Places

Filipino stories

Filipino culture in my writing – a pledge

| Places, Reading, The Quiet is Loud, Writing

After reading a couple of speculative fiction novels that incorporate non-European mythology (Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson and Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James), and really wonderful conversations with my editor, I’ve renewed my commitment to incorporating Filipino folk tales and mythology in The Quiet is Loud. My dad used to read to me from the book on the right, as bedtime stories. The sun and the moon as living things […]

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Clock & Bell

| Misc., Places, Writing

When I think about some of the memorable parts of my years writing online, I’m usually most nostalgic for the earliest years: 1997-2001-ish. But recently, I fell into a different sort of nostalgia spiral. I forget how it even started, but I found myself missing the way blogging was just a handful of years ago. In 2008, when I was living in Calgary, I started a new blog called Clock & Bell. I’d started it

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history of fictional worlds

The history of fictional worlds

| Misc., Myth | Lore | History, Places, Reading, Writing | 2 Comments

In 2016, I wrote the following blog post for my history blog, The Small Histories. I was thinking about it again recently and wanted to share it here as well – book lovers will appreciate it! Also, I had to actually laugh out loud when I read “I’m not a worldbuilding sort of writer” – Oh if only the me of 2016 knew that worldbuilding would be ALL she’d do just two years later!

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DIY writing retreat tips

My DIY writing retreat – what I learned

| Places, Writing | 3 Comments

In 2008, I booked myself a hotel for the night for a DIY writing retreat, after being frustrated at not being able to afford a traditional retreat, and also too impatient to wait for one I could afford. I’d been meaning to do it again since then, and last weekend I finally did. Here’s how my DIY writing retreat went, and what I learned. Finding a good DIY writing retreat location If you read the

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Writing on Manitoulin Island

My summer of sorta writing

| Places, Writing

It’s been fall for a few days now, and it’s probably the third one in a row where I can look back on my summer writing and actually feel fairly impressed. Usually, summer is terrible for my writing. In my part of Ontario the summers are scorching, humid, and long. Many people love this, but I tend to wilt and become sluggish and annoyed. In the past this has meant my writing becomes sluggish too,

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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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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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Ruins of St Mary’s Abbey, York

| Places

In 2010 I visited York, England. I’d always wanted to go there, primarily because I was excited about all the historical sights in the town. My site’s header comes from that trip – it’s a small bit of what remains of St Mary’s Abbey, a Benedictine abbey established in 1088. As a Canadian, finding a structure that old and still standing was amazing. And it was made no less amazing by the fact that it was

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