Author: winslow eliot

WriteSpa #55 – Golden Rabbits, St. Brigid, Imbolc, and Groundhogs

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WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

February 2 is a turning point. The new moon falls halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox.  In Celtic history this festival was known as Imbolc; the Christians changed it to Candlemas, and the Irish celebrate it as St. Brigid’s Day. Imbolc signifies pregnancy and spring, and is honored with fire, foretelling, and remembering through storytelling. The day is also used to assess what the weather is going to be like in the coming weeks till spring.

This year, the new moon is also the first day of the 4708th Chinese New Year. This is going to be the Year of the Golden Rabbit. Why golden? It’s not actually golden, but metal. There are twelve Chinese year animal signs, but there are also five elements that each of these animals circle through (wood, fire, earth, metal, water). Each animal goes through an annual cycle of these five elements, in two forms – one yin and one yang. This means that a complete cycle is sixty years – and the last one we encountered was in 1951. […]

The Guide

Posted on by winslow eliot

Last night I dreamed I met my Guide.

He hoisted me onto his back and
trudged away from the cove
up the side of the mountain.

I asked him if there was anything I could do
for him.

I said, I do not want to be a burden.

He replied:
Then lighten up.

WriteSpa # 54 – Why I Love Fiction

Posted on by winslow eliot

WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

A phrase that troubles me when I’m either taking or giving a creative writing class is when someone blurts out about a piece of writing: “But that really happened,” or “But it’s true.”

When anyone says that, I get the feeling that the writer believes that real life – or faction – is in some way better than fiction. They believe that if something is true – in the sense that it actually occurred – the importance of the writing is elevated.

Not so!

Fiction is to non-fiction what a painting is to a snapshot. The reason fiction writing is so glorious, so universal, so powerful is that the entire human experience is elevated through story. Characters are richer and deeper because we understand their feelings and motivations. Descriptions matter more because we see not just through our own eyes, but through the eyes of an artist. Our deepest emotions are tapped and brought to life. We enter into worlds that are otherwise invisible to us. We laugh, we weep, we descend into horror, we are brought to ways of thinking we simply could not on our own. […]