"What Can I Give You?" at the NOWW Blog

I've been a member of the Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop, a regional group providing opportunities for writers, for almost as long as I've lived here. 

Naturally, the past eighteen months have provided many opportunities and challenges, and NOWW has been proactive in moving programming online.

In the autumn of 2020, I attended a workshop with the then-eWriter-in-Residence, Susan Olding, in which she spoke of two ways to enter a work of writing: through content and through form. As we explored finding our way into a piece of writing through content, she suggested considering an object nearby.

I looked out the window and saw a wooden ladder on the porch. As one does.

From that seed, an essay grew, and when the NOWW Magazine editor asked if I had something for an upcoming issue, I made time to revise it. It appeared in February. And now it appears on their blog, and I can share it here. 

"What Can I Give You?" at the NOWW blog. 

It's about ladders, and crocheted blankets, and what our ancestors meant to leave us, and what meaning we make of what they left. And I hope you enjoy reading it.