Swirl & Swing: A Writing Blog

“I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”
— James A. Michener

Wordless Wednesday 25: For Black History Month

February 5, 2013
Here's something a little different for this Wordless Wednesday. The African-American woman in this photo is famous. Do you know who she...
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“Bicycle Summers” by Sandra Shaw Homer

February 5, 2013
A couple of weeks ago I posted a quote from Lucy Maud Montgomery's autobiography The Alpine Path: The Story of...
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Quotes on Memory & Memoir: “Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?” (plus writing exercises)

January 30, 2013
From Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson: "Truth for anyone is a very complex thing....
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Quotes on Memory & Memoir: “The Alpine Path” by L.M. Montgomery (plus writing exercises)

January 23, 2013
From Lucy Maud Montgomery's slim memoir The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1997), originally published as a...
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Quotes on Memory & Memoir: “Inside Memory: Pages from a Writer’s Notebook”

January 16, 2013
From Inside Memory: Pages from a Writer's Notebook by Timothy Findley (Toronto: Harper Perennial Canada, 1999; first edition Toronto: HarperCollins...
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2013 Courses, Workshops, and Retreats — Memoir and Creative Writing

January 9, 2013
  Happy new year, everyone! I hope you've plunged into 2013 keen to begin, or carry on, writing. Coming up,...
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Interview with Giller Prize winner Will Ferguson (& some writing tips): “The material is all around us”

January 2, 2013
Timing is everything. When Will Ferguson agreed last summer to be guest author for the fall 2012 session of my University...
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Quotes on Memory & Memoir: “The Age of Hope”

December 19, 2012
From the novel The Age of Hope, by David Bergen (2012, HarperCollins Canada): "I was born in 1930." "You were."...
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Interview with Ana Rodriguez Machado, First-Prize Winner in the 2012 Aspiring Canadian Poets Contest

December 13, 2012
  Queen's University student Ana Rodriguez Machado has won first prize in the 2012 Aspiring Canadian Poets Contest for her entry "An...
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16 Links for the Writer and Book Lover This Christmas

December 11, 2012
  Pour yourself a cup of tea (or Christmas cheer) and settle yourself somewhere comfy to meander through these websites,...
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Seven Treasures, part 19: guest post by Natalie Shahinian

December 5, 2012
Artist and writer NATALIE SHAHINIAN is happiest in her pyjamas, snacking on peanut butter licked from the end of a...
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“Memories can slink, wraiths from the mist”: guest post by memoirist Chris Hazelgrove

November 27, 2012
Having been asked to share the story of my writing life, I should start off by explaining (though I know this...
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Contact Allyson

Toronto, Ontario
Canada

writing@allysonlatta.ca