I have been meaning to say something about this typewriter for some time.

I walk past it leaving or coming back to Wolff Cottage several times every day. Passers-by occasionally come close to inspect or take a photo. It certainly is intriguing to all who spot it. A vestige from the first three-quarters of the 20th century, when writers used a device like this. Some could see it as a symbol—a talisman—of a time gone by. Or a cautionary tale about the passage of time. Get writing before your time is up!

I have heard three different stories about the typewriter. First, it turned up mysteriously after the cottage became a writer’s residence. Second, legendary Southern writer Sonny Brewer, the founder of the Center for the Writing Arts, put it where it is as a poignant symbol. Third, it is the very typewriter of the Fairhope writer who was one of the authors of M.A.S.H. Not the film or TV series but the book that came before that.

In another post, I will definitely have to say something about Fairhope’s literary history, which is illustrious and ongoing.

Here is the link to the Nova Scotia Museum’s Canada 150 project on inspiring Nova Scotians since Confederation. The voting begins today and will last a month. At first, people can vote only for either of two people from the 1860s. Individuals from other decades will be added regularly. You can go back each day and cast fresh votes.

https://museum.novascotia.ca/blog/150-years-remarkable-nova-scotians

https://www.facebook.com/HistoryandFiction/

I recently posted a short item and some photos featuring Dr. Greg Waselkov of the University of South Alabama on my Facebook site.

If interested, please follow the link above.

I am delighted that the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia asked me to team up with best-selling author Sarah Sawler to give a series of workshops entitled “So You Want to be Published”. We will be giving the workshop at various locations around Nova Scotia in April and May 2017. Here is a link to the registration information on the first of those workshops, which will be in Halifax. Details on the others will soon be available.

http://writers.ns.ca/workshops/so-you-want-be-published-halifax.html

Thanks to Mike Hunter of Cape Breton University Press for making this post about my Writer-in-Residence term in Fairhope, AL.

http://cbup.ca/blog/three-month-residency-for-author-a-j-b-johnston/

Something I’m looking forward to once the spring gets here is a series of Professional Development workshops being planned by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.

The WFNS will be organizing one called “So You Want to Be Published”, with Sarah Sawler (author of many pieces but best known for the best-selling 100 Things You Don’t Know about Nova Scotia) and I teaming up to deliver our thoughts on all that could be covered under such a heading. The idea is that it will be a travelling road show, with stops in Halifax, Yarmouth, Wolfville, Antigonish and Sydney. Details have not yet to be worked out for specific dates and venues. (Most likely timing is late April and early May.) The PD sessions will be open to WFNS members and non-members alike.

I always like travelling around NS. What will make this travel even better than usual will be the chance to meet a wide range of people, talk about writing for publication and hearing about various projects!