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November 30, 2023
7 Ways to Develop Secondary Characters
Many authors do a good job at developing their protagonist or POV characters. After all, readers will be in these characters’ heads throughout an entire book. But as many readers can attest to, sometimes ...
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February 20, 2019
Poetry School: Rilke’s advice against advice
My aversion to the poetry workshop grew quickly many years ago. Let me correct that: my aversion to the untutored, undisciplined poetry workshop.Although I’ve been writing poems off and on since I was ...
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August 30, 2017
Humour and Children’s Books
I don’t think I was raised in a particularly funny family. My dad was often described as being extremely intelligent, but I don’t think I ever heard someone call him funny.Growing up, I recognized ...
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February 21, 2020
On Trying Not To Fly By the Seat of My Pants
I’m a writer who regularly finishes projects, but I wouldn’t describe myself as a writer with a regular practice. This is something I feel I should be able to correct and yet somehow writing continues ...
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July 19, 2017
Christine McNair on How Life Events Impact Writing & the Seismic Effect of Great Books
Christine McNair's first collection of poetry, Conflict, landed with a big splash: it was a finalist for the City of Ottawa Book Award, the Archibald Lampman Award, and the ReLit Award, and was shortlisted ...
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December 06, 2017
Bestsellers of the Future: Read the Winning Texts from the 2017 Write Across Ontario Student Writing Competition!
We've heard so many of our favourite writers say they fell in love with writing and reading from their earliest days. So we're excited to present what just might be the next crop of great Canadian writers ...
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July 11, 2019
Why We Need to Celebrate All Our Writing Milestones – Even the Small Ones
A few years ago, I got an offer to purchase a small personal finance blog that I ran. The buyer agreed to the amount that I asked for – only there was a catch. They would give me a third of the money ...
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August 23, 2019
Tough Love for People Who Are Better at Talking About Writing Instead of Actually Writing
I just binge-watched three seasons of Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian. If you’re not familiar with this incredible reality television show allow me to tell you about it: in each episode, two normies ...
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April 26, 2021
Red Light, Green Light: how to actually listen to your body while writing
It’s the last week of Careful Inventory! I’m very grateful to Open Book for all the time they have afforded to me in this residency. Today is the penultimate post, building on last Friday’s piece, ...
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March 18, 2022
Making the Leap: Why Writing Programs Matter Right Now
I’ve been on campus exactly once since March 2020, during the height of one of the province’s lockdowns, to pack up my old office at Humber College’s Lakeshore Campus. I was leaving my post as the ...