Blog No. 245
I’ve mentioned the ChiSeries here a few times already. Back in February, Christian and I went up to Toronto to take part in a reading up there. It all happened to fast. We went in, met folks, had a drink, did some readings, and hung out for the rest of the night. At time time, before we headed back to the hotel, we had agreed to start hosting a ChiSeries in Windsor in the next few months. In the span of a few hours, we had been completely indoctrinated into the Chiaroscuro Series family, given a taste of the life of a genera writer with friends, and took up the charge to bring the experience home. The whole night shows what happens when like-minded people hang out. Continue reading “The National Chiaroscuro Reading Series”
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I don’t know if you remember where you were or what you were doing last Saturday. If you were anywhere near Windsor, you were probably getting baked by the angry vengeful sun. Hopefully you managed to do something fun that didn’t require you to deal with the stupidly hot weather, or you were taking part in my favourite summer pastime, hiding in a basement with old VHS tapes. Sadly, I wasn’t watching fuzzy old movies. I was standing out front of Biblioasis for the Walkerville Art Walk, reading to (almost) no one.
Now that we are well into the summer, my schedule is starting to look more like normal. Other than the odd weekend wedding, the day job is slowing way down. It means tightening the belt, but it also means way more time for writing and such. Even the upcoming events have slowed down, which I’m not going to complain about. The last few didn’t work out so well, so taking a break from so many is fine by me. I’ll be nice to work my way back in front of the eight ball that ran me down a few months ago. That may be easier said than done, but even with a little more writing finished, I’m already feeling like things are on the way. 
Not too long ago, the exact date escapes me and I can’t find the will to look it up, I did a reading for Urban Farmhouse Press at the Riverside Library. It was part of a series where Urban Farmhouse invited authors from other publishers in the city to come and read. It was a cool event and I think they are planning something similar for the future. I hope they are at least. Either way, they are putting together an anthology with works from everyone who was involved with the series. Since I was one of those people, I am on that list. The word count is limited to under two-thousand words (which makes sense since there were a lot of folks involved) and that can be as much as a challenge as anything else in writing. 
I was working on a story the other day (even though I have so many other things on the go) and I noticed that, while the first draft still needs some work, the writing was improved. That is, while I still have a long way to go, the recent edits I’ve been working on have sunk into my thick skull, and I either caught or avoided some of the things that were pointed out to me with the crime story. It’s a continuation of the time I spent with WOW. While I haven’t managed to go for a long time, the lessons I learned are still with me. I constantly suggest to other new writers to find a group and go get their writing edited. It’s important to getting things reviewed but taking the time the time to edit other people’s writing is just as good. I found I learned as much, if not more, by finding my own mistakes in other people’s stories. 
Last weekend I was at the Serbian Centre for a Summer Craft Show. It was the first event I had in a month, the longest hiatus since I started doing events. Initially, I was pretty happy with the idea of a break. The last event was the first ChiSeries Windsor reading and it took a lot out of me. Also, work continues to be a bear. Because I ended up as the de facto tech guy, I had to go for training. I don’t mind getting more training (especially if I get paid) but it continues to be a time sink and I have so much on my plate as it is. While I much prefer participating in book related events, they don’t pay as well, so work tends to win. While the break was needed, I was raring to go when the craft show came around. 
Last week I got the final edit back on my story for the crime anthology. I think the editor still has Christian’s to finish, but I still have to go over it an make my final draft. It’s the culminating of six months of writing, editing, waiting, editing, waiting, editing, and waiting. I wish I could say that I used that waiting time wisely, but here we are. I haven’t done much more than open the file so far. I know there is still time to get it wrapped up (the current scheduled release date is in the fall) but there is so much more to do, and time has a funny way of disappearing when you aren’t paying attention. My goal is to get it all done by the end of the week and move on to my next big task. 