Getting 2 Know Barb Howard

I’m grumpy and ungrateful when sitting on a beach. And I’m especially terrible at spending a day “exploring the shops” and talking about what to make, or where to go, for dinner.  I really hate talking about dinner.  I’m currently pumped about a holiday that I’m planning with my youngest (14-year-old) son.  We have registered in a midnight half marathon in the Yukon in June. While all the details aren’t worked out, we know we’ll be staying in a (probably fake) trapper’s cabin in a town with a population of 20.  We’ve done a few half marathons together before and we have a lot of fun mainly because we’re not real runners.  We tend to show up late, talk constantly, and often we walk the course because running in those races can seem too frenetic unless you’re in the very front or the very back of the pack. And we’re never going to be in the front of the pack.

What is your favourite thing about writing?

The best thing about writing is that it makes me sit still, focus, and carry my thoughts and interpretations to a length and depth that I wouldn’t otherwise reach. On the other hand, the other best thing about writing is that when I’m not sitting I can still be working on writing projects. I’m not good at sitting. My Grandma used to worry that I had St Vitas’ dance: “a disorder effecting children and characterized by jerky, uncontrollable movements, either of the face or of the arms and legs”.  (Um, not a very flattering description if, like me, you didn’t actually have St. Vitas’ dance.)  But with writing I can be making observations, mental story notes, letting a writing issue simmer, all while teaching, mothering, volunteering, and generally doing a lot of stuff that makes me look like a 49-year-old-woman with St. Vitas’ Dance. I know busy-ness and multi-tasking are out of style and supposedly bad for focus and creativity…but that’s the way I roll and writing fits beautifully into the package.

Learn more about Barb’s novel Notes for Monday