IWSG: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 ~ First Scribbles

It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.






To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG founder Alex Cavanaugh are:
T. Powell Coltrin,  Victoria Marie Lees, Stephen Trump, and Renee Scattergood,
and J. H. Moncrieff. 

I hope you have a chance to visit today's hosts and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate a visit and an encouraging comment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.
This month's featured question is:

What started you on your writing journey? Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series? Was it a teacher/coach/spouse/friend/parent? Did you just "know" suddenly you wanted to write? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy New Year, Everyone!
I hope that each of you has had a good start to 2020;
also, I hope you are filled with optimism and plans for a successful year of writing!

I don't know when it first occurred to me that people wrote.
I grew up in a family where people constantly wrote,
and it was as ordinary and normal for me to see people writing
as it was for me to see my mother washing dishes or my father polishing his shoes.

When my mother was pregnant with me, her first child,
she typed short story after short story on her typewriter.
As her family and responsibilities grew, her time to write stories shrank,
but she continued to write jingles for contests and many letters.
I've often joked that my desire to write began before I was born.

My father wrote as well, usually letters and reports when I was a small child,
writing many an evening at his desk after dinner.
He continued to write throughout his life,
eventually branching into plays for his students to perform.

   

Born to Write

My Mother, Father, and I

Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, March 1950
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

First Scribbles

Roy and I Writing Our Names in a Favorite Book

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada 
Circa 1954
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Roy and I at the Time of Our First Scribbles

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada 
Circa late 1953 or early 1954
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

As my parents continued their education, I observed them writing

research papers, speeches and presentations, and even a thesis or two.

My mother often roped me into reading her drafts.

Living in isolated areas and forced to take correspondence courses,

my mother had no one else besides my busy father
and teenaged me to discuss ideas with and to edit her work.

I'm certain that the first thing I ever wrote was a letter.

Letters flew back and forth among my extended family members.

Mail was a big deal, and letters were passed around and enjoyed.

Sometimes the letters included photos,
newspaper clippings, sketches, and hand drawn maps.

To this day, I have filing cabinet drawers filled with precious letters.

Letters Written by My Father

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada 
December 1960
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

My brother, three sisters, and I were encouraged to write

letters from the time we could first scribble;
not just mandatory thank you letters for presents and favors,
but letters narrating the events of our early lives.
Imitating our parents, we sometimes included sketches and maps.
Often we sat down around the kitchen or dining room table
writing alongside our mother, our efforts filling a rainy or snowy afternoon.

Among my collection of extended family letters
are ones written by my siblings and me from early March to early July, 1961.
I always smile when I look at these letters, 
because I feel the love of my parents and see their influence on us.

The Letter Writers
Outside the Fish House
Barbie (left), Bertie and me, Roy, and Donnie
with Lake Trout

Lac Seul, Northern Ontario, Canada 
Summer 1961
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Perhaps Bertie's First "Letter"
Age 2

Lac Seul, Northern Ontario, Canada 
July 27, 1961
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Barbie's "Signature" and Map  
Age 5
Barb signed her letter by tracing dots drawn by my mother,
and she dictated labels for her map which my mother recorded.

Lac Seul, Northern Ontario, Canada 
July 27, 1961
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Donnie's Letter 
Age 7
"This is the picture of our home ~
with a little god and a big god (dogs)

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada 
March 2, 1961
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Roy's Letter 
Age 9

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada 
March 2, 1961
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Part of My Letter with a Sketch of My Beading Supplies
Age 10

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada 
March 2, 1961
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

I don't remember when I first thought about being a writer.
From my earliest years, I assumed I would write.

I remember the wild stories my brother and I shared throughout our early childhood:
imaginary friends, space adventures, journeys to the center of the Earth,
witches, cowboys and Indians, and living in an eagle's nest.

I remember us, Roy in grade two and I in grade three,
scouring holes and small caves in the basalt cliffs
along the beaches of Margaretsville, Nova Scotia.
Inspired by the Oak Island legends, we searched for pirate treasure.
Our adventures led us to spin tales of pirates on the high seas
and me to draw my first map of our fishing village in school,
adding X-marked potential treasure sites at home.

The Basalt Cliffs of Margaretsville

Margaretsville, Nova Scotia, Canada 
July 25, 2020
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

By grade four I was writing stories about paleontologists and dinosaurs,
by grade five, clam digger mysteries and  scuba diving adventures,
and by grade six my writing exploded into many genres.

I've been writing ever since:  short stories, newspaper articles and features, 
scientific and educational reports, manuscripts, a pitiful poem or two, and a thesis.

And now I have a short story in the upcoming IWSG anthology:  The Third Ghost.
I know my parents would be pleased and proud!

Courtesy of Dancing Lemur Press/Freedom Fox Press

Before closing, I have two requests regarding our latest anthology:

1.  If you know of middle grade reviewers, especially reviewers you have worked with, 
     could you please pass along their names, websites, and email addresses
     to Dancing Lemur Press, and DPL will contact them:
     inquiries@dancinglemurpressllc.com

2.  If you time, would you mind stopping by our IWSG
     Anthology blog.  I'm this year's overseer for the blog,
     and I would like to increase traffic to our blog to support
     our IWSG anthology:  The Third Ghost.  
     Even better, I would appreciate your leaving a comment.
     Thanking you in advance!  
     https://iwsganthologies.blogspot.com

Happy writing in January!