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September 30, 2015
Writing Through Life Change
I used to think that writing was an all-alone endeavor: I thought that all you need is a laptop and some time. I don’t know why I thought that. It’s not true, it turns out. I’ve had help. This help ...
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June 09, 2021It Takes As Long As It Takes
Like many writers, I'd been writing for many years before I decided to pursue it professionally. It might sound like a cliché, but I've been creating stories for as long as I can remember. So when I ...
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February 20, 2022
Dorkus Malorkus Alert 2: The Search for More Nerdiness
Hey there, Open Book reader. Good to see you again. Can you believe February is over 70% done? (I can’t, and it’s keeping me up at night.) I know my previous post went pretty heavy on the nerd factor ...
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June 02, 2021Anne Laurel Carter's Moving Picture Book What the Kite Saw was Inspired by Children She Met in the West Bank
In the darkest moments, sometimes it is the smallest and simplest things that bring comfort. When a young boy in Anne Laurel Carter's moving picture book What the Kite Saw (Groundwood Books, illustrations ...
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June 16, 2014Got Any Good Lit Jokes?
Several years ago, I spoke at a gala dinner at a writers’ festival in Thunder Bay. Picture a hotel ballroom filled with about a hundred people seated at tables for ten. I had tried to inject some humourous ...
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September 29, 2019
Bookstore Love
This is my final post as September Writer-in-Residence for Open Book. It’s been such a pleasure to spend the month thinking about my writing life and what I’d like to say about it. I’m grateful ...
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July 30, 2016The Problem with First Books
In an interview with New York magazine’s Vulture blog, comic book creator Brian K. Vaughan makes clear his feelings about his early work:Do you go back and read many of your older books?Oh, God, no. ...
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February 11, 2022Making a skating rink, and other tricks for stepping away from a work-in-progress
On a particularly cold Friday morning, I piled my kids in a car with snow pants and skates and a pile of books and we headed to a cottage rental. We all were desperate for a change of scenery, and I was ...
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May 30, 2023Feed Your Brain, Read Widely
Writers are often advised to read within their genre to better understand it. And when it comes to readers, it can be tempting to stick to their favourite genre too⎯it’s a favourite for a reason!I'm ...
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March 13, 2017An Interview with Adèle Barclay
“I'm not too interested in the reader needing to understand the private language...” - Adèle BarclayAdèle Barclay’s BC Book Prize nominated If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach out for You (Nightwood) ...
