Marion Agnew

A lovely review of my book is up at Prairie Fire, the home of a few of the essays before they were collected. Here's a link to the review by Judy McFarlane, author of Writing with Grace: A Journey Beyond Down Syndrome . Judy calls Reverberations " a poignant and eloquent tribute to the power of paying close attention."  I love this observation, in part because the writing I enjoy the best, whether fiction or nonfiction, comes from a writer who pays close attention. And when I'm struggling with a piece of writing, returning to something concrete--an act, an item, a smell--helps me figure out what I really want to convey. A rock shaped like a heart. Just lying there. As they do.   Many thanks to both Judy and Prairie Fire for this review and for all the rest of the work they do within the greater writing community.     

Today, February 17, is I Read Canadian Day.  I'd love to say something flip here about "every day is 'I Read Canadian Day' in this house," but it isn't. We read our share of books written by writers who live and publish elsewhere.  Still, as I'm considering books as background or models for a project, I look to be sure I'm including Canadian writers.  And when I'm trolling for something new, I look at 49th Shelf--a website whose sole function is to call attention to Canadian books and writers. It's a great resource, today and every day.  For more about I Read Canadian Day, click here. To go to the 49th Shelf, click here.  And now, I'm going back to working on books by Canadians--my own writing, and a new novel from my husband. It's THISCLOSE to going live, which will be a day of celebration.  

Some twenty-five years ago, I had a disagreement with a friend and former colleague, who had moved away to live and work--slightly too far to see frequently, but still close enough to intend to see at least regularly .  He and I communicated by email (near-instant contact in those heady days), and in a rare case of actually valuing a relationship enough to be forthright, I took the time to write a careful explanation of my perspective in the dispute.  In response (a few days later; how valuable that time!), he said, "I'm going to let your 'explanation' just lie there...." and changed the subject.  At the time, I was annoyed (by the quotation marks--"explanation," geez--and still irked from the original dispute). However, I let it go and allowed the change of subject. We never referred to the subject of disagreement again, and that was fine with me. Our friendship subsided--his life got busier, I moved, etc. We're still in sporadic touch, with apparen...

What have you been reading this lockdown? Or perhaps re-reading? I've written about re-reading and reading here a few times. What's worked well: Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy.  What hasn't worked so well: older fiction set in the south.   And Jane Austen apparently always works, for many folks.  I just received and opened my Christmas stocking. My sister and I have been filling stockings for each other for some 25 years, ever since we finally acknowledged that our mother wasn't able to manage it anymore.  I now have quite a wardrobe of masks, including this one, with Jane Austen quotes.  A mask! And a built-in Austen quiz! A friend on Instagram sent me to this article by Heloise Wood on the BBC site: What Jane Austen can teach us about Resilience.  Oh, I don't know, how could we relate to someone whose life was largely out of her control and who experienced financial dependence and instability while refusing to cave to her culture's demands on her time? Wha...