afloat , was released in September 2014 (Frontenac House). Her debut collection, White
Shirt , won a Golden Crown Literary Society award and was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary
awards. A painter, poet and photographer, MacFayden spent more than 30 years as a sports journalist and continues to work as a copy/web editor at the Edmonton Journal. Her poetry has appeared in The New Quarterly literary journal, FireFall, Queering The Way and DailyHaiku I: A Daily Shot of Zen; and has been performed in Edmonton’s Loud & Queer Cabaret and at Calgary’s Q The Arts cultural festival.
Chosen Work: Kissing Keeps Us Afloat

Alex Powell (pronouns they/them/their)

Bio: Alex Powell is an avid writer and reader of sci-fi and fantasy, but on occasion branches into other
genres to keep things interesting. Alex is a genderqueer writer from the wilds of northern Canada who
loves exploring other peoples and cultures. Alex is a recent graduate of UNBC with a BA in English,
and as a result has an unhealthy obsession with Victorian Gothic literature. Alex has been writing from an early age, but is happy to keep learning to improve on their writing skills. Feedback and comments as well as any questions are appreciated! You can reach Alex at aa.powell.author@gmail.com
Chosen Work: Sky Knights

 I’m really excited for this event, and I’m stoked that I was invited by Heidi to attend!

Anyone in the Edmonton area who is interested in attending, the event is at Audrey’s Books, 10702 Jasper Ave NW.

Here’s the Facebook event if you want to join!

 

 

Finding time for writing

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I’ve recently been having a hard time finding time to write, as the rest of my life intervenes. I’ve been going crazy over this issue for weeks, but have started calming down, because it’s not just my problem. Lots of people in this day and age want to just write for a living, but for most, that’s not a reality.

school1I mean, for me, there’s school and trying to find a job in my field, which is a struggle for a lot of people these days. University is very demanding, especially for people who are trying to keep their GPA high enough to go on to grad school. Some people work full time jobs, or have kids to look after. It’s tough to find time to write in between all these other things we have to do. Not to mention, if you’re too stressed out or anxious, you can throw that good writing vibe out the window.

There’s nothing I’d like more than to have no other job but writing, but for an indie author, that’s not feasible. Even authors with publications with big companies can’t really make a living on their writing.

sheepmeme

This is me on the floor with a stuffed sheep on top of me.

 

So if you’re stressed out because you haven’t been writing as much as you want to be, try not to get too worked up about it. It’s a problem that a lot of writers go through.

As to how to fix the problem, everyone’s different, and some ways just won’t work for certain people. I can suggest a few, though.

thewritera) Fit writing in around all those other things when you’re in one of those in-between spaces, like when you’re waiting in a boring line-up or riding on the bus. I carry around a notebook in my bag in case some idea hits me so that I can write it down. Other options are writing it down on a tablet, or even a smartphone. Once, I was sitting in a pub waiting for my lunch to arrive and I banged out a few lines on my phone and emailed them to myself. I know, it’s nice to have all your story in one place, but writing is a messy business. Sometimes you’ve got to adapt.

b) Start a writing group with some friends. I don’t know about you, but sometimes you need someone else to talk to and bounce ideas off of. You don’t have to meet often, even once every one to two weeks. Also, if you need a little motivation or support, your friends are there for you.

c) If meeting your friends in person isn’t feasible, use the digital world to help you connect. Find a time when you’re all free and agree to write at that time. You can text by phone, Skype, IM or anything you like. What use is all this tech we’ve got if we don’t use it?

writeclubd) Going off of the last one, you can join an online group on social media. I myself follow Friday Night Writes (#WriteClub), which is a group on Twitter that helps motivate people to write, because everyone writes at the same time. The mod tweets start and stop times, alternating writing times with break times. You can even tweet them how many words you’ve written.

There are probably lots of other ways to try and fit writing in around your busy life, these are just a few. The main thing is, don’t get discouraged if you’re behind on your writing projects. It isn’t a race!

Rangers on the Read

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Hey all,

I’ve decided to start a project on social media called “Rangers on the Read.”

What is it? It’s a project in which I give my book Rangers over Regulus to one person that I know, and they will read it and pass it on. Sounds simple, right? It really is, it’s a project with no real parameters except curiosity. Where will my book end up?

I’ve left a message on the inside cover with instructions. You can read them below:

rangerread1

If you’re looking at this message, one of your friends has given you this book to read.

This book is starting out with one person, and that person is going to read this book and pass it on. I want to see where this book ends up. Call it an experiment of sorts.

I’d like to try to keep track of it, so if you receive this book and feel like updating where it is and who you are, just send me a message, maybe a picture of where it has ended up this time.

#rangersontheread is the hashtag I’ll be tracking on social media.

You can PM me on Twitter @aa_powell or Tumblr alexpowell-writer.tumblr.com

or even email me at aa.powell.author@gmail.com

Or you can just read and pass it on.

Seems pretty straight forward, right? Just read it, send me a message if you like, and pass it on to the next person. I want to see where the book ends up. I’ve decided that I’ll start with just one book for now, and I’m starting it in Prince George, BC, Canada, which is my hometown.

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In case any of you readers are wondering where the heck that is, I’ll tell you. Prince George is a town of about 72 000 people in the middle of the Caribou Central Interior of British Columbia. It’s near the west coast of Canada, and is the largest city in northern BC. It’s an hour flight to Vancouver or Edmonton, and a ten hour drive by car. Two major highways run through PG, one running east to west and another running north to south. We have a small university, the University of Northern British Columbia (not to be mistaken with UBC, which is far less awesome).

If I had to take a guess where the book is going to end up, I’d say probably the university. But I can’t say that I’d be surprised if it ended up anywhere else.

My book might just circulate around Prince George for awhile and then end up in a garbage somewhere, missing its cover. Or it might end up on the other side of the world.

I guess we’ll wait and see. I might try this again with my starting point in Vancouver later, if this turns out to be a success.

Thanks everyone, I’ll keep you updated on its progress.