Writing LifeTag
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March 16, 2023I got a grant…now what?
It’s grant notification season which can mean one of two things: You didn’t get it (which, to be honest, is the norm!) or…you did!If you didn’t receive funding, be sure to come back tomorrow for ...
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December 09, 2022On Orpheus & Eurydice, or the Inevitability of Timing
I’ve become superstitious about my novel. I believe that if I look back at the previous pages, I will not be able to write – not even one word to move it forward. After I finish writing for the day, ...
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June 30, 2022Remembering Steven Heighton and the Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference
One of the jokes I have with myself is that my first exposure to the public world of poetry was so traumatizing that I had no choice but to accommodate what I saw, however subconsciously. Ten years ago, ...
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April 21, 2022How to Start a Writers’ Group
I spent years working on a novel about a lifeguard who was terrified of drowning. Years, of sitting in the same corner of the same coffee shop bashing out draft after unreadable draft. And the only feedback ...
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March 18, 2022Making the Leap: Why Writing Programs Matter Right Now
I’ve been on campus exactly once since March 2020, during the height of one of the province’s lockdowns, to pack up my old office at Humber College’s Lakeshore Campus. I was leaving my post as the ...
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September 15, 2021Waiting for the bumper year
What cicadas can teach us about embracing the murk This year, millions of cicadas emerged from the ground and took to the trees in deafening chorus across North America. During the hottest days of summer, ...
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September 10, 2021What Big Open Spaces Taught Me About Finishing a Draft
Who doesn’t like writing at home, with the comfort of Maltesers, a perfect sound setup, and being able to write naked? Writing outside of your comfy space is much harder than it seems.In June this year, ...
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August 03, 2021"Be Patient...and Develop a Thick Skin" Deborah Kerbel on Literary Events, Breaking into Picture Books, & Cover Reveals
In 1923, 32-year old Frederick Banting received the Nobel Prize for Medicine, remaining to this day the youngest Nobel laureate in his category. His contribution, now one of the most well-known medical ...
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July 06, 2021The Listener in the Work: How a Sense of Address Can Transform Your Writing
Who is the “speaker” in your poems talking to? Is there a listener within your story? Who is the narrator’s confidante? I’ve been thinking a lot about a sense of address and I’ve come to believe ...
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June 30, 2021Brain Fog: An Essay
Brain Fog: An Essay[1]“I am…” I type.But then a thought fords the sentence. My fingers hover above the keyboard, like soldiers awaiting a command. I have… forgotten something. But what?I can ...
