People

Interview at the Quarantine Review Podcast

| News, People, The Quiet is Loud, Writing

I was recently interviewed by my friend Teri Vlassopoulos for the Quarantine Review podcast! Not only was I thrilled to be involved with the Quarantine Review again, but I got to virtually chat with Teri while sitting in my surprisingly soundproof closet, balancing my laptop and my microphone, being so much in awe of Teri’s smooth interviewing skills that I probably rambled a bit too much trying to sound as cool as her. Check out […]

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the best writing group

Semi-Retired Hens: In praise of the best writing group

| People, Writing

One February morning last year, I shuffled along a snowy Toronto sidewalk, internally freaking out. I was on my way to the very first meeting of my new writing group. My friend Teri had set it up, and while I trusted her, I didn’t know what to expect. Would we all get along? Would I fit in? Would we be able to help each other? One year later, we have a name (the Semi-Retired Hens), our

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Tove Jansson

“Freedom is the best thing” – Reading ‘Tove Jansson: Work and Love’

| People, Reading, Writing | 2 Comments

I’m half-Finnish, but I didn’t know what a Moomin was until I was an adult. Maybe that’s not entirely true; I do have a dim memory of receiving a Moominpapa piggybank as a child, but I had no idea what what the character was supposed to be. However, as an adult I did finally learn, and I began also to learn about the Moomins’ creator, Tove Jansson. And I began to like her quite a

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November 2008, Calgary.

| Misc., People, Places, Writing

The boy crosses the street towards the School for Bad Children. It is cold but his jacket is unzipped and hangs from his shoulders. He calls cheerfully to his waiting teacher, “I just saw some of my old friends but I walked right by them!” And I think of all the worlds of meaning in this scene and that sentence. I am going to recycle the following: Some kids from the elementary school near my

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writing 2010

Doris Lessing and wool-gathering

| People, Reading, Writing

I found an old post from a different blog (called “Wordscience” – not to be confused with another, more talented Samantha!), written in 2010 as I was reading the second volume of Doris Lessing’s autobiography. This excerpt has always stuck with me, and I thought it worthy to share here too: Impossible to describe a writer’s life, for the real part of it cannot be written down. How did my day go in those early

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Some girls wander by mistake.

| Misc., People, Places, Writing

Recently I went down a Sisters of Mercy-induced nostalgia spiral, and this particular nostalgia spiral was of a different sort than usual, because it led me to a time period I’m not used to feeling nostalgic for. In high school I used to listen to the Sisters of Mercy, but I also listened to all kinds of things. I used to look forward to ’80s “Retro Night” on the radio each Sunday, but I also

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And feet that run but they come back home

| Misc., People, Places

When you move back to your hometown, nobody warns you about the absence of time. The way you can hold your palm to things that have happened. You can watch them happen again, they do happen again, it’s so easy, and makes so much sense. You don’t even have to try. You remember, and you forget again. You can still be surprised, if you want to be. Related: Memory things.

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Food in writing

| Misc., People, Reading

As I wrote about last year when I read Ethan Frome, descriptions of meals in books are one of the things that really catch my attention when I’m reading. I like to imagine how all the elements of the meal work together. I read this description recently in Margaret Drabble’s The Ice Age: Sadie brought her a tray full of chicken soup and chopped liver and cold chicken and cold salmon and salad and fruit and

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