Publishing
No Magic Solution To Criticism: In Conversation with Sr. Rita Woehlcke
As you know, my dear friend Sr. Rita is undergoing chemo for cancer, a disease she calls her “Wisdom Companion.” She has written, and continues to write, about the wisdom she is receiving as she is on this journey. You can read her essays on this blog. Just look in the search engine. The other…
Read MoreThe Wheel Turns To Remind Us
A blessed Lughnasadh/Lammas to all. After a brutal spate of heat (that many are still suffering), I woke to a cool wet morning. The creek has been alarmingly low these past weeks. The deer tiptoe across and barely get their hooves wet. It rained for a couple of hours last night, but hardly enough to…
Read MoreDo You Keep Writing? Three Lessons
Every day I hear from writers who tell me how impossible it is to keep going, how they are broken by this ‘business’ and they see no reason to continue. Often this means they see no reason to continue living, since being a writer/creator/artist is so deeply embedded in the soul as the archetype by…
Read MoreA Return to the Beginning
T.S. Eliot’s Little Gidding. These lines: We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Circles. Wheels. In Indigenous spirituality, in Pagan spirituality worldwide, as well as in mystical forms of all major religions, this form has…
Read MoreBooklikes Interview — Part II
Last week I told you I was interviewed by the kind folks at Booklikes.com (You can read Part I of the interview here.) Well, the second part of the interview is now up, and if you’re interested in things like book recommendations, a couple of inspirational quotes and some writing advice… just click here! Thanks,…
Read MoreAdvice to Writers
Here’s a wee bit from the opening of my interview: How did you become a writer? A deceptively complicated question. Does one ‘become’ a writer, or is one born a writer? I’ve written ever since I was a kid, a great deal of bad poetry in my twenties, which was wisely refused by all the best…
Read MoreThe Agenda with Steve Paikin
I’m delighted to say my televised interview with the WONDERFUL Steve Paikin, on his show “The Agenda” is now available for your viewing pleasure. We did lots of gabbing about THE EMPTY ROOM. You can see it by clicking here. Of all the interviews I’ve done over the years, Steve’s might just be my favorite. …
Read MoreInspiration and Illustrations
I’m back home from the tour now and hunkering in over the next novel amidst thunderstorms and trees crashing down and a wild turkey and her brood who have taken up refuge in our garden (which seems a strange decision given the trees crashing down). Still, things are going on out there in the world…
Read MoreThis Will Probably Get Me Into Hot Water
Jared Bland, the editor at the Globe & Mail, recently asked what I thought was the biggest danger to emerging writers. Without hesitation I said, “Self-publishing.” He threw back his head and laughed and said it was the best answer he’d heard to date. And, just as quickly, I thought — oh dear, here come…
Read MoreWhy Write About THEM?
Every now and then someone asks me, why do you write about people like that? I ask, people like what? Well, these folks say, you seem like a pretty happy person, more or less, and you have a great marriage and you like where you live and you love your dog and you don’t worry…
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