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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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                    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. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Last week was a banner week for my good friend Sandra Kasturi and ChiZine Publications.  Both the Aurora and Sunburst Awards were announced and the tally for CZP and friends was impressive. Sunburst Awards 2018 Best Novel:  The Bone Mother by David Demchuk (published by CZP) Best Short Story:  “The Beautiful Gears of Dying” by […]

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It may just be the throes of first love, but I’m definitely enjoying my writing dates with the amazing, astounding, and inspirational Gemma Files.  We meet up at Balzac’s on Market Street, stake out two small side-by-side tables, set up our laptops and go at it, with breaks to discuss movies, plot points, and more.  […]

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Back from two gorgeous weeks in Haliburton, Ontario.  The weather was almost perfect and even the cool days were considered a relief from this sweltering summer.  We were swimming right up until the last day. However, the glorious weather meant I did not accomplish as much as I might have hoped on the writing front (sure, blame […]

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