Category writing
Agents of agony
Several months ago, I started sending out query letters for my story collection, “Bee Stings.” Many letters seem to go into an abyss. Some receive politely worded rejections: “It’s not a good match for our list at this time,” “Given the extremely competitive collection market…” or “We love your writing – just not passionately enough to represent […]
Loving Diaspora Dialogues
What’s not to love. At Diaspora Dialogues – Readings from the Underground on Saturday, May 24, authors read from the work of a banned writer followed by an excerpt from their own writing. The ever-engaging Garvia Bailey of the CBC hosted the first half of the program. The readings were part of year-round programming by Diaspora Dialogues which supports: […]
An excerpt from “Bee Stings”
Click here for an excerpt from my short story Bee Stings. And please share with friends and family.
Shortlisted for the Marina Nemat Creative Writing Award!
So excited! My collection of short stories titled Bee Stings is now with the jury. Click here to read more. Members of the jury are: Martha Sharpe (Simon & Schuster, Canada), Patrick Crean (Harper Collins, Canada), and Mark Medley (National Post, Books Editor). Now to find an agent and a publisher. Sigh.
Jhumpa and me
The magnificently talented Jhumpa Lahiri was interviewed yesterday at the Isabel Bader Theatre about her most recent book, “The Lowland.” Interviewer Tina Srebotnjak posed questions about identity and the sense of displacement or alienation that are themes in so much of Ms. Lahiri’s work. Ms. Lahiri was born in London, England, into an academic Bengali […]
Giving helpful feedback on writing
The purpose is to help the writer improve her/his story by identifying what works well and what doesn’t. In my writing group, each writer sends a list of queries to the group along with her story. These vary depending on the stage of development of the story, the particular challenges in the story, and the […]
Why structure feedback?
My writing group has struggled with this issue. In the past, there’s been some disagreement about how to structure the feedback process and whether a structure was even necessary. Ultimately, we did develop a structure for providing feedback. However, it has changed over time based on the needs of individual writers. Readers have lots of […]
Why feedback matters
Good feedback helps the writer clarify the narrative — who and what the story is about, and what the protagonist has to gain or lose — and to see if her/his intent meets their readers’ understanding of the story. Of course, this means that the writer has to have a clear idea of what s/he […]
Weighing each word
The placement of a word can change the meaning of the entire sentence (or story). The word: only The sentence: Amit kissed my sister. Only Amit kissed my sister. Amit only kissed my sister. Amit kissed only my sister. Amit kissed my only sister. Amit kissed my sister only. (This one is self-explanatory to South […]
Gratitude
Last year, when I won the Random House awards, I was nervous and excited and had spouse and offspring and so many friends and supporters at the event that I didn’t really interact with the other writers. This year, many of my friends were busy (or as my daughter said, “I’d totally go, mum, if […]
bits & pieces 