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February 18, 2023show and tell – a catalogue of the small animals that live in my house
**This is the result of an exercise I did this week. The exercise was to find objects around the house and write about them. It's a good one for when my brain is moving slow, which it has been. In looking ...
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March 17, 2023Procrastination Station
It’s just shy of midnight and I’m sitting here, writing this, thinking about how I should have started it sooner. But if I had started it sooner, would it have been finished before now?If this question ...
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April 01, 2023Poetry as Joy: A Retrospective and Introduction
April in Ontario is unpredictable. There can be warmer days to soak up the sun by a river, or ice storms to coat everything with a perfect translucent film. In any case, April feels ideal for poetry—the ...
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April 25, 2023Building an Author Website
You don’t need an author website, but it has helped me to have one. The more you start to publish, the more people will want to contact you for interviews, solicitations, and event invitations—and ...
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June 09, 2023Affirmations 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 ...
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July 20, 2023Read an Excerpt from When It All Syncs Up, Maya Ameyaw's Tale of a Dazzling Black Teen Ballerina
In Maya Ameyaw's new young adult novel, When It All Syncs Up (Annick Press), Aisha seems to have everything going for her. She has a coveted spot in an elite ballet academy, a relentless work ethic, ...
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July 31, 2023Managing a Writing Career and Mental Illness
As someone who's dealt with chronic depression and anxiety for most of my life, I know how difficult it can be to balance mental illness and writing. Sometimes, the thought of working on my latest book ...
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September 21, 2023I’ve been invited to present at a literary festival, now what?
From the Brigadoon-esque setting of The Eden Mills Writer Festival to the hustle and bustle of TIFA Kids, it’s literary festival season. Everyone loves an invite to a party, but make sure you have all ...
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October 02, 2023Book Launch Season, Part 2: Being an Audience Member
In the first part of “Book Launch Season,” I talked about how to enter this period of time as an author. Writers are (I hope) readers. As a poet especially, going to readings and sitting there as ...
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October 18, 2023Getting to Know Aley Waterman, the Newfoundland Author Whose Debut Novel is Destined to Become a Toronto Classic
In Aley Waterman's debut novel Mudflowers (Rare Machines/Dundurn Press), Sophie's life seems like an indie movie dream from the outside – in her cramped but cool apartment in Toronto's west end, she ...
