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May 24, 2017
Paul Vermeersch & The Holy Order
I don’t need a special space to write. I don’t need candles, or a window to look out onto a body of water or a forest. There’s nothing interesting on my desk, no amethysts. I believe that in the ...
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November 22, 2018Calling All Aspiring Authors: Never Ask an Illustrator to Illustrate Your Picture Book for Free
A few weeks ago, I was in a local tavern with some friends—a few of them are professional illustrators. They were drinking overpriced mocktails and commiserating about the emails they get from aspiring ...
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March 01, 2020On Photography
Writing, for me, often begins with an image. By this, I mean not an imaginary image that appears in the mind’s eye, but rather an actual photograph I stumble across in my daily life. A certain picture ...
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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 ...
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February 12, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 4 of 9
The creation of tension and suspense and mood shifts to me are just as important as creating characters and the plot themselves. Tension and suspense is what makes the story come alive. For the short ...
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February 22, 2021
LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID: The writing process Part 7 of 9
Love like anything that matters in this life is a risky business. To fall in love, one must take a big leap of faith. I wanted my characters who were dissatisfied with their isolation to jump both feet ...
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June 05, 2021When Research Influences Life
In my novel The Quiet is Loud, tarot cards form an integral part of the life of the novel's main character Freya Tanangco, a tarot reader. They serve as a career choice and legitimate outlet for her prophetic ...
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October 23, 2017Contest! Fall into Great Poetry with Brick Books
It's the perfect season to cozy up beside a fire (or less picturesque space heater) with a cup of something hot to drink and a fabulous book. Why not let Open Book and Brick Books help with that equation ...
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October 31, 2017
The Writer in the World: Coda
When I became that book all those years ago, the effects of art in my life were not definable. I only knew that I enjoyed storytelling and later I would appreciate that my relationship to story has everything ...
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August 05, 2016Call for Submissions! The Walrus Poetry Prize is Now Open!
From our friends at The WalrusSubmissions are now Open for the 2016 Walrus Poetry Prize!The Walrus Foundation announced today that the the fifth annual Walrus Poetry Prize, judged by The Walrus poetry ...