Reading time: About 2 minutes
Meg Todd has a motto for writing: Get it down as fast as you can, and then edit slowly.
Meg Todd grew up in the Alberta prairies. Her novel, Most Grievous Fault, was released in the fall of 2025. Exit Strategies, her debut short story collection, was a finalist for both the ReLit Award and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Todd holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Calgary. She lives on Vancouver Island.
I was excited to talk to Meg about how she approaches writing.
Q. Roughly how much time do you spend writing every day?
I let the writing rule and don’t hold myself to a schedule. Some days I write for hours, some days it’s short bursts, and some days little more than a sentence here or there. In the end, the writing calls. A day or two without writing unsettles me.
Q. What’s a simple activity or habit that makes you a better writer?
Reading. And paying attention.
Q. What interferes with your writing?
I’d like to say that I don’t always have as much time to write as I’d like, but I think it’s more accurate to say that I don’t always make as much time as I’d like. In other words, I interfere with my writing.
Q. How do you persuade yourself to sit down to write on days when you really, really DON’T feel like doing it?
I don’t feel that I must write; I feel fortunate that I can write, and if, on a given day, I really don’t feel like writing, I listen to that feeling and do something else. Wonderful ideas can come from doing something else.
Q. Is there a particular motto or saying that you’ve found helpful for writing?
Get it down as fast as you can and then edit slowly.
Q. Which stage of the writing process do you enjoy the most: researching, writing or editing/rewriting and why?
I love first-draft writing, letting my mind go where it will and doing my best to keep up. Sometimes, however, it leads to nothing but a tangle and the unravelling can be frustrating. I also really enjoy the editing and the rewriting. Once I have the material, the reworking, deleting, honing, and crafting of that material is very satisfying. I’m happy to spend a long time doing this.
Q. What’s one of the best books you’ve read (either fiction or non) in the last five years?
What I’d Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma.
Q. What book are you reading right now?
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy.
Q. What do you think is the biggest misperception that new writers have about the act of writing?
That a first draft is a finished piece.
