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Jan 19, 2025 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
Hard on the heels of my last post comparing the creative methodologies at play when songwriting and novel writing, I just wanted to touch on another part of my creative life that recently came full circle after a 43 year hiatus. (I like to think that all of these creative experiences have contributed to my writing life in different ways and degrees.)I’ve mentioned in this space before that I played in a band while studying engineering at McMaster University.
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Jan 5, 2025 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
Music has long been a vehicle through which we human beings have expressed our creativity and artistic inclinations. In the most modest—and usually private—of ways, music has been part of my creative life since I was just a kid. I’ve been playing guitar and writing songs for more than 45 years, albeit almost always as a solitary, rather than performative, creative pursuit.
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Dec 22, 2024 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
When I earned my Bachelor of Engineering at McMaster University back in the early 1980s, my fellow fourth year students and I gathered in the spring for a ceremony called the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer, largely conceived and written by the famous British writer, Rudyard Kipling. At that assembly, we received our iron rings, placed on the pinky of our working hand as a constant reminder of our commitment to public safety.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
I know what you’re thinking. What does ball hockey in Mexico have to do with a Substack channel supposedly about the writing life? Well, I guess it’s the same tenuous link I made in a post last March when I played ball hockey in Belize. You see, in my ninth novel, A New Season, a men’s ball hockey league in Toronto provides the backdrop for a modest examination of male friendship—one of several themes explored in the story.
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Nov 24, 2024 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
Every year the Writers’ Trust throws a fancy bash to raise funds to support deserving writers. About 350 well-dressed supporters turn up for the shindig. At each table, an author and copies of their most recent book await each person.
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Nov 10, 2024 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
The lovely and wonderful Beverley Slopen has been my literary agent for sixteen years. As you’ll see from the story below, she took me on when no one else would and I will always be grateful. Not to bury the lede, but dear Beverley is retiring and winding down her agency after a long and storied (pun intended) career. I will miss our calls, our lunches, and all of our time together. Back in 2005, I finished the manuscript for my first novel, The Best Laid Plans.
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Oct 27, 2024 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
The manuscript for my tenth novel, The Marionette, now sits with my editor. So, for a short time at least, it is out of my hands as he takes his first pass through it. So, rather than sitting around on my laurels—though I’ve never quite understood exactly where one’s laurels are located—I’ve started working on my eleventh novel.
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Oct 13, 2024 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
Saturday, October 5, 2024 was the 40th anniversary of Marc Garneau’s first ride on the space shuttle into space and Earth orbit. He ventured beyond our realm three times in his sixteen year career as a NASA astronaut, culminating in his final mission in 2000 when he helped assemble the International Space Station. For those of you, dear readers, who are not Canadian, I can tell you that Marc Garneau is famous in his home country.
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Sep 29, 2024 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
I’m always interested in how other writers choose the names of their characters. Unfortunately, when I’m with other writers we seldom get around to talking about this topic. We’re usually too busy catching up with one another given how seldom writers seem to congregate—usually at festivals. But I am curious how writers go about naming the players that populate their stories.
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Sep 15, 2024 | 
terryfallis.substack.com | Terry Fallis
It’s been more than five months since my last formal update on the state of my tenth novel, The Marionette. So, I figure it’s time to catch you up. In that last update back in early March, I reported that I was in the middle of developing my scene-by-scene outline. After about five months of work on it, I wrapped up my outline at the end of April. (As usual, it took me longer to map out the story and outline the novel than it did to write my first pass at the manuscript.
