Search
-
May 04, 2021Governor General's Literary Award Shortlists Announced, Including Another Nomination for The Dyzgraphxst by Canisia Lubrin
This morning, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the Governor General's Literary Award shortlists. It's an exciting set of lists, with strong representation for independent publishers, including ...
-
May 20, 2021
Toilets and the Research Iceberg : Bringing History to Life
The best and worst part of writing historical fiction is research. The best and worst part of research is that chasing every bright and shiny object – oops, I mean fact – can be so addictive that ...
-
October 14, 2021Beating the Burnout
For those who were lucky enough to know someone in the book publishing industry before entering themselves, they might’ve heard the warnings: Don’t expect to be rich. In fact, don’t expect much ...
-
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 ...
-
November 26, 2022
Ask Jane (Agony Aunt)
Hi, I’m Jane, and I’m the protagonist of Helen’s novel, Pull Focus. I’m taking over the blog today to answer questions readers may about me, or the book, or anything else. What’s an Agony ...
-
January 25, 2023CBC Announces a Panelist Line Up Studded with TV & Social Media Stars for Canada Reads 2023
It's one of the first signs for book lovers in Canada that spring is around the corner – CBC Books has announced its line up of celebrity panelists and the books they've chosen to defend in the upcoming ...
-
February 18, 2023show and tell – a catalogue of the small animals that live in my house
**This is the result of an exercise I did this week. The exercise was to find objects around the house and write about them. It's a good one for when my brain is moving slow, which it has been. In looking ...
-
June 09, 2023Affirmations for Writers
Pursuing a career as a writer can be hard on your self-esteem. It requires incredible stamina, faith, and unbelievable amounts of patience. Here are some things I like to remind myself of when the urge ...
-
April 09, 2024Read an Excerpt from Summer in Furnished Rooms by Marc Plourde
People and places may come and go in our lives, but their imprint lasts long, and can sometimes linger and evolve in peculiar and interesting ways. In the new collection Summer in Furnished Rooms (Cormorant ...
