North York Central Library Blog

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “It’s never too late!” many times. Does it sound as naïve to you as it
does to me? If not, sorry to burst your bubble, but sometimes it is too late. The fact is, some dreams
and aspirations do have a shelf life. Consider the following occupations: Olympic gymnast, astronaut, prima ballerina, professional hockey player.
Or what if your dream was to be cast as Romeo, or Juliet, those tragic teenage lovers?
Way too late for many of us, right?  But there is no expiry date on the dream of
becoming a writer. It’s a dream you can chase at any age, so long as your mind
is fertile. If you have an unfinished novel languishing on your computer, or
the rough draft of a short story lining your sock drawer, or simply a notebook where
you’ve been jotting down ideas for stories, the Language and Literature
Department at North York Central Library is offering you a spark that might
ignite your creative fire. Farzana Doctor, our Writer in Residence for Fall
2012, will speak on the following topics this fall:

• Self publishing (October 17, Lillian H.
  Smith Library)
• Self-promotion for emerging writers (November
  3, North York Central Library)
• Barriers to writing (November 10, North
  York Central Library
• Common mistakes new writers make and how to
  fix them (November 24, North York Central Library)

Farzana Doctor is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Stealing Nasreen. Her latest book, Six Metres of Pavement, was recently nominated for the 2012 Toronto Book Awards. If you’d like to know more about her, come to North York Central Library on Saturday, October 6. Farzana will be giving her first Writer in Residence talk at 2:00 p.m. in the auditorium. Call 416-395-5639 to register.

I’ve given you advanced notice of the
Writer in Residence events so you have time to pry yourself out of your lawn
chair, dig that coffee stained manuscript out from wherever you’ve buried it,
and maybe get re-inspired to work on it. The timing is right, don’t you think? September
is a season of new beginnings, renewed determination, and the energy that comes
with that invigorating chill in the air. North York Central Library has a great
collection of materials on writing, to help keep the flame burning. You can learn about plotting, generating
ideas, writing genre fiction, screenwriting, formatting your manuscript, grammar and style, getting published,
and more.

Last word goes to the late great Ray
Bradbury (thanks for loving libraries, Ray!):

“If you want to write, if you want to
create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent
rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful
dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside
your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries
and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books
like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your
Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and
madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories —
science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day
for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”

Ray Bradbury, quoted in Good advice on
writing: writers past and present on how to write well.