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October 29, 2015
The Problem with Working for Free
When I first started writing, I took any opportunities I could.First, I interned at a magazine for a high co-op program. Later, I wrote CD reviews for free, got a few poems published in some zines, and ...
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July 16, 2018Why It’s Okay If You Haven’t Finished Your First Book Yet
I thought I would finish my first novel by the time I turned 25.I laugh at the absurdity of that now. But in my early 20s, I believed it when people told me that anything was possible with hard work and ...
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December 22, 2017The Art of Xmas
Christmas is stage and spectacle—lighting, costumes, song, set and dance. It features hammy acting (Oh I just love this pair of candy cane stockings! Or, ooh, this freebie library card—I’ve always ...
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May 12, 2016Strength in Brevity: A List for Short Story Month
Maybe it's fitting that I'm the Writer-in-Residence for May, since somebody, somewhere decided this is Short Story Month, and the short story is far and away my favourite literary form. In the past, Steven ...
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June 23, 2014
To Blog or Not to Blog, That Is the Question
I think of Julie Powell’s 2002 blog The Julie/Julia Project as the original food blog, or at least the first blog I heard of that paired good writing with food. But Powell’s blog, about trying every ...
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June 07, 2016Leah Horlick wins the 10th Writers’ Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize
The Writers’ Trust of Canada announced today that Leah Horlick is the winner of the 10th annual Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers. The $4,000 prize is presented annually to an emerging writer ...
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March 13, 2017
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Becoming a Writer #9: Monica Heisey
Some years in the writing life are better than others. A few years ago I was having a bad one. My draft of The Best Kind of People wasn't working out. I wasn't sure it was ever going to be good enough ...
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May 12, 2017
Sit How You Want
What I want to quickly talk about is outlines. I hate them but I think in fiction they’re a must. I hate them because they mean all this extra work and they stop me from diving into the rainbow pool ...
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September 04, 2019Writers' Trust Announces Journey Prize Finalists
There's something so deeply Canadian about the short story as a form - maybe it's the fact that our first lady of letters, Alice Munro, famously excels at it or simply that its capacity for experimentation, ...
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July 26, 2019The Truth About the Slush Pile
Sit down and write a manuscript. Craft it for many months—maybe, even years. Print off manuscript at your mom’s house. Carefully wrap it with your hopes and dreams. Place it in an envelope purchased ...
