Columnists

Affirmations for Writers

Pursuing a career as a writer can be hard on your self-esteem. It requires incredible stamina, faith, and unbelievable amounts of patience. Here are some things I like to remind myself of when the urge ...

Feed Your Brain, Read Widely

Writers are often advised to read within their genre to better understand it. And when it comes to readers, it can be tempting to stick to their favourite genre too⎯it’s a favourite for a reason!I'm ...

The Joys and Challenges of Writing for Adults AND for Kids

I’ve had May 2 circled on my calendar for months and months—it marks the pub date of my debut picture book, Dear Street. As the launch approaches, I’ve been thinking about how different the processes ...

Book Therapy: Mother’s Day Edition

 Beyond the saccharine sentiments, store-bought flowers, and (adorable but messy) kid-crafted breakfasts in bed, Mother’s Day can be an extremely fraught if not painful holiday for many. I know I spent ...

More Funny Books, Please!

One of the most stressful questions I’ve been asked by kids is, “are your books funny?” This is a test disguised as a question. If I get it wrong, they won’t read my books. But what is an appropriate ...

Book Therapy: The Remembering Stone

“But Alice didn’t want the perfect stone to sink to the bottom like all the others, so she put it in her pocket.”-Carey Sookocheff, The Remembering StoneFor my family, last year was defined by loss. ...

Seven Tips For Making a Great Audiobook

My first novel, At Last Count (Invisible Publishing, 2022) was recently turned into an audiobook. This is what you hope for as a writer, because it offers a great second way to reach readers—third, ...

Shakespearean Transformations: All’s Well by Mona Awad

Mona Awad’s 2021 novel, All’s Well, follows a drama professor suffering from chronic pain. She’s staging one of Shakespeare’s plays, All’s Well That Ends Well, which is about an orphan named ...

I Just Got Published - So, Why Don't I Feel Great?

When I was 18, I resolved to be a published writer one day. It was something I’d dreamed of even before then. As a younger teenager I wrote simple books inspired in varying degrees by The Outsiders. ...

Painting a Story: Danila Botha on Writing and Painting

Since I was a kid, I’ve always painted. I’ve painted through every age of my life, through every possible emotion. I’ve painted when I was ecstatic and needed to share the feeling, I’ve painted ...