Some women actually like this?
Seriously. If it wasn’t for the weeks (okay years) of sleepless nights ahead of me I would be so done with this whole making-a-baby-in-my-tummy business.
Read MoreTag: life
Mother’s day confession: I only have three stickers on my SUV…and I may be okay with that
So, when are you going to have the next one?” said my friend Dan yesterday, a half peeled banana in one hand. I was standing with some friends outside of a school playground—none of us quite yet ready to face the buckles and straps waiting in our cars. Two held jiggling infants in their arms while […]
Read MoreProject GET MY MOM TO BLOG
My mother has started making hats out of old sweaters. When I suggested she start a blog about her repurposed creations, my mom responded by scrunching up her nose like I just gave her tickets to an Eminem concert. “Why would I do that?” she said. I tried to tell her about all the amazing wool […]
Read MoreVulnerability: lessons from writing on living (with help from Brene Brown)
I wrote a memoir manuscript once. It wasn’t very good. I could tell when one of the teen readers I work-shopped it with scrunched up her nose and said she just didn’t connect with the voice. Years later I finally understand what it was lacking. It’s the same thing that makes ‘evil-doing’ characters into ones that […]
Read MoreThe Succesful Query Letter: doing the opposite of everything I have been ever been told
Because sending emails with missing attachments, pocket updating my Facebook status with such as gems as ‘Jackie is slkdjfsldf’ and broken links on my LinkedIn account weren’t enough I have recently been introduced to a whole new arena of potentially damaging electronic embarrassment: the query letter. Misspelling agency names, classifying my work in the wrong […]
Read MoreMy loserly Christmas: on getting dumped by a literary agent
The only thing worse than getting dumped by your boyfriend right before the holiday is getting dumped by your literary agent. I know, I have experienced both. My three-year long long relationship with a certain BC-based agency was terminated earlier this month after the agent representing me decided to retire. At least that was the […]
Read MoreMaking space for awesomeness…and some new writerly freinds
There is nothing like moving to make me ball like a teacup chiuaua. It happened when I went to Japan, then again when I moved across the country to Ottawa, and most recently, just a few kilometres away from my Vancouver home—thus giving up my cozy little apartment, my friends, my workplace, and my […]
Read MoreLouis C.K.: It’s good to feel bad
Today is my birthday. It’s also the first time in three weeks that I haven’t spent every free moment reading and applying for every job posting that I could possibly be qualified for that doesn’t involve turquoise visors and head mics. Because today, in honor of the anniversary of my arrival in this life, I […]
Read MoreWriting, money, and TOTAL PANIC…Miller-style
How doth the successful author lead their lives? In his self-titled book on writing, Henry Miller claims that the key is “writ[ing] first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.” Sure, I can agree that if I’m really serious about my craft I should probably wait till after I’ve reached my daily […]
Read MoreGoodsreads poll on how not get dumped
Sometimes all my sentences sound stunted. Other times I wonder what is wrong with me that I can’t spell ‘unfortuentley’ right for once? Then I become Totally Convinced that my main character is as fake and unbelievable as Apple Pie Extra. Then I cry. Thankfully none of that apparently matters—at least 46.4% of the time. […]
Read More
