Columnists

Promoting Your Book Online: Avoiding Burnout

Does anyone else remember back in the mists of time when you didn’t know your favourite writer had a book coming out until you saw it on the shelf? You may have attended a reading or read an interview ...

In Praise of Chapbooks

The first time I heard the word “chapbook” as a new poet, I was pretty sure I misheard things. It was a word that everyone working within poetry seemed to know—and because of that, I felt shy asking ...

Mentorship: Part II - Author Roundtable

After chatting with Rudrapriya Rathore, the founder and manager of the Flying Books Mentorship Program about the value of having a mentor, I turned to fellow authors to chat about what mentorship has ...

Building a Writing Routine When You’re Bad at Routines

I’ve written before about my bad luck in developing a structured writing routine. I’m happy to report that in the time since I wrote that, I still haven’t developed a structured writing routine—but ...

In Praise of Literary Magazines

Within the small world of poetry readership in Canada, trade poetry collections are likely more widely read than other forms of publication. But publishing a trade collection of poetry through traditional ...

Mentorship: Part I

I’m deep in the weeds on a WIP and have been struggling to figure out what it needs, and what I need to get it to where it needs to be. My writing group is amazing, and I’m so grateful to my beta ...

On Finding Inspiration Through Deconstruction

In my last column, I talked about the unexpected rewards of returning to the same themes and subject matter in your work. But there’s a related facet to this that I feel deserves its own examination—the ...

Writing a Love Poem

I’m writing this column on Valentine’s Day, which is important to note because the column will be published well after Valentine’s Day. Writing a love poem isn’t limited to a specific day, however, ...

Grant Writing 101: Changes to Canada Council Grants

There are changes at the Canada Council! They were posted without any fanfare or public announcement, but the Canada Council for the Arts has made some significant changes to their granting programs.  DeadlinesThere ...

On Writing the Same Book Over and Over

In a 2015 webchat on The Guardian’s site, Kazuo Ishiguro was asked about his varied subject matter. He replied:“My subject matter doesn't vary so much from book to book. Just the surface does. The ...