Alice Kuipers's Blog: Book Club

a writer, experimenting with #ChatGPT has been interesting and thought-provoking. The potential uses for this technology in the field of writing are vast, and it can generate coherent and sometimes impressive text (exactly what you’re reading now, in fact, although I’m jumping in to add my own words now!)

Playing with it a little bit, it seems to be a tool that can enhance and supplement human creativity and imagination. I have no idea yet if it’s a replacement for human creativity, just as AI-generated art is getting us to question the definition of human-created art (the picture was created by AI, too, by me, this morning, while procrastinating).

Is it a new medium with its own unique characteristics and possibilities? When I asked it a few questions, it said: As a language model, I do not have personal preferences or feelings, but I can understand and respond to requests related to it. As a writer, understanding feelings is key, but also having personal preferences and feelings, too. So far, at least, that’s been my experience.

Where do the words I wrote end and the words ChatGPT wrote blur and belong?

Spending just a little time with all this made me think about the importance of approaching it with a critical and nuanced perspective. And then I got myself a coffee and sat down to write all by myself, because that’s what I love to do. Have any of you played with it? Thoughts? #AI #writingtech #writing #technology #love #experience #creativity #language #coffee

The Rose of Your Year

Every night, when I put my kids to bed, I ask them what the rose of their day was. It’s a little soppy, but lovely, too. And today, I want to ask you what your year looked like through this lens. We spend so much time thinking about the future and forgetting to reflect.

I thought I’d share a bit about my year with you, and then invite you to look over what you’ve achieved in 2022.

I started my year dealing with a lot of family stress. One of our sons was diagnosed with ADHD in the summer, but as 2022 began we were on a trajectory where his anxiety and rage (and mine!) were consuming family life. I had a lot of work to do as his parent—some of my top-down I’m the boss ideas just weren’t helping him. As always, I turned to books to find my answers (I bet that’s what most of you do, too), and dug deep into Gabor Mate, Positive Discipline Theory, and lots of absorbing crime novels to distract me from life. Tana French became my solace.

What does this have to do with my writing life? Well, as I learned and changed, I found that writing made me feel better. I knew that, but I came back to it. I started to write daily again, completing four books. Two will come out next year (Dropped! with Orca and Journey with University of Regina Press—I’ll share updates with you on those in 2023). I had a fierce rejection letter, which started with the line: This is not a winner. And the fourth I decided to put aside for what it had taught me, freeing me to begin a novel I adore using the wonderful lessons at The Novelry.

And that has led me to a new job. In 2023, I start working as a writing coach for this incredible team of published writers and incredible editors. I hope some of you join me in this new space. But more of that in the new year.

For now, I want you to take some time to look at what you’ve achieved. Recognise your successes and your moments, and how they’ve got you here. Take fifteen minutes out of the busy holiday season (perhaps with a glass of something lovely) and write down some or all of what your 2022 looked like. Connect with me @alicekuipersbookclub and tell me what you’ve read and loved, share with me how your writing went, or your creative life. And then pause. This season pretends there isn’t time for a pause, but I refuse to believe that. And so I’m making this little space for us to share, where we celebrate, mourn, reflect and pause, before we even begin to renew.

Those of you who are able to get back to work properly today, this blog post is for you.

Three out of four of my kids are back at school and the fall is opening up with writing, reading, events, workshops, a eBook discount on Polly Diamond this month with Chronicle Books, and Word on the Street Saskatoon (September 17th in the Broadway District) with me and amazing local authors– Theressa Slind, Tenille Campbell, Anthony Bidulka, Jerry Haigh, Kristine Scarrow (who I get to be on a panel with), and many others! I’m excited to read new books, next on my list is by ernie louttit, and I can’t wait. I’m also looking forward to reconnecting with all the charities we have now on One Small Step (46 and counting), and sharing their needs and programs with our city.

