Word Power My teen daughter reminded me of a powerful tool in our writer’s arsenal: diction. Word choice. It matters what words we choose.  She told me that her friend was complaining about a strange girl in their class who … Continue reading →

Skill vs Experience When I decided to get another tattoo, I went to the tattoo parlour and asked who would be the best artist for my vision. Since I wanted to include colour, I was referred to Karl. I therefore … Continue reading →

The Real World of Writing Drew Hayden Taylor is a renowned Canadian Indigenous author known for his humour and sharp insight. I taught his novels and plays in my high school English classes, so I was excited when I got … Continue reading →

Writing is Like Life My grocery store is undergoing renovations. It’s frustrating! Every week, products are scattered in different places. If I were an optimist, I’d feel like I was on an exciting new treasure hunt, but dammit, I have … Continue reading →

Why We Don’t Walk Away Do you ever just want to give up on your writing? Throw in the towel? Walk away?  Yeah, me too.  A lot.  Welcome to the writing world! I’m not sure why we put ourselves through … Continue reading →

YOUR Way Many, many moons ago, I met a YA author who also happen to be a teacher in my school board. I was enthralled with her success, and, I admit, vehemently jealous. How had she managed to find time to teach and write, … Continue reading →

Someone Who Writes Are we writers if we don’t have readers? It takes both to create a memorable story, so if we haven’t yet gotten our work published—or we don’t even want to publish it, not in the mainstream market anyway—are we … Continue reading →

No Formula You know the expression “know the rules before you break the rules”? Yeah, well, in writing there are no rules. There are best practices and methods to follow. There are suggestions to get better and ways to improve, but there are … Continue reading →

Sharing Ourselves There’s a line in my YA fantasy, Evangeline’s Heaven, when Michael, Evangeline’s enemy-love interest expresses his admiration for her. My kids chuckled “Didn’t Dad tell you that when you started dating?” No one else would catch that detail, though, … Continue reading →

Old Habits Die Hard I’ve learned a lot over the many years I’ve been writing, both self-taught lessons (often the hard way!) as well as from professionals. I have a much better idea of what works and what doesn’t. But … Continue reading →