I am struggling to maintain a dayenu mindset. On Passover, one of the highlights of the telling of the story of the Exodus is the song Dayenu. One by one, singers list each of the miraculous things God did for B’nai Yisroel–aka the kin group that became us, the Jewish…
It took me a little longer this year, but, like I said, here’s how my goals for 2022 shook out! As I wrote after New Year’s, I purposely gave up on a lot of these, because I realized I didn’t want to do them anymore. That’s OK–and I hope, if…
A lot of the best stuff in my life this quarter has been specific to my location and situation. Pandemic-related restrictions have been loosened in my area, and I’m fortunate that the people I’m close to have access to vaccines. But I didn’t want to fill this entry with the…
This quarter included the transition between the end of semester and summer writing time and ever-changing pandemic protocol where I live. Here are a few things that helped me stay balanced. Foot powder (note: product name NSFW) No, the one I use isn’t marketed as foot powder, but that’s what…
Make fun of amateur improv performances as you will, but one of the most important ideas I’ve learned came from improv training: “Yes, and…” I competed in the Canadian Improv Games as a high-school student, and that’s when I learned a lot of standard improv concepts and exercises. “Yes, and…”…
As a writer, I love how Tamsyn Muir’s Harrow the Ninth (Locked Tomb Trilogy #2) is a genius masterclass in writing stories with heavy elements of grief. (There were a lot of other things I love about that book/series, of course, but that’s not what I’m rambling about today.) (no…
I’ve decided that finding out my idols have feet of clay is a good thing. In part, I’m deciding this out of necessity. With the direct contact between celebrities and fans facilitated by the Internet and 24-hour entertainment news, it’s easy to learn that J. K. Rowling is transphobic, that…
The novel I’m working on has two protagonists. Each has qualities and sides to her identity that I share, and each has some for which I have to use my empathy and imagination. For example, one’s gender presentation is masculine-of-centre, and so is mine. One is Jewish, and so am…
Since I love to read mysteries, it makes sense that I also love to write mysteries. When I write speculative fiction these days, my stories have an element of discovery and investigation. My characters uncover clues, wrestle with what they’ve learned to extract facts, and finally reach the conclusion around…
It’s cliché by now for affluent thirtysomethings like me to say we don’t feel like grown-ups. I mean, I don’t. I teach university students who are usually between 18 and 21 years old, and my gut feeling is that I’m close to “their age.” It doesn’t help that my gender…