My Ottawa

This week has been, well, all kinds of things. Stressful. Sad. Touching. Maddening. Confusing. Having just moved to Ottawa about a month ago, it's strange to say that I've already grown attached to this place, but I have.

Ottawa is my first shot at living in a big city and I must say -- I love the bustle, convenience and diversity of life! I can walk to coffee shops, watch buskers, shop for ANYTHING.

It also feels significantly more Canadian than any other place in Canada I've been. It makes sense though, I pass by parliament almost every day, there are provincial flags waving all along Elgin Street, and there's political talk everywhere. One shop I passed by when I first came here promoted something to the tune of: Left or Right, we can all agree on lunch!

Sure I have my own views and opinions on the shooting that happened on Wednesday, and the aftermath that followed, but I'm not here to shove them down anyone's throat. I'm here to share My Ottawa, like so many others, in support of showing the world that Canada is still a beautiful, safe country, and that we're together in this. We're all human.

The first picture is from the memorial. Droves of people went to pay respects. The second is my #MyOttawa pic, a small park near (I think) West Block. Ottawa is quite pretty in the fall :)

Chasing Deadlines

I believe I've mentioned in past posts how much of a love-hate relationship I have with deadlines. To get started as a writer I've noticed how imperative it is that I take it upon myself to hunt down, tackle, and meet deadlines.

I need places -- journals, magazines, websites -- to send my work, and more often than not these places have guidelines, rules, and dreaded deadlines to adhere to. Generally, I have school to thank for training me up to meet deadlines, but the rest -- finding and dedicating myself to them is all a test for my self-discipline. Something that tends to get quite rusty.

These are the submissions I'm working on for the end of October. All of these deadlines are in November, but of course November's when NaNoWriMo begins. The goal is to get it all done beforehand. (You got this, Sarah's self-discipline!)

--LEAP books Beware the Little White Rabbit submission
--CBC Canada Writes Short Story Prize
--NFLD Arts and Letters Competition

That's all for now! See you.

Another Move

After a long year being beaten by snow and blackouts and wind and retail in Newfoundland, I've finally made another move -- to Ottawa!

Before the move I had been told A: that Ottawa is a beautiful, safe city and B: that it's the city where "fun goes to die". While it might be true that things tend to shut down earlier than what I'm used to, and there's no street like George Street in St. John's where there's club after bar after pub lining the sidewalks, Ottawa is a beautiful city, and there's plenty going on here.

For instance, there's a Writer's Festival going on this month! (info here: http://www.writersfestival.org/)  Because of such pesky things as jobs and responsibilities, I won't be able to see much of what I'm interested in, but if I do happen to get out, I'll let you know all about it.

See you!