Author Archives: Karen Whitelaw

Living a Dream – Day 5

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

The temperature reached 12 degrees celsius today and this morning a chill wind followed us around the markets at St-Remy-de-Provence. Now that was a market! Go if you have the chance. When we came home this afternoon the sun streamed … Continue reading →

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Living a Dream – Day 4

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

Warning! Do not go to Gordes’ Tuesday market if you want to buy food straight from the farm. Do not go to Gordes’ market if you want to pretend you’re french. Do not go to Gordes on Tuesday before 10am, … Continue reading →

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Living a Dream – Day 3

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

We woke to rain this morning. It pounded on the terra cotta tiles and gushed down our tiny steep street. The down pipe from our neighbour’s house empties straight onto the cobblestones next to our front door. I shoved towels … Continue reading →

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Living a Dream – Day 2

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

It’s Sunday, and no rest day for the writer. The notebook my friends’ gave me for inspiration is open on the table. The lines in the book are made of Jane Austen’s Emma written in teeny tiny letters. But I’m … Continue reading →

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Living a Dream

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

Today we arrived in Menerbes, a walled medieval village that runs along a hilltop in the Luberon Valley. We’re staying here for three weeks so I can live out a lifetime dream of writing in France. We arrived at 6 … Continue reading →

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Wallpaper 

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

 Rue Jacob is just around the corner from where we’re staying in St German de Pres. Oscar Wilde died in a hotel there in 1900. A few days before he died he is quoted as saying, “This wallpaper and I … Continue reading →

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A Busker

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

  As I walked over the bridge from Notre Dame to the Ile de la Cite in Paris a man came the other way pushing a piano on a trolley. He turned his piano upright and started to play Mozart.  I … Continue reading →

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Writing is like loose pyjamas

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

Julia Cameron said that writing should be like loose pyjamas. What she means is writing can be casual and comfortable. Cameron writes three ‘morning pages’ of longhand every day. Morning pages are stream-of-consciousness writing that have no restrictions and carry … Continue reading →

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In Your Wake by Anna Lundmark

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

Sometimes you come across a short story that is so well-crafted, so packed with emotion, so brilliantly layered, and so creatively imagined it haunts you. Anna Lundmark’s astonishingly short 500 word story, In Your Wake, in the 2015 Grieve anthology … Continue reading →

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Writing about Emotion

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Karen Whitelaw

William Faulkner knew it. Janette Turner Hospital, Kate Grenville, Julian Barnes know it. But studies are just starting to prove it. The more writers hold back on the effusive emoting of their characters, the more emotion their readers will feel. … Continue reading →

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