I know the summer juggle is a mixture of the lovely and the stressful; silky summer days and the drip, drip, drip of pressure to manage work and those fleeting yet full-on hours with family. For any of you who’ve been trying to get creative though it all, I hope that autumn is full of inspiration, illumination and imagination. Now, time for me to get on to the page… #writing #inspiration #work #creative

EditingWorkshop

Editing is thrilling. It’s also misunderstood by many writers. You’ve heard the expression that writing is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration, but most people think that the perspiration goes into writing the first draft. The space between the first draft and the best version of your writing is where the work happens, and I want to explore that space with you during this workshop with Regina Public Library and Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild.

Learn to find your voice, your story, and your best work in this session where we’ll dive deep into the mysteries of editing. This workshop is geared to adult writers who write anything at any level. It’ll help you understand this crucial part of the writing process, both on a technical level, but also as part of the big picture of the creation of written work. With exercises, time for questions, and teaching time, take this class and dramatically improve that misty middle ground between your initial idea and your polished work.

Link here: https://lnkd.in/dbrysVBi

Since I was a very little girl, I’ve been telling and writing stories, but it was when I was about eleven that I wrote something that really mattered to me. I was sitting in class, my teacher at the front. He shook his long hair, turned to us, and said, “You’re all going to write a novel.” I dived so deeply into the telling of that story that nothing else existed. There I was, embedded in words and language, moving around characters, shaping their destinies, and falling in love with that feeling. My novel was thirty full pages, and I was so thrilled with it and the feelings the book had created in me, that I knew I wanted to write again.

I didn’t know then that what I was experiencing was called Flow. Years later, when I was studying Psychology at University, I heard of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He’s known as the father of Flow theory, but at the time I didn’t care about that. I just cared about going out, and having fun, reading books, writing my never-to-be-published first novel, and going to every play, art gallery, and club that Manchester had.

Flash forward twenty years, and I’m living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, reading a lot about Flow all over again. I’m discovering that what I love about writing is the fact that I’m utterly and completely in Flow when I’m doing it. All of us have something that makes us feel like that–maybe it’s writing for you, maybe it’s hockey, or coding, or cooking, or painting, or something else entirely.

The piece I missed when I was (barely showing up) in my classes during my degree, was that there are ways to get into a Flow state that you can create in your own life. I’ll be writing more about this in the next few weeks, but the first way to get more Flow happening in your life (I’m learning, now, finally), is to make sure you have a purpose.

It sounds like a grand word, but I think as writers we often forget this part. We forget that we need to have something to say. We’re not writing simply because we love that feeling of words appearing on the page, or because we love moving them around and creating, we’re also writing because we’re exploring the world and deepening the conversation and the connection we have with other people. We write to feel Flow, yes, but in order to keep feeling Flow, we need to be saying something that matters.

So, the questions I’m asking myself are big ones. What am I trying to say in everything I write? What am I saying in the books I’m working on? Why am I saying it? What conversations do I want to open up in my future and in the futures of those who read what I write?

If you’re a writer, too, I encourage you to ask yourself the same questions. As you ask, think about where your passion ignites. There will be a light inside you, a flickering spark that brightens when you’re being true to what most excites you in your work. Steven Kotler, who has some terrific books about Flow, suggests that you start to create more flow in your life by creating a recipe for yourself of all the things you’re passionate about. What interests you and why? And then, as I’ve been doing, think about how you’re exploring these passions in your writing. (Or whatever work you’re doing). That’s where you find your purpose, in the intersection of your passions and the impact you want to have on the world.

I’ve been looking at my list of interests and then looking at the things I’m doing in my life, the stories I’m telling, the books I’m working on, the work I’m being offered, the work I want to pursue. It’s helping me as I figure out what doesn’t belong, much as I loved writing that page, say.

Overall, what I’m learning is that Flow is essential to my writing process. I’m finding out, twenty years after I first heard of Flow, thirty-two years after I first experienced it, how Flow helps me write better, and how important it is to maintain that state by knowing what I’m saying and why.

