It's the first Wednesday of the month:
the day when members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.
To visit the IWSG website, click here.
To become a member of the IWSG, click here.
Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG founder Alex Cavanaugh are:
Stephen Trump, Pat Garcia, Angela Wooldridge,
Victoria Marie Lees, and Madeline Mora-Summonte.
I hope you have a chance to visit today's hosts and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate a visit and an encouraging comment.
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Every month the IWSG poses a question
that members can answer with advice, insight,
a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.
Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.
Remember the question is optional.
This month's featured question is:
What do you love about the genre you write in most often?
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I’m glad that the year has turned over!
I’m back to working on my memoir and blogging,
and writing is going much better for me,
as I settle into a writing routine in Honolulu.
Writing in the Breezeway Again
Royal Grove Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
February 6, 2018
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
This month’s IWSG question asks
what I love about the genre I write in most often.
That would be memoir, and in writing a memoir
I discovered something surprising that I love.
I have many reasons for writing the story of my family’s time in the North,
but the most compelling reason, the reason that drives me,
is that I want to preserve the voices of the people I knew from that time.
They’re ordinary people: teachers, nurses, priests, bush pilots, trappers,
fishermen, homemakers, Hudson’s Bay Company clerks,
parents and children, Ojibwa and white;
but their stories are not ordinary, and neither are their voices.
Ordinary People: A Priest, a Teacher, a Brother, a Prospector
(Father Ouimet, Donald MacBeath, Brother Bernier, Mr. Baker)
Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada
Fall 1960
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
They are individuals who were born in the North
or answered a call to work in the North.
Some landed there by happenstance.
But they all, natives and transplants, faced the challenge
of living in a starkly beautiful but unforgiving environment
in a part of Canada that is still isolated today.
The surprising thing for me is the reason I love writing memoir:
I discovered that I was pursuing a journey into myself.
This journey has been painful and healing.
It has allowed me to understand and to make peace with
difficult things that I experienced.
It has given me a new perspective about those events
and has deepened my belief in the courage and humanity of ordinary people.
Hudson's Bay Company Manager Bill Mitchell
with an Ojibwa Man
Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada
Fall 1960
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
but the process of writing it has been all about me.
I love that one of the results is understanding
more about who I am and why.
My Brother Roy and I Canoeing
Lake Attawapiskat, Northern Ontario, Canada
Spring 1961
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
the Insecure Writers Support Group
was to begin reading books by IWSG authors.
I set and accomplished the goal of reading five different IWSG authors.
This year my goal is to read books written by eight more.
The first book I chose this year was J. L. Campbell’s “Sold!”
This is a perfect love story to curl up with and enjoy.
Single mother Feechi Anoduro is worried about Christmas.
Finances are tight, and she needs to replace her old car
and to tell her young son Jack
that they cannot afford to keep Max, a dog that he adores.
While working at an auction, Feechi impresses wealthy businessman
Carsten Raimes with her professionalism and competence.
Carsten askes Feechi for her help at an upcoming auction.
It sounds like a good opportunity for Feechi,
but she is not sure that she should accept his offer.
A bad experience in Feechi’s past has left her disillusioned and reserved.
She helped her lover Dennis almost a decade ago
and wound up pregnant with Jack and alone.
Her sister Dee worries that this has left Feechi difficult and secretive
regarding men and that she has buried herself in work and in caring for Jack.
Carsten quickly realizes that Feechi would be a valuable employee
and is determined to hire her.
When offering her a permanent job does not work,
Carsten asks her out on a date.
In the days leading up to Christmas,
Carsten and Feechi mix business and pleasure,
with Carsten determined to capture Feechi’s attention
and Feechi determined to resist the charms of a man
who is clearly out of her league.
Meanwhile, Carsten has two unexpected allies,
Feechi’s son Jack and mischievous Max
who have both taken to the new man in their lives.
Will Christmas bring love for Carsten and Feechi?
Will Jack have a new dad?
Will Max get a permanent home?
J. L. Campbell’s heartwarming characters and sunny Jamaica
had me flying through the pages to find out!
Happy writing in February!
Aloha!
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Winter 2018
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved