Resources & Blog Posts
Interview with Eileen Cook
In this post, we welcome author, speaker, and mentor Eileen Cook. She shares an abundance of helpful (and heartful) writing advice as well as a glimpse into what it was like when she first started out as a budding writer. Check out Eileen’s author bio:
Eileen Cook, author, speaker, and mentor lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her books are published with HMH, Simon and Schuster, and HarperCollins. Cook’s recent titles include You Owe Me a Murder, One Lie Too Many, and With Malice. Under the pen name Kate MacIntosh, she’s written a historical novel, The Champagne Letters. People Magazine chose this book as a December 2024 Best New Book saying: “this fun, fizzy novel is delicious.” She received the John Spray Award in 2018 for best mystery in Canada with her novel The Hanging Girl/One Lie Too Many. Her books have been optioned for film and TV, although she is still waiting a chance to walk the red carpet.
Eileen, you’re the author of several contemporary, middle grade, and thriller novels, as well as multiple non-fiction guidebooks for new writers. Are you working on a manuscript now? What can you tell us about your work in progress?
My most recent book, The Champagne Letters, was a big change for me as it was both adult and a dual timeline historical. It just came out in December 2024 with Gallery Books (Simon and Schuster) under a pen name to help brand it as different than other things I’ve written. At long last, a chance for my historical nerd side to come out and use all those random facts I’ve been gathering for years!
Even though the book just came out, I am already wading into another manuscript. I am the happiest when I have a book on the go. The current book is also a dual timeline with a character in the present who is traveling to England after a death. It’s still very muddy and unclear how it will unspool, but I’m enjoying doing a bunch of research and seeing where it may go.
Eileen, you’ve got a wealth of experience with writing-for-publication. Tell us a bit about how it felt when you first started sending out manuscripts. What drove your decision to continue writing and what were your next steps? At what point did you begin speaking to audiences and mentoring others?
Continue reading “Interview with Eileen Cook”
What’s the point …of Submitting to Literary Journals?
I saw this question on a discussion forum some time ago, and thought it was a good one. The person who posed it was just starting out as a writer and unsure about navigating all the different publication outlets. Should a writer invest time and resources in short stories and micro fiction for the purpose of submitting to journals? Is this a wise choice for a writer whose ultimate goal is to finish a novel? Can you make a living from submitting smaller works of fiction? What, really, is the point of having your work appear in those little journals anyways? Why not just go for the full manuscript from the beginning and skip all the rest?
Continue reading “What’s the point …of Submitting to Literary Journals?”
Making Room for Reading
Reading is an imperative activity for a writer. Tackle that unread pile! I’ve got three tips to share that will help you make more room in your week for reading. When you see my explanation for each, you’ll notice that all three tips meld into each other like one super-hack. I hope this will assist you in reaching your reading goals.
Continue reading “Making Room for Reading”
Interview with Cadence Mandybura
In today’s post we’re hearing from Cadence Mandybura, writer and editor located in Victoria, British Columbia. Cadence tells us about her free write practice, describes the writing-for-publication process from her early writing days, and recommends resources for new writers.
Cadence, in addition to being a published writer, you are a contract fiction editor. What drew you to become a professional editor? What insights have you gained from the editor’s seat that emerging Canadian writers should know about publishing?
I’ve loved editing since high school, when I was recruited to help with the school newspaper and started taking the craft of writing seriously. As someone who’s always been drawn to writing, I loved learning how to take a good piece of writing and make it even stronger.
My advice for writers is to understand what type of editing is appropriate for their project and writing stage. For example, a developmental edit will focus on structure and story arc (useful for earlier drafts), whereas copy editing offers granular, sentence-level adjustments (best when the manuscript is almost final). Editors Canada has a good list of terms here. Starting with a critique or manuscript evaluation can help you assess if an editor is a good fit for your work.
Publishers vary in how much editing support they can offer their authors, and most will expect manuscripts to be polished before submission. For book-length projects, it’s often worth it to have your work professionally edited before you start submitting. Grants can help if cost is a barrier.
When you’re editing your own work, don’t try to fix everything in one go. Writing is complicated! Do several passes through your manuscript so you can focus on one element at a time. For example, you could do one pass looking for adjectives you could cut, another pass reading dialogue out loud, another pass reviewing scene transitions, etc.
Finally, be patient with yourself as you move through successive drafts. You’re making progress with every iteration!
Your fictional stories span multiple genres—speculative, science fiction, and fantasy. You also manage to add a dash of humour in places where we’d least expect. What inspires your stories and how do you stay upbeat while working through a writing project?
Continue reading “Interview with Cadence Mandybura”
It’s a Pattern. Commentary on Barbara Diggs’s “You Are What You Eat”
We each thrive dependent on how well we nourish ourselves. But what we choose to nourish ourselves with is a story in and of itself. In Barbara Diggs’s “You Are What You Eat,” the reader witnesses the effect of one narrator’s attempts at mitigating rage by replacing it with love. But which ingredients are required? Diggs pulls the reader in with sensual yet surprising language. “Sunny side up, salmonella-scrambled, salsa-slathered, over-hard yellow-white discs fried in bacon grease until the edges curl like wispy brown lace.”