I welcome you on the journey to help you figure out your stories and passions, as I figure out mine. Ask me questions, tell me what you’re working on, or what you’re reading… let’s start the conversation together.

xoxox

Alice

@alicekuipersbookclub

 

I bet it’s the same for a lot of you. You make a plan and then life gets in the way. When my computer started whirring really loudly a couple of weeks ago and I eventually took it in, I didn’t expect them to send it away for days and days, taking with it passwords, stories I’m working on, my mojo… packed it all in and took the to Optimist Hill (have any of you been there! The clue is in the name ;_))))Slowly, I’ve pieced together ways to get back into my bank, my mailchip (so I can write to you) and my inbox. Where I found this waiting and waiting for me:

Can I ask you to suggest ways I might nurture my love of writing? Do you have routines or resources that inspire you? An article I might read or a book that might guide me. I would appreciate anything you can share … putting pen to paper or fingers to keys bring me joy – from writing a sympathy card to a letter to cancer for my friend’s blog.
With gratitude and joy,
Susan Voitka-Seager

I love helping other people find their stories and so I asked Susan if I could share my answers with you, in case it helped any of you on your writing journey.

Ways to nurture your love of writing?

I think that reading is crucial for anyone who wants to write. But it’s not just what you read. When you read like a writer, every time you sit down with a book, you’re paying attention to how the author has made their story work. How have they connected (or not) with you? What do you love? What do you want to create yourself? If you can put aside some time every day or two for reading, I think that’s the first step to nurturing your writing self. Even before you dive into the world of books, I want you to do something. I want you to ask yourself WHY you want to write. For a lot of people, they want to write because they want to communicate with other people. They want to deepen a conversation they’re having in their head with others. Sometimes, we think that looks like publishing or being famous, but what I’ve learned is it looks like a journey.

And the journey is different for each of us. We all have our own experiences and our own unique way of being in the world, and when we decide to write that down, be that in fiction or personal narrative, or in poetry or a picture book, each of those ways are a gift to the world. It’s very hard to let go of end result expectations, but it brings us back to the true purpose of sharing our words, which I believe is to share, to give, and to grow.

When I first started writing, I wrote a novel that went to several agents. Eventually, I heard back from one. The envelope was addressed to me but the letter inside was a standard rejection. I immediately called the agent to see if there had been some mistake. Maybe there was an acceptance letter that should have gone to me. Then I’d know my book was good, that what I’d written was worth it.

That was not the case. During the call, the agent told me that my characters were flat and unbelievable, that the story didn’t grab their attention, that the book wasn’t something he wanted to represent. The standard rejection letter meant for me arrived a few days later.

I’m a lover of gin, and a large gin and tonic later I decided that was it. I was done writing. I was never going to waste my time again. Clearly, I wasn’t any good and I should give up completely. This agent was the decider in my mind. He knew good writing from bad and he knew I wasn’t good.

Can I tell you a secret? I still hear his words all these years later. Thirteen published books and millions of words later, this man, whose name I can’t remember, is still in my head.

So, I wonder, Susan, if there’s a voice in your head telling you that your words aren’t good enough. Perhaps success looks a certain way for you and the words have to be a certain way for you to feel free to write them. I have to fight that voice all the time. I have to remind myself that it doesn’t matter if someone else deems my work good or bad, what matters is whether the words fuel the conversations I want to have. Do I want to keep talking about the importance of stories and creativity? Yes, so I write about it. Do I want to help other people share their words, yes! So I write this infrequent but hopeful blog. Do I believe that books can change the world? Yes. That’s why I share other people’s books and write about them.

Do I think your words can change the world? I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s what you want them to do. Do I think they matter? Absolutely. You’re the only person who can share what you have to say. You’re the person generating the conversations with other people that your words create. So, if I can reassure you and help you nurture your words in any way, it would be to tell you to ignore any voice that tells you what you’re doing isn’t good or successful or worth it.

Now you’ve thought about that part, I have some practical advice, too.

I write 350 words a day. For joy. Could you try that? You pick the word count.Perhaps you’d like writing prompts? I have lots on my site. Writer’s Digest shares loads. Sarah Selecky is also wonderful and generous with prompts.Read anything and everything by William Kenower. A lot of how I think about writing comes directly from his wisdom.Follow Jael Richardson in Instagram. She shares books and prompts and writing tips and is all round amazing! Be inspired by the incredible work happening right here in Canada and please do let me know what you’re writing.

