Susan Swan's Blog, page 8

Anxiety Pancakes: Life in the Middle of a Novel (day five)

I said I’d write about the long (or short) dry spells that happen during the writing of a novel. I’ve just come out of one. This summer my mother died and she was very sick for about four months before her death which meant that it was hard to predict where I was going to [...]

Anxiety Pancakes: Life in the Middle of a Novel (Day Four)

Yesterday I complained so much I feel almost cheerful today. Like many Canadians, I tend to revel in “a woe is me” attitude. Blame it on our weather. In the days when I did performance art, I once performed a show about self-pity called “Down and In” at the Detroit Institute of Modern Art.” Dressed [...]

Anxiety Pancakes: Life in the Middle of a Novel (Day three)

It’s been three days without much sun, and I’m three days into recording life in the middle of a novel. Lack of sunlight discourages me so I slept in this morning and woke up feeling especially grouchy and slow. It’s taken hours to put my seat in my chair. But I said I was going [...]

Anxiety Pancakes: Life in the Middle of a Novel (Day Two)

In my novel, The Dead Celebrities Club, I’m trying to work out if people are capable of change. I’ve always believed that people evolve rather than change. But some people do change drastically going right back to St. Paul who was zapped with god’s power when he was on his way to Damascus to arrest [...]

Anxiety Pancakes: Life in the Middle of a Novel

I’ve decided I’d keep a diary about the ups and downs I go through writing my novel. Years ago, I did an investigation with art curator Peggy Gale into the relationship of anxiety to creativity. We discovered that some anxiety is necessary; it inspires us to write or make art but if there’s too much [...]

The Q & A of Doing It Yourself: Indie author Robert MacBain on his new novel, Two Lives Crossing

The phenomenon of online books means that writers can control their publishing fate. But is it worth it? American authors like Allison Win Scotch say it is. She is self-publishing her novel THE THEORY OF OPPOSITES. “After a terribly discouraging experience with my fourth book, based not on the book (which I loved) or the [...]

Emancipation Day–Passing as White When You’re Black

This year Wayne Grady’s new novel, Emancipation Day was long-listed for the Giller. In my view, it should have been on the short lists for all our Canadian prizes. It’s the first time Grady has published a novel. He’s a former chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada and a highly respected non-fiction author.   [...]

Eat, Drink and Be Literary: One of Canada’s Best Reading Series at Niagara-on-the-Lake

About two weeks ago, I spoke about my new novel, The Western Light, at Wine and Words in Niagara-on-the Lake. The event was sponsored by the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library and held at the glamorous Tasting Bar in the Konzelmann Estate Winery, which is known for its ice wines. After I talked, everyone there drank a [...]

In conversation with Susan Swan at the Annette Library, Oct 21

On Monday, Oct. 21 at 7 pm Susan Swan is discussing her novel The Western Light at the Annette Library. Please note the date of Swan’s talk has been changed to the 21 of October after a death in Swan’s family. The Western Light was nominated for the Evergreen Award as one of the best [...]

Dave Bidini on his new memoir Keon and Me

Dave Bidini has written an enthralling memoir about his hero worship of Leafs’ star from the 1970′s called Keon and Me. It interests me not only because it’s good writing but because one of the main characters in my last novel The Western Light (set in 1959) was based on the former Detroit Red Wings [...]