Hi folks,

The Writing Life is this Monday, July 26 at 7 pm downstairs in the community room at Forbes Library. It’s a facilitated summer drop- in discussion of issues faced by writers who are working on long projects such as novels, collections of poetry and books of nonfiction. Anyone interested in such discussions is welcome.

The topic this month is writing and livelihood. For some writers, their work has no relationship at all to how their material needs get met. For others, getting paid is a compelling motivating factor for meeting deadlines and producing work. And, for others, there are complicated relationships between the idea and the realities of getting published and getting paid (not, of course, the same thing), and other powerful motivations to make the commitment to work on a long project.

I’ll talk a little about the topic, then we’ll go around and folks can check in any way they’d like about the project they’ve been working on and how it’s going. We’ll have an hour of facilitated discussion from 7 to 8, and another half hour for anyone who’s got time, energy and interest to hang out and chat over light refreshments.

It’ll be great to see you if you can make it.

Thanks.
Susan Stinson, Forbes Writer in Residence

PS I’d also like to remind you about the prose open mike coming up on Wednesday, August 4 and the poetry open mike on Monday, August 16. Sign-up to read starts at 6:30 pm, the readings start at 7. Bring 5-10 minutes of work if you’d like to read. Also, The Writing Room continues to be a great pleasure every Wednesday morning, 9:30 to 12:30 (brief intros at 9:30 sharp; check-in and brief readings starting at 11:45. Everything else is writing), and you’re welcome to join us in the Watson Room on the Mezzanine. Some folks write in other parts of the library, then join the group for check-in and readings.