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I had a conversation recently with a fellow writer about being funny. My friend wants to introduce humour into her writing. She's someone who often writes about heavy, political topics, that don't easily lend themselves to hilarity. We don't often chortle over ...

If you are a writer and a parent who has ever used a charming – or not so charming – anecdote about your children to start a story, you’ll want to read Phoebe Maltz Bovy’s article “The Ethical Implications of Parents Writing ...

Writing awards are sweet and sour. Like my mother's meatballs. Only worse. The first time I entered a piece in a writing contest, I was secretly certain that I would/could/should win. I did not win. And worse, I received judge's comments in ...

As a new year of writing begins, it can be helpful to take a few moments and actively plan an approach to expanding writing horizons and going deeper where you already are. My year already includes some fairly hefty projects, including acting as managing ...

I do not eat Gorgonzola. At least not to the extent that Emma Teitel does, but I did relate to her column in a recent MacLean's, where she writes about the perils from working from home — as a writer. Teitel writes: ...

I'm right in the middle of a collaborative, creative project. I am taking the supportive role in this one, viewing rough footage of two thought leaders in the simple living and justice movement in conversation with each other. I jot down what strikes ...

What are your favourite writing books? Most writers I know went through a time in their professional development when they were reading more about writing than actually doing any writing. I look back at that stage as my cocooning — necessary and ...

Will Ferguson's Giller-Prize winning novel, 419, features Laura, an editor, as the main character. It was fun to peek inside the life of a freelance copy editor, even at a horrible moment in her life. She is a hero, of course, as ...

National Post writer Ben Kaplan's article "A Runner Hits the Wall"  grabbed me for its honesty about the writing life. Kaplan shares the harsh criticism, "awful on all levels," he received years ago from a failed screenplay, and then his more recent ...

I believe that my last story on my May trip to visit South Sudan refugee camps has been published. But I'm sure that trip will continue to feed my writing in the days ahead. I recently thumbed through my notes from the trip, captured ...

Yesterday I picked up Alice Munro's latest novel Dear Life. This summer I reread Lives of Girls and Women and remembered why I love Munro's writing so very much. She is one of the very few authors I will re-read. The other ...

It was a picture of the log that I really wanted, stretching away from me toward the water. Then, Dewey my dog leaped up on it and his legs filled my viewfinder, like a muppet on the run. That was the picture. ...