A writer needs a supportive community as well as solitude. I’m so grateful to be part of a vibrant poets’ community in British Columbia. Lately, I was asked to become part of a Blog-Hop which is an online way to build community.

What’s a Blog-Hop you may well ask. It’s something conceived by Kristin Butcher (kristinbutcher.com) that has writers answering four questions and introducing three other writer/bloggers to the people who read my blog. Still with me so far?

Heidi Greco, Surrey’s poet laureate, invited me to take part and I’ve been pleased to reflect on the questions, answers to which you’ll find below. I met Heidi when she read at WordStorm in Nanaimo. In April I had the pleasure of reading with Heidi and Marion Quednau on Gabriola Island for Poetry Gabriola’s National Poetry Event: Poetry City. You can read Heidi’s blog, where she introduces me and two other poets, here: outonthebiglimb.blogspot.ca.

As I set about inviting three other writers to take part in the Blog-Hop, I was finding that many of them are overwhelmed. That’s what they told me and I can certainly relate – there’s lots to juggle in a writer’s life. My body told me I was overwhelmed when I developed tendinitis this year. I’ve had to slow down somewhat.

As it turns out one fellow poet was happy to jump into the Blog-Hop and he really does the work of three poets so I’m going ahead with introducing you to one poet rather than three.

David Fraser appears to thrive on all the activities in his life which include being partner to painter Pat Carroll, a grandfather, a golfer, a skier, a writing group participant (The Easy Writers), a book club participant, a publisher, a reader, an literary event organizer and promoter and more. Oh yes, and a poet.

Thanks to David’s two new knees he can keep going! We met at a Federation of BC Writers meeting about nine years ago. Since then David and Cindy Shantz created WordStorm, a monthly reading series in Nanaimo. David is Artistic Director and I’m one of the board members.

The photo shows what David helped to create and keeps running smoothly. Such an attentive audience facing the stage at the last WordStorm at the Vault Cafe in June. David is in a blue tee-shirt in the middle, leaning back a bit to get a good view.

Here’s David’s official bio: David Fraser lives in Nanoose Bay, BC, on Vancouver Island. He is the editor of Ascent Aspirations Magazine. His poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Rocksalt, An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry and recently this year in Tesseracts 18. He has published five collections of poetry and is a member of the League of Canadian Poets. Currently he is spending time organizing the Cascadia Poetry Festival 3 Nanaimo, April 30 to May 3, 2015.

That’s right, besides arranging for all the writers from near and far to read at WordStorm including the August 10^th Hazelwood Writers Festival, he’s the main organizing force of Cascadia Poetry Festival 3 to take place in Nanaimo in the spring of 2015. You can read about it on David ‘s blog: cascadia3.blogspot.ca

Time to move on to answering the four questions that are part of this Blog-Hop:

1. What am I working on?

In my head, I’m working on a collection of poems called “Putting Things By.” Gee, if I was only working on one project but alas there are several things going on at once. I suppose rather than see it as multi-tasking, I can realize the benefit of projects inspiring one another.

I also continue to get ideas for a novel I’m revisiting. It was called “Ordinary Life” when I wrote it a very long time ago. A couple of excerpts were published in Prairie Fire but it didn’t go beyond that.

I’ve been revisiting the novel by writing about the same character, Zoe, a playwright from Toronto, by moving her to Gabriola Island. The new novel-in-progress is called “Provenance.” I’m very inspired by Arleen Pare’s, mixed-genre novel Leaving Now (Caitlin Press, 2012), and envision something as wonderful at that – a combination of prose and poetry.

Recently, Leaf Press announced a chapbook contest and I’ve been drafting an entry for that. I’m excited about it because whether or not I’m a winner (it’s blind judging), I’ll have a project completed!

I’m really enjoying writing this blog and envision a literary guide to Nanaimo coming out of it. It was Eric Maisel’s A Writer’s San Francisco that inspired the name and theme of my blog. It reminds me of the days I used to write newspaper columns on various subjects – one would lead to the next and so .

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

A couple of people have been reminded of Patrick Lane when they’ve heard my poetry. That’s probably because he’s been my teacher and mentor for about nine years. I usually look for common threads so it’s a challenge to see how my work differs.

I write about ordinary things and events and my poems look fairly traditional on the page. If you look at Daniela Elza’s poems, for example, you’ll see the words appear “like stones across a stream.” That’s what I wrote in my Vancouver Sun review of Forcefield (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2013), an anthology of BC poets in which Daniela as well as Heidi Greco are included.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I write what moves me, delights and intrigues me. I also write when I’m inspired by reading other poets. In recent months it was a Naomi Shihab Nye poem that inspired one of my poems.

This week I’m reading Tina Biello’s new book, In the Bone Cracks of the Walls (Leaf Press, 2014),  especially now because we’re doing a reading together in Parksville on July 10^th.

I’m finding the connections and intersections of our poetry about family and ancestors. That inspired me to draft a new poem about my grandmother who didn’t speak the language of her parents (German and Irish Gaelic) but probably engaged in their habits and rituals in her daily life.

4. How does my writing process work?

My head is full of ideas and I’ll jot those ideas down in my journal, on file cards or start a new document on my computer. My day is full of interruptions as both my partner and I work at home. And you know all the things that can take place at home!

That’s why I go to poetry retreats too and like to house sit at friends’ houses. That’s what I did last week and so enjoyed meandering from one project to another, one book to another, and not scheduling a thing.