THE STORY SPOT

Dearest Story Spot readers,

Here at the close of 2008, I’d like to humbly extend my personal gratitude to you for making this year — the maiden voyage of THE STORY SPOT — a brilliantly fulfilling one. Because of your loyalty, your enthusiasm for the site, and your continued sharing of posts among friends, I am inspired anew each and every week to bring you interesting and relevant tidbits to fuel your creativity.

Some of you are new to writing in all its forms and some of your names we recognize from your accomplishments on screen and in print. All of us, wherever we are in our life of learning, share a love for this nutty pursuit of thrilling, zinging, wondrous story. Watch for the expansion of our service offerings in 2009 with the addition of some very exciting names to our roster. Hopefully they, too, will be inspired to share what moves them in the world of storytelling.

Thank you for all you’ve given me. I wish you all continued joy and success in your creative explorations in the new year. Read, write, and come back here to share your thoughts. THE STORY SPOT would not thrive without you, our readers and Twitter followers.

Happy Holiday Season and a story-filled New Year!
/djw

Blisfully oblivious to the fact that neighbours south of the border are increasingly estranged from the written word, Canadians continue to devour books–fiction, especially!–as a cultural norm.
Evidence: CANADA READS 2009.
Read on »

Just a quick reminder to give a click on our GOOD READS widget. You’ll find our curated reading list of notable story-related blogs including that of the wildly popular screenwriter, John August.

The MENU button will show you what’s on tap and you can scroll from blog to blog by using the arrow buttons. Visit your favorite writer’s blog, sign up for their feed, and tell a friend. Your readership (as it is here) is always appreciated.

If you have suggestions for additions to our GOOD READS reading list (especially if it’s your own blog!) do send it along. And, if you’d like to offer THE STORY SPOT content on your own site, you can get your own free, automatically updated widget right here at SpringWidgets.

Good reading!

Who knew? It’s so very exciting to have 100 story enthusiasts with us here at THE STORY SPOT via the Twitter service. We’re relatively new to *actually* using this simple yet powerful service (though we’ve been interested lurkers since Day One). It’s been brilliantly rewarding to interact with you all in this meaningful and immediate way. So thanks everyone.

This week, Blake/Evenlake, the man behind http://domesticfather.com and http://evenlake.com became the 100th person to follow THE STORY SPOT via Twitter. To celebrate this completely random yet momentous occasion, we awarded Blake with a gift of a free story consultation service. He seems happy about it all so that’s a good thing. We’re quite thrilled ourselves. Congratulations, Blake and thanks for coming along for the ride.

To the rest of you out there in Lurker Land, through the end of 2008, Twitter followers of THE STORY SPOT may purchase any one service from our menu and receive 20% off the listed price. Yep, that’s right. To get this very special offer, send a direct message via Twitter to @thestoryspot with the service you’d like to purchase. We’ll get back to you with your 007-style discount code. But you must “follow” to get the goods.

Tweet Tweet, y’all. Spread the word.

Giving our attention to the news media these days is bound to have anyone feeling a little quivery with fear. For writers — the majority of whom aren’t in a position of comfortable wealth in which to easily ride out the turbulence — these times can be especially worrisome.

So this goes out to you, writer-for-hire, who may be taking on extra projects or calling your agent a few extra times this month. And it goes out to you writer-for-pleasure, who may be cutting back on your time at your laptop in favour of extra income-generating activities. It even goes out to me, your humble editor, who finds herself succumbing to all of the above in an effort to restore calm to an unsettled writing life.

This is the Art of Zen Pool at Flickr. It’s a random slideshow posted for your restorative enjoyment by those who interpret their world through a camera’s lens.

Whoever you are and however you write, take one selfish celebratory moment to remember that you put pen to page because that is who you are. No matter what’s happening outside your body and your walls (and your control), your imagination is yours and not a thing can alter it. Do whatever is necessary to honour your talent and your drive, especially in this, a most distracting and challenging time in history and you will be honouring yourself.

We write for as many reasons as there are writers: to relax, to dream, to vent, to explain, to create, and simply because we must. Why do you write?