Creative Whispers

Yesterday, I sat with the owner of one of my favourite coffee shops: The Old Grind. It’s one of those rare gems you might still stumble upon in a small mountain community — in this case, Hinton, Alberta. I was at The Old Grind to discuss selling my art in Melanie’s shop. Since receiving positive feedback at Jasper’s and Valemount’s Farmers’ Markets, I’ve been approaching galleries and shops to…

Yesterday, Jane Goodall passed away at the age 91.  We might imagine someone of 91 years spending their final days knitting mittens in a nursing home or at best, hobbling around an empty apartment with a cat or two for company. Not Jane Goodall. Jane spent her final days on a speaking tour. She was in New York for Climate Week just a few days before, urging people to remain committed to taking…

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Last year, on July 22, Parks Canada reported two wildfires near the town of Jasper — one northeast and the other south. By 10 o’clock that night, the municipality and the park authority decided to evacuate the town (pop. 5000) along with some 20,000 visitors. The evacuation took hours and went on into the early hours of the following morning. Once everyone had made it through, Hwy. 16 was closed.…

I’ve lost humans, cats, dogs, places, comforts, relationships, trust, ideas, dreams. The list is a long one, but it isn’t unique to me. In fact, it’s universal. Live long enough, and you’ll experience all types of loss. The Buddhists talk about loss a lot. The Buddhist practice of The Five Remembrances is all about loss.  Say these words out loud once a day: I am of the nature to grow old. I…

I’m committing myself to writing a list for Truth and Reconciliation every year. Feel free to hold me accountable.  Here are my top picks for 2023: 1. One Native Life by Richard Wagamese: For all the reasons I wrote about in a previous post, Wagamese’s memoir must receive top billing on my list. I could read this book a hundred times. Click here to read about One Native Life. “There are…

I hadn’t started to think of myself as an “adoptee” until recently. I was just me. My biological father died before I was born. My biological mother showed varying degrees of interest and disinterest in me at variable intervals throughout my life. My grandparents though, by the time they were legally able to adopt me at 14, were my parents, my only parents. Am I grateful to my adoptive parents…

If you haven’t read the first part of my post of A Promise of Salt, you might want to start here. 3. Use of whitespace A hermit-crab story is one that appropriates an existing form such as a how-to article or a math exam. Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola write this: [The hermit-crab essay] deals with material that seems born without its own carapace — material that is soft, exposed, and tender,…

Check out my blog post on writing memoir. If you like what you read, subscribe.

If I had to point to the most under-rated book I know of, it would be A Promise of Salt by Lorie Miseck. CW: I’ll be referring to an act of extreme violence. A Promise of Salt is a book I assign every time I teach Creative Nonfiction. It’s the sort of book that students will remark to me about years after they’ve taken my class. “I loved that book” is the common refrain. That’s not to say it’s…

If you're a writer struggling to be heard, know you're not alone.

I don’t know of any other profession where tenacity is more essential than in writing, especially creative writing. Listen here: For many professions, you get the right training, you do well, maybe you get more training, finally you get that entry-level job, and you’re on your way. You may need additional training at some point. You may change employers, even careers, but hard work and quality…

In this post, I tell you about the strategies that helped me return to writing my memoir after a way too looong hiatus.

If you haven’t read the first part of this post, you can find it here. Listen here: 2. Write/expand scenes: A few months ago, I attended a workshop on long-form journalism taught by Canadian journalist Richard Warnica. The workshop was helpful in many respects, but one of the highlights was discussing a piece he’d written for the National Post called “Home sweet home wreck: This is the worst…

In this blog post, I write about how I was able to restart my memoir after (mostly) not writing anything for four years.

I began writing my memoir during the summer of 2017. I set myself a gruelling schedule in the hope that I’d finish a rough draft before the fall course load hit. I didn’t reach my goal, but I did pretty good. Listen here: I was 40,000+ words in, and I was sure I’d be able to finish the rough draft and then some the next summer. (When I’m teaching a full course load, no way can I write, so it…

Here's pt. 2 of my discussion of Wiebe's memoir. In this post, I explore his use of the braided form and lyrical imagery.

This is a continuation of my last post, which you can read here. Listen here: 3. I fell in love with braided writing when I read Wiebe’s memoir, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. I don’t know if I can write any other way any longer. Here’s how he does it: I’m seven. I’m big. I carry my Rogers syrup pail of lunch — two slices of Bultje, white bread, spread with jam or syrup if I’m lucky, salty…

Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest by Rudy Wiebe The first time I read Rudy Wiebe’s Of This Earth, I knew I would come back to it when I was ready to write my own memoir, and I did. Listen here: Wiebe writes mostly on subjects related to Canadian history. He won the Governor General’s award for two of his novels: The Temptations of Big Bear (1973) and A Discovery of…

In my post about One Native Life, I mentioned that by the time we reach the end of the memoir, we realize the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I also mentioned that Robert Kroetsch performs a similar trick in his memoir, A Likely Story (although he uses very different techniques). Listen here: Back in my undergrad days, I wrote a review of Kroetsch’s memoir. I reread it this morning,…

Listen here: One Native Life by Richard Wagamese You’re more likely to know Wagamese for his fiction: Indian Horse was published in 2012 and made it to Canada Reads the following year. In 2017, it was released as a movie. But we’re here to talk about memoir, so let’s discuss One Native Life. Wagamese is a master storyteller, and that’s what he does best in this book. Here he tells 66…