Continue reading “It’s a Pattern. Commentary on Barbara Diggs’s “You Are What You Eat””
Interview with T.L. Tomljanovic
In this post, we’re hearing from T.L. Tomljanovic, freelance writer and communications specialist located in British Columbia, and member of the Federation of BC Writers. We’ll hear about T.L. Tomljanovic’s writing journey, recent publications, and some advice for new writers on ways to branch out and become part of the larger writing community.
You have a background as a freelance communications consultant, and then you got into writing fiction more recently. How long have you been writing overall and what made you decide to explore fiction?
I’ve been writing professionally for about 20 years. My first paid gig was for a Calgary publisher where I worked as a photo researcher. Outside my usual nine to five, I researched and wrote children’s non-fiction books to spec meaning I had a very clear set of guidelines—word count, reading level, chapter headings, etc. I always wanted to write fiction—I was and still am a voracious reader—but my fear of failure paralyzed. It took the bigger fear of the pandemic lockdown in 2020 to spur me into action. I wrote a story about a goat hunter and Carousel Magazine published it.
Your fictional stories span multiple genres—literary, science fiction, horror, and so on. What inspires your stories and what are your go-to strategies to ensure that you can approach your work-in-progress with enthusiasm?
Continue reading “Interview with T.L. Tomljanovic”
Seasonal Update: What has Pauline Shen been up to? What can we expect to see from her next?
Season Summary: Autumn 2024
- Manawaker Studios Podcast featured my short fiction “Glycerine.” I am so pleased with this production. If you haven’t done so yet, please go take a listen. It is under 10 minutes: Glycerine – Flash Fiction Podcast.
- Three of my visual art pieces, “Nurture,” “Observe,” & “Steward,” are published online with Marathon Literary Review.
- Big news! I’ve been commissioned for a book cover illustration. Scheduled for release in early 2025. More details to come.
Updates & Work in Progress: Winter 2024-25
- Check out my blog in case you missed these awesome interviews. I am delighted to partner with editors, writers, and publishers to bring you an insider scoop on what’s going on in the industry. More to come very soon—make sure you’re subscribed to have these delivered directly to your email inbox.
- I am completing my first full-length manuscript. I’ve been posting periodic updates on social media. The key to avoiding overwhelm is to break everything down into teeny tiny steps—and there are tons of those!
- My Discord writing group is holding a Secret Santa event for December. We each receive a “wish list” of writing prompts from another participant and write a fresh story using those prompts as a gift for that person. Part of the fun is having to guess which writing group member wrote each story. This is my first time participating and it has been so much fun so far! The prompts I received were way outside my usual repertoire and it gave me a chance to stretch myself and my writing. Activities like this help fuel creativity in a big, big way.
What I’m Reading: Winter 2024-25
- I read Piper Kerman’s memoir Orange is the new Black. You may recognize this book’s title from the television series adaptation of the same name. After taking a memoir writing course where Kerman was the guest instructor for a few Zoom sessions, I had to read her book for myself to see what was in there (No, I never watched the TV series). She’s an energetic instructor and the way she explained how to set-up scenes and incorporate deeper levels of storytelling was absolutely brilliant. If you have a chance to participate in one of her writer’s workshops, do it.
- I read William Zinsser’s memoir Writing about Your Life, which also serves as a writer’s guide. Although I personally found some of Zinsser’s references to be an outdated stack of namedropping, he does offer sound writing advice. Keep in mind that the height of his writing career was a half century ago—technology was different, yet the writing process itself (inspiration, motivation, integrity) is relatively the same.
And that’s it. Enjoy winter. Please share your comments below. Stay tuned for my next blog post. Wanna get it in your email inbox? Subscribe to stay informed of my newest articles, story reviews, updates, and more.
Cover Image: Photo by Ameruverse Digital Marketing Media on Pexels.com
Point of no return. Commentary on Brigid Swanick’s “Little White Lies”
What happens when you lean-in to heartache? When you take the bitterness and wrap it around yourself like a cloak? When you harness sadness as a means to grab attention from others rather than explore within for true fulfilment? Brigid Swanick’s “Little White Lies” examines the process and outcome of a character who chooses just that. “Their questions and concerns, their desire to help me,” says our narrator-protagonist, “their intense focus entirely on me made me obsessed, made me visible in a world that was otherwise indifferent.”
Continue reading “Point of no return. Commentary on Brigid Swanick’s “Little White Lies””
Interview with Anne Wilkins
In this post, we’ll be hearing from the delightful Anne Wilkins, contest-winning writer of science fiction and horror, based out of New Zealand. Anne shares her experience with writing contests, anthologies, and persisting past letters of decline. Anne also opens up on the personal side of balancing writing with life events, family, and career decisions.
Anne, you’ve got heaps of writing achievements! Multiple contest awards, several runner-up spots and honorable mentions, and an ever-growing list of publications. How long have you been writing and what made you decide to enter competitions?
Oh wow, that’s so kind of you to say because I still very much feel like a beginner. I was that kid that loved creative writing in school, from primary right through to high school, but by the time I got to university there was no time for it. All I ended up doing at university was essays, most of them very boring (Land Law — I’m looking at you). Then fast forward to a career where I was a family lawyer, and I was kind of writing stories, but true ones, in affidavit form.
When I had children, I think I finally had the time and the head space to write creatively again. Most of my beginning stories were written for my children, stories about cats, fairies, witches. I realised how much I missed that creative side of my life — the joy you get from coming up with an idea, and transforming it into a story for someone to read.
Continue reading “Interview with Anne Wilkins”
Pauline Shen 