Writing About Writing

I recently saw Sweet Ride as a musical before reading the book—a reversal of my usual preference. Set in 1943, the story follows four women cycling over 500 miles from Nova Scotia to PEI during WWII. The theatre production was delightful, but the book gave me more to chew on—especially as a writer. While I…

Helen grew up in Northeastern BC. I grew up in Northwestern BC. I know the towns and roads she mentions in the book. And yet I know so little about the life that she led. The colonial town of Kitimat, where I lived, was fifteen kilometres from the reservation of Kitamaat, home of the Haisla…

One lesson that stayed with me from that first reading was the importance of writing a crappy first draft…For me, the first draft is about getting the ideas out of my head and onto the page. The act of writing itself helps me clarify and organize my thoughts. Until they’re written down, those ideas are…

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been accepted into the Master of Arts in Creative Nonfiction program at the University of King’s College. Going back to school is both exciting. I can’t wait to see what I’m going to learn, but also to meet amazing people.  My goal with this degree is to finally write…

This isn’t your typical book review. I’m not going to summarize the plot in detail; instead, I’ll share why I recommend the book and, more importantly, what I learned about writing by reading it. Because right now, I’m reading (and re-reading) memoirs with a purpose: to improve my own storytelling.

I tried writing this morning and I found a “new” feature in my writing app, which is current Scrivener. All of a sudden, Scrivener had predictive text. This is a feature that is sometimes useful when you are writing a text or email on your phone. It helps you write something quickly when your reply…