If you’re not using IG to self-promote, you’re wasting an invaluable resource — It’s easy as a new writer to think this is how book publishing works: Have an idea! Write it down Find an editor (hopefully?) Find a publisher/develop the cover image/publish Market! Can you imagine, though, if any other producer worked this way? Ok, Jim, we’ve got a warehouse full of…

Why the sound of your language and rhythm of your sentence matters — The great Modernist editor Ezra Pound infamously divided poetry into melopoeia, phanopoeia, and logopoeia — or writing dominated by its sounds, by its images, or by its definitions. He then divvied up many of the major poets into which category their work showed strengths or weaknesses. It is melopoeis —…

5 simple ways to get started — A few years ago I took over as Game Master for a Pathfinder campaign, which is similar to Dungeons & Dragons. To prep for each game session, I started colouring maps and painting detailed miniatures, many of which are about as tall as your ring finger. …

Maybe an excess of beauty is the cure for our current malaise — “What are People For?” — Kurt Vonnegut, scrawled on a napkin A few weeks ago, I was really struggling through some frustrating thought loops. I was stuck. I was trying to problem-solve some unsolvable problems, and I was rapidly spiraling down the drain of despair. I teetered on the brink…

We know it isn’t easy, but here are 5 ways you can help — “To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.” — Georgia O’Keeffe Over the past 6 months, I’ve made the transition into freelance writing, editing, and Instagramming as my major occupation. …

My interview with Canadian Gothic novelist Becca Babcock — Award-winning writer Becca Babcock’s first novel, One Who Has Been Here Before, was released only a few weeks ago, and it’s already gaining nationwide attention. The Globe and Mail, for instance, included it on a list of “Five gripping thriller novels to help you beat lockdown blues”. Set in rural…

And other fixes for -ing problems — Writing this story, it was a hard thing to do. Wait. What? If you paused reading the above sentence, that’s because it’s a dangling modifier. This example is relatively easy to spot, but the longer your modifier gets, the harder it can be to catch the sneaky culprit. Even your…

You don’t need to be a grammar nerd to play with your words — To the uninitiated, grammar is a set of rules that you either follow or break. But the more I write, the more I realize that understanding grammar is basically the same as being a wizard who learns more about how to cast magic spells. …

Their trials and failures can be our learning ground — I’m a diehard Tom Robbins fan. I feel like I discovered him way after the party, long after everyone went home in the arms of someone else, but I don’t mind. I read Jitterbug Perfume first, about seven years back. I was so in love I prolonged the affair by…

It’s hard to be curious, creative, and right at the same time — A few days ago I submitted my first article to Medium. I’d been working on several different exciting ideas during the tiny pieces of time I’m not chasing after my rambunctious toddler, but I kept hitting the Goldilocks Problem and couldn’t seem to finish any. One felt too combative. Another…