On Writing : an occasional series

We're six and a half years and more than one hundred and fifty essays into the occasional series of "On Writing" essays I've been curating over at the ottawa poetry newsletter blog. I've included an updated list, below, of those pieces posted so far, and the list is becoming quite substantive. Way (way) back in April, 2012, I discovered (thanks to Sarah Mangold) the website for the NPM Daily, and absolutely loved the short essays presented on a variety of subjects surrounding the nebulous idea of “on writing,” prompting me to kick-start a similar series of responses to the question of writing.

Forthcoming: nothing as yet, but would welcome pitches! to rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com.

; On Writing #156 : LM Rivera : THE RULES OF THE GAME ; On Writing #155 : George Bowering : Poly Oana craquer ; On Writing #154 : Natalee Caple : What Makes a Good Gift in a Gift Economy? Thinking about Selfhood and Responsibility in Love in the Chthulucene / Cthulucene ; On Writing #153 : Lorri Neilsen Glenn : Writing, Attention and Words from the Wise ; On Writing #152 : Travis Sharp : Pointing ; On Writing #151 : Sandra Moussempès : poetry as the ultimate language ; On Writing #150 : Eleonore Schönmaier : Writing as Motion ; On Writing #149 : Sennah Yee : On Writing ; On Writing #148 : Sara Cassidy : DEAD POEMS ; On Writing #147 : Sarah Campbell : #balance ; On Writing #146 : Arisa White : On Writing ; On Writing #145 : Josh Massey : Some of my Current Thoughts on Writing ; On Writing #144 : Marci Nelligan : To whom it may concern ; On Writing #143 : Fisayo Adeyeye : On Falling/Failing ; On Writing #142 : Lauren Turner : On Coping ; On Writing #141 : Matthew Cooperman : Day and Night: Time and Writing ; On Writing #140 : Nicole Brewer : On Writing ; On Writing #139 : Dennis James Sweeney : On Staring, Obsessing, Getting Stuck ; On Writing #138 : Lauren B. Davis : 10 HARD TRUTHS ABOUT WRITING ; On Writing #137 : Ryan Pratt : On writing ; On Writing #136 : Frances Boyle : On Writing on Wandering ; On Writing #135 : Carla Funk : On Writing: In Search of the Greengage Plum ; On Writing #134 : Sacha Archer : The Classic Guide to Strategy ; On Writing #133 : Jamie Sharpe : On Writing: Ich Bin Nicht Berliner (I Just Play One in Poems) ; On Writing #132 : Alice Burdick : Welcoming discomfort in poetry ; On Writing #131 : Laura Farina : On Writing ; On Writing #130 : Billy Mavreas : On writing ; On Writing #129 : Kyle Flemmer : On Writing about Reading ; On Writing #128 : Ryan Eckes : On Writing the Truth ; On Writing #127 : David Peter Clark : On Writing ; On Writing #126 : Emily Ursuliak : On Having a Haunted Writing Process ; On Writing #125 : Buck Downs : Essay Ending with a Quote by William Gibson ; On Writing #124 : Sarah Cook : On composure ; On Writing #123 : Susan Glickman : An Infinity of Blues: Art as a Form of Attention ; On Writing #122 : Sean Braune : ON WRITHING AND WRY THINGS ; On Writing #121 : Jennifer Baker : On Writing ; On Writing #120 : K.I. Press : On Being Off ; On Writing #119 : Lesley Buxton : Talking to Myself ; On Writing #118 : Elee Kraljii Gardiner : Essay on Inclusivity ; On Writing #117 : Rusty Morrison : Writing Nonetheless, Nonetheless Writing ; On Writing #116 : Laressa Dickey : On Writing ; On Writing #115 : kevin mcpherson eckhoff : On Writing, its Opposites, and Practical Methods for Embracing the Mawkish Thralldom of the Day-to-Day ; On Writing #114 : Craig Santos Perez : On Writing from the New Oceania ; On Writing #113 : Susan M. Schultz : Against Revision ; On Writing #112 : Jenna Butler : To the woodlot ; On Writing #111 : Sandra Nicholls : Thoughts on writing ; On Writing #110 : Waubgeshig Rice : On Writing ; On Writing #109 : Elaine Woo : The Crux ; On Writing #108 : David B. Goldstein : On Writing ; On Writing #107 : Gina Myers : Is there room in the room that you room in? ; On Writing #106 : Valerie Witte : By the Grace of Gilmour ; On Writing #105 : Molly Gaudry : On Writing ; On Writing #104 : Geoffrey Young : WHAT'S BEHIND THE WORDS? ; On Writing #103 : Bruce Whiteman : On Writing ; On Writing #102 : Karl Jirgens : Writing Lives: Writing Lives ; On Writing #101 : Daniel Zomparelli : On Writing ; On Writing #100 : Dale Smith : Scouts of the Interior ; On Writing #99 : Brian Henderson : On Writing ; On Writing #98 : Vanessa Lent : Making room ; On Writing #97 : Paul Pearson : WRITING IS FAILING: My 10 Rules for Writing ; On Writing #96 : Mer Brebner : You always swore you wouldn't... ; On Writing #95 : Claudia Coutu Radmore : The Poetry Three ; On Writing #94 : Valerie Coulton : On Writing ; On Writing #93 : lars palm : first things first ; On Writing #92 : Ashley-Elizabeth Best : The Hard Remainder ; On Writing #91 : A.J. Levin : The Curse of Writing Poetry ; On Writing #90 : Julie Morrissy : On Writing ; On Writing #89 : Alice Zorn : Fixings ; On Writing #88 : Lillian Necakov : Writing is a Hyena ; On Writing #87 : Ken Norris : ON WRITING ; On Writing #86 : Jani Krulc : Practice, practice: On writing and yoga ; On Writing #85 : Steven Artelle : On Writing ; On Writing #84 : Chris Eaton : On Writing ; On Writing #83 : Kaie Kellough : Ceremony ; On Writing #82 : Jacqueline Valencia : On Writing ; On Writing #81 : Kevin Killian : Writing the Anthropocene ; On Writing #80 : Mike Spry : On Writing ; On Writing #79 : Dina Del Bucchia : OMG. Watch TV! ; On Writing #78 : Michelle Berry : On Writing ; On Writing #77 : Eric Schmaltz : Writing as an Intimacy with Machines ; On Writing #76 : Barbara Tomash : Dear PRE- ; On Writing #75 : Eileen R. Tabios : NO LONGER CASUAL ; On Writing #74 : Sheryda Warrener : Make It New ; On Writing #73 : Pam Brown : Writing ; On Writing #72 : Renee Rodin : The Nub ; On Writing #71 : Rebecca Rosenblum : Ways to Help a Fellow Writer with His/Her Work ; On Writing #70 : Susannah M. Smith : On Writing ; On Writing #69 : Natalie Simpson : On Writing ; On Writing #68 : Jennifer Kronovet : Fighting and Writing ; On Writing #67 : George Stanley : Writing Old Age ; On Writing #66 : George Fetherling : On Writing ; On Writing #65 : Gail Scott : THE ATTACK OF DIFFICULT PROSE ; On Writing #64 : Laisha Rosnau : The Long Game ; On Writing #63 : Arjun Basu : Write ; On Writing #62 : Angie Abdou : The Writer & The Bottle ; On Writing #61 : Carolyn Marie Souaid : Lawyers, Liars & Writers ; On Writing #60 : Priscila Uppal : On Creative Health ; On Writing #59 : Sky Gilbert : Yes, They Live ; On Writing #58 : Peter Richardson : Cellar Posting ; On Writing #57 : Catherine Owen : "Bright realms of promise": ON THE POETIC ; On Writing #56 : Sarah Burgoyne : a series of permissions-givings ; On Writing #55 : Anne Fleming : Funny ; On Writing #54 : Julie Joosten : On Haptic Pleasures:  an Avalanche, the Internet, and Handwriting ; On Writing #53 : David Dowker : Micropoetics, or the Decoherence of Connectionism ; On Writing #52 : Renée Sarojini Saklikar : No language exists on the outside. Finders must venture inside. ; On Writing #51 : Ian Roy : On Writing, Slowly ; On Writing #50 : Rob Budde : On Writing ; On Writing #49 : Monica Kidd : On writing and saving lives ; On Writing #48 : Robert Swereda : Why Bother? ; On Writing #47 : Missy Marston : Children vs Writing: CAGE MATCH! ; On Writing #46 : Carla Barkman : Tastes Like Chicken ; On Writing #45 : Asher Ghaffar : The Pen: ; On Writing #44 : Emily Ursuliak : Writing on Transit ; On Writing #43 : Adam Sol : How I Became a Writer ; On Writing #42 : Jason Christie : To Paraphrase ; On Writing #41 : Gary Barwin : ON WRITING ; On Writing #40 : j/j hastain : Infinite Chakras: a Trans-Temporal Mini-Memoir ; On Writing #39 : Peter Norman : Red Pen of Fury! ; On Writing #38 : Rupert Loydell : Intricately Entangled ; On Writing #37 : M.A.C. Farrant : Eternity Delayed ; On Writing #36 : Gil McElroy : Building a Background ; On Writing #35 : Charmaine Cadeau : Stupid funny. ; On Writing #34 : Beth Follett : Born of That Nothing ; On Writing #33 : Marthe Reed : Drawing Louisiana ; On Writing #32 : Chris Turnbull : Half flings, stridence and visual timber ; On Writing #31 : Kate Schapira : On Writing (Sentences) ; On Writing #30 : Michael Bryson : On Writing ; On Writing #29 : Sara Heinonen : On Writing ; On Writing #28 : Stan Rogal : Writers' Anonymous ; On Writing #27 : Lola Lemire Tostevin : What's in a name? ; On Writing #26 : Kevin Spenst : On Writing ; On Writing #25 : Kate Cayley : An Effort of Attention ; On Writing #24 : Gregory Betts : On Writing ; On Writing #23 : Hailey Higdon : Hiding Places ; On Writing #22 : Matthew Firth : How I write ; On Writing #21 : Nichole McGill : Daring to write again ; On Writing #20 : Rob Thomas : Hey, Short Stuff!: On Writing Kids ; On Writing #19 : Anik See : On Writing ; On Writing #18 : Eric Folsom : On Writing ; On Writing #17 : Edward Smallfield : poetics as space ; On Writing #16 : Sonia Saikaley : Writing Before Dawn to Answer a Curious Calling ; On Writing #15 : Roland Prevost : Ink / Here ; On Writing #14 : Aaron Tucker : On Writing ; On Writing #13 : Sean Johnston : On Writing ; On Writing #12 : Ken Sparling : From some notes for a writing workshop ; On Writing #11 : Abby Paige : On the Invention of Language ; On Writing #10 : Adam Thomlison : On writing less ; On Writing #9 : Christian McPherson : On Writing ; On Writing #8 : Colin Morton : On Writing ; On Writing #7 : Pearl Pirie : Use of Writing ; On Writing #6 : Faizel Deen : Summer, Ottawa. 2013. ; On Writing #5 : Michael Dennis : Who knew? ; On Writing #4 : Michael Blouin : On Process ; On Writing #3 : rob mclennan : On writing (and not writing) ; On Writing #2 : Amanda Earl : Community ; On Writing #1 : Anita Dolman : A little less inspiration, please (Or, What ever happened to patrons, anyway?)