OmmWriter and Other Things.

I have been taking Sarah Selecky's Short Story Intensive since September and during out last live QnA she suggested this word processing program. It is free of distractions, it fills the whole screen without any bars with internet, and Skype, and Google, and other distractions at the bottom. It has a lovely background to work on, it provides soothing music (I'm not sure yet about the soothing music, but I am willing to try it). I am definitely going to try it.
Things are really bad at home right now and I have not been able to continue with writing as much as I would like to. I have managed to attend a half-course at UofT called Generating Stories, and managed to keep up with the Short Story Intensive, but I have not generated very much new material. But I am going to try to keep up with my daily prompts (I skipped two weeks in October and I am about ten days behind now, but hey, I keep on trying), my new ideas and the journal that I have started which will be basis of "Out of Control: A Family Memoir" which I will write when all of this is over. Yeah, right.
Today I sent off a submission for the CBC Challenge titled Bloodlines. I wonder how that will go.
Some time soon I will also attach a link to Sarah's SSM program here as I have asked to be SSM affiliate.
And I am preparing a proposal for The Examined Life Conference about creative writing and sanity.

Penguin Random House of Canada Awards Dinner...

...took place on Thursday, November 8th. I was there and even Jimm managed to beat the traffic and get the University of Toronto Faculty Club on time.

The three winners, whose stories were published in the chapbook, were all there as were we, the other seven finalists. My two great instructors, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer and Alissa York, were both there.

I was the last one to read - it went alphabetically. It was great fun to read my work in public, although some of the people had already left by then. :(