My biggest barrier to getting words on the page is time, closely followed by the paradox of choice. For me, this paradox is the clash of excellent ideas with planned projects, and it would paralyse me if I didn’t have a few tricks to snap me out of it. These four continue to serve me … Continue reading
Latest Entries
New directions.
Lately I have been experimenting with pictures, sound, and video as storytelling tools. Part of my process has resulted in completely new works; some of it has involved enriching stories already posted on this blog. I will share new works with you in future posts. For now, I invite you to revisit past posts with … Continue reading
Counting blessings.
These past few weeks, I have been counting my blessings. In a writerly sense, this year has already brought me a shortlisting and publication of four short fictions. Later this year, I will be a Writer-in-Residence at the Peter Cowan Writers Centre, thanks largely to my 2017 FAWWA residency and my refusal to be genre-bound. I … Continue reading
Word magick.
It’s a bit like Rumpelstiltskin, isn’t it? While everyone else is sleeping, you channel ideas into golden threads, weaving them into stories and settings. Because writing fiction is a mysterious act. Being able to conjure entire worlds, let alone characters and plots, from beyond one’s own mind is a kind of magick. “Writer” seems an … Continue reading
She’s done this to it.
In 1984, a six-year-old girl who fancied herself a writer attended a school she didn’t like with a crotchety teacher she liked even less. The adults in her life convinced her that she should learn to fit into this school-shaped hole and find something other than writing stories to earn real money, because money was … Continue reading
A simple wish.
She watched her mum preen and pick out a dress, putting her hair up, looking her best. “Why can’t I come with you? I don’t want my bed. I want to be an adult right now!” she said. Her mum replied softly, “My dear heart, don’t fret. You have plenty of life ahead of you … Continue reading
Sharer’s block.
I don’t get writer’s block: I get sharer’s block. I missed last week’s blog post because of it, the first one I have missed all year. Sometimes I write a piece and I think, ‘That’s pretty good!’ But, by the time I have given it a day or a week to ferment, it morphs into … Continue reading
