Creative Musings 2018: SCWG Creative Musings, #2

By John W Partington, Allan McCarville, Hero van Harten and 9 more

We are a group of people who love to write, who come together each week to share what we have written, to listen to the offerings of each other, and to share links to experiential knowledge gained in the completion of our craft, word-smithing. We write because we love to write; we simply are driven to write. These are our stories.  We hope you enjoy them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John W Partington
• Release date: Jul 31, 2024
• ISBN: 9781989973608

John W Partington

I have been writing for most of my life: as a child, as a soldier, and now as an independent author. My favourite colour is purple. I have two cats, who choose to annoy me most when I am trying to write. I'm a middle aged white dude suffering from psychosis, but with medication am perfectly stable (except for singing to my cats).

Book preview

An Anthology by the Stittsville Creative Writing Group

Creative Musings 2018

Copyright © 2018 Members of the Stittsville Creative Writing Group

Revised © 2024

Cover Art Copyright: https://www.123rf.com/profile_dmitr1ch

ISBN: 978-1-989973-60-8

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors

Foreword

Note

A Visit with Gram

The Concert

Memories

A Plea from Beyond

Gnomes

Last Gospel

Lament to Lack of Coffee

Beasts of Rage

Blue Hotel

Give the World

Catz Defense

Pam’s Dowry

The Eternal Struggle

Point of View

An Unmarked Grave

Don’t Spill the Salt

The Volkswagen Bug

Alternate Universes

Equilibrium

The Dancer

Chiquitia

And Why I Write

Tankas for the Liminal Woman

Mother and Daughter: On Being Broke at the Grocery Store

Christmas Dinner

Other works by these authors

Foreword

The Stittsville Creative Writing Group is a program administered by the Ottawa Public Library.

We are a group of people who love to write, who come together each week to share what we have written, to listen to the offerings of each other, and to share links to experiential knowledge gained in the completion of our craft, word-smithing.

The group began in the fall of 2012, as John W Egan (author of Angel & Mercy - the Ceasefire War) took ownership of a time slot at Stittsville Branch. John had no idea what the group would become. The group grew to the allotted membership of twenty, with a wait list.  In 2016, John W Egan stepped down as facilitator, leaving a strong and happily committed group of enthusiastic writers.

John W Partington (author of Destiny ...) and Melba McGee (author of 4/3 - a BabyBoomer Memoir) both offered to facilitate the group, with John as Lead. Our group is composed of both hobby and professional writers, those who write because their fingers itch to put story to paper, those who seek feedback from the experience of listeners who hear their work, those who write for the simple joy, those who are undertaking major projects for publication. We welcome every genre in a supportive and collaborative environment. Out cardinal rule is: no criticism. If solicited, members will offer supportive comments and constructive review, but outright criticism is not allowed.  The reason is simple.  When anybody puts a thought on a page, they are baring their soul to the world; criticism not only kills the piece, but any future piece which may have come from that soul.  Other rules are decided within the group. We are not a networking organization, though we eagerly support each other with a variety of skills, and open hearts. We undertake special projects such as Gallery Nights, Writers Discussion Group, and this anthology.

Our group is comprised of poets, scholars, rogue scholars, authors, and audacious amateurs taking their first steps into group sharing and into the published world, those who mostly listen rather than write, those who write prolifically but only share with the group, published writers.

We were excited about the concept of doing the first group anthology, Creative Musings, and completed our first submissions to the printer in June 2017. So excited were we that we decided to do it again, this year, in 2018. 

We write because we love to write; we simply are driven to write. These are our stories.  We hope you enjoy them. Love to have you come join us.

Sylvia Melba McGee

Additional Note

We wrote this anthology years ago, but are only now making it available on multiple platforms. The stories reflect the thinking at the time of original publication. They have not been altered from their initial state.

A Visit With Gram

©Mike Caithness

They say, You can’t take it with you.

This, however, doesn’t stop most of us from trying to get as much of it as we possibly can, even at the expense of quality time with friends and family. I am certainly no exception to this… perhaps even the very model of it.

I was never the guy who always wanted to party with friends (the few I bothered to make), nor did I ever feel obligated to spend a whole lot of time with my family. When the opportunity to advance my career came along, with the requirement that I had to move away from my hometown to take advantage of it, I didn’t think twice.

My chosen profession kept me busy and I worked hard at it. As the money and recognition rolled in, I fed off of it - got addicted to it. I was good at what I did; people knew it and I was rewarded well for it. In short: I achieved the success I had pursued so intently.

Another thing they say is, What goes up, must come down. 

While I revelled in the avarice allowed by my aforementioned career, I got a little too cocky about my positioning and eventually failed to watch my back. So, when the company stocks plummeted and the inevitable solution was layoffs - because damned if you cut management bonuses and the like - it gave the powers that be the perfect excuse to turf a huge salary and I found myself out of a job.

It seemed as if it all happened so very quickly, but many years had passed since I first left home to the time I hit this stumbling block. So much had come and gone while I was lost in my corporate efforts.

You really should stop and smell the roses, my grandma used to tell me. The older I got, though, the less I listened - despite her being the one person I could always go to for advice when growing up.

As I became corrupted by greed and a never-ending quest for success - I lost touch with my Gram… this fact angered my mother to no end. Despite the ever declining frequency over the years where I deigned to actually contact Gram, she, herself, never held it against me.

You have to do what you have to do, my boy… don’t worry about your Gram. I’ll be fine. You go get ‘em! she would inevitably say, when I would explain yet again that I wouldn’t make it home for another Christmas, or birthday, or whatever.

With my head now seemingly cleared of reckless ambition from this forced hiatus from work, and perhaps a little wisdom from age, I made plans to go visit my Gram. With nothing but free time on my hands, travel arrangements were straightforward and I was on my way in short order.

Upon arrival, it felt absolutely surreal to be back on those familiar streets and I couldn’t help but think: "Has it really been so long?"

I didn’t go directly to Gram’s, as I wanted to take in a bit of the old sights. I arranged to get dropped off