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March 12, 2020On Family Secrets
Why does my writing tend to focus on family secrets? In particular, on children trying to unearth secrets tied to their parents’ pasts? I’m often asked these questions during interviews. The first ...
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March 25, 2024On Finding Inspiration Through Deconstruction
In my last column, I talked about the unexpected rewards of returning to the same themes and subject matter in your work. But there’s a related facet to this that I feel deserves its own examination—the ...
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July 02, 2015
On Getting My First Novel into Print
My first novel, Eulogy, has just been published.What has the experience been like?Well, it only took eleven years, so I guess it wasn’t too bad. Things could have been far worse: I could have never ...
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July 20, 2018On Literary Festivals and Crossed Boundaries
As a writer of creative nonfiction—in particular, one who draws very heavily from my own life and experiences—I’ve learned it’s important to determine whether something I want to write about is ...
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March 30, 2016On Making Connections
In my last post I talked a bit about the importance of connection to others, giving thanks towards and for others, and would like to continue with this theme by focusing on the "how" of connection. No ...
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June 01, 2018On Middles
Recently I sat at the booksellers’ table during a poetry reading. This is best-case scenario seating. You might feel a little nervous that you’ll spill your drink on hundreds of dollars of merch, ...
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November 13, 2015On Navigating the Literary Landscape - Part 1
Over the past few years, in order to buy peanut butter and bread and pay rent, I’ve taken on a number of manuscript assessments for various readers. I was first put on to them by my friend Michelle ...
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May 01, 2019On Perfectionism: Stop it Right Now Thank You Very Much*
“Once you have realized what you need to improve in your piece—either from a writing partner's helpful responses or your own insights—you're ready to begin revising, a process you would be well ...
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October 11, 2017On Pseudoscience, Wrestling, and Finding Storytelling in the Unconventional
When I was in university I had to take a science course to complete my undergraduate degree. I decided on “Science and Pseudoscience” – mostly because the title reminded me of the sort of conspiracy ...
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February 16, 2018On reading politically, or why the good old days are a flat out lie
It’s a funny time in the world of words. Every morning, when I log into Twitter, people are debating freedom of expression and the politics of how we read. Some of this is just nonsense, really just ...
