Wise words from the Writers' Union workshop
Thursday the travelling workshop presented annually by the Writers' Union of Canada took place in Vancouver at Harbour Centre. Betsy Warland, head of the Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University, spoke about how to sustain oneself as a writer, and TWUC Executive Director Kelly Duffin gave updates on copyright and contracts.
Creativity specialist Ross Laird was entertaining, enthusiastic and encouraging to his fellow writers. He referred to our current milieu as "Extremistan," a place populated by whales and minnows. While whales are large, minnows are quicker. They enjoy the creative freedom to move in small spaces and change direction at will.
"The gatekeeper is dead," Laird announced, referring to the former role of publishing companies as arbiters of taste and disseminators of written work. The gatekeeper function will be reinvented, but just how is not yet clear.
Meanwhile we are free as artists to create and disseminate our work as we choose; our choices are limited mostly by our own imagination.
"We're on the terror and wonder journey," he added, just like in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a five- thousand year old story, and "one of the founding myths of Western culture." Living at the cusp of astonishing change, Laird focuses on the wonder rather than the terror.
Why are we called to write? We want to "give voice to our imagination and share it with others." And for that, we could hardly have been living in a better time.
Creativity specialist Ross Laird was entertaining, enthusiastic and encouraging to his fellow writers. He referred to our current milieu as "Extremistan," a place populated by whales and minnows. While whales are large, minnows are quicker. They enjoy the creative freedom to move in small spaces and change direction at will.
"The gatekeeper is dead," Laird announced, referring to the former role of publishing companies as arbiters of taste and disseminators of written work. The gatekeeper function will be reinvented, but just how is not yet clear.
Meanwhile we are free as artists to create and disseminate our work as we choose; our choices are limited mostly by our own imagination.
"We're on the terror and wonder journey," he added, just like in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a five- thousand year old story, and "one of the founding myths of Western culture." Living at the cusp of astonishing change, Laird focuses on the wonder rather than the terror.
Why are we called to write? We want to "give voice to our imagination and share it with others." And for that, we could hardly have been living in a better time.