You can read all the writing advice in the world, but in the end, it all comes down to how YOU approach the page or the screen. To help illustrate how we’re all just a little bit different, I’m taking a standard list of questions about writing and posing it to dozens of different writers. As you scroll though their answers, I think you’ll see we’re all as individual as fingerprints or snowflakes. And if you’re a writer who’d like to participate in this questionnaire, please email me.
Reading time: About 1 minute Melanie Jackson says that writers would benefit from adapting the Hemingway strategy of “less is more.” Melanie Jackson is a freelance Vancouver writer/editor. As well as corporate-communications work, Melanie contributes to The Seaboard Review of Books. She’s also the author of such middle-grade/young-adult suspensers, mostly with […]
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Reading time: About 2 minutes When Ryad Assani-Razaki doesn’t feel like writing, he still positions himself at his computer desk. “Whether or not I end up writing, I’ve put myself in the right conditions to do so,” he says. Born in West African Republic of Benin, Ryad Assani-Razaki moved to North
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Rue Matthiessen says that taking an 18-month break from her most recent book helped her to see its flaws and understand how to fix them… Rue Matthiessen is a writer based on the East End of Long Island. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice, her
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Farah Ghafoor encourages new writers to follow their own interests and write about what is most captivating to them. Farah Ghafoor is an award-winning poet based in Toronto, Ontario. Her debut collection of poetry, recently released by House of Anansi Press. Shadow Price, explores the idea of
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Reading time: About one minute Canadian writer Nicholas Ruddock says that writing is neither easy nor hard. Instead, “it’s a million steps between”…. Nicholas Ruddock is a Canadian physician and writer. He has published three novels, The Parabolist, Night Ambulance, and Last Hummingbird West of Chile (audiobook by Gerard Doyle
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Mel Williams believes that writing is less a talent and more of a learned practice and a deliberate act… Mel Williams is a Toronto-based writer living with an acquired disability. She practices narrative advocacy — telling stories that quietly challenge societal norms and broaden our
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Reading time: About 2 minutes When he writes, Dennis Bock tries to keep the two most important qualities of his ideal reader in mind — intelligence and impatience. Dennis Bock is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. Dennis grew up in Oakville, Ontario and completed a degree in English
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Merrie-Ellen Wilcox says she can never restrict herself to reading a single book and can often be found starting whatever shiny new book happens to pass her by… A resident of Victoria, B.C., Merrie-Ellen Wilcox is a partner in West Coast Editorial Associates and has been
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Reading time: About 4 minutes Martha Bátiz says she’s never afraid or ashamed of early drafts. “They are the rock that you’ll slowly shape into a statue,” she says…. Martha Bátiz is an award-winning writer, translator, and professor of creative writing and Spanish language and literature. She is the author
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Maryann Kerr likes to live by the Annie Dillard quote, “How you spend your days is how you spend your life”…. Maryann Kerr is a leadership consultant who has dedicated her career to the social impact, nonprofit, and charitable space. She is an author and
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