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October 15, 2021MUSE ON THE LAM
Today’s post is about what to do when your muse goes AWOL. When your muse is a contrarian like mine is, getting them to show up for work often requires lengthy debates. Who has that extra time?The ...
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October 24, 2022
Rusted Development
For decades I’ve been cruising antique haunts and farm fields, stopping at those laden with dormant pieces of rusted equipment - harrows, cultivators, thrashers, sickle bars among them. I’m drawn ...
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September 12, 2016Excerpt from for All the Men (And Some of the Women) I've Known
Hi Open Book Readers,I want to share one of the short stories from For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known.The book is divided into sections: Meeting, Falling In, Falling Out, Friendship and ...
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November 20, 2017
The noir of Fury
No Fury Like That is the reason I started investigating noir. As I mentioned in my intro piece, I was a little taken aback by the fury in Fury! And I wondered, is it noir? And, if so, what kind of noir ...
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January 07, 2020Read an Excerpt from Lien Chao's Salt in My Life
Chinese-Canadian poet Lien Chao's newest collection, Salt in My Life (Mawenzi House), is a remarkable, multi-sensory journey towards healing and understanding. Using elements of sound, taste, and vision, ...
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November 20, 2015Taking Your Medicine in the Editing Room
In previous posts I’ve talked about the hard road to getting a book published, and even a bit about the effort that goes into just getting those first few stories done. I’ve talked about submitting ...
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October 09, 2018Aparna Kaji Shah on Writing Strong Women, the Importance of Writer Friends, & the Timeless Value of Middlemarch
The title of Aparna Kaji Shah's The Scent of Mogra (Inanna Publications) refers to species of flowering jasmine, a beautiful and fragrant plant cultivated in South and Southeast Asia. It gives a nod ...
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September 07, 2016Interview with Amy Jones: Ideas, Characters and the Importance of Representing Northern Ontario in Literature
Amy Jones’ We’re All In This Together (M&S, 2016) is a remarkable debut novel. Featuring an idiosyncratic family of characters who are vulnerable, at times hilarious, and always completely believable, ...
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October 13, 2022
The Legend of Howard Stroud
Sometimes when I’m feeling sad or needing inspiration I think of Howard. I met Howard in 2016 when I travelled out west to research the family homestead and to walk the same land my mother did as ...
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March 23, 2017At the Desk, with Marie-Louise Gay
Marie-Louise Gay is based in Montreal but beloved around the world for her warm, funny, fabulously creative children's books, especially the Stella and Sam series. She has racked up a bevy of awards ...