I hope this helps you with your writing. I wish you joy, opportunities and great conversations as you trust yourself to create.

xxxx

Ali

 

Watch the Clip Here

I loved talking with @CTV Saskatoon about three books for this month. Firstly, I dived into How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa, a collection of short stories, which won the Giller Prize in 2020 and was top of my list of books to get to read. Wow. I’m so glad I did. It’s such a gorgeous, vivid, beautiful book. The stories are luminous–very short, very sparse, and yet filled with real people and lives. Each character is an immigrant. One has a mother who is deeply in love with, she believes, a country music star; another is too old, she feels, for spin the bottle, but plays anyway; a third works in a chicken factory, while the story is called Paris–does it mean something? Does it make us dream of something more?

The second book is by a local Saskatchewan author: Forgotten Saskatchewan by Chris Attrell. It’s a book of photographs, and the evocative images of a lost world bring my imagination fully to life. One of the pictures is of a house by a slough and there’s something in it that sparks me and makes me want to write. Any of the images will inspire the writers out there to put pen to paper; there’s something about the not-so-distant past and those haunting old buildings that is both deeply nostalgic and creative.

I added a third book this month because #IReadCanadian is coming up and I wanted to start acknowledging the incredible range of authors we have here in Canada. This picture book by Julie Flett is called Birdsong and it’s truly stunning. The story is of a girl moving house and both finding and losing someone dear. But it’s also about art and relationship and the way time moves through the world and our lives. Beautifully illustrated, I think it’s the sort of book that inspires children to draw and create themselves. It won the TD Book Award for Children’s Literature in 2020.

I loved talking with @CTV Saskatoon about three books for this month. Firstly, I dived into How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa, a collection of short stories, which won the Giller Prize in 2020 and was top of my list of books to get to read. Wow. I’m so glad I did. It’s such a gorgeous, vivid, beautiful book. The stories are luminous–very short, very sparse, and yet filled with real people and lives. Each character is an immigrant. One has a mother who is deeply in love with, she believes, a country music star; another is too old, she feels, for spin the bottle, but plays anyway; a third works in a chicken factory, while the story is called Paris–does it mean something? Does it make us dream of something more?

The second book is by a local Saskatchewan author: Forgotten Saskatchewan by Chris Attrell. It’s a book of photographs, and the evocative images of a lost world bring my imagination fully to life. One of the pictures is of a house by a slough and there’s something in it that sparks me and makes me want to write. Any of the images will inspire the writers out there to put pen to paper; there’s something about the not-so-distant past and those haunting old buildings that is both deeply nostalgic and creative.

I added a third book this month because #IReadCanadian is coming up and I wanted to start acknowledging the incredible range of authors we have here in Canada. This picture book is called Birdsong by Julie Flett and it’s truly stunning. The story is of a girl moving house and both finding and losing someone dear. But it’s also about art and relationship and the way time moves through the world and our lives. Beautifully illustrated, I think it’s the sort of book that inspires children to draw and create themselves. It won the TD Book Award for Children’s Literature in 2020.

Five great books for gifts!

For the lover of non fiction:
 The Reality Bubble by Ziya Tong

For the cook or food lover, all about food and local Saskatchewan places to eat: 
Flat Out Delicious by Jenn Sharp



For kids and big kids: 
The Barren Grounds by David A Robertson

For young children: 
Teddy Bear of the Year by Vikki Vansickle 



For everyone else: 
The Great Saskatchewan Joke Book by Joel Jeffrey

Two books for you this month

No Going Back by Sheena Kamal. This is a thriller–it’s the third with Nora Watts but it doesn’t matter if you’ve read the others or not. Great to curl up with while it’s cold outside!

Our local to Saskatchewan book for November is Through the Garden by Lorna Crozier. A love story. With Cats. Memoir. Lorna Crozier left Saskatchewan some time ago,but she was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, she now lives in British Columbia. This is the memoir of her love affair with poet Patrick Lane and their life together, including his death. It’s well crafted, full of poetry, writing and love. And cats.