Write Now!

Our book is in the public library! Click to check it out!

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:41:39 -0400

Our book is in the public library! Click to check it out!

Book Launch!

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:57:08 -0400

We made a book! It collects some of the stories, poems, songs and other pieces we wrote this summer.

Last Saturday we held a book launch and our friends and family came to help us celebrate. We had a full house at the Writers’ Federation.

There were ten readers, who all sauntered up to the podium, cool as heck, and confidently read their work in front of the crowd.

We laughed, we cried (Jaime & I were fighting back a lot of tears - SO PROUD!) and we all decided that we need to keep Write Now! going and meet again soon.

-Tiina

Our book cover was designed by Megan Fildes, who is a super cool lady.

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:26:24 -0400

Our book cover was designed by Megan Fildes, who is a super cool lady.

You are invited to…The Write Now! Book LaunchSaturday,...

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:56:00 -0400

You are invited to…

The Write Now! Book Launch

Saturday, September 15th
2pm

at The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road (http://goo.gl/maps/2biHv)

Enjoy readings by the members of the Write Now! writing club, eat some snacks and help us celebrate the launch of our book!

Wondering what you should submit to the book? Here are a few things to consider!

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 18:04:15 -0400

-It can be something you wrote in the program/this summer, or not!

-You can submit poetry, a story, a character sketch, a song, nonfiction (a piece of memoir, true story, or reflection), or even a comic. Anything goes!

-If you’re a little stuck, try going back over the exercises we did in the program and see if there’s anything in your notebook you especially like. Any of these would make great submissions! For example, you might include a piece that came out of our If../Then… sentences; overheard conversation; your toothbrush scene; the “bad” poems we wrote with Sue; etc.

-If your piece is especially long, talk to us and we’ll see if we can fit the whole thing in, or if we should take an excerpt (a smaller part) from it.

-If the writing is true/personal, how personal is OK? We’d recommend whatever you feel comfortable with, while keeping in mind that the book will be out there in public for anyone to read. Your piece should be something you’d feel OK about putting on the internet, for example.

-We are here to answer questions or help in any way we can, so feel free to email us or send us a message on FB if you’re unsure about anything at all!

-We will proofread the book for major spelling errors, but won’t edit or change anything else about your writing (unless you ask us to).

Dartmouth Comic Arts Festival this Sunday! Check it out!

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:55:17 -0400

Dartmouth Comic Arts Festival this Sunday! Check it out!

Our special guest for Tuesday night is Faith Erin Hicks! Faith...

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:24:28 -0400

Our special guest for Tuesday night is Faith Erin Hicks!

Faith Erin Hicks is a Shuster award-winning cartoonist based in Halifax. She attended Sheridan College, has worked in animation and now draws comics full time. Faith has published four graphic novels: Zombies Calling (2007), The War at Ellesmere (2008), Brain Camp (2010) and Friends With Boys (2012), as well as numerous web comics including, Superhero Girl which appeared as a serialized comic in The Coast. You can see her web comics, art and more at faitherinhicks.com

Guys, Faith is AWESOME and we’re going to have a great program with her! You should check out this adorable Wolverine story and also this short comic adapting the beginning of the Hunger Games. So good!

Exquisite Corpse

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 23:53:00 -0400

Last week in Write Now! we played the Exquisite Corpse collaborative poetry game. To write the poems, one person writes a line and passes it to the next person, who writes a line. They pass it on, but they fold the paper so only the last line written is visible, and the next person does the same. So each person is writing a line, only knowing what the last line was. The result is a sometimes surreal and silly, sometimes surprisingly beautiful poem.

These were our awesome results:

Poem 1

I never knew it was coming.
The distant rumble alerted my dog.
My dog started to run until I couldn’t see him anymore.
“Damn dog,” I muttered to myself. Sometimes I couldn’t remember why I put up with this.
I proceeded to pick up the soap and finish washing my dog
At which point I dropped the bar, fell in the tub, and was overwhelmed by the smell of wet fur.
Startled, the dog jumped out and started clawing at the closed door.
The person ignored him
And he dutifully posted an embarrassing movie of them

Poem 2

My balls are blue because
I don’t think in shades.
But my sunglasses keep getting lost in the grass
And the trees are so tall and angry.
While the wolves ran from them
The wild beast knew only of the hunt.
And as he ran, he wondered,
“Why am I here?”
I screamed louder than I ever have before. Why can’t I just leave already?
I hate this place.
As the voices in my head yelled louder, I picked the knife back up.
“Stab it” “Slash it!” “Cut it into pieces!” they shouted.
“Guys, calm down. It’s just a spider!” I stepped forward onto it.
“There, it’s dead” “No!” they said. “You only THINK it’s dead! It’s really immortal!”

