Search
-
July 15, 2017What is fiction?
What is fiction? This is a question that I have often thought of as a writer and a student of nêhiyawêwin. I have also thought about this question as a painter who works from nêhiyaw-âcimowina.I think ...
-
July 06, 2016What is Literary Fiction? Ask a Romance Publisher
Years ago, I was the guest author at a summer camp for teen writers. The afternoon started well: I read a bit from my first novel, spoke in very general terms about how I became a writer, and outlined ...
-
May 08, 2017
What is your real job?
Writing novels, I knew from the beginning, was going to be tricky when it came to making $$$$ but I was, of course, going to write an instant bestseller and live in a mansion with six poodles. The reality ...
-
June 19, 2019What Kdramas Taught Me About Storytelling
OK so first I feel like I should explain that literature and TV/film motivate me in different ways. I like to see it as craft vs. content. Books I love or respect teach me about word choice and pacing, ...
-
June 09, 2020
What Makes a Good Children’s Book?
You’re buying a book for a new baby, or for your own restless 12-year-old. You know what books delighted you when you were a kid. But are those books actually good? And are they likely to please and ...
-
June 26, 2021What Makes a Good Writing Routine?
As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm fascinated by other people's writing routines. Not only am I just a somewhat nosy person (as many writers are, I imagine), but I don't have much in the way of a ...
-
June 26, 2016What Thrills Amy Stuart?
As suddenly as the publication of my first book made me a writer, I started to see Amy Stuart everywhere, which was such a great stroke of luck for me.She's warm and quick and smart. She listens so ...
-
September 21, 2020What Timothy Findley Taught Me
Unfortunately, it isn’t often that a major biography of a Canadian writer is published. Such a book takes years to write and costs the author a great deal, not only in work time but also in research ...
-
November 28, 2019What to Do When Your Story Already Exists in the World
We all know that every story has already been told and our challenge, as writers, is to come up with new, original ways to tell stories. Unfortunately, sometimes you think you’ve done just that and, ...
-
June 28, 2014What to Eat While Reading: Savoury Stilton Pecan Shortbread
My novel The Oakdale Dinner Club is about two women who become friends in their senior year of high school after they hand in identical answer sheets for a math test and are accused of cheating. They ...
