Greetings from Winnipeg, where snow is melting and self-isolation rules the day. I’ve decided to create a sticky post I can upkeep periodically that lets you know what I’m doing now since there always seem to be so many projects on the go. I lose track of themselves myself sometimes, so I’m sure that even […]
Jamie Raintree (jamieraintree.com) joins host Jonathan Ballto talk about tracking progress, why spreadsheets free you to be more creative, and how to have a sustainable career as a writer. We discuss a tool Jamie created, the Writing & Revision Tracker. Below, you will find the podcast, and below that an article I wrote some time ago […]
or, What Can Writers Learn from Leatherface? Want some sonnets about Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? TRICK QUESTION! BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Below, you’ll find the text for my talk on horror and writing, what we writers can learn from Leatherface of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre fame about being an artist. You can also […]
I have been a fan of S. M. Beiko’s webcomic Krampus Is My Boyfriend since page one, and generally impressed with Beiko since I started paying attention to her work. As she finished work on the first 48-page print collection of the online story, I interviewed Beiko about how to get your start in webcomics, and comics […]
One of the most common problems a writer faces — in fact, one of the most common problems most people face — is the question of how to focus. I’ve devised one simple, elegant answer: the Focus Form. Join my newsletter and I’ll email you the Focus Form. Listen to the podcast below or scroll […]
Welcome to the second part of my 2015 interview with Tony Burgess, horror writer and screenwriter. The first part is available here. Some time ago, I was teaching my favourite zombie novel, Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess, so I decided to scour the library database for essays on Burgess or the book. I located […]
Part one of a two-part interview conducted in 2015 with horror writer and screenwriter Tony Burgess. When it’s published, part two will be available here. Tony Burgess is best-known for the novel Pontypool Changes Everything and the horror film Pontypool, which he also wrote. These two interviews formed the basis for an interview with Tony […]
I talked to Mitchell Levy, who runs a company focused on creating books to help various businesspeople create credibility as “thought leaders”/experts in their field. Although an unusual interview for me, when Mitchell’s people approached me it occurred to me that he might have some interesting things to say about the divide between how other […]
Ryan Fitzpatrick and I co-created the #95books reading challenge (www.95books.com) and throughout 2019 we are going to do regular podcasts where we discuss the best of the books we’ve read so far. We also plan to discuss at least one book we’ve both read and today that book is Refuse: CanLit in Ruins (eds. Hannah […]
Beginning writers often worry about ideas. The question “Where do you get your ideas?” has become a cliché, a question writers hate to answer, and the reason everyone hates it so much is this: non-beginning writers know that “getting ideas” is the easiest thing about writing. The difficulty, if you write regularly, is not getting […]
