Ruth Anne Latta

Tidying up today, I came upon one of my notebooks where I'd jotted down some things I wanted to remember from "Walking in this World: the practical art of creativity,"  by Julia Cameron.   This book was published in 2002 by Penguin. Its ISBN is 1-58542-183-9) Cameron says that writers, like anyone who tries to create something, must be like the farmer in " Field of Dreams" and must trust enough to build it, whatever "it" is, and trust that "they will come."  She warns against being "miniaturized" by our friends, who know only one small part of us, as in the poem, "The Blind Man and the Elephant."  She writes: "Friends tend to reinforce the you that they see. They want to hold onto a you that doesn't threaten them and that gives them a comfortable sense of their own size and importance." She warns that we may have to "shed" the friends who won't let us grow. She adds: "Nelson Mandela has rem

                           A writer friend of mine emailed to say that she is presenting my novel, A Girl Should Be , to her book club.                           She added, "I find your books not only informative about parts of our history, but engaging stories.  I like the comfort they offer even when there are situations that are not necessarily comforting. It is your manner of writing."                          This is just what I need to hear as I go over the proofs of my new Canadian historical novel, A Striking Woman .  Thank you, L!

I've been reading Joyce Carol Oates's collection of short stories The (Other) You (Harper-Collins, 2021) and was dazzled again by her story, "The Unexpected."  Every writer should read it, especially those who were not born to educated, supportive parents in a cultural metropolis. The story is written in the second person;  instead of "I" the author uses "you."  The central character is a writer who has been invited to receive an  honourary doctorate of humane letters from a community college near her old home in upstate New York, and to deliver the commencement address.  Is the story autobiographical? I think  Ms. Oates imagined a writer's worst nightmare and used details from her own home town to make it authentic In the story, the commencement ceremony is held outdoors on a breezy day. and the writer/narrator is pleased that her address held the students' interest and resulted in a standing ovation. Then things start to go wrong. When s

 I learned today that words which are blends of two words that combine the sounds and meanings of the two words are called "portmanteau" words. I already knew that a "portmanteau" is a French word for the kind of suitcase that opens in two halves.  The name comes from "porter" is "to carry" and "manteau" for "coat." Some portmanteau words have become everyday, and no longer have the ability to startle us. Some examples in no particular order:  smog (smoke and fog); Medicare; Brexit; breathalyzer (breath analyzer); brunch; biopic (biographical picture); email (electronic mail), guesstimate; carjack (car hijack); anklet. I still smile at words like "bromance" and "frenemy" (I have some of the latter) and I once met a "labradoodle" who had a golden tightly-curled coat and wanted to jump up on me and lick my face. One memorable portmanteau word from literature is "slithy", which Lewis Carrol