Columnists

The 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 ...

Why I Don’t Announce My Social Media Breaks

Over the past couple of years, I’ve watched several writers announce that they’re taking a break from social media. Sometimes they edit their profile so that their status, “on hiatus,” is added ...

Why We Need to Celebrate All Our Writing Milestones – Even the Small Ones

A few years ago, I got an offer to purchase a small personal finance blog that I ran. The buyer agreed to the amount that I asked for – only there was a catch. They would give me a third of the money ...

What We Owe To One Another

In the immediate few weeks and months after the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) takes place in Brampton each May, I’m always struck by a strange feeling, something that’s equal parts euphoria, ...

On Hanging Laundry

I have an obsession with laundry hung on lines. The image literally stops me in my tracks. There’s so much thought put into the way the sleeves of shirts are pinned just close enough to the hem of a ...

A Few Key Things Every Newly Published Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators Should Know!

The title says it all, guys! Here’s a roundup of a bunch of things that newly published authors and illustrators should know. Whether it’s resources on negotiating contracts or where to do research ...

On Synchronicity and Writing: The Path Back to Myself

Last month, I had the privilege of going on a road trip across Northern BC as part of an author’s tour organized by the BC and Yukon Book Prizes, for which my book of poems, Port of Being, was a finalist. ...

All Booked Up - Pivot Reading Series

The roots of Pivot Readings stretch back to 1998, when poet Paul Vermeersch started a fiction and poetry reading series in Toronto’s adorably dilapidated I.V. Lounge. When that venue closed in 2008, ...

Interdependence as Disabled Poetics and Praxis: Or Why My Novel is Dedicated to My Disabled Friend Maddy

People often say that they couldn’t have written their books without the help and support of friends and family. This is particularly true for disabled writers. Finishing my novel required many hours ...

Have You Hugged Your Google Sheets Lately? How Spreadsheets Helped Me Create Space for My Trauma

Coffee, walking your dog, getting ready for work, breakfast, more coffee, what you missed on Twitter while you were asleep, what fires to fight on Twitter, what fires to diffuse on Twitter, getting more ...