Stories Are About WHO What if you just have nothing to say?  You want to write; you have ideas floating around your head, and maybe even that cursed cursor blinking disparagingly at you, your doc open, page blank. But it’s … Continue reading →

People, not Numbers In the social media world—actually, in the real world, too—we’re judged on numbers. Numbers of followers, numbers of likes, number of subscribers, number of sales, number of readers… For someone like me who is allergic to numbers … Continue reading →

The Raw Material of Writing Ideas are easy; writing is hard.  Ideas are what live in our imagination. They’re what we spool out of our head into a plethora of directions. They’re fun to think about, to work with, to … Continue reading →

Write Your Own A+ Story My daughter’s professor explained that the expectation for a “A” essay was to enlighten her with an analysis she hadn’t seen before. At first glance, it seems like a sound criteria for a high-level university … Continue reading →

Writing is Real Life When I joined a community book club, I didn’t know any other members, but I’ve enjoyed getting to know them. It turns out one young woman had attended the same high school I’d taught at for … Continue reading →

Writing Is Its Own Beauty We had a big snowstorm here recently, and as I was (inside, snuggly and cozy) staring out my back window, I noticed a tree had fallen and been caught horizontally among neighbouring trees. With the … Continue reading →

Your Identity As a Writer The identity of “writer” isn’t conditional. It’s not an action. It’s a state of mind. It’s being a writer, not just doing writing. Can you be a writer and never set words to paper? Yes. Are you an … Continue reading →

The Aura of a Writer At university, my daughter was stopped by a friendly, random stranger to ask if she was an athlete. Surprised, my daughter wasn’t sure how to respond. She loves sports and used to play, but isn’t … Continue reading →

Labels Can Be Important How excited was I when I found out there was a name for me! A label! I “suffer” from tsundoku, a Japanese term for the phenomenon of acquiring reading material but letting them pile up in one’s … Continue reading →

How You Think You may have heard the phrase “how you live each day is how you live your life”. I like the practicality of that—what is life if not a collection of days, weeks, months and years?—but I also … Continue reading →