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A Participant Perspective: Our Writing Retreat
A Participant Perspective: Our Writing Retreat

Home Page, Life at Centauri, On Writing, Parenting

A Participant Perspective: Our Writing Retreat

The following article was sent to us by L.S., a participant on our recent family/solo writing tour to Costa Rica. She attended the retreat with her teenage daughters, who had previously also attended our arts programs at Centauri Summer Camp. A fortuitous conversation four years ago my daughters at a uniquely special camp called Centauri. The positive impact of Centauri has been vastly disproportionate to the time they’ve spent there which speaks volumes to its ability to affect young people. How two short weeks within an entire year can hold so much meaning is quite remarkable. I’ve never asked what the word Centauri means, allowing me to create my own encompassing definition: A place where kids can find their own rhythm, their own voice, a […]

juliehartley2016-02-05T15:27:29-04:00February 5, 2016|Home Page, Life at Centauri, On Writing, Parenting|

Costa Rica Writing Retreat
Costa Rica Writing Retreat

Home Page, Life at Centauri, On Writing, Parenting, The Finding Place, Young Writers!

Costa Rica Writing Retreat

My first family/solo adult writing retreat to Costa Rica has now concluded – and what a wonderful week it was! Our group stayed at Finca Luna Nueva, a gorgeous bio-dynamic farm and lodge in the heart of the rain forest, where sloths lazed outside our windows and hummingbirds flitted past the pool. To kick start the week, I gave a reading – from The Finding Place, and from two new novels, one written (Beyond Chaos) and another in progress (The Hibernators). There followed six mornings of writing workshops – an hour long for the younger participants, and two hours for the adult writers. We explored surrealist writing prompts, looked at structure (and planned a novel!), discovered how fiction is inspired by life experience, tried out […]

juliehartley2016-02-01T19:37:52-04:00February 1, 2016|Home Page, Life at Centauri, On Writing, Parenting, The Finding Place, Young Writers!|

Five More Writing Prompts for the Holidays

Hoping for some writing time over the next few weeks? Here’s some more prompts to get you started… A gift is delivered incorrectly to your home. It’s an intriguing shape. What do you (or your characters) do? Choose your genre.. is the gift magical? Sinister? Suggestive of an imminent crime? Do you open it – or is this a human story about what happens as you seek the rightful owner? Write for ten minutes without stopping, beginning with the following prompt: I packed a suitcase, the scent of winter in the air. Attempt a picture book for the holiday season. Your main character is a child who has never seen snow. Write about one of the first holiday seasons you can remember. How old were […]

juliehartley2015-12-17T18:03:15-04:00December 17, 2015|Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place, Young Writers!|

Writing Prompts for the Holidays!

Have some free time on your hands in the next few weeks, and want to get creative? Here are five prompts that might just help! 1. Write about a character alone and away from family for the first time ever during the holidays. Are they are alone by choice, or out of necessity? Where are they? What has happened? How do they spend their day? If you have time to write for a longer period of time, ensure your character undergoes some form of transformation in the course of your writing. Their perspective and emotional state is quite different, by the end. 2. Ever had the feeling, during a snow storm, that the snow is never, ever going to stop? Write about a time when […]

juliehartley2015-12-10T19:17:54-04:00December 10, 2015|Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place, Young Writers!|

Why I Love to Write for Children

When my daughter was about six or so, we were walking in a forest. It was mid morning. She paused, looked up through the trees and saw the faint outline of a moon in the sky. She turned to me, wary and suspicious. “That should not be there,” she said. I was reminded of a similar feeling I had had at about the same age. I was walking home from school on my own, because that was still something six year olds could do, back then. Cutting across a park, I saw what was probably a carpet of mist and dew caused by English fog. I was certain, however, that it was an endless network of spider-like webs, suffocating the world. I ran home as […]

juliehartley2015-11-04T16:28:25-04:00November 4, 2015|Home Page, On Writing, Parenting, The Finding Place, Young Writers!|

Writing Beyond the First Draft

When I was a teenager, I didn’t know anyone else who wanted to write. I felt lonely and different, sitting in my bedroom, tapping out novels on my manual typewriter, while other teenage girls I knew spent their weekends hanging out in each other’s houses, talking about music and boys. I grew up in the North of England in a working class steel town where most kids saw me as fairly bizarre. The experience was profound, because without it, I wouldn’t have worked so hard to create communities for artistic kids. I wouldn’t have known how important it was that such places existed. But there is danger in thinking you are the only one. I didn’t know anyone else who wanted to be writers, so […]

juliehartley2015-10-26T15:21:22-04:00October 26, 2015|Home Page, On Writing, Parenting, The Finding Place, Young Writers!|

The Finding Place: Book Launch!
The Finding Place: Book Launch!

Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place

The Finding Place: Book Launch!

This past Sunday we held a Book Launch for The Finding Place and the room was packed to the seams! We went for a Chinese theme, to match the book: there were Chinese candies and moon cakes, lanterns hanging from the ceiling, traditional Chinese music and a slide show that played images of the places Kelly visits in the novel. I gave a talk about the inspiration for the book, and a short reading, followed by a book signing. The event concluded with the cutting of a huge cake. It was a wonderful celebration for everyone. Thanks to everyone who joined us!

juliehartley2015-09-24T00:29:09-04:00September 24, 2015|Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place|

The Finding Place: Released Today!

Yes, it has finally arrived… the official release date for The Finding Place is today! My book is for sale in stores. It’s online at amazon.ca and on Indigo/Chapters. The Book Launch is planned for Sunday (come join us for a reading, and a celebration!). I’ve already received several emailed and online reviews. And now the official launch date is here! Rather than blog today, I’m posting a Synopsis below. If you read my novel, please do let me know what you think! And please contact me if you are interested in bringing me in to your school, community, library or book club. You can email me directly at: julie (‘at’ sign here) centauriartscamp (dot)com The big adventure starts today! Synopsis: The Finding Place Found as a baby […]

juliehartley2015-09-15T17:36:33-04:00September 15, 2015|Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place, Young Writers!|

Four Days to Go… and some photographs
Four Days to Go… and some photographs

Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place, Young Writers!

Four Days to Go… and some photographs

Just four days to go now until the official release date for The Finding Place! I received an email today from a 9 year old who may well be one of the first children to read the book. She told me she had to read it secretly in class when her teacher wasn’t watching because she couldn’t put it down. That’s the sort of email all writers must love receiving. I try to imagine how I would have felt as the teacher… and I know that if I ‘caught’ a student sneak-reading in class I don’t think I would have been angry at all. It’s hardly the same thing as making paper aeroplanes. Anyway, here are some more photos I have to share of magical […]

juliehartley2015-09-11T14:39:01-04:00September 11, 2015|Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place, Young Writers!|

The Finding Place: Signing Books!
The Finding Place: Signing Books!

Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place

The Finding Place: Signing Books!

Copies of The Finding Place are already in book shops! There can be few things in life, for a writer, more thrilling that browsing the shelves of your favourite bookstores, and seeing your own book there, among the others. Simply incredible. Today, I visited Another Story in Roncesvalles… and there it was in the children’s section. All the more thrilling because the first part of The Finding Place actually takes place in the Roncesvalles area. Five minutes later and I was seated at a table beside the books, signing copies. There is something rather strange about opening a book that is unsold, fresh off the shelves, and signing your name in it. I felt as if I was wilfully defacing someone else’s property. I had […]

juliehartley2015-09-10T00:01:00-04:00September 10, 2015|Home Page, On Writing, The Finding Place|