I like junk food. This controversial viewpoint may astound you. What sort of monster would enjoy grabbing a handful of chips, a square of chocolate, a doughnut hole? But just as I enjoy mini-bombs of sugar, salt, and/or fat, I know that filling up on them at the expense of…
Warning: more rambling than usual! I am of an age and in a relationship where, although I know I don’t want kids right away, they are a possibility at an ever-approaching point down the line. Many of my female peers in heterosexual relationships seem to be having or to have…
Dear younger self and others, You’ve decided to join a critique group? More than one? I’m so glad! Joining a critique group is one of the most important steps to improving your writing to publishable quality. The opinions of readers who are also fellow writers can show you the weak…
When I was walking out of the first writing conference I ever attended, an SCBWI Canada East conference in Ottawa, two older women stopped me. I must have looked a little lost, wandering around alone. I was still in high school, and if I’m nervous about networking now, back then,…
Group projects. I’m sorry, I should have given you more warning before including something so terrifying in this blog post. Do you need a few minutes? Let’s wade in slowly. groouuuu…. ouuuppp… projects. (phew!) I have never encountered a single student who seemed pleased to be given a group, rather…
Last week, I tried to persuade you to join me in my fangirling for Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series. This week, allow me to make the case for another series. Just like last week’s, this one is incomplete; just like last week’s, the final volume is scheduled for publication in…
Dear friends and family: so many of you are waiting for the next installment of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice saga. I can’t say that I feel your exact pain, since I’m not into Game of Thrones, but I do know the frustration of waiting…
(But first, apologies: between a week’s vacation at the family cottage and novel revisions, I’m afraid I’ve let this blog lie fallow two Mondays in a row!) As I’ve stated before on this blog, I believe the author is dead. That is: the intentions of the creator of a narrative…
Last week, when I was sharing some thoughts about Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, I mentioned that including diversity of sexual orientations in a story doesn’t necessarily mean including sexual acts. I’d like to expand on that. The place and profession where I’m most cognizant of…
No, not this one, of which I wasn’t too fond. This one. One of the awesomest parts of being a writer is that watching and reading fantastic stories is a legitimate way of learning to be better at what I do (some would say the best way). I get the…