Wrapping Up the Year with Roses and Ribbons

Wednesday, December 21st, 2022 - Blog, Places for writers, Thinking

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.

Writing Workshops

Friday, March 7th, 2014 - Blog, Places for writers, Thinking

Lots of writers ask me about writing workshops they can take to improve their writing. I’ve taken, and taught, heaps of workshops over the last ten years and I’ve found that some I’ve attended have been incredible. I’ve learnt huge amounts from writers such as Steve Galloway, and through websites such as mediabistro.com and Gotham Writers Workshop. One magazine I subscribe to, both as a teacher, and as writer who wants to learn is Writers Digest. They have a great faculty and loads of terrific tips. One of my favourite books is by agent Mary Kole (find her here). Her book is called: WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers and it’s outstanding.

I discovered today that Writers Digest teach online too – I knew they had webinars, but I didn’t realize they also did online courses. Now, I’ve never taken one, but I was certainly interested in what they offer. Like this course for aspiring Middle Grade writers.

The reason I take, and teach classes is that I enjoy thinking about writing almost as much as I like writing. It helps me to figure out the best way to say the things that fill my head and the words that I long to get onto the page. I wonder if any of you have tried courses and which you recommend to your fellow writers. Leave me a comment if you have suggestions using the link at the top right corner of the page!