If you've been reading my blogs for a while, you may have seen me write about this before (sorry to repeat myself). This time of year I can't help but note the date and think back. After three years it's habitual. Berlin, my brother's wedding, then my husband and I…
Common grackle. Red-winged blackbird. Cardinal. My favourite sounds, the sounds I remember from childhood camping trips, from walks around the neighbourhood, from lazy dreamy days. I note their return almost suddenly, just before dawn. My eyes open in the dark and I'm in mid-thought. I hear the birds outside, fluttering…
To those girls in the late nineties and at the turn of the century, those teenagers, who found each other through their blogs years before "blog" was a word. To those girls who resisted using the word "blog" when it did become a word. To those girls who felt the…
Recently I transfered a few old home movies from VHS to digital files to send to my brother in Germany. We discuss them over Skype, telling each other to go to a certain time marker and pay attention. What do you notice? What did that mean? Was this how you…
The last time I got a diploma or education-related certificate in anything was high school, and I don't recall it being almost as long as my torso. Then again, the Humber program feels bigger, more significant for me than high school did, so maybe it's appropriate.
I'm a morning writer. The earlier, the better. Before the world has really woken up, and while it's still quiet and slowly brightening outside. When there are only a few lights on in the building across the street, curtains left open and lamps left on. Hearing the small sounds of…
Winter has traditionally been my best writing season. My brain, which sloshes around sluggishly all summer, wakes up and wants to get to work. However, this winter I seem to still be "recovering" from the intensity of my Humber writing mentorship. Either that, or I'm still shaking off the holiday…
There's a new entry on Lumisilla mailla, the blog I write with my friend Susanna. I'm really enjoying making this blog with her. It feels like the cardboard "mailboxes" my childhood best friend and I kept on our front porches, and we'd write notes to each other and run across…
My Humber writing mentorship is over, and it's hard to talk about what I've learned since May. It's hard to talk about writing development without sounding foolish. What can I say that doesn't sound obvious, over-simple? And maybe a little boring? In fact, I rarely talk about it at all,…
I had a bulleted list of highlights written out about my seven-hour day spent at the International Festival of Authors (mostly) with Teri, but for some reason it all seems so personal. I think it has to do with the feeling of being a fan in the way Teri so wonderfully…
