“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” – Thomas Edison.
Edison does have a point – but I know of an awful lot of writers who have shed an awful lot of perspiration in the cause of seeking inspiration. Sometimes it is awfully hard to find just the right chunk of kindling to make the fire go!
Any maritime fledgling writer in search of inspiration you would do well to swing on down to The Bookmark on Spring Garden Road and pick up a copy of SALT LINES – a brand new collection of 55 examples of writer’s wisdom on inspiration, expectation, blocks, breakthroughs and the art of process.
In fact you don’t need to be writer to find value in this little pack of words. Whether you are a playwright, a songwriter, a columnist, a blogger, a writer of memoirs, a spoken word artist, a poet or maybe you just like to scribble dirty little notes on the men’s room walls – you definitely will find the grain of sand necessary for the crafting of pearls in this nifty little collection of wisdom.
The writers sampled are published Atlantic Canadians, playwrights, poets, screenwriters, journalists, spoken word artists, musicians and novelists. They are: CATHERINE BANKS • JANET BARKHOUSE • BRIAN BARTLETT • JOHN BELL • CHRIS BENJAMIN • BINNIE BRENNAN • DOUGLAS ARTHUR BROWN • JEFF BURSEY • SCOTT CAMPBELL • SILVER DONALD CAMERON • MARY JANE COPPS • KEV CORBETT • NATE CRAWFORD • GWEN DAVIES • TANYA DAVIS • STEPHANIE DOMET • ALYDA FABER • JANE FINLAY-YOUNG • SHELLEY GOODWIN • SUE GOYETTE • JENN GRANT • SHAUNTAY GRANT • SYLVIA D. HAMILTON • SARA JEWELL • HEDDY JOHANNESEN • STEPHEN KIMBER • ADRIENNE KING • CARSTEN KNOX • HOLLY KRITSCH • TONJA GUNVALDSEN KLAASSEN • CAROLE LANGILLE • NADINE LAPIERRE • LEZLIE LOWE • KATHY MAC • EVA MADDEN-HAGEN • STEPHENS GERARD MALONE • ELAINE McCLUSKEY • MICHAEL MELSKI • SARAH MIAN • CARMEL MIKOL • SHANDI MITCHELL • PHILIP MOSCOVITCH • LORRI NEILSEN GLENN • SHARON GIBSON PALERMO • SANDRA PHINNEY • ANNA QUON • DARCY RHYNO • SYR RUUS • MARJORIE SIMMINS • ANNE SIMPSON • JON TATTRIE • JULIE VANDERVOORT • ROSE VAUGHAN • STEVE VERNON • BUDGE WILSON.
Yup, that’s my name, second from the last.
No accounting for taste, I guess.
Salt Lines is published by Backalong Books, edited by Lorri Neilsen Glenn and Carsten Knox, with illustration by Kathy Kaulbach. Each copy is $14.95. Salt Lines will be available at Bookmark Bookstore in Halifax and at backalongbooks.com.
Proceeds from sales go to the Elizabeth Venart Emergency Fund for writers, a fund administered by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.
I can’t think of a better fund. I mean – let’s face it – we are getting older by the minute. None of us are born wrinkle-resistant. And writers have one of the lousiest retirement packages on the planet.
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
YOURS IN STORYTELLING... 