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June 22, 2017Flaneuse-ing
Walking out yesterday afternoon, being a flaneuse on the Danforth. A flanny on the Danny.At Pape, a pigeon flies down from a store awning into the path of people heading for the subway. Turning, it flies ...
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June 08, 2017How to Make an Audio Book
So there I was in the studio, listening to actor Pascal Langdale tape the narration of my novel Mad Richard for an audio book.Born in England, educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, ...
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September 30, 2024Four Weird Tricks for Maintaining Writing Momentum
As someone who doesn’t have a set writing routine, I’m always on the lookout for practical strategies to consistently keep my work going. Today I’d like to share four of my favourite tricks for ...
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February 10, 2017
The absurdity of literary prizes part 2 of 2
“ I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it.”For my most recent book, I had a reviewer who skewered me for quoting Shakespeare, and then citing it in my end notes. Because, everyone who reads ...
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June 06, 2017Hockey Stalking
I’m a big advocate of writers carrying notebooks. You can jot down thoughts, overheard conversations—I’m a terrible eavesdropper—sights you want to call up later.Yesterday, a father was trying ...
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February 19, 2025Writing Lessons Learned From Zines
In my early twenties, my friend Teri Vlassopoulos introduced me to zines and it changed my life. If you’re not familiar with the term, ZineWiki defines a zine as “an independently- or self-published ...
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February 22, 2017The Same Aspirations Persist: An Interview with Cameron Anstee, editor of Apt. 9 Press
In 2016, three of the five chapbooks nominated for the bpNichol Chapbook Award came from the same press, Ottawa’s Apt. 9 Press. One of those Apt. 9 Press nominees, Nelson Ball’s Small Waterways, ultimately ...
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June 27, 2014Forget Cottage Country: 8 Reasons to Summer in the City of Toronto
School’s out and the Canada Day weekend is nigh, but that’s no reason to get out of town. Stay here, and enjoy these only-in-Toronto good things instead:1. Toronto IslandBike down to the ferry docks ...
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February 06, 2017
My Plastic Bag of Words Part 1 of 2
As stated in my interview, in my closet I have a plastic bag that has poems that I've rejected. That plastic bag is slightly more than a bag of failed poetry, and it represents my writing process in ...
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February 09, 2017
The absurdity of literary prizes part 1 of 2
It's 2016, Stockholm, and Patti Smith is dressed in a black suit, nervously performing Dylan's A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall. A hushed crowd listens in celebration of her rendition of a song written by the ...