I got a lot of use out the delete button over the past month while working on my thesis novel. So far, the thesis process has gone down more or less like this: Draft one: 60,000 words. Written over two summers, including all the outlining and such. Draft two: 89,000…
Read MoreIn no particular order... 1. America: the service really is better, notwithstanding the grumpy man at the New York Times booth (Picture not available). 2. But all the medical ads are unsettling. Also, did you know the art gallery doesn't allow guns on the premises? Now you do. [caption id=""…
Read MoreI recently got tagged in the Canadian Writers’ Writing Process Blog Tour, which has been going around for months. I was tagged by Ottawa writer Cameron Anstee. So, I’ve got four questions to answer: 1. What am I working on? Well, this is awkward, because that was what my last…
Read MoreWhat I’m talking about is SPACE. Somewhere along the way, someone took my space from me. Okay, everyone took my space from me. I didn’t have it for very long, and I miss it so. I remember as a child, how I longed for my own room. Do kids even…
Read MoreIt had been a long time since I had really spent time with writers. Sure, I have my local people whom I see at literary and social events, but I just don't get out to those things (or anything) much in my state of advanced decrepitude. Mostly, my interaction with…
Read More[caption id="attachment_277" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Look closely at the amount."][/caption]
Read MoreThis installment of Books I Have Loved is actually more like Books I Currently Love, and am reading, and reading, and reading, and reading, again, and again, and again, and again. To my toddler, that is, and if you have or ever have had a toddler, you know what I…
Read MoreI interviewed Anita Daher, today's CreComm guest speaker and Winnipeg writer extraordinaire, by email just before classes started--but decided to save it for when she arrived to speak about her extensive experience as a children's writer. Note carefully her point about grammar and how editors roll their eyes! 1. What’s…
Read MoreI didn’t post last weekend while I was at the CCWWP founding conference, though anyone who follows me on Twitter cannot have failed to notice my incessant tweeting about it. Many jokes were made about the CCWWP needing to be on the back of a Cold War–era hockey jersey. It…
Read MoreAnother series of posts I'm working on: jobs I've had, and what I learned from them. Today: working on Hansard, which, as you probably know, is the official record of debate in Canadian (among other) legislatures. For three weeks, until I got a better job offer, I was a transcriptionist…
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