I started this past Saturday night sipping dirty martinis with an old friend under a framed map of Rupert’s Land. A bright red swath swept northwest, right over present-day Manitoba and up to where The Pas would be. A scrawled date in black ink said 17-something. From there, I walked a few blocks west on […]
In November, with the gift-giving spirit gurgling up in me, I had an idea. I thought I’d write down a few of my thoughts about writing, about what to first focus on in order to make a convincing world out of words. I’d write this down for you, I thought: my readers and my potential […]
On the last Monday of my Writer-in-Residence gig in The Pas, I got locked inside the library. Not the part with all the books, but the back room, what’s called the Annex. In that space, under the humming lights, with tea made in the staff kitchen, with the sounds of snow-machines flying by on the […]
The first Thursday of each month (second Thursday this month, due to circumstances), I post a Q-and-A with a Canadian author. Read more about who exactly is asking the questions, and if you’re a published writer and want to take part, let me know! This month: Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, whose most recent novel All the Broken […]
Last week, the crematorium where Ulrich had been sent burned to the ground. Once we got over the shock, we said, Of course it did. That has Ulrich’s fingers all over it, my brother said. He wasn’t one to do anything ordinarily. He had a flair for the dramatic. Given the choice, he’d opt for adventure […]
This past Tuesday, December 16, my step-father left a pot of tea steeping on his desk and went for a walk in the woods. He did not return. Out on the rocky path, under the white pines, he died of a sudden heart attack. Nobody ever thought this would happen. I mean, who does? But, […]
These days, I’m tuned into the All-Short-Stories-All-The-Time channel in my brain as I work on a collection. Here are a few of the things I’ve been reading, watching, and considering: The Journey Prize Stories: the annual collection of excellent stories nominated by Canadian literary journals for consideration for a $10,000 prize (the ones in the […]
Who are you? I am a poet and mother of three who has tried over the last 20 years to write and have a family while working at various other jobs (teaching and editing mainly), volunteering, being a friend, daughter, sister, etc. I’m from Middlesex County in southwestern Ontario, and though I haven’t lived in […]
My mom recommended a book to me last week. It sounded interesting so I jotted down the title because I’ve been in the midst of a dry spell since I turned the final page on All My Puny Sorrows and wiped the tears off my cheeks. You know how it is: that abrupt end of […]
I can be a bit of a suck. I don’t mind admitting this, because anyone who knows me, pretty much knows it’s true. Partly this is due to the fact that I’m the baby of the family, and as such, my older siblings often ended up having to put aside their own needs for the […]