So, I wrote this thing. An entirely new thing for me. New genre; new(ish) form. I read it to my husband and he got teary. Praise ensued. I figured this masterpiece should be sent to my agent STAT. Sell it! I’d cry. Make me famous! Luckily, I did not listen to that impulsive voice (which […]
Poetry is and always has been how I cope with the hardest experiences of my life. It is an art form, as Mary Oliver said, that connects the conscious mind with the heart. Lichen Bright detailed the roughness of my late teens and 20s while Following Sea recounts my emotional journey with infertility and the […]
My new book-baby is one week old today (never mind the fact that the thing was in process for over a decade!) and we ushered it into the world at a lovely launch last week! J. and I went for dinner beforehand with friends. We had wine (half-price bottle day at Prairie Ink, who knew?!) […]
Ten-plus years ago, I started writing the poems that would become Following Sea (writing takes time!) as I struggled through the long years of trying to have children and embracing genealogy as a way to explore my place in the world. Tonight, I’ll be celebrating this book at Winnipeg’s McNally Robinson and if you’re far […]
Following Sea washes into the wider world in one week’s time, and we’ll be celebrating its arrival at McNally-Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg. I’m both excited and nervous and need to get my hair cut (and I hate getting my hair cut…) Bloggers who are reviewing and writing about the book have been asking me questions […]
Lately I’ve been thinking about faith. It’s hard not to when this winter has built itself so tightly around us, with record-breaking cold (-36 with the wind chill today) and a lot of snow for our place in the world. The other night, though, I had a dream that the red-winged blackbirds had returned. I […]
A few years ago, my shoulder froze. At the time, I said I’d write about it someday but I haven’t, not until now. Now, my other shoulder is acting up, the right one, the one that helps me move my dominant hand and that’s, you know, alarming. A frozen shoulder is a very strange thing. […]
I am blessed to have an incredibly talented and creative mother. If you’ve listened to the first lesson in my course about establishing a strong writing practice (set as a free preview lesson today so you can, if you like), you’ll know that she started painting to save her own life, following a devastating head-on […]
I am thrilled to announce the first scholarship recipient for my upcoming online course, Writing Teaches Writing: Mohamad Kebbewar. Born and raised in Aleppo, Mohamad Kebbewar was educated and spent half his life in Canada. Since the start of the Syrian War he has found solace in writing. He recently published a chapbook with JackPine […]
Ah, 2018. As the year comes to a close I’m considering what it’s meant for me. I’ll remember it as the one during which my husband and I found our forever-home, where my mother nearly died the day after we moved in (but didn’t, thank the stars!). It’ll also be the year that I got up […]