Here is a letter sent to local author and poet, Sue Blott
Dear Sue, I’m writing you from a lovely little rented flat in a magical Mexican mountain town where we’re staying for two weeks. Allegedly, San Miguel is built on top of a bed of quartz crystals – some people here say that is part of its magic. I haven’t actually seen any quartz since I’ve been here, but anyway. What I have seen: Scarlet tanagers, sparkling tin lanterns hung like stars in the trees, quiet donkeys wearing wreaths of pink and blue and yellow tissue paper flowers, wise old street dogs who show me the best shortcuts through the Centro, and Carnavale’s cascarones, which are festive coloured eggs filled with glitter, confetti and gold dust. These eggs are meant to be smashed, of course, on your head! But I came here for the San Miguel Writers’ Conference, and this is where I’ve found the very best treasures of the trip. So I gathered some crystallized (ha!) wisdom for you from the talks and lectures. Here are the 10 the best gems I managed to get down in my notebook. note: There is no theme or organization to these points. Think of this list as one of those Carnaval eggs: a colourful, mixed up mess of random and glittering advice, wisdom and opinion that we get to smash on our heads. 1. Art happens at the moment where you are unseated. (this came from Merilyn Simonds, who was quoting Tess Gallagher) From Margaret Atwood: 2. If your book is all instruction, you won’t get anyone to read it. If your book is all entertainment, people will read it once. 3. Canada has punched above its weight in the short story form because we used to have avenues in the market for it, including radio. Today, short stories are coming back as a form, in part because of the Internet. If you make a market for them – if you build one – stories will come. |
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