K.L. Ditmars's Blog, page 2

Book Review – The Lost Soul by Olga Tokarczuk

In 2018 Olga Tokarczuk won both the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Man Booker International Prize for her novel, Flights.

 

The Lost Soul is beautifully illustrated by Joanna Concejo and the English translation is by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.

 

This is a short story about one man’s decision to slow his life down so his soul can catch up.

 

I loved this book. The story is so clever, and its message is timely. I would also love to have any one the illustrations on my walls.

 

I am so grateful that Ms. Tokarczuk’s works are being translated into English. The Lost Soul is a book that I borrowed from my local library, and I have now put a hold on her novel, Flights.

 

Here is one of my favourite quotes from The Lost Soul:

 

“How on earth is it possible? Have I lost my own soul too?” he asked.

The wise doctor answered.

“It happens because souls move at a much slower speed than bodies.”

 

Are you moving too quickly for your soul to keep up?

 

Leave me a comment.

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3-Day Novel Contest Results

Well, despite sitting at my computer for nearly 8 hours for 3 days, my actual word count is certainly not reflective of my effort.

I am disappointed to say the least. But I’ll get over it, persevere and continue on.

But first, I’m taking the day off. No more electronic screens. 

I’m going to drink tea and hold a physical book and read for the shear pleasure of it.

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International 3 -Day Novel contest

This is a New Writing Challenge for me.   

The International 3-Day Novel Contest has been around for over 40 years.

(Who knew? –  not me :-{ )

Yes, I sometimes live under a rock, or so it seems.

I do know about NANOWRIMO (National Write a Novel in a Month), another annual international writing challenge, and have been participating since 2012. You can read the previous post on NaNoWriMo here.

The 2021 3-day Novel Contest this Labour Day weekend begins tonight at midnight. I will be back under that writing rock for the next three days, trying to hammer out the remainder of my current novel What Justice Requires – Book 2 in my Where Can I Go? series.

The 3-Day Novel contest is sponsored by Anvil Press and is set up to enable writers who manage to write a novella size (17,000 – 40,000 words) story during the three-day timeframe, to submit it for possible publication.

I won’t be submitting anything this year as I am working on a pre-existing work that will be independently published. I just needed the extra bit of incentive to get it done. There is a small entry fee to register, but I felt that a small investment would add a certain level of commitment on my part.

In the coming years, I plan to participate in the 3-Day Novel event and work on a smaller project with the objective of possibly submitting it for consideration.

I’ve had too many interruptions and delays to my writing this year, so be warned, I will be unavailable this weekend. This will truly be a labor-intense-3-day weekend for me.

If you want to know how I’m doing over the weekend, check back here on my blog for a daily total word count update.

Wish me luck.

Or better yet – PRAY FOR ME, PLEASE.

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World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed July 30th to be the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

Each year has a theme. In 2020 the theme focused on the first responders who help identify victims of human trafficking and help them find safety, justice, and healing.

Victims’ Voices Lead the Way is the theme for 2020.

In conjunction with this theme, you will find video testimonies of Canadian survivors by going to my Resources Page

In my debut novel All That it Takes, I address human trafficking in Victoria, BC.

I’ve had several of my local readers express shock that human trafficking could be a reality in our beautiful city. Shocking, but true, unfortunately.

It is present in every city across the globe, and that includes Canada. It is a brutal business in which most of its victims are women and young girls. In Canada, a large percentage of the victims are Indigenous women.

In the coming weeks, I am going to post some of what I have learned about human trafficking through my research for All That it Takes.

 I would encourage all my readers to begin the journey of understanding human trafficking, and how you can play a role in ending it.

As part of my future posts, I will highlight an organization that is making efforts to end human trafficking.

As the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed July 30 as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, I would like to highlight their Blue Heart Campaign. Click on the logo to learn more.

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ALL THAT IT TAKES – LAUNCH WEEK

How does the saying go…the best laid plans? Well as much as I thought I had everything sorted for my live launch event on Tuesday, 12th, for my debut novel, All That it Takes, something of course threw a wrench in the works, which unfortunately affected some people’s ability to join me live. Luckily, I ...read in detail

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All That it Takes – Debut Novel

One year ago today, I posted about New Year’s resolutions. For me it was curtailing my spending money on new fiction – I resolved to use my library more. I was doing pretty good until COVID-19 shut the doors everywhere. I began buying new fiction books, but most second hand, and a few new as ...read in detail

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New Year’s Resolutions

I usually make resolutions for each new year. This past year, my big resolution was to not purchase any new fiction. As a writer of fiction, you might think that is strange. They say, as a fiction writer, you need to read in the genre you are writing. I had no control. Too much money ...read in detail

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Small Town Saskatchewan: What’s In a Name?

This is my last travel themed post centering around small towns in Saskatchewan. I really could go on and on but I think three is a good number to end on. I’ve chosen to highlight two small towns this week based on their names, Forget and Shackleton Saskatchewan. Forget, Saskatchewan Not far from Stoughton, with ...

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Small Town Saskatchewan: Old Building Attraction

To really see small town Saskatchewan I didn’t spend a significant amount of time driving on Canada’s biggest thoroughfare, Highway 1, because my main routes of choice were secondary highways. Rather, I found myself on many muddy and gravel roads just to get a better close up view of old buildings along the way, not ...read in detail

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Small Town Saskatchewan: Lured by a Grain Elevator

Out of the many I visited, I will highlight two special towns in to which a grain elevator pulled me off the highway. I know I said last week in my post about Small Town Saskatchewan, I wouldn’t post anymore pictures of grain elevators, but as this post needed a feature image….well, you get one ...read in detail

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