His Majesty’s Sailor and the Girl in the Blue Coat
wcdr
May 20, 2025
It is 1942 and the second world war is in its 3rd year. Dominic “Bommy”
Brought to you by Speaker Coordinator Erin Thomas
Our June speaker, poet Barb Hunt, left us inspired with vivid imagery and thought-provoking ideas. One concept in particular—“desire paths”—stuck with us.
If you’re looking for a bit of summer writing motivation, let desire paths be your prompt. Interpret it literally or metaphorically. Use the phrase—or don’t. Let your imagination wander its own way.
Writer Robert Macfarlane defines desire paths as “paths & tracks made over time by the wishes & feet of walkers, especially those paths that run contrary to design or planning.” In short, people make a path by walking where there is none.
Erin will provide written feedback to you by the end of September. This feedback will include comments on the strengths of the piece, as well as suggestions for areas of growth. Erin will not offer a complete copy-edit, but will do her best to provide you with a helpful critique.
If you send poetry, Erin will do her best—and possibly rope in one of her more poetically-inclined friends for support.
Who is this Erin Thomas person and why would I want her feedback anyhow? Erin is an agented, published children’s author and a professional writer, teacher of writing, and freelance editor. She has offered writing instruction through Centennial College, the Toronto District School Board, the Oshawa Senior Citizens’ Centre, CANSCAIP, the WCDR and WCYR and many other organizations. And hey—free feedback!
Here are a few articles and quotes to help spark your creativity:
“Paths from everywhere crowd like children to the pond. Some of them are ordinary paths, which have a rail on each side, and are made by men with their coats off, but others are vagrants, wide at one spot and at another so narrow that you can stand astride them. They are called Paths that have Made Themselves, and David did wish he could see them doing it. But, like all the most wonderful things that happen in the Gardens, it is done, we concluded, at night after the gates are closed.”
J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird
https://www.literature.org/authors/barrie-james-matthew/the-little-white-bird/chapter-13.html
It is 1942 and the second world war is in its 3rd year. Dominic “Bommy”
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