Poem 3

She sat in the chair at the tattoo parlour, deliberating.
People passed in and out of rooms, covered in different tattoos
Swirls on their skin, bright and vivid, dark and sombre
The stars light up the sky with their beauty, reflecting Van Gogh.
But my heart hurts like I stubbed it too hard
Like stubbing your toe on the hidden leg of that annoying counter.
Well baby you light up my world like no one else, the war you flip your hair makes me
Want to cut my bangs short for you.
My hair is the colour you said you didn’t like.

Poem 4

I am a 10 foot tall purple monkey bear in a pink tutu with silver wings
And I am more nervous than I have ever been
Especially right before I get up on stage and do my thing.
I found out Bieber got married
But I wasn’t the bride
I was the fearful groom in grey
With the best haircut and the sweaty palms.
I ran into the classroom for the prom
And saw I was the only one there.
The silence loomed over me.
But I heard her singing
She was a beautiful singer with an outstanding voice.

Don’t forget - we’re making a book!!! The book will...

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:31:00 -0400

Don’t forget - we’re making a book!!!

The book will collect stuff we’ve written, either in the program or on our own. You can submit either one longer piece or two short pieces (like poems).

The deadline to get your pieces of writing in to us is: TUESDAY, AUGUST 28th. That’s one week after Write Now! ends.

We’ll be having a book launch when the book is all done and printed. Basically it will be a party where you can invite your friends and family and we’ll all read pieces we’ve written. We’ll also have snacks and hang out and basically just bask in the awesome fact that we wrote and made a book together :D

The date for the book launch is SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th at 2pm. It will be held at the Writers’ Fed, where we meet now.

SO EXCITING!

100 Best-Ever Teen Novels

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:18:32 -0400

100 Best-Ever Teen Novels

Tonight’s special guest. Hope to see you! Sue Goyette’s poetry has appeared on the...

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 08:00:00 -0400

Tonight’s special guest. Hope to see you!

Sue Goyette’s poetry has appeared on the Toronto subway system, in wedding vows and spray-painted on a sidewalk somewhere in St. John, New Brunswick. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and has published three books of poems, The True Names of Birds, Undone and outskirts (Brick Books) and a novel, Lures (HarperCollins, 2002). Her fourth collection of poems, Ocean, is forthcoming from Gaspereau Press in 2013. She’s been nominated for several awards including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, the Pat Lowther, the Gerald Lampert, the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and won the 2008 CBC Literary Prize for Poetry, the 2010 Earle Birney Prize and the 2011 Bliss Carman Award.

Some cheesy love lyrics, waiting to be repurposed.

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:39:58 -0400

Some cheesy love lyrics, waiting to be repurposed.

Write Now! has a special guest this week! Meet Jeff Miller,...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:02:21 -0400

Write Now! has a special guest this week! Meet Jeff Miller, writer of true stories.

Jeff Miller grew up in Ottawa and now lives in Montreal. He is the author the book Ghost Pine: All Stories True (Invisible Publishing, 2010), which collects stories from his long-running autobiographical zine of the same name. His work has appeared in Broken Pencil, The 2^nd Hand, and in anthologies from Invisible Publishing, McGraw-Hill, and the University of Alberta Press. He has given readings at punk shows, book stores, and libraries across North America.

Everyone’s favourite vampire.

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 10:19:10 -0400

Everyone’s favourite vampire.

Power Promotional Concepts donated these gorgeous notebooks to...

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:19:32 -0400

Scrappy approves.

Power Promotional Concepts donated these gorgeous notebooks to us! Everyone in the program will get one :)

WRITE NOW STARTS TOMORROW!

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:37:00 -0400

And you may be wondering…

WHEN IS IT? Tuesdays, starting tomorrow, July 17th, 6-8pm

WHERE? The Writers’ Federation, 1113 Marginal Rd, across from the Seaport Farmers’ Market

HUH? CAN YOU MAP THAT BIZ FOR ME? Of course: WFNS MAP

WHAT SHOULD I BRING? We have notebooks and pens for everyone, but you’re welcome to bring your own if you want to.

CAN I BRING A FRIEND? The program is now full, but if you know someone who’s interested, get them to email us: writenowhalifax (at) gmail.com

WILL IT BE AWESOME? YES! IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!!!

One week until Write Now! starts! I’m as excited as this...

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:31:26 -0400

One week until Write Now! starts! I’m as excited as this dude!!!

Photo

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:48:08 -0400

Write Now! on CBC

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:18:05 -0400

Write Now! on CBC:

Listen to us talk about Write Now! on CBC. We managed to keep our nervous giggling to a minimum :D

http://undergroundnewyorkpubliclibrary.com/

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:19:29 -0400

http://undergroundnewyorkpubliclibrary.com/:

Where do you like to read?