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 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
Reflections on writing with Mel Williams… Read More »
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
Reflections on writing with Dennis Bock…. Read More »
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
Reflections on writing with Merrie-Ellen Wilcox… Read More »
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
Reflections on writing with Martha Bátiz… Read More »
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
Reflections on writing with Maryann Kerr… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Halina St. James endorses the quote, “There’s no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.” Halina St. James is a former international TV News journalist from Canada, whose assignments included Iraq during the first Gulf War, the Romanian Revolution, and three Olympic Games. When
Reflections on writing with Halina St. James… Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute Paige Gant says that writing even 10 bad words is far better than not writing at all…. Paige Gant is a writer living in Vancouver, Canada. She holds a BA in English and History from Simon Fraser University (SFU) and is a graduate of The
Reflections on writing with Paige Gant… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Writer Beni Xiao urges writers not to adopt the voice of previous generations, but to write so that current-day audiences can understand what they are saying. Beni Xiao is an artist and author of Bad Egg (2017, Rahila’s Ghost Press). They are queer, trans, disabled,
Reflections on writing with Beni Xiao… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Andrew Binks says that having the chance to ruminate, without being connected to any device, helps to make him a better writer…. Andrew Binks is the author of two novels, Strip (Nightwood Editions, long listed for the Lambda awards) and The Summer Betweeen (Nightwood Editions).
Reflections on writing with Andrew Binks… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Josée Bergeron says that spending time outdoors every day is essential to her creative process…. Josée Bergeron is a French-Canadian Indigenous Métis mother of five (ages two to 17) and the founder of Backwoods Mama, a nature-based parenting community. Originally from the northern interior of
Reflections on writing with Josée Bergeron Read More »
