I’ve been stalled on both the “real” thing and the “let’s pretend this isn’t real” thing because it seems I can no longer turn off my internal editor and everything is hard. This, naturally, means I have even less to say on this benighted blog than usual.  So today’s topic is: how to justify the […]

[Read more →]

I’ve been feeling stuck on the Witch Thing in Progress (see avoidance behaviour post) and so I thought “why not try writing something fun? Something silly and frothy and maybe a wee bit fanfic-ish and romantic and without world-building or pressure or magic systems or any of those things that scare you.” I dutifully hauled […]

[Read more →]

To clarify, the avoidance is all on my side.  The teachers on the Masterclass site are doing their jobs.  My husband decided to sign up for a year’s access to the online learning site, Masterclass, which features lectures from such luminaries as Ron Howard, Steve Martin, and Annie Leibowitz.  It’s not cheap but we figured […]

[Read more →]

As with most things, I came to the podcast world a bit late.  The first one I followed was Welcome to Nightvale, based on a recommendation from friends.  That led to Alice isn’t Dead.  Then to Writing Excuses, then to Revisionist History, and on. The first summer I was off after liberation from work, I discovered […]

[Read more →]

A number of year’s ago, after reading Sarah Susanka’s book The Not-So-Big Life, I adopted a year-end ritual that involves asking myself some questions from the book about what I learned, achieved, and failed to do in the previous year.  I’d then set out my goals for the new year.  I now have over ten […]

[Read more →]

I don’t keep lists or rate things in Goodreads (I know, I know, I should, but it seems like writing work and I try to save my creativity for my own stuff).  The only reason I know roughly how many books I read this year is because much of my reading comes via the Toronto […]

[Read more →]

I saw yet another writer saying “there’s no such thing as writer’s block” on Twitter today.  I almost replied … but I mostly just lurk on social media and so I thought I’d write this post instead. I’m not sure how all these other writers define writer’s block.  Mostly they seem to assume that it’s […]

[Read more →]

                    Another year, another 10,000 words in November.  To be precise, another 10,027 words, which is 6 words more than last year’s result. (This is not at all suspicious or reflective of the fact that I grind out enough words to make the target and no more. […]

[Read more →]

This is definitely my year for reading books by musicians.       My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love by Dessa (one of my favourite musicians ever) is about love, about trying to cure love with science, about family, about writing, and about the life of being a […]

[Read more →]

Halloween may be over but you haven’t missed your chance to score this incredible Story Bundle offer.  Seriously, you can’t go wrong.  Just $15 gets you: Experimental Film. Gemma Files’ Shirley Jackson award winner. One of the most highly praised horror novels of the last few years. October. A novella by Michael Rowe about the […]

[Read more →]