Dear Reader,

Yesterday, I sat in the same room as legendary Canadian writer Margaret Atwood at the Kick-off of Kingston WritersFest. I sat there in awe. In admiration. In reverence.

She’s little, if you’ve never seen her. Likely littler now due to her 85 years. She walked slowly across the stage hunched over, her thin hand on a black cane. But none of these features of age diminished her presence, her power. Nor the audience’s adoration and desire.

You could feel us all sit up, impulsively shift to the edge of our seats. Every word she spoke, we hung on. Every quip, thought and wonder held in our hearts as some of the most true we will ever hear.

She’s quite funny. I laughed out loud more times than I thought I would. She’s brave and daring, as one would likely expect. She called out the interviewer, Ian Williams, for his anxiety about his writing being published posthumously when he failed to accept her “I’ll care when I’m dead?” response to whether she has the same worry.

Her wisdom is what filled the room. Her age and knowledge of what is and isn’t. She didn’t let anyone use the words “always” and “never”. She didn’t give answers to questions if they weren’t hers to give. And she went on a little rant about keeping track of passwords, reminding us we are all the same.

She was the Wise Old Crone in black robes, and we, her eager students.

But did I expect more questions about Power?

Yes. The theme of this year’s WritersFest (its relaunch after a hiatus), is A word after a word is power from Atwood’s poem, Spelling, but Williams either missed it or steered clear whenever Atwood tried to go that direction. I was confused. Here we are, with serious shit going down all over the world, sitting with MARGARET FUCKING ATWOOD, and you don't ask about the power of words??

I don’t know if he had been directed to keep it light or if he really wanted to know things like when was it the hardest to write? (when she had a baby, duh), and which book took the least amount of time to write? (hmmm... the shortest one). Such frivolous questions when there are big things we need to be thinking about.

If I’d gotten to ask my question (and I sure did try), it would have been this:

Ultimately it felt like an event for readers, not writers but even though I didn't get the depth I desired, I had received in abundance. As the audience left their seats and moved through the lobby, many lining up to purchase pre-signed books, faces smiled at one another knowingly. We had shared this special afternoon listening to one of the wisest and most daring women of our time, and she had snuck in every point about power she could.

We had sat in the room with greatness.

What a Sunday!

Bringing all that inspiration into this last week of August, I'm enjoying the gradual refocusing on work and writing. That means I'm back to writing regular emails - Yay! Hi! - You'll hear from me most Sundays, with some extras here and there.

This coming Sunday, watch your inbox my Everything Email with:

• Exciting (and dark) updates about fall offerings!
• A sneak peek of my smart and sexy new branding!!!

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'til then folks,

Parrish

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P.S. If you don't want to receive my emails, please go ahead and unsubscribe down below - no hard feelings. We all get a lot of emails and I understand. Stay if you want to read my writing and/or hear about my therapy offerings and workshops. :)

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