Columnists

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Between Writing Projects

Lately, I’ve felt a bit unmoored. For the last 6 years, I’ve organized my spare time around working on my novel. I’ve either been working on it or worrying about not having time to work on it, or ...

Heads or Tails: On Writing Myself Into the Narrative

Last spring I competed for—and won—an executive position in the arts. When I found out, I was thrilled because, let’s be honest, the industry is predominantly cis, white, and male, and I was all ...

Tough Love for People Who Are Better at Talking About Writing Instead of Actually Writing

I just binge-watched three seasons of Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian. If you’re not familiar with this incredible reality television show allow me to tell you about it: in each episode, two normies ...

Writing Through Trauma Is Writing Through Forgetting

A few days ago, I finished writing a short story. A new short story. Because my fiction is drawn from my life, I journalled first, did a freewrite, and then outlined the first half of the story to nudge ...

Why you should re-read books

I am a big reader, but I am an even bigger re-reader. Yes, I have a mountainous stack of to be read books, but I believe that it’s important to my writing practice—and to my basic existence—to dive ...

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 ...